Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command

Recent research on ocean health has found large predator abundance to be a key element of ocean condition. Fisheries can impact large predator abundance directly through targeted capture and indirectly through incidental capture of nontarget species or bycatch. However, measures of the global nature of bycatch are lacking for air-breathing megafauna. We fill this knowledge gap and present a synoptic global assessment of the distribution and intensity of bycatch of seabirds, marine mammals, and sea turtles based on empirical data from the three most commonly used types of fishing gears worldwide. We identify taxa-specific hotspots of bycatch intensity and find evidence of cumulative impacts across fishing fleets and gears. This global map of bycatch illustrates where data are particularly scarce--in coastal and small-scale fisheries and ocean regions that support developed industrial fisheries and millions of small-scale fishers--and identifies fishing areas where, given the evidence of cumulative hotspots across gear and taxa, traditional species or gear-specific bycatch management and mitigation efforts may be necessary but not sufficient. Given the global distribution of bycatch and the mitigation success achieved by some fleets, the reduction of air-breathing megafauna bycatch is both an urgent and achievable conservation priority.

Human settlement of Oceania marked the culmination of a global colonization process that began when humans first left Africa at least 90,000 years ago. The precise origins and dispersal routes of the Austronesian peoples and the associated Lapita culture remain contentious, and numerous disparate models of dispersal (based primarily on linguistic, genetic, and archeological data) have been proposed. Here, through the use of mtDNA from 781 modern and ancient Sus specimens, we provide evidence for an early human-mediated translocation of the Sulawesi warty pig (Sus celebensis) to Flores and Timor and two later separate human-mediated dispersals of domestic pig (Sus scrofa) through Island Southeast Asia into Oceania. Of the later dispersal routes, one is unequivocally associated with the Neolithic (Lapita) and later Polynesian migrations and links modern and archeological Javan, Sumatran, Wallacean, and Oceanic pigs with mainland Southeast Asian S. scrofa. Archeological and genetic evidence shows these pigs were certainly introduced to islands east of the Wallace Line, including New Guinea, and that so-called "wild" pigs within this region are most likely feral descendants of domestic pigs introduced by early agriculturalists. The other later pig dispersal links mainland East Asian pigs to western Micronesia, Taiwan, and the Philippines. These results provide important data with which to test current models for human dispersal in the region.

This study compares the performance of design/bid/build and design/build to see if one project delivery method is superior in regards to time and cost. Similar military buildings were used to identify two samples of projects delivered with each of the two delivery methods. These projects provide a meaningful comparison because they include buildings of the same typology (i.e., U.S. Navy Bachelor Enlisted Quarters) delivered using similar design models. Project duration, project duration per bed, project time growth, cost growth and cost per bed were statistically compared. Upon completion of the analysis, the hypothesis that design/build projects are superior to design/bid/build projects in regards to time and cost was tested. Design/build projects were proven superior in performance in almost every measure. Other findings, including recommendations to practitioners and researchers, will be provided as well.

The extent of blockade when four different techniques were used for blocking the lumbar plexus was prospectively evaluated in 80 adult patients. The extent of blockade was measured by testing motor function of all nerves except the lateral and posterior femoral cutaneous nerves, which were evaluated by pinprick response. The posterior approaches of Dekrey at L3 (n = 20) and Chayen at L4-5 (n = 20) proved similarly effective in producing blockade of the femoral, obturator, and lateral femoral cutaneous nerves, as well as the nerves to the psoas muscle. The anterior approach of Winnie (femoral sheath or 3-in-1 block) using paresthesia (n = 20) or peripheral nerve stimulation (n = 20) proved effective in producing blockade of the femoral and lateral femoral cutaneous nerves, but ineffective for obturator nerve blockade. None of the four techniques produced blockade of the sacral plexus. Perhaps our means of assessing blockade (motor) is what produced the difference between our findings and those of others.

A prototype ultra-wideband (UWB) precision asset location (PAL) system was developed and tested aboard the SS Curtiss in Port Hueneme, California. The PAL system was developed to assess the capability of UWB geolocation to operate in severe multipath shipboard environments. The PAL system was based on an earlier UWB relative-time-of-arrival (RTOA) transceiver location system and was extended to a differential-time-of-arrival (DTOA) beacon architecture required for longer tag battery life. Testing was performed in open cargo spaces (worst-case multipath) and partially loaded cargo spaces (blockage). A reference laser surveying system was installed for comparison and accuracy tests were conducted over a cargo space. The PAL system performed to the estimated accuracy of a few feet in open cargo holds. UWB appeared to penetrate large cracks between containers, maintaining localization capability during blockage tests. This paper describes the UWB PAL system and the shipboard testing.

Fisheries bycatch is considered the most serious threat globally to long‐lived marine megafauna (e.g., mammals, birds, turtles, elasmobranchs). However, bycatch assessments to date have not evaluated population‐level bycatch impacts across fishing gears. Here, we provide the first global, multi‐gear evaluation of population‐level fisheries bycatch impacts for marine turtles. To compare bycatch impacts of multiple gears within and among marine turtle populations (or regional management units, RMUs), we compiled more than 1,800 records from over 230 sources of reported marine turtle bycatch in longline, net, and trawl fisheries worldwide that were published between 1990–2011. The highest bycatch rates and levels of observed effort for each gear category occurred in the East Pacific, Northwest and Southwest Atlantic, and Mediterranean regions, which were also the regions of highest data availability. Overall, available data were dominated by longline records (nearly 60% of all records), and were non‐uniformly distributed, with significant data gaps around Africa, in the Indian Ocean, and Southeast Asia. We found that bycatch impact scores—which integrate information on bycatch rates, fishing effort, mortality rates, and body sizes (i.e., proxies for reproductive values) of turtles taken as bycatch—as well as mortality rates in particular, were significantly lower in longline fishing gear than in net and trawl fishing gears. Based on bycatch impact scores and RMU‐specific population metrics, we identified the RMUs most and least threatened by bycatch globally, and found wide variation among species, regions, and gears within these classifications. The lack of regional or species‐specific patterns in bycatch impacts across fishing gears suggests that gear types and RMUs in which bycatch has the highest impact depend on spatially‐explicit overlaps of fisheries (e.g., gear characteristics, fishing practices, target species), marine turtle populations (e.g., conservation status, aggregation areas), and underlying habitat features (e.g., oceanographic conditions). Our study provides a blueprint both for prioritizing limited conservation resources toward managing fishing gears and practices with the highest population impacts on sea turtles and for enhancing data collection and reporting efforts.

Chlorinated solvents such as trichloroethene (TCE) and tetrachloroethene (PCE) are widespread groundwater contaminants often released as dense nonaqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs). These contaminants are difficult to remediate, particularly their source zones. This review summarizes the progress made in improving DNAPL source zone remediation over the past decade, and is structured to highlight the important practical lessons learned for improving DNAPL source zone remediation. Experience has shown that complete restoration is rare, and alternative metrics such as mass discharge are often useful for assessing the performance of partial restoration efforts. Experience also has shown that different technologies are needed for different times and locations, and that deliberately combining technologies may improve overall remedy performance. Several injection-based technologies are capable of removing a large fraction of the total contaminant mass, and reducing groundwater concentrations and mass discharge by 1 to 2 orders of magnitude. Thermal treatment can remove even more mass, but even these technologies generally leave some contamination in place. Research on better delivery techniques and characterization technologies will likely improve treatment, but managers should anticipate that source treatment will leave some contamination in place that will require future management.

= 58 for groundwater) and analyzed for an extensive list of anionic, zwitterionic, and cationic poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs). Spatial trends for perfluoroalkyl acids and many precursors enabled a better understanding of PFAS composition, transport, and transformation. All PFASs without analytical standards were semi-quantified. Summed PFAS and individual PFAS concentrations were often higher at depth than near the surface in soil and groundwater. Zwitterionic and cationic compounds composed a majority of the total PFAS mass (up to 97%) in firefighter training area (FTA) soil. Composition of PFAS class, chain length, and structural isomers changed with depth and distance from the FTA, suggesting in situ transformation and differential transport. The percentage of branched perfluorooctane sulfonate increased with depth, consistent with differential isomeric transport. However, linear perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) was enriched, suggesting fluorotelomer precursor transformation to linear PFOA. Perfluorohexane sulfonamide, a potential transformation product of sulfonamide-based PFASs, was present at high concentrations (maximum 448 ng/g in soil, 3.4 mg/L in groundwater). Precursor compounds may create long-term sources of perfluoroalkyl acids, although many pathways remain unknown; precursor analysis is critical for PFAS fate and transport understanding.

CuPC-applied perovskite solar cells show excellent long-term thermal stability which is attributed to the reliable interface and intrinsic heat-resistance of CuPC.

Poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) derived from aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) are increasingly recognized as groundwater contaminants, though the composition and distribution of AFFF-derived PFASs associated with soils and subsurface sediments remain largely unknown. This is particularly true for zwitterionic and cationic PFASs, which may be incompletely extracted from subsurface solids by analytical methods developed for anionic PFASs. Therefore, a method involving sequential basic and acidic methanol extractions was developed and evaluated for recovery of anionic, cationic, and zwitterionic PFASs from field-collected, AFFF-impacted soils. The method was validated by spike-recovery experiments with equilibrated soil-water-AFFF and analytical standards. To determine the relative importance of PFASs lacking commercially available analytical standards, their concentrations were estimated by a novel semiquantitation approach. Total PFAS concentrations determined by semiquantitation were compared with concentrations determined by the total oxidizable precursor assay. Finally, the described method was applied to two soil cores from former fire-training areas in which cations and zwitterions were found to contribute up to 97% of the total PFAS mass. This result demonstrates the need for extraction and analysis methods, such as the ones presented here, that are capable of quantifying cationic and zwitterionic PFASs in AFFF-impacted source zone soils.

Enhancement of in situ anaerobic biodegradation of BTEX compounds was demonstrated at a petroleum-contaminated aquifer in Seal Beach, CA. Specifically, combined injection of nitrate and sulfate into the contaminated aquifer was used to accelerate BTEX removal as compared to remediation by natural attenuation. An array of multi-level sampling wells was used to monitor the evolution of the in situ spatial distributions of the electron acceptors and the BTEX compounds. Nitrate was utilized preferentially over sulfate and was completely consumed within a horizontal distance of 4-6 m from the injection well; sulfate reduction occurred in the region outside the denitrifying zone. By combining injection of both nitrate and sulfate, the total electron acceptor capacity was enhanced without violating practical considerations that limit the amount of nitrate or sulfate that can be added individually. Degradation of total xylene appears linked to sulfate utilization, indicating another advantage of combined injection versus injection of nitrate alone. Benzene degradation also appears to have been stimulated by the nitrate and sulfate injection close to the injection well but only toward the end of the 15-month demonstration. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that benzene can be biodegraded anaerobically after other preferentially degraded hydrocarbons have been removed.

Porous planar structure, as a new concept of low temperature processing ETL, enables to achieve unprecedented PCE in flexible unit cells and large area modules.

(1957). The Development of Interpersonal Maturity: Applications to Delinquency. Psychiatry: Vol. 20, No. 4, pp. 373-385.

A potential emerging problem associated with increasingly popularized extreme conditioning programs (ECPs) has been identified by the military and civilian communities. That is, there is an apparent disproportionate musculoskeletal injury risk from these demanding programs, particularly for novice participants, resulting in lost duty time, medical treatment, and extensive rehabilitation. This is a significant and costly concern for the military with regard to effectively maintaining operational readiness of the Force. While there are certain recognized positive aspects of ECPs that address a perceived and/or actual unfulfilled conditioning need for many individuals and military units, these programs have limitations and should be considered carefully. Moreover, certain distinctive characteristics of ECPs appear to violate recognized accepted standards for safely and appropriately developing muscular fitness and are not uniformly aligned with established and accepted training doctrine. Accordingly, practical solutions to improve ECP prescription and implementation and reduce injury risk are of paramount importance.

shallow limestone platform and reefs. This has doubled the global cover of such MPAs.It contains 25-50% of the Indian Ocean reef area remaining in excellent condition, as well as the world's largest contiguous undamaged reef area. It has suffered from warming episodes, but after the most severe mortality event of 1998, coral cover was restored after 10 years.Coral reef fishes are orders of magnitude more abundant than in other Indian Ocean locations, regardless of whether the latter are fished or protected.Coral diseases are extremely low, and no invasive marine species are known.Genetically, Chagos marine species are part of the Western Indian Ocean, and Chagos serves as a 'stepping-stone' in the ocean.The no-take MPA extends to the 200 nm boundary, and. includes 86 unfished seamounts and 243 deep knolls as well as encompassing important pelagic species.On the larger islands, native plants, coconut crabs, bird and turtle colonies were largely destroyed in plantation times, but several smaller islands are in relatively undamaged state.There are now 10 'important bird areas', coconut crab density is high and numbers of green and hawksbill turtles are recovering.Diego Garcia atoll contains a military facility; this atoll contains one Ramsar site and several 'strict nature reserves'. Pollutant monitoring shows it to be the least polluted inhabited atoll in the world. Today, strict environmental regulations are enforced.Shoreline erosion is significant in many places. Its economic cost in the inhabited part of Diego Garcia is very high, but all islands are vulnerable.Chagos is ideally situated for several monitoring programmes, and use is increasingly being made of the archipelago for this purpose.

Given new distribution patterns of the endangered North Atlantic right whale (NARW; Eubalaena glacialis) population in recent years, an improved understanding of spatio-temporal movements are imperative for the conservation of this species. While so far visual data have provided most information on NARW movements, passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) was used in this study in order to better capture year-round NARW presence. This project used PAM data from 2004 to 2014 collected by 19 organizations throughout the western North Atlantic Ocean. Overall, data from 324 recorders (35,600 days) were processed and analyzed using a classification and detection system. Results highlight almost year-round habitat use of the western North Atlantic Ocean, with a decrease in detections in waters off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina in summer and fall. Data collected post 2010 showed an increased NARW presence in the mid-Atlantic region and a simultaneous decrease in the northern Gulf of Maine. In addition, NARWs were widely distributed across most regions throughout winter months. This study demonstrates that a large-scale analysis of PAM data provides significant value to understanding and tracking shifts in large whale movements over long time scales.

Cohesion between sister chromatids is established during DNA replication but needs to be maintained to enable proper chromosome-spindle attachments in mitosis or meiosis. Cohesion is mediated by cohesin, but also depends on cohesin acetylation and sororin. Sororin contributes to cohesion by stabilizing cohesin on DNA. Sororin achieves this by inhibiting WAPL, which otherwise releases cohesin from DNA and destroys cohesion. Here we describe mouse models which enable the controlled depletion of sororin by gene deletion or auxin-induced degradation. We show that sororin is essential for embryonic development, cohesion maintenance, and proper chromosome segregation. We further show that the acetyltransferases ESCO1 and ESCO2 are essential for stabilizing cohesin on chromatin, that their only function in this process is to acetylate cohesin's SMC3 subunit, and that DNA replication is also required for stable cohesin-chromatin interactions. Unexpectedly, we find that sororin interacts dynamically with the cohesin complexes it stabilizes. This implies that sororin recruitment to cohesin does not depend on the DNA replication machinery or process itself, but on a property that cohesin acquires during cohesion establishment.

The evolutionary mechanisms generating the tremendous biodiversity of islands have long fascinated evolutionary biologists. Genetic drift and divergent selection are predicted to be strong on islands and both could drive population divergence and speciation. Alternatively, strong genetic drift may preclude adaptation. We conducted a genomic analysis to test the roles of genetic drift and divergent selection in causing genetic differentiation among populations of the island fox (Urocyon littoralis). This species consists of six subspecies, each of which occupies a different California Channel Island. Analysis of 5293 SNP loci generated using Restriction-site Associated DNA (RAD) sequencing found support for genetic drift as the dominant evolutionary mechanism driving population divergence among island fox populations. In particular, populations had exceptionally low genetic variation, small Ne (range = 2.1-89.7; median = 19.4), and significant genetic signatures of bottlenecks. Moreover, islands with the lowest genetic variation (and, by inference, the strongest historical genetic drift) were most genetically differentiated from mainland grey foxes, and vice versa, indicating genetic drift drives genome-wide divergence. Nonetheless, outlier tests identified 3.6-6.6% of loci as high FST outliers, suggesting that despite strong genetic drift, divergent selection contributes to population divergence. Patterns of similarity among populations based on high FST outliers mirrored patterns based on morphology, providing additional evidence that outliers reflect adaptive divergence. Extremely low genetic variation and small Ne in some island fox populations, particularly on San Nicolas Island, suggest that they may be vulnerable to fixation of deleterious alleles, decreased fitness and reduced adaptive potential.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence, distribution, and features of alveolar dehiscences and fenestrations in modern American skulls and correlate their presence with occlusal attrition, root prominence, and alveolar bone thickness. METHODS: A representative sample of 146 dentate modern American skulls from a collection at the National Museum of Natural History were examined. RESULTS: The skulls were from subjects ranging in age from 17 to 87 years old (mean 49.1 years). The mean number of teeth per skull was 22.7 and the mean number of either dehiscence or fenestration defects per skull was 3.0. Of the 3,315 individual teeth examined, 4.1% (135) had dehiscences and 9.0% (298) had fenestrations. A dehiscence was present in 40.4% of the skulls, and a fenestration was present in 61.6% of skulls. Mandibular canines were most often affected by dehiscences (12.9%), while maxillary first molars were most often affected by fenestrations (37.0%). Sixty-seven percent of dehiscences were found in the mandible, and 58% of fenestrations were found in the maxilla. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of dehiscences and fenestrations were positively correlated with thin alveolar bone and negatively correlated with occlusal attrition. African-American males and Caucasian females were significantly more likely to have dehiscences, while African-American females were significantly more likely to have fenestrations.

Abstract A pilot‐scale study was performed using a palladium‐catalyzed and polymer‐coated nanoscale zero‐valent iron (ZVI) particle suspension at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida. A total of 300 pounds of nanoscale ZVI particle suspension was injected via a gravity feed and recirculated through a source area containing chlorinated volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The recirculation created favorable mixing and distribution of the iron suspension and enhanced the mass transfer of sorbed and nonaqueous constituents into the aqueous phase, where the contaminants could be reduced. Between 65 and 99 percent aqueous‐phase VOC concentration reduction occurred, due to abiotic degradation, within five weeks of the injection. The rapid abiotic degradation processes then yielded to slower biological degradation as subsequent decreases in ‐elimination parameters were observed—yet favorable redox conditions were maintained as a result of the ZVI treatment. Post‐treatment analyses revealed cumulative reduction of soil contaminant concentrations between 8 and 92 percent. Aqueous‐phase VOC concentrations in wells side gradient and downgradient of the source were reduced up to 99 percent and were near or below applicable regulatory criteria. These reductions, coupled with the generation of innocuous by‐products, indicate that nanoscale ZVI effectively degraded contamination and reduced the mass flux from the source, a critical metric identified for source treatment. A summary of this project was recently presented at the US EPA Workshop on Nanotechnology for Site Remediation in Washington, D.C., on October 21–22, 2005. This case study supplied evidence that nanoscale zero valent iron, an emerging remediation technology, has been implemented successfully in the field. More information about this workshop and this presentation can be found at www.frtr.gov/nano/index.htm. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.