Why infest the loved ones--inherent human behaviour indicates former mutualism with head lice.

Science.gov (United States)

Rózsa, Lajos; Apari, Péter

2012-05-01

Head lice transmit to new hosts when people lean their heads together. Humans frequently touch their heads to express friendship or love, while this behaviour is absent in apes. We hypothesize that this behaviour was adaptive because it enabled people to acquire head lice infestations as early as possible to provoke an immune response effective against both head lice and body lice throughout the subsequent periods of their life. This cross-immunity could provide some defence against the body-louse-borne lethal diseases like epidemic typhus, trench fever, relapsing fever and the classical plague. Thus the human 'touching heads' behaviour probably acts as an inherent and unconscious 'vaccination' against body lice to reduce the threat exposed by the pathogens they may transmit. Recently, the eradication of body-louse-borne diseases rendered the transmission of head lice a maladaptive, though still widespread, behaviour in developed societies.

Evidence for changes in the transcription levels of two putative P-glycoprotein genes in sea lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) in response to emamectin benzoate exposure.

Science.gov (United States)

Tribble, Nicholas D; Burka, John F; Kibenge, Frederick S B

2007-05-01

Overexpression of P-glycoproteins (Pgps) is assumed to be a principal mechanism of resistance of nematodes and arthropods to macrocyclic lactones. Quantitative RT-PCR (Q-RT-PCR) was used to demonstrate changes in transcription levels of two putative P-glycoprotein genes, designated here as SL0525 and SL-Pgp1, in sea lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) following exposure to emamectin benzoate (EMB). Pre-adult L. salmonis were challenged in an EMB bioassay for 24h and gene expression was studied from lice surviving EMB concentrations of 0, 10, and 30ppb. Gene expression was measured using Q-RT-PCR with elongation factor 1 (eEF1alpha) as an internal reference gene. The results show that both target genes, SL0525 and SL-Pgp1, had significantly increased levels of expression with exposure to 10ppb EMB (p=0.11 and p=0.17, respectively) whereas the group exposed to 30ppb was on the verge of being significant (p=0.053) only in the expression of SL-Pgp1. Gene expression for SL0525 and SL-Pgp1 were increased over five-fold at 10ppb EMB. Therefore, the upregulation of these target genes may offer protection by increasing Pgp expression when lice are exposed to EMB. Our optimized Q-RT-PCR can be used to determine if over-expression of these genes could be the basis for development of resistance in sea lice and thus allow suitable alternative chemotherapeutic options to be assessed.

High Ancient Genetic Diversity of Human Lice, Pediculus humanus, from Israel Reveals New Insights into the Origin of Clade B Lice.

Science.gov (United States)

Amanzougaghene, Nadia; Mumcuoglu, Kosta Y; Fenollar, Florence; Alfi, Shir; Yesilyurt, Gonca; Raoult, Didier; Mediannikov, Oleg

2016-01-01

The human head louse, Pediculus humanus capitis, is subdivided into several significantly divergent mitochondrial haplogroups, each with particular geographical distributions. Historically, they are among the oldest human parasites, representing an excellent marker for tracking older events in human evolutionary history. In this study, ancient DNA analysis using real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), combined with conventional PCR, was applied to the remains of twenty-four ancient head lice and their eggs from the Roman period which were recovered from Israel. The lice and eggs were found in three combs, one of which was recovered from archaeological excavations in the Hatzeva area of the Judean desert, and two of which found in Moa, in the Arava region, close to the Dead Sea. Results show that the head lice remains dating approximately to 2,000 years old have a cytb haplogroup A, which is worldwide in distribution, and haplogroup B, which has thus far only been found in contemporary lice from America, Europe, Australia and, most recently, Africa. More specifically, this haplogroup B has a B36 haplotype, the most common among B haplogroups, and has been present in America for at least 4,000 years. The present findings confirm that clade B lice existed, at least in the Middle East, prior to contacts between Native Americans and Europeans. These results support a Middle Eastern origin for clade B followed by its introduction into the New World with the early peoples. Lastly, the presence of Acinetobacter baumannii DNA was demonstrated by qPCR and sequencing in four head lice remains belonging to clade A.

Evaluation of emamectin benzoate and substance EX against salmon lice in sea-ranched Atlantic salmon smolts.

Science.gov (United States)

Skilbrei, Ove Tommy; Espedal, Per Gunnar; Nilsen, Frank; Garcia, Enrique Perez; Glover, Kevin A

2015-04-08

Experimental releases of Atlantic salmon smolts treated with emamectin benzoate (EB) against salmon lice have previously been used to estimate the significance of salmon lice on the survival of migrating smolts. In recent years, the salmon louse has developed reduced sensitivity to EB, which may influence the results of such release experiments. We therefore tested the use of 2 anti-lice drugs: EB was administered to salmon smolts in high doses by intra-peritoneal injection and the prophylactic substance EX (SubEX) was administered by bathing. A third, untreated control group was also established. Salmon were challenged with copepodids of 2 strains of salmon lice (1 EB-sensitive strain and 1 with reduced EB-sensitivity) in mixed-group experimental tanks. At 31 d post-challenge, the numbers of pre-adult lice on treated fish were around 20% compared with the control fish, with minor or no differences between the 2 treatments and lice strains. Both treatments therefore appeared to give the smolts a high degree of protection against infestation of copepodids of salmon lice. However, significantly lower growth of the EB-treatment group indicates that bathing the fish in SubEX is less stressful for smolts than intra-peritoneal injection of EB.

Body Lice Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Science.gov (United States)

... diagnosed? How are body lice treated? What are body lice? Body lice are parasitic insects that live ... to freshly laundered clothing and bedding. What do body lice look like? Body lice have three forms: ...

Head Lice

Science.gov (United States)

... nits. You should also use hot water to wash any bed linens, towels, and clothing recently worn by the person who had head lice. Vacuum anything that can’t be washed, such as the couch, carpets, your child’s car seat, and any stuffed animals. Because head lice ...

Primates, Lice and Bacteria: Speciation and Genome Evolution in the Symbionts of Hominid Lice.

Science.gov (United States)

Boyd, Bret M; Allen, Julie M; Nguyen, Nam-Phuong; Vachaspati, Pranjal; Quicksall, Zachary S; Warnow, Tandy; Mugisha, Lawrence; Johnson, Kevin P; Reed, David L

2017-07-01

Insects with restricted diets rely on symbiotic bacteria to provide essential metabolites missing in their diet. The blood-sucking lice are obligate, host-specific parasites of mammals and are themselves host to symbiotic bacteria. In human lice, these bacterial symbionts supply the lice with B-vitamins. Here, we sequenced the genomes of symbiotic and heritable bacterial of human, chimpanzee, gorilla, and monkey lice and used phylogenomics to investigate their evolutionary relationships. We find that these symbionts have a phylogenetic history reflecting the louse phylogeny, a finding contrary to previous reports of symbiont replacement. Examination of the highly reduced symbiont genomes (0.53-0.57 Mb) reveals much of the genomes are dedicated to vitamin synthesis. This is unchanged in the smallest symbiont genome and one that appears to have been reorganized. Specifically, symbionts from human lice, chimpanzee lice, and gorilla lice carry a small plasmid that encodes synthesis of vitamin B5, a vitamin critical to the bacteria-louse symbiosis. This plasmid is absent in an old world monkey louse symbiont, where this pathway is on its primary chromosome. This suggests the unique genomic configuration brought about by the plasmid is not essential for symbiosis, but once obtained, it has persisted for up to 25 My. We also find evidence that human, chimpanzee, and gorilla louse endosymbionts have lost a pathway for synthesis of vitamin B1, whereas the monkey louse symbiont has retained this pathway. It is unclear whether these changes are adaptive, but they may point to evolutionary responses of louse symbionts to shifts in primate biology. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

Lice work

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Benali, Amira; Ren, Carina Bregnholm

2018-01-01

and Nepalese everyday life and show how these are deployed, contested and reconfigured onsite by volunteer tourism actors. By exploring patterns of absences and presences and using the concept of ontological choreography as an analytical resource, we show how the situated lice work of human and non...... at the orphanage. This post-human approach decenters the volunteer and destabilises the host and guest binary, while adding to our understanding of tourism practices as complex and materially distributed endeavours. We first analyse two configurations of head lice enacted through a Western morality of hygiene...

Management and Treatment of Human Lice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdoul Karim Sangaré

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Of the three lice (head, body, and pubic louse that infest humans, the body louse is the species involved in epidemics of louse-borne typhus, trench fever, and relapsing fever, but all the three cause pediculosis. Their infestations occur today in many countries despite great efforts to maintain high standards of public health. In this review, literature searches were performed through PubMed, Medline, Google Scholar, and EBSCOhost, with key search words of “Pediculus humanus”, “lice infestation”, “pediculosis”, and “treatment”; and controlled clinical trials were viewed with great interest. Removing lice by hand or with a lice comb, heating infested clothing, and shaving the scalp were some of the oldest methods of controlling human lice. Despite the introduction of other resources including cresol, naphthalene, sulfur, mercury, vinegar, petroleum, and insecticides, the numbers of lice infestation cases and resistance have increased. To date, viable alternative treatments to replace insecticides have been developed experimentally in vitro. Today, the development of new treatment strategies such as symbiotic treatment and synergistic treatment (antibiotics + ivermectin in vitro has proved effective and is promising. Here, we present an overview on managing and treating human lice and highlight new strategies to more effectively fight pediculosis and prevent resistance.

Body Lice Prevention and Control

Science.gov (United States)

... and General Public. Contact Us Parasites Home Prevention & Control Recommend on Facebook Tweet Share Compartir Body lice ... that can be taken to help prevent and control the spread of body lice: Bathe regularly and ...

Short-Term Effects of the Anti-sea Lice Therapeutant Emamectin Benzoate on Clam Worms (Nereis virens).

Science.gov (United States)

McBriarty, G J; Kidd, K A; Burridge, L E

2018-05-01

The polychaete Nereis virens occurs commonly in marine sediments, is widely distributed, and is a popular bait species, as well as a potential replacement for wild-caught fish in commercial fish feed preparations. It is being considered as a potential co-extractive species for culture in integrated multi-trophic aquaculture operations. However, it is not known whether pesticides or drugs used to treat sea lice on farmed salmon, such as emamectin benzoate (EB), would adversely affect cultured or wild worms, because these compounds may persist in the environment. To determine the potential effects of EB to N. virens, bioassays were performed wherein worms were exposed in sand for 30 days to a concentration of 400 µg/kg dw (nominal). While no treatment-related mortality occurred, significant decreases in worm mass and marked behavioral changes (lack of burrowing) were observed in EB-treated sand compared with controls. These lab-based observations suggest a potential hazard to worms at sites where EB treatments have occurred.

The Biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea: Estimates, Patterns, and Threats

OpenAIRE

Coll, Marta; Piroddi, Chiara; Steenbeek, Jeroen; Kaschner, Kristin; Ben Rais Lasram, Frida; Aguzzi, Jacopo; Ballesteros, Enric; Bianchi, Carlo Nike; Corbera, Jordi; Dailianis, Thanos; Danovaro, Roberto; Estrada, Marta; Froglia, Carlo; Galil, Bella S.; Gasol, Josep M.

2010-01-01

The Mediterranean Sea is a marine biodiversity hot spot. Here we combined an extensive literature analysis with expert opinions to update publicly available estimates of major taxa in this marine ecosystem and to revise and update several species lists. We also assessed overall spatial and temporal patterns of species diversity and identified major changes and threats. Our results listed approximately 17,000 marine species occurring in the Mediterra- nean Sea. However, our estimates of marine...

Effects of salmon lice infection and salmon lice protection on fjord migrating Atlantic salmon and brown trout post-smolts

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sivertsgard, Rolf; Thorstad, Eva B.; Okland, Finn

2007-01-01

Effects of artificial salmon lice infection and pharmaceutical salmon lice prophylaxis on survival and rate of progression of Atlantic salmon (n = 72) and brown trout post-smolts (n = 72) during their fjord migration, were studied by telemetry. The infected groups were artificially exposed...... to infective salmon lice larvae in the laboratory immediately before release in the inner part of the fjord to simulate a naturally high infection pressure. Groups of infected Atlantic salmon (n = 20) and brown trout (n = 12) were also retained in the hatchery to control the infection intensity and lice...... development during the study period. Neither salmon lice infection nor pharmaceutical prophylaxis had any effects on survival and rate of progression of fjord migrating Atlantic salmon post-smolts compared to control fish. Atlantic salmon spent on average only 151.2 h (maximum 207.3 h) in passing the 80 km...

Lice Aren't So Nice

Science.gov (United States)

... it's a good idea for an adult to wash all your bedding, hats, clothing, and stuffed animals in hot water. Or he or she can seal these things in airtight bags for 10 days. That also will kill the lice and their eggs. Vacuuming the carpets, upholstery, and car seats will take care of any lice that ...

Lessons from sea louse and salmon epidemiology.

Science.gov (United States)

Groner, Maya L; Rogers, Luke A; Bateman, Andrew W; Connors, Brendan M; Frazer, L Neil; Godwin, Sean C; Krkošek, Martin; Lewis, Mark A; Peacock, Stephanie J; Rees, Erin E; Revie, Crawford W; Schlägel, Ulrike E

2016-03-05

Effective disease management can benefit from mathematical models that identify drivers of epidemiological change and guide decision-making. This is well illustrated in the host-parasite system of sea lice and salmon, which has been modelled extensively due to the economic costs associated with sea louse infections on salmon farms and the conservation concerns associated with sea louse infections on wild salmon. Consequently, a rich modelling literature devoted to sea louse and salmon epidemiology has been developed. We provide a synthesis of the mathematical and statistical models that have been used to study the epidemiology of sea lice and salmon. These studies span both conceptual and tactical models to quantify the effects of infections on host populations and communities, describe and predict patterns of transmission and dispersal, and guide evidence-based management of wild and farmed salmon. As aquaculture production continues to increase, advances made in modelling sea louse and salmon epidemiology should inform the sustainable management of marine resources. © 2016 The Author(s).

Lice infesting horses in three agroecological zones in central Oromia.

Science.gov (United States)

Tafese, Adane; Jibat, Tariku; Aklilu, Nigatu; Zewdu, Hanna; Kumsa, Bersissa

2014-12-01

A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the prevalence and species composition of lice infesting horses in three agroecological zones in seven different districts in central Oromia from November 2011 to April 2012. For this purpose, a total of 420 horses were thoroughly examined for presence of lice. Collected lice were identified to species level under a microscope. The study showed an overall prevalence of 28.8 % (121/420) lice infestation on horses. We identified two spp. of lice on horses namely, Bovicola (Werneckiella) equi and Haematopinus asini with an overall prevalence of 22.9 % (96/420) and 5.9 % (25/420), respectively. The overall prevalence of lice infestation on horses in districts was 48.3, 43.3, 33.3, 23.3, 21.7, 18.3 and 13.3 %, in Debre Brehan, Shashemene, Hawassa, Akaki, Adama, Modjo and Bishoftu, respectively. B. equi was encountered as the predominant species on horses in all districts. Higher overall prevalence of lice infestation was recorded in highland agroecology than mid and lowland agroecological zones. Similarly, our study revealed significantly higher overall prevalence of lice on saddle horses than on cart horses. In view of the findings of the present study two species of lice are responsible for health and welfare problems of horses in all the districts. Detailed epidemiological studies on the significance, prevalence and role of lice as vectors of zoonotic pathogens in different agroecological zones, breeds and management systems warrant urgent attention. Animal owners and veterinarians should consider lice control in horses as part of the ectoparasite control in other species of animals.

Evidence that head and body lice on homeless persons have the same genotype.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aurélie Veracx

Full Text Available Human head lice and body lice are morphologically and biologically similar but have distinct ecologies. They were shown to have almost the same basic genetic content (one gene is absent in head lice, but differentially express certain genes, presumably responsible for the vector competence. They are now believed to be ecotypes of the same species (Pediculus humanus and based on mitochondrial studies, body lice have been included with head lice in one of three clades of human head lice (Clade A. Here, we tested whether head and body lice collected from the same host belong to the same population by examining highly polymorphic intergenic spacers. This study was performed on lice collected from five homeless persons living in the same shelter in which Clade A lice are prevalent. Lice were individually genotyped at four spacer loci. The genetic identity and diversity of lice from head and body populations were compared for each homeless person. Population genetic structure was tested between lice from the two body regions and between the lice from different host individuals.We found two pairs of head and body lice on the same homeless person with identical multi locus genotypes. No difference in genetic diversity was found between head and body louse populations and no evidence of significant structure between the louse populations was found, even after controlling for a possible effect of the host individual. More surprisingly, no structure was obvious between lice of different homeless persons.We believe that the head and body lice collected from our five subjects belong to the same population and are shared between people living in the same shelter. These findings confirm that head and body lice are two ecotypes of the same species and show the importance of implementing measures to prevent lice transmission between homeless people in shelters.

Repeated sublethal exposures to the sea lice pesticide Salmosan® (azamethiphos) on adult male lobsters (Homarus americanus) causes neuromuscular dysfunction, hypoxia, metabolic disturbances and mortality.

Science.gov (United States)

Dounia, Daoud; Andrea, Battison; Lefort, Natalie; Van Geest, Jordana Lynne

2016-12-01

In Atlantic Canada and other salmon-growing regions, treatment of sea lice infestations in salmon aquaculture is necessary to protect fish health. The product Salmosan®, which contains the organophosphate azamethiphos as the active ingredient, is a pesticide presently used for treatment against sea lice. It is applied as a bath treatment and then released into the surrounding seawater. The potential for lethality to non-target species following acute and chronic exposures to Salmosan® has been studied over the past decade, however, the potential for sublethal effects on lobsters remains a concern. Adult male lobsters were exposed to 0.06, 0.5, and 5µgL -1 azamethiphos for one hour, repeated five times, over 48h. Lobsters were assessed immediately after exposure and over six days of recovery. Inhibition of muscle cholinesterase activity was detected in lobsters exposed to 0.5 and 5µgL -1 azamethiphos. The 5µgL -1 dose was considered lethal (93% cumulative mortality). Significant changes in hemolymph plasma biochemistry were most apparent in the 5µgL -1 exposure group in the immediate post-exposure samples. Citrate synthase activity was significantly lower in muscles of the 0.5µgL -1 exposure group compared to control lobsters. Mean electron transport system and standard metabolic rates tended to be lower in muscle tissue of the 0.5µgL -1 exposure group than control group lobsters. These results suggest that sublethal effects on lobster energetics may occur under laboratory exposure conditions (i.e., concentrations and duration) considered environmentally relevant, which could result in impairment under natural conditions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Barents Sea polar bears (Ursus maritimus: population biology and anthropogenic threats

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Magnus Andersen

2016-07-01

Full Text Available This paper examines how anthropogenic threats, such as disturbance, pollution and climate change, are linked to polar bear (Ursus maritimus population biology in the Svalbard and Barents Sea area, with the aim to increase our understanding of how human activity may impact the population. Overharvesting drastically reduced the population of polar bears in the Barents Sea region from about 1870 to 1970. After harvesting was stopped—in 1956 in Russia and 1973 in Norway—the population grew to an estimated 2650 individuals (95% confidence interval 1900–3600 in 2004, and maternity denning in the Svalbard Archipelago became more widely distributed. During recent decades, the population has faced challenges from a variety of new anthropogenic impacts: a range of pollutants, an increasing level of human presence and activity as well as changes in ice conditions. Contaminants bioaccumulate up through the marine food web, culminating in this top predator that consumes ringed, bearded and harp seals. Females with small cubs use land-fast sea ice for hunting and are therefore vulnerable to disturbance by snowmobile drivers. Sea-ice diminution, associated with climate change, reduces polar bears’ access to denning areas and could negatively affect the survival of cubs. There are clear linkages between population biology and current anthropogenic threats, and we suggest that future research and management should focus on and take into consideration the combined effects of several stressors on polar bears.

Using expert opinion surveys to rank threats to endangered species: a case study with sea turtles.

Science.gov (United States)

Donlan, C Josh; Wingfield, Dana K; Crowder, Larry B; Wilcox, Chris

2010-12-01

Little is known about how specific anthropogenic hazards affect the biology of organisms. Quantifying the effect of regional hazards is particularly challenging for species such as sea turtles because they are migratory, difficult to study, long lived, and face multiple anthropogenic threats. Expert elicitation, a technique used to synthesize opinions of experts while assessing uncertainty around those views, has been in use for several decades in the social science and risk assessment sectors. We conducted an internet-based survey to quantify expert opinion on the relative magnitude of anthropogenic hazards to sea turtle populations at the regional level. Fisheries bycatch and coastal development were most often ranked as the top hazards to sea turtle species in a geographic region. Nest predation and direct take followed as the second and third greatest threats, respectively. Survey results suggest most experts believe sea turtles are threatened by multiple factors, including substantial at-sea threats such as fisheries bycatch. Resources invested by the sea turtle community, however, appear biased toward terrestrial-based impacts. Results from the survey are useful for conservation planning because they provide estimates of relative impacts of hazards on sea turtles and a measure of consensus on the magnitude of those impacts among researchers and practitioners. Our survey results also revealed patterns of expert bias, which we controlled for in our analysis. Respondents with no experience with respect to a sea turtle species tended to rank hazards affecting that sea turtle species higher than respondents with experience. A more-striking pattern was with hazard-based expertise: the more experience a respondent had with a specific hazard, the higher the respondent scored the impact of that hazard on sea turtle populations. Bias-controlled expert opinion surveys focused on threatened species and their hazards can help guide and expedite species recovery plans. �

Inventory of lice of mammals and farmyard chicken in North-eastern Algeria.

Science.gov (United States)

Meguini, Mohamed Nadir; Righi, Souad; Zeroual, Fayçal; Saidani, Khelaf; Benakhla, Ahmed

2018-03-01

Lice are permanent ectoparasites, extremely specific to their hosts. Their great importance in veterinary medicine remain significant, they can cause their direct pathogenic actions like irritability, dermatitis, anemia, decreased weight gain, and milk production. The purpose of this work was to made the first time an inventory of mammalian lice in North-eastern Algeria. Our survey of lice infestation was conducted on several animal species from five provinces of North-eastern Algeria. A total of 57 cattle, 83 sheep, 77 goats, 111 wild boars, and 63 farmyard chickens were examined. The collection of lice was carried out much more in mammals and chickens during the winter period. Lice were collected either manually or using brushing and kept in flasks containing 70% ethanol. The identification of lice was achieved in the laboratory using a binocular loupe. Concerning cattle, 63% and 27% of those examined subjects from Souk-Ahras and Guelma study areas, respectively, were carriers of lice. Damalinia bovis was the louse most frequently found on cattle in these two regions. Three other species were identified in Souk-Ahras: Haematopinus eurysternus (25%), Linognathus vituli (10%), and Solenopotes capillatus (5%). Regarding sheep, 39% and 24% of examined animals in Souk-Ahras and Guelma, were carrying lice. Damalinia ovis was the most frequently encountered lice on sheep in both regions. Linognathus ovillus also was identified in Souk-Ahras, representing 0.3% of the collected lice. Concerning goats, 53% and 30% of examined animals in Souk-Ahras and Guelma, were parasitized of lice. Two species of lice were found: Damalinia caprae and Linognathus africanus . For farmyard chickens, 69% and 100% of the farmyard chicken in Souk-Ahras and Mila were parasitized by lice, respectively. Menopon gallinae was the most frequently encountered louse in farmyard chicken in both regions. Eight other species were identified in Mila and four other species only in Souk-Ahras. Finally, 25

Synergistic activity of antibiotics combined with ivermectin to kill body lice.

Science.gov (United States)

Sangaré, Abdoul Karim; Rolain, Jean Marc; Gaudart, Jean; Weber, Pascal; Raoult, Didier

2016-03-01

Ivermectin and doxycycline have been found to be independently effective in killing body lice. In this study, 450 body lice were artificially fed on a Parafilm™ membrane with human blood associated with antibiotics (doxycycline, erythromycin, rifampicin and azithromycin) alone and in combination with ivermectin. Fluorescence in situ hybridisation and spectral deconvolution were performed to evaluate bacterial transcriptional activity following antibiotic intake by the lice. In the first series, a lethal effect of antibiotics on lice was observed compared with the control group at 18 days (log-rank test, P≤10(-3)), with a significant difference between groups in the production of nits (P=0.019, Kruskal-Wallis test). A high lethal effect of ivermectin alone (50ng/mL) was observed compared with the control group (log-rank test, P≤10(-3)). Fluorescence of bacteriocytes in lice treated with 20μg/mL doxycycline was lower than in untreated lice (PKruskal-Wallis test). In the second series with antibiotic-ivermectin combinations, a synergistic lethal effect on treated lice (log-rank test, PKruskal-Wallis test). Additionally, survival of lice in the combination treatment groups compared with ivermectin alone was significant (log-rank test, P=0.0008). These data demonstrate that the synergistic effect of combinations of antibiotics and ivermectin could be used to achieve complete eradication of lice and to avoid selection of a resistant louse population. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. and the International Society of Chemotherapy. All rights reserved.

The biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea: estimates, patterns, and threats.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marta Coll

Full Text Available The Mediterranean Sea is a marine biodiversity hot spot. Here we combined an extensive literature analysis with expert opinions to update publicly available estimates of major taxa in this marine ecosystem and to revise and update several species lists. We also assessed overall spatial and temporal patterns of species diversity and identified major changes and threats. Our results listed approximately 17,000 marine species occurring in the Mediterranean Sea. However, our estimates of marine diversity are still incomplete as yet-undescribed species will be added in the future. Diversity for microbes is substantially underestimated, and the deep-sea areas and portions of the southern and eastern region are still poorly known. In addition, the invasion of alien species is a crucial factor that will continue to change the biodiversity of the Mediterranean, mainly in its eastern basin that can spread rapidly northwards and westwards due to the warming of the Mediterranean Sea. Spatial patterns showed a general decrease in biodiversity from northwestern to southeastern regions following a gradient of production, with some exceptions and caution due to gaps in our knowledge of the biota along the southern and eastern rims. Biodiversity was also generally higher in coastal areas and continental shelves, and decreases with depth. Temporal trends indicated that overexploitation and habitat loss have been the main human drivers of historical changes in biodiversity. At present, habitat loss and degradation, followed by fishing impacts, pollution, climate change, eutrophication, and the establishment of alien species are the most important threats and affect the greatest number of taxonomic groups. All these impacts are expected to grow in importance in the future, especially climate change and habitat degradation. The spatial identification of hot spots highlighted the ecological importance of most of the western Mediterranean shelves (and in particular

The biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea: estimates, patterns, and threats.

Science.gov (United States)

Coll, Marta; Piroddi, Chiara; Steenbeek, Jeroen; Kaschner, Kristin; Ben Rais Lasram, Frida; Aguzzi, Jacopo; Ballesteros, Enric; Bianchi, Carlo Nike; Corbera, Jordi; Dailianis, Thanos; Danovaro, Roberto; Estrada, Marta; Froglia, Carlo; Galil, Bella S; Gasol, Josep M; Gertwagen, Ruthy; Gil, João; Guilhaumon, François; Kesner-Reyes, Kathleen; Kitsos, Miltiadis-Spyridon; Koukouras, Athanasios; Lampadariou, Nikolaos; Laxamana, Elijah; López-Fé de la Cuadra, Carlos M; Lotze, Heike K; Martin, Daniel; Mouillot, David; Oro, Daniel; Raicevich, Sasa; Rius-Barile, Josephine; Saiz-Salinas, Jose Ignacio; San Vicente, Carles; Somot, Samuel; Templado, José; Turon, Xavier; Vafidis, Dimitris; Villanueva, Roger; Voultsiadou, Eleni

2010-08-02

The Mediterranean Sea is a marine biodiversity hot spot. Here we combined an extensive literature analysis with expert opinions to update publicly available estimates of major taxa in this marine ecosystem and to revise and update several species lists. We also assessed overall spatial and temporal patterns of species diversity and identified major changes and threats. Our results listed approximately 17,000 marine species occurring in the Mediterranean Sea. However, our estimates of marine diversity are still incomplete as yet-undescribed species will be added in the future. Diversity for microbes is substantially underestimated, and the deep-sea areas and portions of the southern and eastern region are still poorly known. In addition, the invasion of alien species is a crucial factor that will continue to change the biodiversity of the Mediterranean, mainly in its eastern basin that can spread rapidly northwards and westwards due to the warming of the Mediterranean Sea. Spatial patterns showed a general decrease in biodiversity from northwestern to southeastern regions following a gradient of production, with some exceptions and caution due to gaps in our knowledge of the biota along the southern and eastern rims. Biodiversity was also generally higher in coastal areas and continental shelves, and decreases with depth. Temporal trends indicated that overexploitation and habitat loss have been the main human drivers of historical changes in biodiversity. At present, habitat loss and degradation, followed by fishing impacts, pollution, climate change, eutrophication, and the establishment of alien species are the most important threats and affect the greatest number of taxonomic groups. All these impacts are expected to grow in importance in the future, especially climate change and habitat degradation. The spatial identification of hot spots highlighted the ecological importance of most of the western Mediterranean shelves (and in particular, the Strait of

Genetic recombination events between sympatric Clade A and Clade C lice in Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Veracx, Aurélie; Boutellis, Amina; Raoult, Didier

2013-09-01

Human head and body lice have been classified into three phylogenetic clades (Clades A, B, and C) based on mitochondrial DNA. Based on nuclear markers (the 18S rRNA gene and the PM2 spacer), two genotypes of Clade A head and body lice, including one that is specifically African (Clade A2), have been described. In this study, we sequenced the PM2 spacer of Clade C head lice from Ethiopia and compared these sequences with sequences from previous works. Trees were drawn, and an analysis of genetic diversity based on the cytochrome b gene and the PM2 spacer was performed for African and non-African lice. In the tree drawn based on the PM2 spacer, the African and non-African lice formed separate clusters. However, Clade C lice from Ethiopia were placed within the African Clade A subcluster (Clade A2). This result suggests that recombination events have occurred between Clade A2 lice and Clade C lice, reflecting the sympatric nature of African lice. Finally, the PM2 spacer and cytochrome b gene sequences of human lice revealed a higher level of genetic diversity in Africa than in other regions.

SPECIES DIVERSITY AND COMMUNITY STRUCTURE OF SUCKING LICE IN YUNNAN, CHINA

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Xian-guoGuo; Ti-junQian; Li-junGuo; JingWang; Wen-geDong; LiZhang; Zhi-minMa; andWeiLi

2004-01-01

On the basis of investigating 9 counties (towns) in Yunnan Province of China, the species diversity and community structure of sucking lice on the body surface of small mammal hosts are studied in the paper. Species richness (S) is used to stand for the species diversity. The calculation of community diversity index and evenness are based on Shannon-Wiener's method. 2745 small mammals captured from the investigated sites belong to 10 families, 25 genera and 41 species in 5 orders (Rodentia, Insectivora, Scandentia, Logomorpha and Carnivora) while 18165 individuals of sucking lice collected from the body surface of the small mammal hosts are identified into 4 families, 6 genera and 22 species. The species of sucking lice are much less than the species of their hosts. Most species of small mammals have their fixed sucking lice on their body surface. One species of small mammals usually have few species of sucking lice (1 to 4 species). The close species of the hosts in the taxonomy are found to have the same or similar dominant species of sucking lice on their body surface. The results reveal that the species diversity of sucking lice on small mammals is very low with a very simple community structure. The results also imply there may be a close co-evolution relationship between the lice and the hosts.

Chewing lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) associated with vertebrates in Mexico.

Science.gov (United States)

SÁnchez-Montes, Sokani; Colunga-Salas, Pablo; Álvarez-Castillo, LucÍa; GuzmÁn-Cornejo, Carmen; Montiel-Parra, Griselda

2018-01-15

The chewing lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera: Amblycera and Ischnocera) of Mexico have been little studied and many publications include isolated records. This paper summarizes current knowledge of chewing lice recorded from Mexico resulting from an exhaustive search of the literature published from 1866 to 2017. We found 342 louse species associated with 206 bird and 28 mammal species. As a result, we provide a checklist of the chewing lice recorded from Mexico, including a host-parasite list and their geographical distribution within the country.

Chewing Lice of Swan Geese (Anser cygnoides): New Host-Parasite Associations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Choi, Chang-Yong; Takekawa, John Y.; Prosser, Diann J.

2016-01-01

Chewing lice (Phthiraptera) that parasitize the globally threatened swan goose Anser cygnoides have been long recognized since the early 19th century, but those records were probably biased towards sampling of captive or domestic geese due to the small population size and limited distribution...... of its wild hosts. To better understand the lice species parasitizing swan geese that are endemic to East Asia, we collected chewing lice from 14 wild geese caught at 3 lakes in northeastern Mongolia. The lice were morphologically identified as 16 Trinoton anserinum (Fabricius, 1805), 11 Ornithobius...

The Efficacy of Emamectin Benzoate against Infestations of Lepeophtheirus salmonis on Farmed Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar L) in Scotland, 2002–2006

Science.gov (United States)

Lees, Fiona; Baillie, Mark; Gettinby, George; Revie, Crawford W.

2008-01-01

Background Infestations of the parasitic copepod Lepeophtheirus salmonis, commonly referred to as sea lice, represent a major challenge to commercial salmon aquaculture. Dependence on a limited number of theraputants to control such infestations has led to concerns of reduced sensitivity in some sea lice populations. This study investigates trends in the efficacy of the in-feed treatment emamectin benzoate in Scotland, the active ingredient most widely used across all salmon producing regions. Methodology/Principal Findings Study data were drawn from over 50 commercial Atlantic salmon farms on the west coast of Scotland between 2002 and 2006. An epi-informatics approach was adopted whereby available farm records, descriptive epidemiological summaries and statistical linear modelling methods were used to identify factors that significantly affect sea lice abundance following treatment with emamectin benzoate (SLICE®, Schering Plough Animal Health). The results show that although sea lice infestations are reduced following the application of emamectin benzoate, not all treatments are effective. Specifically there is evidence of variation across geographical regions and a reduction in efficacy over time. Conclusions/Significance Reduced sensitivity and potential resistance to currently available medicines are constant threats to maintaining control of sea lice populations on Atlantic salmon farms. There is a need for on-going monitoring of emamectin benzoate treatment efficacy together with reasons for any apparent reduction in performance. In addition, strategic rotation of medicines should be encouraged and empirical evidence for the benefit of such strategies more fully evaluated. PMID:18253496

The efficacy of emamectin benzoate against infestations of Lepeophtheirus salmonis on farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L in Scotland, 2002-2006.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fiona Lees

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Infestations of the parasitic copepod Lepeophtheirus salmonis, commonly referred to as sea lice, represent a major challenge to commercial salmon aquaculture. Dependence on a limited number of theraputants to control such infestations has led to concerns of reduced sensitivity in some sea lice populations. This study investigates trends in the efficacy of the in-feed treatment emamectin benzoate in Scotland, the active ingredient most widely used across all salmon producing regions. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Study data were drawn from over 50 commercial Atlantic salmon farms on the west coast of Scotland between 2002 and 2006. An epi-informatics approach was adopted whereby available farm records, descriptive epidemiological summaries and statistical linear modelling methods were used to identify factors that significantly affect sea lice abundance following treatment with emamectin benzoate (SLICE(R, Schering Plough Animal Health. The results show that although sea lice infestations are reduced following the application of emamectin benzoate, not all treatments are effective. Specifically there is evidence of variation across geographical regions and a reduction in efficacy over time. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Reduced sensitivity and potential resistance to currently available medicines are constant threats to maintaining control of sea lice populations on Atlantic salmon farms. There is a need for on-going monitoring of emamectin benzoate treatment efficacy together with reasons for any apparent reduction in performance. In addition, strategic rotation of medicines should be encouraged and empirical evidence for the benefit of such strategies more fully evaluated.

The efficacy of emamectin benzoate against infestations of Lepeophtheirus salmonis on farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L) in Scotland, 2002-2006.

Science.gov (United States)

Lees, Fiona; Baillie, Mark; Gettinby, George; Revie, Crawford W

2008-02-06

Infestations of the parasitic copepod Lepeophtheirus salmonis, commonly referred to as sea lice, represent a major challenge to commercial salmon aquaculture. Dependence on a limited number of theraputants to control such infestations has led to concerns of reduced sensitivity in some sea lice populations. This study investigates trends in the efficacy of the in-feed treatment emamectin benzoate in Scotland, the active ingredient most widely used across all salmon producing regions. Study data were drawn from over 50 commercial Atlantic salmon farms on the west coast of Scotland between 2002 and 2006. An epi-informatics approach was adopted whereby available farm records, descriptive epidemiological summaries and statistical linear modelling methods were used to identify factors that significantly affect sea lice abundance following treatment with emamectin benzoate (SLICE(R), Schering Plough Animal Health). The results show that although sea lice infestations are reduced following the application of emamectin benzoate, not all treatments are effective. Specifically there is evidence of variation across geographical regions and a reduction in efficacy over time. Reduced sensitivity and potential resistance to currently available medicines are constant threats to maintaining control of sea lice populations on Atlantic salmon farms. There is a need for on-going monitoring of emamectin benzoate treatment efficacy together with reasons for any apparent reduction in performance. In addition, strategic rotation of medicines should be encouraged and empirical evidence for the benefit of such strategies more fully evaluated.

Migratory routes and at-sea threats to Pink-footed Shearwaters

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, Josh; Felis, Jonathan J.; Hodum, Peter; Colodro, Valentina; Carle, Ryan; López, Verónica

2016-01-01

The Pink-footed Shearwater (Ardenna creatopus) is a seabird with a breeding range restricted to three islands in Chile and an estimated world population of approximately 56,000 breeding individuals (Muñoz 2011, Oikonos unpublished data). Due to multiple threats on breeding colonies and at-sea, Pink-footed Shearwaters are listed as Endangered by the government of Chile (Reglamento de Clasificación de Especies, 2011), Threatened by the government of Canada (Environment Canada 2008), and are listed under Appendix 1 of the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP 2013). A principal conservation concern for the species is mortality from fisheries bycatch during the breeding and non-breeding seasons; thus, identification of areas of overlap between at-sea use by Pink-footed Shearwaters and fisheries is a high priority conservation objective (Hinojosa Sáez and Hodum 1997, Mangel et al. 2013, ACAP 2013). During the non-breeding period, Pink-footed Shearwaters range as far north as Canada, although little was known until recently about migration routes and important wintering areas where fisheries bycatch could be a risk. Additionally, Pink-footed Shearwaters face at-sea threats during the non-breeding season off the west coast of North America. Recently, areas used by wintering Pink-footed Shearwaters have been identified as areas of interest for developing alternative energy offshore in North America (e.g., floating wind generators; Trident Winds 2016). The goal of our study was to track Pink-footed Shearwater post-breeding movements with satellite tags to identify timing and routes of migration, locate important non-breeding foraging habitats, and determine population distribution among different wintering regions.

Fleas and lice of mammals in New Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Paulette L. Ford; Richard A. Fagerlund; Donald W. Duszynski; Paul J. Polechla

2004-01-01

All available records are compiled for three orders of ectoparasites of mammals in New Mexico: fleas (Siphonaptera), sucking lice (Anoplura), and chewing lice (Mallophaga). We have drawn from records at the University of New Mexico's Museum of Southwestern Biology, the Vector Control Program of the New Mexico Environment Department, the Environmental Health...

[Physicians' knowledge in Israel on the biology and control of head lice].

Science.gov (United States)

Mumcuoglu, Kosta Y; Mumcuoglu, Michael; Danilevich, Maria; Gilead, Leon

2008-10-01

Health providers such as physicians, nurses and pharmacists should be knowledgeable about the biology of head lice and the ways to control them effectively, in order to reduce the proportion of children infested with head lice. To evaluate the knowledge of physicians in Israel on the biology and epidemiology of lice, as well as their experience with infested individuals and their preferences for diagnosis, prophylaxis and control. An anonymous questionnaire with 37 questions was used. The first 20 questions addressed the general knowledge of physicians on lice biology and control, while the remaining 17 questions were related to their personal experience with lice and louse treatment. Out of 273 physicians interviewed 66.8% had good knowledge of lice, while the remaining 33.2% had some knowledge on lice. The difference between the groups of physicians with medium and good knowledge on lice was borderline significant (P=0.0722), with the dermatologists borderline significantly less knowledgeable than the rest (P=0.0765). Significant differences were found between those physicians with 4-6 or 11-20 years of professional experience and the remaining groups (twice Pbiology and control was higher than male physicians (39.4% and 29.4%, respectively), the differences were borderline significant (P=0.09). Pediatricians and dermatologists examined significantly more children than family physicians and general practitioners (P control of head louse infestations.

Talk About Nitpicking! Summer Camp and Head Lice

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

2008-05-30

Head lice are a fairly common problem, especially in preschool and elementary school children. This podcast will help you understand how people get head lice, and how to get rid of them!  Created: 5/30/2008 by National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-Borne, and Enteric Diseases (NCZVED), Division of Parasitic Diseases (DPD).   Date Released: 6/4/2008.

Salmon lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) showing varying emamectin benzoate susceptibilities differ in neuronal acetylcholine receptor and GABA-gated chloride channel mRNA expression.

Science.gov (United States)

Carmichael, Stephen N; Bron, James E; Taggart, John B; Ireland, Jacqueline H; Bekaert, Michaël; Burgess, Stewart Tg; Skuce, Philip J; Nisbet, Alasdair J; Gharbi, Karim; Sturm, Armin

2013-06-18

Caligid copepods, also called sea lice, are fish ectoparasites, some species of which cause significant problems in the mariculture of salmon, where the annual cost of infection is in excess of €300 million globally. At present, caligid control on farms is mainly achieved using medicinal treatments. However, the continued use of a restricted number of medicine actives potentially favours the development of drug resistance. Here, we report transcriptional changes in a laboratory strain of the caligid Lepeophtheirus salmonis (Krøyer, 1837) that is moderately (~7-fold) resistant to the avermectin compound emamectin benzoate (EMB), a component of the anti-salmon louse agent SLICE® (Merck Animal Health). Suppression subtractive hybridisation (SSH) was used to enrich transcripts differentially expressed between EMB-resistant (PT) and drug-susceptible (S) laboratory strains of L. salmonis. SSH libraries were subjected to 454 sequencing. Further L. salmonis transcript sequences were available as expressed sequence tags (EST) from GenBank. Contiguous sequences were generated from both SSH and EST sequences and annotated. Transcriptional responses in PT and S salmon lice were investigated using custom 15 K oligonucleotide microarrays designed using the above sequence resources. In the absence of EMB exposure, 359 targets differed in transcript abundance between the two strains, these genes being enriched for functions such as calcium ion binding, chitin metabolism and muscle structure. γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-gated chloride channel (GABA-Cl) and neuronal acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subunits showed significantly lower transcript levels in PT lice compared to S lice. Using RT-qPCR, the decrease in mRNA levels was estimated at ~1.4-fold for GABA-Cl and ~2.8-fold for nAChR. Salmon lice from the PT strain showed few transcriptional responses following acute exposure (1 or 3 h) to 200 μg L-1 of EMB, a drug concentration tolerated by PT lice, but toxic for S lice

Acute prurigo simplex in humans caused by pigeon lice.

Science.gov (United States)

Stolf, Hamilton Ometto; Reis, Rejane d'Ávila; Espósito, Ana Cláudia Cavalcante; Haddad Júnior, Vidal

2018-03-01

Pigeon lice are insects that feed on feathers of these birds; their life cycle includes egg, nymph and adult and they may cause dermatoses in humans. Four persons of the same family, living in an urban area, presented with widespread intensely pruritic erythematous papules. A great number of lice were seen in their house, which moved from a nest of pigeons located on the condenser of the air-conditioning to the dormitory of one of the patients. Even in urban environments, dermatitis caused by parasites of birds is a possibility in cases of acute prurigo simplex. Pigeon lice are possible etiological agents of this kind of skin eruption, although they are often neglected, even by dermatologists.

Chewing lice of swan geese (Anser cygnoides): New host-parasite associations

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Chang-Yong; Takekawa, John Y.; Prosser, Diann J.; Smith, Lacy M.; Ely, Craig R.; Fox, Anthony D.; Cao, Lei; Wang, Xin; Batbayar, Nyambayar; Natsagdorj, Tseveenmayadag; Xiao, Xiangming

2016-01-01

Chewing lice (Phthiraptera) that parasitize the globally threatened swan goose Anser cygnoides have been long recognized since the early 19th century, but those records were probably biased towards sampling of captive or domestic geese due to the small population size and limited distribution of its wild hosts. To better understand the lice species parasitizing swan geese that are endemic to East Asia, we collected chewing lice from 14 wild geese caught at 3 lakes in northeastern Mongolia. The lice were morphologically identified as 16 Trinoton anserinum (Fabricius, 1805), 11 Ornithobius domesticus Arnold, 2005, and 1 Anaticola anseris (Linnaeus, 1758). These species are known from other geese and swans, but all of them were new to the swan goose. This result also indicates no overlap in lice species between older records and our findings from wild birds. Thus, ectoparasites collected from domestic or captive animals may provide biased information on the occurrence, prevalence, host selection, and host-ectoparasite interactions from those on wild hosts.

Talk About Nitpicking! Back-to-School and Head Lice

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

2008-05-30

Head lice are a fairly common problem, especially in preschool and elementary school children. This podcast will help you understand how people get head lice, and how to get rid of them!  Created: 5/30/2008 by National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-Borne, and Enteric Diseases (NCZVED), Division of Parasitic Diseases (DPD).   Date Released: 8/4/2008.

Head Lice: Prevention and Control

Science.gov (United States)

... and General Public. Contact Us Parasites Home Prevention & Control Language: English (US) Español (Spanish) Recommend on Facebook ... that can be taken to help prevent and control the spread of head lice: Avoid head-to- ...

Chewing lice from wild birds in northern Greece.

Science.gov (United States)

Diakou, Anastasia; Pedroso Couto Soares, José Bernardo; Alivizatos, Haralambos; Panagiotopoulou, Maria; Kazantzidis, Savas; Literák, Ivan; Sychra, Oldřich

2017-10-01

Greece represents an important area for wild birds due to its geographical position and habitat diversity. Although the bird species in Greece are well recorded, the information about the chewing lice that infest them is practically non-existent. Thus, the aim of the present study was to record the species of lice infesting wild birds in northern Greece and furthermore, to associate the infestation prevalence with factors such as the age, sex, migration and social behaviour of the host as well as the time of the year. In total 729 birds, (belonging to 9 orders, 32 families and 68 species) were examined in 7 localities of northern Greece, during 9 ringing sessions from June 2013 until October 2015. Eighty (11%) of the birds were found to be infested with lice. In 31 different bird species, 560 specimens of lice, belonging to 33 species were recorded. Mixed infestations were recorded in 11 cases where birds were infested with 2-3 different lice species. Four new host-parasite associations were recorded i.e. Menacanthus curuccae from Acrocephalus melanopogon, Menacanthus agilis from Cettia cetti, Myrsidea sp. from Acrocephalus schoenobaenus, and Philopretus citrinellae from Spinus spinus. Moreover, Menacanthus sinuatus was detected on Poecile lugubris, rendering this report the first record of louse infestation in this bird species. The statistical analysis of the data collected showed no association between parasitological parameters (prevalence, mean and median intensity and mean abundance) in two different periods of the year (breeding vs post-breeding season). However, there was a statistically significant difference in the prevalence of infestation between a) migrating and sedentary passerine birds (7.4% vs 13.2%), b) colonial and territorial birds (54.5% vs 9.6%), and c) female and male birds in breeding period (2.6% vs 15.6%). Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Head Lice Infestation (Pediculosis and Associated Factors among Primary School Girls in Sirik County, Southern Iran

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alireza Sanei-Dehkordi

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Background Head lice infestation (pediculosis is a serious health problem that can cause a high level of anxiety and psychological frustration, especially in developing countries.Socio-demographic factors are important determinants of the occurrence of head lice infestation. This study aimed to determine the head lice infestations and the factors affecting the rate of infestationin primary school girls.   Materials and Methods In this cross-sectional study, a total of 358 school girls from two urban and three rural primary school girls in Sirik County, Southern Iran, were randomly selected. For the diagnosis of head lice infestation, students were examined carefully by visual inspection of the scalp and hair for the presence of lice. Self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data on socio-demographic and associated factors of head lice infestation. SPSS version 21.0 was used to analyze the data. Results The prevalence of head lice infestation among primary school girls was 56.15%. There were significant associations between head lice infestation and age (p

September 1975 Lice, Turkey Images

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Eastern Turkey. A magnitude 6.7 earthquake that struck the Turkish district of Lice at 12:20 local time (09:20 UTC) on September 6, 1975, killing 2,311 people. The...

Use of scanning electron microscopy to confirm the identity of lice infesting communally grazed goat herds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P.J. Sebei

2004-11-01

Full Text Available Lice have been described on goats in commercial farming systems in South Africa but not from flocks on communal grazing. During a longitudinal survey on the causes of goat kid mortality, conducted in Jericho district, North West Province, lice were collected from communally grazed indigenous goats. These lice were prepared for and viewed by scanning electron microscopy, and micromorphological taxonomic details are described. Three species of lice were found in the study area and identified as Bovicola caprae, Bovicola limbatus and Linognathus africanus. Sucking and biting lice were found in ten of the 12 herds of goats examined. Lice were found on both mature goats and kids. Bovicola caprae and L. africanus were the most common biting and sucking lice respectively in all herds examined. Scanning electron microscopy revealed additional features which aided in the identification of the louse species. Photomicrographs were more accurate aids to identification than the line drawings in the literature and facilitated identification using dissecting microscope.

Use of scanning electron microscopy to confirm the identity of lice infesting communally grazed goat herds.

Science.gov (United States)

Sebei, P J; McCrindle, C M E; Green, E D; Turner, M L

2004-06-01

Lice have been described on goats in commercial farming systems in South Africa but not from flocks on communal grazing. During a longitudinal survey on the causes of goat kid mortality, conducted in Jericho district, North West Province, lice were collected from communally grazed indigenous goats. These lice were prepared for and viewed by scanning electron microscopy, and micro-morphological taxonomic details are described. Three species of lice were found in the study area and identified as Bovicola caprae, Bovicola limbatus and Linognathus africanus. Sucking and biting lice were found in ten of the 12 herds of goats examined. Lice were found on both mature goats and kids. Bovicola caprae and L. africanus were the most common biting and sucking lice respectively in all herds examined. Scanning electron microscopy revealed additional features which aided in the identification of the louse species. Photomicrographs were more accurate aids to identification than the line drawings in the literature and facilitated identification using dissecting microscope.

Clinical response and safety of malathion shampoo for treatment of head lice in a primary school.

Science.gov (United States)

Wananukul, Siriwan; Chatproedprai, Susheera; Tempark, Therdpong; Wananukul, Winai

2011-04-01

Help eradicate or at least alleviating head lice in a primary school with malathion shampoo and to study clinical response and safety of malathion shampoo. All students were examined by using a fine-toothed lice comb to help detect live lice. Direct visual examination and the collection of nits for microscopic examination were performed to differentiate viable nits from empty nits. Diagnosis of head lice was made by the presence of lice. All students that had lice and/or nits were treated with malathion shampoo. Malathion shampoo was also provided for all family members. Pediculocidal efficacy was by the presence or absence of live lice. Blood for red blood cell cholinesterase activity was drawn in 32 volunteers before treatment and after the second treatment. At the first visit, 629 students were examined and 48 students had live head lice. The infestation rate was 13% in girls and 1.3% in boys. The cure rate was 93% after the first treatment. The reported side effects were nausea, a burning sensation, and irritation that was found in five (4%), 10 (7%) and three (2%) students respectively. The mean of RBC cholinesterase activity before and after two applications showed significant changes (p = 0.03). It was -7.5 +/- 4.1% reduction from the initial, but all were in the normal range. There was no report of clinical manifestation of malathion toxicity. Malathion shampoo is safe and effective in the treatment of head lice. There is significant skin absorption so a scalp examination for head lice should be done before subsequent application to avoid unnecessary exposure.

Predicting the effectiveness of depth-based technologies to prevent salmon lice infection using a dispersal model.

Science.gov (United States)

Samsing, Francisca; Johnsen, Ingrid; Stien, Lars Helge; Oppedal, Frode; Albretsen, Jon; Asplin, Lars; Dempster, Tim

2016-07-01

Salmon lice is one of the major parasitic problems affecting wild and farmed salmonid species. The planktonic larval stages of these marine parasites can survive for extended periods without a host and are transported long distances by water masses. Salmon lice larvae have limited swimming capacity, but can influence their horizontal transport by vertical positioning. Here, we adapted a coupled biological-physical model to calculate the distribution of farm-produced salmon lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) during winter in the southwest coast of Norway. We tested 4 model simulations to see which best represented empirical data from two sources: (1) observed lice infection levels reported by farms; and (2) experimental data from a vertical exposure experiment where fish were forced to swim at different depths with a lice-barrier technology. Model simulations tested were different development time to the infective stage (35 or 50°-days), with or without the presence of temperature-controlled vertical behaviour of lice early planktonic stages (naupliar stages). The best model fit occurred with a 35°-day development time to the infective stage, and temperature-controlled vertical behaviour. We applied this model to predict the effectiveness of depth-based preventive lice-barrier technologies. Both simulated and experimental data revealed that hindering fish from swimming close to the surface efficiently reduced lice infection. Moreover, while our model simulation predicted that this preventive technology is widely applicable, its effectiveness will depend on environmental conditions. Low salinity surface waters reduce the effectiveness of this technology because salmon lice avoid these conditions, and can encounter the fish as they sink deeper in the water column. Correctly parameterized and validated salmon lice dispersal models can predict the impact of preventive approaches to control this parasite and become an essential tool in lice management strategies. Copyright

Incidence and prevalence of head lice in a district health authority area.

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, J; Crawshaw, J G; Millership, S

2003-09-01

There are very few recent studies of the incidence and prevalence of head lice in the UK. A population-based questionnaire survey was carried out in a district health authority area. Two hundred and four of 235 primary schools (87%) agreed to participate. A total of 21,556 of 43,889 (49%) questionnaires were returned by parents. Overall 438 children had head lice at the time of the survey, giving a prevalence of 2.03%; 8,059 had had lice at some time in the last year giving an annual incidence of 37.4%.

Head Lice: Malathion Frequently Asked Questions

Science.gov (United States)

... be checked for signs of infestation. Does malathion kill head lice eggs? Yes. The malathion lotion (Ovide*) ... Privacy FOIA No Fear Act OIG 1600 Clifton Road Atlanta , GA 30329-4027 USA 800-CDC-INFO ( ...

Pubic "Crab" Lice Prevention and Control

Science.gov (United States)

... and General Public. Contact Us Parasites Home Prevention & Control Recommend on Facebook Tweet Share Compartir Pubic ("crab") ... that can be taken to help prevent and control the spread of pubic ("crab") lice: All sexual ...

Use of scanning electron microscopy to confirm the identity of lice infesting communally grazed goat herds

OpenAIRE

P.J. Sebei; C.M.E. McCrindle; E.D. Green; M.L. Turner

2004-01-01

Lice have been described on goats in commercial farming systems in South Africa but not from flocks on communal grazing. During a longitudinal survey on the causes of goat kid mortality, conducted in Jericho district, North West Province, lice were collected from communally grazed indigenous goats. These lice were prepared for and viewed by scanning electron microscopy, and micromorphological taxonomic details are described. Three species of lice were found in the study area and identif...

A vulnerability assessment of 300 species in Florida: threats from sea level rise, land use, and climate change.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joshua Steven Reece

Full Text Available Species face many threats, including accelerated climate change, sea level rise, and conversion and degradation of habitat from human land uses. Vulnerability assessments and prioritization protocols have been proposed to assess these threats, often in combination with information such as species rarity; ecological, evolutionary or economic value; and likelihood of success. Nevertheless, few vulnerability assessments or prioritization protocols simultaneously account for multiple threats or conservation values. We applied a novel vulnerability assessment tool, the Standardized Index of Vulnerability and Value, to assess the conservation priority of 300 species of plants and animals in Florida given projections of climate change, human land-use patterns, and sea level rise by the year 2100. We account for multiple sources of uncertainty and prioritize species under five different systems of value, ranging from a primary emphasis on vulnerability to threats to an emphasis on metrics of conservation value such as phylogenetic distinctiveness. Our results reveal remarkable consistency in the prioritization of species across different conservation value systems. Species of high priority include the Miami blue butterfly (Cyclargus thomasi bethunebakeri, Key tree cactus (Pilosocereus robinii, Florida duskywing butterfly (Ephyriades brunnea floridensis, and Key deer (Odocoileus virginianus clavium. We also identify sources of uncertainty and the types of life history information consistently missing across taxonomic groups. This study characterizes the vulnerabilities to major threats of a broad swath of Florida's biodiversity and provides a system for prioritizing conservation efforts that is quantitative, flexible, and free from hidden value judgments.

Vertical transmission of feather lice between adult blackbirds Turdus merula and their nestlings: a lousy perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Brooke, M de L

2010-12-01

There is limited information about the natural history of the transmission of feather lice (Phthiraptera) from parent birds to their young. This article therefore examines the transmission of 4 species of feather lice from parent blackbirds to their nestlings in an English population, and addresses questions formulated from the perspective of the lice. The lice that disperse onto the several young in the nest were mostly found on the larger chicks, those with higher survival prospects. The lice dispersing to chicks were overwhelmingly nymphs, which cannot be sexed morphologically, and so the prediction that the adult lice dispersing would be disproportionately female, potential founders of a new population, was only supported for the most numerous species, Brueelia merulensis. There was no evidence that louse dispersal to chicks was density dependent and more likely when the parents were more heavily infested. Finally, I predicted that lice might aggregate on female blackbirds, which undertake more brooding, to increase their chance of transmission to nestlings. For 1 louse species, B. merulensis, prevalence, but not louse intensity, was higher on female than male blackbirds. For 2 other louse species, Philopterus turdi and Menacanthus eurysternus, no differences between male and female blackbirds were detected.

Apes, lice and prehistory.

Science.gov (United States)

Weiss, Robin A

2009-01-01

Although most epidemic human infectious diseases are caused by recently introduced pathogens, cospeciation of parasite and host is commonplace for endemic infections. Occasional host infidelity, however, provides the endemic parasite with an opportunity to survive the potential extinction of its host. Such infidelity may account for the survival of certain types of human lice, and it is currently exemplified by viruses such as HIV.

Ecomorphology of parasite attachment: experiments with feather lice.

Science.gov (United States)

Bush, Sarah E; Sohn, Edward; Clayton, Dale H

2006-02-01

The host specificity of some parasites can be reinforced by morphological specialization for attachment to mobile hosts. For example, ectoparasites with adaptations for attaching to hosts of a particular size might not be able to remain attached to larger or smaller hosts. This hypothesis is suggested by the positive correlation documented between the body sizes of many parasites and their hosts. We adopted an ecomorphological approach to test the attachment hypothesis. We tested the ability of host-specific feather lice (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera) to attach to 6 novel species of pigeons and doves that vary in size by nearly 2 orders of magnitude. Surprisingly, Rock Pigeon lice (Columbicola columbae) remained attached equally well to all 6 novel host species. We tested the relative importance of 3 factors that could facilitate louse attachment: whole-body insertion, tarsal claw use, and mandible use. Insertion, per se, was not necessary for attachment. However, insertion on coarse feathers of large hosts allowed lice to access feather barbules with their mandibles. Mandible use was a key component of attachment regardless of feather size. Attachment constraints do not appear to reinforce host specificity in this system.

Randomized, investigator-blinded, controlled clinical study with lice shampoo (Licener®) versus dimethicone (Jacutin® Pedicul Fluid) for the treatment of infestations with head lice.

Science.gov (United States)

Semmler, Margit; Abdel-Ghaffar, Fathy; Gestmann, Falk; Abdel-Aty, Mohammed; Rizk, Ibrahim; Al-Quraishy, Saleh; Lehmacher, Walter; Hoff, Norman-Philipp

2017-07-01

The present clinical trial was conducted to obtain additional data for the safety and efficacy of a head lice shampoo that is free of silicone compared with an anti-head lice product containing dimethicone. Both products act by a physical mode of action. This randomized, investigator-blinded, controlled clinical study was conducted between July and November 2016 in households of two villages (Abou Rawash and Shandalat) in Egypt. Children older than 2 years with an active head lice infestation were treated with either a shampoo-based head lice treatment containing neem extract (Licener®) or dimethicone (Jacutin® Pedicul Fluid) on day 1 and additionally on day 9. Assessment for living lice by combing was conducted before and 1-2 h after treatment and on days 5 and 13. The main objective was to demonstrate a cure rate of the test product of at least 85% after a single application (day 5 and 9). Secondary objectives were to scrutinize patient safety and satisfaction as well as cure rates on day 13 after two treatments and the evaluation of ovicidal and licicidal efficacies of the products. Sixty-one children in the test-group (Licener®) and 58 children in the reference group (Jacutin® Pedicul Fluid) were included in this study. The test product and the reference product were very well tolerated. Both products exceeded the objective of cure rates of over 85% after single treatment (test group 60/60 = 100%; 95% CI = 94.04-100.00%; reference group 54/57 = 94.74%; 95% CI = 85.38-98.90%; p = 0.112; CI by Clopper-Pearson) and after two treatments (test group 58/58 = 100%; 95% CI = 93.84-100.00%; reference group 52/54 = 96.30%; 95% CI = 87.25-99.55%; p = 0.230) with higher cure rates and non-inferiority for the test product. The combined success rate shows significant superiority of the test product against the reference product (test group 58/58 = 100%; 95% CI = 93.84-100.00%; reference group 49/54 = 90.7%; 95% CI = 79.70-96.92%; p = 0

El coeficiente de eficacia del humo de sílice

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Alaejos Gutiérrez, M. Pilar

1999-03-01

Full Text Available Silica fume is a pozzolanic addition specially used to get high resistance concrete. Present Spanish standards on additives dictate that silica fumes have to comply with specific requirements when used as concrete addition. Once it has been proved they comply with those requirements, microsilicas of different characteristics can be used, which influence concrete properties in different ways. This paper discloses the experimental results obtained in the Central Laboratory of Structures and Materials of the CEDEX with three microsilicas from different sources. Through the results it has been observed that the coefficient of efficiency of silica fume can have very different values, although complying with the standards in force. The value of this coefficient of efficiency is compared to the one included in text of the future EHE.

El humo de sílice es una adición de carácter puzolánico que se utiliza fundamentalmente para conseguir hormigones de alta resistencia. La normativa española actual de adiciones exige que el humo de sílice cumpla unos requisitos determinados para poder utilizarse como adición al hormigón. Cumpliendo estos requisitos, pueden utilizarse microsílices de características distintas que influyen de distinta manera en las propiedades del hormigón. La ponencia expone los resultados experimentales obtenidos en el Laboratorio Central de Estructuras y Materiales del CEDEX con tres microsílices de diferente procedencia. Los resultados han permitido determinar que el coeficiente de eficacia del humo de sílice puede tener valores muy diferentes, incluso con adiciones que cumplan la normativa vigente. Se compara el valor de este coeficiente de eficacia con el incluido en el texto de la futura EHE.

Distribution of chewing lice upon the polygynous peacock Pavo cristatus.

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, I R; Clark, F; Petrie, M

1996-04-01

An opportunistic survey of louse distribution upon the peacock Pavo cristatus was undertaken following a cull of 23 birds from an English zoo. After complete skin and feather dissolution, 2 species of lice were retrieved, Goniodes pavonis and Amyrsidea minuta. The distribution of both louse species could be described by a negative binomial model. The significance of this is discussed in relation to transmission dynamics of lice in the atypical avian mating system found in the peacock, which involves no male parental care.

Impact of early salmon louse, Lepeophtheirus salmonis, infestation and differences in survival and marine growth of sea-ranched Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L., smolts 1997–2009

Science.gov (United States)

Skilbrei, O T; Finstad, B; Urdal, K; Bakke, G; Kroglund, F; Strand, R

2013-01-01

The impact of salmon lice on the survival of migrating Atlantic salmon smolts was studied by comparing the adult returns of sea-ranched smolts treated for sea lice using emamectin benzoate or substance EX with untreated control groups in the River Dale in western Norway. A total of 143 500 smolts were released in 35 release groups in freshwater from 1997 to 2009 and in the fjord system from 2007 to 2009. The adult recaptures declined gradually with release year and reached minimum levels in 2007. This development corresponded with poor marine growth and increased age at maturity of ranched salmon and in three monitored salmon populations and indicated unfavourable conditions in the Norwegian Sea. The recapture rate of treated smolts was significantly higher than the controls in three of the releases performed: the only release in 1997, one of three in 2002 and the only group released in sea water in 2007. The effect of treating the smolts against salmon lice was smaller than the variability in return rates between release groups, and much smaller that variability between release years, but its overall contribution was still significant (P < 0.05) and equivalent to an odds ratio of the probability of being recaptured of 1.17 in favour of the treated smolts. Control fish also tended to be smaller as grilse (P = 0.057), possibly due to a sublethal effect of salmon lice. PMID:23311746

Embryonic development of human lice: rearing conditions and susceptibility to spinosad

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Gastón Mougabure Cueto

2006-05-01

Full Text Available The embryonic development of human lice was evaluated according to the changes in the morphology of the embryo observed through the transparent chorion. Based on ocular and appendage development, three stages of embryogenesis were established: early, medium, and late. Influence of temperature and relative humidity (RH on the laboratory rearing of Pediculus humanus capitis eggs was assessed. The optimal ranges for temperature and RH were 27-31°C and 45-75%. The susceptibility of human louse eggs to insecticide spinosad (a macrocyclic lactone was assessed by immersion method. The results showed similar susceptibility to spinosad in early, medium, and late stages of head lice eggs. In addition, this study showed similar susceptibility of head and body lice eggs to spinosad, an insecticide that has not been used as pediculicide in Argentina (lethal concentration 50: 0.01%.

Survey of Permethrin and Malathion Resistance in Human Head Lice Populations from Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kristensen, Michael; Knorr, Mette; Rasmussen, Anne-Marie

2006-01-01

was selected, 2 ng of permethrin and 100 ng of malathion per head louse, respectively. Head lice were collected from heads of infested children in Denmark at 33 primary schools, one kindergarten, and seven boarding schools. The lice were collected by combing of dry hair, with a fine-toothed antilouse comb...

Efficacy of a grapefruit extract on head lice: a clinical trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Abdel-Ghaffar, Fathy; Semmler, Margit; Al-Rasheid, Khaled; Klimpel, Sven; Mehlhorn, Heinz

2010-01-01

Twenty children aging 2-9 years old--four boys with short hair and 16 girls with long hair--were included in a clinical test on the efficacy of a product against head lice (Pediculus humanus capitis). Their hair were exposed to Licatack, which is a recently developed new anti-louse medicinal product containing extracts of grapefruits besides high quality shampoo components. Prior to this field trial, the product Licatack was tested dermatologically to be skin safe receiving the grade "very good". The children's mothers combed the kids prior to the start of the test in order to confirm that they were all lice-infested. The obtained lice were used for in vitro tests. All children were heavily infested. After combing and preservation of the living lice, the hair was wet with tap water. Then, 50 ml of the Licatack shampoo was placed onto the top of each child's head. Then, the mothers distributed the rather fluid product all over the hair thoroughly from their base at the skin until the free end. During this process, a type of massage, the product became foamy and it was easily recognized where the product covered the hair, thus, avoiding untreated spots. The hair of half of the treated children were washed with tap water after 10 min of exposition; while in the other half of the children, the exposition period was prolonged to 20 min before washing. When combing the kids with a metal louse comb after the washing, the lice were found immobile and they did not recover during the following observation period of 4 h. Only two lice from the group with an exposition time of only 10 min showed some slight leg movements after they had been combed off, but they died within the next 2 h. Thus, this new anti-louse medicinal product has a very quick and efficient activity besides its advantages of being non-inflammable, skin safe, and nice smelling. None of the kids claimed any burning at the skin or other side effects, although the skin showed, prior to treatment, lots of scars

The current threat level of fish in river network of individual sea-drainage areas in the Czech Republic

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Lusk Stanislav

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The assessment of changes in the population spread of individual ichthyofauna species (lampreys and fishes as well as the identification of unfavourable impacts is the necessary prerequisite for the correct selection of corrective measures. The river network in the Czech Republic belongs to the three sea-drainage areas (North Sea, Baltic Sea, and Black Sea. The species composition of the original ichthyofauna and the extent of the threat to some species differs in the individual sea-drainage areas. The original ichthyofauna in the Czech Republic consists of 4 lamprey species and 55 fish species. Out of this, only one lamprey species and 31 fish species originate in all three sea-drainage areas. There are 37 fish species considered as the original ones in the North Sea drainage area, there of 4 species are EX, 1 species EW, and 11 species (29.7% are threatened. In the Baltic Sea drainage area, there are 4 species EX, 1 species EW, and 8 species (22.8% threatened out of the total 35 assessed species. Out of 49 species in the Black Sea drainage area, there are 4 species EX and 23 species (46.9 % threatened.

Effect of permethrin-impregnated underwear on body lice in sheltered homeless persons: a randomized controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Benkouiten, Samir; Drali, Rezak; Badiaga, Sékéné; Veracx, Aurélie; Giorgi, Roch; Raoult, Didier; Brouqui, Philippe

2014-03-01

The control of body lice in homeless persons remains a challenge. To determine whether the use of long-lasting insecticide-treated underwear provides effective long-term protection against body lice in homeless persons. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted in February and December 2011 in 2 homeless shelters (Madrague Ville and Forbin) in Marseille, France. Of the 125 homeless persons screened for eligibility, 73 body lice-infested homeless persons, 18 years or older, were enrolled. Body lice-infested homeless persons were randomly assigned to receive 0.4% permethrin-impregnated underwear or an identical-appearing placebo for 45 days, in a 1:1 ratio, with a permuted block size of 10. Visits were scheduled at days 14 and 45. Data regarding the presence or absence of live body lice were collected. The primary and secondary end points were the proportions of homeless persons free of body lice on days 14 and 45, respectively. Mutations associated with permethrin resistance in the body lice were also identified. Significantly more homeless persons receiving permethrin-impregnated underwear than homeless persons receiving the placebo were free of body lice on day 14 in the intent-to-treat population (28% vs 9%; P = .04), with a between-group difference of 18.4 percentage points (95% CI, 1.4-35.4), and in the per-protocol population (34% vs 11%; P = .03), with a between-group difference of 23.7 percentage points (95% CI, 3.6-43.7). This difference was not sustained on day 45. At baseline, the prevalence of the permethrin-resistant haplotype was 51% in the permethrin group and 44% in the placebo group. On day 45, the permethrin-resistant haplotype was significantly more frequent in the permethrin group than in the placebo group (73% vs 45%, P < .001). Permethrin-impregnated underwear is more efficient than placebo at eliminating body louse infestations by day 14; however, this difference was not sustained on day 45. The use of permethrin

A Study of Fish Lice (Argulus Sp.) Infection in Freshwater Food Fish

OpenAIRE

Aalberg K.; Koščová L.; Šmiga Ľ.; Košuth P.; Koščo J.; Oros M.; Barčák D.; Lazar P.

2016-01-01

Argulus sp., commonly referred to as fish lice, are crustacean ectoparasites of fishes. The hematophagous parasites attach to and feed off the integument of their hosts. Outbreaks of epizootics have been reported worldwide, causing mass mortalities and having serious economic implications for fish farms and culture efforts. Argulus fish lice may also serve as vectors of infectious diseases and as intermediate hosts of other parasites. Two native European species, A. foliaceus and A. coregoni,...

New records and a new species of chewing lice (Phthiraptera, Amblycera, Ischnocera found on Columbidae (Columbiformes in Pakistan

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Saima Naz

2012-03-01

Full Text Available The chewing lice (Phthiraptera of Columbidae (Columbiformes from Pakistan are studied. Six species of chewing lice with new host records are recorded and one new species of the genus Colpocephalum is described from Columba livia in the Karachi region. All the columbid chewing lice from Pakistan are keyed out and the new species is illustrated and compared with the closest allied species.

Bird Lice (Mallophaga, Philopteridae, Menoponidae of Domestic Pigeons on Specialized Pigeon Breeding Farms in Poltava

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Kolomak I. O.

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The species composition of pigeon lice parasitic on pigeons of ornamental breeds on the specialized closed-type farm (Poltava was studied. Five species of these ectoparasites were registered: Columbicola columbae Linnaeus, 1758, Campanulotes compar Burmeister, 1838, (Philopteridae, Ischnocera, Bonomiella columbae Emerson, 1957, Hohorstiella lata Piaget, 1880 and Neocolpocephalus turbinatum (Denny, 1842 (Menoponidae, Amblycera. For each species, the data on infection prevalence, intensity and abundance were obtained. High prevalence of infection was registered for all pigeon lice species, while the intensity and, especially, the abundance were considerably different. C. columbae turned out to be the most abundant. B. columbae was rather common. The peculiarities of pigeon lice species localization on the host body were investigated. During the intensive infection of pigeons with lice, the complex of clinical signs is manifested, which testifies about considerable effect of these parasites on the host. The highest pathogenicity is characteristic for H. lata, which usually feeds on blood and lymph.

La Triple Hélice de las TIC en Ecuador

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Yolanda Esperanza Ledesma Silva

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC contribuyen al crecimiento económico global de un país. El uso de las TIC puede ser una oportunidad para modernizar tanto la gestión de la información como la administración del sistema en los tres sectores de la economía: Gobierno, Universidad y Empresa. El problema identificado es la ausencia de literatura sobre este tema. El presente artículo tiene como objetivo contribuir a resolver este problema y responder a la pregunta: ¿Cuáles son las interrelaciones entre el gobierno, las universidades y las empresas en el uso de las TIC en Ecuador? La metodología utilizada es el modelo de la Triple Hélice, con el fin de analizar las interacciones entre los tres sectores mencionados. Entre las principales conclusiones están: La primera hélice, Gobierno-Universidad, incluye la planificación pública en materia de TIC que se caracteriza por ser vertical, centralizada y excluyente, lo cual se puede observar por la falta de participación de los actores que intervienen en la formulación de proyectos y políticas relacionadas con las TIC y su aplicación.  En la segunda hélice, Gobierno-Empresa, existe la necesidad de invertir en las TIC, especialmente en el sector rural, con el fin de motivar la participación respectiva de la empresa privada y el gobierno. La tercera hélice, Empresa-Universidad, se expresa en la necesidad de conformar una comunidad 2.0 en las universidades que contribuya a la mejora del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje a través de la compartición e intercambio de información relevante entre los docentes, estudiantes y su entorno.

Nuclear genetic diversity in human lice (Pediculus humanus reveals continental differences and high inbreeding among worldwide populations.

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Marina S Ascunce

Full Text Available Understanding the evolution of parasites is important to both basic and applied evolutionary biology. Knowledge of the genetic structure of parasite populations is critical for our ability to predict how an infection can spread through a host population and for the design of effective control methods. However, very little is known about the genetic structure of most human parasites, including the human louse (Pediculus humanus. This species is composed of two ecotypes: the head louse (Pediculus humanus capitis De Geer, and the clothing (body louse (Pediculus humanus humanus Linnaeus. Hundreds of millions of head louse infestations affect children every year, and this number is on the rise, in part because of increased resistance to insecticides. Clothing lice affect mostly homeless and refugee-camp populations and although they are less prevalent than head lice, the medical consequences are more severe because they vector deadly bacterial pathogens. In this study we present the first assessment of the genetic structure of human louse populations by analyzing the nuclear genetic variation at 15 newly developed microsatellite loci in 93 human lice from 11 sites in four world regions. Both ecotypes showed heterozygote deficits relative to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and high inbreeding values, an expected pattern given their parasitic life history. Bayesian clustering analyses assigned lice to four distinct genetic clusters that were geographically structured. The low levels of gene flow among louse populations suggested that the evolution of insecticide resistance in lice would most likely be affected by local selection pressures, underscoring the importance of tailoring control strategies to population-specific genetic makeup and evolutionary history. Our panel of microsatellite markers provides powerful data to investigate not only ecological and evolutionary processes in lice, but also those in their human hosts because of the long

The treatment and eradication of sheep lice and ked with cyhalothrin--a new synthetic pyrethroid.

Science.gov (United States)

Rundle, J C; Forsyth, B A

1984-12-01

A new synthetic pyrethroid, cyhalothrin, has been evaluated as both a sheep dip and a jetting fluid for the control of body lice (Damalinia ovis), face lice (Linognathus ovillus), foot lice (Linognathus pedalis) and the sheep ked (Melophagus ovinus). A dip wash concentration of 1.25 ppm cyhalothrin eradicated D. ovis from sheep. A jetting fluid at a concentration of 20 ppm also eradicated D. ovis. In the field cyhalothrin was evaluated at 20 ppm as a dip wash and at 50 ppm as a jetting fluid. These field trials confirmed the ability of cyhalothrin to eradicate D. ovis from short and long-woolled sheep. The sucking lice, L. ovillus and L. pedalis, were also found to be very susceptible to cyhalothrin at a dip wash concentration of 20 ppm, but it was necessary to treat the predilection sites infested by these parasites twice within a 3-week period to achieve their eradication. Sheep ked (M. ovinus) were eradicated from an infected flock of sheep after plunge dipping in cyhalothrin at 20 ppm.

Development of eggs and the planktonic stages of salmon lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) at low temperatures

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boxaspen, Karin; Næss, Tore

2000-01-01

To verify if and to what extent egg and nauplii development of the salmon lice take place during winter, the development from egg to the copepodid stage at 2,3,4,5 and 10°C was examined. Newly extruded egg strings from a winter population of salmon lice were individually placed in 6 ml stagnant

Understanding and Managing Head Lice | NIH MedlinePlus the Magazine

Science.gov (United States)

... to share hats, combs, or brushes with others. Policies regarding school attendance for children with head lice vary. Sources: National Library of Medicine, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ...

Strategické plánování rozvoje města Domažlice

OpenAIRE

JANSOVÁ, Nicole

2014-01-01

The aim of the thesis "Strategic urban development planning of the town Domažlice" was to evaluate entire process of preparation, creation and implementation of the strategic plan of the municipality. The theoretical part reviews scientific literature focused on strategic planning and the characteristics of the strategic plan. Practical part contains analysis of Strategic Development Plan of the town Domažlice.

Chewing lice Trichodectes pinguis pinguis in Scandinavian brown bears (Ursus arctos

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Núria Fandos Esteruelas

2016-08-01

Full Text Available In April 2014 and 2015, we noted localized alopecia (neck, forelimbs, and chest and hyperpigmentation on two adult brown bears (Ursus arctos captured in central-south Sweden for ecological studies under the Scandinavian Brown Bear Research Project. In spring 2015, a brown bear was shot because of human-wildlife conflict in the same region. This bear also had extensive alopecia and hyperpigmentation. Ectoparasites were collected from the affected skin areas in all three individuals and preserved in ethanol for identification. Based on morphological characteristics, the lice were identified as Trichodectes spp. and Trichodectes pinguis pinguis. To our knowledge, these are the first reported cases of chewing lice in free-ranging brown bears in Scandinavia.

Origin of clothing lice indicates early clothing use by anatomically modern humans in Africa.

Science.gov (United States)

Toups, Melissa A; Kitchen, Andrew; Light, Jessica E; Reed, David L

2011-01-01

Clothing use is an important modern behavior that contributed to the successful expansion of humans into higher latitudes and cold climates. Previous research suggests that clothing use originated anywhere between 40,000 and 3 Ma, though there is little direct archaeological, fossil, or genetic evidence to support more specific estimates. Since clothing lice evolved from head louse ancestors once humans adopted clothing, dating the emergence of clothing lice may provide more specific estimates of the origin of clothing use. Here, we use a Bayesian coalescent modeling approach to estimate that clothing lice diverged from head louse ancestors at least by 83,000 and possibly as early as 170,000 years ago. Our analysis suggests that the use of clothing likely originated with anatomically modern humans in Africa and reinforces a broad trend of modern human developments in Africa during the Middle to Late Pleistocene.

A common-garden experiment to quantify evolutionary processes in copepods: the case of emamectin benzoate resistance in the parasitic sea louse Lepeophtheirus salmonis.

Science.gov (United States)

Ljungfeldt, Lina Eva Robin; Espedal, Per Gunnar; Nilsen, Frank; Skern-Mauritzen, Mette; Glover, Kevin Alan

2014-05-19

The development of pesticide resistance represents a global challenge to food production. Specifically for the Atlantic salmon aquaculture industry, parasitic sea lice and their developing resistance to delousing chemicals is challenging production. In this study, seventeen full sibling families, established from three strains of Lepeophtheirus salmonis displaying differing backgrounds in emamectin benzoate (EB) tolerance were produced and quantitatively compared under a common-garden experimental design. Lice surviving to the preadult stage were then exposed to EB and finally identified through the application of DNA parentage testing. With the exception of two families (19 and 29%), survival from the infectious copepod to preadult stage was very similar among families (40-50%). In contrast, very large differences in survival following EB exposure were observed among the families (7.9-74%). Family survival post EB exposure was consistent with the EB tolerance characteristics of the strains from which they were established and no negative effect on infection success were detected in association with increased EB tolerance. Two of the lice families that displayed reduced sensitivity to EB were established from a commercial farm that had previously used this chemical. This demonstrates that resistant alleles were present on this farm even though the farm had not reported treatment failure. To our knowledge, this represents the first study where families of any multi-cellular parasite have been established and compared in performance under communal rearing conditions in a common-garden experiment. The system performed in a predictable manner and permitted, for the first time, elucidation of quantitative traits among sea lice families. While this experiment concentrated on, and provided a unique insight into EB sensitivity among lice families, the experimental design represents a novel methodology to experimentally address both resistance development and other

Determinación de sílice libre en materias primas para la industria del cemento

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Calleja, J.

1965-12-01

Full Text Available Not availableLa existencia de sílice libre en las materias primas y, por lo tanto, en los crudos empleados en la fabricación de cemento Portland es desventajosa por la escasa reactividad de esta sílice, sobre todo si no posee una finura suficiente. La determinación de sílice cuarzosa en tales materiales es decisiva para la buena marcha de la clinkerización en fábricas cuyas materias primas adolecen de la desventaja de contenerla. Los métodos propugnados suelen ser poco reproducibles y precisos, y dan resultados bastante erráticos. En el presente trabajo, y después de haber ensayado diversos métodos citados en la bibliografía, se describe y recomienda un procedimiento, basado en el ataque del material por ácido pirofosfórico. Las variables que juegan en el proceso descrito son el tamaño de grano de la muestra, en particular el de la sílice libre, la temperatura y el tiempo de ataque. En las condiciones que se especifican se consigue una disolución prácticamente total de los silicatos, sin que apenas se· disuelvan las partículas más finas de cuarzo. Con ello se consigue una exactitud y una precisión tal como pone de manifiesto el análisis estadístico de los resultados obtenidos al determinar sílice libre en diversas materias primas y crudos para cemento.

Prevalence of head lice infestation and pediculicidal effect of permethrine shampoo in primary school girls in a low-income area in southeast of Iran.

Science.gov (United States)

Soleimani-Ahmadi, Moussa; Jaberhashemi, Seyed Aghil; Zare, Mehdi; Sanei-Dehkordi, Alireza

2017-07-24

Head lice infestation is a common public health problem that is most prevalent in primary school children throughout the world, especially in developing countries including different parts of Iran. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and risk factors associated with head lice infestation and pediculicidal effect of 1% permethrin shampoo in primary schools girls of Bashagard County, one of the low socioeconomic areas in southeast of Iran. In this interventional study six villages with similar demographical situations were selected and randomly assigned into intervention and control areas. In each area 150 girl students aged 7-12 years were selected randomly and screened for head lice infestation by visual scalp examination. In intervention area, treatment efficacy of 1% permethrin shampoo was evaluated via re-examination for infestation after one, two, and three weeks. Pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to collect data on socio-demographic and associated factors of head lice infestation. The prevalence of head lice infestation was 67.3%. There was significant association between head lice infestation and school grade, family size, parents' literacy, bathing facilities, frequency of hair washing, and use of shared articles (p shampoo for head lice treatment was 29.2, 68.9, and 90.3% after the first, second, and third weeks, respectively. The head lice infestation is a health problem in primary school girls of Bashagard County. Improvement of socioeconomic status and providing appropriate educational programs about head lice risk factors and prevention can be effective for reduction of infestation in this area. This trial has been registered and approved by Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences ethical committee (Trial No.764). Trial registration date: March 17 2014.

The threat from sea and land. Regional report 2: the Bay of Bengal.

Science.gov (United States)

1994-01-01

This article reports on the environmental threat caused by the Bay of Bengal on the economic situation in Bangladesh and India. More than four-fifths of Bangladesh amount to an extended delta at the confluence of one of the largest river systems in the world, comprising the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna. In the Brahmaputra watershed, the rate of deforestation caused soil erosion in the Himalayas is five times as much as in the geological past. This sediment loading is often considered to be a prime factor in downstream flooding. Because of this, Bangladesh agriculture products were damaged, which led to economic instability. Furthermore, as a result of the combined impacts of population growth, poverty, no land, and inadequate food supplies, many migrated into the neighboring Indian areas. Moreover, the susceptibility of the Bay of Bengal to cyclones has caused a great number of deaths leaving millions of people homeless. Cyclone episodes are expected to be more frequent as global warming continues. Furthermore, Bangladesh was estimated to be only 5 meters above sea level, which is considered vulnerable to sea level rise. On top of these problems, trouble from the other side of Bangladesh was also predicted with the combined outflow of the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna leading to more national damage.

Efectos aerodinámicos de hélices pusher sobre la configuración aerodinámica de un flap en condiciones de bajo Reynolds

OpenAIRE

Savloff, Nehuen; Trochez Segura, Juan M.; Algozino, Santiago; Marañón Di Leo, Julio

2015-01-01

Las hélices del tipo pusher se han transformado en una opción viable en el diseño de aeronaves a partir de la década del ´90. Una gran variedad de diseños se han propuesto y construido considerando la posición de la hélice detrás del ala, detrás de fuselajes, o de empenajes de cola. En muchos casos la hélice pusher resulta tener mejor eficiencia aerodinámica que la hélice tractora, debido a la menor velocidad del flujo entrante sobre la hélice por influencia del cuerpo corriente arriba. Ademá...

Molecular detection of Acinetobacter species in lice and keds of domestic animals in Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia.

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Bersissa Kumsa

Full Text Available This study was conducted to determine the presence of Acinetobacter and Rickettsia species DNA in lice and Melophagus ovinus (sheep ked of animals from Oromia Regional State in Ethiopia. From September through November 2011, a total of 207 cattle, 85 sheep, 47 dogs and 16 cats were examined for ectoparasites. Results of morphological identification revealed several species of ectoparasites: Linognathus vituli (L. vituli, Bovicola bovis (B. bovis and Solenopotes capillatus (S. capillatus on cattle; B. ovis and Melophagus ovinus (M. ovinus on sheep; and Heterodoxus spiniger (H. spiniger on dogs. There was a significantly (p≤0.0001 higher prevalence of L. vituli observed in cattle than both S. capillatus and B. bovis. Molecular identification of lice using an 18S rRNA gene analysis confirms the identified lice species by morphological methods. We detected different Acinetobacter species among lice (11.1% and keds (86.4% including A. soli in L. vituli of cattle, A. lowffii in M. ovinus of sheep, A. pittii in H. spiniger of dogs, 1 new Acinetobacter spp. in M. ovinus and 2 new Acinetobacter spp. in H. spiniger of dogs using partial rpoB gene sequence analysis. There was a significantly higher prevalence of Acinetobacter spp. in keds than in lice (p≤0.00001. Higher percentage of Acinetobacter spp. DNA was detected in H. spiniger than in both B. ovis and L. vituli (p≤0.00001. Carbapenemase resistance encoding genes for blaOXA-23, blaOXA-24, blaOXA-58, blaNDM-1 and blaOXA-51 were not found in any lice and keds. These findings suggest that synanthropic animals and their ectoparasites might increase the risk of human exposure to zoonotic pathogens and could be a source for Acinetobacter spp. infections in humans. However, additional epidemiological data are required to determine whether ectoparasites of animals can act as environmental reservoirs and play a role in spreading these bacteria to both animal and human hosts.

Molecular detection of Acinetobacter species in lice and keds of domestic animals in Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumsa, Bersissa; Socolovschi, Cristina; Parola, Philippe; Rolain, Jean-Marc; Raoult, Didier

2012-01-01

This study was conducted to determine the presence of Acinetobacter and Rickettsia species DNA in lice and Melophagus ovinus (sheep ked) of animals from Oromia Regional State in Ethiopia. From September through November 2011, a total of 207 cattle, 85 sheep, 47 dogs and 16 cats were examined for ectoparasites. Results of morphological identification revealed several species of ectoparasites: Linognathus vituli (L. vituli), Bovicola bovis (B. bovis) and Solenopotes capillatus (S. capillatus) on cattle; B. ovis and Melophagus ovinus (M. ovinus) on sheep; and Heterodoxus spiniger (H. spiniger) on dogs. There was a significantly (p≤0.0001) higher prevalence of L. vituli observed in cattle than both S. capillatus and B. bovis. Molecular identification of lice using an 18S rRNA gene analysis confirms the identified lice species by morphological methods. We detected different Acinetobacter species among lice (11.1%) and keds (86.4%) including A. soli in L. vituli of cattle, A. lowffii in M. ovinus of sheep, A. pittii in H. spiniger of dogs, 1 new Acinetobacter spp. in M. ovinus and 2 new Acinetobacter spp. in H. spiniger of dogs using partial rpoB gene sequence analysis. There was a significantly higher prevalence of Acinetobacter spp. in keds than in lice (p≤0.00001). Higher percentage of Acinetobacter spp. DNA was detected in H. spiniger than in both B. ovis and L. vituli (p≤0.00001). Carbapenemase resistance encoding genes for blaOXA-23, blaOXA-24, blaOXA-58, blaNDM-1 and blaOXA-51 were not found in any lice and keds. These findings suggest that synanthropic animals and their ectoparasites might increase the risk of human exposure to zoonotic pathogens and could be a source for Acinetobacter spp. infections in humans. However, additional epidemiological data are required to determine whether ectoparasites of animals can act as environmental reservoirs and play a role in spreading these bacteria to both animal and human hosts.

Evidence of Sympatry of Clade A and Clade B Head Lice in a Pre-Columbian Chilean Mummy from Camarones

Science.gov (United States)

Boutellis, Amina; Drali, Rezak; Rivera, Mario A.; Mumcuoglu, Kosta Y.; Raoult, Didier

2013-01-01

Three different lineages of head lice are known to parasitize humans. Clade A, which is currently worldwide in distribution, was previously demonstrated to be present in the Americas before the time of Columbus. The two other types of head lice are geographically restricted to America and Australia for clade B and to Africa and Asia for clade C. In this study, we tested two operculated nits from a 4,000-year-old Chilean mummy of Camarones for the presence of the partial Cytb mitochondrial gene (270 bp). Our finding shows that clade B head lice were present in America before the arrival of the European colonists. PMID:24204678

Menopon gaillinae lice in the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos and Marsh harear (Circus aeruginosus in Najaf province, Iraq

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Al-Fatlawi M. A. A

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Our study considered as the first work on ectoparasites of the Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos and Marsh harear (Circus aeruginosus in Iraq. Overall, we examined 17 eagles for the period from 01\\Nov\\2016 until 25\\Feb\\2017, out of which 4were found infected (23.5%. All infected birds were female. Aquila was hunted from Najaf sea area. Under the wing and between feathers of Aquila grossly examined for detect any parasites. Lice of genus Menopon gaillinae isolated from 4 eagles, from under the wing area. Infected eagles suffering from skin redness. 38 parasites isolated from infected eagle, we prepared a slide from these louse for spp. classification. This study was on the first hand record of shaft louse (M. gallinae in Golden eagle and Marsh harear in Iraq

Seasonal infestation of donkeys by lice: phenology, risk factors and management.

Science.gov (United States)

Ellse, L; Burden, F A; Wall, R

2014-07-14

A longitudinal study was undertaken over a 21 months period to examine the seasonal abundance of lice infesting donkeys, the risk factors which predispose donkeys to infestation and the effectiveness of louse management. All the lice seen were Bovicola (Werneckiella) ocellatus. A strong seasonal pattern, which was correlated with mean monthly temperature, was observed with higher prevalence and intensity in the cooler, winter months (October-March). Overall infestation in these animals was over-dispersed, suggesting that some individuals are strongly predisposed to infestation. Donkey age and mean hair length were characteristics which affected louse prevalence: older and younger donkeys and donkeys with longer hair harboured the highest numbers of lice. However, the practice of coat-clipping, to reduce the infestation, resulted in a lower louse prevalence only in the summer, suggesting that clipping is not an effective form of louse control in cooler months. Higher louse burdens were associated with larger areas of visible excoriation and hair damage, suggesting that B. ocellatus does adversely impact animal welfare. However, the ability of animal carers to estimate louse presence or absence accurately on an individual donkey was not sufficiently high to allow targeted selective treatment of heavily infested animals to be employed effectively. As animals are housed in closed herds these findings suggest that clipping in the summer and treating all animals with insecticide in late autumn, prior to turn-in may be an effective louse management strategy. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Transcriptomic responses to emamectin benzoate in Pacific and Atlantic Canada salmon lice Lepeophtheirus salmonis with differing levels of drug resistance.

Science.gov (United States)

Sutherland, Ben J G; Poley, Jordan D; Igboeli, Okechukwu O; Jantzen, Johanna R; Fast, Mark D; Koop, Ben F; Jones, Simon R M

2015-02-01

Salmon lice Lepeophtheirus salmonis are an ecologically and economically important parasite of wild and farmed salmon. In Scotland, Norway, and Eastern Canada, L. salmonis have developed resistance to emamectin benzoate (EMB), one of the few parasiticides available for salmon lice. Drug resistance mechanisms can be complex, potentially differing among populations and involving multiple genes with additive effects (i.e., polygenic resistance). Indicators of resistance development may enable early detection and countermeasures to avoid the spread of resistance. Here, we collect sensitive Pacific L. salmonis and sensitive and resistant Atlantic L. salmonis from salmon farms, propagate in laboratory (F1), expose to EMB in bioassays, and evaluate either baseline (Atlantic only) or induced transcriptomic differences between populations. In all populations, induced responses were minor and a cellular stress response was not identified. Pacific lice did not upregulate any genes in response to EMB, but downregulated degradative enzymes and transport proteins at 50 ppb EMB. Baseline differences between sensitive and now resistant Atlantic lice were much greater than responses to exposures. All resistant lice overexpressed degradative enzymes, and resistant males, the most resistant group, overexpressed collagenases to the greatest extent. These results indicate an accumulation of baseline expression differences related to resistance.

Variation in mitochondrial minichromosome composition between blood-sucking lice of the genus Haematopinus that infest horses and pigs.

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Simon D; Barker, Stephen C; Shao, Renfu

2014-03-31

The genus Haematopinus contains 21 species of blood-sucking lice, parasitizing both even-toed ungulates (pigs, cattle, buffalo, antelopes, camels and deer) and odd-toed ungulates (horses, donkeys and zebras). The mitochondrial genomes of the domestic pig louse, Haematopinus suis, and the wild pig louse, Haematopinus apri, have been sequenced recently; both lice have fragmented mitochondrial genomes with 37 genes on nine minichromosomes. To understand whether the composition of mitochondrial minichromosomes and the gene content and gene arrangement of each minichromosome are stable within the genus, we sequenced the mitochondrial genome of the horse louse, Haematopinus asini. We used a PCR-based strategy to amplify four mitochondrial minichromosomes in near full-length, and then amplify the entire coding regions of all of the nine mitochondrial minichromosomes of the horse louse. These amplicons were sequenced with an Illumina Hiseq platform. We identified all of the 37 mitochondrial genes typical of bilateral animals in the horse louse, Haematopinus asini; these genes are on nine circular minichromosomes. Each minichromosome is 3.5-5.0 kb in size and consists of a coding region and a non-coding region except R-nad4L-rrnS-C minichromosome, which contains two coding regions and two non-coding regions. Six of the nine minichromosomes of the horse louse have their counterparts in the pig lice with the same gene content and gene arrangement. However, the gene content and arrangement of the other three minichromosomes of the horse louse, including R-nad4L-rrnS-C, are different from that of the other three minichromosomes of the pig lice. Comparison between the horse louse and the pig lice revealed variation in the composition of mitochondrial minichromosomes within the genus Haematopinus, which can be accounted for by gene translocation events between minichromosomes. The current study indicates that inter-minichromosome recombination plays a major role in generating the

Nuevo método gravimétrico, esencialmente modificado, para la determinación de sílice en silicatos atacables por ácido, basado en los nuevos conocimientos descubiertos en el estudio del comportamiento de los geles de sílice deshidratados en soluciones ácid

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Goma, F.

1976-12-01

Full Text Available Not availableSe investigan, en primer lugar, las causas de error en la determinación de sílice que provienen de las condiciones externas al método en s% como son: la homogeneización, el estado de la muestra en el momento de la pesada para el análisis, y la influencia que tiene el contenido de los álcalis, parcialmente volátiles, sobre la determinación de la cantidad de materia fija después de la calcinación. Se establecen las condiciones previas del tratamiento de la muestra, según su naturaleza, para obtener siempre resultados reproducibles. Un estudio sistemático del comportamiento de los geles de sílice, obtenidos en las mismas condiciones que los que se producen en el análisis, ha permitido explicar, por primera vez, las causas que producen las llamadas "segundas sílices" y permite ver que el paso de sílice a la solución es debido a una disolución verdadera y no a un fenómeno coloidal. La aplicación al procedimiento clásico, de todos estos hechos experimentales hallados en estas investigaciones, ha permitido establecer un método simplificado y esencialmente modificado, que se describe. Se compara su alcance con los actuales métodos de mayor autoridad y se concluye que, con una sola extracción, se consigue: una recuperación prácticamente total de sílice y conocer la cantidad ''mínima y constante" de sílice que pasa al filtrado, con lo que se ha conseguido, además de la simplificación del método, un mayor grado de exactitud y un margen de reproducibilidad que es más estrecho en cualquier caso y cuando la sílice es componente mayoritario, como en los clínkeres y cementos portland, se estima es ± 0,05.

Control of head lice with a coconut-derived emulsion shampoo.

Science.gov (United States)

Connolly, M; Stafford, K A; Coles, G C; Kennedy, C T C; Downs, A M R

2009-01-01

To evaluate a novel coconut-derived emulsion (CDE) shampoo against head lice infestation in children. A school trial in which pupils were treated on days 0 and 7 and checked on days 8 and 15 and a family trial where product was applied by parents three times in 2 weeks or used as a cosmetic shampoo and checked on days 14 and days 70. UK schools in Bristol and Western-super-Mare and families in Northern Somerset. Numbers of children free from infestation after treatment. In the school trial, percentage cures at day 8 were 14% (permethrin, n=7) and 61% (CDE, n=37). In the family trial where all family members were treated, cure rate was 96% (n=28), and if the shampoo was subsequently used as a cosmetic shampoo, only 1 of 12 children became re-infested after 10 weeks. CDE shampoo is a novel effective method of controlling head lice and used after treatment as a cosmetic shampoo can aid in the reduction of re-infestation.

Rates of genomic divergence in humans, chimpanzees and their lice.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Kevin P; Allen, Julie M; Olds, Brett P; Mugisha, Lawrence; Reed, David L; Paige, Ken N; Pittendrigh, Barry R

2014-02-22

The rate of DNA mutation and divergence is highly variable across the tree of life. However, the reasons underlying this variation are not well understood. Comparing the rates of genetic changes between hosts and parasite lineages that diverged at the same time is one way to begin to understand differences in genetic mutation and substitution rates. Such studies have indicated that the rate of genetic divergence in parasites is often faster than that of their hosts when comparing single genes. However, the variation in this relative rate of molecular evolution across different genes in the genome is unknown. We compared the rate of DNA sequence divergence between humans, chimpanzees and their ectoparasitic lice for 1534 protein-coding genes across their genomes. The rate of DNA substitution in these orthologous genes was on average 14 times faster for lice than for humans and chimpanzees. In addition, these rates were positively correlated across genes. Because this correlation only occurred for substitutions that changed the amino acid, this pattern is probably produced by similar functional constraints across the same genes in humans, chimpanzees and their ectoparasites.

prevalence of head lice infestation in primary school children in port ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2013-08-01

Aug 1, 2013 ... Excoriation and secondary pyoderma, following trauma due to scratching, may result in matting together of the hair, cervical and occipital lymphadenopathy. Severe cases may result in group A Streptococcal impetigo with the risk of developing rheumatic heart disease and glomerulonephritis (14). Head lice.

Navigational threats by derelict fishing gear to navy ships in the Korean seas.

Science.gov (United States)

Hong, Sunwook; Lee, Jongmyoung; Lim, Sehan

2017-06-30

This study assessed the impact of derelict fishing gear (DFG) on navigation. The Republic of Korea's navy (ROKN) recorded every case of approximately 170 naval ships associated with propeller entanglement by DFG from January 2010 to December 2015. The frequency of cases was 2.3 per ship and 397.7 (±37.5) per year. The amount of DFG disentangled was 0.025tons per ship and 10.0 (±1.7) tons per year. The frequency temporally decreased whereas the amount increased over these six years. To disentangle propellers, 3.1 divers were needed on average per case. Propeller entanglement occurred in all local seas and some of these areas showed increases over time. Our study highlights that the impact of DFG on navigational threats has been persistent and ubiquitous and can potentially be reduced by preventing DFG in fishing areas, with a focus on improved management by fishermen and government and with more efficient retrieval of DFG. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Mapping the social network: tracking lice in a wild primate (Microcebus rufus population to infer social contacts and vector potential

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Zohdy Sarah

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Studies of host-parasite interactions have the potential to provide insights into the ecology of both organisms involved. We monitored the movement of sucking lice (Lemurpediculus verruculosus, parasites that require direct host-host contact to be transferred, in their host population of wild mouse lemurs (Microcebus rufus. These lemurs live in the rainforests of Madagascar, are small (40 g, arboreal, nocturnal, solitary foraging primates for which data on population-wide interactions are difficult to obtain. We developed a simple, cost effective method exploiting the intimate relationship between louse and lemur, whereby individual lice were marked, without removal from their host, with an individualized code, and tracked throughout the lemur population. We then tested the hypotheses that 1 the frequency of louse transfers, and thus interactions, would decrease with increasing distance between paired individual lemurs; 2 due to host polygynandry, social interactions and hence louse transfers would increase during the onset of the breeding season; and 3 individual mouse lemurs would vary in their contributions to the spread of lice. Results We show that louse transfers involved 43.75% of the studied lemur population, exclusively males. Louse transfers peaked during the breeding season, perhaps due to increased social interactions between lemurs. Although trap-based individual lemur ranging patterns are restricted, louse transfer rate does not correlate with the distance between lemur trapping locales, indicating wider host ranging behavior and a greater risk of rapid population-wide pathogen transmission than predicted by standard trapping data alone. Furthermore, relatively few lemur individuals contributed disproportionately to the rapid spread of lice throughout the population. Conclusions Using a simple method, we were able to visualize exchanges of lice in a population of cryptic wild primates. This method not only

Effectiveness of isopropyl myristate/cyclomethicone D5 solution of removing cuticular hydrocarbons from human head lice (Pediculus humanus capitis

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Barnett Eric

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In the treatment of human head lice infestation, healthcare providers are increasingly concerned about lice becoming resistant to existing pesticide treatments. Traditional pesticides, used to control these pests, have a neurological mechanism of action. This publication describes a topical solution with a non-traditional mechanism of action, based on physical disruption of the wax layer that covers the cuticle of the louse exoskeleton. This topical solution has been shown clinically to cure 82% of patients with only a 10-minute treatment time, repeated once after 7 days. All insects, including human head lice, have a wax-covered exoskeleton. This wax, composed of hydrocarbons, provides the insect with protection against water loss and is therefore critical to its survival. When the protective wax is disrupted, water loss becomes uncontrollable and irreversible, leading to dehydration and death. A specific pattern of hydrocarbons has been found in all of the head louse cuticular wax studied. Iso-octane effectively removes these hydrocarbons from human head lice’s cuticular wax. Methods A method of head louse cuticle wax extraction and analysis by gas chromatography was developed. Human head lice (Pediculus humanus capitis were collected from infested patients and subjected to any of three extraction solvents comprising either the test product or one of two solvents introduced as controls. A gas chromatograph equipped with a flame ionization detector (GC/FID was used to determine the presence of hydrocarbons in the three head lice extracts. Results In the study reported herein, the test product isopropyl myristate/cyclomethicone D5 (IPM/D5 was shown to perform comparably with iso-octane, effectively extracting the target hydrocarbons from the cuticular wax that coats the human head louse exoskeleton. Conclusions Disruption of the integrity of the insect cuticle by removal of specific hydrocarbons found in the cuticular wax

An overview of non-traditional nuclear threats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geelhood, B.D.; Wogman, N.A.

2005-01-01

In view of the terrorist threats to the United States, the country needs to consider new vectors and weapons related to nuclear and radiological threats against our homeland. The traditional threat vectors, missiles and bombers, have expanded to include threats arriving through the flow of commerce. The new commerce-related vectors include: sea cargo, truck cargo, rail cargo, air cargo, and passenger transport. The types of weapons have also expanded beyond nuclear warheads to include radiation dispersal devices (RDD) or 'dirty' bombs. The consequences of these nuclear and radiological threats are both economic and life threatening. The defense against undesirable materials entering our borders involves extensive radiation monitoring at ports of entry. The radiation and other signatures of potential nuclear and radiological threats are examined along with potential sensors to discover undesirable items in the flow of commerce. Techniques to improve radiation detection are considered. A strategy of primary and secondary screening is proposed to rapidly clear most cargo and carefully examine suspect cargo. (author)

TRÍPLICE HÉLICE: A RELAÇÃO UNIVERSIDADE-EMPRESA EM BUSCA DA INOVAÇÃO

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Myller Augusto Santos Gomes

2014-06-01

Full Text Available O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar a relação universidade-empresa buscando evidências teóricas que evidenciem os benefícios e as barreiras relacionadas ao modelo Tríplice Hélice. Para este artigo a terceira hélice, governo, é reconhecida como participante do processo, mas é entendido como hélice mediadora da relação Universidade-Empresa e responsável pela melhora do desempenho entre U-E. Para alcançar o objetivo proposto, levantou-se o histórico do modelo Tríplice Hélice, empreendedorismo e inovação tecnológica. Como resultado da pesquisa identificou-se as barreiras que geram conflitos e conduzem um processo de baixa produtividade, destacando-se: falta de administração dos projetos; a falta de administração dos projetos de forma profissional nas universidades; os altos custos envolvidos; indefinições na elaboração de clara política institucional de relacionamento com o ambiente externo aumentam as incertezas; existência de dúvida sobre o valor da cooperação; e complexidade dos contratos a serem negociados. No tocante aos facilitadores, identificou-se que o conflito ideológico entre a universidade e o setor empresarial tende a ser superado, possibilitando um incremento na confiança mutua e que a inovação é entendida como uma chave do processo de mudança, direcionando o papel da universidade, eximindo-a da função de protagonista no campo econômico e direcionando-a para a responsabilidade social.

Efficacy of herbal shampoo base on native plant against head lice (Pediculus humanus capitis De Geer, Pediculidae: Phthiraptera) in vitro and in vivo in Thailand.

Science.gov (United States)

Soonwera, Mayura

2014-09-01

Head lice infestation (or pediculosis) is an important public health problem in Thailand, especially in children between the ages 5 and 11 years. Head lice resistance is increasing, chemical pediculicides have lost their efficacy, and, therefore, alternative pediculicides such as herbal shampoos have been proposed to treat head lice infestation. Thus, the present study investigated the efficacy of three herbal shampoos based on native plants in Thailand (Acorus calamus Linn., Phyllanthus emblica Linn., and Zanthoxylum limonella Alston) against head lice and compared them with carbaryl shampoo (Hafif shampoo, 0.6% w/v carbaryl), malathion shampoo (A-Lice shampoo, 1.0% w/v malathion), and commercial shampoos (Babi Mild Natural' N Mild and Johnson's baby shampoo) in order to assess their in vitro and in vivo efficacy. For in vitro study, doses of 0.12 and 0.25 ml/cm(2) of each herbal shampoo were applied to filter paper, then 10 head lice were place on the filter paper. The mortalities of head lice were recorded at 5, 15, 30, and 60 min. The results revealed that all herbal shampoo were more effective on pediculicidal activity than chemical and commercial shampoos with 100% mortality at 15 min; LT₅₀ values ranged from 0.25 to 1.90 min. Meanwhile, chemical shampoos caused 20-80% mortality, and LT₅₀ values ranged from 6.50 to 85.43 min. On the other side, commercial shampoos showed 4.0% mortality. The most effective pediculicide was Z. limonella shampoo, followed by A. calamus shampoo, P. emblica shampoo, carbaryl shampoo, malathion shampoo, and commercial shampoo, respectively. In vivo results showed that all herbal shampoos were also more effective for head lice treatment than chemical and commercial shampoos with 94.67-97.68% of cure rate after the first treatment; the second treatment, 7 days later, revealed that the cure rate was 100%. Meanwhile, chemical shampoo showed 71.67-93.0% of cure rate and, unfortunately, commercial shampoos were nontoxic to

Head lice infestation in school children of a low socio- economy ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

STORAGESEVER

2008-07-04

Jul 4, 2008 ... In the old Gaza city and the rural village Jabalia within the Gaza Governorate the rate of infestation with lice was 14.1% in the primary school girls. (Al-Shawa, 2006). In a high socio-economy area in Izmir,. Turkey, 4.2% of the studied population of the secondary and elementary school children were infested ...

Evidence for the Induction of Key Components of the NOTCH Signaling Pathway via Deltamethrin and Azamethiphos Treatment in the Sea Louse Caligus rogercresseyi

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Sebastian Boltaña

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The extensive use of organophosphates and pyrethroids in the aquaculture industry has negatively impacted parasite sensitivity to the delousing effects of these antiparasitics, especially among sea lice species. The NOTCH signaling pathway is a positive regulator of ABC transporter subfamily C expression and plays a key role in the generation and modulation of pesticide resistance. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms behind pesticide resistance, partly due to the lack of genomic and molecular information on the processes involved in the resistance mechanism of sea lice. Next-generation sequencing technologies provide an opportunity for rapid and cost-effective generation of genome-scale data. The present study, through RNA-seq analysis, determined that the sea louse Caligus rogercresseyi (C. rogercresseyi specifically responds to the delousing drugs azamethiphos and deltamethrin at the transcriptomic level by differentially activating mRNA of the NOTCH signaling pathway and of ABC genes. These results suggest that frequent antiparasitic application may increase the activity of inhibitory mRNA components, thereby promoting inhibitory NOTCH output and conditions for increased resistance to delousing drugs. Moreover, data analysis underscored that key functions of NOTCH/ABC components were regulated during distinct phases of the drug response, thus indicating resistance modifications in C. rogercresseyi resulting from the frequent use of organophosphates and pyrethroids.

Effect of exposure on salmon lice Lepeophtheirus salmonis population dynamics in Faroese salmon farms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Patursson, Esbern J.; Simonsen, Knud; Visser, Andre

2017-01-01

We assessed variations in salmon lice Lepeophtheirus salmonis population dynamics in Faroese salmon farms in relationship to their physical exposure to local circulation patterns and flushing with adjacent waters. Factors used in this study to quantify physical exposure are estimates...... of the freshwater exchange rate, the tidal exchange rate and dispersion by tidal currents. Salmon farms were ranked according to the rate of increase in the average numbers of salmon lice per fish. In a multiple linear regression, physical exposure together with temperature were shown to have a significant effect...... threshold of salmon stocking numbers for outbreaks of infection. The study presents a simple method of characterizing salmon farming fjords in terms of their different exposure levels and how they relate to potential self-infection at these sites...

Classifying threats with a 14-MeV neutron interrogation system.

Science.gov (United States)

Strellis, Dan; Gozani, Tsahi

2005-01-01

SeaPODDS (Sea Portable Drug Detection System) is a non-intrusive tool for detecting concealed threats in hidden compartments of maritime vessels. This system consists of an electronic neutron generator, a gamma-ray detector, a data acquisition computer, and a laptop computer user-interface. Although initially developed to detect narcotics, recent algorithm developments have shown that the system is capable of correctly classifying a threat into one of four distinct categories: narcotic, explosive, chemical weapon, or radiological dispersion device (RDD). Detection of narcotics, explosives, and chemical weapons is based on gamma-ray signatures unique to the chemical elements. Elements are identified by their characteristic prompt gamma-rays induced by fast and thermal neutrons. Detection of RDD is accomplished by detecting gamma-rays emitted by common radioisotopes and nuclear reactor fission products. The algorithm phenomenology for classifying threats into the proper categories is presented here.

Increased susceptibility to infectious salmon anemia virus (ISAv) in Lepeophtheirus salmonis – infected Atlantic salmon

Science.gov (United States)

The salmon louse and infectious salmon anemia virus (ISAv) are the two most significant pathogens of concern to the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) aquaculture industry. However, the interactions between sea lice and ISAv, as well as the impact of a prior sea lice infection on the susceptibility of th...

Immunostimulation of Salmo salar L., and its effect on Lepeophtheirus salmonis (Krøyer) P-glycoprotein mRNA expression following subsequent emamectin benzoate exposure.

Science.gov (United States)

Igboeli, O O; Purcell, S L; Wotton, H; Poley, J; Burka, J F; Fast, M D

2013-03-01

Control of sea lice, Lepeophtheirus salmonis, on farmed Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, relies heavily on chemotherapeutants. However, reduced efficacy of many treatments and need for integrated sea lice management plans require innovative strategies. Resistance to emamectin benzoate (EMB), a major sea lice parasiticide, has been linked with P-glycoprotein (P-gp) expression. We hypothesized that host immunostimulation would complement EMB treatment outcome. Lepeophtheirus salmonis-infected Atlantic salmon were fed immunostimulatory or control feeds. Sea lice were collected for 24-h EMB bioassays 1 and 2 weeks prior to commencement of EMB treatment of the fish. Two weeks after cessation of immunostimulant-treated feed, EMB was administered at 150 μg kg(-1) fish biomass for 7 days. The bioassay revealed stage, gender and immunostimulant-related differences in EMB EC(50) . Sea lice attached to salmon with a history of immunostimulation exhibited significantly greater survival than those on control feeds, despite similar levels of EMB in host tissues. Lepeophtheirus salmonis from salmon with a history of immunostimulation also exhibited higher P-gp mRNA expression as well as greater survivability compared to controls. Administration of immunostimulants prior to EMB treatment caused increased expression of P-gp mRNA which could have consequently caused decreased efficacy of the parasiticide. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Detection of Small Sea-Surface Targets with a Search Lidar

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heuvel, J.C. van den; Bekman, H.H.P.T.; Putten, F.J.M.; Cohen, L.A.

2007-01-01

Naval operations in the littoral have to deal with the threat of small sea-surface targets. These targets have a low radar cross-section and low velocity, which makes them hard to detect by radar in the presence of sea clutter. Typical threats include periscopes, jet skies, FIAC’s, and speedboats.

Coastal Sea Levels, Impacts, and Adaptation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas Wahl

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Sea-level rise (SLR poses a great threat to approximately 10% of the world’s population residing in low-elevation coastal zones (i.e., land located up to 10 m of present-day mean sea-level (MSL[...

The distribution and diversity of sea cucumbers in the coral reefs of the South China Sea, Sulu Sea and Sulawesi Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Woo, Sau Pinn; Yasin, Zulfigar; Ismail, Siti Hasmah; Tan, Shau Hwai

2013-11-01

A study on the distribution and diversity of sea cucumbers in the coral reefs of the South China Sea, Sulu Sea and Sulawesi Sea was carried out in July 2009. The survey was done using wandering transect underwater with SCUBA. Twelve species of sea cucumber were found from four different families and nine genera. The most dominant family was Holothuriidae (five species), followed by Stichopodidae (three species), Synaptidae (three species) and Cucumariidae with only one species. The most dominant species found around the island was Pearsonothuria graffei, which can be found abundantly on substrate of dead corals in a wide range of depth (6-15 m). The Sulawesi Sea showed a higher diversity of sea cucumber with seven different species compared to the South China Sea with only six different species and Sulu Sea with only two species. Ordination by multidimensional scaling of Bray-Curtis similarities clustered the sampling locations to three main clusters with two outgroups. Previous studies done indicated a higher diversity of sea cucumber as compared to this study. This can be indication that the population and diversity of sea cucumbers in the reef is under threat.

Physiological effects of simultaneous, abrupt seawater entry and sea lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) infestation of wild, sea-run brown trout (Salmo trutta) smolts

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wells, A.; Grierson, C.E.; MacKenzie, M.A.; Russon, I.; Middlemiss, C.; Bjorn, P.A.; Finstad, B.; Wendelaar Bonga, S.E.; Todd, C.D.; Hazon, N.

2006-01-01

For wild, sea-run brown trout (Salmo trutta) smolts, the physiological consequences of abrupt transfer to seawater and simultaneous challenge with copepodid larvae of the sea louse, Lepeophtheirus salmonis (Kr�yer, 1837), were investigated in the laboratory. Analysis of osmoregulatory, metabolic,

The Use of GIS Methodology in Jumping Plant Lice (Hemiptera: Psylloidae Studies in Serbia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dušanka Jerinić-Prodanović

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Entomofaunistic studies contain a large number of data regarding the number ofcollected species, the number of individuals within species, time of collection, localities,species biology and morphology natural enemies and hosts. Besides thematic andtemporal components this kind of studies include spatial component which is crucialfor the use of GIS methodology and advanced possibilities of geospatial analysis. Duringour studies on jumping plant lice (Psylloidea fauna and their natural enemies on theterritory of Serbia which lasted for several years, a large number of spatially referenceddata related to this group of insects were collected. The process of collecting, archivingand classifying the data on each species was improved by applying the GIS methodologicalapproach after which the data were entered into database. The analysis of datausing thematic and spatial queries, as well as graphic, numeric and textual display of theresults from studies enabled simpler and more complete survey of horizontal and verticaldistribution of jumping plant lice, their biology and relationship with plants, predatorsand parasitoids.

'Surveyor': An Underwater System for Threat Material Detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Valkovic, Vladivoj; Sudac, Davorin; Nad, Karlo; Obhodas, Jasmina; Matika, Dario; Kollar, Robert

2010-01-01

The bottoms of the coastal seas, and oceans as well, are contaminated by many man-made objects including a variety of ammunition. This contamination is world wide spread with some areas being highly polluted presenting a serious threat to local population and to visitors as well. All littoral nations are investing lots of effort into the remediation of their coastal areas. Once the presence of the anomaly on the bottom of the shallow coastal sea water is confirmed (by visual identification and by using one or several sensors, namely magnetometer, sonar and optical cameras) it is necessary to establish if it contains explosive/chemical warfare charge. In our work we propose this to be performed by using neutron sensor installed within an underwater vessel - 'Surveyor'. When positioned above the object, or to its side, the system inspects the object for the presence of the threat material by using alpha particle tagged neutrons from the sealed tube d+t neutron generator. (author)

Negligible Egg Positive Rate of Enterobius vermicularis and No Detection of Head Lice among Orphanage Children in Busan and Ulsan, Korea (2014).

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Dong-Hee; Son, Hyun-Mi; Lee, Sang Hwa; Park, Mi Kyung; Kang, Shin Ae; Park, Sang Kyun; Choi, Jun-Ho; Park, Jung Ha; Yu, Hak-Sun

2015-08-01

To determine whether pinworm infections and head lice infestations spread among children in orphanages, 117 children from 4 orphanages in Busan-si and Ulsan-si, Korea, were examined for enterobiasis and head lice infestation between January and February 2014. The overall rate of Enterobius vermicularis egg positivity was 0.85%, whereas none of the children had head lice infestations. The rate of pinworm infection was much lower among the orphanage children compared to the rates observed in previous studies among kindergarten and primary school students. Moreover, the risk factors for enterobiasis were less frequent among these subjects than previously reported. The personal hygiene and health of the orphanage children were supervised by a regular, employed nurse through a health education program. In conclusion, pinworm infection was efficiently controlled among the children in orphanages, and this might be related to good personal hygiene practices in Korea.

Informe higiénico de polvo de sílice y de amianto

OpenAIRE

Roca Ruiz, Patricia

2012-01-01

Informe de una medición de amianto y de polvo de sílice, modelo de un plan de prevención de riesgos laborales. Departamento de Ingeniería Química y Tecnología del Medio Ambiente Máster en Gestión de la Prevención de Riesgos Laborales, Calidad y Medio Ambiente

Fin whales and microplastics: The Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Cortez scenarios

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fossi, Maria Cristina; Marsili, Letizia; Baini, Matteo; Giannetti, Matteo; Coppola, Daniele; Guerranti, Cristiana; Caliani, Ilaria; Minutoli, Roberta; Lauriano, Giancarlo; Finoia, Maria Grazia; Rubegni, Fabrizio; Panigada, Simone; Bérubé, Martine; Urbán Ramírez, Jorge; Panti, Cristina

2016-01-01

The impact that microplastics have on baleen whales is a question that remains largely unexplored. This study examined the interaction between free-ranging fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) and microplastics by comparing populations living in two semi-enclosed basins, the Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California, Mexico). The results indicate that a considerable abundance of microplastics and plastic additives exists in the neustonic samples from Pelagos Sanctuary of the Mediterranean Sea, and that pelagic areas containing high densities of microplastics overlap with whale feeding grounds, suggesting that whales are exposed to microplastics during foraging; this was confirmed by the observation of a temporal increase in toxicological stress in whales. Given the abundance of microplastics in the Mediterranean environment, along with the high concentrations of Persistent Bioaccumulative and Toxic (PBT) chemicals, plastic additives and biomarker responses detected in the biopsies of Mediterranean whales as compared to those in whales inhabiting the Sea of Cortez, we believe that exposure to microplastics because of direct ingestion and consumption of contaminated prey poses a major threat to the health of fin whales in the Mediterranean Sea. - Highlights: • Microplastics and phthalates were higher in the Mediterranean Sea than in the Sea of Cortez. • The overlap between the whale feeding areas and high microplastic density shows the risk of interaction. • Data suggest an increasing risk of chemical transfer from microplastic to whales during the foraging. • Mediterranean whales are exposed to higher ecotoxicological threat of than Sea of Cortez whales. - This study identified temporal and regional ecotoxicological variations in free-ranging fin whales inhabiting two seas different characterized by different microplastic abundance.

Aquaporin family genes exhibit developmentally-regulated and host-dependent transcription patterns in the sea louse Caligus rogercresseyi.

Science.gov (United States)

Farlora, Rodolfo; Valenzuela-Muñoz, Valentina; Chávez-Mardones, Jacqueline; Gallardo-Escárate, Cristian

2016-07-01

Aquaporins are small integral membrane proteins that function as pore channels for the transport of water and other small solutes across the cell membrane. Considering the important roles of these proteins in several biological processes, including host-parasite interactions, there has been increased research on aquaporin proteins recently. The present study expands on the knowledge of aquaporin family genes in parasitic copepods, examining diversity and expression during the ontogeny of the sea louse Caligus rogercresseyi. Furthermore, aquaporin expression was evaluated during the early infestation of Atlantic (Salmo salar) and Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). Deep transcriptome sequencing data revealed eight full length and two partial open reading frames belonging to the aquaporin protein family. Clustering analyses with identified Caligidae sequences revealed three major clades of aquaglyceroporins (Cr-Glp), classical aquaporin channels (Cr-Bib and Cr-PripL), and unorthodox aquaporins (Cr-Aqp12-like). In silico analysis revealed differential expression of aquaporin genes between developmental stages and between sexes. Male-biased expression of Cr-Glp1_v1 and female-biased expression of Cr-Bib were further confirmed in adults by RT-qPCR. Additionally, gene expressions were measured for seven aquaporins during the early infestation stage. The majority of aquaporin genes showed significant differential transcription expressions between sea lice parasitizing different hosts, with Atlantic salmon sea lice exhibiting overall reduced expression as compared to Coho salmon. The observed differences in the regulation of aquaporin genes may reveal osmoregulatory adaptations associated with nutrient ingestion and metabolite waste export, exposing complex host-parasite relationships in C. rogercresseyi. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Identification of Novel Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel Mutations in Human Head and Body Lice (Phthiraptera: Pediculidae).

Science.gov (United States)

Firooziyan, Samira; Sadaghianifar, Ali; Taghilou, Behrooz; Galavani, Hossein; Ghaffari, Eslam; Gholizadeh, Saber

2017-09-01

In recent years, the increase of head louse infestation in Iran (7.4%) and especially in West-Azerbaijan Province (248%) has raised the hypothesis of insecticide resistance development. There are different mechanisms of resistance to various groups of insecticides, and knockdown resistance (kdr) is a prominent mechanism of resistance to pyrethroids, an insecticide group which is used conventionally for pediculosis control. For detection of kdr-type well-known amino acid substitutions (M815I-T917I-L920F) and additional sodium channel mutations potentially associated with kdr resistance in head and body lice, louse populations were collected from West-Azerbaijan and Zanjan Provinces of Iran. Six novel mutations were found to be located in the IIS1-2 extracellular loop (H813P) and IIS5 (I927F, L928A, R929V, L930M, and L932M) of the α-subunit. Genotyping results showed that all specimens (100%) have at least one of these or the well-known mutations. Therefore, the presence of kdr-related and novel mutations in the sodium channel is likely to be the reason for the frequent use of pyrethroid insecticides due to treatment failure against lice. Further studies are now required to evaluate the prevalence of the kdr-like mutant allele for monitoring of insecticide resistance and the management of head and body lice in other provinces of the country. © The Authors 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Efficacy and Safety of a Mineral Oil-Based Head Lice Shampoo: A Randomized, Controlled, Investigator-Blinded, Comparative Study.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luise Wolf

Full Text Available Due to increased resistance and safety concerns with insecticide-based pediculicides, there is growing demand for head lice treatments with a physical mode of action. Certain mineral oils kill lice by blocking spiracles or by disrupting the epicuticular wax layer. The present study was performed to evaluate efficacy and safety of a mineral oil-based shampoo.This randomized, controlled, investigator-blinded, monocentric study (EudraCT registration no. 2014-002918-23 was performed from October 2014-June 2015 in Germany. A mineral oil shampoo (Mosquito® Med Läuse Shampoo 10 in Germany, Paranix or Silcap shampoo elsewhere, registered as medical device, was compared to a conventional, locally reimbursed, pyrethroid-based pediculicide (Goldgeist® Forte solution. In total, 107 patients (>1 year with confirmed head lice infestation were included (test arm: n = 53; control arm: n = 54. All subjects received two applications of either test or control product at day 0 and day 7, according to the instructions for use. Efficacy and safety was evaluated directly, 1h and 24h after first application, before and after second treatment, and at day 10. The main objective was demonstrating a cure rate for the test product, being superior to 70% at day 10.Cure rates at day 10 (corrected for re-infestation for the test product (96.1% and control (94% significantly exceeded the pre-defined target (70% (p < 0.001, 2-sided, 1-sample, chi-square test with confirmed non-inferiority for the test product. Over all visits, cure rates were consistently higher for the test product, whereas more initially-cured subjects remained lice-free until end of study (78%; control: 60%. Both products were safe and well tolerated, offering good esthetical effects.This study showed that substance-based medical devices (including the tested mineral oil shampoo can be safe and effective alternatives for insecticide-based pediculicides, with less risk for development of resistance because

Coastal life is not under threat by the carbon dioxide emissions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Albert Parker

2014-03-01

Full Text Available The near future of coastal life is threated by the claim of global warming alarmist that sea levels will rise by one to seven metres by 2100, destroying many coastal cities and habitats. This paper shows that sea levels will more likely rise no more than just a few centimetres during this century as the Earth defrosts from the Little Ice Age 500 years ago with a mild warming.

GLOBAL WARMING: IS A NEW THREAT?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ayca Eminoglu

2008-09-30

In the Post Cold War era, the concepts of ''security'', ''national security'', and ''international security'' have changed with regard to their contents and meanings. Such developments made states to renew their national security policies. Security is a special form of politics as well. All security issues are political problems but not all political conflicts are security issues. In the Post Cold War era, differentiating and increasing numbers of elements that constitutes threat changed the concept of threat and widen the capacity of security. In this term, many elements lost its effect of being a threat but also new threatening elements emerged. Environmental problems, human rights, mass migration, micro nationalism, ethnic conflicts, religious fundamentalism, contagious diseases, international terrorism, economic instabilities, drug and weapon smuggling and human trafficking are the new problems emerged in international security agenda. Environmental problems no longer take place in security issues and can be mentioned as a ''low security'' issue. They are threats to the global commons i.e. the oceans, the seas, the ozone layer and the climate system, which are life supports for mankind as a whole. Global warming is one of the most important environmental issues of our day that effects human life in every field and can be defined as a 'serious threat to international security'. Because of global warming, environmental changes will occur and these changes will cause conflicting issues in international relations. Because of global warming dwindling freshwater supplies, food shortages, political instability and other conflicts may take place. Some IR scholars see a need for global cooperation in order to face the threat. At the background of global warming and its effects, states have to get preventive measures and normally, each state form its own measures, therefore as a

Sea-level changes on multiple spatial scales: estimates and contributing processes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Frederikse, T.

2018-01-01

Being one of the major consequences of anthropogenic climate change, sea level rise forms a threat for many coastal areas and their inhabitants. Because all processes that cause sea-level changes have a spatially-varying fingerprint, local sea-level changes deviate substantially from the global

The Effect of Eradication of Lice on the Occurrence of the Grain Defect Light Flecks and Spots on Cattle Hides

Science.gov (United States)

Nafstad, O; Grønstøl, H

2001-01-01

The influence of an eradication programme for lice on the prevalence of light flecks and spots on cattle hides was studied in 33 dairy cattle herds during a period of two and a half years. Lice were eradicated from the main group of herds after 9 to 12 months and the quality of the hides before and after treatment was compared. Hides from slaughtered animals were collected during the study period, tanned and examined with special emphasis on the occurrence of the grain damage light flecks and spots. The prevalence of hides without light flecks and spots increased from 24.2% before treatment to 61.6% after treatment. The prevalence of hides free from the damage increased significantly in all examined anatomical regions. The improvement in hide quality was most marked in the shoulders and neck region which corresponded to the major predilection site of cattle lice. The prevalence of hides with light flecks and spots started to decrease in the first period (2–40 days) after eradication. The changes after treatment suggested that most healing process took place over a period of about 4 months. The eradication programme eliminated the seasonal variation in the prevalence of light flecks and spots which was present before treatment. PMID:11455906

The Effect of Eradication of Lice on the Occurrence of the Grain Defect Light Flecks and Spots on Cattle Hides

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Grønstøl H

2001-03-01

Full Text Available The influence of an eradication programme for lice on the prevalence of light flecks and spots on cattle hides was studied in 33 dairy cattle herds during a period of two and a half years. Lice were eradicated from the main group of herds after 9 to 12 months and the quality of the hides before and after treatment was compared. Hides from slaughtered animals were collected during the study period, tanned and examined with special emphasis on the occurrence of the grain damage light flecks and spots. The prevalence of hides without light flecks and spots increased from 24.2% before treatment to 61.6% after treatment. The prevalence of hides free from the damage increased significantly in all examined anatomical regions. The improvement in hide quality was most marked in the shoulders and neck region which corresponded to the major predilection site of cattle lice. The prevalence of hides with light flecks and spots started to decrease in the first period (2–40 days after eradication. The changes after treatment suggested that most healing process took place over a period of about 4 months. The eradication programme eliminated the seasonal variation in the prevalence of light flecks and spots which was present before treatment.

A Study of Fish Lice (Argulus Sp. Infection in Freshwater Food Fish

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aalberg K.

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Argulus sp., commonly referred to as fish lice, are crustacean ectoparasites of fishes. The hematophagous parasites attach to and feed off the integument of their hosts. Outbreaks of epizootics have been reported worldwide, causing mass mortalities and having serious economic implications for fish farms and culture efforts. Argulus fish lice may also serve as vectors of infectious diseases and as intermediate hosts of other parasites. Two native European species, A. foliaceus and A. coregoni, as well as the invasive Japanese fish louse A. japonicus, have previously been recorded in Slovakia. This study investigated samples collected at fish farms and culture sites of Common carp (Cyprinus carpio L., Pike-perch (Sander lucioperca L. and Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis M. in Eastern Slovakia, as well as samples collected from live fish imported to the Slovak Republic. A quantitative description of the of Argulus sp. was recorded from each locality. Samples from Common carp were identified as the invasive A. japonicus, and samples from Pike-perch and Brook trout were identified as A. foliaceus. Evidence of a mixed infection of Pike-perch with both A. foliaceus and A. japonicus was found in samples from Zemplínska Šírava, which was substantiated by electron microscopic examination. Morphometric characteristics were measured and averages and ranges produced for each species and sex.

A 200K SNP chip reveals a novel Pacific salmon louse genotype linked to differential efficacy of emamectin benzoate.

Science.gov (United States)

Messmer, Amber M; Leong, Jong S; Rondeau, Eric B; Mueller, Anita; Despins, Cody A; Minkley, David R; Kent, Matthew P; Lien, Sigbjørn; Boyce, Brad; Morrison, Diane; Fast, Mark D; Norman, Joseph D; Danzmann, Roy G; Koop, Ben F

2018-04-16

Antiparasitic drugs such as emamectin benzoate (EMB) are relied upon to reduce the parasite load, particularly of the sea louse Lepeophtheirus salmonis, on farmed salmon. The decline in EMB treatment efficacy for this purpose is an important issue for salmon producers around the world, and particularly for those in the Atlantic Ocean where widespread EMB tolerance in sea lice is recognized as a significant problem. Salmon farms in the Northeast Pacific Ocean have not historically experienced the same issues with treatment efficacy, possibly due to the relatively large population of endemic salmonid hosts that serve to both redistribute surviving lice and dilute populations potentially under selection by introducing naïve lice to farms. Frequent migration of lice among farmed and wild hosts should limit the effect of farm-specific selection pressures on changes to the overall allele frequencies of sea lice in the Pacific Ocean. A previous study using microsatellites examined L. salmonis oncorhynchi from 10 Pacific locations from wild and farmed hosts and found no population structure. Recently however, a farm population of sea lice was detected where EMB bioassay exposure tolerance was abnormally elevated. In response, we have developed a Pacific louse draft genome that complements the previously-released Atlantic louse sequence. These genomes were combined with whole-genome re-sequencing data to design a highly sensitive 201,279 marker SNP array applicable for both subspecies (90,827 validated Pacific loci; 153,569 validated Atlantic loci). Notably, kmer spectrum analysis of the re-sequenced samples indicated that Pacific lice exhibit a large within-individual heterozygosity rate (average of 1 in every 72 bases) that is markedly higher than that of Atlantic individuals (1 in every 173 bases). The SNP chip was used to produce a high-density map for Atlantic sea louse linkage group 5 that was previously shown to be associated with EMB tolerance in Atlantic lice

Delousing efficiency of farmed ballan wrasse (Labrus bergylta) against Lepeophtheirus salmonis infecting Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) post-smolts.

Science.gov (United States)

Leclercq, Eric; Davie, Andrew; Migaud, Hervé

2014-08-01

Cleaner-fish (wrasse, Labridae) are increasingly deployed within the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) industry as a biological control against sea-lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis Krøyer). Two tank-based trials were performed to test the effect of farmed ballan wrasse (Labrus bergylta Ascanius) body mass and supplementary feeding on the delousing of Atlantic salmon post-smolts with an initial infection level of ∼12 lice salmon(-1) and a ∼5% wrasse:salmon ratio. Sea-louse levels below 0.5 lice salmon(-1) were obtained within 84 h, and preferential preying upon larger motile stages was found. The wrasse body mass and the availability of fresh, opened blue mussels (Mytilus edulis L.) did not significantly affect delousing efficiency. The functional predator response was linear, showing no minimum prey density threshold for sea-louse foraging and no satiation plateau, in spite of the high consumption rates measured. Sea-louse infection levels declined following a one-phase exponential decay model, with a standardised decline time constant of 0.8-1.3% h(-1) for each wrasse stocked per 100 salmon. Farmed ballan wrasse are confirmed as highly effective therapeutic and preventive biological controls against sea-lice. The study supports the current minimum hatchery size target (10 mm total length) and the use of supplementary feeding to sustain the wrasse stocks in operation. The functional predator response and the standardised decline time constant of sea-louse abundance are proposed as useful indicators of delousing efficiency. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry.

Propiedades mecánicas de aerogeles híbridos de sílice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Piñero, M.

2005-10-01

Full Text Available Hybrids silica aerogels have been obtained by means the high power ultrasounds application in the precursor liquid and the drying of the wet gel under the supercritical condition of ethanol. The organic chains don’t degrade thermally and accelerate the network shrinkage process by thermal activation. The ultrasounds induce an organic chain crosslinking bonding to the porous silica clusters and avoid its cyclidation. The failure tests by uniaxial compression show an increase of the rupture modulus, passing from 8 MPa for a pure silica aerogel to 24 MPa for an aerogel with a 50 weight % of polymer content. It is also noted a continuous decrease of the Young’s modulus with the polymer content (from 100 to 56 MPa. These hybrid aerogels behave as elastomers with up to a 50% strain, showing a decrease in the relaxation viscoelastic modulus.

Se han obtenido aerogeles híbridos de sílice orgánico-inorgánico por aplicación de ultrasonidos de alta potencia en los precursores líquidos y posterior secado del gel húmedo en condiciones supercríticas en etanol. Las cadenas orgánicas no se degradan térmicamente y aceleran el proceso de contracción de la red por activación térmica. Los ultrasonidos inducen un entrecruzamiento de cadenas orgánicas que unen los cúmulos de sílice porosa y evitan su ciclidación. Los ensayos de ruptura en compresión uniaxial indicaron un aumento del módulo de ruptura, pasando de 8 MPa para el aerogel de sílice pura hasta 24 MPa para un aerogel de 50% en peso de contenido de polímero. Se observa asimismo una disminución continua en el módulo de Young con el contenido de polímero (de 100 a 56 MPa. Estos aerogeles híbridos se comportan como elastómeros con deformaciones de hasta el 50%, mostrando una disminución del módulo de relajación viscoelástica.

Pollution, habitat loss, fishing, and climate change as critical threats to penguins.

Science.gov (United States)

Trathan, Phil N; García-Borboroglu, Pablo; Boersma, Dee; Bost, Charles-André; Crawford, Robert J M; Crossin, Glenn T; Cuthbert, Richard J; Dann, Peter; Davis, Lloyd Spencer; De La Puente, Santiago; Ellenberg, Ursula; Lynch, Heather J; Mattern, Thomas; Pütz, Klemens; Seddon, Philip J; Trivelpiece, Wayne; Wienecke, Barbara

2015-02-01

Cumulative human impacts across the world's oceans are considerable. We therefore examined a single model taxonomic group, the penguins (Spheniscidae), to explore how marine species and communities might be at risk of decline or extinction in the southern hemisphere. We sought to determine the most important threats to penguins and to suggest means to mitigate these threats. Our review has relevance to other taxonomic groups in the southern hemisphere and in northern latitudes, where human impacts are greater. Our review was based on an expert assessment and literature review of all 18 penguin species; 49 scientists contributed to the process. For each penguin species, we considered their range and distribution, population trends, and main anthropogenic threats over the past approximately 250 years. These threats were harvesting adults for oil, skin, and feathers and as bait for crab and rock lobster fisheries; harvesting of eggs; terrestrial habitat degradation; marine pollution; fisheries bycatch and resource competition; environmental variability and climate change; and toxic algal poisoning and disease. Habitat loss, pollution, and fishing, all factors humans can readily mitigate, remain the primary threats for penguin species. Their future resilience to further climate change impacts will almost certainly depend on addressing current threats to existing habitat degradation on land and at sea. We suggest protection of breeding habitat, linked to the designation of appropriately scaled marine reserves, including in the High Seas, will be critical for the future conservation of penguins. However, large-scale conservation zones are not always practical or politically feasible and other ecosystem-based management methods that include spatial zoning, bycatch mitigation, and robust harvest control must be developed to maintain marine biodiversity and ensure that ecosystem functioning is maintained across a variety of scales. © 2014 The Authors. Conservation Biology

Decline of the Sea Turtles: Causes and Prevention.

Science.gov (United States)

National Academy of Sciences - National Research Council, Washington, DC. Commission on Life Sciences.

A report submitted by the Committee on Sea Turtle Conservation, addresses threats to the world's sea turtle populations to fulfill a mandate of the Endangered Species Act Amendments of 1988. It presents information on the populations, biology, ecology, and behavior of five endangered or threatened turtle species: the Kemp's ridley, loggerhead,…

A Relação Universidade-Empresa no Brasil e o “Argumento da Hélice Tripla”

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Renato Dagnino

2004-01-01

Full Text Available Analizando la evolución de las interpretaciones sobre la relación Universidad-Empresa en América Latina, se muestra cómo el argumento de la triple hélice contribuyó para que la interpretación que hasta el final de los años 80 era dominante perdiese influencia y cómo el de bate en curso entre esas dos actuales posiciones parece encaminarse. Para ofrecer un cuadro para el análisis crítico de las transformaciones en los modelos explicativo y normativo-institucional de la política científica y tecnológica en países avanzados y periféricos, el argumento de la triple hélice puede aportar nuevas interpretaciones, más coherentes con el escenario de democratización ahora en construcción en el país.

HEAD LICE IN HAIR SAMPLES FROM YOUTHS, ADULTS AND THE ELDERLY IN MANAUS, AMAZONAS STATE, BRAZIL.

Science.gov (United States)

Nunes, Suellen Cristina Barbosa; Moroni, Raquel Borges; Mendes, Júlio; Justiniano, Sílvia Cássia Brandão; Moroni, Fábio Tonissi

2015-01-01

A study of head lice infestations among young people, adults and elderly individuals was conducted from August 2010 to July 2013 in Manaus, AM, Northern Brazil. Hair samples collected from 1,860 individuals in 18 barber shops and beauty parlors were examined for the ectoparasite. The occurrence of pediculosis and its association with factors, such as sex, age, ethnicity, hair characteristics and the socioeconomic profile of salon customers, salon location and seasonal variation were determined. The overall occurrence rate was 2.84%. Occurrence was higher in hair samples from non-blacks and the elderly. Higher occurrence was also observed during kindergarten, elementary and junior education school holidays. The results indicate that the occurrence of head lice among young people, adults and the elderly in Manaus is relatively low compared to that determined in children and in other regions of the country. After children, the elderly were the most affected. The study also indicated the need to adopt additional procedures to improve surveys among the population with low or no purchasing power, which is usually the most affected by this ectoparasitic disease.

A screening of multiple classes of pharmaceutical compounds for effect on preadult salmon lice Lepeophtheirus salmonis.

Science.gov (United States)

Aaen, S M; Horsberg, T E

2016-10-01

The salmon louse, Lepeophtheirus salmonis Krøyer, is the major obstacle facing a sustainable future for farmers of salmonids in the North Atlantic Ocean. Medicinal compounds have been the most utilized tool to prevent salmon lice infestation; however, the active compounds have become less effective or considered environmentally unfriendly in the past years. Novel medicinal compounds are thus highly desired. In two experiment series, 26 medicinal compounds were screened for their efficacy against salmon lice, in a 30-min exposure and 24-h exposure, respectively. Pyriprole, imidacloprid, cartap and spinetoram were effective at 50 mg L(-1) in the short-time exposure. In the 24-h exposure, pyriprole, propoxur, cartap, imidacloprid, fenoxycarb, pyriproxyfen, nitenpyram, spinetoram, spiromesifen and diflubenzuron induced a high level of immobilization at 5 mg L(-1) . The EC50 values of the effective compounds were calculated in further titration studies for both exposure periods. Several physiological and biochemical pathways were discovered as possible targets for medicinal intervention against the salmon louse. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Increased Flooding Risk - Accelerating Threat and Stakeholder Response

Science.gov (United States)

Atkinson, L. P.; Ezer, T.; De Young, R.; McShane, M. K.; McFarlane, B.

2012-12-01

Coastal cities have been adapting to coastal flooding for centuries. Now, with increased population along the coast combined with increased flooding because of sea level rise (SLR) the vulnerability of coastal cities has increased significantly. In this paper we will discuss the physical threat of accelerating sea level rise and the response of stakeholders. Sallenger et al (2012) stated "... we present evidence of recently accelerated SLR in a unique 1,000-km-long hotspot on the highly populated North American Atlantic coast north of Cape Hatteras and show that it is consistent with a modeled fingerprint of dynamic SLR." In the Northeast Hotspot (NEH) dynamic processes such as Gulf Stream transport can cause local sea level differences (Ezer, 2001). Sweet et al (2009) attributed the anomalously high sea level along the mid-Atlantic in 2009 to dynamic SLR. A recent paper (Ezer and Corlett, 2012 submitted), focused on Chesapeake Bay, confirms Sallenger et al. These accelerations suggest that the higher estimates of SLR in IPCC reports may be better estimates. The combination of local sea level rise and acceleration, even with average coastal storm surge, results in increased vulnerability and economic losses. We will use three examples of stakeholder response to this threat: shipbuilding, cities and insurance. Nuclear aircraft carrier drydock in Newport News, VA - The only drydock where nuclear powered aircraft carriers are built flooded during Hurricane Isabel. A study showed that with a 1 meter sea level rise and no change in storm severity they would have 'Major Flooding' every 4 months rather than every 27 years. Cities infrastructure - In a recent report on sea level rise, the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (representing nearly 2m people) found that "sea level rise will be a major issue", "there is not yet official state or federal guidance for addressing sea level rise", "…the "…U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has developed guidance…" for their

La búsqueda incansable en Los cálices vacíos de Delmira Agustini / The incessant search in Los cálices vacíos by Delmira Agustini

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carmen Sales Delgado

2010-07-01

Full Text Available RESUMEN: En Los cálices vacíos Delmira Agustini subvierte los roles de género impuestos sobre la mujer en su época, reivindicando su deseo sexual como algo natural también para la mujer frente a la concepción del deseo sexual femenino como el producto subconsciente e incomprensible de su propia psique. Asimismo, se desprende de rol ocupado por la mujer en la poesía como sujeto pasivo para ejercer un rol activo que es capaz de crear y a su vez, es capaz de sentir deseo sexual. Agustini, además, hace uso de un lenguaje erótico y sexual en el que la búsqueda de la satisfacción sexual sería una metáfora de la búsqueda incansable de la perfección poética.ABSTRACT: In Los cálices vacíos, Delmira Agustini subverts the gender roles imposed on women in her time and reclaims their sexual desire as something natural, in opposition to the conception of female sexual desire as the unconscious and incomprehensible product of their own psyche. Likewise, she eschews the traditional passive role as object of desire and admiration occupied by women in poetry and assumes a new active role as creator. Agustini makes use of an erotic and sexual language in which the search for sexual satisfaction would be a metaphor for the unceasing search for poetic perfection.

Different groups, different threats: a multi-threat approach to the experience of stereotype threats.

Science.gov (United States)

Shapiro, Jenessa R

2011-04-01

Two studies demonstrated that different negatively stereotyped groups are at risk for distinct forms of stereotype threats. The Multi-Threat Framework articulates six distinct stereotype threats and the unique constellations of variables (e.g., group identification, stereotype endorsement) that elicit each stereotype threat. Previous research suggests that different negatively stereotyped groups systematically vary across these stereotype threat elicitors; a pilot study confirms these differences. Across two studies, groups that tend to elicit low stereotype endorsement (religion, race/ethnicity, congenital blindness) were less likely to report experiencing self-as-source stereotype threats (stereotype threats requiring stereotype endorsement) and groups that tend to elicit low group identification (mental illness, obesity, blindness later in life) were less likely to report experiencing group-as-target stereotype threats (stereotype threats requiring group identification). This research suggests that traditional models may overlook the experiences of stereotype threats within some groups and that interventions tailored to address differences between stereotype threats will be most effective.

Health and environmental threats associated with the destruction of chemical weapons.

Science.gov (United States)

Matousek, Jirí

2006-09-01

Still existing arsenals of chemical weapons (CW) pose not only security threats for possible use in hostilities by state actors or misuse by terrorists but also safety threats to humans and biota due to leakages and possible accidents. The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) commits the States Parties (SPs) to destroy CW using technologies taking into consideration human health and environmental protection. It does not allow methods, routinely used up to the 1970s, such as earth burial, open-pit burning, and sea dumping. Long-term health and environmental threats and some accidents that have already occurred in the known localities of the sea-dumped and earth-buried arsenals of Nazi-German armed forces in the Baltic Region and of Imperial Japanese forces in the Far East Region are analyzed according to the impact of major CW and ammunition types (i.e., sulfur mustard--HD, tabun--GA, arsenicals--DA, DC, DM, arsine oil, and chloroacetophenone--CN). Any possible operations and handling with CW envisaged by the CWC as well as their verification are summarized taking into account the health threat they pose. CW and toxic armament waste to be destroyed and applied technologies (both developed and under current use in operational CW destruction facilities [CWDF]) are reviewed as are systems of health safety and environmental protection of the destruction/demilitarization stems from the extraordinary high toxicity of supertoxic lethal agents in man and biota. Problems of currently used Russian and U.S. standards for maximum allowable workplace concentrations and general population limits and possibilities of their determination by available analytical instrumentation are discussed.

Search-Lidar Demonstrator for Detection of Small Sea-Surface Targets

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heuvel, J.C. van den; Bekman, H.H.P.T.; Putten, F.J.M. van; Cohen, L.H.; Schleijpen, H.M.A.

2008-01-01

Coastal surveillance and naval operations in the littoral both have to deal with the threat of small sea-surface targets. These targets have a low radar cross-section and a low velocity that makes them hard to detect by radar. Typical threats include jet skis, FIAC’s, and speedboats. Lidar

Piezoelectric properties enhanced of Sr0.6(BiNa)0.2Bi2Nb2O9 ceramic by (LiCe) modification with charge neutrality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fang, Pinyang; Xi, Zengzhe; Long, Wei; Li, Xiaojuan; Li, Jin

2013-01-01

Graphical abstract: The oxygen vacancies were confirmed by the left figure. The role of oxygen vacancy on piezoelectric activities was obtained by comparing to the varieties of oxygen vacancy concentration and piezoelectric coefficient with (LiCe) modification. -- Highlights: • The Sr 0.6 (BiNa) 0.2 Bi 2 Nb 2 O 9 ceramic by (LiCe) modification with the charge neutrality was synthesized by the solid state reaction method. • The Curie temperature and piezoelectric coefficient were found to be T c ∼590 °C and d 33 ∼32 pC/N, respectively. • The mechanism of piezoelectric activities improved by (LiCe) modification was discussed. -- Abstract: Aurivillius-type ceramics, Sr 0.6−x (LiCe) x/2.5 (BiNa) 0.2 Bi 2 Nb 2 O 9 (SLCBNBNO) with the charge neutrality, were synthesized by using conventional solid-state processing. Phase analysis was performed by X-ray diffraction analyses (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. Microstructural morphology was assessed by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Structural, dielectric, piezoelectric, ferroelectric, and electromechanical properties of the SLCBNBNO ceramics were investigated. Piezoelectric properties were significantly enhanced compared to Sr 0.6 (BiNa) 0.2 Bi 2 Nb 2 O 9 (SBNBN) ceramic and the maximum of piezoelectric coefficient d 33 of the SBNBN-LC6 ceramic was 32 pC/N with higher Curie temperature (T c ∼590 °C). In addition, mechanisms for the piezoelectric properties enhanced of the SBNBN-based ceramics were discussed

Associations between chewing lice (Insecta, Phthiraptera and albatrosses and petrels (Aves, Procellariiformes collected in Brazil Associações entre malófagos (Insecta, Phthiraptera e albatrozes e petréis (Aves, Procellariiformes capturados no Brasil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michel P. Valim

2006-12-01

Full Text Available Chewing lice were searched on 197 skins of 28 species of procellariiform birds collected in Brazil. A total of 38 species of lice were found on 112 skins belonging to 22 bird species. The lice were slide-mounted and identified. A list of lice species found and their host species is given and some host-louse associations are discussed under an evolutionary perspective.Malófagos foram procurados em 197 peles de 28 espécies de aves Procellariiformes capturadas no Brasil. Um total de 38 espécies de piolhos foram encontradas em 112 peles pertencentes a 22 espécies de aves. Os piolhos foram montados em lâminas e identificados. Uma lista com as espécies de piolhos encontradas e seus hospedeiros é dada, além de algumas associações entre os piolhos e as aves serem discutidas sob uma perspectiva evolutiva.

Efficacy and Safety of a Mineral Oil-Based Head Lice Shampoo: A Randomized, Controlled, Investigator-Blinded, Comparative Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Wolf, Luise; Eertmans, Frank; Wolf, Doerte; Rossel, Bart; Adriaens, Els

2016-01-01

Due to increased resistance and safety concerns with insecticide-based pediculicides, there is growing demand for head lice treatments with a physical mode of action. Certain mineral oils kill lice by blocking spiracles or by disrupting the epicuticular wax layer. The present study was performed to evaluate efficacy and safety of a mineral oil-based shampoo. This randomized, controlled, investigator-blinded, monocentric study (EudraCT registration no. 2014-002918-23) was performed from October 2014-June 2015 in Germany. A mineral oil shampoo (Mosquito® Med Läuse Shampoo 10 in Germany, Paranix or Silcap shampoo elsewhere), registered as medical device, was compared to a conventional, locally reimbursed, pyrethroid-based pediculicide (Goldgeist® Forte solution). In total, 107 patients (>1 year) with confirmed head lice infestation were included (test arm: n = 53; control arm: n = 54). All subjects received two applications of either test or control product at day 0 and day 7, according to the instructions for use. Efficacy and safety was evaluated directly, 1h and 24h after first application, before and after second treatment, and at day 10. The main objective was demonstrating a cure rate for the test product, being superior to 70% at day 10. Cure rates at day 10 (corrected for re-infestation) for the test product (96.1%) and control (94%) significantly exceeded the pre-defined target (70%) (p shampoo) can be safe and effective alternatives for insecticide-based pediculicides, with less risk for development of resistance because of the physical mode of action. German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS) DRKS00009753 and EudraCT database 2014-002918-23.

Uncovering deep mysteries: the underwater life of an amphibious louse.

Science.gov (United States)

Leonardi, Maria Soledad; Aznar, F Javier; Crespo, Enrique A; Lazzari, Claudio R

2014-12-01

Despite the incredible success of insects in colonizing almost every habitat, they remain virtually absent in one major environment--the open sea. A variety of hypotheses have been raised to explain why just a few insect species are present in the ocean, but none of them appears to be fully explanatory. Lice belonging to the family Echinophthiriidae are ectoparasites on different species of pinnipeds and river otters, i.e. they have amphibious hosts, who regularly perform long excursions into the open sea reaching depths of hundreds of meters (thousands of feets). Consequently, lice must be able to support not only changes in their surrounding media, but also extreme variations in hydrostatic pressure as well as breathing in a low oxygen atmosphere. In order to shed some light on the way lice can survive during the diving excursions of their hosts, we have performed a series of experiments to test the survival capability of different instars of Antarctophthirus microchir (Phthiraptera: Anoplura) from South American sea lions Otaria flavescens, when submerged into seawater. These experiments were aimed at analyzing: (a) immersion tolerance along the louse life; (b) lice's ability to obtain oxygen from seawater; (c) physiological responses and mechanisms involved in survival underwater. Our experiments showed that the forms present in non-diving pups--i.e. eggs and first-instar nymphs--were unable to tolerate immersion in water, while following instars and adults, all usually found in diving hosts, supported it very well. Furthermore, as long as the level of oxygen dissolved in water was higher, the lice survival capability underwater increased, and the recovery period after returning to air declined. These results are discussed in relation to host ecology, host exploitation and lice functional morphology. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

HEAD LICE IN HAIR SAMPLES FROM YOUTHS, ADULTS AND THE ELDERLY IN MANAUS, AMAZONAS STATE, BRAZIL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suellen Cristina Barbosa NUNES

2015-06-01

Full Text Available A study of head lice infestations among young people, adults and elderly individuals was conducted from August 2010 to July 2013 in Manaus, AM, Northern Brazil. Hair samples collected from 1,860 individuals in 18 barber shops and beauty parlors were examined for the ectoparasite. The occurrence of pediculosis and its association with factors, such as sex, age, ethnicity, hair characteristics and the socioeconomic profile of salon customers, salon location and seasonal variation were determined. The overall occurrence rate was 2.84%. Occurrence was higher in hair samples from non-blacks and the elderly. Higher occurrence was also observed during kindergarten, elementary and junior education school holidays. The results indicate that the occurrence of head lice among young people, adults and the elderly in Manaus is relatively low compared to that determined in children and in other regions of the country. After children, the elderly were the most affected. The study also indicated the need to adopt additional procedures to improve surveys among the population with low or no purchasing power, which is usually the most affected by this ectoparasitic disease.

Two new records of chewing lice (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera: Philopteridae) on Leptotila megalura (Aves: Columbidae) from Argentina

OpenAIRE

Guardia, Leonor

2008-01-01

Dos especies de piojos masticadores (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera: Philopteridae), Physconelloides ceratoceps Ewing y Columbicola gracilicapitis Carriker, son registradas por primera vez sobre Leptotila megalura Sclater & Salvin ("yerutí yungueña") (Aves: Columbidae). Además, C. gracilicapitis es citada por primera vez para la Argentina.Two species of chewing lice (Phthiraptera: Ischnocera: Philopteridae), Physconelloides ceratoceps Ewing and Columbicola gracilicapitis Carriker are recorded for t...

Sea ice classification using dual polarization SAR data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huiying, Liu; Huadong, Guo; Lu, Zhang

2014-01-01

Sea ice is an indicator of climate change and also a threat to the navigation security of ships. Polarimetric SAR images are useful in the sea ice detection and classification. In this paper, backscattering coefficients and texture features derived from dual polarization SAR images are used for sea ice classification. Firstly, the HH image is recalculated based on the angular dependences of sea ice types. Then the effective gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) texture features are selected for the support vector machine (SVM) classification. In the end, because sea ice concentration can provide a better separation of pancake ice from old ice, it is used to improve the SVM result. This method provides a good classification result, compared with the sea ice chart from CIS

Should We Leave? Attitudes towards Relocation in Response to Sea Level Rise

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Jie Song

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The participation of individuals contributes significantly to the success of sea level rise adaptation. This study therefore addresses what influences people’s likelihood of relocating away from low-lying areas in response to rising sea levels. The analysis was based on a survey conducted in the City of Panama Beach in Florida (USA. Survey items relate to people’s risk perception, hazard experience, threat appraisal, and coping appraisal, whose theoretical background is Protection Motivation Theory. Descriptive and correlation analysis was first performed to highlight critical factors which were then examined by a multinomial Logit model. Results show that sea level rise awareness is the major explanatory variable. Coping appraisal is qualitatively viewed as a strong predictor for action, while threat appraisal is statistically significant in driving relocation intention. These factors should be integrated in current risk communication regarding sea level rise.

Prioritizing land and sea conservation investments to protect coral reefs.

Science.gov (United States)

Klein, Carissa J; Ban, Natalie C; Halpern, Benjamin S; Beger, Maria; Game, Edward T; Grantham, Hedley S; Green, Alison; Klein, Travis J; Kininmonth, Stuart; Treml, Eric; Wilson, Kerrie; Possingham, Hugh P

2010-08-30

Coral reefs have exceptional biodiversity, support the livelihoods of millions of people, and are threatened by multiple human activities on land (e.g. farming) and in the sea (e.g. overfishing). Most conservation efforts occur at local scales and, when effective, can increase the resilience of coral reefs to global threats such as climate change (e.g. warming water and ocean acidification). Limited resources for conservation require that we efficiently prioritize where and how to best sustain coral reef ecosystems. Here we develop the first prioritization approach that can guide regional-scale conservation investments in land- and sea-based conservation actions that cost-effectively mitigate threats to coral reefs, and apply it to the Coral Triangle, an area of significant global attention and funding. Using information on threats to marine ecosystems, effectiveness of management actions at abating threats, and the management and opportunity costs of actions, we calculate the rate of return on investment in two conservation actions in sixteen ecoregions. We discover that marine conservation almost always trumps terrestrial conservation within any ecoregion, but terrestrial conservation in one ecoregion can be a better investment than marine conservation in another. We show how these results could be used to allocate a limited budget for conservation and compare them to priorities based on individual criteria. Previous prioritization approaches do not consider both land and sea-based threats or the socioeconomic costs of conserving coral reefs. A simple and transparent approach like ours is essential to support effective coral reef conservation decisions in a large and diverse region like the Coral Triangle, but can be applied at any scale and to other marine ecosystems.

Identification and functional expression of a glutamate- and avermectin-gated chloride channel from Caligus rogercresseyi, a southern Hemisphere sea louse affecting farmed fish.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Isabel Cornejo

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Parasitic sea lice represent a major sanitary threat to marine salmonid aquaculture, an industry accounting for 7% of world fish production. Caligus rogercresseyi is the principal sea louse species infesting farmed salmon and trout in the southern hemisphere. Most effective control of Caligus has been obtained with macrocyclic lactones (MLs ivermectin and emamectin. These drugs target glutamate-gated chloride channels (GluCl and act as irreversible non-competitive agonists causing neuronal inhibition, paralysis and death of the parasite. Here we report the cloning of a full-length CrGluClα receptor from Caligus rogercresseyi. Expression in Xenopus oocytes and electrophysiological assays show that CrGluClα is activated by glutamate and mediates chloride currents blocked by the ligand-gated anion channel inhibitor picrotoxin. Both ivermectin and emamectin activate CrGluClα in the absence of glutamate. The effects are irreversible and occur with an EC(50 value of around 200 nM, being cooperative (n(H = 2 for ivermectin but not for emamectin. Using the three-dimensional structure of a GluClα from Caenorabditis elegans, the only available for any eukaryotic ligand-gated anion channel, we have constructed a homology model for CrGluClα. Docking and molecular dynamics calculations reveal the way in which ivermectin and emamectin interact with CrGluClα. Both drugs intercalate between transmembrane domains M1 and M3 of neighbouring subunits of a pentameric structure. The structure displays three H-bonds involved in this interaction, but despite similarity in structure only of two these are conserved from the C. elegans crystal binding site. Our data strongly suggest that CrGluClα is an important target for avermectins used in the treatment of sea louse infestation in farmed salmonids and open the way for ascertaining a possible mechanism of increasing resistance to MLs in aquaculture industry. Molecular modeling could help in the design of new

Actividad antinflamatoria de extractos y fracciones obtenidas de cálices de Physalis peruviana L.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luis A. Franco

2007-03-01

Conclusión. Este estudio confirma la actividad antinflamatoria atribuida a los cálices de Physalis peruviana y también valida su uso en la medicina popular. Se identificaron las principales fracciones responsables de la actividad antinflamatoria, las cuales parecen ser promisorias para el desarrollo de fitopreparados. Se requieren estudios posteriores para aislar e identificar los compuestos responsables de la actividad y también para investigar el mecanismo involucrado en el efecto antinflamatorio observado.

Sea Reclamation Status of Countries around the South China Sea from 1975 to 2010

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Junjue Zhang

2017-05-01

Full Text Available As a way of turning sea into land for living space for humans, the actions of sea reclamation bring about significant benefits. Nevertheless, it is also an under-recognized threat to the environment and the marine ecosystem. Based on images in two periods, sea reclamation information of countries around the South China Sea was extracted from 1975 to 2010. The spatial state and driven forces of sea reclamation are then discussed. Results show that the overall strength of sea reclamation in the South China Sea was great. New reclaimed land added up to 3264 km2. Sea reclamation for fish farming was the main reclamation type and widely distributed in the whole area, especially on the coast from the Pearl River Delta to the Red River Delta, and the coast of Ca Mau Peninsula. Sea reclamation in China and Vietnam was rather significant, which occupies 80.6% of the total reclamation area. Singapore had the highest level of sea reclamation. New reclaimed land for fish farming holds a key role in China, Vietnam, and Indonesia, while new reclaimed land for construction and docks dominated in Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei. Areas and use-type compositions of new reclaimed land in countries varied greatly due to the differences of economic factors, policy inclination, and landscapes in the respective countries.

Global change in marine ecosystems: implications for semi-enclosed Arabian seas

KAUST Repository

Duarte, Carlos M.

2015-12-07

Global Change has been defined as the impact of human activities on the key processes that determine the functioning of the Biosphere. Global Change is a major threat for marine ecosystems and includes climate change as well as other global impacts such as inputs of pollutants, overfishing and coastal sprawl. The Semi-enclosed Arabian Seas, including the Arabian Gulf and the Red Sea, have supported human livelihoods in the Arabian Peninsula over centuries and continue to do so, but are also threatened by Global Change. These threats are particularly severe as Semi-enclosed Arabian Seas already present rather extreme conditions, in terms of temperature, salinity and oxygen concentration. The vulnerability of the unique marine ecosystems of the Semi-enclosed Arabian Seas to Global Change vectors is largely unknown, but predictions based on first principles suggest that they may be at or near the tipping point for many pressures, such as warming and hypoxia. There is an urgent need to implement international collaborative research programs to accelerate our understanding of the vulnerability of Semi-enclosed Arabian Seas to Global Change vectors in order to inform conservation and management plans to ensure these Seas continue to support the livelihoods and well-being of the Arab nations.

Categorizing threat : building and using a generic threat matrix.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Woodard, Laura; Veitch, Cynthia K.; Thomas, Sherry Reede; Duggan, David Patrick

2007-09-01

The key piece of knowledge necessary for building defenses capable of withstanding or surviving cyber and kinetic attacks is an understanding of the capabilities posed by threats to a government, function, or system. With the number of threats continuing to increase, it is no longer feasible to enumerate the capabilities of all known threats and then build defenses based on those threats that are considered, at the time, to be the most relevant. Exacerbating the problem for critical infrastructure entities is the fact that the majority of detailed threat information for higher-level threats is held in classified status and is not available for general use, such as the design of defenses and the development of mitigation strategies. To reduce the complexity of analyzing threat, the threat space must first be reduced. This is achieved by taking the continuous nature of the threat space and creating an abstraction that allows the entire space to be grouped, based on measurable attributes, into a small number of distinctly different levels. The work documented in this report is an effort to create such an abstraction.

Pigments, parasites and personalitiy: towards a unifying role for steroid hormones?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silje Kittilsen

Full Text Available A surging interest in the evolution of consistent trait correlations has inspired research on pigment patterns as a correlate of behavioural syndromes, or "animal personalities". Associations between pigmentation, physiology and health status are less investigated as potentially conserved trait clusters. In the current study, lice counts performed on farmed Atlantic salmon Salmo salar naturally infected with ectoparasitic sea lice Lepeophtheirus salmonis showed that individual fish with high incidence of black melanin-based skin spots harboured fewer female sea lice carrying egg sacs, compared to less pigmented fish. There was no significant association between pigmentation and lice at other developmental stages, suggesting that host factors associated with melanin-based pigmentation may modify ectoparasite development to a larger degree than settlement. In a subsequent laboratory experiment a strong negative correlation between skin spots and post-stress cortisol levels was revealed, with less pigmented individuals showing a more pronounced cortisol response to acute stress. The observation that lice prevalence was strongly increased on a fraction of sexually mature male salmon which occurred among the farmed fish further supports a role for steroid hormones as mediators of reduced parasite resistance. The data presented here propose steroid hormones as a proximate cause for the association between melanin-based pigmentation and parasites. Possible fundamental and applied implications are discussed.

Prioritizing land and sea conservation investments to protect coral reefs.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carissa J Klein

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Coral reefs have exceptional biodiversity, support the livelihoods of millions of people, and are threatened by multiple human activities on land (e.g. farming and in the sea (e.g. overfishing. Most conservation efforts occur at local scales and, when effective, can increase the resilience of coral reefs to global threats such as climate change (e.g. warming water and ocean acidification. Limited resources for conservation require that we efficiently prioritize where and how to best sustain coral reef ecosystems. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we develop the first prioritization approach that can guide regional-scale conservation investments in land- and sea-based conservation actions that cost-effectively mitigate threats to coral reefs, and apply it to the Coral Triangle, an area of significant global attention and funding. Using information on threats to marine ecosystems, effectiveness of management actions at abating threats, and the management and opportunity costs of actions, we calculate the rate of return on investment in two conservation actions in sixteen ecoregions. We discover that marine conservation almost always trumps terrestrial conservation within any ecoregion, but terrestrial conservation in one ecoregion can be a better investment than marine conservation in another. We show how these results could be used to allocate a limited budget for conservation and compare them to priorities based on individual criteria. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Previous prioritization approaches do not consider both land and sea-based threats or the socioeconomic costs of conserving coral reefs. A simple and transparent approach like ours is essential to support effective coral reef conservation decisions in a large and diverse region like the Coral Triangle, but can be applied at any scale and to other marine ecosystems.

Nanosílice como carga en la RTV SR usada para cubrir aisladores; Nanosilica as filler in the Room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber used to coat insulators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ignat Pérez Almirall

2014-04-01

Full Text Available En el presente trabajo se realiza un estudio sobre la influencia que tiene agregar como carga nanosílice a la goma de silicona vulcanizada a temperatura ambiente (RTV SR, por sus siglas en inglés que es empleada para cubrir aisladores de vidrio o de porcelana. Con este objetivo se observó la dispersión de la nanosílice en la RTV SR por medio de microscopía electrónica de barrido (MEV, por sus siglas en inglés, se midió la permitividad de la RTV SR con y sin nanosílice para varias frecuencias y se evaluó la influencia que tiene la nanosílice en la resistencia a la erosión. Además fueron medidas las corrientes de fuga durante ensayos de niebla salina a aisladores de vidrio pintados con estos recubrimientos, analizando también la pérdida de hidrofobicidad que ocurre durante el ensayo y su recuperación una vez finalizado el mismo.  The present research work carries out a study on the influence of nanosilica on room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber (RTV SR used to coat insulators. Considering this objective, the dispersion of nanosilica was observed by means of scanning electron microscopy (MEV, the permittivity of the room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber was measured with and without nanosilica for different frequencies and the influence of nanosilica in erosion resistance. Leakage currents were also measured during salt spray tests to glass insulators covered with these coatings; the loss of hidrophobicity during the test was also measured and its recovery was analyzed the test was finished.

Nanosílice como carga en la RTV SR usada para cubrir aisladores/ Nanosilica as filler in the Room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber used to coat insulators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ignat Pérez Almirall

2012-02-01

Full Text Available En el presente trabajo se realiza un estudio sobre la influencia que tiene agregar como carga nanosílice a la goma de silicona vulcanizada a temperatura ambiente (RTV SR, por sus siglas en inglés que es empleada para cubrir aisladores de vidrio o de porcelana. Con este objetivo se observó la dispersión de la nanosílice en la RTV SR por medio de microscopía electrónica de barrido (MEV, por sus siglas en inglés, se midió la permitividad de la RTV SR con y sin nanosílice para varias frecuencias y se evaluó la influencia que tiene la nanosílice en la resistencia a la erosión. Además fueron medidas las corrientes de fuga durante ensayos de niebla salina a aisladores de vidrio pintados con estos recubrimientos, analizando también la pérdida de hidrofobicidad que ocurre durante el ensayo y su recuperación una vez finalizado el mismo.The present research work carries out a study on the influence of nanosilica on room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber (RTV SR used to coat insulators. Considering this objective, the dispersion of nanosilica was observed by means of scanning electron microscopy (MEV, the permittivity of the room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber was measured with and without nanosilica for different frequencies and the influence of nanosilica in erosion resistance. Leakage currents were also measured during salt spray tests to glass insulators covered with these coatings; the loss of hidrophobicity during the test was also measured and its recovery was analyzed the test was finished.

77 FR 31062 - Programs To Reduce Incidental Capture of Sea Turtles in Shrimp Fisheries; Certifications Pursuant...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-05-24

... DEPARTMENT OF STATE [Public Notice 7894] Programs To Reduce Incidental Capture of Sea Turtles in... programs to reduce the incidental capture of sea turtles in their shrimp fisheries comparable to the... other countries and one economy do not pose a threat of the incidental taking of sea turtles protected...

Lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) From species of the families Furnariidae, Tyrannidae, Turdidae and icteridae (Aves: Passeriformes) from Chile

OpenAIRE

González-Acuña, Daniel; Vergara, Francisco; Moreno, Lucila; Barrientos, Carlos; Ardiles, Karen; Cicchino, Armando

2006-01-01

A total of 185 birds (nine captured alive and 176 preserved in a museum), belonging to the families Furnariidae (n=14), Tyrannidae (n=4), Turdidae (n=24) and Icteridae (n=143) (Aves: Passeriformes) were searched for lice (Phthiraptera: Philopteridae, Menoponidae). The species collected and identified were: Furnaricola titicacae Carriker 1949 from Phleocryptes melanops (Vieillot 1817), and Picicola cuniculariae Cicchino 1981 from Geositta rufipennis fasciata (Burmeister 1860) (Furnariidae); Pi...

Recuperación de sílice residual de columnas de cromatografía en la síntesis sol-gel de pigmentos

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Grañana, M. C.

2000-04-01

Full Text Available The use of a silica waste of support chromatography process as raw material in the synthesis of ceramic pigments based in zircon network (yellow of praseodymium, turkish blue of vanadium and pink koral of iron, is analized in this study. The synthesis has been carried out by ceramic method and also by colloidal sol-gel and coprecipitation routes. Silica waste becomes an effective precursor in the zircon ceramic stains. Likewise, the high temperature and long soaking time used in the synthesis ensure the whole combustion of adsorbed organics on the waste.

En este trabajo se caracteriza una sílice residual de procesos de cromatografía de columna y se analiza su utilización como precursor en la síntesis de los tres pigmentos triaxiales del circón (amarillo de praseodimio, turquesa de vanadio y coral de hierro utilizando tanto la vía sol-gel coloidal, la coprecipitación y el método cerámico. La sílice residual se muestra como un precursor muy efectivo en la obtención de los colores del circón tanto vía cerámica como a partir de geles. La alta temperatura así como los relativamente largos periodos de retención utilizados en la síntesis de los pigmentos cerámicos, permite una total combustión de los orgánicos adsorbidos sobre la sílice.

Call to protect deep-sea coral, sponge ecosystems

Science.gov (United States)

Showstack, Randy

2004-03-01

More than 1100 scientists are signatories to a 15 February consensus statement calling for the protection of deep sea coral and sponge ecosystems. The statement indicates that ``the greatest human threat'' to these ecosystems ``is commercial fishing, especially bottom trawling.''

Global distribution of two fungal pathogens threatening endangered sea turtles.

Science.gov (United States)

Sarmiento-Ramírez, Jullie M; Abella-Pérez, Elena; Phillott, Andrea D; Sim, Jolene; van West, Pieter; Martín, María P; Marco, Adolfo; Diéguez-Uribeondo, Javier

2014-01-01

Nascent fungal infections are currently considered as one of the main threats for biodiversity and ecosystem health, and have driven several animal species into critical risk of extinction. Sea turtles are one of the most endangered groups of animals and only seven species have survived to date. Here, we described two pathogenic species, i.e., Fusarium falciforme and Fusarium keratoplasticum, that are globally distributed in major turtle nesting areas for six sea turtle species and that are implicated in low hatch success. These two fungi possess key biological features that are similar to emerging pathogens leading to host extinction, e.g., high virulence, and a broad host range style of life. Their optimal growth temperature overlap with the optimal incubation temperature for eggs, and they are able to kill up to 90% of the embryos. Environmental forcing, e.g., tidal inundation and clay/silt content of nests, were correlated to disease development. Thus, these Fusarium species constitute a major threat to sea turtle nests, especially to those experiencing environmental stressors. These findings have serious implications for the survival of endangered sea turtle populations and the success of conservation programs worldwide.

Global distribution of two fungal pathogens threatening endangered sea turtles.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jullie M Sarmiento-Ramírez

Full Text Available Nascent fungal infections are currently considered as one of the main threats for biodiversity and ecosystem health, and have driven several animal species into critical risk of extinction. Sea turtles are one of the most endangered groups of animals and only seven species have survived to date. Here, we described two pathogenic species, i.e., Fusarium falciforme and Fusarium keratoplasticum, that are globally distributed in major turtle nesting areas for six sea turtle species and that are implicated in low hatch success. These two fungi possess key biological features that are similar to emerging pathogens leading to host extinction, e.g., high virulence, and a broad host range style of life. Their optimal growth temperature overlap with the optimal incubation temperature for eggs, and they are able to kill up to 90% of the embryos. Environmental forcing, e.g., tidal inundation and clay/silt content of nests, were correlated to disease development. Thus, these Fusarium species constitute a major threat to sea turtle nests, especially to those experiencing environmental stressors. These findings have serious implications for the survival of endangered sea turtle populations and the success of conservation programs worldwide.

Fin whales and microplastics: The Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Cortez scenarios.

Science.gov (United States)

Fossi, Maria Cristina; Marsili, Letizia; Baini, Matteo; Giannetti, Matteo; Coppola, Daniele; Guerranti, Cristiana; Caliani, Ilaria; Minutoli, Roberta; Lauriano, Giancarlo; Finoia, Maria Grazia; Rubegni, Fabrizio; Panigada, Simone; Bérubé, Martine; Urbán Ramírez, Jorge; Panti, Cristina

2016-02-01

The impact that microplastics have on baleen whales is a question that remains largely unexplored. This study examined the interaction between free-ranging fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) and microplastics by comparing populations living in two semi-enclosed basins, the Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California, Mexico). The results indicate that a considerable abundance of microplastics and plastic additives exists in the neustonic samples from Pelagos Sanctuary of the Mediterranean Sea, and that pelagic areas containing high densities of microplastics overlap with whale feeding grounds, suggesting that whales are exposed to microplastics during foraging; this was confirmed by the observation of a temporal increase in toxicological stress in whales. Given the abundance of microplastics in the Mediterranean environment, along with the high concentrations of Persistent Bioaccumulative and Toxic (PBT) chemicals, plastic additives and biomarker responses detected in the biopsies of Mediterranean whales as compared to those in whales inhabiting the Sea of Cortez, we believe that exposure to microplastics because of direct ingestion and consumption of contaminated prey poses a major threat to the health of fin whales in the Mediterranean Sea. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cyber threat metrics.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Frye, Jason Neal; Veitch, Cynthia K.; Mateski, Mark Elliot; Michalski, John T.; Harris, James Mark; Trevino, Cassandra M.; Maruoka, Scott

2012-03-01

Threats are generally much easier to list than to describe, and much easier to describe than to measure. As a result, many organizations list threats. Fewer describe them in useful terms, and still fewer measure them in meaningful ways. This is particularly true in the dynamic and nebulous domain of cyber threats - a domain that tends to resist easy measurement and, in some cases, appears to defy any measurement. We believe the problem is tractable. In this report we describe threat metrics and models for characterizing threats consistently and unambiguously. The purpose of this report is to support the Operational Threat Assessment (OTA) phase of risk and vulnerability assessment. To this end, we focus on the task of characterizing cyber threats using consistent threat metrics and models. In particular, we address threat metrics and models for describing malicious cyber threats to US FCEB agencies and systems.

Sea level hazards: Altimetric monitoring of tsunamis and sea level rise

Science.gov (United States)

Hamlington, Benjamin Dillon

Whether on the short timescale of an impending tsunami or the much longer timescale of climate change-driven sea level rise, the threat stemming from rising and inundating ocean waters is a great concern to coastal populations. Timely and accurate observations of potentially dangerous changes in sea level are vital in determining the precautionary steps that need to be taken in order to protect coastal communities. While instruments from the past have provided in situ measurements of sea level at specific locations across the globe, satellites can be used to provide improved spatial and temporal sampling of the ocean in addition to producing more accurate measurements. Since 1993, satellite altimetry has provided accurate measurements of sea surface height (SSH) with near-global coverage. Not only have these measurements led to the first definitive estimates of global mean sea level rise, satellite altimetry observations have also been used to detect tsunami waves in the open ocean where wave amplitudes are relatively small, a vital step in providing early warning to those potentially affected by the impending tsunami. The use of satellite altimetry to monitor two specific sea level hazards is examined in this thesis. The first section will focus on the detection of tsunamis in the open ocean for the purpose of providing early warning to coastal inhabitants. The second section will focus on estimating secular trends using satellite altimetry data with the hope of improving our understanding of future sea level change. Results presented here will show the utility of satellite altimetry for sea level monitoring and will lay the foundation for further advancement in the detection of the two sea level hazards considered.

The rise of sea level. To understand and to anticipate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2013-03-01

By proposing and briefly commenting graphs and drawings, this publication propose brief presentations of the main issues related to sea level rise: global warming and climate disturbance, description of the phenomenon of sea level rise (difference between sea ice and ground ice, melting of glaciers), increase of sea level rise during the twentieth century, territories at risk (examples of Greenland, Tuvalu, Shanghai), acceleration of ice melting during the twenty first century with many coastal areas at risk, already noticed and possible future impacts in France (glaciers runoff, threatened coasts, example of the Xynthia tempest), how to be united and to anticipate (a threat for millions of people, adaptation to sea level rise, limitation of global warming to limit sea level rise)

Chewing lice (Phthiraptera) on manakins (Passeriformes: Pipridae) from Costa Rica, with description of a new species of the genus Tyranniphilopterus (Phthiraptera: Philopteridae)

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Sychra, O.; Najer, T.; Kounek, F.; Čapek, Miroslav; Literák, I.

2010-01-01

Roč. 106, č. 4 (2010), s. 925-931 ISSN 0932-0113 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IAA601690901 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60930519 Keywords : Chewing lice * manakins * Costa Rica Subject RIV: EG - Zoology Impact factor: 1.812, year: 2010

Results from the search-lidar demonstrator project for detection of small Sea-Surface targets

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heuvel, J.C. van den; Putten, F.J.M. van; Cohen, L.H.; Kemp, R.A.W.; Franssen, G.C.

2009-01-01

Coastal surveillance and naval operations in the littoral both have to deal with the threat of small sea-surface targets. These targets have a low radar cross-section and a low velocity that makes them hard to detect by radar. Typical threats include jet skis, FIAC's, and speedboats. Previous lidar

Fluctuations of Phytoplankton Community in the Coastal Waters of Caspian Sea in 2006

OpenAIRE

Siamak Bagheri; Mashhor Mansor; Marzieh Makaremi; Jalil Sabkara; W. O.W. Maznah; Alireza Mirzajani; Seyed H. Khodaparast; Hossein Negarestan; Azemat Ghandi; Akbar Khalilpour

2011-01-01

Problem statement: The Caspian Sea ecosystem has been suffered with many problems since 1980s. Aanthropogenic pollution from heavy metals, hydrocarbons, pesticides, changes in the quantity of nutrient inputs by rivers, are significant threats to biodiversity and biological resources such as plankton structure in the Caspian Sea. According to the significant of phytoplankton community in marine system. The state of the fluctuations of phytoplankton communities of the southwestern Caspian Sea w...

Disolución de sílice biogénica en sedimentos de lagos utilizados como bioindicadores de calidad del agua

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hermes U. Ramírez S.

2007-01-01

Full Text Available El objetivo de este trabajo es mostrar que la disoluci n de s lice amorfa de origen biog nico (diatomeas y fitolitos es un bioindicador de calidad del agua de lagos, valid ndose con la determinaci n de par metros f sico-qu micos. La determinaci n de diatomeas y fitolitos se realiz sobre n cleos de sedimentos del Lago Chapala, M xico. Las diatomeas y fitolitos fueron separados, depositados en laminillas y observados con microscop a de luz polarizada y electr nica de barrido. En forma paralela se analiz la calidad del agua del lago durante la d cada de 1990-2000 monitoreando 38 par metros f sicoqu micos en 25 estaciones. El estudio de diatomeas evidenci que la mayor a de ellos presentan fr stulas no preservadas, alto grado de disoluci n, fitolitos fragmentados y/o disueltos y una importante cantidad de debris de s lice. La determinaci n de fitolitos fue deficiente, con m s diatomeas en estado de disoluci n y debris de s lice opalino que fitolitos. Los resultados del an lisis f sico-qu mico del agua muestran valores de pH de 7,20-9,45, altas concentraciones de: nitr geno org nico (1,57 mg/l, nitr geno amoniacal (0,48 mg/l, nitratos (0,18 mg/l, f sforo org nico (0,16 mg/l, ortofosfatos (0,40 mg/l, f sforo total (0,57 mg/l y conductividad (867,53 S/cm lo que refleja altas concentraciones de sales, sobresaturaci n de CaCO3 con dureza total y c lcica de 221,35 y 142,67 mg/l respectivamente; alcalinidad total y c lcica de 307,29 y 29,90 mg/l respectivamente; todos factores que influyen en la disoluci n de diatomeas y fitolitos en los lechos del lago. Los resultados del estudio micropaleontol gico del Lago de Chapala han evidenciado disoluci n de diatomeas, fitolitos y la presencia de gran cantidad de debris de s lice amorfo y baja calidad de sus aguas, lo cual ha sido verificado con los par metros fisicoqu micos de la ultima d cada. Los fen menos de disoluci n de diatomeas y fitolitos por el momento son asociados a valores de pH>9, a condiciones eutr

Evaluating Threats in Multinational Marine Ecosystems: A Coast Salish First Nations and Tribal Perspective.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joseph K Gaydos

Full Text Available Despite the merit of managing natural resources on the scale of ecosystems, evaluating threats and managing risk in ecosystems that span multiple countries or jurisdictions can be challenging. This requires each government involved to consider actions in concert with actions being taken in other countries by co-managing entities. Multiple proposed fossil fuel-related and port development projects in the Salish Sea, a 16,925 km2 inland sea shared by Washington State (USA, British Columbia (Canada, and Indigenous Coast Salish governments, have the potential to increase marine vessel traffic and negatively impact natural resources. There is no legal mandate or management mechanism requiring a comprehensive review of the potential cumulative impacts of these development activities throughout the Salish Sea and across the international border. This project identifies ongoing and proposed energy-related development projects that will increase marine vessel traffic in the Salish Sea and evaluates the threats each project poses to natural resources important to the Coast Salish. While recognizing that Coast Salish traditions identify all species as important and connected, we used expert elicitation to identify 50 species upon which we could evaluate impact. These species were chosen because Coast Salish depend upon them heavily for harvest revenue or as a staple food source, they were particularly culturally or spiritually significant, or they were historically part of Coast Salish lifeways. We identified six development projects, each of which had three potential impacts (pressures associated with increased marine vessel traffic: oil spill, vessel noise and vessel strike. Projects varied in their potential for localized impacts (pressures including shoreline development, harbor oil spill, pipeline spill, coal dust accumulation and nearshore LNG explosion. Based on available published data, impact for each pressure/species interaction was rated as

Cristalización de vidrios ricos en sílice preparados mediante sol-gel en el sistema alúmina-circona-sílice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Popa, M.

2004-02-01

Full Text Available The crystallization of ZrSiO4 and its evolution with temperature from chemically homogeneous alumina-silica-zirconia powders prepared by sol-gel method from alcoxide mixtures was studied in the silica-rich region. A glass with the same composition was obtained by quenching in water from the melt. The gel-glasses evolution and microstructure were studied by means of XRD, IR and SEM/EDX, in the range of temperatures up to 1650oC. The materials consisted mainly of amorphous phase up to 1200oC, at which partial crystallization of cristobalite was observed. IR spectroscopy analysis showed zircon bands after thermal treatment at 1200oC. The crystallization of zircon and zirconia particles at 1550oC was confirmed by SEM/EDX analysis. At 1650oC the only stable crystalline phase observed after 40 h of thermal treatment was zircon.

La cristalización de ZrSiO4 y su evolución con la temperatura se ha estudiado en la región rica en sílice, a partir de polvos amorfos y químicamente homogéneos de alumina-sílice-circona, preparados mediante método sol-gel usando mezclas de alcóxidos. Se obtuvo un vidrio con idéntica composición mediante enfriamiento rápido por inmersión en agua del material fundido. La evolución y la microestructura de los vidrios obtenidos se estudió mediante difracción de rayos X, infrarrojos, microscopía electrónica de barrido y análisis químico, en el rango de temperaturas hasta 1650oC. Los materiales están formados principalmente por fase amorfa hasta 1200oC, temperatura a la cual se observa la cristalización parcial de cristobalita. El análisis por espectroscopía de infrarrojos muestra bandas de circón en muestras tratadas térmicamente por encima de 1200oC. Las observaciones mediante microscopía electrónica confirman la cristalización de partículas de circón y circona a 1550oC. A 1650oC la cristobalita ha fundido y la única fase cristalina estable detectada mediante XRD tras 40 h a esta temperatura

Global ship accidents and ocean swell-related sea states

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Z. Zhang

2017-11-01

Full Text Available With the increased frequency of shipping activities, navigation safety has become a major concern, especially when economic losses, human casualties and environmental issues are considered. As a contributing factor, the sea state plays a significant role in shipping safety. However, the types of dangerous sea states that trigger serious shipping accidents are not well understood. To address this issue, we analyzed the sea state characteristics during ship accidents that occurred in poor weather or heavy seas based on a 10-year ship accident dataset. Sea state parameters of a numerical wave model, i.e., significant wave height, mean wave period and mean wave direction, were analyzed for the selected ship accident cases. The results indicated that complex sea states with the co-occurrence of wind sea and swell conditions represent threats to sailing vessels, especially when these conditions include similar wave periods and oblique wave directions.

Global ship accidents and ocean swell-related sea states

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Zhiwei; Li, Xiao-Ming

2017-11-01

With the increased frequency of shipping activities, navigation safety has become a major concern, especially when economic losses, human casualties and environmental issues are considered. As a contributing factor, the sea state plays a significant role in shipping safety. However, the types of dangerous sea states that trigger serious shipping accidents are not well understood. To address this issue, we analyzed the sea state characteristics during ship accidents that occurred in poor weather or heavy seas based on a 10-year ship accident dataset. Sea state parameters of a numerical wave model, i.e., significant wave height, mean wave period and mean wave direction, were analyzed for the selected ship accident cases. The results indicated that complex sea states with the co-occurrence of wind sea and swell conditions represent threats to sailing vessels, especially when these conditions include similar wave periods and oblique wave directions.

Comportamiento del gel de sílice como filtro deshumidificador en sistemas de acondicionamiento de aire por compresión de vapor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonio José Bula Silvera

2004-01-01

Full Text Available Con el fin de determinar la tasa de adsorción de humedad por un filtro a base de gel de sílice, se han llevado a cabo una serie de experimentos en los cuales se ha variado la densidad de gel de sílice por unidad de área y la velocidad con que el aire se acerca al filtro. Los resultados mostraron que al disminuir la velocidad del aire y al aumentar la masa de desecante por unidad de área, se consigue mayor nivel de adsorción por parte del filtro. Sin embargo, al adimensionar la cantidad de agua retenida por unidad de masa de desecante, se observa que el filtro con menor densidad presenta mayor efectividad en el proceso de remoción de humedad. Los resultados se presentan en función del tiempo en un lapso de 50 minutos de muestreo.

Management of the underwater and coastal archaeological heritage in Israel’s Seas (I)

OpenAIRE

Galili, Ehud; Arenson, Sarah

2014-01-01

The Maritime cultural heritage of Israel reflects important chapters in the history of humanity, including the Neolithic revolution and the beginning of agriculture, the emergence of the first empires and the foundation of the three monotheistic religions. Erosion due to sea level rise and human activity is destroying important coastal and underwater archaeological sites. Low levels in the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea exposed many archaeological remains, which are threate...

Stereotype Threat.

Science.gov (United States)

Spencer, Steven J; Logel, Christine; Davies, Paul G

2016-01-01

When members of a stigmatized group find themselves in a situation where negative stereotypes provide a possible framework for interpreting their behavior, the risk of being judged in light of those stereotypes can elicit a disruptive state that undermines performance and aspirations in that domain. This situational predicament, termed stereotype threat, continues to be an intensely debated and researched topic in educational, social, and organizational psychology. In this review, we explore the various sources of stereotype threat, the mechanisms underlying stereotype-threat effects (both mediators and moderators), and the consequences of this situational predicament, as well as the means through which society and stigmatized individuals can overcome the insidious effects of stereotype threat. Ultimately, we hope this review alleviates some of the confusion surrounding stereotype threat while also sparking further research and debate.

Chewing lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera et Ischnocera) from wrens (Passeriformes: Troglodytidae), with description of a new species of Myrsidea

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Sychra, O.; Kounek, F.; Papoušek, I.; Čapek, Miroslav; Cárdenas-Callirgos, J. M.; Franco, S.; Literák, I.

2014-01-01

Roč. 54, č. 1 (2014), s. 1-28 ISSN 0374-1036 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IAA601690901; GA MŠk LC06073 Institutional support: RVO:68081766 Keywords : Amblycera * Ischnocera * chewing lice * bird parasites * prevalence * mean intensity * geographic distribution * mitochondrial COI * phylogeny * taxonomy * Troglodytes * wrens * Neotropical Region * Palaearctic Region * new species Subject RIV: EG - Zoology Impact factor: 0.659, year: 2014 http://www.aemnp.eu/PDF/54_1/54_1_1.pdf

Mediterranean, our sea

Science.gov (United States)

Markaki, Foteini

2017-04-01

My school (1o EPAL Ymittos -Athens, Greece) is a technical school of secondary education and throughout this school year being drafted a program of environmental education. The main theme is the Mediterranean Sea, the biggest closed sea extending between three continents. Topics studied: 1. Biodiversity and the risks threat. 2. The geophysics that characterize (earthquakes, volcanoes explosions, etc). 3. The Mediterranean Sea as environment anthropogenesis, a mosaic of other cultures and even place current notions of social phenomena (refugees). Pedagogical Objectives: Cognitive/Enviromental: 1. To investigate and understand the biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea and the risks to threaten and phenomena that characterize. 2. To understand the position of the Mediterranean Sea in the land and the role of the historical, cultural and social human environment. 3. To come in contact with texts literary, social, articles on the Mediterranean. Psychomotor: 1. To work together and collect information for the Mediterranean Sea. 2. Experiential approach to the natural environment. 3. Develop critical thinking. 4. Undertake responsibilities for the presentation of the program. Emotional: 1. To feel joy from participation in the program. 2. Being sensitized and configure attitudes and actions of respect towards the environment. Methodology implementation: Teamwork. Interdisciplinary - holistic to dissemination of program recordings to courses curriculum. Study in the field. Gathering information from newspapers, magazines, internet, maps, and photographs. Experiential method- Project. Assessment methods and self-assessment. Fields of courses: Greek language- History- Biology- Chemistry- Technology Dissemination of results: Make a page of social media (facebook), a blog, enhancing environmental awareness via video, make an electronic poster.

Stereotype threat and executive functions: which functions mediate different threat-related outcomes?

Science.gov (United States)

Rydell, Robert J; Van Loo, Katie J; Boucher, Kathryn L

2014-03-01

Stereotype threat research shows that women's math performance can be reduced by activating gender-based math stereotypes. Models of stereotype threat assert that threat reduces cognitive functioning, thereby accounting for its negative effects. This work provides a more detailed understanding of the cognitive processes through which stereotype threat leads women to underperform at math and to take risks, by examining which basic executive functions (inhibition, shifting, and updating) account for these outcomes. In Experiments 1 and 2, women under threat showed reduced inhibition, reduced updating, and reduced math performance compared with women in a control condition (or men); however, only updating accounted for women's poor math performance under threat. In Experiment 3, only updating accounted for stereotype threat's effect on women's math performance, whereas only inhibition accounted for the effect of threat on risk-taking, suggesting that distinct executive functions can account for different stereotype threat-related outcomes.

Environmental security of coastal seas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Valkovic, Vladivoj; Sudac, Davorin; Nad, Karlo; Obhodas, Jasmina; Kollar, Robert; Matika, Dario

2008-01-01

Full text: The bottoms of the coastal seas are contaminated by many man-made objects including a variety of ammunition. This contamination is world wide spread with some areas being highly polluted presenting a serious threat to local population and to visitors as well. All littoral nations are investing lots of effort into the remediation of their coastal areas. In this report an effort to identify the nature of the object on the sea bottom is presented. Once the presence of the anomaly on the bottom of the shallow coastal sea water is confirmed (by visual identification and by using one or several sensors, namely magnetometer, sonar and optical cameras) it is necessary to establish if it contains explosive and/or chemical warfare charge. In our work we propose this to be performed by using neutron sensor installed within an underwater vessel - 'Surveyor'. When positioned above the object, or to its side, the system inspects the object for the presence of the threat material by using alpha particle tagged neutrons from the sealed tube d+t neutron generator. The inside of the first prototype of the underwater system 'Surveyor' containing neutron generator, shielding and gamma ray detector is shown in figure. The neutron generator used by the 'Surveyor' is rotated by two step motors so that different volume elements chosen by the relative position of the neutron generator and gamma ray detector could be inspected. In such a way a profile of concentrations could also be measured. The preliminary results from the laboratory tests are presented

Planting time for maximization of yield of vinegar plant calyx (Hibiscus sabdariffa L. Época de plantio para maximização daprodução de cálices de vinagreira (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nilmar Eduardo Arbex de Castro

2004-06-01

Full Text Available The objective of this work was to evaluate the yield of calyxes of Hibiscus sabdariffa L, a medicinal plant, at four planting times in Lavras - MG. The treatments were four planting times (October 18th, November 15th, December 18th 2001 and January 15th 2002 and a harvest was proceeded when practically there were no developing calyxes, almost at the end of the plant cycle. The numbers of calyxes per plant, the fresh and dry biomasses of calyxes and quality were taken into account. It follows that planting time influenced yield per plant and the fresh and dry biomasses of calyxes, differing from each other by Tukey test at 5%. In October planting, there was a higher yield (2,522kg/ha with a yield 5.24 as high relative to the planting of the month of January (481 kg/ha. The planting s in the month of November to December showed yields of 1,695 and 1,093 kg/ha of dry calyxes, respectively and in relation to the same months of January, yield was of 3.52 to 2.27 times more. Harvest must be done as soon as the calyxes are ripe in order to preserve quality.Objetivou-se avaliar a produtividade de cálices de Hibiscus sabdariffa L., planta medicinal, em quatro épocas de plantio em Lavras - M.G. Os tratamentos foram quatro épocas de plantio (18 de outubro; 15 de novembro; 18 de dezembro de 2001 e 15 de janeiro de 2002 e realizada uma colheita quando praticamente não existiam cálices em desenvolvimento, quase no final do ciclo da planta. Foram considerados os números de cálices por planta, as fitomassas frescas e secas dos cálices e a qualidade. Concluiu-se que a época de plantio influenciou o rendimento por planta e as fitomassas frescas e secas dos cálices, diferindo entre si pelo teste de Tukey a 5%. No plantio de outubro, houve maior rendimento (2.522 kg/ha, com produção de 5,24 vezes a mais em relação ao plantio do mês de janeiro (481 kg/ha. Os plantios nos meses de novembro e dezembro tiveram produções de 1.695 e 1.093 kg.ha-1 de cálices

Laboratory and clinical trials of cocamide diethanolamine lotion against head lice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ian F. Burgess

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Context. During the late 1990s, insecticide resistance had rendered a number of treatment products ineffective; some companies saw this as an opportunity to develop alternative types of treatment. We investigated the possibility that a surfactant-based lotion containing 10% cocamide diethanolamine (cocamide DEA was effective to eliminate head louse infestation.Settings and Design. Initial in vitro testing of the lotion formulation versus laboratory reared body/clothing lice, followed by two randomised, controlled, community-based, assessor blinded, clinical studies.Materials and Methods. Preliminary laboratory tests were performed by exposing lice or louse eggs to the product using a method that mimicked the intended use. Clinical Study 1: Children and adults with confirmed head louse infestation were treated by investigators using a single application of aqueous 10% cocamide DEA lotion applied for 60 min followed by shampooing or a single 1% permethrin creme rinse treatment applied to pre-washed hair for 10 min. Clinical Study 2: Compared two treatment regimens using 10% cocamide DEA lotion that was concentrated by hair drying. A single application left on for 8 h/overnight was compared with two applications 7 days apart of 2 h duration, followed by a shampoo wash.Results. The initial laboratory tests showed a pediculicidal effect for a 60 min application but limited ovicidal effect. A longer application time of 8 h or overnight was found capable of killing all eggs but this differed between batches of test material. Clinical Study 1: Both treatments performed badly with only 3/23 (13% successful treatments using cocamide DEA and 5/25 (23.8% using permethrin. Clinical Study 2: The single overnight application of cocamide DEA concentrated by hair drying gave 10/56 (17.9% successes compared with 19/56 (33.9% for the 2 h application regimen repeated after 1 week. Intention to treat analysis showed no significant difference (p = 0.0523 between the

Growing threat of intense tropical cyclones to East Asia over the period 1977–2010

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Doo-Sun R; Ho, Chang-Hoi; Kim, Joo-Hong

2014-01-01

The threat of intense tropical cyclones (TCs) to East Asia has increased in recent decades. Integrated analyses of five available TC data sets for the period 1977–2010 revealed that the growing threat of TCs primarily results from the significant shift that the spatial positions of the maximum intensity of TCs moved closer to East Asian coastlines from Vietnam to Japan. This shift incurs a robust increase in landfall intensity over east China, Korea and Japan. In contrast, an increase of TC genesis frequency over the northern part of the South China Sea leads to a reduction in the maximum TC intensity before landfall, because of their short lifetime; thus, there are no clear tendencies in the landfall intensity across Vietnam, south China and Taiwan. All changes are related to the strengthening of the Pacific Walker circulation, closely linked with the recent manifestation that the warming trend of sea surface temperature in the tropical western Pacific is much higher than that in the central to eastern Pacific. (paper)

Quantitative risk assessment of salmon louse-induced mortality of seaward-migrating post-smolt Atlantic salmon

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anja Bråthen Kristoffersen

2018-06-01

Full Text Available The Norwegian government recently implemented a new management system to regulate salmon farming in Norway, aiming to promote environmentally sustainable growth in the aquaculture industry. The Norwegian coast has been divided into 13 production zones and the volume of salmonid production in the zones will be regulated based on salmon lice effects on wild salmonids. Here we present a model for assessing salmon louse-induced mortality of seaward-migrating post-smolts of Atlantic salmon. The model quantifies expected salmon lice infestations and louse-induced mortality of migrating post-smolt salmon from 401 salmon rivers draining into Norwegian coastal waters. It is assumed that migrating post-smolts follow the shortest path from river outlets to the high seas, at constant progression rates. During this migration, fish are infested by salmon lice of farm origin according to an empirical infestation model. Furthermore, louse-induced mortality is estimated from the estimated louse infestations. Rivers draining into production zones on the West Coast of Norway were at the highest risk of adverse lice effects. In comparison, rivers draining into northerly production zones, along with the southernmost production zone, were at lower risk. After adjusting for standing stock biomass, estimates of louse-egg output varied by factors of up to 8 between production zones. Correlation between biomass adjusted output of louse infestation and densities of farmed salmon in the production zones suggests that a large-scale density-dependent host-parasite effect is a major driver of louse infestation rates and parasite-induced mortality. The estimates are sensitive to many of the processes in the chain of events in the model. Nevertheless, we argue that the model is suited to assess spatial and temporal risks associated with farm-origin salmon lice. Keywords: Density dependent, Sea lice, Transmission, Farmed salmon, Migration pathway, Migration time

Status of marine biodiversity of the China seas.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J Y Liu

Full Text Available China's seas cover nearly 5 million square kilometers extending from the tropical to the temperate climate zones and bordering on 32,000 km of coastline, including islands. Comprehensive systematic study of the marine biodiversity within this region began in the early 1950s with the establishment of the Qingdao Marine Biological Laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Since that time scientists have carried out intensive multidisciplinary research on marine life in the China seas and have recorded 22,629 species belonging to 46 phyla. The marine flora and fauna of the China seas are characterized by high biodiversity, including tropical and subtropical elements of the Indo-West Pacific warm-water fauna in the South and East China seas, and temperate elements of North Pacific temperate fauna mainly in the Yellow Sea. The southern South China Sea fauna is characterized by typical tropical elements paralleled with the Philippine-New Guinea-Indonesia Coral triangle typical tropical faunal center. This paper summarizes advances in studies of marine biodiversity in China's seas and discusses current research mainly on characteristics and changes in marine biodiversity, including the monitoring, assessment, and conservation of endangered species and particularly the strengthening of effective management. Studies of (1 a tidal flat in a semi-enclosed embayment, (2 the impact of global climate change on a cold-water ecosystem, (3 coral reefs of Hainan Island and Xisha-Nansha atolls, (4 mangrove forests of the South China Sea, (5 a threatened seagrass field, and (6 an example of stock enhancement practices of the Chinese shrimp fishery are briefly introduced. Besides the overexploitation of living resources (more than 12.4 million tons yielded in 2007, the major threat to the biodiversity of the China seas is environmental deterioration (pollution, coastal construction, particularly in the brackish waters of estuarine environments, which are

Effects of the vertically transmitted microsporidian Facilispora margolisi and the parasiticide emamectin benzoate on salmon lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis).

Science.gov (United States)

Poley, Jordan D; Sutherland, Ben J G; Fast, Mark D; Koop, Ben F; Jones, Simon R M

2017-08-17

Microsporidia are highly specialized, parasitic fungi that infect a wide range of eukaryotic hosts from all major taxa. Infections cause a variety of damaging effects on host physiology from increased stress to death. The microsporidian Facilispora margolisi infects the Pacific salmon louse (Lepeophtheirus salmonis oncorhynchi), an economically and ecologically important ectoparasitic copepod that can impact wild and cultured salmonids. Vertical transmission of F. margolisi was demonstrated by using PCR and in situ hybridization to identify and localize microsporidia in female L. salmonis and their offspring. Spores and developmental structures of F. margolisi were identified in 77% of F 1 generation copepods derived from infected females while offspring from uninfected females all tested negative for the microsporidia. The transcriptomic response of the salmon louse to F. margolisi was profiled at both the copepodid larval stage and the pre-adult stage using microarray technology. Infected copepodids differentially expressed 577 transcripts related to stress, ATP generation and structural components of muscle and cuticle. The infection also impacted the response of the copepodid to the parasiticide emamectin benzoate (EMB) at a low dose of 1.0 ppb for 24 h. A set of 48 transcripts putatively involved in feeding and host immunomodulation were up to 8-fold underexpressed in the F. margolisi infected copepodids treated with EMB compared with controls or either stressor alone. Additionally, these infected lice treated with EMB also overexpressed 101 transcripts involved in stress resistance and signalling compared to the other groups. In contrast, infected pre-adult lice did not display a stress response, suggesting a decrease in microsporidian virulence associated with lice maturity. Furthermore, copepodid infectivity and moulting was not affected by the microsporidian infection. This study demonstrated that F. margolisi is transmitted vertically between salmon

Protecting facilities against terrorism and sabotage. Is Jamaica prepared to deal with this potential threat?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Powell, E.D.

2001-01-01

Full text: Jamaica, a developing Caribbean country, is presently experiencing an economic recession. This has lead to the government having considerable difficulty in acquiring much needed financing, even financing that is necessary to protect the county's resources and facilities from terrorist and sabotage. Essential national facilities include our international airports, embassies and High Commission, hospitals, utility plants - electricity, water and telecommunications, oil-refineries, government ministries, parliamentary houses and educational facilities. These facilities are vulnerable to terrorist attacks and sabotages. Terrorist acts and acts of sabotage can come from internal as well as external sources, they can be commandeered from the air, land or sea. They can be politically, socio-economically or otherwise motivated. As a third world developing nation, Jamaica does not have the capability or the resources necessary to secure all its assets, the government must prioritize on such resource allocation. With its high level of debt servicing, dealing with recurrent and capital expenditure and addressing other social issues, some important issues will be placed on the back burner, dealing with terrorism and sabotage will fall in the category. One contributing factor is the fact that to date the incidents of terrorism and sabotage have been few to non-existent. This has encouraged the government to become somewhat complacent, subscribing to the belief that acts of terrorism and sabotage will never happen. This practice can be detrimental to the country, as one cannot underestimate the threat of terrorism and sabotage. With the steady increase in drug related incidents and with the deportation agreement the government has with some first world countries such as the USA and England, this threat is very realistic. Drug 'Lords'/'Dons' are known to promote terrorism and sabotage as revenge mechanism against governments for unfavorable decision handed down by the

Global Distribution of Two Fungal Pathogens Threatening Endangered Sea Turtles

OpenAIRE

Sarmiento-Ramírez, Jullie M.; Abella-Pérez, Elena; Phillott, Andrea D.; Sim, Jolene; van West, Pieter; Martín, María P.; Marco, Adolfo; Diéguez-Uribeondo, Javier

2014-01-01

Nascent fungal infections are currently considered as one of the main threats for biodiversity and ecosystem health, and have driven several animal species into critical risk of extinction. Sea turtles are one of the most endangered groups of animals and only seven species have survived to date. Here, we described two pathogenic species, i.e., Fusarium falciforme and Fusarium keratoplasticum, that are globally distributed in major turtle nesting areas for six sea turtle species and that are i...

China's Crisis Bargaining in the South China Sea Dispute (2010-2013)

OpenAIRE

Ramadhani, Eryan

2014-01-01

As one of China’s most intricate territorial dispute, the South China Sea dispute has sufficiently consumed significant amount of Chinese leaders’ attention in Beijing. This paper reveals that China exerts signaling strategy in its crisis bargaining over the South China Sea dispute. This strategy contains reassurance as positive signal through offering negotiation and appearing self-restraint and of negative signal by means of escalatory acts and verbal threats. China’s crisis bargaining in t...

Upper Limit for Regional Sea Level Projections

Science.gov (United States)

Jevrejeva, Svetlana; Jackson, Luke; Riva, Riccardo; Grinsted, Aslak; Moore, John

2016-04-01

With more than 150 million people living within 1 m of high tide future sea level rise is one of the most damaging aspects of warming climate. The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report (AR5 IPCC) noted that a 0.5 m rise in mean sea level will result in a dramatic increase the frequency of high water extremes - by an order of magnitude, or more in some regions. Thus the flood threat to the rapidly growing urban populations and associated infrastructure in coastal areas are major concerns for society. Hence, impact assessment, risk management, adaptation strategy and long-term decision making in coastal areas depend on projections of mean sea level and crucially its low probability, high impact, upper range. With probabilistic approach we produce regional sea level projections taking into account large uncertainties associated with Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets contribution. We calculate the upper limit (as 95%) for regional sea level projections by 2100 with RCP8.5 scenario, suggesting that for the most coastlines upper limit will exceed the global upper limit of 1.8 m.

Pharmacokinetics and transcriptional effects of the anti-salmon lice drug emamectin benzoate in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.).

Science.gov (United States)

Olsvik, Pål A; Lie, Kai K; Mykkeltvedt, Eva; Samuelsen, Ole B; Petersen, Kjell; Stavrum, Anne-Kristin; Lunestad, Bjørn T

2008-09-11

Emamectin benzoate (EB) is a dominating pharmaceutical drug used for the treatment and control of infections by sea lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) on Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L). Fish with an initial mean weight of 132 g were experimentally medicated by a standard seven-day EB treatment, and the concentrations of drug in liver, muscle and skin were examined. To investigate how EB affects Atlantic salmon transcription in liver, tissues were assessed by microarray and qPCR at 7, 14 and 35 days after the initiation of medication. The pharmacokinetic examination revealed highest EB concentrations in all three tissues at day 14, seven days after the end of the medication period. Only modest effects were seen on the transcriptional levels in liver, with small fold-change alterations in transcription throughout the experimental period. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) indicated that EB treatment induced oxidative stress at day 7 and inflammation at day 14. The qPCR examinations showed that medication by EB significantly increased the transcription of both HSP70 and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) in liver during a period of 35 days, compared to un-treated fish, possibly via activation of enzymes involved in phase II conjugation of metabolism in the liver. This study has shown that a standard seven-day EB treatment has only a modest effect on the transcription of genes in liver of Atlantic salmon. Based on GSEA, the medication seems to have produced a temporary oxidative stress response that might have affected protein stability and folding, followed by a secondary inflammatory response.

Improving Visual Threat Detection: Research to Validate the Threat Detection Skills Trainer

Science.gov (United States)

2013-08-01

26 Threat Detection and Mitigation Strategies...quicker when identifying threats in relevant locations. This task utilized the Flicker paradigm (Rensink, O’Regan, & Clark, 1997; Scholl, 2000...the meaning and implication of threats, why cues were relevant, strategies used to detect and mitigate threats, and challenges when attempting to

New records of chewing lice (Insecta, Phthiraptera from Brazilian birds (Aves collected by Helmut Sick (1910-1991

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kamila M.D. Kuabara

Full Text Available ABSTRACT We list the genera and species of chewing lice collected from birds by Helmut Sick, mainly from central Brazil, and particularly during the Roncador-Xingu Expedition, between 1943 and 1949. From the 123 samples studied, a wide variety of chewing louse genera and species were found, including 34 species as new records for Brazil, 37 species recorded from new Brazilian localities and 23 new host records. All material is deposited in the ectoparasite collection of the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo.

OBTENCIÓN DE echinococcus GRANULOSUS EN CANINOS INFECTADOS EXPERIMENTALMENTE CON PROTOESCÓLICES DE QUISTES HIDATÍDICOS.

OpenAIRE

Rosales G., Sofía; Gavidia C., César; Lopera B., Luis; Barrón G., Eduardo; Ninaquispe B., Berenice; Calderón S., Carmen; Gonzáles Z., Armando

2012-01-01

El presente estudio tuvo por objetivo reproducir experimentalmente el ciclo biológico del Echinococcus granulosus en perros. Se utilizó 12 perros (4-50 meses de edad) que fueron infectados experimentalmente con 80,000 a 308,000 protoescólices de quistes hidatídicos de pulmón e hígado de ovinos procedentes de Junín y Ayacucho. Los perros se sacrificaron 28 a 39 días post infección (p.i). El intestino delgado se dividió en tres porciones iguales (anterior, media y posterior). Los parásitos fuer...

Reactors at sea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hines, Colin

1988-01-01

The Greenpeace Nuclear Free Seas Campaign is outlined. The campaign aims to bring the environmental hazards from nuclear submarines and naval ships carrying nuclear weapons to public attention. Worldwide there are 544 nuclear reactor ships or submarines each with the potential to meltdown with serious environmental consequences. One meltdown is known to have occurred. Five reactors have been abandoned on the sea bed. Nuclear powered submarines are based at Rosyth, Faslane, Holy Loch, Plymouth and Portsmouth and routinely come into and out of those harbours. There have also been accidents involving nuclear weapons on board submarines, aircraft carriers or destroyers which carry nuclear depth bombs and free fall bombs. The Royal Navy's accident emergency plans for nuclear naval bases are inadequate. There is a threat to the environment when the reactors are decommissioned. There are no clear plans as to how to deal with the decommissioning of the submarines or ships although the fuel rods have been removed from the first British nuclear submarine, Dreadnought. (U.K.)

Evaluating and ranking threats to the long-term persistence of polar bears

Science.gov (United States)

Atwood, Todd C.; Marcot, Bruce G.; Douglas, David C.; Amstrup, Steven C.; Rode, Karyn D.; Durner, George M.; Bromaghin, Jeffrey F.

2015-01-01

The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) was listed as a globally threatened species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 2008, mostly due to the significant threat to their future population viability from rapidly declining Arctic sea ice. A core mandate of the ESA is the development of a recovery plan that identifies steps to maintain viable populations of a listed species. A substantive evaluation of the relative influence of putative threats to population persistence is helpful to recovery planning. Because management actions must often be taken in the face of substantial information gaps, a formalized evaluation hypothesizing potential stressors and their relationships with population persistence can improve identification of relevant conservation actions. To this end, we updated a Bayesian network model previously used to forecast the future status of polar bears worldwide. We used new information on actual and predicted sea ice loss and polar bear responses to evaluate the relative influence of plausible threats and their mitigation through management actions on the persistence of polar bears in four ecoregions. We found that polar bear outcomes worsened over time through the end of the century under both stabilized and unabated greenhouse gas (GHG) emission pathways. Under the unabated pathway (i.e., RCP 8.5), the time it took for polar bear populations in two of four ecoregions to reach a dominant probability of greatly decreased was hastened by about 25 years. Under the stabilized GHG emission pathway (i.e., RCP 4.5), where GHG emissions peak around the year 2040, the polar bear population in the Archipelago Ecoregion of High Arctic Canada never reached a dominant probability of greatly decreased, reinforcing earlier suggestions of this ecoregion’s potential to serve as a long-term refugium. The most influential drivers of adverse polar bear outcomes were declines to overall sea ice conditions and to the marine prey base. Improved sea ice conditions

Identifying and Mitigating Insider Threats

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Probst, Christian W.

2011-01-01

Organisations face many threats that coarsely can be separated in inside threats and outside threats. Threats from insiders are especially hard to counter since insiders have special knowledge and privileges. Therefore, malicious insider actions are hard to distinguish from benign actions. After ...... discussing new definitions of insiders and insider threats, this article gives an overview of how to mitigate insider threats and discusses conflicting goals when dealing with insider threats....

Examining perceived stereotype threat among overweight/obese adults using a multi-threat framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Carels, Robert A; Domoff, Sarah E; Burmeister, Jacob M; Koball, Afton M; Hinman, Nova G; Davis, Alan K; Wagner Oehlhof, Marissa; Leroy, Michelle; Bannon, Erin; Hoffmann, Debra A

2013-01-01

The Multi-Threat Framework accounts for potentially different forms of stereotype threat that differ in target (i.e., the individual or the group) and source (i.e., the self or others). This investigation examined how these different forms of perceived stereotype threat were related to concepts, such as group identity, stereotype endorsement, stigma consciousness, etc., among overweight and obese individuals. 216 adults completed an online survey. Participants' mean age was 23.6 (SD 10.1; range 18-64) years and mean BMI was 31.6 (SD 7.5) kg/m². Participants reported a history of feeling threatened by stereotypes related to weight. When reflecting on past experiences of perceived stereotype threat, participants reported greater levels of self/own stereotype threat compared to group stereotype threat. Level of stereotype threat was related to a number of personal characteristics (i.e., sex, BMI) and individual factors (i.e., group identity, stigma consciousness, fear of fat). Individuals who are overweight report a history of being threatened by negative stereotypes. The findings support the Multi-Threat Framework for stereotype threat based on body weight. Overweight individuals' susceptibility to stereotype threat may vary systematically depending on several factors. Future research should examine weight-related stereotypes' impact on cognitive and behavioral outcomes. Copyright © 2013 S. Karger GmbH, Freiburg

Examining Perceived Stereotype Threat among Overweight/Obese Adults Using a Multi-Threat Framework

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert A. Carels

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Objective: The Multi-Threat Framework accounts for potentially different forms of stereotype threat that differ in target (i.e., the individual or the group and source (i.e., the self or others. This investigation examined how these different forms of perceived stereotype threat were related to concepts, such as group identity, stereotype endorsement, stigma consciousness, etc., among overweight and obese individuals. Method: 216 adults completed an online survey. Participants' mean age was 23.6 (SD 10.1; range 18-64 years and mean BMI was 31.6 (SD 7.5 kg/m2. Results: Participants reported a history of feeling threatened by stereotypes related to weight. When reflecting on past experiences of perceived stereotype threat, participants reported greater levels of self/own stereotype threat compared to group stereotype threat. Level of stereotype threat was related to a number of personal characteristics (i.e., sex, BMI and individual factors (i.e., group identity, stigma consciousness, fear of fat. Conclusion: Individuals who are overweight report a history of being threatened by negative stereotypes. The findings support the Multi-Threat Framework for stereotype threat based on body weight. Overweight individuals' susceptibility to stereotype threat may vary systematically depending on several factors. Future research should examine weight-related stereotypes' impact on cognitive and behavioral outcomes.

Microplastic in the gastrointestinal tract of fishes along the Saudi Arabian Red Sea coast

KAUST Repository

Baalkhuyur, Fadiyah M.; Bin Dohaish, El-Jawaher A.; Elhalwagy, Manal E.A.; Mannalamkunnath Alikunhi, Nabeel; Al-Suwailem, Abdulaziz M.; Rø stad, Anders; Coker, Darren James; Berumen, Michael L.; Duarte, Carlos M.

2018-01-01

of microplastics debris near the seabed. The results of this study represent a first evidence that microplastic pollution represents an emerging threat to Red Sea fishes, their food web and human consumers.

Riesgo de exposición al sílice y prevención de la silicosis en la industria

OpenAIRE

Camasi Pariona, Oswaldo

2015-01-01

La Sílice es un material que se encuentra en los minerales. Es el componente principal de la arena y se presenta principalmente en las formas: cristalina (cuarzo, cristobalita, tridimita), amorfa (tierra de diatomea, ópalo). Esta sustancia se utiliza en las actividades de minería, tratamiento de minerales, limpieza por arenado, industria del cemento, fabricación de asfalto, cerámica, limpieza abrasiva, demolición, industria del vidrio, molienda de cuarzo, moldes de fundición, pulido de superf...

Are all interventions created equal? A multi-threat approach to tailoring stereotype threat interventions.

Science.gov (United States)

Shapiro, Jenessa R; Williams, Amy M; Hambarchyan, Mariam

2013-02-01

To date, stereotype threat interventions have been considered interchangeable. Across 4 experiments, the present research demonstrates that stereotype threat interventions need to be tailored to the specific form of experienced stereotype threat to be effective. The Multi-Threat Framework (Shapiro & Neuberg, 2007) distinguishes between group-as-target stereotype threats-concerns that a stereotype-relevant performance will reflect poorly on the abilities of one's group-and self-as-target stereotype threats-concerns that a stereotype-relevant performance will reflect poorly on one's own abilities. The present experiments explored Black college students' performance on diagnostic intelligence tests (Experiments 1 and 3) and women's interest (Experiment 2) and performance (Experiment 4) in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Across the 4 experiments, participants were randomly assigned to experience either a group-as-target or self-as-target stereotype threat. Experiments 1 and 2 revealed that role model interventions were successful at protecting only against group-as-target stereotype threats, and Experiments 3 and 4 revealed that self-affirmation interventions were successful at protecting only against self-as-target stereotype threats. The present research provides an experimental test of the Multi-Threat Framework across different negatively stereotyped groups (Black students, female students), different negatively stereotyped domains (general intelligence, STEM), and different outcomes (test performance, career interest). This research suggests that interventions should address the range of possible stereotype threats to effectively protect individuals against these threats. Through an appreciation of the distinct forms of stereotype threats and the ways in which interventions work to reduce them, this research aims to facilitate a more complete understanding of stereotype threat. (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Middle Range Sea Ice Prediction System of Voyage Environmental Information System in Arctic Sea Route

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, H. S.

2017-12-01

Due to global warming, the sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is melting dramatically in summer, which is providing a new opportunity to exploit the Northern Sea Route (NSR) connecting Asia and Europe ship route. Recent increases in logistics transportation through NSR and resource development reveal the possible threats of marine pollution and marine transportation accidents without real-time navigation system. To develop a safe Voyage Environmental Information System (VEIS) for vessels operating, the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST) which is supported by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Korea has initiated the development of short-term and middle range prediction system for the sea ice concentration (SIC) and sea ice thickness (SIT) in NSR since 2014. The sea ice prediction system of VEIS consists of AMSR2 satellite composite images (a day), short-term (a week) prediction system, and middle range (a month) prediction system using a statistical method with re-analysis data (TOPAZ) and short-term predicted model data. In this study, the middle range prediction system for the SIC and SIT in NSR is calibrated with another middle range predicted atmospheric and oceanic data (NOAA CFSv2). The system predicts one month SIC and SIT on a daily basis, as validated with dynamic composite SIC data extracted from AMSR2 L2 satellite images.

Hemocytes from Pediculus humanus humanus are hosts for human bacterial pathogens.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eric eGhigo

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Pediculus humanus humanus is an human ectoparasite which represents a serious public health threat because it is vector for pathogenic bacteria. It is important to understand and identify where bacteria reside in human body lice to define new strategies to counterstroke the capacity of vectorization of the bacterial pathogens by body lice. It is known that phagocytes from vertebrates can be hosts or reservoirs for several microbes. Therefore, we wondered if Pediculus humanus humanus phagocytes could hide pathogens. In this study, we characterized the phagocytes from Pediculus humanus humanus and evaluated their contribution as hosts for human pathogens such as Rickettsia prowazekii, Bartonella quintana and Acinetobacter baumannii.

Cessation of a salmon decline with control of parasites

KAUST Repository

Peacock, Stephanie J.; Krkošek, Martin; Proboszcz, Stan; Orr, Craig; Lewis, Mark A.

2013-01-01

(Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) from Pacific Canada indicates that adaptive changes in parasite management on salmon farms have yielded positive conservation outcomes. After four years of sea lice epizootics and wild salmon population decline, parasiticide application

The concept of ego threat in social and personality psychology: is ego threat a viable scientific construct?

Science.gov (United States)

Leary, Mark R; Terry, Meredith L; Batts Allen, Ashley; Tate, Eleanor B

2009-08-01

Although widely invoked as an explanation for psychological phenomena, ego threat has been conceptualized and induced in a variety of ways. Most contemporary research conceptualizes ego threat as a threat to a person's self-image or self-esteem, but experimental operationalizations of ego threat usually confound threats to self-esteem with threats to public image or decreased control over negative events, leading to an inability to distinguish the effects of threats to people's personal egos from threats to public image or threats to feelings of control. This article reviews research on ego threat, discusses experimental manipulations that confound ego threat with other processes, and makes recommendations regarding the use of ego threat as a construct in personality and social psychology.

Conservation status of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in relation to projected sea-ice declines

Science.gov (United States)

Laidre, K. L.; Regehr, E. V.; Akcakaya, H. R.; Amstrup, S. C.; Atwood, T.; Lunn, N.; Obbard, M.; Stern, H. L., III; Thiemann, G.; Wiig, O.

2016-12-01

Loss of Arctic sea ice due to climate change is the most serious threat to polar bears (Ursus maritimus) throughout their circumpolar range. We performed a data-based sensitivity analysis with respect to this threat by evaluating the potential response of the global polar bear population to projected sea-ice conditions. We conducted 1) an assessment of generation length for polar bears, 2) developed of a standardized sea-ice metric representing important habitat characteristics for the species; and 3) performed population projections over three generations, using computer simulation and statistical models representing alternative relationships between sea ice and polar bear abundance. Using three separate approaches, the median percent change in mean global population size for polar bears between 2015 and 2050 ranged from -4% (95% CI = -62%, 50%) to -43% (95% CI = -76%, -20%). Results highlight the potential for large reductions in the global population if sea-ice loss continues. They also highlight the large amount of uncertainty in statistical projections of polar bear abundance and the sensitivity of projections to plausible alternative assumptions. The median probability of a reduction in the mean global population size of polar bears greater than 30% over three generations was approximately 0.71 (range 0.20-0.95. The median probability of a reduction greater than 50% was approximately 0.07 (range 0-0.35), and the probability of a reduction greater than 80% was negligible.

Insiders and Insider Threats

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hunker, Jeffrey; Probst, Christian W.

2011-01-01

Threats from the inside of an organization’s perimeters are a significant problem, since it is difficult to distinguish them from benign activity. In this overview article we discuss defining properties of insiders and insider threats. After presenting definitions of these terms, we go on to disc......Threats from the inside of an organization’s perimeters are a significant problem, since it is difficult to distinguish them from benign activity. In this overview article we discuss defining properties of insiders and insider threats. After presenting definitions of these terms, we go...

De la théorie au modèle : les hélices comme sculptures calculées, le cas des Fonderies de l’Atlantique à Nantes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jean-Louis Kerouanton

2009-05-01

Full Text Available La découverte, l’étude et la sauvegarde partielle des bâtiments des anciennes « Fonderies de l’Atlantique » à Nantes en 2001-2002 ont permis également de révéler puis de conserver une extraordinaire collection d’objets de fonderie au sable correspondant à la fabrication des hélices et des pales d’hélice pour les plus gros navires commerciaux et militaires. La technologie de fonderie d’alliage de cuivre pour les hélices avait été adoptée en 1937 dans l’entreprise. L’ensemble des modèles en bois de pales d’hélice est d’abord apparu comme une accumulation de sculptures monumentales particulièrement épurées. L’étude technologique plus fine montre cependant que cette « beauté » réelle ne correspond nullement à la volonté d’un artiste mais relève uniquement des calculs liés pour chaque production à un projet de navire. Et c’est seulement le calcul qui permet d’expliquer les réalisations d’hélices monoblocs par troussage, sans modèle aucun ; il ne reste alors de traces que les outils du troussage. Il s’agit bien dès lors d’un patrimoine scientifique - la transposition matérielle d’un calcul mathématique - tout autant que d’un patrimoine technique et industriel. C’est cette particularité qui fait la grande originalité de l’ensemble conservé par la communauté urbaine, en attendant, nous l’espérons, une valorisation future.In 2001 and 2002, the study and partial preservation of the buildings of the former Fonderies de l’Atlantic in Nantes also allowed for the preservation of a remarkable collection of objects related to the sand foundry casting carried out by this firm, specialised in propellers for major commercial and military vessels. The firm began to employ copper alloys in its foundry techniques from 1937. The collection of wooden models prepared for the casting of propellers appears, at first sight, as a remarkable accumulation of rather abstract monumental

Glider communications and controls for the sea sentry mission.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Feddema, John Todd; Dohner, Jeffrey Lynn

2005-03-01

This report describes a system level study on the use of a swarm of sea gliders to detect, confirm and kill littoral submarine threats. The report begins with a description of the problem and derives the probability of detecting a constant speed threat without networking. It was concluded that glider motion does little to improve this probability unless the speed of a glider is greater than the speed of the threat. Therefore, before detection, the optimal character for a swarm of gliders is simply to lie in wait for the detection of a threat. The report proceeds by describing the effect of noise on the localization of a threat once initial detection is achieved. This noise is estimated as a function of threat location relative to the glider and is temporally reduced through the use of an information or Kalman filtering. In the next section, the swarm probability of confirming and killing a threat is formulated. Results are compared to a collection of stationary sensors. These results show that once a glider has the ability to move faster than the threat, the performance of the swarm is equal to the performance of a stationary swarm of gliders with confirmation and kill ranges equal to detection range. Moreover, at glider speeds greater than the speed of the threat, swarm performance becomes a weak function of speed. At these speeds swarm performance is dominated by detection range. Therefore, to future enhance swarm performance or to reduce the number of gliders required for a given performance, detection range must be increased. Communications latency is also examined. It was found that relatively large communication delays did little to change swarm performance. Thus gliders may come to the surface and use SATCOMS to effectively communicate in this application.

Chewing lice of the genus Myrsidea (Phthiraptera: Menoponidae) from New World warblers (Passeriformes: Parulidae) from Costa Rica, with descriptions of four new species

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kounek, F.; Sychra, O.; Čapek, Miroslav; Literák, I.

2011-01-01

Roč. 3137, - (2011), s. 56-63 ISSN 1175-5326 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IAA601690901; GA MŠk LC06073 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60930519 Keywords : lice * new species * Costa Rica * new host-louse associations * Menoponidae * Myrsidea * Amblycera * Parulidae Subject RIV: EG - Zoology Impact factor: 0.927, year: 2011 http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2011/f/zt03137p063.pdf

Poland and Global Threats

Science.gov (United States)

Kleer, Jerzy

2016-01-01

This essay seeks to present the specifics of global threats, as well as the reasons for them being universal in nature, and for their persistence. A certain classification of the threats is also engaged in. At the same time, an attempt is made to show the specific threats present - irrespective of their global counterparts - in different regions, and even in different states. The genesis and nature of the latter are demonstrated in a somewhat ad hoc manner by reference to the threats considered to face Poland. If the global threats are truly universal, and arise out of the changes taking place around the world in the last half-century (primarily around the twin phenomena of globalisation and the information revolution), a specific reverse kind of situation applies to decolonisation, plus the collapse of the communist system and the transformation into market economies that apply to formerly communist countries. Equally, some at least of the threats facing Poland may have even a longer history, given that they are very much influenced by past economic and political development, as well as the dominant cultural system.

Invasive Lionfish (Pterosis volitans) Pose Public Health Threats.

Science.gov (United States)

Diaz, James H

2015-01-01

The lionfish, Pterosis volitans, a native of Indo-Pacific oceans, is a popular saltwater aquarium fish despite venomous spines on its fins. Lionfish were inadvertently introduced into the western Atlantic from Florida in the early 1990s and have overpopulated and dispersed widely into the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. Initiatives to control lionfish populations were launched, including the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-sponsored "Lionfish as Food Campaign".2 Recently, scientists from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported that lionfish caught off the US Virgin Islands contained ciguatoxins and could cause ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP); a seafood-borne poisoning without an antidote or any specific treatment, and a potential for prolonged neurotoxicity. Lionfish pose several public health threats. New strategies to control the lionfish population explosion in coastal waters and offshore fisheries are needed now to ensure seafood safety and public health. The lionfish, Pterosis volitans, is native to the reefs of the western Indian and Pacific Oceans (Figure 1). Brightly colored with red, white, and black stripes and adorned with feathery fins, the lionfish is a popular saltwater aquarium fish despite venomous spines on its fins (Figure 2). Lionfish were introduced into the western North Atlantic from Florida in the early 1990s after some specimens were discarded by dissatisfied amateur aquarists and others escaped from hurricane-flooded public aquariums.1 Since lionfish are voracious carnivores, have few natural predators, and reproduce prolifically, they have overpopulated and dispersed widely from Cape Hatteras to Florida, throughout the Caribbean Sea, and into the Gulf of Mexico.1 The population density of lionfish in its new, invaded territory now exceeds that of its native habitat.1 As a result, campaigns to control lionfish populations were launched in Florida and the Caribbean. Lionfish now pose several public

Are All Interventions Created Equal? A Multi-Threat Approach to Tailoring Stereotype Threat Interventions

OpenAIRE

Shapiro, Jenessa R.; Williams, Amy M.; Hambarchyan, Mariam

2012-01-01

To date, stereotype threat interventions have been considered interchangeable. Across 4 experiments, the present research demonstrates that stereotype threat interventions need to be tailored to the specific form of experienced stereotype threat to be effective. The Multi-Threat Framework (Shapiro & Neuberg, 2007) distinguishes between group-as-target stereotype threats—concerns that a stereotype-relevant performance will reflect poorly on the abilities of one’s group—and self-as-target stere...

A checklist of sucking lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera: Anoplura) associated with Mexican wild mammals, including geographical records and a host-parasite list.

Science.gov (United States)

Sánchez-Montes, Sokani; Guzmán-Cornejo, Carmen; León-Paniagua, Livia; Rivas, Gerardo

2013-01-01

A checklist of 44 species of sucking lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera: Anoplura) recorded in Mexico, belonging to nine genera in six families is given, together with a list of the 63 species of Mexican wild mammal hosts with which they are associated. Summaries of the known geographical records and host relationships for each louse species are presented for each Mexican state. Data were compiled from published and original records, including three new locality records from the states of Oaxaca and Guerrero.

Threat modeling designing for security

CERN Document Server

Shostack, Adam

2014-01-01

Adam Shostack is responsible for security development lifecycle threat modeling at Microsoft and is one of a handful of threat modeling experts in the world. Now, he is sharing his considerable expertise into this unique book. With pages of specific actionable advice, he details how to build better security into the design of systems, software, or services from the outset. You'll explore various threat modeling approaches, find out how to test your designs against threats, and learn effective ways to address threats that have been validated at Microsoft and other top companies. Systems secur

Relative sea-level rise and the conterminous United States : Consequences of potential land inundation in terms of population at risk and GDP loss

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Haer, Toon; Kalnay, Eugenia; Kearney, Michael; Moll, Henk

2013-01-01

Global sea-level rise poses a significant threat not only for coastal communities as development continues but also for national economies. This paper presents estimates of how future changes in relative sea-level rise puts coastal populations at risk, as well as affect overall GDP in the

Distributed Maritime Capability: Optimized U.S. Navy-U.S. Coast Guard Interoperability, a Case in the South China Sea

Science.gov (United States)

2017-12-01

poses a threat to regional security and economic stability —major U.S. national interests. Distributed maritime capability is demonstrated by applying...regional security, economic stability , fisheries enforcement 15. NUMBER OF PAGES 95 16. PRICE CODE 17. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF REPORT...a dominant aggressor in the South China Sea that poses a threat to regional security and economic stability —major U.S. national interests

Effects of Simulated Eutrophication and Overfishing on Coral Reef Invertebrates, Algae and Microbes in the Red Sea

OpenAIRE

Jessen, Christian

2013-01-01

Besides the main climate change consequences, ocean warming and acidification, local disturbances such as overfishing and eutrophication are major threats to coral reefs worldwide. Despite its relatively healthy coral reefs that are increasingly faced with growing coastal development, the Red Sea is highly under-investigated, particularly outside the Gulf of Aqaba. This thesis therefore aims to contribute to the understanding of eutrophication and overfishing effects on Red Sea coral reefs by...

A New Approach to Sea Transportation: An Application in Turkey

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alper Erturk

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This study has been conducted to detect the strengths and the improvement requiring areas of sea transportation in Turkey via SWOT analysis, and the opportunities this sector brings to Turkey and the threats that might appear have been put forward in several aspects. When the necessary advances have been made considering the outcomes of this study, it can be foreseen that Turkish navigation can make a swift progress and assume its place in the top 5 mercantile fleets of the World Trade Fleet. Moreover, this new approach that can be developed through the example of Turkey, especially in the context of SWOT analysis methodology, can get to be seen as a role model before the other developing countries.Sea transportation is not merely a transportation sector. Along with goods and human transportation, ship building industry, port services, sea insurance and sea tourism are among the many naval activities. Because of all these, sea transportation has a significant place in international trade. The overall commercial value of world trade mounting up to 15 trillion US dollars, 9 trillion dollars of this has been conducted via sea transportation. In other words, 60 percent of world commerce has been done through sea transportation (GISBIR, 2013. Furthermore, the volume of the dry bulk market via sea transportation is expected to grow by 6 percent between the years 2014 and 2018 (GISBIR, 2013.

Características físico-químicas de physalis em diferentes colorações do cálice e sistemas de condução Chemical characteristics of cape-gooseberry fruits in different sepal colors and training systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cláudia Simone Madruga Lima

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Uma espécie que está sendo incorporada no cultivo de pequenas frutas é a physalis. Esta Solanaceae é considerada uma planta rústica que tem dificuldade de manter suas hastes eretas, seus frutos estão dentro de um cálice que os protege contra insetos, pássaros e condições adversas. o objetivo neste trabalho foi avaliar as características físico-químicas dos frutos de Physalis peruviana em função das diferentes colorações de cálice e dos sistemas de condução utilizados. A colheita dos frutos foi realizada levando em consideração cinco diferentes classificações quanto à coloração de cálice: 1 (verde; 2 (verde-amarelada; 3 (amarelo-esverdeada; 4 (amarela, e 5 (amarelo-amarronzada, provenientes dos sistemas de condução "v" invertido e triangular. o delineamento experimental foi o inteiramente casualizado, com esquema fatorial 5x2 (colorações do cálice x sistemas de condução. A unidade experimental foi composta de dez frutos, sendo cada tratamento repetido três vezes. os dados foram submetidos à análise de variância (ANOVA, aplicando o teste de Tukey, ao nível de 5% de probabilidade de erro, para comparação das médias. As variáveis avaliadas foram: massa fresca do fruto, do cálice e total, diâmetro, firmeza, coloração da epiderme, sólidos solúveis totais (SST, acidez total titulável (ATT, razão SST/ATT e pH. o sistema de condução triangular, combinado às colorações de fruto amarela e amarelo-amarronzada resultou, respectivamente, em frutos com maior conteúdo de SST e razão SST/ATT. os maiores valores para massa e diâmetro de fruto foram alcançados quando os cálices se apresentavam amarelo-amarronzados, enquanto a maior massa total foi atingida quando os cálices tinham coloração amarela. Já para a massa do cálice, as maiores respostas foram obtidas nos de coloração verde. Conclui-se que physalis colhidos a partir da terceira fase (3 (cálice amarelo-esverdeado apresentam o melhor

Countering Insider Threats

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Probst, Christian W.; Hunker, Jeffrey; Gollmann, Dieter

threat, and to develop a common vision of how an insider can be categorized as well as an integrated approach that allows a qualitative reasoning about the threat and the possibilities of attacks. This report gives an overview of the discussions and presentations during the week, as well as the outcome...

PORT SECURITY-Threats and Vulnerabilities

OpenAIRE

Kusi, Bernard

2015-01-01

The main objective of this thesis is to identify the threats and the vulnerabilities concerning Takoradi port, and finally recommend measure to overcome the identified threats and vul-nerabilities. Various categories of potential threats and vulnerabilities have been studied throughout the literature review. However, because each port presents a unique sets of threats and vulnerabilities, there was a need to look critically into how Takoradi port operations are being conducted in other to ide...

VEDS-Automated system for inspection of vehicles and containers for explosives and other threats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gozani, T.; Liu, F.; Sivakumar, M.

2004-01-01

Many parts of national infrastructures around the world are very vulnerable to terrorist threats in the form of large vehicle bombs. The larger bomb, the larger is the damage and its extent. The number of containers and vehicles crossing land or sea ports of entry is huge. Tough the probability is low, any vehicle may contain a threat. Any system addressing these enormous security tasks should obviously be based on excellent human intelligence to focus the attention on a much smaller number of high-risk containers and vehicles. These containers must then be subjected to a thorough and reliable inspection for the threats.Viable security system must incorporate a credible and effective inspection to achieve its purposes. It should have high performance and be operationally acceptable. This means the system must possess high detection capabilities, low false positive rate, fast response and provide automatic decision eliminating the need for human interpretation. Ancore has developed a range of new inspection devices, which are highly suitable for the above tasks. All the systems are automatic, material specific, high performance for a wide range and type of threats. Some of them are also highly modular, and compact. Some of the systems are fixed, other are relocatable, or fully mobile. The presentation will discuss Ancore's VEDS (Vehicle Explosive Detection System) which detects bulk explosives (expandable also to radiological and nuclear threats)) in marine containers, trucks and cars. The compact and rugged nature of the VEDS sensor makes it suitable for many forms of conveyance: mobile (van mounted), portal, forklift mounted, or mounted on container unloading rig. The physics principles of the system and some recent applications and results will be presented

An examination of age-based stereotype threat about cognitive decline: Implications for stereotype threat research and theory development

Science.gov (United States)

Barber, Sarah J.

2017-01-01

“Stereotype threat” is often thought of as a singular construct, with moderators and mechanisms that are stable across groups and domains. However, this is not always true. To illustrate this, the current review focuses on the stereotype threat that older adults face about their cognitive abilities. Using Shapiro and Neuberg's (2007) Multi-Threat Framework, I first provide evidence that this is a self-concept threat, and not a group-reputation threat. Because this differs from the form(s) of threat experienced by other groups (e.g., the threat that minority students face about their intellectual abilities), the moderators of threat observed in other groups (i.e., group identification) do not always generalize to age-based stereotype threat about cognitive decline. Looking beyond the form(s) of threat elicited, this review also provides evidence that the mechanisms underlying stereotype threat effects may vary across the lifespan. Due to age-related improvements in emotion regulation abilities, stereotype threat does not seem to reduce older adults' executive control resources. Overall, this review highlights the need to approach the concept of stereotype threat with more granularity. This will allow us to design more effective stereotype threat interventions. It will also shed light on why certain effects “fail to replicate” across domains or groups. PMID:28073332

Today's threat and tomorrow's reaction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moore, L.R.

2002-01-01

Full text: The events of September 11 have only confirmed our past nightmares and warnings to industries, agencies, and governments. The threat of even more significant catastrophic attacks, using nuclear materials, was just as real ten years ago, as it is today. In many cases, our vulnerability remains the same as years ago. There is a dire need for all organizations to agree upon threats and vulnerabilities, and to implement appropriate protections, for nuclear materials or other 'means' to achieve an event of mass destruction. All appropriate organizations (industries, agencies, and governments) should be able to define, assess, and recognize international threats and vulnerabilities in the same manner. In complimentary fashion, the organizations should be able to implement safeguards against this consistent generic threat. On an international scale the same threats, and most vulnerabilities, pose high risks to all of these organizations and societies. Indeed, in today's world, the vulnerabilities of one nation may clearly pose great risk to another nation. Once threats and vulnerabilities are consistently recognized, we can begin to approach their mitigation in a more 'universal' fashion by the application of internationally recognized and accepted security measures. The path to recognition of these security measures will require agreement on many diverse issues. However, once there is general agreement, we can then proceed to the acquisition of diverse national and international resources with which to implement the security measures 'universally' to eliminate 'weak-links' in the chain of nuclear materials, on a truly international scale. I would like to discuss: developing a internationally acceptable 'generic' statement of threat, vulnerability assessment process, and security measure; proposing this international statement of threat, vulnerability assessment process, and appropriate security measures to organizations (industries, agencies, and governments

Infectious diseases, parasites, and biological toxins in sea ducks: Chapter 4

Science.gov (United States)

Hollmén, Tuula E.; Franson, J. Christian

2015-01-01

This chapter addresses disease agents in the broad sense, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoan and helminth parasites, and biological toxins. Some of these agents are known to cause mortality in sea ducks, some are thought to be incidental findings, and the significance of others is yet poorly understood. Although the focus of the chapter is on free-living sea ducks, the study of disease in this taxonomic group has been relatively limited and examples from captive sea ducks and other wild waterfowl are used to illustrate the pathogenicity of certain diseases. Much of the early work in sea ducks consisted of anecdotal and descriptive reports of parasites, but it was soon recognized that diseases such as avian cholera, renal coccidiosis, and intestinal infections with acanthocephalans were causes of mortality in wild populations. More recently, adenoviruses, reoviruses, and the newly emergent Wellfleet Bay virus, for example, also have been linked to die-offs of sea ducks. Declining populations of animals are particularly vulnerable to the threats posed by disease and it is important that we improve our understanding of the significance of disease in sea ducks. To conclude, we offer our recommendations for future directions in this field.

First Detection of the Kdr Mutation T929I in Head Lice (Phthiraptera: Pediculidae) in Schoolchildren of the Metropolitan Area of Nuevo Leon and Yucatan, Mexico.

Science.gov (United States)

Ponce-Garcia, Gustavo; Villanueva-Segura, Karina; Trujillo-Rodriguez, Gerardo; Rodriguez-Sanchez, Iram P; Lopez-Monroy, Beatriz; Flores, Adriana E

2017-07-01

The head louse Pediculus humanus capitis (De Geer) is a hematophagous ectoparasite that inhabits the human scalp. Infestations by this insect are commonly known as pediculosis, which is more common in younger groups. These infestations are asymptomatic; however, skin irritation from scratching occasionally may cause secondary bacterial infections. In recent years, the prevalence of pediculosis has increased in children; this increase has been attributed to louse resistance to the insecticides used as a control measure for infestation. The aim of the present study was to determine the presence and frequency of the knockdown resistance mutation (kdr) T929I in 468 head lice collected from 32 elementary schools in the metropolitan area of Nuevo Leon (24) and Yucatan (8), Mexico. This is the first report of a knockdown resistance (kdr) mechanism in head lice from Mexico. The T929I mutation was present in all of the sampled schools, with variability observed in its allelic and genotypic frequencies. © The Authors 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Piezoelectric properties enhanced of Sr{sub 0.6}(BiNa){sub 0.2}Bi{sub 2}Nb{sub 2}O{sub 9} ceramic by (LiCe) modification with charge neutrality

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fang, Pinyang, E-mail: fpy_2000@163.com [Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Photoelectric Functional Materials and Devices, School of Materials and Chemical Engineering, Xi’an Technological University, Xi’an 710032 (China); Xi, Zengzhe; Long, Wei; Li, Xiaojuan [Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Photoelectric Functional Materials and Devices, School of Materials and Chemical Engineering, Xi’an Technological University, Xi’an 710032 (China); Li, Jin [Northwest Institute For Non-ferrous Metal Research, Xi’an 710016 (China)

2013-09-01

Graphical abstract: The oxygen vacancies were confirmed by the left figure. The role of oxygen vacancy on piezoelectric activities was obtained by comparing to the varieties of oxygen vacancy concentration and piezoelectric coefficient with (LiCe) modification. -- Highlights: • The Sr{sub 0.6}(BiNa){sub 0.2}Bi{sub 2}Nb{sub 2}O{sub 9} ceramic by (LiCe) modification with the charge neutrality was synthesized by the solid state reaction method. • The Curie temperature and piezoelectric coefficient were found to be T{sub c} ∼590 °C and d{sub 33} ∼32 pC/N, respectively. • The mechanism of piezoelectric activities improved by (LiCe) modification was discussed. -- Abstract: Aurivillius-type ceramics, Sr{sub 0.6−x}(LiCe){sub x/2.5}(BiNa){sub 0.2}Bi{sub 2}Nb{sub 2}O{sub 9}(SLCBNBNO) with the charge neutrality, were synthesized by using conventional solid-state processing. Phase analysis was performed by X-ray diffraction analyses (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. Microstructural morphology was assessed by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Structural, dielectric, piezoelectric, ferroelectric, and electromechanical properties of the SLCBNBNO ceramics were investigated. Piezoelectric properties were significantly enhanced compared to Sr{sub 0.6}(BiNa){sub 0.2}Bi{sub 2}Nb{sub 2}O{sub 9} (SBNBN) ceramic and the maximum of piezoelectric coefficient d{sub 33} of the SBNBN-LC6 ceramic was 32 pC/N with higher Curie temperature (T{sub c} ∼590 °C). In addition, mechanisms for the piezoelectric properties enhanced of the SBNBN-based ceramics were discussed.

Phocine Distemper Virus in Northern Sea Otters in the Pacific Ocean, Alaska, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Mazet, Jonna A.K.; Gill, Verena A.; Doroff, Angela M.; Burek, Kathy A.; Hammond, John A.

2009-01-01

Phocine distemper virus (PDV) has caused 2 epidemics in harbor seals in the Atlantic Ocean but had never been identified in any Pacific Ocean species. We found that northern sea otters in Alaska are infected with PDV, which has created a disease threat to several sympatric and decreasing Pacific marine mammals. PMID:19523293

Counter-terrorism threat prediction architecture

Science.gov (United States)

Lehman, Lynn A.; Krause, Lee S.

2004-09-01

This paper will evaluate the feasibility of constructing a system to support intelligence analysts engaged in counter-terrorism. It will discuss the use of emerging techniques to evaluate a large-scale threat data repository (or Infosphere) and comparing analyst developed models to identify and discover potential threat-related activity with a uncertainty metric used to evaluate the threat. This system will also employ the use of psychological (or intent) modeling to incorporate combatant (i.e. terrorist) beliefs and intent. The paper will explore the feasibility of constructing a hetero-hierarchical (a hierarchy of more than one kind or type characterized by loose connection/feedback among elements of the hierarchy) agent based framework or "family of agents" to support "evidence retrieval" defined as combing, or searching the threat data repository and returning information with an uncertainty metric. The counter-terrorism threat prediction architecture will be guided by a series of models, constructed to represent threat operational objectives, potential targets, or terrorist objectives. The approach would compare model representations against information retrieved by the agent family to isolate or identify patterns that match within reasonable measures of proximity. The central areas of discussion will be the construction of an agent framework to search the available threat related information repository, evaluation of results against models that will represent the cultural foundations, mindset, sociology and emotional drive of typical threat combatants (i.e. the mind and objectives of a terrorist), and the development of evaluation techniques to compare result sets with the models representing threat behavior and threat targets. The applicability of concepts surrounding Modeling Field Theory (MFT) will be discussed as the basis of this research into development of proximity measures between the models and result sets and to provide feedback in support of model

Stereotype threat and female communication styles.

Science.gov (United States)

von Hippel, Courtney; Wiryakusuma, Cindy; Bowden, Jessica; Shochet, Megan

2011-10-01

A large body of research has documented the performance-debilitating effects of stereotype threat for individuals, but there is a paucity of research exploring interpersonal consequences of stereotype threat. Two experiments tested the hypothesis that stereotype threat would change the style in which women communicate. Results indicate that women who experience stereotype threat regarding leadership abilities react against the stereotype by adopting a more masculine communication style. Study 2 provides evidence that self-affirmation eliminates this effect of stereotype threat on women's communication styles. A third study demonstrates an ironic consequence of this effect of stereotype threat on women's communication--when women under stereotype threat adopt a more masculine communication style, they are rated as less warm and likeable, and evaluators indicate less willingness to comply with their requests. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

A critical review of the Mediterranean sea turtle rescue network: a web looking for a weaver

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Judith Ullmann

2015-06-01

Full Text Available A key issue in conservation biology is recognizing and bridging the gap between scientific results and specific action. We examine sea turtles—charismatic yet endangered flagship species—in the Mediterranean, a sea with historically high levels of exploitation and 22 coastal nations. We take sea turtle rescue facilities as a visible measure for implemented conservation action. Our study yielded 34 confirmed sea turtle rescue centers, 8 first-aid stations, and 7 informal rescue institutions currently in operation. Juxtaposing these facilities to known sea turtle distribution and threat hotspots reveals a clear disconnect. Only 14 of the 22 coastal countries had centers, with clear gaps in the Middle East and Africa. Moreover, the information flow between centers is apparently limited. The populations of the two species nesting in the Mediterranean, the loggerhead Caretta caretta and the green turtle Chelonia mydas, are far below historical levels and face a range of anthropogenic threats at sea and on land. Sea turtle rescue centers are acknowledged to reduce mortality in bycatch hotspots, provide a wealth of scientific data, and raise public awareness. The proposal for a Mediterranean-wide rescue network as published by the Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas a decade ago has not materialized in its envisioned scope. We discuss the efficiency, gaps, and needs for a rescue network and call for establishing additional rescue centers and an accompanying common online database to connect existing centers. This would provide better information on the number and types of rescue facilities on a Mediterranean scale, improve communication between these facilities, enhance standardization of procedures, yield large-scale data on the number of treated turtles and their injuries, and thus provide valuable input for targeted conservation measures.

Fear, threat and efficacy in threat appeals: message involvement as a key mediator to message acceptance.

Science.gov (United States)

Cauberghe, Verolien; De Pelsmacker, Patrick; Janssens, Wim; Dens, Nathalie

2009-03-01

In a sample of 170 youngsters, the effect of two versions of a public service announcement (PSA) threat appeal against speeding, placed in four different contexts, on evoked fear, perceived threat (severity and probability of occurrence), perceived response efficacy and self-efficacy, message involvement and anti-speeding attitude and anti-speeding intention is investigated. Evoked fear and perceived threat and efficacy independently influence message involvement. Message involvement is a full mediator between evoked fear, perceived threat and efficacy perception on the one hand, and attitudes towards the message and behavioral intention to accept the message on the other. Speeding experience has a significantly negative impact on anti-speeding attitudes. Message and medium context threat levels and context thematic congruency have a significant effect on evoked fear and to a lesser extent on perceived threat.

Environmental security of the coastal seafloor in the sea ports and waterways of the Mediterranean region

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Obhodas, Jasmina, E-mail: jobhodas@irb.h [Institute Ruder Boskovic, Bijenicka c.54, 10000 Zagreb (Croatia); Valkovic, Vladivoj [A.C.T.d.o.o., Prilesje 4, 10000 Zagreb (Croatia); Sudac, Davorin [Institute Ruder Boskovic, Bijenicka c.54, 10000 Zagreb (Croatia); Matika, Dario [Institute for Researches and Development of Defense Systems, Ilica 256b, 10000 Zagreb (Croatia); Pavic, Ivica [Ministry of Defense, Croatian Navy, Dubrovacka 49, 21000 Split (Croatia); Kollar, Robert [A.C.T.d.o.o., Prilesje 4, 10000 Zagreb (Croatia)

2010-07-21

The Mediterranean coastal seafloor is littered with man-made objects and materials, including a variety of ammunition in many areas. In addition, sediments in ports, harbors and marinas are contaminated with elevated concentrations of chemicals used as biocides in antifouling paints. In order to reach a satisfactory level of environmental security of the coastal sea areas, fast neutron activation analysis with detection of associated alpha particles and energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence, both in laboratory and inside an autonomous underwater vehicle for in-situ measurements, has been used for the characterization of the objects on the seafloor. Measurements have shown that gamma ray spectra are able to distinguish threat material from the surrounding material. Analysis of more than 700 coastal sea sediment samples has resulted in concentration distribution maps indicating the locations of 'hot spots', which might interfere with threat material identification.

Kiel Canal: Past and future threats for shipping resulting from precipitation, wind surge and sea level rise

Science.gov (United States)

Ganske, Anette; Hüttl-Kabus, Sabine; Möller, Jens; Schade, Nils; Heinrich, Hartmut; Tinz, Birger

2017-04-01

The Kiel Canal is the most frequented artificial waterway in the world. It connects the North Sea and the Hamburg Harbor with the Baltic Sea and has a length of about 100 km. The Canal receives its water from the upper catchment of the river Eider. Discharge from the Canal towards the North Sea is via the sluices at Brunsbüttel (90%) into river Elbe and into the Baltic Sea via the sluices at Kiel-Holtenau. A risk of closure of the Canal occurs when high precipitation in the catchment meets high water levels in the river Elbe and/or the Baltic preventing the discharge of excess Canal water. Future sea level rise jointly with other effects such as possibly increasing wind surge and precipitation will close the gap between the inner and outer water levels, so that someday the outside levels will surmount the inner one. The German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) tasked its internal Network of Experts to run a case study on the evolution of critical water levels in order to estimate risks and vulnerabilities for adaptation measures. First step of the investigation is a search for factors or combination of factors responsible for closures in the past. Candidates are factors such as higher water levels at low tides, high precipitation events on land, soil moisture and human factors like preventive water management measures. Second step will be the search for the natural criteria in climate projections. Here we report on the results of the first step of the case study with a focus on the exit towards the North Sea. There, discharge is possible only during low tide. Presently still sufficient difference in height exists between the levels in the Canal and the river Elbe allowing for a free flow of excess Canal water. Shipping is ceased when levels in the Canal surpass safety limits due to high precipitation events in the catchment jointly with high outer water levels. We used atmospheric data from ERA-Interim reanalysis instead of gauge data

Polar marine ecosystems: major threats and future change

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Clarke, A. [British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge (United Kingdom); Harris, C.M. [Environmental Research and Assessment, Grantchester (United Kingdom)

2003-07-01

This review of polar marine ecosystems covers both the Arctic and Antarctic, identifying the major threats and, where possible, predicting their possible state(s) in 2025. Although the two polar regions are similar in their extreme photoperiod, low temperatures, and in being heavily influenced by snow and ice, in almost all other respects they are very different. The Arctic Ocean is a basin surrounded by continental landmasses close to, and influenced by, large populations and industrial activities. In contrast, the Southern Ocean is contiguous with all the other great oceans and surrounds a single land mass; Antarctica is remote from major centres of population and sources of pollution. Marine environments in both Polar Regions have been highly disturbed by fishing activity, but, in terms of pollution, some areas remain among the most pristine in the world. There are, however, both local and global pressures. Over the 2025 time horizon, the greatest concern for the Arctic is probably the ecological implications of climate change, particularly insofar as sea ice extent and duration are likely to be affected. Such changes are not expected to be as pronounced in the Southern Ocean over this time period, and concerns are related more to direct threats from harvesting of marine living resources, and the ability to manage these fisheries sustainably. In both Polar Regions, the capacity of marine ecosystems to withstand the cumulative impact of a number of pressures, including climate change, pollution and overexploitation, acting synergistically is of greatest concern. (author)

Living with sea-level rise and climate change: a case study of the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Koningsveld, M.; Mulder, J.P.M. P.M.; Stive, M.J.F.; van der Valk, L.; van der Weck, A.W.

2008-01-01

Based on historical hindsight, this paper shows that sea-level rise has played a fundamental role in the development of the low-lying environment of the Netherlands. It was beneficial in morphological terms during the mid-Holocene, but from Roman times, it has been a threat to the coastal zone

Bio-threat microparticle simulants

Science.gov (United States)

Farquar, George Roy; Leif, Roald N

2012-10-23

A bio-threat simulant that includes a carrier and DNA encapsulated in the carrier. Also a method of making a simulant including the steps of providing a carrier and encapsulating DNA in the carrier to produce the bio-threat simulant.

Bio-threat microparticle simulants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Farquar, George Roy; Leif, Roald

2014-09-16

A bio-threat simulant that includes a carrier and DNA encapsulated in the carrier. Also a method of making a simulant including the steps of providing a carrier and encapsulating DNA in the carrier to produce the bio-threat simulant.

Global and local threats to coral reef functioning and existence: review and predictions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wilkinson, C.R. [Australian Institute of Marine Sciences, Townsville, Qld. (Australia)

1999-07-01

Factors causing global degradation of coral reefs are examined briefly as a basis for predicting the likely consequences of increases in these factors. The earlier consensus was that widespread but localized damage from natural factors such as storms, and direct anthropogenic effects such as increased sedimentation, pollution and exploitation, posed the largest immediate threat to coral reefs. Now truly global factors associated with accelerating Global Climate Change are either damaging coral reefs or have the potential to inflict greater damage in the immediate future e.g. increases in coral bleaching and mortality, and reduction in coral calcification due to changes in sea-water chemistry with increasing carbon dioxide concentrations. Rises in sea level will probably disrupt human communities and their cultures by making coral cays uninhabitable, whereas coral reefs will sustain minimal damage from the rise in sea level. The short-term (decades) prognosis is that major reductions are almost certain in the extent and biodiversity of coral reefs, and severe disruptions to cultures and economies dependent on reef resources will occur. The long-term (centuries to millennia) prognosis is more encouraging because coral reefs have remarkable resilience to severe disruption and will probably show this resilience in the future when climate changes either stabilize or reverse.

Sinking ships: conservation options for endemic taxa threatened by sea level rise

Science.gov (United States)

Joyce Maschinski; Michael S. Ross; Hong Liu; Joe O' Brien; Erick J. von Wettberg; Kristin E. Haskins

2011-01-01

Low-elevation islands face threats from sea level rise (SLR) and increased storm intensity. Evidence of endangered species’ population declines and shifts in vegetation communities are already underway in the Florida Keys. SLR predictions indicate large areas of these habitats may be eliminated in the next century. Using the Florida Keys as a model system, we present a...

DOE site-specific threat assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

West, D.J.; Al-Ayat, R.A.; Judd, B.R.

1985-01-01

A facility manager faced with the challenges of protecting a nuclear facility against potential threats must consider the likelihood and consequences of such threats, know the capabilities of the facility safeguards and security systems, and make informed decisions about the cost-effectivness of safeguards and security upgrades. To help meet these challenges, the San Francisco Operations Office of the Department of Energy, in conjunction with the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, has developed a site-specific threat assessment approach and a quantitative model to improve the quality and consistency of site-specific threat assessment and resultant security upgrade decisions at sensitive Department of Energy facilities. 5 figs

AoA Region: Red Sea And Gulf of Aden

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Naqvi, S.W.A.

. The Secretariat for PERSGA was formally established in Jeddah following the Cairo Declaration of September 1995. PERSGA’s mandate is to perform functions necessary for the management of the Jeddah Convention and its Action Plan. As a result, PERSGA, in close... collaboration with relevant regional and international organizations, began implementing activities and programmes to deal with the various threats facing the coastal and marine environments in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden region. The Strategic Action...

The Impact of Sea Level Rise on Developing Countries: A Comparative Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dasgupta, S. [World Bank, Washington, DC (United States)

2008-07-01

Sea-level rise (SLR) due to climate change is a serious global threat: The scientific evidence is now overwhelming. In this paper, Geographic Information System software has been used to overlay the best available, spatially-disaggregated global data on land, population, agriculture, urban extent, wetlands, and GDP, to assess the consequences of continued SLR for 84 coastal developing countries. Estimates suggest that even a one-meter rise in sea level in coastal countries of the developing world would submerge 194,000 square kilometers of land area, and turn at least 56 million people into environmental refugees. At the country level results are extremely skewed.

The Impact of Sea Level Rise on Developing Countries: A Comparative Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dasgupta, Susmita (World Bank, Washington, DC (United States))

2008-07-01

Sea-level rise (SLR) due to climate change is a serious global threat: The scientific evidence is now overwhelming. In this paper, Geographic Information System software has been used to overlay the best available, spatially-disaggregated global data on land, population, agriculture, urban extent, wetlands, and GDP, to assess the consequences of continued SLR for 84 coastal developing countries. Estimates suggest that even a one-meter rise in sea level in coastal countries of the developing world would submerge 194,000 square kilometers of land area, and turn at least 56 million people into environmental refugees. At the country level results are extremely skewed

Parques científicos-tecnológicos y modelo triple-hélice. Situación del Caribe colombiano

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John Jairo Herrera-Márquez

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Los Parques de Ciencia y Tecnología se han constituido en un fenómeno mundial debido al desarrollo económico y social que han logrado los países al implementar este sistema. El objetivo del presente artículo es describir el origen y evolución de los Parques de Ciencia y Tecnología más representativos del mundo, el papel del modelo Triple Hélice en su desarrollo y la viabilidad de estas iniciativas en Co - lombia. Para allegar esta información se realizó una revisión bibliográfica en artículos y libros publicados entre los años 2000 y 2015, en conjunto con información de instituciones gubernamentales nacionales e internacionales y datos propios obtenidos a partir de encuestas. Se propone una definición de Parque de Ciencia y Tecnología como una institución que cuenta con espacio inmobiliario con beneficios tributarios, donde se instalan universidades y empresas que, haciendo uso de políticas gubernamentales de ciencia y tecnología, presta servicios especializados y desarrolla procesos de innovación. Dada la necesaria interacción entre la universidad, la industria y el gobierno, los Parques de Ciencia y Tecnología son un escenario óptimo para la aplicación del modelo Triple Hélice. En la Región Caribe colombiana se dan condiciones propicias para poner en marcha proyectos de parques porque existen necesidades en la empresa, capacidades en las universidades y políticas de ciencia, tecnología e innovación apropiadas; sin embargo, se requieren grandes esfuerzos por parte de todos los actores para lograr implementar modelos de operación sustentables.

Prototyping of CBRN threat assessment system. Phase 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ina, Shinichiro; Suzuki, Tomoyuki; Maeno, Akihiro; Sakaue, Motoki

2015-01-01

Recently, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, that is, CBRN threats have emerged. In order to support the Japan Self Defense Forces unit coping with the CBRN threats, it is important to take measures against these invisible threats. Our CBRN threat assessment system will make invisible CBRN threats visible. This report describes a prototyping of the CBRN threat assessment system (PHASE 1) carried out from fiscal year 2012-2014. (author)

Psychoanalysis and the nuclear threat

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Levine, H.B.; Jacobs, D.; Rubin, L.J.

1988-01-01

{ital Psychoanalysis and the Nuclear Threat} provides coverage of the dynamic and clinical considerations that follow from life in the nuclear age. Of special clinical interest are chapters dealing with the developmental consequences of the nuclear threat in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, and those exploring the technical issues raised by the occurrence in analytic and psychotherapeutic hours of material related to the nuclear threat. Additional chapters bring a psychoanalytic perspective to bear on such issues as the need to have enemies, silence as the real crime, love, work, and survival in the nuclear age, the relationship of the nuclear threat to issues of mourning and melancholia, apocalyptic fantasies, the paranoid process, considerations of the possible impact of gender on the nuclear threat, and the application of psychoanalytic thinking to nuclear arms strategy. Finally, the volume includes the first case report in the English language---albeit a brief psychotherapy---involving the treatment of a Hiroshima survivor.

Culture, threat, and mental illness stigma: identifying culture-specific threat among Chinese-American groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Lawrence H; Purdie-Vaughns, Valerie; Kotabe, Hiroki; Link, Bruce G; Saw, Anne; Wong, Gloria; Phelan, Jo C

2013-07-01

We incorporate anthropological insights into a stigma framework to elucidate the role of culture in threat perception and stigma among Chinese groups. Prior work suggests that genetic contamination that jeopardizes the extension of one's family lineage may comprise a culture-specific threat among Chinese groups. In Study 1, a national survey conducted from 2002 to 2003 assessed cultural differences in mental illness stigma and perceptions of threat in 56 Chinese-Americans and 589 European-Americans. Study 2 sought to empirically test this culture-specific threat of genetic contamination to lineage via a memory paradigm. Conducted from June to August 2010, 48 Chinese-American and 37 European-American university students in New York City read vignettes containing content referring to lineage or non-lineage concerns. Half the participants in each ethnic group were assigned to a condition in which the illness was likely to be inherited (genetic condition) and the rest read that the illness was unlikely to be inherited (non-genetic condition). Findings from Study 1 and 2 were convergent. In Study 1, culture-specific threat to lineage predicted cultural variation in stigma independently and after accounting for other forms of threat. In Study 2, Chinese-Americans in the genetic condition were more likely to accurately recall and recognize lineage content than the Chinese-Americans in the non-genetic condition, but that memorial pattern was not found for non-lineage content. The identification of this culture-specific threat among Chinese groups has direct implications for culturally-tailored anti-stigma interventions. Further, this framework might be implemented across other conditions and cultural groups to reduce stigma across cultures. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sensor-guided threat countermeasure system

Science.gov (United States)

Stuart, Brent C.; Hackel, Lloyd A.; Hermann, Mark R.; Armstrong, James P.

2012-12-25

A countermeasure system for use by a target to protect against an incoming sensor-guided threat. The system includes a laser system for producing a broadband beam and means for directing the broadband beam from the target to the threat. The countermeasure system comprises the steps of producing a broadband beam and directing the broad band beam from the target to blind or confuse the incoming sensor-guided threat.

Environment and security in the South China Sea region : the role of experts, non-governmental actors and governments in regime building processes

OpenAIRE

Næss, Tom

1999-01-01

Background: The Spratly islands in the South China Sea are today the focal point of a territorial dispute that represents a serious threat to the regional security in Southeast Asia. Six governments - China, Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei - have laid claims to all or some of the more than 230 islets, reefs and shoals in the Spratly area. The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) is a key player in the South China Sea conflict. However, the South China Sea is not jus...

Autobiographical memory sources of threats in dreams.

Science.gov (United States)

Lafrenière, Alexandre; Lortie-Lussier, Monique; Dale, Allyson; Robidoux, Raphaëlle; De Koninck, Joseph

2018-02-01

Temporal sources of dream threats were examined through the paradigm of the Threat Simulation Theory. Two groups of young adults (18-24 years old), who did not experience severe threatening events in the year preceding their dream and reported a dream either with or without threats, were included. Participants (N = 119) kept a log of daily activities and a dream diary, indicating whether dream components referred to past experiences. The occurrence of oneiric threats correlated with the reporting of threats in the daily logs, their average severity, and the stress level experienced the day preceding the dream. The group whose dreams contained threats had significantly more references to temporal categories beyond one year than the group with dreams without threats. Our findings suggest that in the absence of recent highly negative emotional experiences, the threat simulation system selects memory traces of threatening events experienced in the past. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Chukchi Sea zoobenthos: contemporary conditions and trends in anthropogenic influence.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kirievskaya Dubrava

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The Chukchi Sea is a key region where rapid changes of the Arctic environment have been observed recently. Benthos of the Chukchi Sea is a sensitive indicator of these changes. In addition, the benthos can be used as an indicator of the anthropogenic load on the marine environment. A lot of researches have been conducted in the different parts of the Chukchi Sea. In this paper we summarized all the data collected for the last 30 years to evaluate contemporary conditions of the Chukchi Sea benthos as well as to discuss a potential response of the benthic ecosystem to the anthropogenic load. The Chukchi Sea zoobenthos is characterized by relatively high biodiversity compared to the seas of the western Arctic Ocean. The spatial distribution of zoobenthos is non-uniform. It is caused by a lot of factors: depth, bottom and sediment temperature, geochemical structure of the sediments, hydrodynamics, etc. Present environmental conditions of the Chukchi Sea biota can be considered to be close to the average long-term norms. By the reason of climate change scientists started to observe northing displacement of subarctic and temperate species of the benthic ecosystem. The Chukchi Sea is still included into the area with low anthropogenic pressure. The main potential threat for the Chukchi sea benthos results from continued oil and gas exploration and sea transport. For example, benthos around oil-wells (the Burger and the Klondike contains pollutants at a high concentration. The risk of rising anthropogenic load on the Chukchi Sea ecosystem poses the problem to additionally identify vulnerable areas of increased ecological significance for later receiving conservation status.

Identification key for chewing lice (Phthiraptera: Amblycera, Ischnocera) infesting the Indian Peafowl (Pavo cristatus) with one new country record and new host record for Saudi Arabia

OpenAIRE

NASSER, Mohamed; AL-AHMED, Azzam; SHOBRAK, Mohammed; ALDRYHIM, Yousif

2015-01-01

The amblyceran and ischnoceran lice removed from the Indian Peafowl (Pavo cristatus L.) collected at the Riyadh bird market, and other specimens available in the King Saud University Museum of Arthropods, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, were identified. Amyrsidea minuta Emerson, a new country record, and Goniodes dissimilis Denny were found infesting the Indian Peafowl in Saudi Arabia. Goniodes dissimilis is recorded for the first time from this bird species, along with Menacanthus stramineus (Nitzs...

Conception of the Maritime Transport Safety in the Baltic Sea in 2009 to 2015

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Caban Jacek

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The maritime transport is particularly exposed to danger due to the environment of its operations. These are the threat dependent and independent of human e.g. environmental, safety health and life of humans or belongings. In spite of attempts to limit the risk of danger, it is impossible to completely eliminate it. The article presents some aspects of the state of transportation safety in the Baltic Sea from Statistical Yearbook of Maritime Economy and Helcom as well as attempt the undertaken to analyses the security state of this sea area in 2009 to 2015.

A Two-Ocean Bouillabaisse: Science, Politics, and the Central American Sea-Level Canal Controversy.

Science.gov (United States)

Keiner, Christine

2017-11-01

As the Panama Canal approached its fiftieth anniversary in the mid-1960s, U.S. officials concerned about the costs of modernization welcomed the technology of peaceful nuclear excavation to create a new waterway at sea level. Biologists seeking a share of the funds slated for radiological-safety studies called attention to another potential effect which they deemed of far greater ecological and evolutionary magnitude - marine species exchange, an obscure environmental issue that required the expertise of underresourced life scientists. An enterprising endeavor to support Smithsonian naturalists, especially marine biologists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, wound up sparking heated debates - between biologists and engineers about the oceans' biological integrity and among scientists about whether the megaproject represented a research opportunity or environmental threat. A National Academy of Sciences panel chaired by Ernst Mayr failed to attract congressional funding for its 10-year baseline research program, but did create a stir in the scientific and mainstream press about the ecological threats that the sea-level canal might unleash upon the Atlantic and Pacific. This paper examines how the proposed megaproject sparked a scientific and political conversation about the risks of mixing the oceans at a time when many members of the scientific and engineering communities still viewed the seas as impervious to human-facilitated change.

The distribution of exocrine glands in Lepeophtheirus salmonis and Caligus elongatus (Copepoda: Caligidae)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bell, S.; Bron, J.E.; Sommerville, C.

2000-01-01

The morphology, function and distribution of exocrine glands of copepods have rarely been studied in detail and almost nothing is known about them in the sea lice species L. salmonis and C. elongatus. This study utilised a novel application of a light-microscopy staining technique to reveal a

Surface combatant readiness to confront a sea control navy

OpenAIRE

Wissel, Nicholas E.

2008-01-01

This thesis proposes to correct the shortfalls in the US Surface Combatants ability to counter a Sea-Control Navy. The concept counters this threat using unmanned aerial systems, decoys, and a layered defense. We analyze the performance with a Filtering Model of Salvo Warfare that is an extension of the Hughes Salvo Equations. The model incorporates the diluting effect of decoys upon enemy salvos and accounts for the historical reality of leakers. We conclude that in the absence of air suppor...

Development of sea level rise scenarios for climate change assessments of the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Science.gov (United States)

Doyle, Thomas W.; Day, Richard H.; Michot, Thomas C.

2010-01-01

Rising sea level poses critical ecological and economical consequences for the low-lying megadeltas of the world where dependent populations and agriculture are at risk. The Mekong Delta of Vietnam is one of many deltas that are especially vulnerable because much of the land surface is below mean sea level and because there is a lack of coastal barrier protection. Food security related to rice and shrimp farming in the Mekong Delta is currently under threat from saltwater intrusion, relative sea level rise, and storm surge potential. Understanding the degree of potential change in sea level under climate change is needed to undertake regional assessments of potential impacts and to formulate adaptation strategies. This report provides constructed time series of potential sea level rise scenarios for the Mekong Delta region by incorporating (1) aspects of observed intra- and inter-annual sea level variability from tide records and (2) projected estimates for different rates of regional subsidence and accelerated eustacy through the year 2100 corresponding with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) climate models and emission scenarios.

Biomineralizaciones de sílice en Celtis tala¹ (Celtidaceae Silica biomineralizations in Celtis tala (Celtidaceae

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mariana Fernández Honaine

2005-12-01

Full Text Available Se estudió la asociación fitolítica de Celtis tala Planchon, su composición química y variabilidad morfológica, analizándose por separado los morfotipos presentes en hoja, tallo y fruto. La asociación fitolítica de Celtis tala está compuesta principalmente por cistolitos, fitolitos poliédricos articulados con paredes y/o lumen celular silicificados, y fitolitos de contorno irregular, superficie rugosa y lumen celular silicificado. Los análisis de EDAX y las observaciones al microscopio permitieron corroborar la presencia de biomineralizaciones de sílice y calcio en hoja, tallo y fruto. Además se detectaron otros elementos, como Mg, Al, K, P, Fe y S en algunos fitolitos. En particular, este trabajo revela la presencia de sílice como un componente fundamental en la estructura de los cistolitos en esta especie, apoyando los resultados obtenidos por otros autores para cistolitos en otras especies relacionadas. La presencia de un elemento mucho menos lábil que el carbonato de calcio, permite que estas estructuras luego de la descomposición de la materia orgánica, puedan permanecer durante más tiempo sin alterarse en el suelo, constituyendo importantes elementos indicadores de la presencia de Celtis tala en el registro fósil.The phytolith assemblage of Celtis tala, its chemical composition and variability were studied. Leave, stem and fruit phytolith morphologies were analyzed with the purpose of establishing the contribution of each organ. The results showed that cystolith types, articulated poliedric (with wall and lumen silicified and irregular, rugose poliedric phytoliths were the main morphologies present in Celtis tala phytolith assemblage. Silicon and calcium biomineralizations were detected by EDAX analysis and microscope observations in leave, stem and fruit. Other elements, such as Mg, Al, K, P, Fe and S, were also detected by EDAX analysis in some phytoliths. The presence of silicon as an important structural cystolith

Novel polymeric micelles for insect pest control: encapsulation of essential oil monoterpenes inside a triblock copolymer shell for head lice control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alejandro Lucia

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Background Essential oil components (EOCs are molecules with interesting application in pest control, these have been evaluated against different insect pest from more than 100 years, but their practical use is rather limited. Thus, the enhancement of their bioavailability and manageability due to their dispersion in water can open new perspective for the preparation of formulations for the control of insect pest. In this work, we studied the encapsulation of different monoterpenes in a poloxamer shell in order to prepare aqueous formulations that can be used for the development of platforms used in pest control. Methods Micellar systems containing a 5 wt% of poloxamer 407 and 1.25 wt% of the different monoterpenes were prepared. Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS experiments were carried out to characterize the dispersion of the EOCs in water. The pediculicidal activity of these micellar systems was tested on head lice using an ex vivo immersion test. Results The poloxamers allowed the dispersion of EOCs in water due to their encapsulation inside the hydrophobic core of the copolymer micelles. From this study, we concluded that it is possible to make stable micellar systems containing water (>90 wt%, 1.25 wt% of different monoterpenes and a highly safe polymer (5wt% Poloxamer 407. These formulations were effective against head lice with mortality ranging from 30 to 60%, being the most effective emulsions those containing linalool, 1,8-cineole, α-terpineol, thymol, eugenol, geraniol and nonyl alcohol which lead to mortalities above 50%. Discussion Since these systems showed good pediculicidal activity and high physicochemical stability, they could be a new route for the green fabrication of biocompatible and biosustainable insecticide formulations.

Threat in Context: School Moderation of the Impact of Social Identity Threat on Racial/Ethnic Achievement Gaps

Science.gov (United States)

Hanselman, Paul; Bruch, Sarah K.; Gamoran, Adam; Borman, Geoffrey D.

2014-01-01

Schools with very few and relatively low-performing marginalized students may be most likely to trigger social identity threats (including stereotype threats) that contribute to racial disparities. We test this hypothesis by assessing variation in the benefits of a self-affirmation intervention designed to counteract social identity threat in a…

Threats: power, family mealtimes, and social influence.

Science.gov (United States)

Hepburn, Alexa; Potter, Jonathan

2011-03-01

One of the most basic topics in social psychology is the way one agent influences the behaviour of another. This paper will focus on threats, which are an intensified form of attempted behavioural influence. Despite the centrality to the project of social psychology, little attention has been paid to threats. This paper will start to rectify this oversight. It reviews early examples of the way social psychology handles threats and highlights key limitations and presuppositions about the nature and role of threats. By contrast, we subject them to a programme of empirical research. Data comprise video records of a collection of family mealtimes that include preschool children. Threats are recurrent in this material. A preliminary conceptualization of features of candidate threats from this corpus will be used as an analytic start point. A series of examples are used to explicate basic features and dimensions that build the action of threatening. The basic structure of the threats uses a conditional logic: if the recipient continues problem action/does not initiate required action then negative consequences will be produced by the speaker. Further analysis clarifies how threats differ from warnings and admonishments. Sequential analysis suggests threats set up basic response options of compliance or defiance. However, recipients of threats can evade these options by, for example, reworking the unpleasant upshot specified in the threat, or producing barely minimal compliance. The implications for broader social psychological concerns are explored in a discussion of power, resistance, and asymmetry; the paper ends by reconsidering the way social influence can be studied in social psychology. ©2010 The British Psychological Society.

Fear, threat and efficacy in threat appeals: Message involvement as a key mediator to message acceptance

OpenAIRE

Cauberghe, Verolien; De Pelsmacker, Patrick; JANSSENS, Wim; Dens, Nathalie

2009-01-01

In a sample of 170 youngsters, the effect of two versions of a public service announcement (PSA) threat appeal against speeding, placed in four different contexts. on evoked fear, perceived threat (severity and probability of occurrence), perceived response efficacy and self-efficacy, message involvement and anti-speeding attitude and anti-speeding intention is investigated. Evoked fear and perceived threat and efficacy independently influence message involvement...

Effect of evaluation threat on procrastination behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Bui, Ngoc H

2007-06-01

The author evaluated the effects of evaluation apprehension and trait procrastination on behaviors. The author examined private university students from southern California (N = 72) on two independent variables: evaluation threat (manipulated) and trait procrastination (nonmanipulated). The author found a significant interaction effect between type of evaluation threat and level of trait procrastination on the number of days to complete an assigned essay. Post hoc analyses showed high trait procrastinators in the high evaluation threat group significantly delayed returning essays compared with those in the low evaluation threat group. Also, in the low evaluation threat group, low trait procrastinators delayed more than did high trait procrastinators. These results suggest that educators can reduce behavioral delays by increasing evaluation threat, depending on a student's level of trait procrastination.

Does imminent threat capture and hold attention?

Science.gov (United States)

Koster, Ernst H W; Crombez, Geert; Van Damme, Stefaan; Verschuere, Bruno; De Houwer, Jan

2004-09-01

According to models of attention and emotion, threat captures and holds attention. In behavioral tasks, robust evidence has been found for attentional holding but not for attentional capture by threat. An important explanation for the absence of attentional capture effects is that the visual stimuli used posed no genuine threat. The present study investigated whether visual cues that signal an aversive white noise can elicit attentional capture and holding effects. Cues presented in an attentional task were simultaneously provided with a threat value through an aversive conditioning procedure. Response latencies showed that threatening cues captured and held attention. These results support recent views on attention to threat, proposing that imminent threat captures attention in everyone. (c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved

Insider Threat to Computer Security at Nuclear Facilities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

West, Rebecca Lynn [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2018-01-29

After completing this session, you should be able to: Describe the Insider Threat; Characterize the cyber insider threat; Describe preventive measures against the insider threat; Describe protective measures against the insider threat.

Malófagos (Phthiraptera, Amblycera, Ischnocera em aves cativas no sudeste do Brasil Chewing lice (Phthiraptera, Amblycera, Ischnocera on captive birds in southeastern Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Salete Oliveira da Silva

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Foram identificadas 12 espécies de malófagos no Parque Zoológico Municipal Quinzinho de Barros, Sorocaba e Fundação Jardim Zoológico, Rio de Janeiro. Ciconiphilus pectiniventris em Cygnus atratus (Anseriformes, Anatidae; Kurodaia sp. em Buteo albicaudatus (Falconiformes, Accipitridae; Degeeriella sp. em Falco sparverius (Falconiformes, Falconidae; Colpocephalum sp. e Goniocotes parviceps em Pavo cristatus (Galliformes, Phasianidae; Goniodes pavonis em Rhea americana (Rheiformes, Rheidae; Colpocephalum cristatae e Heptapsogaster sp. em Cariama cristata (Gruiformes, Cariamidae; Austrophilopterus cancellosus em Ramphastos dicolorus (Piciformes, Ramphastidae; Strigiphilus crucigerus em Otus choliba (Strigiformes, Strigidae; Kurodaia sp. em Rhinoptynx clamator (Strigiformes, Strigidae e Colpocephalum pectinatum em Speotyto cunicularia (Strigiformes, Strigidae. As relações parasito hospedeiros em Strigiformes são novas no Brasil.Twelve chewing lice species were identified in Parque Zoológico Municipal Quinzinho de Barros, Sorocaba and Fundação Jardim Zoológico, Rio de Janeiro. The parasites found were: Ciconiphilus pectiniventris in Cygnus atratus (Anseriformes, Anatidae; Kurodaia sp. in Buteo albicaudatus (Falconiformes, Accipitridae; Degeeriella sp. in Falco sparverius (Falconiformes, Falconidae; Colpocephalum sp. and Goniocotes parviceps in Pavo cristatus (Galliformes, Phasianidae; Goniodes pavonis in Rhea americana (Rheiformes, Rheidae; Colpocephalum cristatae and Heptapsogaster sp. in Cariama cristata (Gruiformes, Cariamidae; Austrophilopterus cancellosus in Ramphastos dicolorus (Piciformes, Ramphastidae; Strigiphilus crucigerus in Otus choliba (Strigiformes, Strigidae; Kurodaia sp. in Rhinoptynx clamator (Strigiformes, Strigidae and Colpocephalum pectinatum in Speotyto cunicularia (Strigiformes, Strigidae. The host-lice relationships are new in Strigiformes in Brazil.

Experimentos de combustión con cascarilla de arroz en lecho fluidizado para la producción de ceniza rica en sílice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan Daniel Martínez Ángel

2010-01-01

Full Text Available A fin de contribuir con la valorización de residuos agrícolas que presentan dificultades de disposición, la utilización de energéticos renovables y la obtención de formas de energía más limpias y amigables con el medio ambiente, se investigó la combustión de cascarilla de arroz en un reactor de lecho fluidizado burbujeante y atmosférico. La metodología consistió en evaluar la influencia de altos excesos de aire, en la obtención de gases calientes y ceniza con altos contenidos de sílice en estado amorfo. Excesos de aire en el rango de 40% al 125%, mostraron que los valores cercanos al límite inferior establecido (40% favorecieron temperaturas superiores a 700ºC en el interior del reactor, dando origen a mayores eficiencias de conversión de la cascarilla, pero disminuyendo el potencial amorfo de la sílice contenida en la ceniza. Comportamiento contrario fue evidenciado en el límite superior del exceso de aire. Las concentraciones de los gases del proceso mostraron relativa variabilidad para cada condición de operación. Para el caso del CO, se reportaron emisiones promedio de 200 ppm (en una base seca del 11% de O2, para los excesos de aire comprendidos entre 40% y 82,5%.

Self-diagnosis of active head lice infestation by individuals from an impoverished community: high sensitivity and specificity Auto diagnóstico de pediculose por indivíduos de uma comunidade economicamente desfavorecida: alta sensibilidade e especificidade

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Pilger

2008-04-01

Full Text Available To compare sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV and negative predictive value (NPV of self-diagnosis for head lice infestation with visual inspection, we conducted a study in an urban slum in Brazil. Individuals were asked about active head lice infestation (self-diagnosis; we performed visual inspection and thereafter wet combing (gold standard. Of the 175 individuals included, 77 (44% had an active head lice infestation. For self-diagnosis, sensitivity (80.5%, specificity (91.8%, PPV (88.6% and NPV (85.7% were high. Sensitivity of visual inspection was 35.1%. Public health professionals can use self-diagnosis as a diagnostic tool, to estimate accurately prevalence of pediculosis in a community, and to monitor ongoing intervention strategies.Foi conduzido um estudo em uma favela urbana no Brasil com o objetivo de comparar a sensibilidade, especificidade, valor preditivo positivo (VPP e valor preditivo negativo (VPN do auto-diagnóstico de pediculose com a inspeção visual. Dos 175 indivíduos incluídos, 77 (44% apresentavam pediculose. Para o auto-diagnóstico, a sensibilidade (80.5%, a especificidade (91.8%, o VPP (88.6% e o VPN (85.7% foram altos. A sensibilidade da inspeção visual foi 35.1%. Profissionais de saúde podem utilizar o auto-diagnóstico como uma ferramenta diagnóstica para estimar de forma acurada a prevalência de pediculose em uma comunidade, como também para monitorar estratégias de controle da doença.

Sea level and turbidity controls on mangrove soil surface elevation change

Science.gov (United States)

Lovelock, Catherine E.; Fernanda Adame, Maria; Bennion, Vicki; Hayes, Matthew; Reef, Ruth; Santini, Nadia; Cahoon, Donald R.

2015-01-01

Increases in sea level are a threat to seaward fringing mangrove forests if levels of inundation exceed the physiological tolerance of the trees; however, tidal wetlands can keep pace with sea level rise if soil surface elevations can increase at the same pace as sea level rise. Sediment accretion on the soil surface and belowground production of roots are proposed to increase with increasing sea level, enabling intertidal habitats to maintain their position relative to mean sea level, but there are few tests of these predictions in mangrove forests. Here we used variation in sea level and the availability of sediments caused by seasonal and inter-annual variation in the intensity of La Nina-El Nino to assess the effects of increasing sea level on surface elevation gains and contributing processes (accretion on the surface, subsidence and root growth) in mangrove forests. We found that soil surface elevation increased with mean sea level (which varied over 250 mm during the study) and with turbidity at sites where fine sediment in the water column is abundant. In contrast, where sediments were sandy, rates of surface elevation gain were high, but not significantly related to variation in turbidity, and were likely to be influenced by other factors that deliver sand to the mangrove forest. Root growth was not linked to soil surface elevation gains, although it was associated with reduced shallow subsidence, and therefore may contribute to the capacity of mangroves to keep pace with sea level rise. Our results indicate both surface (sedimentation) and subsurface (root growth) processes can influence mangrove capacity to keep pace with sea level rise within the same geographic location, and that current models of tidal marsh responses to sea level rise capture the major feature of the response of mangroves where fine, but not coarse, sediments are abundant.

Adriatic storm surges and related cross-basin sea-level slope

Science.gov (United States)

Međugorac, Iva; Orlić, Mirko; Janeković, Ivica; Pasarić, Zoran; Pasarić, Miroslava

2018-05-01

Storm surges pose a severe threat to the northernmost cities of the Adriatic coast, with Venice being most prone to flooding. It has been noted that some flooding episodes cause significantly different effects along the eastern and western Adriatic coasts, with indications that the difference is related to cross-basin sea-level slope. The present study aims to determine specific atmospheric conditions under which the slope develops and to explore connection with increased sea level along the two coastlines. The analysis is based on sea-level time series recorded at Venice and Bakar over the 1984-2014 interval, from which 38 most intensive storm-surge episodes were selected, and their meteorological backgrounds (ERA-Interim) were studied. The obtained sea-level extremes were grouped into three categories according to their cross-basin sea-level slope: storm surges that slope strongly westward (W type), those that slope eastward (E type) and ordinary storm surges (O type). Results show that the slope is controlled by wind action only, specifically, by the wind component towards a particular coast and by the cross-basin shear of along-basin wind. Meteorological fields were used to force an oceanographic numerical model in order to confirm the empirically established connection between the atmospheric forcing and the slope. Finally, it has been found that the intensity of storm surges along a particular Adriatic coast is determined by an interplay of sea-level slopes in the along and cross-basin directions.

Threatened and endangered subspecies with vulnerable ecological traits also have high susceptibility to sea level rise and habitat fragmentation.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Allison M Benscoter

Full Text Available The presence of multiple interacting threats to biodiversity and the increasing rate of species extinction make it critical to prioritize management efforts on species and communities that maximize conservation success. We implemented a multi-step approach that coupled vulnerability assessments evaluating threats to Florida taxa such as climate change, sea-level rise, and habitat fragmentation with in-depth literature surveys of taxon-specific ecological traits. The vulnerability, adaptive capacity, and ecological traits of 12 threatened and endangered subspecies were compared to non-listed subspecies of the same parent species. Overall, the threatened and endangered subspecies showed high vulnerability and low adaptive capacity, in particular to sea level rise and habitat fragmentation. They also exhibited larger home ranges and greater dispersal limitation compared to non-endangered subspecies, which may inhibit their ability to track changing climate in fragmented landscapes. There was evidence for lower reproductive capacity in some of the threatened or endangered taxa, but not for most. Taxa located in the Florida Keys or in other low coastal areas were most vulnerable to sea level rise, and also showed low levels of adaptive capacity, indicating they may have a lower probability of conservation success. Our analysis of at-risk subspecies and closely related non-endangered subspecies demonstrates that ecological traits help to explain observed differences in vulnerability and adaptive capacity. This study points to the importance of assessing the relative contributions of multiple threats and evaluating conservation value at the species (or subspecies level when resources are limited and several factors affect conservation success.

Anthropogenic sea level rise and adaptation in the Yangtze estuary

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, H.; Chen, J.; Chen, Z.; Ruan, R.; Xu, G.; Zeng, G.; Zhu, J.; Dai, Z.; Gu, S.; Zhang, X.; Wang, H.

2016-02-01

Sea level rise is a major projected threat of climate change. There are regional variations in sea level changes, depending on both naturally the tectonic subsidence, geomorphology, naturally changing river inputs and anthropogenic driven forces as artificial reservoir water impoundment within the watershed and urban land subsidence driven by ground water depletion in the river delta. Little is known on regional sea level fall in response to the channel erosion due to the sediment discharge decline by reservoir interception in the upstream watershed, and water level rise driven by anthropogenic measures as the land reclamation, deep waterway regulation and fresh water reservoir construction to the sea level change in estuaries. Changing coastal cities are situated in the delta regions expected to be threatened in various degrees. Shanghai belongs to those cities. Here we show that the anthropogenic driven sea level rise in the Yangtze estuary from the point of view of the continuous hydrodynamic system consisted of river catchment, estuary and coastal sea. Land subsidence is cited as 4 mm/a (2011-2030). Scour depth of the estuarine channel by upstream engineering as Three Gauge Dam is estimated at 2-10 cm (2011-2030). The rise of water level by deep waterway and land reclamation is estimated at 8-10 cm (2011-2030). The relative sea level rise will be speculated about 10 -16 cm (2011-2030), which these anthropogenic sea level changes will be imposed into the absolute sea level rise 2 mm/a and tectonic subsidence 1 mm/a measured in 1990s. The action guideline to the sea level rise strategy in the Shanghai city have been proposed to the Shanghai government as (1) recent actions (2012-2015) to upgrade the city water supply and drainage engineering and protective engineering; (2) interim actions (2016-2020) to improve sea level monitoring and early warning system, and then the special, city, regional planning considering sea level rise; (3) long term actions (2021

Modelling travel and residence times in the eastern Irish Sea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dabrowski, T.; Hartnett, M.

2008-01-01

The Irish Sea, which lies between 51 deg. N-56 deg. N and 2 deg. 50'W-7 deg. W, provides a sheltered environment to exploit valuable fisheries resource. Anthropogenic activity is a real threat to its water quality. The majority of freshwater input down rivers flows into the eastern Irish Sea. The structure of the water circulation was not well understood during the planning of Sellafield nuclear plant outfall site in the eastern Irish Sea. A three-dimensional primitive equation numerical model was applied to the Irish Sea to simulate both barotropic and baroclinic circulation within the region. High accuracy was achieved with regard to the prediction of both tidal circulation and surface and nearbed water temperatures across the region. The model properly represented the Western Irish Sea Gyre, induced by thermal stratification and not known during planning Sellafield. Passive tracer simulations based on the developed hydrodynamic model were used to deliver residence times of the eastern Irish Sea region for various times of the year as well as travel times from the Sellafield outfall site to various locations within the Irish Sea. The results indicate a strong seasonal variability of travel times from Sellafield to the examined locations. Travel time to the Clyde Sea is the shortest for the autumnal tracer release (90 days); it takes almost a year for the tracer to arrive at the same location if it is released in January. Travel times from Sellafield to Dublin Bay fall within the range of 180-360 days. The average residence time of the entire eastern Irish Sea is around 7 months. The areas surrounding the Isle of Man are initially flushed due to a predominant northward flow; a backwater is formed in Liverpool Bay. Thus, elevated tracer concentrations are predicted in Liverpool Bay in the case of accidental spills at the Sellafield outfall site

How Is Existential Threat Related to Intergroup Conflict? Introducing the Multidimensional Existential Threat (MET) Model

Science.gov (United States)

Hirschberger, Gilad; Ein-Dor, Tsachi; Leidner, Bernhard; Saguy, Tamar

2016-01-01

Existential threat lies at the heart of intergroup conflict, but the literature on existential concerns lacks clear conceptualization and integration. To address this problem, we offer a new conceptualization and measurement of existential threat. We establish the reliability and validity of our measure, and to illustrate its utility, we examine whether different existential threats underlie the association between political ideology and support for specific political policies. Study 1 (N = 798) established the construct validity of the scale, and revealed four distinct existential threats: personal death (PD), physical collective annihilation (PA), symbolic collective annihilation (SA), and past victimization (PV). Study 2 (N = 424) confirmed the 4-factor structure, and the convergent and discriminant validity of the scale. Study 3 (N = 170) revealed that the association between a hawkish political ideology and support for hardline policies was mediated by PV, whereas the association between a dovish political ideology and conciliatory policies was mediated by concerns over collective symbolic annihilation. Study 4 (N = 503) conceptually replicated the pattern of findings found in Study 3, and showed that at times of conflict, PA concerns also mediate the relationship between hawkish ideologies and support for hardline policies. In both Studies 3 and 4, when controlling for other threats, PD did not play a significant role. These results underscore the need to consider the multidimensional nature of existential threat, especially in the context of political conflict. PMID:27994561

Stereotype threat spillover: how coping with threats to social identity affects aggression, eating, decision making, and attention.

Science.gov (United States)

Inzlicht, Michael; Kang, Sonia K

2010-09-01

Stereotype threat spillover is a situational predicament in which coping with the stress of stereotype confirmation leaves one in a depleted volitional state and thus less likely to engage in effortful self-control in a variety of domains. We examined this phenomenon in 4 studies in which we had participants cope with stereotype and social identity threat and then measured their performance in domains in which stereotypes were not "in the air." In Study 1 we examined whether taking a threatening math test could lead women to respond aggressively. In Study 2 we investigated whether coping with a threatening math test could lead women to indulge themselves with unhealthy food later on and examined the moderation of this effect by personal characteristics that contribute to identity-threat appraisals. In Study 3 we investigated whether vividly remembering an experience of social identity threat results in risky decision making. Finally, in Study 4 we asked whether coping with threat could directly influence attentional control and whether the effect was implemented by inefficient performance monitoring, as assessed by electroencephalography. Our results indicate that stereotype threat can spill over and impact self-control in a diverse array of nonstereotyped domains. These results reveal the potency of stereotype threat and that its negative consequences might extend further than was previously thought. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

Power and threat in intergroup conflict : How emotional and behavioral responses depend on amount and content of threat

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kamans, Elanor; Otten, Sabine; Gordijn, Ernestine H.

We propose that in intergroup conflict threat content is important in understanding the reactions of those who experience threats the most: the powerless. Studies 1 and 2 show that powerless groups experience more threat than powerful groups, resulting in the experience of both more anger and fear.

Insular threat associations within taxa worldwide.

Science.gov (United States)

Leclerc, Camille; Courchamp, Franck; Bellard, Céline

2018-04-23

The global loss of biodiversity can be attributed to numerous threats. While pioneer studies have investigated their relative importance, the majority of those studies are restricted to specific geographic regions and/or taxonomic groups and only consider a small subset of threats, generally in isolation despite their frequent interaction. Here, we investigated 11 major threats responsible for species decline on islands worldwide. We applied an innovative method of network analyses to disentangle the associations of multiple threats on vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants in 15 insular regions. Biological invasions, wildlife exploitation, and cultivation, either alone or in association, were found to be the three most important drivers of species extinction and decline on islands. Specifically, wildlife exploitation and cultivation are largely associated with the decline of threatened plants and terrestrial vertebrates, whereas biological invasions mostly threaten invertebrates and freshwater fish. Furthermore, biodiversity in the Indian Ocean and near the Asian coasts is mostly affected by wildlife exploitation and cultivation compared to biological invasions in the Pacific and Atlantic insular regions. We highlighted specific associations of threats at different scales, showing that the analysis of each threat in isolation might be inadequate for developing effective conservation policies and managements.

Black Sea Energy Security - Present and Future

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Florinel Iftode

2011-05-01

Full Text Available We chose this theme to highlight the need for continuous and sustained human society to secure energy resources needed to survive, needs reflected in an increasingly in recent years in the strategies adopted at both states, as at the level of international organizations. Achieving security and stability in the wider Black Sea area has been among the priorities of each country's interests in this region. In this context, state and non-state actors were being called to come up with new solutions to achieve those interests. Certainly not in all cases the negotiations were completed or not yet found a generally accepted formula for others to apply, but most of them show off their values. The main environmental threats to security environment in the Black Sea region are represented by ethnic conflicts and territorial secessionism. A significant contribution to the security environment of the Black Sea region has the phenomenon of globalization, which in this region is manifested by a steady increase in traffic and volume of shipping passage of communication, which largely affects the security in the region. Globalization and the need for energy resources in the Black Sea was an important area not only as energy transport route, but as a potential supplier of material energy (oil and natural gas. Black Sea Basin can be stabilized and secured only by the will and input from all States and interested international organizations in pragmatic and effective institutional frameworks, meant to promote and protect the common interests of countries decided to participate in actions aimed at ensuring a stable environment security.

Forecasting Lightning Threat Using WRF Proxy Fields

Science.gov (United States)

McCaul, E. W., Jr.

2010-01-01

Objectives: Given that high-resolution WRF forecasts can capture the character of convective outbreaks, we seek to: 1. Create WRF forecasts of LTG threat (1-24 h), based on 2 proxy fields from explicitly simulated convection: - graupel flux near -15 C (captures LTG time variability) - vertically integrated ice (captures LTG threat area). 2. Calibrate each threat to yield accurate quantitative peak flash rate densities. 3. Also evaluate threats for areal coverage, time variability. 4. Blend threats to optimize results. 5. Examine sensitivity to model mesh, microphysics. Methods: 1. Use high-resolution 2-km WRF simulations to prognose convection for a diverse series of selected case studies. 2. Evaluate graupel fluxes; vertically integrated ice (VII). 3. Calibrate WRF LTG proxies using peak total LTG flash rate densities from NALMA; relationships look linear, with regression line passing through origin. 4. Truncate low threat values to make threat areal coverage match NALMA flash extent density obs. 5. Blend proxies to achieve optimal performance 6. Study CAPS 4-km ensembles to evaluate sensitivities.

Prediction of South China sea level using seasonal ARIMA models

Science.gov (United States)

Fernandez, Flerida Regine; Po, Rodolfo; Montero, Neil; Addawe, Rizavel

2017-11-01

Accelerating sea level rise is an indicator of global warming and poses a threat to low-lying places and coastal countries. This study aims to fit a Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (SARIMA) model to the time series obtained from the TOPEX and Jason series of satellite radar altimetries of the South China Sea from the year 2008 to 2015. With altimetric measurements taken in a 10-day repeat cycle, monthly averages of the satellite altimetry measurements were taken to compose the data set used in the study. SARIMA models were then tried and fitted to the time series in order to find the best-fit model. Results show that the SARIMA(1,0,0)(0,1,1)12 model best fits the time series and was used to forecast the values for January 2016 to December 2016. The 12-month forecast using SARIMA(1,0,0)(0,1,1)12 shows that the sea level gradually increases from January to September 2016, and decreases until December 2016.

Establishing 'design basis threat' in Norway

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maerli, M.B.; Naadland, E.; Reistad, O.

2002-01-01

Full text: INFCIRC 225 (Rev. 4) assumes that a state's physical protection system should be based on the state's evaluation of the threat, and that this should be reflected in the relevant legislation. Other factors should also be considered, including the state's emergency response capabilities and the existing and relevant measures of the state's system of accounting for and control of nuclear material. A design basis threat developed from an evaluation by the state of the threat of unauthorized removal of nuclear material and of sabotage of nuclear material and nuclear facilities is an essential element of a state's system of physical protection. The state should continuously review the threat, and evaluate the implications of any changes in that threat for the required levels and the methods of physical protection. As part of a national design basis threat assessment, this paper evaluates the risk of nuclear or radiological terrorism and sabotage in Norway. Possible scenarios are presented and plausible consequences are discussed with a view to characterize the risks. The need for more stringent regulatory requirements will be discussed, together with the (positive) impact of improved systems and procedures of physical protection on nuclear emergency planning. Special emphasis is placed on discussing the design basis threat for different scenarios in order to systemize regulatory efforts to update the current legislation, requirement for operators' contingency planning, response efforts and the need for emergency exercises. (author)

Chewing lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) from estrildid finches (Aves: Passeriformes: Estrildidae) and louse-flies (Insecta: Diptera: Hippoboscidae) from birds in Senegal, with descriptions of three new species of the genus Brueelia

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Sychra, O.; Literák, I.; Najer, T.; Čapek, Miroslav; Koubek, Petr; Procházka, Petr

2010-01-01

Roč. 2714, - (2010), s. 59-68 ISSN 1175-5326 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IAA6093404; GA AV ČR IAA601690901; GA MŠk LC06073 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60930519 Keywords : chewing lice * louse-flies * Passeriformes * Senegal Subject RIV: EG - Zoology Impact factor: 0.853, year: 2010 http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2010/f/zt02714p068.pdf

Loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta): A target species for monitoring litter ingested by marine organisms in the Mediterranean Sea.

Science.gov (United States)

Matiddi, Marco; Hochsheid, Sandra; Camedda, Andrea; Baini, Matteo; Cocumelli, Cristiano; Serena, Fabrizio; Tomassetti, Paolo; Travaglini, Andrea; Marra, Stefano; Campani, Tommaso; Scholl, Francesco; Mancusi, Cecilia; Amato, Ezio; Briguglio, Paolo; Maffucci, Fulvio; Fossi, Maria Cristina; Bentivegna, Flegra; de Lucia, Giuseppe Andrea

2017-11-01

Marine litter is any persistent, manufactured or processed solid material discarded, disposed of or abandoned in the marine and coastal environment. Ingestion of marine litter can have lethal and sub-lethal effects on wildlife that accidentally ingests it, and sea turtles are particularly susceptible to this threat. The European Commission drafted the 2008/56/EC Marine Strategy Framework Directive with the aim to achieve a Good Environmental Status (GES), and the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta, Linnaeus 1758) was selected for monitoring the amount and composition of litter ingested by marine animals. An analogous decision has been made under the UNEP/MAP Barcelona Convention for the protection of the Mediterranean Sea, following the Ecosystem Approach. This work provides for the first time, two possible scenarios for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive GES, both related to "Trends in the amount and composition of litter ingested by marine animals" in the Mediterranean Sea. The study validates the use of the loggerhead turtle as target indicator for monitoring the impact of litter on marine biota and calls for immediate use of this protocol throughout the Mediterranean basin and European Region. Both GES scenarios are relevant worldwide, where sea turtles and marine litter are present, for measuring the impact of ingested plastics and developing policy strategies to reduce it. In the period between 2011 and 2014, 150 loggerhead sea turtles, found dead, were collected from the Italian Coast, West Mediterranean Sea Sub-Region. The presence of marine litter was investigated using a standardized protocol for necropsies and lab analysis. The collected items were subdivided into 4 main categories, namely, IND-Industrial plastic, USE-User plastic, RUB-Non plastic rubbish, POL-Pollutants and 14 sub-categories, to detect local diversity. Eighty-five percent of the individuals considered (n = 120) were found to have ingested an average of 1.3 ± 0.2 g of

Status of breeding seabirds on the Northern Islands of the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia.

Science.gov (United States)

Shobrak, Mohammed Y; Aloufi, Abdulhadi A

2014-07-01

We undertook breeding surveys between 2010 and 2011 to assess the status of breeding birds on 16 islands in the northern Saudi Arabia. Sixteen bird species were found breeding at three different seasons; i.e. winter (Osprey), spring (Caspian and Saunder's Terns), and summer (Lesser Crested, White-cheeked, Bridled Terns). It is postulated that food availability is an important factor influencing the breeding of seabirds in the northern Saudi Arabian Red Sea. Several species laid eggs earlier in northern parts of the Red Sea than in southern parts. The predicted increases in temperatures (Ta ) could have a negative effect on species survival in the future, especially on those whose nests that are in the open. Finally, disturbance, predation and egg collection were probably the main immediate threats affecting the breeding seabird species in the northern Red Sea.

Insider Threat Mitigation Workshop Instructional Materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gibbs, Philip [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Larsen, Robert [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); O' Brien, Mike [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Rodriquez, Jose [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2008-01-01

Insiders represent a formidable threat to nuclear facilities. This set of workshop materials covers methodologies to analyze and approaches to mitigate the threat of an insider attempting abrupt theft of nuclear materials. This report is a compilation of workshop materials consisting of lectures on technical and administrative measures used in Physical Protection (PP) and Material Control and Accounting (MC&A) and methods for analyzing their effectiveness against a postulated insider threat.

Linking terrestrial and marine conservation planning and threats analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Tallis, Heather; Ferdaña, Zach; Gray, Elizabeth

2008-02-01

The existence of the Gulf of Mexico dead zone makes it clear that marine ecosystems can be damaged by terrestrial inputs. Marine and terrestrial conservation planning need to be aligned in an explicit fashion to fully represent threats to marine systems. To integrate conservation planning for terrestrial and marine systems, we used a novel threats assessment that included 5 cross-system threats in a site-prioritization exercise for the Pacific Northwest coast ecoregion (U.S.A.). Cross-system threats are actions or features in one ecological realm that have effects on species in another realm. We considered bulkheads and other forms of shoreline hardening threats to terrestrial systems and roads, logging, agriculture, and urban areas threats to marine systems. We used 2 proxies of freshwater influence on marine environments, validated against a mechanistic model and field observations, to propagate land-based threats into marine sites. We evaluated the influence of cross-system threats on conservation priorities by comparing MARXAN outputs for 3 scenarios that identified terrestrial and marine priorities simultaneously: (1) no threats, (2) single-system threats, and (3) single- and cross-system threats. Including cross-system threats changed the threat landscape dramatically. As a result the best plan that included only single-system threats identified 323 sites (161,500 ha) at risk from cross-system threats. Including these threats changed the location of best sites. By comparing the best and sum solutions of the single- and cross-system scenarios, we identified areas ideal for preservation or restoration through integrated management. Our findings lend quantitative support to the call for explicitly integrated decision making and management action in terrestrial and marine ecosystems.

Sea level trends in South East Asian Seas (SEAS)

Science.gov (United States)

Strassburg, M. W.; Hamlington, B. D.; Leben, R. R.; Manurung, P.; Lumban Gaol, J.; Nababan, B.; Vignudelli, S.; Kim, K.-Y.

2014-10-01

Southeast Asian Seas (SEAS) span the largest archipelago in the global ocean and provide a complex oceanic pathway connecting the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The SEAS regional sea level trends are some of the highest observed in the modern satellite altimeter record that now spans almost two decades. Initial comparisons of global sea level reconstructions find that 17 year sea level trends over the past 60 years exhibit good agreement in areas and at times of strong signal to noise associated decadal variability forced by low frequency variations in Pacific trade winds. The SEAS region exhibits sea level trends that vary dramatically over the studied time period. This historical variation suggests that the strong regional sea level trends observed during the modern satellite altimeter record will abate as trade winds fluctuate on decadal and longer time scales. Furthermore, after removing the contribution of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) to sea level trends in the past twenty years, the rate of sea level rise is greatly reduced in the SEAS region. As a result of the influence of the PDO, the SEAS regional sea level trends during 2010s and 2020s are likely to be less than the global mean sea level (GMSL) trend if the observed oscillations in wind forcing and sea level persist. Nevertheless, long-term sea level trends in the SEAS will continue to be affected by GMSL rise occurring now and in the future.

Possible impact of rising sea levels on vector-borne infectious diseases

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Surendran Sinnathamby N

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Vector-borne infectious diseases are a significant cause of human and animal mortality and morbidity. Modeling studies predict that changes in climate that accompany global warming will alter the transmission risk of many vector-borne infectious diseases in different parts of the world. Global warming will also raise sea levels, which will lead to an increase in saline and brackish water bodies in coastal areas. The potential impact of rising sea levels, as opposed to climate change, on the prevalence of vector-borne infectious diseases has hitherto been unrecognised. Presentation of the hypothesis Mosquito species possessing salinity-tolerant larvae and pupae, and capable of transmitting arboviruses and parasites are found in many parts of the world. An expansion of brackish and saline water bodies in coastal areas, associated with rising sea levels, can increase densities of salinity-tolerant vector mosquitoes and lead to the adaptation of freshwater vectors to breed in brackish and saline waters. The breeding of non-mosquito vectors may also be influenced by salinity changes in coastal habitats. Higher vector densities can increase transmission of vector-borne infectious diseases in coastal localities, which can then spread to other areas. Testing the hypothesis The demonstration of increases in vector populations and disease prevalence that is related to an expansion of brackish/saline water bodies in coastal areas will provide the necessary supportive evidence. However the implementation of specific vector and disease control measures to counter the threat will confound the expected findings. Implications of the hypothesis Rising sea levels can act synergistically with climate change and then interact in a complex manner with other environmental and socio-economic factors to generate a greater potential for the transmission of vector-borne infectious diseases. The resulting health impacts are likely to be particularly

Synthesis Report As part of the project Biodiversity of the High Seas

OpenAIRE

Rijnsdorp, A.D.; Molenaar, E.J.; Oude Elferink, A.G.; Heessen, H.J.L.; Karman, C.C.

2009-01-01

Human activities in areas outside national jurisdiction (ABNJ) which comprise the high seas and the ‘Area’ (the seabed beyond the limits of national jurisdiction) are increasing and may threaten marine biodiversity in these areas. While fisheries are in general considered as the most threatening, other activities such as mining, shipping, tourism, bio-prospecting, marine scientific research, pollution, and military activities also play more or less important roles. Threats to biodiversity con...

Bomb Threat Assessments. Fact Sheet

Science.gov (United States)

Tunkel, Ronald F.

2010-01-01

This information provides a brief, summary outline of how investigators should assess anonymous bomb threats at schools. Applying these principles may help administrators and law enforcement personnel accurately assess the viability and credibility of a threat and appropriately gauge their response. Any credible evidence provided by teachers or…

Stereotype threat in classroom settings: the interactive effect of domain identification, task difficulty and stereotype threat on female students' maths performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Keller, Johannes

2007-06-01

Stereotype threat research revealed that negative stereotypes can disrupt the performance of persons targeted by such stereotypes. This paper contributes to stereotype threat research by providing evidence that domain identification and the difficulty level of test items moderate stereotype threat effects on female students' maths performance. The study was designed to test theoretical ideas derived from stereotype threat theory and assumptions outlined in the Yerkes-Dodson law proposing a nonlinear relationship between arousal, task difficulty and performance. Participants were 108 high school students attending secondary schools. Participants worked on a test comprising maths problems of different difficulty levels. Half of the participants learned that the test had been shown to produce gender differences (stereotype threat). The other half learned that the test had been shown not to produce gender differences (no threat). The degree to which participants identify with the domain of maths was included as a quasi-experimental factor. Maths-identified female students showed performance decrements under conditions of stereotype threat. Moreover, the stereotype threat manipulation had different effects on low and high domain identifiers' performance depending on test item difficulty. On difficult items, low identifiers showed higher performance under threat (vs. no threat) whereas the reverse was true in high identifiers. This interaction effect did not emerge on easy items. Domain identification and test item difficulty are two important factors that need to be considered in the attempt to understand the impact of stereotype threat on performance.

Threats Management Throughout the Software Service Life-Cycle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erlend Andreas Gjære

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Software services are inevitably exposed to a fluctuating threat picture. Unfortunately, not all threats can be handled only with preventive measures during design and development, but also require adaptive mitigations at runtime. In this paper we describe an approach where we model composite services and threats together, which allows us to create preventive measures at design-time. At runtime, our specification also allows the service runtime environment (SRE to receive alerts about active threats that we have not handled, and react to these automatically through adaptation of the composite service. A goal-oriented security requirements modelling tool is used to model business-level threats and analyse how they may impact goals. A process flow modelling tool, utilising Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN and standard error boundary events, allows us to define how threats should be responded to during service execution on a technical level. Throughout the software life-cycle, we maintain threats in a centralised threat repository. Re-use of these threats extends further into monitoring alerts being distributed through a cloud-based messaging service. To demonstrate our approach in practice, we have developed a proof-of-concept service for the Air Traffic Management (ATM domain. In addition to the design-time activities, we show how this composite service duly adapts itself when a service component is exposed to a threat at runtime.

Stereotype threat can reduce older adults' memory errors.

Science.gov (United States)

Barber, Sarah J; Mather, Mara

2013-01-01

Stereotype threat often incurs the cost of reducing the amount of information that older adults accurately recall. In the current research, we tested whether stereotype threat can also benefit memory. According to the regulatory focus account of stereotype threat, threat induces a prevention focus in which people become concerned with avoiding errors of commission and are sensitive to the presence or absence of losses within their environment. Because of this, we predicted that stereotype threat might reduce older adults' memory errors. Results were consistent with this prediction. Older adults under stereotype threat had lower intrusion rates during free-recall tests (Experiments 1 and 2). They also reduced their false alarms and adopted more conservative response criteria during a recognition test (Experiment 2). Thus, stereotype threat can decrease older adults' false memories, albeit at the cost of fewer veridical memories, as well.

Stereotype Threat, Test Anxiety, and Mathematics Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Tempel, Tobias; Neumann, Roland

2014-01-01

We investigated the combined effects of stereotype threat and trait test anxiety on mathematics test performance. Stereotype threat and test anxiety interacted with each other in affecting performance. Trait test anxiety predicted performance only in a diagnostic condition that prevented stereotype threat by stereotype denial. A state measure of…

CLASSIFICATION OF THREATS OF ECONOMIC SECURITY OF TAJIKISTAN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Blinichkina N. Yu.

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Ensuring of the state economic security suggests the fight against threats to such security. At the same time it is extremely important, firstly, to understand the essence of a threat to economic security and, secondly, to identify the common characteristics of threats allowing to systematize them and to determine the necessary measures to neutralize them on this basis. The traditional approach offers a classification of economic security threats depending on areas of their origin but it is impossible to determine the gravity of the threat to the economy and ways of neutralizing it.In this context we propose allocation of the economic threats to five groups depends on a number of characteristics that determine the level of their negative impact to the economy. Such classification of threats to economic security of Tajikistan helped to determine neutralization of which of them requires outside support, what requires priority within the framework of the strategy of economic security and national economic policy, and what does not require serious government efforts and may be neutralized automatically during neutralization of the other threats.

Risks of Coastal Storm Surge and the Effect of Sea Level Rise in the Red River Delta, Vietnam

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James E. Neumann

2015-05-01

Full Text Available This paper considers the impact of sea level rise and storm surge on the Red River delta region of Vietnam. Permanently inundated lands and temporary flood zones are analyzed by combining sea level rise scenarios for 2050 with simulated storm surge levels for the 100-year event. Our analysis finds that sea level rise through 2050 could increase the effective frequency of the current 100-year storm surge, which is associated with a storm surge of roughly five meters, to once every 49 years. Approximately 10% of the Hanoi region’s GDP is vulnerable to permanent inundation due to sea level rise, and more than 40% is vulnerable to periodic storm surge damage consistent with the current 100-year storm. We conclude that coastal adaptation measures, such as a planned retreat from the sea, and construction of a more substantial seawall and dike system, are needed to respond to these threats.

49 CFR 1544.303 - Bomb or air piracy threats.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 9 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Bomb or air piracy threats. 1544.303 Section 1544... AND COMMERCIAL OPERATORS Threat and Threat Response § 1544.303 Bomb or air piracy threats. (a) Flight.... (d) Notification. Upon receipt of any bomb threat against the security of a flight or facility, or...

Population dynamics of Hawaiian seabird colonies vulnerable to sea-level rise

Science.gov (United States)

Hatfield, Jeff S.; Reynolds, Michelle H.; Seavy, Nathaniel E.; Krause, Crystal M.

2012-01-01

Globally, seabirds are vulnerable to anthropogenic threats both at sea and on land. Seabirds typically nest colonially and show strong fidelity to natal colonies, and such colonies on low-lying islands may be threatened by sea-level rise. We used French Frigate Shoals, the largest atoll in the Hawaiian Archipelago, as a case study to explore the population dynamics of seabird colonies and the potential effects sea-level rise may have on these rookeries. We compiled historic observations, a 30-year time series of seabird population abundance, lidar-derived elevations, and aerial imagery of all the islands of French Frigate Shoals. To estimate the population dynamics of 8 species of breeding seabirds on Tern Island from 1980 to 2009, we used a Gompertz model with a Bayesian approach to infer population growth rates, density dependence, process variation, and observation error. All species increased in abundance, in a pattern that provided evidence of density dependence. Great Frigatebirds (Fregata minor), Masked Boobies (Sula dactylatra), Red-tailed Tropicbirds (Phaethon rubricauda), Spectacled Terns (Onychoprion lunatus), and White Terns (Gygis alba) are likely at carrying capacity. Density dependence may exacerbate the effects of sea-level rise on seabirds because populations near carrying capacity on an island will be more negatively affected than populations with room for growth. We projected 12% of French Frigate Shoals will be inundated if sea level rises 1 m and 28% if sea level rises 2 m. Spectacled Terns and shrub-nesting species are especially vulnerable to sea-level rise, but seawalls and habitat restoration may mitigate the effects of sea-level rise. Losses of seabird nesting habitat may be substantial in the Hawaiian Islands by 2100 if sea levels rise 2 m. Restoration of higher-elevation seabird colonies represent a more enduring conservation solution for Pacific seabirds.

Stereotype threat affects financial decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Carr, Priyanka B; Steele, Claude M

2010-10-01

The research presented in this article provides the first evidence that one's decision making can be influenced by concerns about stereotypes and the devaluation of one's identity. Many studies document gender differences in decision making, and often attribute these differences to innate and stable factors, such as biological and hormonal differences. In three studies, we found that stereotype threat affected decision making and led to gender differences in loss-aversion and risk-aversion behaviors. In Study 1, women subjected to stereotype threat in academic and business settings were more loss averse than both men and women who were not facing the threat of being viewed in light of negative stereotypes. We found no gender differences in loss-aversion behavior in the absence of stereotype threat. In Studies 2a and 2b, we found the same pattern of effects for risk-aversion behavior that we had observed for loss-aversion behavior. In addition, in Study 2b, ego depletion mediated the effects of stereotype threat on women's decision making. These results suggest that individuals' decision making can be influenced by stereotype concerns.

Can neem oil help eliminate lice? Randomised controlled trial with and without louse combing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christine M. Brown

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Background: Neem oil and wet combing with conditioner are both claimed to facilitate elimination of head louse infestation. The aim of this pilot study was to identify whether a 1% neem oil lotion showed activity itself and/or enhanced the effectiveness of combing in treating infestation. Methods: We treated 47 participants with 1% neem-based lotion on four occasions 3-4 days apart in a randomised, community based trial, analysed by intention to treat. The participants were randomly divided between two groups: One group used a grooming comb (placebo and the other a head louse detection and removal comb (wet combing with conditioner method to systematically comb the hair. Cure was defined as no lice on both Day 10 and Day 14. Results: The cure rates of 6/24 (25.0% for the placebo comb group and 8/23 (34.8% for the louse comb group were not significantly different. Conclusion: These results indicate that this formulation of neem oil was ineffective in the treatment of head louse infestations, even when accompanied by combing. Both combing methods were also ineffective, despite being implemented throughout by trained professionals.

Analysis of a Gross Counting Decision Metric for use in Threat Detection During Cargo Container Inspection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hall, J

2006-01-01

LLNL is actively engaged in the development of a variety of advanced technologies for use in detecting potential threats in sea-going cargo containers, particularly the presence of hidden special nuclear materials (SNM). One such project is the so-called ''Nuclear Car Wash'' (NCW), which uses a high-energy neutron probe to scan the container. High-energy, β-delayed γ-rays emitted during the decay of short-lived, neutron-induced fission products are then taken as a signature of fissionable material. There are a number of different threat decision metrics that one could imagine using in conjunction with an inspection system such as the NCW; however, the most straightforward approach might be to simply compare the total number of counts that our detector records during some suitably chosen time interval to the average background signal that one would expect from a ''clean'' container during the same interval. The purpose of this report is to describe the basic statistical properties of a decision metric of this sort and outline the procedures for using it in experimental practice

Cyber threats within civil aviation

Science.gov (United States)

Heitner, Kerri A.

Existing security policies in civil aviation do not adequately protect against evolving cyber threats. Cybersecurity has been recognized as a top priority among some aviation industry leaders. Heightened concerns regarding cyber threats and vulnerabilities surround components utilized in compliance with the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Next Generation Air Transportation (NextGen) implementation. Automated Dependent Surveillance-B (ADS-B) and Electronic Flight Bags (EFB) have both been exploited through the research of experienced computer security professionals. Civil aviation is essential to international infrastructure and if its critical assets were compromised, it could pose a great risk to public safety and financial infrastructure. The purpose of this research was to raise awareness of aircraft system vulnerabilities in order to provoke change among current national and international cybersecurity policies, procedures and standards. Although the education of cyber threats is increasing in the aviation industry, there is not enough urgency when creating cybersecurity policies. This project intended to answer the following questions: What are the cyber threats to ADS-B of an aircraft in-flight? What are the cyber threats to EFB? What is the aviation industry's response to the issue of cybersecurity and in-flight safety? ADS-B remains unencrypted while the FAA's mandate to implement this system is rapidly approaching. The cyber threat of both portable and non-portable EFB's have received increased publicity, however, airlines are not responding quick enough (if at all) to create policies for the use of these devices. Collectively, the aviation industry is not being proactive enough to protect its aircraft or airport network systems. That is not to say there are not leaders in cybersecurity advancement. These proactive organizations must set the standard for the future to better protect society and it's most reliable form of transportation.

How mangrove forests adjust to rising sea level

Science.gov (United States)

Krauss, Ken W.; McKee, Karen L.; Lovelock, Catherine E.; Cahoon, Donald R.; Saintilan, Neil; Reef, Ruth; Chen, Luzhen

2014-01-01

Mangroves are among the most well described and widely studied wetland communities in the world. The greatest threats to mangrove persistence are deforestation and other anthropogenic disturbances that can compromise habitat stability and resilience to sea-level rise. To persist, mangrove ecosystems must adjust to rising sea level by building vertically or become submerged. Mangroves may directly or indirectly influence soil accretion processes through the production and accumulation of organic matter, as well as the trapping and retention of mineral sediment. In this review, we provide a general overview of research on mangrove elevation dynamics, emphasizing the role of the vegetation in maintaining soil surface elevations (i.e. position of the soil surface in the vertical plane). We summarize the primary ways in which mangroves may influence sediment accretion and vertical land development, for example, through root contributions to soil volume and upward expansion of the soil surface. We also examine how hydrological, geomorphological and climatic processes may interact with plant processes to influence mangrove capacity to keep pace with rising sea level. We draw on a variety of studies to describe the important, and often under-appreciated, role that plants play in shaping the trajectory of an ecosystem undergoing change.

Cyber Threats to Nuclear Infrastructures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Robert S. Anderson; Paul Moskowitz; Mark Schanfein; Trond Bjornard; Curtis St. Michel

2010-07-01

Nuclear facility personnel expend considerable efforts to ensure that their facilities can maintain continuity of operations against both natural and man-made threats. Historically, most attention has been placed on physical security. Recently however, the threat of cyber-related attacks has become a recognized and growing world-wide concern. Much attention has focused on the vulnerability of the electric grid and chemical industries to cyber attacks, in part, because of their use of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. Lessons learned from work in these sectors indicate that the cyber threat may extend to other critical infrastructures including sites where nuclear and radiological materials are now stored. In this context, this white paper presents a hypothetical scenario by which a determined adversary launches a cyber attack that compromises the physical protection system and results in a reduced security posture at such a site. The compromised security posture might then be malevolently exploited in a variety of ways. The authors conclude that the cyber threat should be carefully considered for all nuclear infrastructures.

Cyber Threats to Nuclear Infrastructures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anderson, Robert S.; Moskowitz, Paul; Schanfein, Mark; Bjornard, Trond; St. Michel, Curtis

2010-01-01

Nuclear facility personnel expend considerable efforts to ensure that their facilities can maintain continuity of operations against both natural and man-made threats. Historically, most attention has been placed on physical security. Recently however, the threat of cyber-related attacks has become a recognized and growing world-wide concern. Much attention has focused on the vulnerability of the electric grid and chemical industries to cyber attacks, in part, because of their use of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. Lessons learned from work in these sectors indicate that the cyber threat may extend to other critical infrastructures including sites where nuclear and radiological materials are now stored. In this context, this white paper presents a hypothetical scenario by which a determined adversary launches a cyber attack that compromises the physical protection system and results in a reduced security posture at such a site. The compromised security posture might then be malevolently exploited in a variety of ways. The authors conclude that the cyber threat should be carefully considered for all nuclear infrastructures.

Land subsidence threats and its management in the North Coast of Java

Science.gov (United States)

Sarah, D.; Soebowo, E.

2018-02-01

Cities on the north coast of Java such as Jakarta, Semarang, Pekalongan, and Surabaya are vulnerable to environmental pressures such as sea level change and land subsidence. Land subsidence can be caused by natural and anthropogenic processes. Geologically, the north coastal plain of Java consists of unconsolidated Holocene alluvial deposit. The recent alluvial deposit is prone to compaction, and further aggravated by anthropogenic forces such as groundwater extraction and land development. Understanding the complex interaction of natural and manmade factors is essential to establish mitigation strategy. Although the impacts of land subsidence are widely felt, many do not realize that land subsidence is taking place. This paper presents a brief review of the land subsidence threats in the North coast of Java and proposes a recommendation for suitable management response.

Threat Assessment in College Settings

Science.gov (United States)

Cornell, Dewey

2010-01-01

In 2007, the landscape of campus safety changed abruptly with the Virginia Tech shooting and the subsequent wave of anonymous threats in colleges across the country. In response to the tragedy, the Virginia state legislature mandated that every public institution of higher education establish a "threat assessment team." Both the FBI and the U.S.…

How you perceive threat determines your behavior

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Orlando Fernandes Junior

2013-10-01

Full Text Available The prioritization of processing emotional stimuli usually produces deleterious effects on task performance when it distracts from a task. One common explanation is that brain resources are consumed by emotional stimuli, diverting resources away from executing the task. Viewing unpleasant stimuli also generates defensive reactions, and these responses may be at least partially responsible for the effect of the emotional modulation observed in various reaction time (RT paradigms. We investigated whether modulatory effects on RT vary if we presented threat stimuli to prompt different defensive responses. To trigger different responses, we manipulated threat perception by moving the direction of threatening stimuli. Threatening or neutral stimuli were presented as distractors during a bar orientation discrimination task. The results demonstrated that threat stimuli directed towards the observer produced a decrease in RT; in contrast, threat stimuli directed away from the observer produced an increase in RT, when compared to neutral stimuli. Accelerated RT during direct threat stimuli was attributed to increased motor preparation resulting from strong activation of the defense response cascade. In contrast, no direct threat stimuli likely activated the defense cascade, but less intensively, prompting immobility. Different threat stimuli produced varying effects, which was interpreted as evidence that the modulation of RT by emotional stimuli represents the summation of attentional and motivational effects. Additionally, participants who had been previously exposed to diverse types of violent crime were more strongly influenced by direct threat stimuli. In sum, our data support the concept that emotions are indeed action tendencies.

Information security practices emerging threats and perspectives

CERN Document Server

Awad, Ahmed; Woungang, Isaac

2017-01-01

This book introduces novel research targeting technical aspects of protecting information security and establishing trust in the digital space. New paradigms, and emerging threats and solutions are presented in topics such as application security and threat management; modern authentication paradigms; digital fraud detection; social engineering and insider threats; cyber threat intelligence; intrusion detection; behavioral biometrics recognition; hardware security analysis. The book presents both the important core and the specialized issues in the areas of protection, assurance, and trust in information security practice. It is intended to be a valuable resource and reference for researchers, instructors, students, scientists, engineers, managers, and industry practitioners. .

An Examination of Age-Based Stereotype Threat About Cognitive Decline.

Science.gov (United States)

Barber, Sarah J

2017-01-01

"Stereotype threat" is often thought of as a singular construct, with moderators and mechanisms that are stable across groups and domains. However, this is not always true. To illustrate this, the current review focuses on the stereotype threat that older adults face about their cognitive abilities. Drawing upon the multithreat framework, I first provide evidence that this is a self-concept threat and not a group-reputation threat. Because this differs from the forms of stereotype threat experienced by other groups (e.g., the threat that minority students face about their intellectual abilities), the moderators of stereotype threat observed in other groups (i.e., group identification) do not always generalize to age-based stereotype threat about cognitive decline. Looking beyond the forms of stereotype threat elicited, this review also provides evidence that the mechanisms underlying stereotype-threat effects may vary across the adult life span. Because of age-related improvements in emotion-regulation abilities, stereotype threat does not seem to reduce older adults' executive-control resources. Overall, this review highlights the need to approach the concept of stereotype threat with more granularity, allowing researchers to design more effective stereotype-threat interventions. It will also shed light on why certain stereotype threat effects "fail to replicate" across domains or groups.

A Personal View of How Paleomicrobiology Aids Our Understanding of the Role of Lice in Plague Pandemics.

Science.gov (United States)

Raoult, Didier

2016-08-01

We have been involved in the field of paleomicrobiology since 1998, when we used dental pulp to identify Yersinia pestis as the causative agent of the great plague of Marseille (1720). We recently designed a specific technique, "suicide PCR," that can prevent contamination. A controversy arose between two teams, with one claiming that DNA must be altered to amplify it and the other group claiming that demographic data did not support the role of Y. pestis in the Black Death (i.e., the great plague of the Middle Ages). These controversies led us to evaluate other epidemiological models and to propose the body louse as the vector of this pandemic. This proposal was substantiated by experimental models, the recovery of Y. pestis from lice in the Congo, and the identification of epidemics involving both Y. pestis and Bartonella quintana (the agent of trench fever, transmitted by the body louse) in ancient corpses from mass graves. Paleomicrobiology has led to a re-evaluation of plague pandemics.

High contributions of sea ice derived carbon in polar bear (Ursus maritimus) tissue.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Thomas A; Galicia, Melissa P; Thiemann, Gregory W; Belt, Simon T; Yurkowski, David J; Dyck, Markus G

2018-01-01

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) rely upon Arctic sea ice as a physical habitat. Consequently, conservation assessments of polar bears identify the ongoing reduction in sea ice to represent a significant threat to their survival. However, the additional role of sea ice as a potential, indirect, source of energy to bears has been overlooked. Here we used the highly branched isoprenoid lipid biomarker-based index (H-Print) approach in combination with quantitative fatty acid signature analysis to show that sympagic (sea ice-associated), rather than pelagic, carbon contributions dominated the marine component of polar bear diet (72-100%; 99% CI, n = 55), irrespective of differences in diet composition. The lowest mean estimates of sympagic carbon were found in Baffin Bay bears, which were also exposed to the most rapidly increasing open water season. Therefore, our data illustrate that for future Arctic ecosystems that are likely to be characterised by reduced sea ice cover, polar bears will not only be impacted by a change in their physical habitat, but also potentially in the supply of energy to the ecosystems upon which they depend. This data represents the first quantifiable baseline that is critical for the assessment of likely ongoing changes in energy supply to Arctic predators as we move into an increasingly uncertain future for polar ecosystems.

SIP threats detection system

OpenAIRE

Vozňák, Miroslav; Řezáč, Filip

2010-01-01

The paper deals with detection of threats in IP telephony, the authors developed a penetration testing system that is able to check up the level of protection from security threats in IP telephony. The SIP server is a key komponent of VoIP infrastructure and often becomes the aim of attacks and providers have to ensure the appropriate level of security. We have developed web-based penetration system which is able to check the SIP server if can face to the most common attacks.The d...

lllicit Radiological and Nuclear Trafficking, Smuggling and Security Incidents in the Black Sea Region since the Fall of the Iron Curtain – an Open Source Inventory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alex P. Schmid

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Nuclear and radiological smuggling and trafficking incidents, events, and threats from the wider Black Sea area, 1990 – 2011  An Open Source Compilation prepared by Alex P. Schmid & Charlotte Spencer-Smith

SeaNine 211 as antifouling biocide: A coastal pollutant of emerging concern.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Lianguo; Lam, James C W

2017-11-01

SeaNine 211, with 4,5-dichloro-2-n-octyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one (DCOIT) being the biocidal ingredient, is a widely-used antifouling agent to deter the undesirable biofouling phenomenon. It is commercially promoted as an environmentally acceptable antifoulant mainly due to its claimed rapid degradation in marine environment. However, increasing researches document varying degradative kinetics in different environments, proving that SeaNine 211 is actually not degraded equally fast around the world (half-life between antifouling coatings has also caused global contamination of marine environment in various compartments. For example, accumulation of SeaNine 211 is detected as high as 3700ng/L in Spanish seawater and 281ng/g dry weight in Korean sediment. Considering that SeaNine 211 is highly toxic against non-target marine organisms, environmental risk assessment finds that most marine organisms are endangered by SeaNine 211 in worst-case scenario. Its endocrine disrupting and reproductive impairing effects at environmentally worst-case concentrations further constitute a long-term threat to the maintenance of population stability. Therefore, in the light of the varying degradability, environmental pollution and high toxicity, especially the endocrine disruption, SeaNine 211 as an antifouling agent is likely to cause non-negligible damages to the marine ecosystem. There is an urgency to perform a systematic ecological risk assessment of SeaNine 211 to prevent the potential impacts on the health of marine environment. A regular monitoring also becomes necessary to place the usage of antifouling biocides under control. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

The nuclear threat and the Nuclear Threat Initiative

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Curtis, Charles

2001-01-01

Full text: President and chief operating officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), was invited by the IAEA Director General to speak about NTI and its mission at the IAEA Safeguards Symposium. Established by CNN founder Ted Turner and former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, NTI is a charitable organization working to strengthen global security by reducing the risk of use and preventing the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. The foundation is global, concentrating not just on the United States, Russia, and other nations of the former Soviet Union, but also on those regions of greatest proliferation concern in Asia and the Middle East. NTI is working to close what it perceives as an increasingly dangerous gap between the threat from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and the global response. NTI is supported by a pledge from Mr. Turner of at least $250 million over five years, among the largest sums any private individual has ever invested in these security issues. NTI's Board of Directors, an international team of experienced and knowledgeable experts, determines the overall direction of the foundation. (author)

Airborne Particulate Threat Assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Patrick Treado; Oksana Klueva; Jeffrey Beckstead

2008-12-31

Aerosol threat detection requires the ability to discern between threat agents and ambient background particulate matter (PM) encountered in the environment. To date, Raman imaging technology has been demonstrated as an effective strategy for the assessment of threat agents in the presence of specific, complex backgrounds. Expanding our understanding of the composition of ambient particulate matter background will improve the overall performance of Raman Chemical Imaging (RCI) detection strategies for the autonomous detection of airborne chemical and biological hazards. Improving RCI detection performance is strategic due to its potential to become a widely exploited detection approach by several U.S. government agencies. To improve the understanding of the ambient PM background with subsequent improvement in Raman threat detection capability, ChemImage undertook the Airborne Particulate Threat Assessment (APTA) Project in 2005-2008 through a collaborative effort with the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), under cooperative agreement number DE-FC26-05NT42594. During Phase 1 of the program, a novel PM classification based on molecular composition was developed based on a comprehensive review of the scientific literature. In addition, testing protocols were developed for ambient PM characterization. A signature database was developed based on a variety of microanalytical techniques, including scanning electron microscopy, FT-IR microspectroscopy, optical microscopy, fluorescence and Raman chemical imaging techniques. An automated particle integrated collector and detector (APICD) prototype was developed for automated collection, deposition and detection of biothreat agents in background PM. During Phase 2 of the program, ChemImage continued to refine the understanding of ambient background composition. Additionally, ChemImage enhanced the APICD to provide improved autonomy, sensitivity and specificity. Deliverables included a Final Report detailing our

Challenges in Projecting Sea Level Rise impacts on the Coastal Environment of South Florida (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Obeysekera, J.; Park, J.; Irizarry-Ortiz, M. M.; Barnes, J. A.; Trimble, P.; Said, W.

2010-12-01

Due to flat topography, a highly transmissive groundwater aquifer, and a growing population with the associated infrastructure, South Florida’s coastal environment is one of the most vulnerable areas to sea level rise. Current projections of sea level rise and the associated storm surges will have direct impacts on coastal beaches and infrastructure, flood protection, freshwater aquifers, and both the isolated and regional wetlands. Uncertainties in current projections have made it difficult for regional and local governments to develop adaptation strategies as such measures will depend heavily on the temporal and spatial patterns of sea level rise in the coming decades. We demonstrate the vulnerability of both the built and natural environments of the coastal region and present the current efforts to understand and predict the sea level rise estimate that management agencies could employ in planning of adaptation strategies. In particular, the potential vulnerabilities of the flood control system as well as the threat to the water supply wellfields in the coastal belt will be presented. In an effort to understand the historical variability of sea level rise, we present linkages to natural phenomena such as Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation, and the analytical methods we have developed to provide probabilistic projections of both mean sea level rise and the extremes.

Biodiversity data requirements for systematic conservation planning in the Mediterranean Sea

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Levin, Noam; Coll, Marta; Fraschetti, Simonetta

2014-01-01

The Mediterranean Sea’s biodiversity and ecosystems face many threats due to anthropogenic factors. Some of these include high human population growth, coastal urbanization, accelerated human activities and climate change. To enhance the formation of a science-based system of marine protected areas......, the Mediterranean Sea is lagging behind other marine regions where conservation planning adopting rigorous criteria has been applied in the past 20 years. Therefore, we call upon scientists, governments and international governmental and non-governmental conservation organizations to harmonize current approaches...

Applying the multi-threat framework of stereotype threat in the context of digital gaming

OpenAIRE

Pennington, C. R.; Kaye, L. K.; McCann, J. J.

2018-01-01

Females often report experiencing stigmatisation pertaining to their competency in digital gaming communities. Employing the principles of the multi-threat framework of stereotype threat, the current research examined the impact of gender-related stereotypes on females' gaming performance and related self-perceptions. In Experiment 1, 90 females were assigned to one of three conditions in which they were primed that their performance would be either diagnostic of their personal (self-as-targe...

Microbial Threats to Health. Emerging Infections: Microbial Threats to Health in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

1992-10-01

and HIV in- fection. Although in the United States, HIV infection occurs predominately in male homosexuals and intravenous substance abusers, the rate...Davis. W. A., J. G. Kane, and V. G. Garagusi. 1978. Human Aerononas infections : a review of the literature and a case report of endocarditis ...AD-A257 841 AD____ GRANT NO: DAMD17-90-Z-0047 TITLE: MICROBIAL THREATS TO HEALTH SUBTITLE: REmerging Infections - Microbial Threats to Health in the

Evaluation of sea otter capture after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Prince William Sound, Alaska

Science.gov (United States)

Bodkin, James L.; Weltz, F.; Bayha, Keith; Kormendy, Jennifer

1990-01-01

After the T/V Exxon Valdez oil spill into Prince William Sound, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Exxon Company, U.S.A., began rescuing sea otters (Enhydra lutris). The primary objective of this operation was to capture live, oiled sea otters for cleaning and rehabilitation. Between 30 March and 29 May 1989, 139 live sea otters were captured in the sound and transported to rehabilitation centers in Valdez, Alaska. Within the first 15 days of capture operations, 122 (88%) otters were captured. Most sea otters were captured near Knight, Green, and Evans islands in the western sound. The primary capture method consisted of dipnetting otters out of water and off beaches. While capture rates declined over time, survival of captured otters increased as the interval from spill date to capture date increased. The relative degree of oiling observed for each otter captured declined over time. Declining capture rates led to the use of tangle nets. The evidence suggests the greatest threat to sea otters in Prince William Sound occurred within the first 3 weeks after the spill. Thus, in the future, the authors believe rescue efforts should begin as soon as possible after an oil spill in sea otter habitat. Further, preemptive capture and relocation of sea otters in Prince William Sound may have increased the number of otters that could have survived this event.

The DANGERTOME Personal Risk Threat Assessment Scale: An Instrument to Help Aid Immediate Threat Assessment for Counselors, Faculty, and Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Juhnke, Gerald A.

2010-01-01

Threats of violence are not uncommon to counselors, faculty, or teachers. Each must be taken seriously, quickly analyzed, and safety procedures implemented. Yet, there exists a paucity of brief, face-to-face, assessments designed to aid threat assessment. To address this paucity, the author created The DANGERTOME Personal Risk Threat Assessment…

Hypersonic Threats to the Homeland

Science.gov (United States)

2017-03-28

ADAM) system . This ground based system protects 7 soldiers against rocket threats and utilizes a 10 kW laser with an effective range out to...early warning systems for response to hypersonic threats . The integration of directed energy defensive systems with Space Based Infrared Sensors (SBIRS...and early warning radars already in operation will save costs. By capitalizing on Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system capabilities

Key issues in body armour: threats, materials and design

OpenAIRE

Horsfall, Ian

2012-01-01

This chapter will examine the mechanics and materials of body armour in military, police and some security related applications to protect the wearer from penetrative threats. These threats will include battlefield threats such as shell fragments and high velocity bullets, and threats to law enforcement personnel such as handgun bullets and knives. Regardless of whether the threat is a high velocity bullet, or a knife, the essential requirements of body armour are the same; first an interacti...

Plastic ingestion by sea turtles in Paraíba State, Northeast Brazil

OpenAIRE

Camila Poli; Daniel Oliveira Mesquita; Cinthia Saska; Rita Mascarenhas

2015-01-01

ABSTRACT Currently, plastics are recognized as a major pollutant of the marine environment, representing a serious threat to ocean wildlife. Here, we examined the occurrence and effects of plastic ingestion by sea turtles found stranded along the coast of Paraíba State, Brazil from August 2009 to July 2010. Ninety-eight digestive tracts were examined, with plastic found in 20 (20.4%). Sixty five percent (n = 13) of turtles with plastic in the digestive tract were green turtles (Chelonia mydas...

Modelling the increased frequency of extreme sea levels in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta due to sea level rise and other effects of climate change.

Science.gov (United States)

Kay, S; Caesar, J; Wolf, J; Bricheno, L; Nicholls, R J; Saiful Islam, A K M; Haque, A; Pardaens, A; Lowe, J A

2015-07-01

Coastal flooding due to storm surge and high tides is a serious risk for inhabitants of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) delta, as much of the land is close to sea level. Climate change could lead to large areas of land being subject to increased flooding, salinization and ultimate abandonment in West Bengal, India, and Bangladesh. IPCC 5th assessment modelling of sea level rise and estimates of subsidence rates from the EU IMPACT2C project suggest that sea level in the GBM delta region may rise by 0.63 to 0.88 m by 2090, with some studies suggesting this could be up to 0.5 m higher if potential substantial melting of the West Antarctic ice sheet is included. These sea level rise scenarios lead to increased frequency of high water coastal events. Any effect of climate change on the frequency and severity of storms can also have an effect on extreme sea levels. A shelf-sea model of the Bay of Bengal has been used to investigate how the combined effect of sea level rise and changes in other environmental conditions under climate change may alter the frequency of extreme sea level events for the period 1971 to 2099. The model was forced using atmospheric and oceanic boundary conditions derived from climate model projections and the future scenario increase in sea level was applied at its ocean boundary. The model results show an increased likelihood of extreme sea level events through the 21st century, with the frequency of events increasing greatly in the second half of the century: water levels that occurred at decadal time intervals under present-day model conditions occurred in most years by the middle of the 21st century and 3-15 times per year by 2100. The heights of the most extreme events tend to increase more in the first half of the century than the second. The modelled scenarios provide a case study of how sea level rise and other effects of climate change may combine to produce a greatly increased threat to life and property in the GBM delta by the end

Gender, Stereotype Threat and Mathematics Test Scores

OpenAIRE

Ming Tsui; Xiao Y. Xu; Edmond Venator

2011-01-01

Problem statement: Stereotype threat has repeatedly been shown to depress womens scores on difficult math tests. An attempt to replicate these findings in China found no support for the stereotype threat hypothesis. Our math test was characterized as being personally important for the student participants, an atypical condition in most stereotype threat laboratory research. Approach: To evaluate the effects of this personal demand, we conducted three experiments. Results: ...

Conservatism and the neural circuitry of threat: economic conservatism predicts greater amygdala–BNST connectivity during periods of threat vs safety

Science.gov (United States)

Muftuler, L Tugan; Larson, Christine L

2018-01-01

Abstract Political conservatism is associated with an increased negativity bias, including increased attention and reactivity toward negative and threatening stimuli. Although the human amygdala has been implicated in the response to threatening stimuli, no studies to date have investigated whether conservatism is associated with altered amygdala function toward threat. Furthermore, although an influential theory posits that connectivity between the amygdala and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) is important in initiating the response to sustained or uncertain threat, whether individual differences in conservatism modulate this connectivity is unknown. To test whether conservatism is associated with increased reactivity in neural threat circuitry, we measured participants’ self-reported social and economic conservatism and asked them to complete high-resolution fMRI scans while under threat of an unpredictable shock and while safe. We found that economic conservatism predicted greater connectivity between the BNST and a cluster of voxels in the left amygdala during threat vs safety. These results suggest that increased amygdala–BNST connectivity during threat may be a key neural correlate of the enhanced negativity bias found in conservatism. PMID:29126127

Stereotype Threat Lowers Older Adults' Self-Reported Hearing Abilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Barber, Sarah J; Lee, Soohyoung Rain

2015-01-01

Although stereotype threat is a well-documented phenomenon, previous studies examining it in older adults have almost exclusively focused on objective cognitive outcomes. Considerably less attention has been paid to the impact of stereotype threat on older adults' subjective assessments of their own abilities or to the impact of stereotype threat in noncognitive domains. Older adults are stereotyped as having experienced not only cognitive declines, but physical declines as well. The current study tested the prediction that stereotype threat can negatively influence older adults' subjective hearing abilities. To test this, 115 adults (mean age 50.03 years, range 41-67) read either a positive or negative description about how aging affects hearing. All participants then answered a questionnaire in which they assessed their own hearing abilities. The impact of stereotype threat on self-reported hearing was moderated by chronological age. Participants in their 40s and early 50s were unaffected by the stereotype threat manipulation. In contrast, participants in their late 50s and 60s rated their hearing as being subjectively worse when under stereotype threat. The current study provides a clear demonstration that stereotype threat negatively impacts older adults' subjective assessments of their own abilities. It is also the first study to demonstrate an effect of stereotype threat within the domain of hearing. These results have important implications for researchers investigating age-related hearing decline. Stereotype threat can lead to overestimation of the prevalence of age-related hearing decline. It can also serve as a confounding variable when examining the psychosocial correlates of hearing loss. Because of this, researchers studying age-related hearing loss should aim to provide a stereotype threat-free testing environment and also include assessments of stereotype threat within their studies. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Stereotype threat lowers older adults’ self-reported hearing abilities

Science.gov (United States)

Barber, Sarah J.; Lee, Soohyoung Rain

2016-01-01

Background Although stereotype threat is a well-documented phenomenon, previous studies examining it in older adults have almost exclusively focused on objective cognitive outcomes. Considerably less attention has been paid to the impact of stereotype threat on older adults’ subjective assessments of their own abilities or to the impact of stereotype threat in non-cognitive domains. Objective Older adults are stereotyped as having experienced not only cognitive declines, but physical declines as well. The current study tested the prediction that stereotype threat can negatively influence older adult's subjective hearing abilities. Methods To test this, 115 adults (M age = 50.02, range = 41-67) read either a positive or negative description about how aging affects hearing. All participants then answered a questionnaire in which they assessed their own hearing abilities. Results The impact of stereotype threat on self-reported hearing was moderated by chronological age. Participants in their 40's and early 50's were unaffected by the stereotype threat manipulation. In contrast, participants in their late 50's and 60's rated their hearing as being subjectively worse when under stereotype threat. Conclusion The current study provides a clear demonstration that stereotype threat negatively impacts older adults’ subjective assessments of their own abilities. It is also the first study to demonstrate an effect of stereotype threat within the domain of hearing. These results have important implications for researchers investigating age-related hearing decline. Stereotype threat can lead to overestimation of the prevalence of age-related hearing decline. It can also serve as a confounding variable when examining the psychosocial correlates of hearing loss. Because of this, researchers studying age-related hearing loss should aim to provide a stereotype-threat free testing environment and also include assessments of stereotype threat within their studies. PMID:26461273

Application of topography survey on the green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) conservation

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Yuan-Yu; Lo, Liu-Chih; Peng, Kuan-Chieh

2017-04-01

Taiwan is located in the Western Pacific monsoon region, typhoon is one of the common natural disasters. Taiwan is hit by typhoons 6 times on average each year, and 2016 have 5. Typhoon not only caused the loss of nature environment in Taiwan but also decreased the endangered species- green sea turtle's breeding success rate. In Wangan island, Penghu, green sea turtle nesting beach's slop is too steep to form the dune cliff, block the way which green sea turtle should nesting above the vegetation line. Nesting under the dune cliff is disturbed easily by the swell from typhoon, Leading to the whole nest was emptied or hatching rate decreased due to water content changed. In order to reduce the threat of typhoon on the green sea turtle, and promote the success of green sea turtle reproduction, we used LiDAR(Light Detection And Ranging) to monitor the topographic change of the green sea turtle nesting habitat and compare the invasion and deposition of the green sea turtle nests before and after the occurrence of typhoons. The results showed that the breeding success rate before the typhoon (2016/09/12) was 93%, which was not affected by the swell. The breeding success rate at the higher position after the typhoon was 95%, and under the dune cliff, 10 nests reproduction failed due to the swell changing the sand layer thickness. The production of dune cliffs is formed by the roots of coastal sand-fixation plants. In the past, the residents collected the coastal plants for fuel, after collecting, sparse vegetation is good to form the flat beach, and to promote green sea turtle nesting on the higher position from the disturbance of typhoon. In the future, to protect the success of green sea turtle's reproduction, should increase the human intervention that disturb the nesting beach's vegetation appropriately, Or cutting the roots directly to reduce the dune cliffs before the nesting season, help the green sea turtle nesting in a higher beach, improve the green sea turtle

49 CFR 1546.301 - Bomb or air piracy threats.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 9 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Bomb or air piracy threats. 1546.301 Section 1546... Threat Response § 1546.301 Bomb or air piracy threats. No foreign air carrier may land or take off an airplane in the United States after receiving a bomb or air piracy threat against that airplane, unless the...

From Threat to Relief: Expressing Prejudice toward Atheists as a Self-Regulatory Strategy Protecting the Religious Orthodox from Threat

Science.gov (United States)

Kossowska, Małgorzata; Szwed, Paulina; Czernatowicz-Kukuczka, Aneta; Sekerdej, Maciek; Wyczesany, Miroslaw

2017-01-01

We claim that religious orthodoxy is related to prejudice toward groups that violate important values, i.e., atheists. Moreover, we suggest that expressing prejudice may efficiently reduce the threat posed by this particular group among people who hold high levels, but not low levels, of orthodox belief. We tested these assumptions in an experimental study in which, after being exposed to atheistic worldviews (value-threat manipulation), high and low orthodox participants were allowed (experimental condition) or not (control condition) to express prejudice toward atheists. Threat was operationalized by cardiovascular reactivity, i.e., heart rate (HR); the higher the HR index, the higher the threat. The results found that people who hold high (vs. low) levels of orthodox belief responded with increased HR after the threat manipulation. However, we observed decreased HR after the expression of prejudice toward atheists among highly orthodox participants compared to the control condition. We did not find this effect among people holding low levels of orthodox belief. Thus, we conclude that expressing prejudice toward this particular group may be an efficient strategy to cope with the threat posed by this group for highly orthodox people. The results are discussed in light of previous findings on religious beliefs and the self-regulatory function of prejudice. PMID:28611715

The emerging threat of domestic terrorism: a systematic review of evolving needs, threats, and opportunities

OpenAIRE

Wright, Lynn M.

2014-01-01

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited The domestic terrorist threat in the United States is active and complex, with ongoing threats from violent left- and right-wing extremist groups, and radicalization and recruitment efforts by international terrorist groups. In response, domestic intelligence agencies, at all levels of government, have instituted reforms and improvements since 9/11, but there are still gaps in information-sharing and community engagement. For example, ...

Tourism development challenges on the Dead Sea shore

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wendt Jan A.

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The Dead Sea along with Jerusalem belongs to one of the most well-known spots visited by tourists in Israel. Because of many factors, such as the water level of the Dead Sea at a depth of 430 m b.s.l. (in 2015, average salinity of 26%, hot springs and many healing salts located there, it is a unique tourist attraction on a global level. Its attractiveness is heightened by its proximity to other sites of interest, such as the Jewish fortress at Masada, Jericho, Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, as well as Petra, Madaba and Al-Karak on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea. High salinity and a microclimate create perfect conditions for the development of health resorts and medical tourism. Extracting healing salts from its waters for the needs of the chemical industry is important for both the economy and medical tourism. However, as a consequence of the agricultural and urban use of the waters of the River Jordan, which flows into the Dead Sea, a persistent decrease in the lake water level has been observed over the last century. This has created a number of economic and political issues. The problems which still have to be resolved are associated with the Red Sea-Dead Sea Conduit (Canal, the division of Jordan’s water resources, conservation of the unique reservoir of the Dead Sea and the threat of hindering the development of tourism within the region. The presentation of these issues is the main aim of this research paper. The study is based on the analysis of changes in tourism flows, results of research studies and the prognosis of changes in the water level of the Dead Sea. It presents an assessment of the effects of this phenomenon on the tourist economy. At the current level of tourism flows within the region, the tourist capacity of local beaches will be exceeded in areas where the most popular tourist resorts are located. Increased expenditure on development of tourism infrastructure in the coastal zone can also be observed

Método da hélice de Busch e a determinação da componente horizontal do campo magnético terrestre

OpenAIRE

Cavalcante,Marisa Almeida; Dias,Eliane Fernanda

2006-01-01

Este trabalho apresenta uma proposta experimental no estudo dos aspectos fenomenológicos envolvidos na trajetória de um feixe de elétrons sob a ação de campos elétricos e magnéticos. Os resultados deste trabalho estão sendo usados na disciplina de Estrutura da Matéria com o objetivo que os alunos possam compreender os princípios básicos envolvidos na construção de microscópios eletrônicos tais como a convergência de um feixe divergente de elétrons e a conseqüente formação da hélice cilíndrica...

Digital Threat and Vulnerability Management: The SVIDT Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roland W. Scholz

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The Digital Revolution is inducing major threats to many types of human systems. We present the SVIDT method (a Strengths, Vulnerability, and Intervention Assessment related to Digital Threats for managing the vulnerabilities of human systems with respect to digital threats and changes. The method first performs a multilevel system–actor analysis for assessing vulnerabilities and strengths with respect to digital threats. Then, the method identifies threat scenarios that may become real. By constructing, evaluating, and launching interventions against all identified digital threats and their critical negative outcomes, the resilience of a specific human system can be improved. The evaluation of interventions is done when strengthening the adaptive capacity, i.e., a system’s capability to cope with negative outcomes that may take place in the future. The SVIDT method is embedded in the framework of coupled human–environment systems, the theory of risk and vulnerability assessment, types of adaptation (assimilation vs. accommodation, and a comprehensive sustainability evaluation. The SVIDT method is exemplarily applied to an enterprise (i.e., a Swiss casino for which online gaming has become an essential digital-business field. The discussion reflects on the specifics of digital threats and discusses both the potential benefits and limitations of the SVIDT method.

El modelo de Triple Hélice de relaciones universidad, industria y gobierno: un análisis crítico

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

González de la Fe, Teresa

2009-08-01

Full Text Available In this essay, I attend to the Triple Helix Model of rela tions among university, industry and government, broadly used in innovation studies. The model was proposed by Henry Etzkowitz and Löet Leyersdorf and it has been very succesful as a heuristic for analysis of innovation process and as a normative guide for innovation policies. Moreover, its theoretical foundations are suited with perspectives from evolutive and institutionalist theories of economic science, at the same time that it takes in account sociological variables usually unattended in economic theory. By other hand, the accumulative knowledge about diverse experiences of triple helix more than one decade ago has shown that the Triple Helix model is adequated as a impeller for innovations not only directed to market but also to various social problems. In spite of it, the model has originated critics pointing to its supporting functions and its weaknesses for adecuated descriptions and explanations of complex processes of innovation.Se revisará el modelo de Triple Hélice de relaciones entre universidad, industria y gobierno, ampliamente usado en los estudios de la innovación. Impulsado por Etzkowitz y Leyersdorf, el modelo ha resultado fructífero como heurística para el análisis de los procesos de innovación y como esquema normativo para políticas de innovación. Además, los fundamentos teóricos del modelo casan bien con los enfoques de las teorías evolucionista e institucionalista en economía, al tiempo que toman en cuenta variables sociológicas tradicionalmente descuidadas por la teoría económica. Por otro lado, la acumulación de conocimiento en torno a experiencias de triples hélices durante más de una década ha mostrado que el modelo sirve como impulsor de innovaciones no sólo destinadas al mercado sino también a diferentes problemas sociales. Pese a ello, ha suscitado críticas que señalan sus funciones legitimadoras y sus debilidades para la descripci

137Cs baseline levels in the Mediterranean and Black Sea: A cross-basin survey of the CIESM Mediterranean Mussel Watch programme

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thebault, Herve; Rodriguez y Baena, Alessia M.; Andral, Bruno; Barisic, Delko; Albaladejo, Jose Benedicto; Bologa, Alexandru S.; Boudjenoun, Redouane; Delfanti, Roberta; Egorov, Victor N.; El Khoukhi, Tahar; Florou, Heleni; Kniewald, Goran; Noureddine, Abdelkader

2008-01-01

The common mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis was selected as unique biomonitor species to implement a regional monitoring programme, the CIESM Mediterranean Mussel Watch (MMW), in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. As of today, and upon standardization of the methodological approach, the MMW Network has been able to quantify 137 Cs levels in mussels from 60 coastal stations and to produce the first distribution map of this artificial radionuclide at the scale of the entire Mediterranean and Black Seas. While measured 137 Cs levels were found to be very low (usually -1 wet wt) 137 Cs activity concentrations in the Black Sea and North Aegean Sea were up to two orders of magnitude higher than those in the western Mediterranean Basin. Such effects, far from representing a threat to human populations or the environment, reflect a persistent signature of the Chernobyl fallout in this area

Ocean Warming Slows Coral Growth in the Central Red Sea

KAUST Repository

Cantin, N. E.; Cohen, A. L.; Karnauskas, K. B.; Tarrant, A. M.; McCorkle, D. C.

2010-01-01

Sea surface temperature (SST) across much of the tropics has increased by 0.4° to 1°C since the mid-1970s. A parallel increase in the frequency and extent of coral bleaching and mortality has fueled concern that climate change poses a major threat to the survival of coral reef ecosystems worldwide. Here we show that steadily rising SSTs, not ocean acidification, are already driving dramatic changes in the growth of an important reef-building coral in the central Red Sea. Three-dimensional computed tomography analyses of the massive coral Diploastrea heliopora reveal that skeletal growth of apparently healthy colonies has declined by 30% since 1998. The same corals responded to a short-lived warm event in 1941/1942, but recovered within 3 years as the ocean cooled. Combining our data with climate model simulations by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we predict that should the current warming trend continue, this coral could cease growing altogether by 2070.

Ocean Warming Slows Coral Growth in the Central Red Sea

KAUST Repository

Cantin, N. E.

2010-07-15

Sea surface temperature (SST) across much of the tropics has increased by 0.4° to 1°C since the mid-1970s. A parallel increase in the frequency and extent of coral bleaching and mortality has fueled concern that climate change poses a major threat to the survival of coral reef ecosystems worldwide. Here we show that steadily rising SSTs, not ocean acidification, are already driving dramatic changes in the growth of an important reef-building coral in the central Red Sea. Three-dimensional computed tomography analyses of the massive coral Diploastrea heliopora reveal that skeletal growth of apparently healthy colonies has declined by 30% since 1998. The same corals responded to a short-lived warm event in 1941/1942, but recovered within 3 years as the ocean cooled. Combining our data with climate model simulations by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we predict that should the current warming trend continue, this coral could cease growing altogether by 2070.

Population dynamics of Hawaiian seabird colonies vulnerable to sea-level rise.

Science.gov (United States)

Hatfield, Jeff S; Reynolds, Michelle H; Seavy, Nathaniel E; Krause, Crystal M

2012-08-01

Globally, seabirds are vulnerable to anthropogenic threats both at sea and on land. Seabirds typically nest colonially and show strong fidelity to natal colonies, and such colonies on low-lying islands may be threatened by sea-level rise. We used French Frigate Shoals, the largest atoll in the Hawaiian Archipelago, as a case study to explore the population dynamics of seabird colonies and the potential effects sea-level rise may have on these rookeries. We compiled historic observations, a 30-year time series of seabird population abundance, lidar-derived elevations, and aerial imagery of all the islands of French Frigate Shoals. To estimate the population dynamics of 8 species of breeding seabirds on Tern Island from 1980 to 2009, we used a Gompertz model with a Bayesian approach to infer population growth rates, density dependence, process variation, and observation error. All species increased in abundance, in a pattern that provided evidence of density dependence. Great Frigatebirds (Fregata minor), Masked Boobies (Sula dactylatra), Red-tailed Tropicbirds (Phaethon rubricauda), Spectacled Terns (Onychoprion lunatus), and White Terns (Gygis alba) are likely at carrying capacity. Density dependence may exacerbate the effects of sea-level rise on seabirds because populations near carrying capacity on an island will be more negatively affected than populations with room for growth. We projected 12% of French Frigate Shoals will be inundated if sea level rises 1 m and 28% if sea level rises 2 m. Spectacled Terns and shrub-nesting species are especially vulnerable to sea-level rise, but seawalls and habitat restoration may mitigate the effects of sea-level rise. Losses of seabird nesting habitat may be substantial in the Hawaiian Islands by 2100 if sea levels rise 2 m. Restoration of higher-elevation seabird colonies represent a more enduring conservation solution for Pacific seabirds. Conservation Biology ©2012 Society for Conservation Biology. No claim to original

Conservatism and the neural circuitry of threat: economic conservatism predicts greater amygdala-BNST connectivity during periods of threat vs safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Pedersen, Walker S; Muftuler, L Tugan; Larson, Christine L

2018-01-01

Political conservatism is associated with an increased negativity bias, including increased attention and reactivity toward negative and threatening stimuli. Although the human amygdala has been implicated in the response to threatening stimuli, no studies to date have investigated whether conservatism is associated with altered amygdala function toward threat. Furthermore, although an influential theory posits that connectivity between the amygdala and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) is important in initiating the response to sustained or uncertain threat, whether individual differences in conservatism modulate this connectivity is unknown. To test whether conservatism is associated with increased reactivity in neural threat circuitry, we measured participants' self-reported social and economic conservatism and asked them to complete high-resolution fMRI scans while under threat of an unpredictable shock and while safe. We found that economic conservatism predicted greater connectivity between the BNST and a cluster of voxels in the left amygdala during threat vs safety. These results suggest that increased amygdala-BNST connectivity during threat may be a key neural correlate of the enhanced negativity bias found in conservatism. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press.

High contributions of sea ice derived carbon in polar bear (Ursus maritimus tissue.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas A Brown

Full Text Available Polar bears (Ursus maritimus rely upon Arctic sea ice as a physical habitat. Consequently, conservation assessments of polar bears identify the ongoing reduction in sea ice to represent a significant threat to their survival. However, the additional role of sea ice as a potential, indirect, source of energy to bears has been overlooked. Here we used the highly branched isoprenoid lipid biomarker-based index (H-Print approach in combination with quantitative fatty acid signature analysis to show that sympagic (sea ice-associated, rather than pelagic, carbon contributions dominated the marine component of polar bear diet (72-100%; 99% CI, n = 55, irrespective of differences in diet composition. The lowest mean estimates of sympagic carbon were found in Baffin Bay bears, which were also exposed to the most rapidly increasing open water season. Therefore, our data illustrate that for future Arctic ecosystems that are likely to be characterised by reduced sea ice cover, polar bears will not only be impacted by a change in their physical habitat, but also potentially in the supply of energy to the ecosystems upon which they depend. This data represents the first quantifiable baseline that is critical for the assessment of likely ongoing changes in energy supply to Arctic predators as we move into an increasingly uncertain future for polar ecosystems.

THE BIOTERRORISM THREAT: TECHNOLOGICAL AND POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

J. F. PILAT

2000-03-01

Bioterrorism--along with biowarfare, from which it may not always be distinguishable in practice--will be a feature of the strategic landscape in the 21st century and is high on the US national security agenda. Bioterrorism poses a potential threat to the US population, agriculture, interests, friends and allies, and military forces (asymmetric threats). Yet these possibilities have not been widely pursued or realized by terrorists. The perceived threat is far worse than anything experienced to date, and is largely technologically driven.

Affirmative Action and Stereotype Threat

OpenAIRE

Cohen, Alma

2015-01-01

This paper provides experimental evidence on the effect of affirmative action (AA). In particular, we investigate whether affirmative action has a ”stereotype threat effect” – that is, whether AA cues a negative stereotype that leads individuals to conform to the stereotype and adversely affects their performance. Stereotype threat has been shown in the literature to be potentially significant for individuals who identify strongly with the domain of the stereotype and who engage in complex st...

Stereotype Threat Alters the Subjective Experience of Memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Mazerolle, Marie; Régner, Isabelle; Rigalleau, François; Huguet, Pascal

2015-01-01

There is now evidence that negative age-related stereotypes about memory reduce older adults' memory performance, and inflate age differences in this domain. Here, we examine whether stereotype threat may also influence the basic feeling that one is more or less able to remember. Using the Remember/Know paradigm, we demonstrated that stereotype threat conducted older adults to a greater feeling of familiarity with events, while failing to retrieve any contextual detail. This finding indicates that stereotype threat alters older adults' subjective experience of memory, and strengthens our understanding of the mechanisms underlying stereotype threat effects.

Pyrosequencing survey of intestinal microbiota diversity in cultured sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) fed functional diets.

OpenAIRE

Carda Diéguez, Miguel; Mira, Alex; Fouz Rodríguez, Belén

2014-01-01

The routine use of chemotherapy to control bacterial diseases in aquatic populations has resulted in the development and spread of antibiotic resistance. The inclusion of immunostimulants in fish diets (functional diets) is one of the main strategies to solve this threat. This study aimed to analyse the intestinal microbiota of cultured European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) fed two functional diets applying pyrosequencing of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA gene. Quality-filtered reads were assigned...

Eastern forest environmental threat assessment center

Science.gov (United States)

Southern Research Station. USDA Forest Service

2010-01-01

The Eastern Forest Environmental Threat Assessment Center (EFETAC) provides the latest research and expertise concerning threats to healthy forests – such as insects and disease, wildland loss, invasive species, wildland fire, and climate change – to assist forest landowners, managers and scientists throughout the East. Established in 2005, EFETAC is a joint effort of...

The Nature of the Bioterrorism Threat

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Regens, J. L.

2003-02-25

This analysis provides an overview of the nature of the bioterrorism threat. It identifies potential CDC Class A biological agents that are likely candidates for use in a terrorist incident and describes the known sources of vulnerability. The paper also summarizes S&T resources/needs and assesses response options for achieving effective biodefense against terrorist threats.

Bomb Threats and Bomb Search Techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

Department of the Treasury, Washington, DC.

This pamphlet explains how to be prepared and plan for bomb threats and describes procedures to follow once a call has been received. The content covers (1) preparation for bomb threats, (2) evacuation procedures, (3) room search methods, (4) procedures to follow once a bomb has been located, and (5) typical problems that search teams will…

Self-Construal Priming Modulates Self-Evaluation under Social Threat

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tianyang Zhang

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Previous studies have shown that Westerners evaluate themselves in an especially flattering way when faced with a social-evaluative threat. The current study first investigated whether East Asians also have a similar pattern by recruiting Chinese participants and using social-evaluative threat manipulations in which participants perform self-evaluation tasks while adopting different social-evaluative feedbacks (Experiment 1. Then further examined whether the different response patterns can be modulated by different types of self-construal by using social-evaluative threat manipulations in conjunction with a self-construal priming task (Experiment 2. The results showed that, as opposed to Westerners' pattern, Chinese participants rated themselves as having significantly greater above-average effect only when faced with the nonthreatening feedback but not the social-evaluative threat. More importantly, we found that self-construal modulated the self-evaluation under social-evaluative threat: following independent self-construal priming, participants tended to show a greater above-average effect when faced with a social-evaluative threat. However, this pattern in conjunction with a social threat disappeared after participants received interdependent self-construal priming or neutral priming. These findings suggest that the effects of social-evaluative threat on self-evaluation are not culturally universal and is strongly modulated by self-construal priming.

Relative Sea Level Trends Along the Coast of the Bay of Bengal

Science.gov (United States)

Becker, M.; Calmant, S.; Papa, F.; Delebecque, C.; Islam, A. S.; Shum, C. K.

2016-12-01

In the coastal belt of the Bay of Bengal, the sea level rise is one of a major threat, linked to climate change, which drastically affects the livelihoods of millions of people. A comprehensive understanding of sea level trends and its variability in this region is therefore crucial and should help to anticipate the impacts of climate change and implement adaptation strategies. This region is bordered mostly by Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand. Here, we revisit the sea level changes in the Bay of Bengal region from tide gauges and satellite altimetry over the period 1993-2014. The 23 monthly mean tide gauge records, used in this study, are retrieved from PSMSL (15 records) and supplemented with Bangladeshi observations (8 records). We show that, over the satellite altimetry era, the sea level interannual/decadal variability is mainly due to ocean thermal expansion variability driven by IOD/ENSO events and their low frequency modulation. We focus on relative sea level rise at major coastal cities and try to separate the climatic signal (long term trend plus interannual/decadal variability) from local effects, in particular vertical land movements. Results from GPS are analysed where available. When no such data exist, vertical land movements are deduced from the combined use of tide gauge and altimetry data. While the analysis is performed over the whole region, a particular attention is given to the low-lyingBangladesh's coastal area.

School Shooting : Threat Detection and Classification in Textual Leakage

OpenAIRE

Khan, Ajmal

2013-01-01

The continual occurrence of school shooting incidents underscores the need of taking preventive measures. Inductive measures of threat assessment have proved to be a bad strategy to solve the problem and new research is focusing on deductive approaches. Deductive threat assessment approaches are gaining ground and efforts are underway to mine text for automatic detection of threats in written text. Automatic detection and classification of threats in the digital world can help the decision ma...

Modeling and simulation of botnet based cyber-threats

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kasprzyk Rafał

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The paper presents an analysis of cyber-threats, with particular emphasis on the threats resulting from botnet activity. Botnets are the most common types of threats and often perceived as crucial in terms of national security. Their classification and methods of spreading are the basis for creating cyberspace model including the presence of different types of cyber-threats. A well-designed cyberspace model enables to construct an experimental environment that allows for the analysis of botnet characteristics, testing its resistance to various events and simulation of the spread and evolution. For this purpose, dedicated platforms with capabilities and functional characteristics to meet these requirements have been proposed.

Distance Measurement Methods for Improved Insider Threat Detection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Owen Lo

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Insider threats are a considerable problem within cyber security and it is often difficult to detect these threats using signature detection. Increasing machine learning can provide a solution, but these methods often fail to take into account changes of behaviour of users. This work builds on a published method of detecting insider threats and applies Hidden Markov method on a CERT data set (CERT r4.2 and analyses a number of distance vector methods (Damerau–Levenshtein Distance, Cosine Distance, and Jaccard Distance in order to detect changes of behaviour, which are shown to have success in determining different insider threats.

Health assessment of free-ranging endangered Australian sea lion (Neophoca cinerea) pups: effect of haematophagous parasites on haematological parameters.

Science.gov (United States)

Marcus, Alan D; Higgins, Damien P; Gray, Rachael

2015-06-01

Evaluation of the health status of free-ranging populations is important for understanding the impact of disease on individuals and on population demography and viability. In this study, haematological reference intervals were developed for free-ranging endangered Australian sea lion (Neophoca cinerea) pups within the context of endemic hookworm (Uncinaria sanguinis) infection and the effects of pathogen, host, and environment factors on the variability of haematological parameters were investigated. Uncinaria sanguinis was identified as an important agent of disease, with infection causing regenerative anaemia, hypoproteinaemia, and a predominantly lymphocytic-eosinophilic systemic inflammatory response. Conversely, the effects of sucking lice (Antarctophthirus microchir) were less apparent and infestation in pups appears unlikely to cause clinical impact. Overall, the effects of U. sanguinis, A. microchir, host factors (standard length, body condition, pup sex, moult status, and presence of lesions), and environment factors (capture-type and year of sampling) accounted for 26-65% of the total variance observed in haematological parameters. Importantly, this study demonstrated that anaemia in neonatal Australian sea lion pups is not solely a benign physiological response to host-environment changes, but largely reflects a significant pathological process. This impact of hookworm infection on pup health has potential implications for the development of foraging and diving behaviour, which would subsequently influence the independent survival of juveniles following weaning. The haematological reference intervals developed in this study can facilitate long-term health surveillance, which is critical for the early recognition of changes in disease impact and to inform conservation management. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The opportunity-threat theory of decision-making under risk

OpenAIRE

Mohan Pandey

2018-01-01

A new theory of decision-making under risk, the Opportunity-Threat Theory is proposed. Analysis of risk into opportunity and threat components allows description of behavior as a combination of opportunity seeking and threat aversion. Expected utility is a special case of this model. The final evaluation is an integration of the impacts of opportunity and threat with this expectation. The model can account for basic results as well as several ``new paradoxes'' that refuted c...

Sea level trends in Southeast Asian seas

Science.gov (United States)

Strassburg, M. W.; Hamlington, B. D.; Leben, R. R.; Manurung, P.; Lumban Gaol, J.; Nababan, B.; Vignudelli, S.; Kim, K.-Y.

2015-05-01

Southeast Asian seas span the largest archipelago in the global ocean and provide a complex oceanic pathway connecting the Pacific and Indian oceans. The Southeast Asian sea regional sea level trends are some of the highest observed in the modern satellite altimeter record that now spans almost 2 decades. Initial comparisons of global sea level reconstructions find that 17-year sea level trends over the past 60 years exhibit good agreement with decadal variability associated with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and related fluctuations of trade winds in the region. The Southeast Asian sea region exhibits sea level trends that vary dramatically over the studied time period. This historical variation suggests that the strong regional sea level trends observed during the modern satellite altimeter record will abate as trade winds fluctuate on decadal and longer timescales. Furthermore, after removing the contribution of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) to sea level trends in the past 20 years, the rate of sea level rise is greatly reduced in the Southeast Asian sea region. As a result of the influence of the PDO, the Southeast Asian sea regional sea level trends during the 2010s and 2020s are likely to be less than the global mean sea level (GMSL) trend if the observed oscillations in wind forcing and sea level persist. Nevertheless, long-term sea level trends in the Southeast Asian seas will continue to be affected by GMSL rise occurring now and in the future.

A hybrid Delphi-SWOT paradigm for oil and gas pipeline strategic planning in Caspian Sea basin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tavana, Madjid; Pirdashti, Mohsen; Kennedy, Dennis T.; Belaud, Jean-Pierre; Behzadian, Majid

2012-01-01

The Caspian Sea basin holds large quantities of both oil and natural gas that could help meet the increasing global demand for energy resources. Consequently, the oil and gas potential of the region has attracted the attention of the international oil and gas industry. The key to realizing the energy producing potential of the region is the development of transnational export routes to take oil and gas from the landlocked Caspian Sea basin to world markets. The evaluation and selection of alternative transnational export routes is a complex multi-criteria problem with conflicting objectives. The decision makers (DMs) are required to consider a vast amount of information concerning internal strengths and weaknesses of the alternative routes as well as external opportunities and threats to them. This paper presents a hybrid model that combines strength, weakness, opportunity and threat (SWOT) analysis with the Delphi method. - Highlights: ► The evaluation and selection of the pipeline routes is a multi-criteria problem. ► A hybrid SWOT-Delphi method is proposed to evaluate five potential routes. ► The Southern and Northern routes are chosen as the best and second-best options. ► The second best option is identified to provide some degree of diversification.

Pervasive competition between threat and reward in the brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Jong Moon; Padmala, Srikanth; Spechler, Philip; Pessoa, Luiz

2014-06-01

In the current functional MRI study, we investigated interactions between reward and threat processing. Visual cues at the start of each trial informed participants about the chance of winning monetary reward and/or receiving a mild aversive shock. We tested two competing hypothesis: according to the 'salience hypothesis', in the condition involving both reward and threat, enhanced activation would be observed because of increased salience; according to the 'competition hypothesis', the processing of reward and threat would trade-off against each other, leading to reduced activation. Analysis of skin conductance data during a delay phase revealed an interaction between reward and threat processing, such that the effect of reward was reduced during threat and the effect of threat was reduced during reward. Analysis of imaging data during the same task phase revealed interactions between reward and threat processing in several regions, including the midbrain/ventral tegmental area, caudate, putamen, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, anterior insula, middle frontal gyrus and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. Taken together, our findings reveal conditions during which reward and threat trade-off against each other across multiple sites. Such interactions are suggestive of competitive processes and may reflect the organization of opponent systems in the brain. © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Applying the multi-threat framework of stereotype threat in the context of digital gaming.

Science.gov (United States)

Pennington, Charlotte R; Kaye, Linda K; McCann, Joseph J

2018-01-01

Females often report experiencing stigmatisation pertaining to their competency in digital gaming communities. Employing the principles of the multi-threat framework of stereotype threat, the current research examined the impact of gender-related stereotypes on females' gaming performance and related self-perceptions. In Experiment 1, 90 females were assigned to one of three conditions in which they were primed that their performance would be either diagnostic of their personal (self-as-target) or gender group's ability (group-as-target) or would be non-diagnostic of gaming ability (control). In Experiment 2, 90 females were primed that their performance would be judged by a group of other females (in-group source) or males (out-group source), or would be non-diagnostic of ability (control). Participants then completed a casual gaming task, as well as measures of competence beliefs, self-efficacy and self-esteem. Findings from Experiment 1 indicate that neither a self-as-target nor a group-as-target stereotype affected significantly gaming performance, or game-related self-efficacy, self-esteem and competency beliefs. Findings from Experiment 2 reveal further that females' gaming performance and associated self-perceptions were not impacted significantly by an in-group or out-group source of stereotype threat. The discussion turns to potential explanations for these findings, proposing that females may not perceive negative gender-gaming stereotypes to be an accurate representation of their personal or social group's gaming ability. We also discuss the implications of the experimental design and difficulty, as well as the potential for domain identification to moderate performance outcomes under stereotype threat.

Applying the multi-threat framework of stereotype threat in the context of digital gaming.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Charlotte R Pennington

Full Text Available Females often report experiencing stigmatisation pertaining to their competency in digital gaming communities. Employing the principles of the multi-threat framework of stereotype threat, the current research examined the impact of gender-related stereotypes on females' gaming performance and related self-perceptions. In Experiment 1, 90 females were assigned to one of three conditions in which they were primed that their performance would be either diagnostic of their personal (self-as-target or gender group's ability (group-as-target or would be non-diagnostic of gaming ability (control. In Experiment 2, 90 females were primed that their performance would be judged by a group of other females (in-group source or males (out-group source, or would be non-diagnostic of ability (control. Participants then completed a casual gaming task, as well as measures of competence beliefs, self-efficacy and self-esteem. Findings from Experiment 1 indicate that neither a self-as-target nor a group-as-target stereotype affected significantly gaming performance, or game-related self-efficacy, self-esteem and competency beliefs. Findings from Experiment 2 reveal further that females' gaming performance and associated self-perceptions were not impacted significantly by an in-group or out-group source of stereotype threat. The discussion turns to potential explanations for these findings, proposing that females may not perceive negative gender-gaming stereotypes to be an accurate representation of their personal or social group's gaming ability. We also discuss the implications of the experimental design and difficulty, as well as the potential for domain identification to moderate performance outcomes under stereotype threat.

Conservation status of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in relation to projected sea-ice declines

Science.gov (United States)

Regehr, Eric V.; Laidre, Kristin L.; Akçakaya, H. Resit; Amstrup, Steven C.; Atwood, Todd C.; Lunn, Nicholas J.; Obbard, Martyn E.; Stern, Harry; Thiemann, Gregory W.; Wiig, Øystein

2016-01-01

Loss of Arctic sea ice owing to climate change is the primary threat to polar bears throughout their range. We evaluated the potential response of polar bears to sea-ice declines by (i) calculating generation length (GL) for the species, which determines the timeframe for conservation assessments; (ii) developing a standardized sea-ice metric representing important habitat; and (iii) using statistical models and computer simulation to project changes in the global population under three approaches relating polar bear abundance to sea ice. Mean GL was 11.5 years. Ice-covered days declined in all subpopulation areas during 1979–2014 (median −1.26 days year−1). The estimated probabilities that reductions in the mean global population size of polar bears will be greater than 30%, 50% and 80% over three generations (35–41 years) were 0.71 (range 0.20–0.95), 0.07 (range 0–0.35) and less than 0.01 (range 0–0.02), respectively. According to IUCN Red List reduction thresholds, which provide a common measure of extinction risk across taxa, these results are consistent with listing the species as vulnerable. Our findings support the potential for large declines in polar bear numbers owing to sea-ice loss, and highlight near-term uncertainty in statistical projections as well as the sensitivity of projections to different plausible assumptions.

Conservation status of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in relation to projected sea-ice declines.

Science.gov (United States)

Regehr, Eric V; Laidre, Kristin L; Akçakaya, H Resit; Amstrup, Steven C; Atwood, Todd C; Lunn, Nicholas J; Obbard, Martyn; Stern, Harry; Thiemann, Gregory W; Wiig, Øystein

2016-12-01

Loss of Arctic sea ice owing to climate change is the primary threat to polar bears throughout their range. We evaluated the potential response of polar bears to sea-ice declines by (i) calculating generation length (GL) for the species, which determines the timeframe for conservation assessments; (ii) developing a standardized sea-ice metric representing important habitat; and (iii) using statistical models and computer simulation to project changes in the global population under three approaches relating polar bear abundance to sea ice. Mean GL was 11.5 years. Ice-covered days declined in all subpopulation areas during 1979-2014 (median -1.26 days year -1 ). The estimated probabilities that reductions in the mean global population size of polar bears will be greater than 30%, 50% and 80% over three generations (35-41 years) were 0.71 (range 0.20-0.95), 0.07 (range 0-0.35) and less than 0.01 (range 0-0.02), respectively. According to IUCN Red List reduction thresholds, which provide a common measure of extinction risk across taxa, these results are consistent with listing the species as vulnerable. Our findings support the potential for large declines in polar bear numbers owing to sea-ice loss, and highlight near-term uncertainty in statistical projections as well as the sensitivity of projections to different plausible assumptions. © 2016 The Authors.

Stereotype threat in salary negotiations is mediated by reservation salary.

Science.gov (United States)

Tellhed, Una; Björklund, Fredrik

2011-04-01

Women are stereotypically perceived as worse negotiators than men, which may make them ask for less salary than men when under stereotype threat (Kray et al., 2001). However, the mechanisms of stereotype threat are not yet properly understood. The current study investigated whether stereotype threat effects in salary negotiations can be explained by motivational factors. A total of 116 business students negotiated salary with a confederate and were either told that this was diagnostic of negotiating ability (threat manipulation) or not. Measures of minimum (reservation) and ideal (aspiration) salary goals and regulatory focus were collected. The finding (Kray et al., 2001) that women make lower salary requests than men when under stereotype threat was replicated. Women in the threat condition further reported lower aspiration salary, marginally significantly lower reservation salary and less eagerness/more vigilance than men. Reservation salary mediated the stereotype threat effect, and there was a trend for regulatory focus to mediate the effect. Thus, reservation salary partly explains why women ask for less salary than men under stereotype threat. Female negotiators may benefit from learning that stereotype threat causes sex-differences in motivation. © 2010 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology © 2010 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.

Insider threat to secure facilities: data analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1980-01-01

Three data sets drawn from industries that have experienced internal security breaches are analyzed. The industries and the insider security breaches are considered analogous in one or more respects to insider threats potentially confronting managers in the nuclear industry. The three data sets are: bank fraud and embezzlement (BF and E), computer-related crime, and drug theft from drug manufacturers and distributors. A careful analysis by both descriptive and formal statistical techniques permits certain general conclusions on the internal threat to secure industries to be drawn. These conclusions are discussed and related to the potential insider threat in the nuclear industry. 49 tabs

A combined emitter threat assessment method based on ICW-RCM

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Ying; Wang, Hongwei; Guo, Xiaotao; Wang, Yubing

2017-08-01

Considering that the tradition al emitter threat assessment methods are difficult to intuitively reflect the degree of target threaten and the deficiency of real-time and complexity, on the basis of radar chart method(RCM), an algorithm of emitter combined threat assessment based on ICW-RCM (improved combination weighting method, ICW) is proposed. The coarse sorting is integrated with fine sorting in emitter combined threat assessment, sequencing the emitter threat level roughly accordance to radar operation mode, and reducing task priority of the low-threat emitter; On the basis of ICW-RCM, sequencing the same radar operation mode emitter roughly, finally, obtain the results of emitter threat assessment through coarse and fine sorting. Simulation analyses show the correctness and effectiveness of this algorithm. Comparing with classical method of emitter threat assessment based on CW-RCM, the algorithm is visual in image and can work quickly with lower complexity.

Left-Wing Extremism: The Current Threat

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Karl A. Seger

2001-04-30

Left-wing extremism is ''alive and well'' both in the US and internationally. Although the current domestic terrorist threat within the U. S. is focused on right-wing extremists, left-wing extremists are also active and have several objectives. Leftist extremists also pose an espionage threat to U.S. interests. While the threat to the U.S. government from leftist extremists has decreased in the past decade, it has not disappeared. There are individuals and organizations within the U.S. who maintain the same ideology that resulted in the growth of left-wing terrorism in this country in the 1970s and 1980s. Some of the leaders from that era are still communicating from Cuba with their followers in the U.S., and new leaders and groups are emerging.

Emerging and Future Cyber Threats to Critical Systems

OpenAIRE

Djambazova , Edita; Almgren , Magnus; Dimitrov , Kiril; Jonsson , Erland

2010-01-01

Part 2: Adversaries; International audience; This paper discusses the emerging and future cyber threats to critical systems identified during the EU/FP7 project ICT-FORWARD. Threats were identified after extensive discussions with both domain experts and IT security professionals from academia, industry, and government organizations. The ultimate goal of the work was to identify the areas in which cyber threats could occur and cause serious and undesirable consequences, based on the character...

Game Theoretic Risk Analysis of Security Threats

CERN Document Server

Bier, Vicki M

2008-01-01

Introduces reliability and risk analysis in the face of threats by intelligent agents. This book covers applications to networks, including problems in both telecommunications and transportation. It provides a set of tools for applying game theory TO reliability problems in the presence of intentional, intelligent threats

Advanced Insider Threat Mitigation Workshop Instructional Materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gibbs, Philip [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Larsen, Robert [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); O' Brien, Mike [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Edmunds, Tom [Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

2009-02-01

Insiders represent a formidable threat to nuclear facilities. This set of workshop materials covers methodologies to analyze and approaches to mitigate the threat of an insider attempting abrupt and protracted theft of nuclear materials. This particular set of materials is an update of a January 2008 version to add increased emphasis on Material Control and Accounting and its role with respect to protracted insider nuclear material theft scenarios. This report is a compilation of workshop materials consisting of lectures on technical and administrative measures used in Physical Protection (PP) and Material Control and Accounting (MC&A) and methods for analyzing their effectiveness against a postulated insider threat. The postulated threat includes both abrupt and protracted theft scenarios. Presentation is envisioned to be through classroom instruction and discussion. Several practical and group exercises are included for demonstration and application of the analysis approach contained in the lecture/discussion sessions as applied to a hypothetical nuclear facility.

Implicit self-esteem compensation: automatic threat defense.

Science.gov (United States)

Rudman, Laurie A; Dohn, Matthew C; Fairchild, Kimberly

2007-11-01

Four experiments demonstrated implicit self-esteem compensation (ISEC) in response to threats involving gender identity (Experiment 1), implicit racism (Experiment 2), and social rejection (Experiments 3-4). Under conditions in which people might be expected to suffer a blow to self-worth, they instead showed high scores on 2 implicit self-esteem measures. There was no comparable effect on explicit self-esteem. However, ISEC was eliminated following self-affirmation (Experiment 3). Furthermore, threat manipulations increased automatic intergroup bias, but ISEC mediated these relationships (Experiments 2-3). Thus, a process that serves as damage control for the self may have negative social consequences. Finally, pretest anxiety mediated the relationship between threat and ISEC (Experiment 3), whereas ISEC negatively predicted anxiety among high-threat participants (Experiment 4), suggesting that ISEC may function to regulate anxiety. The implications of these findings for automatic emotion regulation, intergroup bias, and implicit self-esteem measures are discussed. (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved.

Stereotype threat can both enhance and impair older adults' memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Barber, Sarah J; Mather, Mara

2013-12-01

Negative stereotypes about aging can impair older adults' memory via stereotype threat; however, the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are unclear. In two experiments, we tested competing predictions derived from two theoretical accounts of stereotype threat: executive-control interference and regulatory fit. Older adults completed a working memory test either under stereotype threat about age-related memory declines or not under such threat. Monetary incentives were manipulated such that recall led to gains or forgetting led to losses. The executive-control-interference account predicts that stereotype threat decreases the availability of executive-control resources and hence should impair working memory performance. The regulatory-fit account predicts that threat induces a prevention focus, which should impair performance when gains are emphasized but improve performance when losses are emphasized. Results were consistent only with the regulatory-fit account. Although stereotype threat significantly impaired older adults' working memory performance when remembering led to gains, it significantly improved performance when forgetting led to losses.

The consequences of chronic stereotype threat: domain disidentification and abandonment.

Science.gov (United States)

Woodcock, Anna; Hernandez, Paul R; Estrada, Mica; Schultz, P Wesley

2012-10-01

Stereotype threat impairs performance across many domains. Despite a wealth of research, the long-term consequences of chronic stereotype threat have received little empirical attention. Beyond the immediate impact on performance, the experience of chronic stereotype threat is hypothesized to lead to domain disidentification and eventual domain abandonment. Stereotype threat is 1 explanation why African Americans and Hispanic/Latino(a)s "leak" from each juncture of the academic scientific pipeline in disproportionately greater numbers than their White and Asian counterparts. Using structural equation modeling, we tested the stereotype threat-disidentification hypothesis across 3 academic years with a national longitudinal panel of undergraduate minority science students. Experience of stereotype threat was associated with scientific disidentification, which in turn predicted a significant decline in the intention to pursue a scientific career. Race/ethnicity moderated this effect, whereby the effect was evident for Hispanic/Latino(a) students but not for all African American students. We discuss findings in terms of understanding chronic stereotype threat.

41 CFR 60-741.22 - Direct threat defense.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES Discrimination Prohibited § 60-741.22 Direct threat defense. The contractor may... individual or others in the workplace. (See § 60-741.2(y) defining direct threat.) ...

{sup 137}Cs baseline levels in the Mediterranean and Black Sea: A cross-basin survey of the CIESM Mediterranean Mussel Watch programme

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thebault, Herve [IRSN, LERCM, Centre Ifremer, BP 330, F-83507 La Seyne sur Mer (France); Rodriguez y Baena, Alessia M. [International Commission for the Scientific Exploration of the Mediterranean Sea (CIESM), 16 Blvd de Suisse, MC-98000 Principality of Monaco (Monaco); Andral, Bruno [Ifremer, BP 330, F-83507 La Seyne sur Mer (France); Barisic, Delko [Center for Marine and Environmental Research, Lab. for Trace Physical Chemistry, Ruder Boskovic Inst., P.O. Box 1016, Bijenicka 54, 10002 Zagreb (Croatia); Albaladejo, Jose Benedicto [Inst. Espanol de Oceanografi' a (IEO), Centro Oceanografico de Murcia - Calle Varadero No. 1, 30740 San Pedro del Pinatar (Spain); Bologa, Alexandru S. [National Institute for Marine Research and Development ' Grigore Antipa' , RO-900581, Constantza (Romania); Boudjenoun, Redouane [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique (COMENA), Centre de Radioprotection Recherche Nucleaire d' Algeret de Surete, Lab. d' Etudes d' Impact Radiologique, 2 Blvd F. Fanon - BP 399 Alger-Gare, 16000 Alger (Algeria); Delfanti, Roberta [Ente per le Nuove Tecnologie, l' Energia, e l' Ambiente (ENEA), Marine Environment Research Centre, La Spezia (Italy); Egorov, Victor N. [Inst. of Biology of the Southern Seas (IBSS), National Academy of Sciences of the Ukraine, 2 Porspekt Nakhimova, 99 011 Sevastopol, Crimea (Ukraine); El Khoukhi, Tahar [Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires de la Maamora (CNESTEN), BP 1382 RP Rabat 10001 (Morocco); Florou, Heleni [National Centre for Scientific Research ' Demokritos' , Aghia Paraskevi 153 10, P.O. Box 60228, Athens (Greece); Kniewald, Goran [Center for Marine and Environmental Research, Lab. for Trace Physical Chemistry, Ruder Boskovic Inst., P.O. Box 1016, Bijenicka 54, 10002 Zagreb (Croatia); Noureddine, Abdelkader [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique (COMENA), Centre de Radioprotection Recherche Nucleaire d' Algeret de Surete, Lab. d' Etudes d' Impact Radiologique, 2 Blvd F. Fanon - BP 399 Alger-Gare, 16000 Alger (Algeria)] (and others)

2008-07-01

The common mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis was selected as unique biomonitor species to implement a regional monitoring programme, the CIESM Mediterranean Mussel Watch (MMW), in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. As of today, and upon standardization of the methodological approach, the MMW Network has been able to quantify {sup 137}Cs levels in mussels from 60 coastal stations and to produce the first distribution map of this artificial radionuclide at the scale of the entire Mediterranean and Black Seas. While measured {sup 137}Cs levels were found to be very low (usually <1 Bq kg{sup -1} wet wt) {sup 137}Cs activity concentrations in the Black Sea and North Aegean Sea were up to two orders of magnitude higher than those in the western Mediterranean Basin. Such effects, far from representing a threat to human populations or the environment, reflect a persistent signature of the Chernobyl fallout in this area.

Threat evaluation for impact assessment in situation analysis systems

Science.gov (United States)

Roy, Jean; Paradis, Stephane; Allouche, Mohamad

2002-07-01

Situation analysis is defined as a process, the examination of a situation, its elements, and their relations, to provide and maintain a product, i.e., a state of situation awareness, for the decision maker. Data fusion is a key enabler to meeting the demanding requirements of military situation analysis support systems. According to the data fusion model maintained by the Joint Directors of Laboratories' Data Fusion Group, impact assessment estimates the effects on situations of planned or estimated/predicted actions by the participants, including interactions between action plans of multiple players. In this framework, the appraisal of actual or potential threats is a necessary capability for impact assessment. This paper reviews and discusses in details the fundamental concepts of threat analysis. In particular, threat analysis generally attempts to compute some threat value, for the individual tracks, that estimates the degree of severity with which engagement events will potentially occur. Presenting relevant tracks to the decision maker in some threat list, sorted from the most threatening to the least, is clearly in-line with the cognitive demands associated with threat evaluation. A key parameter in many threat value evaluation techniques is the Closest Point of Approach (CPA). Along this line of thought, threatening tracks are often prioritized based upon which ones will reach their CPA first. Hence, the Time-to-CPA (TCPA), i.e., the time it will take for a track to reach its CPA, is also a key factor. Unfortunately, a typical assumption for the computation of the CPA/TCPA parameters is that the track velocity will remain constant. When a track is maneuvering, the CPA/TCPA values will change accordingly. These changes will in turn impact the threat value computations and, ultimately, the resulting threat list. This is clearly undesirable from a command decision-making perspective. In this regard, the paper briefly discusses threat value stabilization

Identifying key conservation threats to Alpine birds through expert knowledge

Science.gov (United States)

Pedrini, Paolo; Brambilla, Mattia; Rolando, Antonio; Girardello, Marco

2016-01-01

Alpine biodiversity is subject to a range of increasing threats, but the scarcity of data for many taxa means that it is difficult to assess the level and likely future impact of a given threat. Expert opinion can be a useful tool to address knowledge gaps in the absence of adequate data. Experts with experience in Alpine ecology were approached to rank threat levels for 69 Alpine bird species over the next 50 years for the whole European Alps in relation to ten categories: land abandonment, climate change, renewable energy, fire, forestry practices, grazing practices, hunting, leisure, mining and urbanization. There was a high degree of concordance in ranking of perceived threats among experts for most threat categories. The major overall perceived threats to Alpine birds identified through expert knowledge were land abandonment, urbanization, leisure and forestry, although other perceived threats were ranked highly for particular species groups (renewable energy and hunting for raptors, hunting for gamebirds). For groups of species defined according to their breeding habitat, open habitat species and treeline species were perceived as the most threatened. A spatial risk assessment tool based on summed scores for the whole community showed threat levels were highest for bird communities of the northern and western Alps. Development of the approaches given in this paper, including addressing biases in the selection of experts and adopting a more detailed ranking procedure, could prove useful in the future in identifying future threats, and in carrying out risk assessments based on levels of threat to the whole bird community. PMID:26966659

Identifying key conservation threats to Alpine birds through expert knowledge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dan E. Chamberlain

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Alpine biodiversity is subject to a range of increasing threats, but the scarcity of data for many taxa means that it is difficult to assess the level and likely future impact of a given threat. Expert opinion can be a useful tool to address knowledge gaps in the absence of adequate data. Experts with experience in Alpine ecology were approached to rank threat levels for 69 Alpine bird species over the next 50 years for the whole European Alps in relation to ten categories: land abandonment, climate change, renewable energy, fire, forestry practices, grazing practices, hunting, leisure, mining and urbanization. There was a high degree of concordance in ranking of perceived threats among experts for most threat categories. The major overall perceived threats to Alpine birds identified through expert knowledge were land abandonment, urbanization, leisure and forestry, although other perceived threats were ranked highly for particular species groups (renewable energy and hunting for raptors, hunting for gamebirds. For groups of species defined according to their breeding habitat, open habitat species and treeline species were perceived as the most threatened. A spatial risk assessment tool based on summed scores for the whole community showed threat levels were highest for bird communities of the northern and western Alps. Development of the approaches given in this paper, including addressing biases in the selection of experts and adopting a more detailed ranking procedure, could prove useful in the future in identifying future threats, and in carrying out risk assessments based on levels of threat to the whole bird community.

Threat ≠ prevention, challenge ≠ promotion: the impact of threat, challenge and regulatory focus on attention to negative stimuli.

Science.gov (United States)

Sassenberg, Kai; Sassenrath, Claudia; Fetterman, Adam K

2015-01-01

The purpose of the current experiment was to distinguish between the impact of strategic and affective forms of gain- and loss-related motivational states on the attention to negative stimuli. On the basis of the counter-regulation principle and regulatory focus theory, we predicted that individuals would attend more to negative than to neutral stimuli in a prevention focus and when experiencing challenge, but not in a promotion focus and under threat. In one experiment (N = 88) promotion, prevention, threat, or challenge states were activated through a memory task, and a subsequent dot probe task was administered. As predicted, those in the prevention focus and challenge conditions had an attentional bias towards negative words, but those in promotion and threat conditions did not. These findings provide support for the idea that strategic mindsets (e.g., regulatory focus) and hot emotional states (e.g., threat vs. challenge) differently affect the processing of affective stimuli.

Essential coastal habitats for fish in the Baltic Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Kraufvelin, Patrik; Pekcan-Hekim, Zeynep; Bergström, Ulf; Florin, Ann-Britt; Lehikoinen, Annukka; Mattila, Johanna; Arula, Timo; Briekmane, Laura; Brown, Elliot John; Celmer, Zuzanna; Dainys, Justas; Jokinen, Henri; Kääriä, Petra; Kallasvuo, Meri; Lappalainen, Antti; Lozys, Linas; Möller, Peter; Orio, Alessandro; Rohtla, Mehis; Saks, Lauri; Snickars, Martin; Støttrup, Josianne; Sundblad, Göran; Taal, Imre; Ustups, Didzis; Verliin, Aare; Vetemaa, Markus; Winkler, Helmut; Wozniczka, Adam; Olsson, Jens

2018-05-01

Directive, the Habitats Directive, and the Maritime Spatial Planning Directive, but also for improving the communication of information related to coastal EFH among researchers, stakeholders, managers and decision makers. In this paper, efforts are made to characterize coastal EFH in the Baltic Sea, their importance and the threats/pressures they face, as well as their current conservation status, while highlighting knowledge gaps and outlining perspectives for future work in an ecosystem-based management framework.

Effects of threat management interactions on conservation priorities.

Science.gov (United States)

Auerbach, Nancy A; Wilson, Kerrie A; Tulloch, Ayesha I T; Rhodes, Jonathan R; Hanson, Jeffrey O; Possingham, Hugh P

2015-12-01

Decisions need to be made about which biodiversity management actions are undertaken to mitigate threats and about where these actions are implemented. However, management actions can interact; that is, the cost, benefit, and feasibility of one action can change when another action is undertaken. There is little guidance on how to explicitly and efficiently prioritize management for multiple threats, including deciding where to act. Integrated management could focus on one management action to abate a dominant threat or on a strategy comprising multiple actions to abate multiple threats. Furthermore management could be undertaken at sites that are in close proximity to reduce costs. We used cost-effectiveness analysis to prioritize investments in fire management, controlling invasive predators, and reducing grazing pressure in a bio-diverse region of southeastern Queensland, Australia. We compared outcomes of 5 management approaches based on different assumptions about interactions and quantified how investment needed, benefits expected, and the locations prioritized for implementation differed when interactions were taken into account. Managing for interactions altered decisions about where to invest and in which actions to invest and had the potential to deliver increased investment efficiency. Differences in high priority locations and actions were greatest between the approaches when we made different assumptions about how management actions deliver benefits through threat abatement: either all threats must be managed to conserve species or only one management action may be required. Threatened species management that does not consider interactions between actions may result in misplaced investments or misguided expectations of the effort required to mitigate threats to species. © 2015 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc., on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.

The Consequences of Chronic Stereotype Threat: Domain Disidentification and Abandonment

OpenAIRE

Woodcock, Anna; Hernandez, Paul R.; Estrada, Mica; Schultz, P. Wesley

2012-01-01

Stereotype threat impairs performance across many domains. Despite a wealth of research, the long-term consequences of chronic stereotype threat have received little empirical attention. Beyond the immediate impact on performance, the experience of chronic stereotype threat is hypothesized to lead to domain disidentification and eventual domain abandonment. Stereotype threat is 1 explanation why African Americans and Hispanic/Latino(a)s “leak” from each juncture of the academic scientific pip...

Microplastic pollution in the surface waters of the Bohai Sea, China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Weiwei; Zhang, Shoufeng; Wang, Juying; Wang, Yan; Mu, Jingli; Wang, Ping; Lin, Xinzhen; Ma, Deyi

2017-01-01

The ubiquitous presence and persistency of microplastics in aquatic environments is of particular concern because these pollutants represent an increasing threat to marine organisms and ecosystems. An identification of the patterns of microplastic distribution will help to understand the scale of their potential effect on the environment and on organisms. In this study, the occurrence and distribution of microplastics in the Bohai Sea are reported for the first time. We sampled floating microplastics at 11 stations in the Bohai Sea using a 330 μm trawling net in August 2016. The abundance, composition, size, shape and color of collected debris samples were analyzed after pretreatment. The average microplastic concentration was 0.33 ± 0.34 particles/m 3 . Micro-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis showed that the main types of microplastics were polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene. As the size of the plastics decreased, the percentage of polypropylene increased, whereas the percentages of polyethylene and polystyrene decreased. Plastic fragments, lines, and films accounted for most of the collected samples. Accumulation at some stations could be associated with transport and retention mechanisms that are linked to wind and the dynamics of the rim current, as well as different sources of the plastics. - Highlights: • First evaluation of microplastic in the surface water of the Bohai Sea. • The microplastics in Bohai is at medium-low level in contrast to other sea regions. • With the size of the plastics decreased, the proportion of polypropylene gradually increased. - This research indicates that microplastics are distributed widely in the Bohai Sea. As the size of the plastics decreased, the percentage of polypropylene increased.

Temperature tracking by North Sea benthic invertebrates in response to climate change.

Science.gov (United States)

Hiddink, Jan G; Burrows, Michael T; García Molinos, Jorge

2015-01-01

Climate change is a major threat to biodiversity and distributions shifts are one of the most significant threats to global warming, but the extent to which these shifts keep pace with a changing climate is yet uncertain. Understanding the factors governing range shifts is crucial for conservation management to anticipate patterns of biodiversity distribution under future anthropogenic climate change. Soft-sediment invertebrates are a key faunal group because of their role in marine biogeochemistry and as a food source for commercial fish species. However, little information exists on their response to climate change. Here, we evaluate changes in the distribution of 65 North Sea benthic invertebrate species between 1986 and 2000 by examining their geographic, bathymetric and thermal niche shifts and test whether species are tracking their thermal niche as defined by minimum, mean or maximum sea bottom (SBT) and surface (SST) temperatures. Temperatures increased in the whole North Sea with many benthic invertebrates showing north-westerly range shifts (leading/trailing edges as well as distribution centroids) and deepening. Nevertheless, distribution shifts for most species (3.8-7.3 km yr(-1) interquantile range) lagged behind shifts in both SBT and SST (mean 8.1 km yr(-1)), resulting in many species experiencing increasing temperatures. The velocity of climate change (VoCC) of mean SST accurately predicted both the direction and magnitude of distribution centroid shifts, while maximum SST did the same for contraction of the trailing edge. The VoCC of SBT was not a good predictor of range shifts. No good predictor of expansions of the leading edge was found. Our results show that invertebrates need to shift at different rates and directions to track the climate velocities of different temperature measures, and are therefore lagging behind most temperature measures. If these species cannot withstand a change in thermal habitat, this could ultimately lead to a drop in

The Smallpox Threat: The School Nurse's Role

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Mary E.; Didion, Judy

2003-01-01

Today, with the threat of bioterrorism and war, there is a new dimension to the traditional role of the school nurse. The smallpox threat to public health will invoke the school nurse's role as an educator, liaison, and consultant in the community. This article discusses smallpox, the vaccination process, adverse effects, and postvaccination care.…

Movements Indicate Threat Response Phases in Children at Risk for Anxiety.

Science.gov (United States)

McGinnis, Ellen W; McGinnis, Ryan S; Muzik, Maria; Hruschak, Jessica; Lopez-Duran, Nestor L; Perkins, Noel C; Fitzgerald, Kate; Rosenblum, Katherine L

2017-09-01

Temporal phases of threat response, including potential threat (anxiety), acute threat (startle, fear), and post-threat response modulation, have been identified as the underlying markers of anxiety disorders. Objective measures of response during these phases may help identify children at risk for anxiety; however, the complexity of current assessment techniques prevent their adoption in many research and clinical contexts. We propose an alternative technology, an inertial measurement unit (IMU), that enables noninvasive measurement of the movements associated with threat response, and test its ability to detect threat response phases in young children at a heightened risk for developing anxiety. We quantified the motion of 18 children (3-7 years old) during an anxiety-/fear-provoking behavioral task using an IMU. Specifically, measurements from a single IMU secured to the child's waist were used to extract root-mean-square acceleration and angular velocity in the horizontal and vertical directions, and tilt and yaw range of motion during each threat response phase. IMU measurements detected expected differences in child motion by threat phase. Additionally, potential threat motion was positively correlated to familial anxiety risk, startle range of motion was positively correlated with child internalizing symptoms, and response modulation motion was negatively correlated to familial anxiety risk. Results suggest differential theory-driven threat response phases and support previous literature connecting maternal child risk to anxiety with behavioral measures using more feasible objective methods. This is the first study demonstrating the utility of an IMU for characterizing the motion of young children to mark the phases of threat response modulation. The technique provides a novel and objective measure of threat response for mental health researchers.

The Mediterranean Sea Mollusks - a school shell collection

Science.gov (United States)

Marcu, Delia

2017-04-01

School: 1. "Ana Aslan" Technical College, Street Decebal 1, Cluj-Napoca, Romania 2. Orthodox Theological Seminary, Avram Iancu Square No.18, Cluj-Napoca, Romania The aim of the present project is to develop the students awareness of human activities impact on mollusks population in the Mediterranean Sea. Students have studied about the Geography of the Mediterranean Sea and they have the theoretical knowledge related to the its specific flora and fauna. One of the main fears related to the Mediterranean Sea is the loss of marine and coastal biodiversity due to biological disturbance, climate change and human activities. Out of all reasons, the human impact is considered to be the major cause of habitat loss, degradation and extinction. Regarding the Phylum Mollusca a major threat is represented by unregulated fisheries and shell traffic. In order to enable the students possibility to observe the great diversity of the Phylum Mollusca in the Mediterranean Sea, a school shell collection was made. The shells were brought by the students and they had to mention if the shells were bought, received as a souvenir or picked from their environment. Further, the students learned how to prepare the shells for the collection. The next step involved the shell classification and by this activity the students learned how to use the IUCN: International Union for Conservation of Nature database to identify the threatened species, as well as the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) for a correct identification of the species. As Romania romania bordering the Black Sea, the students had the opportunity to identify the mollusks species common for both the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. The objectives of this study were to highlight the human-environment relation and the interconnection between environment conditions and life quality, to develop the students research, exploration and investigation skills, to be able to identify the causes of species extinction and methods

Toxicological Threats of Plastic

Science.gov (United States)

Plastics pose both physical (e.g., entanglement, gastrointestinal blockage, reef destruction) and chemical threats (e.g., bioaccumulation of the chemical ingredients of plastic or toxic chemicals sorbed to plastics) to wildlife and the marine ecosystem.

External Threat Risk Assessment Algorithm (ExTRAA)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Powell, Troy C. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2017-08-01

Two risk assessment algorithms and philosophies have been augmented and combined to form a new algorit hm, the External Threat Risk Assessment Algorithm (ExTRAA), that allows for effective and statistically sound analysis of external threat sources in relation to individual attack methods . In addition to the attack method use probability and the attack method employment consequence, t he concept of defining threat sources is added to the risk assessment process. Sample data is tabulated and depicted in radar plots and bar graphs for algorithm demonstration purposes. The largest success of ExTRAA is its ability to visualize the kind of r isk posed in a given situation using the radar plot method.

Radiological threat, public and media: a psychosociological view

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Arciszewski, T. [University Rene Descartes - Paris 5, 92 - Boulogne (France)

2006-07-01

Nuclear risk has become a major social communication along the 20. century because of its critical socio-political impact. That communication is not limited to expert speeches and simple acceptation. The way people understand that kind of threat is based on beliefs and on imaginary pictures. Consequently, and because it shapes people attitude, expectations and behaviours, their analysis is a key for policy and prevention. We will present, in the light of the research on risk perception and social psychology theoretical background, how people can manage with the nuclear fear. Some particular points will be studied: the nature of nuclear threat and fear, the cultural and media coverage and the consequences of this threat on behaviour. We will first focus on what a societal threat is and of which nature is the nuclear threat. We will rely on statistical data on risk perception. We have to consider the two main fields of information: first the nuclear threat as a mass destruction weapon and second, the radiological risk as a consequence of civil use of radiological material. Those two aspects, deeply related for most people, make the roots for the described fears. Then, the perception of the risks relative to nuclear is necessarily influenced by this representation. The representation of the nuclear power is and will be for next years, related to the nuclear mushroom as experimentally pointed o ut by Fiske, both with the abnormal children of Chernobyl. How can we change that vision? Not to be a liar, it will be hard work because it a old story, a long construction of what will be the future of mankind, something deeply influenced by media, movie, geopolitical facts like the cold war or technological accident like Three Mile Island or Chernobyl. It has to deal with the problem of media transmission of fears, which is a problem in itself, but due to the scientific base of our problem, particularly relevant. Moreover, there is a strong cultural background that maintains

Radiological threat, public and media: a psychosociological view

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arciszewski, T.

2006-01-01

Nuclear risk has become a major social communication along the 20. century because of its critical socio-political impact. That communication is not limited to expert speeches and simple acceptation. The way people understand that kind of threat is based on beliefs and on imaginary pictures. Consequently, and because it shapes people attitude, expectations and behaviours, their analysis is a key for policy and prevention. We will present, in the light of the research on risk perception and social psychology theoretical background, how people can manage with the nuclear fear. Some particular points will be studied: the nature of nuclear threat and fear, the cultural and media coverage and the consequences of this threat on behaviour. We will first focus on what a societal threat is and of which nature is the nuclear threat. We will rely on statistical data on risk perception. We have to consider the two main fields of information: first the nuclear threat as a mass destruction weapon and second, the radiological risk as a consequence of civil use of radiological material. Those two aspects, deeply related for most people, make the roots for the described fears. Then, the perception of the risks relative to nuclear is necessarily influenced by this representation. The representation of the nuclear power is and will be for next years, related to the nuclear mushroom as experimentally pointed o ut by Fiske, both with the abnormal children of Chernobyl. How can we change that vision? Not to be a liar, it will be hard work because it a old story, a long construction of what will be the future of mankind, something deeply influenced by media, movie, geopolitical facts like the cold war or technological accident like Three Mile Island or Chernobyl. It has to deal with the problem of media transmission of fears, which is a problem in itself, but due to the scientific base of our problem, particularly relevant. Moreover, there is a strong cultural background that maintains

Threat affects risk preferences in movement decision making

Science.gov (United States)

O'Brien, Megan K.; Ahmed, Alaa A.

2015-01-01

Emotional states such as sadness, anger, and threat have been shown to play a critical role in decision-making processes. Here we addressed the question of whether risk preferences are influenced by postural threat and whether this influence generalizes across motor tasks. We examined risk attitudes in the context of arm-reaching (ARM) and whole-body (WB) leaning movements, expecting that increased postural threat would lead to proportionally similar changes in risk-sensitivity for each motor task. Healthy young adults were shown a series of two-alternative forced-choice lotteries, where they were asked to choose between a riskier lottery and a safer lottery on each trial. Our lotteries consisted of different monetary rewards and target sizes. Subjects performed each choice task at ground level and atop an elevated platform. In the presence of this postural threat, increased physiological arousal was correlated with decreased movement variability. To determine risk-sensitivity, we quantified the frequency with which a subject chose the riskier lottery and fit lottery responses to a choice model based on cumulative prospect theory (CPT). Subjects exhibited idiosyncratic changes in risk-sensitivity between motor tasks and between elevations. However, we found that overweighting of small probabilities increased with postural threat in the WB task, indicating a more cautious, risk-averse strategy is ascribed to the possibility of a fall. Subjects were also more risk-seeking in the WB movements than in ARM at low elevation; this behavior does not seem to derive from consistent distortions in utility or probability representations but may be explained by subjects' inaccurate estimation of their own motor variability. Overall, our findings suggest that implicit threat can modify risk attitudes in the motor domain, and the threat may induce risk-aversion in salient movement tasks. PMID:26106311

Threat affects risk preferences in movement decision making

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Megan K. O'Brien

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Emotional states such as sadness, anger, and threat have been shown to play a critical role in decision-making processes. Here we addressed the question of whether risk preferences are influenced by postural threat and whether this influence generalizes across motor tasks. We examined risk attitudes in the context of arm-reaching and whole-body leaning movements, expecting that increased postural threat would lead to proportionally similar changes in risk-sensitivity for each motor task. Healthy young adults were shown a series of two-alternative forced-choice lotteries, where they were asked to choose between a riskier lottery and a safer lottery on each trial. Our lotteries consisted of different monetary rewards and target sizes. Subjects performed each choice task at ground level and atop an elevated platform. In the presence of this postural threat, increased physiological arousal was correlated with decreased movement variability. To determine risk-sensitivity, we quantified the frequency with which a subject chose the riskier lottery and fit lottery responses to a choice model based on cumulative prospect theory. Subjects exhibited idiosyncratic changes in risk-sensitivity between motor tasks and between elevations. However, we found that overweighting of small probabilities increased with postural threat in the whole-body task, indicating a more cautious, risk-averse strategy is ascribed to the possibility of a fall. Subjects were also more risk-seeking in the whole-body movements than in arm-reaching at low elevation; this behavior does not seem to derive from consistent distortions in utility or probability representations but may be explained by subjects’ inaccurate estimation of their own motor variability. Overall, our findings suggest that implicit threat can modify risk attitudes in the motor domain, and the threat may induce risk-aversion in salient movement tasks.

Threat affects risk preferences in movement decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Brien, Megan K; Ahmed, Alaa A

2015-01-01

Emotional states such as sadness, anger, and threat have been shown to play a critical role in decision-making processes. Here we addressed the question of whether risk preferences are influenced by postural threat and whether this influence generalizes across motor tasks. We examined risk attitudes in the context of arm-reaching (ARM) and whole-body (WB) leaning movements, expecting that increased postural threat would lead to proportionally similar changes in risk-sensitivity for each motor task. Healthy young adults were shown a series of two-alternative forced-choice lotteries, where they were asked to choose between a riskier lottery and a safer lottery on each trial. Our lotteries consisted of different monetary rewards and target sizes. Subjects performed each choice task at ground level and atop an elevated platform. In the presence of this postural threat, increased physiological arousal was correlated with decreased movement variability. To determine risk-sensitivity, we quantified the frequency with which a subject chose the riskier lottery and fit lottery responses to a choice model based on cumulative prospect theory (CPT). Subjects exhibited idiosyncratic changes in risk-sensitivity between motor tasks and between elevations. However, we found that overweighting of small probabilities increased with postural threat in the WB task, indicating a more cautious, risk-averse strategy is ascribed to the possibility of a fall. Subjects were also more risk-seeking in the WB movements than in ARM at low elevation; this behavior does not seem to derive from consistent distortions in utility or probability representations but may be explained by subjects' inaccurate estimation of their own motor variability. Overall, our findings suggest that implicit threat can modify risk attitudes in the motor domain, and the threat may induce risk-aversion in salient movement tasks.

Can experience overcome stereotypes in times of terror threat?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mirya R. Holman

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Research on evaluations of leaders has frequently found that female leaders receive lower ratings in times of national security crisis. However, less is known about countervailing factors. We contend that partisanship and leadership experience in relevant domains are two factors that can counteract the negative effects of terrorist threat on evaluations of female political leaders. To test this expectation, we implemented a national study in 2012 containing terrorist threat and non-threat conditions, and then asked participants to evaluate political leaders. The results show that Republican leaders, including women, are unaffected by terrorist threat; in contrast, Democratic leaders are punished during times of terrorist threat, but this negative effect is smaller for then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton compared to Nancy Pelosi, who lacks similar experience. In short, Republican partisanship is a strong countervailing factor, while leadership experience in national security more modestly countervails.

Relationships Among Attention Networks and Physiological Responding to Threat

Science.gov (United States)

Sarapas, Casey; Weinberg, Anna; Langenecker, Scott A.

2016-01-01

Although researchers have long hypothesized a relationship between attention and anxiety, theoretical and empirical accounts of this relationship have conflicted. We attempted to resolve these conflicts by examining relationships of attentional abilities with responding to predictable and unpredictable threat, related but distinct motivational process implicated in a number of anxiety disorders. Eighty-one individuals completed a behavioral task assessing efficiency of three components of attention – alerting, orienting, and executive control (Attention Network Test - Revised). We also assessed startle responding during anticipation of both predictable, imminent threat (of mild electric shock) and unpredictable contextual threat. Faster alerting and slower disengaging from non-emotional attention cues were related to heightened responding to unpredictable threat, whereas poorer executive control of attention was related to heightened responding to predictable threat. This double dissociation helps to integrate models of attention and anxiety and may be informative for treatment development. PMID:27816781

Perceived control qualifies the effects of threat on prejudice.

Science.gov (United States)

Greenaway, Katharine H; Louis, Winnifred R; Hornsey, Matthew J; Jones, Janelle M

2014-09-01

People sometimes show a tendency to lash out in a prejudiced manner when they feel threatened. This research shows that the relationship between threat and prejudice is moderated by people's levels of perceived control: Threat leads to prejudice only when people feel concurrently low in control. In two studies, terrorist threat was associated with heightened prejudice among people who were low in perceived control over the threat (Study 1; N = 87) or over their lives in general (Study 2; N = 2,394), but was not associated with prejudice among people who were high in perceived control. Study 3 (N = 139) replicated this finding experimentally in the context of the Global Financial Crisis. The research identifies control as an important ingredient in threatening contexts that, if bolstered, can reduce general tendencies to lash out under threat. © 2013 The British Psychological Society.

Does stereotype threat affect women in academic medicine?

Science.gov (United States)

Burgess, Diana Jill; Joseph, Anne; van Ryn, Michelle; Carnes, Molly

2012-04-01

Multiple complex factors contribute to the slow pace of women's advancement into leadership positions in academic medicine. In this article, the authors propose that stereotype threat--under which individuals who are members of a group characterized by negative stereotypes in a particular domain perform below their actual abilities in that domain when group membership is emphasized--may play an important role in the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions in academic medicine. Research to objectively assess the impact of stereotype threat for women in academic medicine is feasible and necessary to confirm this hypothesis. Still, a number of conditions present in the academic medicine community today have been shown to trigger stereotype threat in other settings, and stereotype threat fits with existing research on gender in academic medicine. In the meantime, academic health centers should implement relatively simple measures supported by experimental evidence from other settings to reduce the risk of stereotype threat, including (1) introducing the concept of stereotype threat to the academic medicine community, (2) engaging all stakeholders, male and female, to promote identity safety by enacting and making faculty aware of policies to monitor potential instances of discrimination, and training faculty to provide performance feedback that is free of gender bias, (3) counteracting the effects of sex segregation at academic health centers by increasing exposure to successful female leaders, (4) reducing gender stereotype priming by avoiding stereotypically male criteria for promotion, grants, and awards, and (5) building leadership efficacy among female physicians and scientists.

Are baleen whales exposed to the threat of microplastics? A case study of the Mediterranean fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus).

Science.gov (United States)

Fossi, Maria Cristina; Panti, Cristina; Guerranti, Cristiana; Coppola, Daniele; Giannetti, Matteo; Marsili, Letizia; Minutoli, Roberta

2012-11-01

Baleen whales are potentially exposed to micro-litter ingestion as a result of their filter-feeding activity. However, the impacts of microplastics on baleen whales are largely unknown. In this case study of the Mediterranean fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), we explore the toxicological effects of microplastics on mysticetes. The study included the following three steps: (1) the collection/count of microplastics in the Pelagos Sanctuary (Mediterranean Sea), (2) the detection of phthalates in surface neustonic/planktonic samples, and (3) the detection of phthalates in stranded fin whales. A total of 56% of the surface neustonic/planktonic samples contained microplastic particles. The highest abundance of microplastics (9.63 items/m(3)) was found in the Portofino MPA (Ligurian Sea). High concentrations of phthalates (DEHP and MEHP) were detected in the neustonic/planktonic samples. The concentrations of MEHP found in the blubber of stranded fin whales suggested that phthalates could serve as a tracer of the intake of microplastics. The results of this study represent the first warning of this emerging threat to baleen whales. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Counteracting effect of threat on reward enhancements during working memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Jong Moon; Padmala, Srikanth; Pessoa, Luiz

2015-01-01

Cognitive performance has been shown to be enhanced when performance-based rewards are at stake. On the other hand, task-irrelevant threat processing has been shown to have detrimental effects during several cognitive tasks. Crucially, the impact of reward and threat on cognition has been studied largely independently of one another. Hence, our understanding of how reward and threat simultaneously contribute to performance is incomplete. To fill in this gap, the present study investigated how reward and threat interact with one another during a cognitive task. We found that threat of shock counteracted the beneficial effect of reward during a working memory task. Furthermore, individual differences in self-reported reward-sensitivity and anxiety were linked to the extent to which reward and threat interacted during behaviour. Together, the current findings contribute to a limited but growing literature unravelling how positive and negative information processing jointly influence cognition.

[Professor WU Zhongchao's experience in the treatment of bi syndrome with fire needling therapy at lower he-sea points].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Yu; Chen, Zhongjie; Liu, Chun; Wang, Bing; Zhang, Ning; Li, Caifen; Xie, Qian

2016-07-12

Bi syndrome is classified into five categories. Based on the syndrome differentiation of meridians and collaterals and zangfu theories, Professor WU Zhongchao proposed the fire needling therapy at the lower he -sea points for five types of bi syndromes. Professor WU stresses on the flexible application of fire needling therapy for bi syndrome at the lower he -sea points and innovated the unique five techniques of fire needling therapy, named lifting and threating needle of small amplitude at the lower he -sea points, the stimulation along the relevant meri-dians before fire needling, detecting the sensitive sites by gentle pressing the relevant lower he -sea points, combining the movement of affected upper limb or joint during fire needling, or combining with contralateral needling technique, and controlling the depth of fire needling based on the duration of sickness and depth of affected site. He pointed out that Shangjuxu (ST 37) is for skin bi syndrome, Zusanli (ST 36) for muscle bi syndrome, Yanglingquan (GB 34) for tendon bi syndrome, Weizhong (BL 40) for bone bi syndrome and Xiajuxu (ST 39) for vessel bi syndrome.

Dioxin compounds in the deep-sea rose shrimp Aristeus antennatus (Risso, 1816) throughout the Mediterranean Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Rotllant, Guiomar; Abad, Esteban; Sardà, Francisco; Ábalos, Manuela; Company, Joan B.; Rivera, Josep

2006-12-01

Polychlorodibenzo- p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorodibenzofurans (PCDFs) are among the more toxic anthropogenic contaminants. They are fat-soluble and accumulate in animal tissues. Exposure to PCDD/Fs can cause several endocrine, reproductive and developmental problems in animals, including human beings. Several studies have demonstrated that fish and invertebrates living in association with sediments are exposed to and accumulate contaminants, but to date there have been no studies of PCDD/Fs contamination in deep-sea regions. Specimens of Aristeus antennatus (Risso, 1816) were collected from depths of 600-2500 m at different points in the Mediterranean Sea, from the western basin off the coast of Barcelona to the central basin off the Peloponnesian Peninsula, with otter trawl gear. Amounts of PCDD/Fs were measured in different animal tissues by high resolution gas chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry (HRGC-HRMS). This is the first study to report the presence of PCDD/Fs in deep-sea organisms dwelling at depths below 600 m. A. antennatus presented levels of PCDD/Fs of the same order of magnitude, or slightly higher, as those found in shallow-water species ( Melicertus kerathurus) with respect to land-generated contamination. This highlights the widespread distribution of these pollutants and the potential threat posed to the biodiversity of fragile and vulnerable ecosystems such as the deep-sea. PCDD/F levels detected in the edible parts (muscle) of the commercial shrimp A. antennatus were clearly below the toxic limit value established by European legislation. Levels followed the trend muscle

Assessment of Containment Structures Against Missile Impact Threats

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

LI Q M

2006-01-01

In order to ensure the highest safety requirements,nuclear power plant structures (the containment structures,the fuel storages and transportation systems) should be assessed against all possible internal and external impact threats.The internal impact threats include kinetic missiles generated by the failure of high pressure vessels and pipes,the failure of high speed rotating machineries and accidental drops.The external impact threats may come from airborne missiles,aircraft impact,explosion blast and fragments.The impact effects of these threats on concrete and steel structures in a nuclear power plant are discussed.Methods and procedures for the impact assessment of nuclear power plants are introduced.Recent studies on penetration and perforation mechanics as well as progresses on dynamic properties of concrete-like materials are presented to increase the understanding of the impact effects on concrete containment structures.

Uncovering iron regulation with species-specific transcriptome patterns in Atlantic and coho salmon during a Caligus rogercresseyi infestation.

Science.gov (United States)

Valenzuela-Muñoz, V; Boltaña, S; Gallardo-Escárate, C

2017-09-01

Salmon species cultured in Chile evidence different levels of susceptibility to the sea louse Caligus rogercresseyi. These differences have mainly been associated with specific immune responses. Moreover, iron regulation seems to be an important mechanism to confer immunity during the host infestation. This response called nutritional immunity has been described in bacterial infections, despite that no comprehensive studies involving in marine ectoparasites infestation have been reported. With this aim, we analysed the transcriptome profiles of Atlantic and coho salmon infected with C. rogercresseyi to evidence modulation of the iron metabolism as a proxy of nutritional immune responses. Whole transcriptome sequencing was performed in samples of skin and head kidney from Atlantic and coho salmon infected with sea lice. RNA-seq analyses revealed significant upregulation of transcripts in both salmon species at 7 and 14 dpi in skin and head kidney, respectively. However, iron regulation transcripts were differentially modulated, evidencing species-specific expression profiles. Genes related to heme degradation and iron transport such as hepcidin, transferrin and haptoglobin were primary upregulated in Atlantic salmon; meanwhile, in coho salmon, genes associated with heme biosynthesis were strongly transcribed. In summary, Atlantic salmon, which are more susceptible to infestation, presented molecular mechanisms to deplete cellular iron availability, suggesting putative mechanisms of nutritional immunity. In contrast, resistant coho salmon were less affected by sea lice, mainly activating pro-inflammatory mechanisms to cope with infestation. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Unhealthy interactions: the role of stereotype threat in health disparities.

Science.gov (United States)

Aronson, Joshua; Burgess, Diana; Phelan, Sean M; Juarez, Lindsay

2013-01-01

Stereotype threat is the unpleasant psychological experience of confronting negative stereotypes about race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or social status. Hundreds of published studies show how the experience of stereotype threat can impair intellectual functioning and interfere with test and school performance. Numerous published interventions derived from this research have improved the performance and motivation of individuals targeted by low-ability stereotypes. Stereotype threat theory and research provide a useful lens for understanding and reducing the negative health consequences of interracial interactions for African Americans and members of similarly stigmatized minority groups. Here we summarize the educational outcomes of stereotype threat and examine the implications of stereotype threat for health and health-related behaviors.

Unleashing Latent Ability: Implications of Stereotype Threat for College Admissions

Science.gov (United States)

Logel, Christine R.; Walton, Gregory M.; Spencer, Steven J.; Peach, Jennifer; Mark, Zanna P.

2012-01-01

Social-psychological research conducted over the past 15 years provides compelling evidence that pervasive psychological threats are present in common academic environments--especially threats that originate in negative intellectual stereotypes--and that these threats undermine the real-world academic performance of non-Asian ethnic minority…

Protected areas in tropical Africa: assessing threats and conservation activities.

Science.gov (United States)

Tranquilli, Sandra; Abedi-Lartey, Michael; Abernethy, Katharine; Amsini, Fidèle; Asamoah, Augustus; Balangtaa, Cletus; Blake, Stephen; Bouanga, Estelle; Breuer, Thomas; Brncic, Terry M; Campbell, Geneviève; Chancellor, Rebecca; Chapman, Colin A; Davenport, Tim R B; Dunn, Andrew; Dupain, Jef; Ekobo, Atanga; Eno-Nku, Manasseh; Etoga, Gilles; Furuichi, Takeshi; Gatti, Sylvain; Ghiurghi, Andrea; Hashimoto, Chie; Hart, John A; Head, Josephine; Hega, Martin; Herbinger, Ilka; Hicks, Thurston C; Holbech, Lars H; Huijbregts, Bas; Kühl, Hjalmar S; Imong, Inaoyom; Yeno, Stephane Le-Duc; Linder, Joshua; Marshall, Phil; Lero, Peter Minasoma; Morgan, David; Mubalama, Leonard; N'Goran, Paul K; Nicholas, Aaron; Nixon, Stuart; Normand, Emmanuelle; Nziguyimpa, Leonidas; Nzooh-Dongmo, Zacharie; Ofori-Amanfo, Richard; Ogunjemite, Babafemi G; Petre, Charles-Albert; Rainey, Hugo J; Regnaut, Sebastien; Robinson, Orume; Rundus, Aaron; Sanz, Crickette M; Okon, David Tiku; Todd, Angelique; Warren, Ymke; Sommer, Volker

2014-01-01

Numerous protected areas (PAs) have been created in Africa to safeguard wildlife and other natural resources. However, significant threats from anthropogenic activities and decline of wildlife populations persist, while conservation efforts in most PAs are still minimal. We assessed the impact level of the most common threats to wildlife within PAs in tropical Africa and the relationship of conservation activities with threat impact level. We collated data on 98 PAs with tropical forest cover from 15 countries across West, Central and East Africa. For this, we assembled information about local threats as well as conservation activities from published and unpublished literature, and questionnaires sent to long-term field workers. We constructed general linear models to test the significance of specific conservation activities in relation to the threat impact level. Subsistence and commercial hunting were identified as the most common direct threats to wildlife and found to be most prevalent in West and Central Africa. Agriculture and logging represented the most common indirect threats, and were most prevalent in West Africa. We found that the long-term presence of conservation activities (such as law enforcement, research and tourism) was associated with lower threat impact levels. Our results highlight deficiencies in the management effectiveness of several PAs across tropical Africa, and conclude that PA management should invest more into conservation activities with long-term duration.

Hindrances are not threats: advancing the multidimensionality of work stress.

Science.gov (United States)

Tuckey, Michelle R; Searle, Ben J; Boyd, Carolyn M; Winefield, Anthony H; Winefield, Helen R

2015-04-01

The challenge-hindrance framework has proved useful for explaining inconsistencies in relationships between work stressors and important outcomes. By introducing the distinction between threat and hindrance to this framework, we capture the potential for personal harm or loss (threat) associated with stressors, as distinct from the potential to block goal attainment (hindrance) or promote gain (challenge). In Study 1, survey data were collected from 609 retail workers, 220 of whom responded 6 months later. The results supported a 3-factor threat-hindrance-challenge stressor structure and showed that threat stressors are associated with increased psychological distress and emotional exhaustion, and reduced dedication, whereas hindrance stressors undermine dedication but may not be related to distress or exhaustion with threats included in the model. Study 2 utilized a diary study design, with data collected from 207 workers over 3 workdays. Findings revealed that the threat, hindrance, and challenge appraisals of individual workers are statistically distinct, and associated with stressors and well-being as anticipated: threats with role conflict and anxiety, hindrances with organizational constraints and fatigue, and challenges with skill demands and enthusiasm. Overall, moving to a 3-dimensional challenge-hindrance-threat framework for stressors and stress appraisals will support a more accurate picture regarding the nature, processes, and effects of stressors on individuals and organizations, and ensure prevention efforts are not misguided. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Protected areas in tropical Africa: assessing threats and conservation activities.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandra Tranquilli

Full Text Available Numerous protected areas (PAs have been created in Africa to safeguard wildlife and other natural resources. However, significant threats from anthropogenic activities and decline of wildlife populations persist, while conservation efforts in most PAs are still minimal. We assessed the impact level of the most common threats to wildlife within PAs in tropical Africa and the relationship of conservation activities with threat impact level. We collated data on 98 PAs with tropical forest cover from 15 countries across West, Central and East Africa. For this, we assembled information about local threats as well as conservation activities from published and unpublished literature, and questionnaires sent to long-term field workers. We constructed general linear models to test the significance of specific conservation activities in relation to the threat impact level. Subsistence and commercial hunting were identified as the most common direct threats to wildlife and found to be most prevalent in West and Central Africa. Agriculture and logging represented the most common indirect threats, and were most prevalent in West Africa. We found that the long-term presence of conservation activities (such as law enforcement, research and tourism was associated with lower threat impact levels. Our results highlight deficiencies in the management effectiveness of several PAs across tropical Africa, and conclude that PA management should invest more into conservation activities with long-term duration.

Interrelationships Among Men’s Threat Potential, Facial Dominance, and Vocal Dominance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chengyang Han

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The benefits of minimizing the costs of engaging in violent conflict are thought to have shaped adaptations for the rapid assessment of others’ capacity to inflict physical harm. Although studies have suggested that men’s faces and voices both contain information about their threat potential, one recent study suggested that men’s faces are a more valid cue of their threat potential than their voices are. Consequently, the current study investigated the interrelationships among a composite measure of men’s actual threat potential (derived from the measures of their upper-body strength, height, and weight and composite measures of these men’s perceived facial and vocal threat potential (derived from dominance, strength, and weight ratings of their faces and voices, respectively. Although men’s perceived facial and vocal threat potential were positively correlated, men’s actual threat potential was related to their perceived facial, but not vocal, threat potential. These results present new evidence that men’s faces may be a more valid cue of these aspects of threat potential than their voices are.

Functional effectiveness of threat appeals in exercise promotion messages

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olivier Mairesse

2010-01-01

Full Text Available As more than 70% of individuals in Western societies can be categorized as sedentary and inactivity has been recognized to lead to a series of serious physical and psychological disorders, the importance of physical activity promotion is ever more emphasized. Many social marketing campaigns use threat (or fear appeals to promote healthy behaviors. Theoretical models, such as the Extended Parallel Process Model integrate concepts as 'perceived threat' and 'perceived efficacy' to explain how such messages operate and can cause diverse behavioral reactions. It is however still not entirely clear how these different aspects are valuated and combined to determine desired versus undesired response behaviors in individuals. In a functional integration task, threat-appeal based exercise promotion messages varying in psychological threat and efficacy content were shown to sedentary employees in order to assess how they affect their intention to engage in physical exercise. Our results show that individuals can be categorized in 4 different clusters depending on the way they valuate threat and efficacy appeals: i.e. individuals sensitive to both types of cues, those sensitive to either the threat or the efficacy component in the message and those insensitive to either one of them. As different segments of receivers of the message react differently to threat and efficacy combinations, it is concluded that different approaches to designing effective mass media campaigns may be required for effective exercise promotion.

Architectural model for crowdsourcing for human security threats ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Journal of Computer Science and Its Application ... Crowdsourcing for Human Security Threats Situation Information and Response System (CHSTSIRS) is proposed in this paper to report Human Security (HS) ... Keywords: Human security, Crowdsourcing, Threats, Situation Information, Agency, Google, Cloud Messaging ...

Sea surface temperatures and salinities from platforms in the Barents Sea, Sea of Japan, North Atlantic Ocean, Philippine Sea, Red Sea, and the South China Sea (Nan Hai) from 1896-1950 (NODC Accession 0000506)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Surface temperatures and salinities were collected in the Barents Sea, Sea of Japan, North Atlantic Ocean, Philippine Sea, Red Sea, and South China Sea (Nan Hai)...

Observational analysis of air-sea fluxes and sea water temperature offshore South China Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Bi, X.; Huang, J.; Gao, Z.; Liu, Y.

2017-12-01

This paper investigates the air-sea fluxes (momentum flux, sensible heat flux and latent heat flux) from eddy covariance method based on data collected at an offshore observation tower in the South China Sea from January 2009 to December 2016 and sea water temperature (SWT) on six different levels based on data collected from November 2011 to June 2013. The depth of water at the tower over the sea averages about 15 m. This study presents the in-situ measurements of continuous air-sea fluxes and SWT at different depths. Seasonal and diurnal variations in air-sea fluxes and SWT on different depths are examined. Results show that air-sea fluxes and all SWT changed seasonally; sea-land breeze circulation appears all the year round. Unlike winters where SWT on different depths are fairly consistent, the difference between sea surface temperature (SST) and sea temperature at 10 m water depth fluctuates dramatically and the maximum value reaches 7 °C during summer.

Controls of Multiple Stressors on the Black Sea Fishery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Temel Oguz

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Black Sea is one of the most severely degraded and exploited large marine ecosystems in the world. For the last 50 years after the depletion of large predatory fish stocks, anchovy (with the partial contribution of sprat has been acting as the main top predator species and experienced a major stock collapse at the end of 1990s. After the collapse, eastern part of the southern Black Sea became the only region sustaining relatively high anchovy catch (400,000 tons whereas the total catch within the rest of the sea was reduced to nearly its one-third. The lack of recovery of different fish stocks under a slow ecosystem rehabilitation may be attributed, on the one hand, to inappropriate management measures and the lack of harmonized fishery policy among the riparian countries. On the other hand, impacts of multiple stressors (eutrophication, alien species invasions, natural climatic variations on the food web may contribute to resilience of the system toward its recovery. The overfishing/recovery problem therefore cannot be isolated from rehabilitation efforts devoted to the long-term chronic degradation of the food web structure, and alternative fishery-related management measures must be adopted as a part of a comprehensive ecosystem-based management strategy. The present study provides a data-driven ecosystem assessment, underlines the key environmental issues and threats, and points to the critical importance of holistic approach to resolve the fishery-ecosystem interactions. It also stresses the transboundary nature of the problem.

Kidnapping and abduction minimizing the threat and lessons in survival

CERN Document Server

Heard, Brian John

2014-01-01

Terrorist groups and organized crime cartels pose an increasing threat of kidnapping throughout many regions in the word. At the same time, international travel has become more commonplace for both business and leisure purposes. Kidnapping and Abduction: Minimizing the Threat and Lessons in Survival provides a practical guide on the precautions travelers can take to avoid being kidnapped or derail a kidnapping attempt in progress. In the event this cannot be avoided, the book supplies advice on how to ensure survival during captivity. Readers will learn: The basic elements of kidnapping and abduction The motivations and mechanisms of kidnappers The hotspots where kidnapping/hostage taking is prevalent Vehicles best suited for avoidance of kidnap threat and proposals for up-armoring an existing vehicle How to recognize immediate threats and precautions to be taken in assessing threat level The types of weapons most favored by kidnappers and their threat level Available bullet-resistant materials and their use ...

The Bright Side of Threatened Narcissism: Improved Performance Following Ego Threat.

Science.gov (United States)

Nevicka, Barbora; Baas, Matthijs; Ten Velden, Femke S

2016-12-01

Narcissistic individuals have highly positive self-views and overestimate their abilities. Consequently, they tend to react aggressively whenever they receive information that does not match their high self-views (ego threat). We argue that focusing on aggression merely portrays a one-sided view of narcissistic individuals and the manner in which they counter ego threats. We propose that following ego threat, narcissism can also fuel performance. In four studies, we measured nonclinical narcissism and allocated Dutch undergraduate university students (N 1  = 175, N 2  = 142, N 3  = 159, N 4  = 174) to either an ego threat or a no ego threat condition. Ego threat involved negative feedback (Studies 1-2) or threat to uniqueness (Studies 3-4). We measured participants' intentions to complete a challenging task (Study 1), their creative performance (Studies 2-3), and their performance on an anagram task (Study 4). Across Studies 1-3, we consistently found that following ego threat, higher nonclinical narcissism was associated with greater willingness to perform tasks that enabled demonstration of abilities and enhanced creative performance. These results were confirmed using a meta-analysis. However, anagram performance was not enhanced following ego threat. We provide additional analyses that might help explain this. Our findings thus reveal a more positive side to the way narcissistic individuals manage threats to their self-image. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Spatially explicit risk approach for multi-hazard assessment and management in marine environment: The case study of the Adriatic Sea.

Science.gov (United States)

Furlan, Elisa; Torresan, Silvia; Critto, Andrea; Marcomini, Antonio

2018-03-15

In the last few decades the health of marine ecosystems has been progressively endangered by the anthropogenic presence. Natural and human-made pressures, as well as climate change effects, are posing increasing threats on marine areas, triggering alteration of biological, chemical and physical processes. Planning of marine areas has become a challenge for decision makers involved in the design of sustainable management options. In order to address threats posed by climate drivers in combination with local to regional anthropogenic pressures affecting marine ecosystems and activities, a multi-hazard assessment methodology was developed and applied to the Adriatic Sea for the reference scenario 2000-2015. Through a four-stages process based on the consecutive analysis of hazard, exposure, vulnerability and risk the methodology allows a semi-quantitative evaluation of the relative risk from anthropogenic and natural sources to multiple endpoints, thus supporting the identification and ranking of areas and targets more likely to be at risk. Resulting output showed that the higher relative hazard scores are linked to exogenic pressures (e.g. sea surface temperature variation) while the lower ones resulted from endogenic and more localized stressors (e.g. abrasion, nutrient input). Relatively very high scores were observed for vulnerability over the whole case study for almost all the considered pressures, showing seagrasses meadows, maërl and coral beds as the most susceptible targets. The approach outlined in this study provides planners and decision makers a quick-screening tool to evaluate progress towards attaining a good environmental status and to identify marine areas where management actions and adaptation strategies would be best targeted. Moreover, by focusing on risks induced by land-based drivers, resulting output can support the design of infrastructures for reducing pressures on the sea, contributing to improve the land-sea interface management

Personality, threat and affective responses to cultural diversity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van der Zee, K.I.; Van Der Gang, Ineke

The present study tried to reconcile assumptions from Terror Management Theory that individual differences in openness to diversity are enhanced by existential threat with own recent findings suggesting that individual differences are diminished by threat. A model was supported assuming that it is

Identified Natural Hazards May Cause Adverse Impact on Sustainability of Desalination Plants in Red Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Aburizaiza, O. S.; Zaigham, N. A.; Nayyar, Z. A.; Mahar, G. A.; Siddique, A.; Eusufi, S. N.

2011-12-01

The Red Sea and its surrounding countries have harsh arid climatic conditions where fast growth of the socio-economic activities and rapid change of lifestyle have caused tremendous stress on water to the level of acute crisis. To meet the water demands, the Red Sea countries have adopted seawater desalination giving priority against their land-based resources. Saudi Arabia is the largest desalinated-water producers in the Red Sea and has practically no adequate backup plan in case of sudden unforeseen emergency. Out of about 3.64 million m3/day, Saudi Arabia is alone being desalinated about 3.29 m3/day seawater from Red Sea and more projects are in progress. Present integrated research study has identified some of natural and anthropogenic hazards, which may be major threats to the quality of the seawater as well as to the desalination plants themselves. Results of present study reveal that the submarine complex morphologic features may cause the isolation of Red Sea from any of the open sea, the increase in the seismicity trends, the active volcanism causing unique longitudinal as well as transverse deformations of the axial trough particularly in the southern part of the Red Sea, the consistently generating enormous hot-brine tectonic-factory all along the deeper parts of the Red Sea rifting trough and other related issues. Considering the identified odd conditions, the total dependence on seawater desalination may not be worthwhile for sustainable water management strategy and consequent socio-economic developments in future. It is recommended that the priority should also be given mainly in three main disciplines to meet the future water challenges - one, developing reliable backup water management; second, alternate options for the supplementary resources of water; and third, the development and immediate implementation of the water-use conservation strategy plan.

Web threat and its implication for E-business in Nigeria ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Web threat is any threat that uses the internet to facilitate identity theft , fraud, espionage and intelligence gathering. Web -based vulnerabilities now outnumber traditional computer security concerns. Such threats use multiple types of malware and fraud, all of which utilize HTTP or HTTPS protocols, but may also employ ...

An Examination of Stereotype Threat Effects on Girls' Mathematics Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Ganley, Colleen M.; Mingle, Leigh A.; Ryan, Allison M.; Ryan, Katherine; Vasilyeva, Marina; Perry, Michelle

2013-01-01

Stereotype threat has been proposed as 1 potential explanation for the gender difference in standardized mathematics test performance among high-performing students. At present, it is not entirely clear how susceptibility to stereotype threat develops, as empirical evidence for stereotype threat effects across the school years is inconsistent. In…

Using Flow Regime Lightning and Sounding Climatologies to Initialize Gridded Lightning Threat Forecasts for East Central Florida

Science.gov (United States)

Lambert, Winifred; Short, David; Volkmer, Matthew; Sharp, David; Spratt, Scott

2007-01-01

Each morning, the forecasters at the National Weather Service in Melbourne, FL (NWS MLB) produce an experimental cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning threat index map for their county warning area (CWA) that is posted to their web site (httl://www.srh.weather.gov/mlb/ghwo/lightning.shtml) . Given the hazardous nature of lightning in East Central Florida, especially during the warm season months of May September, these maps help users factor the threat of lightning, relative to their location, into their daily plans. The maps are color-coded in five levels from Very Low to Extreme, with threat level definitions based on the probability of lightning occurrence and the expected amount of CG activity. On a day in which thunderstorms are expected, there are typically two or more threat levels depicted spatially across the CWA. The locations of relative lightning threat maxima and minima often depend on the position and orientation of the low-level ridge axis, forecast propagation and interaction of sea/lake/outflow boundaries, expected evolution of moisture and stability fields, and other factors that can influence the spatial distribution of thunderstorms over the CWA. The lightning threat index maps are issued for the 24-hour period beginning at 1200 UTC each day with a grid resolution of 5 km x 5 km. Product preparation is performed on the AWIPS Graphical Forecast Editor (GFE), which is the standard NWS platform for graphical editing. Until recently, the forecasters created each map manually, starting with a blank map. To improve efficiency of the forecast process, NWS MLB requested that the Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) create gridded warm season lightning climatologies that could be used as first-guess inputs to initialize lightning threat index maps. The gridded values requested included CG strike densities and frequency of occurrence stratified by synoptic-scale flow regime. The intent was to improve consistency between forecasters while allowing them to focus on the

Determinación volumétrica de la sílice en el cemento Portland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Calleja, J.

1966-09-01

Full Text Available Not availableSe describe un método volumétrico para la determinación cuantitativa de la sílice en el cemento portland, basado en la precipitación de la misma como fluorosilicato potásico, hidrólisis de esta sal insoluble en las condiciones de ensayo y valoración del ácido fluorhídrico liberado, con una disolución de hidróxido sódico. El método da valores reproducibles con muy escasa dispersión. La diferencia entre los valores más dispares de series de diez determinaciones hechas en una misma muestra por el mismo operador, son del orden de la tolerada por las normas A.S.T.M. (método gravimétrico para valores de un mismo operador obtenidos sobre una muestra. La diferencia entre cualesquiera otros dos valores de las series, o entre uno cualquiera de ellos y la media correspondiente a dicha serie, es muy inferior al margen de tolerancia de la A.S.T.M. Finalmente, entre el valor gravimétrico según el método de las normas A.S.T.M. y los valores volumétricos obtenidos por el método descrito, a la media de ellos, existe una concordancia aceptable.

Does Stereotype Threat Affect Women in Academic Medicine?

Science.gov (United States)

Burgess, Diana Jill; Joseph, Anne; van Ryn, Michelle; Carnes, Molly

2012-01-01

Multiple complex factors contribute to the slow pace of women’s advancement into leadership positions in academic medicine. In this article, the authors propose that stereotype threat--under which individuals who are members of a group characterized by negative stereotypes in a particular domain perform below their actual abilities in that domain when group membership is emphasized--may play an important role in the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions in academic medicine. Research to objectively assess the impact of stereotype threat for women in academic medicine is feasible and necessary to confirm this hypothesis. Still, a number of conditions present in the academic medicine community today have been shown to trigger stereotype threat in other settings, and stereotype threat fits with existing research on gender in academic medicine. In the meantime, academic health centers should implement relatively simple measures supported by experimental evidence from other settings to reduce the risk of stereotype threat, including: (1) introducing the concept of stereotype threat to the academic medicine community; (2) engaging all stakeholders, male and female, to promote identity safety by enacting and making faculty aware of policies to monitor potential instances of discrimination, and training faculty to provide performance feedback that is free of gender bias; (3) counteracting the effects of sex segregation at academic health centers by increasing exposure to successful female leaders; (4) reducing gender stereotype priming by avoiding stereotypically male criteria for promotion, grants, and awards; and (5) building leadership efficacy among female physicians and scientists. PMID:22361794

Cognitive and affective components of challenge and threat states.

Science.gov (United States)

Meijen, Carla; Jones, Marc V; McCarthy, Paul J; Sheffield, David; Allen, Mark S

2013-01-01

We explored the cognitive and affective components of the Theory of Challenge and Threat States in Athletes (TCTSA) using a cross-sectional design. One hundred and seventy-seven collegiate athletes indicated how they typically approached an important competition on measures of self-efficacy, perceived control, achievement goals, emotional states and interpretation of emotional states. Participants also indicated to what extent they typically perceived the important competition as a challenge and/or a threat. The results suggest that a perception of challenge was not predicted by any of the cognitive components. A perception of threat was positively predicted by avoidance goals and negatively predicted by self-efficacy and approach goals. Both challenge and threat had a positive relationship with anxiety. Practical implications of this study are that an avoidance orientation appeared to be related to potentially negative constructs such as anxiety, threat and dejection. The findings may suggest that practitioners and researchers should focus on reducing an avoidance orientation, however the results should be treated with caution in applied settings, as this study did not examine how the combination of constructs exactly influences sport performance. The results provided partial support for the TCTSA with stronger support for proposed relationships with threat rather than challenge states.

Examining the Effects of Stereotype Threat on Test-Taking Behaviors

Science.gov (United States)

Scherbaum, Charles A.; Blanshetyn, Victoria; Marshall-Wolp, Elizabeth; McCue, Elizabeth; Strauss, Ross

2011-01-01

This study examines the relationship between stereotype threat and individual test-taking behaviors. Previous research has examined the impact of stereotype threat on test scores, but little research has examined the impact of stereotype threat on the test-taking behaviors impacting those scores. Using a pre-post experimental design, stereotype…

'NRBC' threat: is this concept still valid?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lacronique, J.F.

2006-01-01

About 10 years ago, after the Sarin attack in Tokyo, the world discover that terrorists could use again radio-nuclear, chemical or biological agents to launch attacks, just to cause terror and disruption of western economies. This has forged the acronym 'NRBC'. In terms of likelihood, nuclear and radiological attacks could be considered among the most easy to prepare, and some possible acts are listed in this paper. A considerable amount of work has been prepared for the preparedness against radio-nuclear attacks, during the last 3 years, by World Health Organization (WHO), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Atomic Energy Agency (AEN) as well as by the International Commission of Radio Protection (ICRP). A series of documents have been issued from international cooperation. These documents shows specificities to the R/N threat in terms of health consequences, that make this threat less prone to international cooperative efforts than biological threats. In addition, the Ministers of Health of the G7 countries have created an 'Global Health Security Initiative' (GHSI) in 2002 to anticipate crisis such as the anthrax problem, or other possible NRBC threats

Threat and efficacy in Malaysia’s cancer news coverage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Collin Jerome

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Background: The news media plays important roles not only in creating and disseminating health messages, but also in influencing people’s perceptions of health and their health behaviours. However, much more needs to be known about the creation process, particularly how health messages are created with the goal of raising awareness and knowledge, and changing people’s attitudes and behaviours. This paper presents a study aimed at examining cancer risk messages in Malaysia’s leading newspapers. Methods: Our search identified count the total 73 articles related to cancer which were published in three leading Malaysian English dailies in 2012 – September 2017. Of these, 10 were selected for a content analysis using the Extended Parallel Process (EPPM Model. The analysis focused on the presence and the levels of two important components required for designing effective health risk message: threat (severity and susceptibility and efficacy (responses efficacy and self-efficacy. The language used in the news articles was also analysed to see whether it helped enhance the threat-efficacy levels which are crucial for increasing message acceptance and yielding behaviour change. Results: Present study shows that the varying presence of threat and efficacy in the articles as evidenced by messages that focused on threat alone with no efficacy and messages that highlighted both threat and efficacy. Results also show contrasting levels of threat and efficacy as evidenced by messages that possessed high levels of threat and efficacy and messages that revealed a high level of threat and a low level of efficacy. Furthermore, the contents were composed differently in terms of language use: some articles used neutral language while others used vivid and descriptive language in addressing the topic and target audience. These have implication on message acceptance and behaviour change where high levels of threat and efficacy, and the ways in which vivid

Beyond just sea-level rise: Considering macroclimatic drivers within coastal wetland vulnerability assessments to climate change

Science.gov (United States)

Osland, Michael J.; Enwright, Nicholas M.; Day, Richard H.; Gabler, Christopher A.; Stagg, Camille L.; Grace, James B.

2016-01-01

Due to their position at the land-sea interface, coastal wetlands are vulnerable to many aspects of climate change. However, climate change vulnerability assessments for coastal wetlands generally focus solely on sea-level rise without considering the effects of other facets of climate change. Across the globe and in all ecosystems, macroclimatic drivers (e.g., temperature and rainfall regimes) greatly influence ecosystem structure and function. Macroclimatic drivers have been the focus of climate-change related threat evaluations for terrestrial ecosystems, but largely ignored for coastal wetlands. In some coastal wetlands, changing macroclimatic conditions are expected to result in foundation plant species replacement, which would affect the supply of certain ecosystem goods and services and could affect ecosystem resilience. As examples, we highlight several ecological transition zones where small changes in macroclimatic conditions would result in comparatively large changes in coastal wetland ecosystem structure and function. Our intent in this communication is not to minimize the importance of sea-level rise. Rather, our overarching aim is to illustrate the need to also consider macroclimatic drivers within vulnerability assessments for coastal wetlands.

Towards an Enhancement of Organizational Information Security through Threat Factor Profiling (TFP) Model

Science.gov (United States)

Sidi, Fatimah; Daud, Maslina; Ahmad, Sabariah; Zainuddin, Naqliyah; Anneisa Abdullah, Syafiqa; Jabar, Marzanah A.; Suriani Affendey, Lilly; Ishak, Iskandar; Sharef, Nurfadhlina Mohd; Zolkepli, Maslina; Nur Majdina Nordin, Fatin; Amat Sejani, Hashimah; Ramadzan Hairani, Saiful

2017-09-01

Information security has been identified by organizations as part of internal operations that need to be well implemented and protected. This is because each day the organizations face a high probability of increase of threats to their networks and services that will lead to information security issues. Thus, effective information security management is required in order to protect their information assets. Threat profiling is a method that can be used by an organization to address the security challenges. Threat profiling allows analysts to understand and organize intelligent information related to threat groups. This paper presents a comparative analysis that was conducted to study the existing threat profiling models. It was found that existing threat models were constructed based on specific objectives, thus each model is limited to only certain components or factors such as assets, threat sources, countermeasures, threat agents, threat outcomes and threat actors. It is suggested that threat profiling can be improved by the combination of components found in each existing threat profiling model/framework. The proposed model can be used by an organization in executing a proactive approach to incident management.

Marine debris and human impacts on sea turtles in southern Brazil

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bugoni, Leandro; Krause, Ligia [Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Dept. de Zoologia, Porto Alegre, RS (Brazil); Petry, Maria Virginia [Universidade do Rio dos Sinos, Museu de Zoologia, Sao Leopoldo, RS (Brazil)

2001-07-01

Dead stranded sea turtles were recovered and examined to determine the impact of anthropogenic debris and fishery activities on sea turtles on the coast of Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. Esophagus/stomach contents of 38 juvenile green Chelonia mydas, 10 adults and sub-adults loggerhead Caretta caretta, and two leatherback Dermochelys coriacea turtle (adult or sub-adult) included plastic bags as the main debris ingested, predominated by white and colorless pieces. The ingestion of anthropogenic debris accounted for the death of 13.2% of the green turtles examined. Signs of damage over the body and carapace indicated that fishing activities caused the death of 13.6% (3/22) of loggerheads and 1.5% (1/56) of green turtles. Therefore, it appears that direct and indirect effects of fishing activities may pose a threat to these species in Brazilian waters. Other sources of plastic debris should be investigated as well a the direct impact of fisheries, especially bottom trawl and gill nets, in order to establish effective conservation action. (Author)

High Acidification Rate of Norwegian Sea Revealed by Boron Isotopes in the Deep-Sea Coral Madrepora Oculata

Science.gov (United States)

Gonzalez, C.; Douville, E.; Hall-Spencer, J.; Montagna, P.; Louvat, P.; Gaillardet, J.; Frank, N.; Bordier, L.; Juillet-Leclerc, A.

2012-12-01

Ocean acidification and global warming due to the increase of anthropogenic CO2 are major threats for marine calcifying organisms, such as deep-sea corals, particularly in high-latitude regions. In order to evaluate the current anthropogenic perturbation and to properly assess the impacts and responses of calcifiers to previous changes in pH it is critical to investigate past changes of the seawater carbonate system. Unfortunately, current instrumental records of oceanic pH are limited, covering only a few decades. Scleractinian coral skeletons record chemical parameters of the seawater in which they grow. However, pH variability over multidecadal timescales remains largely unknown in intermediate and deep seawater masses. Here we present a study that highlights the potential of deep-sea-corals to overcome the lack of long-term pH records and that emphasizes a rapid acidification of high latitude subsurface waters of Norwegian Sea during the past decades. We have reconstructed seawater pH and temperature from a well dated deep-sea coral specimen Madrepora oculata collected alive from Røst reef in Norwegian Sea (67°N, 9°E, 340 m depth). This large branching framework forming coral species grew its skeleton over more than four decades determined using AMS 14C and 210Pb dating (Sabatier et al. 2012). B-isotopes and Li/Mg ratios yield an acidification rate of about -0.0030±0.0008 pH-unit.year-1 and a warming of 0.3°C during the past four decades (1967-2007). Overall our reconstruction technique agrees well with previous pH calculations (Hönisch et al., 2007 vs. Trotter et al., 2011 and McCulloch et al., 2012, i.e. the iterative method), but additional corrections are here applied using stable isotope correlations (O, C, B) to properly address kinetic fractionation of boron isotopes used for pH reconstruction. The resulting pH curve strongly anti-correlates with the annual NAO index, which further strengthens our evidence for the ocean acidification rate

A Probabilistic Analysis Framework for Malicious Insider Threats

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chen, Taolue; Kammuller, Florian; Nemli, Ibrahim

2015-01-01

Malicious insider threats are difficult to detect and to mitigate. Many approaches for explaining behaviour exist, but there is little work to relate them to formal approaches to insider threat detection. In this work we present a general formal framework to perform analysis for malicious insider...

Investigating Hypervigilance for Social Threat of Lonely Children

Science.gov (United States)

Qualter, Pamela; Rotenberg, Ken; Barrett, Louise; Henzi, Peter; Barlow, Alexandra; Stylianou, Maria; Harris, Rebecca A.

2013-01-01

The hypothesis that lonely children show hypervigilance for social threat was examined in a series of three studies that employed different methods including advanced eye-tracking technology. Hypervigilance for social threat was operationalized as hostility to ambiguously motivated social exclusion in a variation of the hostile attribution…

Towards Formal Analysis of Insider Threats for Auctions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kammueller, Florian; Kerber, Manfred; Probst, Christian W.

2016-01-01

is meaningful to prove correctness and scrutinize vulnerability to security and privacy attacks. Surveying the threats in auctions and insider collusions, we present an approach to model and analyze auction protocols for insider threats using the interactive theorem prover Isabelle. As a case study, we use...

SECURITY THREATS IN CENTRAL ASIA