4,876 research outputs found
Intolerance, Prejudice and Discrimination - A European Report
No full textZick A, Küpper B, Hövermann A. Intolerance, Prejudice and Discrimination - A European Report. FES-Projekt gegen Rechtsextremismus. Berlin: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung; 2011
Centrophorus longipinnis White, Ebert & Naylor 2017
No full textCentrophorus longipinnis White, Ebert & Naylor, 2017 Longfin Gulper Shark Centrophorus longipinnis White, Ebert & Naylor, 2017: 86, figs 11–15. Holotype: NMMB-P 15756. Type locality: Chenggong, Taiwan. Local synonymy: White et al., 2018: 46, figs (PNG). PNG voucher material: CSIRO H 8103-01 (paratype), pregnant female 890 mm TL, Huon Gulf, off Lae, 6°45.147’ S, 147°2.783’ E, 460 m depth, 4 May 2017; CSIRO H 8103-02 (paratype), late-term embryo 350 mm TL, taken from CSIRO H 8103-01. Remarks: Two specimens recently caught in the Huon Gulf off Lae which became types in the recent species description. Also known from Taiwan and Indonesia.Published as part of White, William T. & Ko'Ou, Alfred, 2018, An annotated checklist of the chondrichthyans of Papua New Guinea, pp. 1-82 in Zootaxa 4411 (1) on page 13, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4411.1, http://zenodo.org/record/122187
Some aspects of the analysis of offshore structures
No full textIn this thesis, a study is made of the effect of random wave forces on self-supporting steel and concrete oil drilling platforms. Various methods of estimating the forces on the structure, and various ways of idealising both the forces and the structure itself, are compared, the - objective being a realistic and safe design.The sea is here represented by a wave amplitude spectrum, from which spectra for the forces on the structure are derived using a linear wave theory, in two ways. Firstly, using the well-known Morison equation, which requires experimental drag and inertia coefficients; and secondly by considering wave diffraction from the structural members. A quantitative comparison is made of the two methods. Using the diffraction theory, it is possible to gauge the effect of sheltering - i.e. the effect on the forces on one member due to the presence of another.The principal structures considered here are idealised as plane framed structures (though the theory is applicable for structures with, say, plate elements also), and in this connection wave forces on inclined frame members are considered. This is particularly useful for steel structures. A comparison is made between the results obtained by evaluating the forces 'consistently' and by 'lumping' them at element nodal points.In addition, a comparison is made of solution methods which ignore certain cross-correlation terms in the equations of motion for the response with one that includes such terms, in an attempt to show that a fuller analysis is no more difficult, and is likely to be safer, than the more approximate methods
Dataset supporting the publication "Buried 3D spot-size converters for silicon photonics"
No full textData underlying the results presented in the paper W. Zhang, M. Ebert, J. D. Reynolds, B. Chen, X. Yan, H. Du, M. Banakar, D. T. Tran, C. G. Littlejohns, G. T. Reed, and D. J. Thomson, "Buried 3D spot-size converters for silicon photonics," Optica 8, 1102-1108 (2021)</span
Torpedo formosa Haas & Ebert, 2006, sp. nov.
No full textTorpedo formosa, sp. nov. Taiwan torpedo ray (Figures 1-3, table 1) Torpedo nobiliana: Chen & Chung, 1971, p. 1, fig. 4; Chen & Joung, 1993, p. 78; Chiu, 1994, p. 135; Huang, 2001, p. 409. Holotype: CAS 223471, 332 mm TL, immature male, Tahsi Fish Market, Tahsi, Taiwan, 24°53’N, 122°01’E, collected by David A. Ebert, 9 April 1988. Paratypes: 2 specimens. CAS 223472, 243 mm TL immature male, Tahsi Fish Market, Tahsi, Taiwan, 24°53’N, 122°01’E, collected by David A. Ebert, 12 April 1988; CAS 223473, 241 mm TL female, Tahsi Fish Market, Tahsi, 24°53’N, 122°01’E, Taiwan, collected by David A. Ebert, 25 May 2005. Diagnosis. A medium sized Torpedo distinguished by the following combination of characters: disc wider than long, length 82-88% of disc width; preorbital snout length 7.7-8.7% of total length; dorsal head length 19.8-20.6% of total length; spiracles smooth and moderately long, length 3.6-3.8% of disc length; relatively wide nasoral region, internarial width 5.5-5.6% of total length; dorsal fins broadly rounded and robust; caudal fin height greater than distance from its own upper origin to first dorsal origin; trunk vertebrae 25-27; dorsal surface uniform purplish-brown in life; ventral surface cream, abruptly darker on posterior disc margin. Description. Disc broadly rounded, anterior margin nearly straight in outline with very slight median protuberance. Disc width greater than length; disc width 63.6% TL in holotype (66.5-67.9% TL in paratypes) and disc length 56.0% (54.8-56.4%) TL. Disc widest at about one-half of its length, and thickest at anterior margin. Disc overlaps origin of pelvic fins, with prominent free posterior lobes broadly rounded. Disc fleshy, thick anteriorly, progressively thinning posteriorly. Preorbital snout length about one-seventh disc length, two times orbit diameter, and slightly greater than prenasal snout length. Eyes moderately small, protruding in specimens prior to preservation, orbit diameter about two times spiracle length. Eyes and spiracles close together, space between them about equal to distance between endolymphatic pores. Distance between orbits less than distance between spiracles. Spiracles smooth, moderately large and hemispherical, opening wider posteriorly. Pseudobranchial folds line anterior margin inside spiracles, 8-11 (12-14). Electric organs not clearly visible dorsally, but distinguishable in ventral view. Electric organs originate very close to anterior disc margin, anterior to eyes and nostrils, and terminate posteriorly, just past last gill openings. Electric organs kidney shaped, widest anteriorly between mouth and first gill slit. Length of electric organ about two times greatest width. Skin on dorsal and ventral surfaces entirely smooth. First gill slit positioned at about one-third of disc length, last gill slit situated just anterior to two-thirds of disc length. Gill slits crescent shaped, originating approximately in line with pelvic fin origin. Distance between first gill slits greater than distance between fifth gill slits. Third gill slits largest, about equal to spiracle length. Nasal curtain subquadrangular, its width about three times its length. Nasal curtain extends posteriorly in a relatively straight line towards mouth. Posterior margin of nasal curtain with two confluent lobes, broadly rounded and angled medially, margin slightly fringed (more so on paratype CAS 223473). Outer margins of nostrils situated at level of mouth corners. Posterior contour of nostrils confluent with prominent median lobes that contact nasal curtain at corners and separate nostrils from mouth. Skin at corners of mouth loose, deeply furrowed. Mouth broadly arched with relatively large gape. Mouth width greater than internarial width. Teeth set in quincunx, flattened labial-lingually, morphologically similar in both upper and lower jaws, with well-developed single cusps. Pelvic fins originate just anterior to insertion of disc. Pelvic fin length about one-fifth of total length and two-thirds of pelvic fin width. Anterior margins slightly concave, posterior margins more convex. Pelvics widest posteriorly, at about two-thirds of their length. Cloaca situated anterior to midlength of pelvic fins. Claspers dorsoventrally flattened, not reaching pelvic fin tips in both male holotype and paratype specimens. Tail moderately short and stout, postdorsal tail length 24.8% (20.8-24.8%) TL as measured from second dorsal fin insertion, but tail length from cloaca is about 40% TL. Tail tapers appreciably from posterior tips of pelvic fins toward caudal fin. Tail width greater than height at pelvic tips, but more circular in cross-section at caudal fin origin. Lateral tail folds ridgelike and not very prominent. Lateral tail folds extend from level just anterior to second dorsal fin base to posterior ventral facet of caudal peduncle. Origin of lateral tail fold not as distinguishable as insertion. Lateral tail folds vary in proportional length between each side of tail on holotype and paratype specimens 13.7-14.5% (15.3-17.0%) TL. First dorsal fin origin at level of widest pelvic fin width. Less than half of first dorsal fin base situated over pelvic fin bases, but posterior free lobe of first dorsal extends posterior to level of pelvic fin tips. First dorsal base length about two-thirds of its height. First dorsal fin broad, subtriangular with rounded corners. Anterior margin of first dorsal moderately slanted, with posterior free lobe about equal to twice the base length (less so in CAS 223473 female paratype). Posterior margin of first dorsal at or posterior to level of second dorsal fin origin. Second dorsal fin about two-thirds as large as first dorsal fin; second dorsal fin height 0.62 (0.66-0.70) in first dorsal fin height. Dorsal fins somewhat similar in shape, second dorsal fin with lower and more acute apex. Interdorsal space less than distance between second dorsal fin insertion and dorsal caudal origin. Caudal fin tall and triangular, overall height 20.4% (21.2-24.4 %) TL, and taller proportionally in male specimens than in female specimen. Upper lobe of caudal fin longer and more sloping than lower lobe. Posterior margin of caudal fin slightly concave just dorsal to mid-height. Apices of caudal fin slightly acute in male specimens to more broadly rounded in female specimen. Tooth row counts in upper jaw 23 (20-22) and in lower jaw 27 (19-22). Radial counts for paratype (CAS 223472) 54 pectoral and 20 pelvic. Trunk vertebrae 27 (25-27), total tail vertebrae 69 (68-72), and tail terminal vertebrae 20 (20-24). Tail vertebrae to first dorsal fin origin 15 (14-19), to second dorsal origin 30 (29-34), and to upper caudal origin 49 (44-52). Spiral valve counts for paratypes 12-13. Coloration. In fresh specimens, coloration uniform purplish brown dorsally, with darker hue around margins of disc and pelvic fins, and on caudal fin. In preservative, dorsal coloration uniform purple-gray fading to light brown, with darker hue around margins of disc and pelvic fins, and on caudal fin. Posterior margins of dorsal fins and area just surrounding orbits fading to faint light cream to white color. Ventral surface light cream, abruptly darker on posterior disc margin, pelvic fin margin, claspers, and edges of tail, progressively widening towards caudal peduncle. Lateral tail fold cream colored. Etymology. The name formosa has two connotations. First, it is in reference to Ilha Formosa, the historical name of the type locality, Taiwan, and second, it means beautiful, referring to the purplish brown coloration of fresh specimens. Distribution. Known from the east coast of Taiwan, from Keelung to Suao, at less than 300 m. Size. Maximum-recorded sizes are at least 622 mm TL for an adult male and 366 mm TL for an immature female. Comparisons. Torpedo formosa differs from T. tokionis in that the species does not have an emarginated caudal fin, has a disc that is wider than long, and has a relatively short tail. Disc width in T. formosa is 63.6-67.9% of total length, differing significantly from that of T. tokionis, in which disc width is 50.1-52.6% of total length. These proportions reflect a different disc shape between the species, with the disc shape being more ovate in T. formosa, while the disc is more circular in shape in T. tokionis (Fig. 4). In T. formosa, the distance from the posterior tip of the pelvic fin to the origin of the lower caudal fin lobe is less than three-quarters of the caudal fin height, and less than half the pelvic fin width. The tail is comparatively long in T. tokionis, where this distance is more than three-quarters of the caudal fin height, and much more than half the pelvic fin width. The number of turns in the spiral valve of T. formosa is slightly higher in the two paratypes (12-13) than in the three T. tokionis (9-10) examined. In addition, dorsal coloration of T. formosa specimens is light brown without any conspicuous markings, and disc thickness thins progressively posteriorly, while in T. tokionis, coloration is dark chocolate brown with dark hatch markings, and the disc remains thick throughout. Comparison of T. formosa to syntypes of T. nobiliana reveal that the latter species has somewhat shorter snout, head, eye and spiracle lengths, dorsal fins that are more tongueshaped, relatively smaller caudal fins, and a higher vertebral count. Preorbital snout length was 7.7-8.7% of total length in T. formosa, and was 6.2-7.2% of total length in T. nobiliana. In T. formosa, the caudal fin height is greater than the distance from the first dorsal fin origin to caudal origin. Torpedo nobiliana by comparison has a shorter caudal fin height, whereby its height is less than the distance from the first dorsal fin origin to the caudal origin. In addition, the ventral caudal margin length was 16.9-18.6% of total length in T. formosa, longer than that found in T. nobiliana (15.0-15.7% of total length). The range in trunk vertebrae in T. formosa (25-27) was comparatively lower than was found for the syntypes of T. nobiliana (29-33). The description of T. nobiliana by Bigelow and Schroeder (1953) was also utilized for comparison to T. formosa, due to the generally poor condition of the T. nobiliana syntypes. This comparison revealed differences in proportional mouth widths, interorbital widths, and distances between gill openings. In T. nobiliana as described by Bigelow and Schroeder (1953), mouth width is approximately 1.7 times as great as interorbital width. Mouth width is 1.6-1.7 times interorbital width in T. nobiliana syntypes, but in T. formosa, this distance is greater, at 2.0-2.4 times interorbital width. Also, in the description of T. nobiliana, the distance between the fifth gill slits is about 2.0-2.3 times as great as the mouth width. This is true of the T. nobiliana syntypes, but in T. formosa, this distance is 1.5-1.7 times as great as the mouth width. Lastly, the distance between the fifth gill slits is 82-92% of the distance between the first gill slits in T. nobiliana, but is only 76-78% in T. formosa. The distribution of T. formosa appears to be somewhat restricted as it is currently known only from the northeast coast of Taiwan. To the best of our knowledge it has not been reported from Japanese waters, with T. tokionis being the only other Torpedo Tetronarce species known to occur in the western North Pacific. Records of T. Tetronarce species from south of Taiwan are limited. Compagno et al. (2005) mention an undescribed plain colored Torpedo from the Philippine Islands, without specifying the subspecies, while Compagno and Last (1999) mention an undescribed Torpedo species from northern Australia. A checklist of batoids (Huang, 2001) occurring in Taiwanese waters includes T. macneilli Whitley, 1932, but without mention of any descriptive characters. Since T. macneilli is endemic to southern Australian waters (Last & Stevens, 1994) we consider this record to be dubious. Torpedo nobiliana, common in the western North Atlantic, eastern Atlantic, and Mediterranean Sea, has been reported from South Africa, but it does not extend further east than Algoa Bay (Compagno et al., 1989; Compagno, 1995). The South African species, however, may in fact be distinct from the true T. nobiliana (Carvalho et al., 2002; D.A. Ebert, unpubl. data) and from another possibly new species from the Mozambique Channel (L.J.V. Compagno, South Africa Museum, Cape Town, South Africa, pers. comm.). Therefore, given the absence of any other described species of T. Tetronarce species in the Indian Ocean it seems highly unlikely that T. nobiliana would occur in Taiwanese waters.Published as part of Diane L. Haas & David A. Ebert, 2006, Torpedo formosa sp. nov., a new species of electric ray (Chondrichthyes: Torpediniformes: Torpedinidae) from Taiwan., pp. 1-14 in Zootaxa 1320 on pages 2-1
Dataset for Deep learning enabled design of complex transmission matrices for universal optical components
No full textData comprising Numerical simulation results and deep learning results to supprot article N. J. Dinsdale, P. R. Wiecha, M. Delaney, J. Reynolds, M. Ebert, I. Zeimpekis, D. J. Thomson, G. T. Reed, P. Lalanne, K. Vynck, O. L. Muskens "Deep learning enabled design of complex transmission matrices for universal optical components". ACS Photonics (2020). Each figure has a Readme file attached.</span
Etmopterus joungi Knuckey, Ebert & Burgess 2011
No full textEtmopterus joungi Knuckey, Ebert & Burgess, 2011 Type locality: Da-xi, Taiwan. The three Taiwanese samples of E. joungi formed a single cluster together with E. pusillus samples from Australia and Portugal. Specimens of E. pusillus included in Naylor et al. (2012 a, 2012 b) indicate haplotypes that are geographically widespread across the world’s oceans. A revision of this species is required to ascertain whether E. joungi is a western North Pacific sub-population of E. pusillus, and thus a junior synonym of E. pusillus, or whether it is a distinct species (Figure 2, Supplementary Material 1).Published as part of Straube, Nicolas, White, William T., Ho, Hsuan-Ching, Rochel, Elisabeth, Corrigan, Shannon, Li, Chenhong & Naylor, Gavin J. P., 2013, A DNA sequence-based identification checklist for Taiwanese chondrichthyans, pp. 256-278 in Zootaxa 3752 (1) on page 261, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3752.1.16, http://zenodo.org/record/28535
Converging seasonal prevalence dynamics in experimental epidemics
No full textBackground Regular seasonal changes in prevalence of infectious diseases are often observed in nature, but the mechanisms are rarely understood. Empirical tests aiming at a better understanding of seasonal prevalence patterns are not feasible for most diseases and thus are widely lacking. Here, we set out to study experimentally the seasonal prevalence in an aquatic host-parasite system. The microsporidian parasite Hamiltosporidium tvärminnensis exhibits pronounced seasonality in natural rock pool populations of its host, Daphnia magna with a regular increase of prevalence during summer and a decrease during winter. An earlier study was, however, unable to test if different starting conditions (initial prevalence) influence the dynamics of the disease in the long term. Here, we aim at testing how the starting prevalence affects the regular prevalence changes over a 4-year period in experimental populations.Results In an outdoor experiment, populations were set up to include the extremes of the prevalence spectrum observed in natural populations: 5% initial prevalence mimicking a newly invading parasite, 100% mimicking a rock pool population founded by infected hosts only, and 50% prevalence which is commonly observed in natural populations in spring. The parasite exhibited similar prevalence changes in all treatments, but seasonal patterns in the 100% treatment differed significantly from those in the 5% and 50% treatments. Populations started with 5% and 50% prevalence exhibited strong and regular seasonality already in the first year. In contrast, the amplitude of changes in the 100% treatment was low throughout the experiment demonstrating the long-lasting effect of initial conditions on prevalence dynamics.Conclusions Our study shows that the time needed to approach the seasonal changes in prevalence depends strongly on the initial prevalence. Because individual D. magna populations in this rock pool metapopulation are mostly short lived, only few populations might ever reach a point where the initial conditions are not visible anymore
Technical performance and diagnostic utility of the new Elecsys (R) neuron-specific enolase enzyme immunoassay
No full textThis international multicenter study was designed to evaluate the technical performance of the new double-monoclonal, single-step Elecsys neuron-specific enolase (NSE) enzyme immunoassay (EIA) and to assess its utility as a sensitive and specific test for the diagnosis of small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). Intra and interassay coefficients of variation, determined in five control or serum specimens in six laboratories, ranged from 0.7 to 5.3 (interlaboratory median: 1.3%) and from 1.3 to 8.5 (interlaboratory median: 3.4%), respectively. Laboratory-to-laboratory comparability was excellent with respect to recovery and interassay coefficients of variation. The test was linear between 0.0 and 320 ng/ml (highest measured concentration). There was a significant correlation between NSE concentrations measured using the Elecsys NSE and the established Cobas Core NSE EIA II in all subjects (n=723) and in patients with lung cancer (n=333). However, NSE concentrations were systematically lower (approximately 9%) with the Elecsys NSE than with the comparison test. Based on a specificity of 95% in comparison with the group suffering from benign lung diseases (n=183), the cutoff value for the discrimination between malignant and benign conditions was set at 21.6 ng/ml. NSE was raised in 73.4% of SCLC patients (n=188) and was significantly higher (p<0.01) in extensive (87.8%) as opposed to limited disease (56.7%). NSE was also elevated in 16.0% of the cases with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC, n=374). It is concluded that the Elecsys NSE EIA is a reliable and accurate diagnostic procedure for the measurement of NSE in serum samples. The special merits of this new assay are the wide measuring range (according to manufacturers declaration up to 370 ng/ml) and a short incubation time of 18 min
Lp − Lq estimates for a parameter-dependent multiplier with oscillatory and diffusive components
No full textIn this paper, we derive long time Lp−Lq decay estimates, in the full range 1≤p≤q≤∞, for time-dependent multipliers in which an interplay between an oscillatory component and a diffusive component with different scaling appears. We estimate ‖m(t,⋅)‖[email protected]@50d4f4b1 as t→∞ for multipliers of type m(t,ξ)=e±i|ξ|javax.xml.bind.JAXBElement@974d21t−|ξ|javax.xml.bind.JAXBElement@3d81aa6bt, and suitable perturbations, under the assumption that the scaling of the diffusive component is worse, i.e., θ>σ. These multipliers are, for instance, related to the fundamental solution to the Cauchy problem for the σ-evolution equation with structural damping: utt+(−Δ)σu+(−Δ)[Formula presented]ut=0,t≥0,x∈Rn, in the so-called non-effective case
- …
