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SYN Flood Attack is one form of distributed denial of service attack that attains the handshake process of TCP. This attack consumes all available server resources and provokes legitimate traffic which aims to make the server unavailable. It causes serious damage to cloud server and networking protocols. The main objective of this research work is to train the neural network for detecting the attack and to secure network connection. A novel binary fruit fly optimization algorithm with deep learning is proposed to predict the syn flood attack. The proposed algorithm is implemented using the KDD cup dataset. DL- BFFA algorithm has achieved 99.96% detection accuracy for detecting the SYN Flood Attack. A comparison study is conducted to validate the proposed model.

No attention has been given in previous studies to understand the influence of the sophistication of the soil constitutive model on the response of buried concrete pipes subjected to transverse seismic effect. This research, therefore, has been conducted to address this gap in knowledge by analyzing the behavior of a buried concrete pipe subjected to transverse seismic shake employing the linear elastic (LE) model, elasto-plastic Mohr-Coulomb (MC) model, hardening soil (Hs) model, and hardening soil model with small strain stiffness (Hs small) to provide a benchmark study that helps the designers and the researchers to select the most suitable and less computationally demanding soil constitutive model. The cases of good and poor installation conditions have been considered in the analyses. In addition, numerous earthquake records have been used to allow the consideration of wide range of earthquake intensities to aid general conclusions. It was found that all of the considered constitutive models produce the same trend of the circumferential bending moment (BM) that is developed around the pipe. In general, the maximum BM produced using the LE and MC models is significantly lower than that produced using the Hs and Hs small models with one exception for the LE model for a predominant frequency of 0.66 Hz. Furthermore, the maximum BM produced using the LE and MC models is not sensitive to the increase of the peak ground acceleration (PGA). More importantly, the Hs and Hs small models produce almost similar results with a percentage difference ranges between 1% to 9%. In addition, the Hs and Hs small models show a decrease of the maximum BM as the predominant frequency rises and an increase of the maximum BM as the PGA rises.

Understanding the earthquake behavior of structures is the first step towards developing a strategy for earthquake-resilient design and construction of the built environment. The growing number of earthquake simulators (shake tables) globally has allowed researchers to closely study the response of different building types when subjected to simulated earthquake shaking. Typically, such simulators are sophisticated and complex testing apparatus that require high levels of skill and experience for their effective operation and are associated with high costs of installation, operation, maintenance, and repair. In developing countries where there is limited investment in research, the application of such tools to meet the current need for experimental campaigns is generally not feasible, and hence alternative tools and methods are sought. In this context, a detailed review into alternative cost-effective tools and methods such as shock tables, harmonic shake tables, and controlled underground explosions for experimental testing was undertaken and is reported herein. Furthermore, the design, detailing, and construction of a shock table and a harmonic shake table are presented.

In molecular dynamics simulations we can often increase the time step by imposing constraints on bond lengths and bond angles. This allows us to extend the length of the time interval and therefore the range of physical phenomena that we can afford to simulate. We examine the existing algorithms and software for solving nonlinear constraint equations in parallel and we explain why it is necessary to advance the state-of-the-art. We present ILVES-PC, a new algorithm for imposing bond constraints on proteins accurately and efficiently. It solves the same system of differential algebraic equations as the celebrated SHAKE algorithm, but ILVES-PC solves the nonlinear constraint equations using Newton's method rather than the nonlinear Gauss-Seidel method. Moreover, ILVES-PC solves the necessary linear systems using a specialized linear solver that exploits the structure of the protein. ILVES-PC can rapidly solve constraint equations as accurately as the hardware will allow. The run-time of ILVES-PC is proportional to the number of constraints. We have integrated ILVES-PC into GROMACS and simulated proteins of different sizes. Compared with SHAKE, we have achieved speedups of up to 4.9× in single-threaded executions and up to 76× in shared-memory multi-threaded executions. Moreover, ILVES-PC is more accurate than P-LINCS algorithm. Our work is a proof-of-concept of the utility of software designed specifically for the simulation of polymers. This work has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 (contracts PID2019-107255GB-C21, PID2019-105660RB-C21, and PID2019-107293GB-I00), by the Generalitat de Catalunya (contract 2017-SGR-1328), by the Gobierno de Aragón (E45_20R T58_20R research groups), and by Lenovo-BSC Contract-Framework Contract (2020). Santiago Marco was supported by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (Spain) under Juan de la Cierva fellowship grant IJC2020-045916-I. Miquel Moretó was partially supported by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (Spain) under Ramón y Cajal fellowship number RYC-2016-21104. Carl Christian Kjelgaard Mikkelsen is supported by eSSENCE, a collaborative e-Science programme funded by the Swedish Research Council within the framework of the strategic research areas designated by the Swedish Government.

Automated stocker system is widely used in semiconductor and liquid crystal display (LCD) industries for handling and storage of valuable wafers or glass panels. Massive front opening unified pods (foups) containing wafers, or cassettes storing glass panels, are placed in shelf stockers during manufacturing. Although several preventative measures have been taken, during the past earthquakes, substantial financial loss from the industries were reported, and one of the main causes was attributed to collision of the foups or cassettes and shake off from the shelfs. This paper proposes a methodology of incorporating viscous fluid dampers into the stokers to mitigate their seismic response. Unlike conventionally been done in buildings where dampers are placed between adjacent stories, it is proposed to install dampers in between the ceiling and top of the stocker. Such configuration utilizes the large velocity at the stocker top under vibration, resulting in smaller damper size, and enables a leverage mechanism that requires smaller damper force to resist the stocker’s vibration. Both shake table tests and simulation of a full-scale stocker under realistic earthquakes have been conducted. Results indicate that both displacement and acceleration responses of the stocker can be significantly reduced, and dynamic response of the stocker under seismic excitations can be well predicted.

Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks (WMSNs) have emerged as the new class of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) to meet the stringent Quality of Service (QoS) requirements of emerging applications. Multipath routing with cross-layer approach appears to be a potential solution for supporting the distinct characteristics of WMSNs. However, due to the broadcast nature of the underlying medium, multiple paths are exposed to inter-path interference. In addition, low-power wireless links are asymmetric, error-prone and unreliable in nature. Consequently, an accurate and stable link quality estimation is essential to guarantee the performance of routing protocol. This paper proposes Triangle link quality metric and minimum inter-path Interference based Geographic Multipath Routing (TIGMR) protocol which finds multiple node-disjoint paths in IEEE 802.15.4 compliant network. This cross-layer routing protocol selects forwarding node based on a triangle link quality metric, remaining energy, and distance while anticipating minimum adjacent path interference effect. In addition, TIGMR protocol avoids Hidden Node Problem (HNP) at the sink node without using Request-To-Send/Clear-To-Send (RTS/CTS) handshake mechanism. Simulation results indicate TIGMR protocol optimizes overall performance and improves network lifetime as compared with state-of-the-art Two-Phase Geographic Forwarding (TPGF) and Link Quality and Energy-Aware Routing (LQEAR) protocols.

Many types of coatings are available in the market, which prevent the adhesion of dust to the surface of PV panels, but do not repel the dust off the surface of the panel. The objective of this research is to experimentally investigate the influence of using a nano-coating for PV panels together with an automated mechanical vibrator on the electrical performance of the panel. The function of the vibrator is to shake the panel twice daily, such that the dust on the panel can fall off by gravity. Three PV panels are examined where the first panel is with no coatings or vibration and is used as a reference for comparison, the second panel is coated with a nano-coating, while the third panel is coated with a nano-coating and shaken using a mechanical vibrator. It has been found that the accumulation of dust on the surface of solar panels is gradual and increases with time, especially in dry and desert regions, such as Egypt. The results show that the average electrical efficiency of the PV panels with coating and mechanical vibrator has decreased by 12.94% during six weeks of operation, whereas the efficiency of the PV panel with coating dropped by 24.46%. However, the reference panel had a drop in efficiency of 33%. Dust mitigation using coatings is an effective technique in cleaning solar panels, and its performance can be improved if a vibration system is applied.

With the aggravating trend of aging population in modern societies, Mobile Healthcare Social Network (MHSN) is an attracting platform for improving the life quality of elderly patients and offering mutual supports. In a sustainable MHSN system, one essential issue is to protect sensitive healthcare information while providing information-sharing for patients with multiple symptoms. To achieve multi-symptom matching and cross-domain communications for patients in MHSNs, we propose a new Secret Handshake scheme with Multi-Symptom intersection ( MSSH ), which is derived from a linear-complexity Authorized Private Set Intersection (APSI) based on Schnorr signature. In MSSH , two anonymous patients, who have registered with independent healthcare centers, are able to successfully execute an affiliation-hiding mutual anonymous authentication only if their target authentication policies are satisfied. The authentication policy demands that the designated healthcare center should be matched and the cardinality of their symptoms intersection is not less than a threshold value. Meanwhile, the symptoms outside of the set intersection remain confidential. The formal analysis proves MSSH is secure under the Random Oracle Model (ROM). The experimental results demonstrate that MSSH is efficient and feasible in MHSNs.

Accompanied with the mushroom growth of communication technology, the correct operation of protocols has been widely concerned and studied in the field of communication. The correctness verification is a difficult problem due to the state space explosion. In this paper, the event graph model of a communication protocol is established and the verification matrix is proposed to verify the correctness of the protocol. It is found out that the correctness of a protocol is equivalent to the nilpotency of the verification matrix on the max-plus algebra framework. The matrix method is constructive and leads to a polynomial algorithm for verifying the correctness of protocols. Some examples about stop-and-wait protocols and handshake protocols are taken to illustrate how the presented results work in practical applications.

To remove nitrogen in cold conditions, we studied new nature-based treatment solutions using six pilot-scale reactors. The pilots were woodchip bioreactor (WBR), aquatic floating hook-moss (Warnstorfia fluitans) (MBR), and a combined woodchip and floating hook-moss hybrid unit (HBR) with an improved hydraulic design. The experiment was run in a climate room at temperatures of 10 °C and 5 °C and using mine water from two sites located in northern Finland. Unlike traditional horizontal flow woodchip bioreactors, in this study the hydraulic efficiency was improved from poor (λ = 0.06) in the woodchip bioreactor to satisfactory (λ = 0.51) in the hybrid unit by inserting two inner plates along the water flow and adding floating hook-moss. The hybrid bioreactor revealed the highest capability of nitrogen removal in all inorganic forms at T ≤ 10 °C with a mean HRT of 70.5 h. On average, 30–78 % of dissolved inorganic nitrogen was removed in the hybrid unit, which was 2 and 3 times more than in units consisting only of woodchip or floating hook-moss. The hybrid bioreactor revealed a maximum NO−3-N removal rate of 1.0–5.2 g m⁻³ d⁻¹ and a 21.8–99.7 % removal efficiency for an average incoming NO−3-N load of 40 g d⁻¹. The maximum NH⁺ ₄-N removal efficiency of 75.6 and 53 % took place in HBR and MBR, respectively, when the incoming NH⁺ ₄-N load was 23.6 ± 0.7 g d⁻¹ at 10 °C. Over the 154 days of the experiment, the hybrid unit removed a total of 2.95 kg DIN-N, which was 0.8 kg higher than the sum of the DIN-N mass removed in the individual woodchip (1.7 kg) and moss units (0.55 kg). The nitrogen content of the aquatic moss was higher in the hybrid unit compared to the moss unit, showing a higher contribution of N plant uptake. Overall, our results suggest that combining woodchips and aquatic moss in a hybrid unit with improved hydraulic efficiency using inner walls may enhance nitrogen removal in cold climate conditions.

In this article we test an Erlang implementation of the Noise Protocol Framework, using a novel form of white-box testing. We extend interoperability testing of an Erlang enoise implementation against an implementation of Noise in C. Testing typically performs a noise protocol handshake between the two implementations. If successful, then both implementations are somehow compatible. But this does, for example, not detect whether we reuse keys that have to be newly generated. Therefore we extend such operability testing: During the handshake the Erlang noise implementation is traced. The resulting protocol trace is refactored, obtaining as the end result a symbolic description (a functional term) of how key protocol values are constructed using cryptographic operations and keys. Therafter, this symbolic term is compared, using term rewriting, with a symbolic term representing the ideal symbolic execution of the tested noise protocol handshake (i.e., the "semantics" of the handshake). The semantic symbolic term is obtained by executing a symbolic implementation of the noise protocol that we have developed.

The Pacific hake (Merluccius productus) midwater trawl fishery is the largest groundfish fishery off the U.S. West Coast by volume. Catches comprise mainly Pacific hake, however, bycatch of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) can be an issue affecting the fishery as Endangered Species Act (ESA) listed Evolutionarily Significant Units represent a portion of the total Chinook salmon bycatch. We conducted two separate experiments evaluating the influence of artificial illumination on Chinook salmon behavior and their escapement out a bycatch reduction device (BRD) in a Pacific hake midwater trawl. In Experiment 1, we tested whether Chinook salmon could be attracted out specific escape windows of a BRD equipped with multiple escape windows using artificial illumination. In Experiment 2, we compared Chinook salmon escapement rates out of the BRD between tows conducted with and without artificial illumination to determine if illumination can enhance their escapement. Our results show that artificial illumination can influence where Chinook salmon exit out of the BRD, but also demonstrate that illumination can be used to enhance their escapement overall. As conservation of ESA-listed Chinook salmon is an ongoing management priority, our research contributes new information on how artificial illumination can minimize adverse interactions between the Pacific hake fishery and Chinook salmon.

The present study concentrates on design, commissioning and calibration of a uniaxial laminar soil box suitable for use on a low base-shear capacity shake table available at IIT Kanpur, India. The box is designed to simulate the behavior of soil deposits subjected to earthquake motions, with minimal boundary effects due to reflection of waves at the boundary. The 1.1 m × 1.6 m × 0.765 m box is comprised of a series of individual lamina supported independently on multiple roller bearings guided through a guide channel. The outer frame connected to the guide rods is designed in such as way that it can transfer the self weight of each lamina out of the shake table. A series of free-field tests are carried out on dry Ganga sand sample to calibrate the box. Dynamic response parameters, such as acceleration, displacement, stress-strain behavior, strain-dependant modulus and damping ratio of the sand at various depth are investigated. Large strain and subsequent increased inelasticity is observed towards the top of the sand bed. The experimental results are further compared with equivalent-linear SHAKE analysis and nonlinear finite element ground response analysis of the free-field soil using OpenSees for assessing the performance of the laminar box.

Observations via underwater filming were obtained to improve understanding of the behavior and selection process of jumbo squid (Dosidicus gigas) in response to a rigid grid in the Chilean hake (Merluccius gayi gayi) trawl fishery in central Chile. The individual fates of jumbo squid were examined to study the efficiency of the selection system. The number of escaped versus captured specimens was quantified. During the selection process, we observed obstacles that impeded the escape process, leading to retention of jumbo squid and limiting the selectivity effectiveness. The analysis showed that 69.8% of jumbo squid escaped the net and 75.5% faced obstacles that generated retention in the sorting process. Longer retention times led to a saturation of the selection system. The target species was successfully selected by the sorting system, in which 87.1% of Chilean hake entered the codend through the grid. We discuss the need to redesign components of the selection system to improve efficiency.

Prey selection and feeding strategy of the Argentine hake Merluccius hubbsi were investigated by analyzing the diet and prey availability in the main nursery area of the Patagonian stock (42.4°–46.4 °S, 70–102 m depth). Stomach contents from fish captured using a bottom trawl net, and zooplankton samples collected with a Bongo net, were analyzed. Acoustic data were examined to identify pelagic aggregations and quantify relative prey abundance. The Argentine hake M. hubbsi fed mainly on crustaceans (92.7%IRI), followed by fish (7.1%IRI) and cephalopods (0.2%IRI). Among crustaceans, the diet was dominated by euphausiids (Euphausia spp.), the lobster krill Munida gregaria, and the hyperiid amphipod Themisto gaudichaudii. The most consumed fish was other hake by cannibalism. Prey availability was also numerically dominated by the euphausiids (Euphausia spp.), followed by the hyperiid amphipod T. gaudichaudii and the lobster krill M. gregaria. Ontogenetic dietary changes were detected: consumption of euphausiids and amphipods decreased with predator´s total length, and the consumption of the lobster krill M. gregaria was higher in adult specimens. The Argentine hake M. hubbsi showed positive prey selection for lobster krill M. gregaria. The consumption of Euphausiids decreased with the increasing acoustic abundance of the lobster krill M. gregaria. The cannibalism was denso-independent. The Argentine hake appeared to be opportunistic when the proportion of prey eaten to the proportion present in the environment was compared, but deeper analyses confirmed that zooplankter with increased abundances and higher energy density was the preferred prey.

Thawed hake (Merluccius capensis and M. paradoxus) and plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) fillets were used as a model to evaluate the effect of storage temperature (0 or 10 degrees C) and biological variability (fish species, lot to lot) on bacterial growth kinetics and microbial successions. Both culture dependent methods (plate counts on nonselective and selective media) and culture independent methods (qPCR and 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding) were used. Bacterial counts exceeded 10(7) cfu/g within 2-3 days at 10 degrees C and 7-8 days at 0 degrees C. Plate counts on three media (Plate Count Agar +0.5% NaCl, Iron Agar Lyngby and Pseudomonas Selective medium) and 16S rRNA gene counts estimated by qPCR were highly correlated. Growth was modelled using the D-model and specific growth rate ranged between 0.97 and 1.24 d(-1) and 3.54 and 5.90 d(-1) at 0 and 10 degrees C, respectively. The initial composition of the microbiota showed lot-to-lot variation, but significant differences between the two fish species were detected. Alpha diversity significantly decreased during storage. When bacterial counts exceeded 10(7) cfu/g, the microbiota was dominated by members of the genera Pseudomonas, Psychrobacter, Acinetobacter, Serratia, Flavobacterium, Acinetobacter, Carnobacterium, Brochothrix and Vagococcus. However, Photobacterium and Shewanella, two genera frequently associated with fish spoilage, were either absent or minor components of the microbiota. As expected, storage temperature significantly affected the abundance of several species. The inference of microbial association networks with three different approaches (an ensemble approach using the CoNet app, Sparse Correlations for Compositional data, and SParse InversE Covariance Estimation for Ecological Association Inference) allowed the detection of both a core microbiota, which was present throughout storage, and a number of taxa, which became dominant at the end of spoilage and were characterized by a disproportionate amount of negative interactions.

In this paper, we propose a transmitter with 150odivergence angle and more than 90% uniformity of radiation intensity for quasi-omni-directional underwater wireless optical communication (UWOC) by applying freeform lens into LED array. We demonstrate its performance under different transmitting directions with 19Mbps data rate and 8m communication distance in an experimental tank whose volume is 20m × 20m × 14m and attenuation coefficient is about 0.40m−1. The result shows that the variation of bit error rate (BER) is about three orders of magnitude with the help of freeform lens when direction deviation angle is between -75oand +75o, which is reduced five orders compared with the situation without the lens. The presented result is useful to make it easier to establish communication link and improve the performance of UWOC system when transmitter direction shake exists. Also, it implies that we could apply different freeform lenses into LED array to reshape transmitting illumination according to different demands for UWOC application.

Merluccius australis, known as southern hake, is a demersal fish that inhabits waters off the southern tip of South America. The main spawning area has historically been located in the Outer Sea off northern Chilean Patagonia, where these fish aggregate to reproduce during austral winter. An alternative spawning ground has been reported to occur within the Inner Sea of Chiloe, where eggs of a few days old have been found. Neither the relative importance of this spawning zone nor the main environmental features that make it suitable for spawning have been assessed. We analyzed ichthyoplankton samples and hydrographic data from oceanographic cruises (2003–2015) carried out in austral winter and spring to characterize both spawning zones. Field data showed, on average, 30 and four times more southern hake eggs in the Outer Sea than in the Inner Sea for winter and spring, respectively. Accordingly, the species mainly spawns during winter in the Outer Sea but during spring in the Inner Sea. Potential retention zones were identified, and the spawning seasons for both areas were associated with local oceanographic processes that enhanced retention in nursery areas. The development of different main reproductive seasons in different zones is apparently linked to the inter-annual variability of environmental conditions in the main offshore spawning zone. In this case, secondary spawning in the Inner Sea could be part of a reproductive strategy to ensure offspring survival given unfavorable conditions in the Outer Sea.

Since object motion and camera shake can cause motion blur, there are some blurry frames in the captured videos by hand-held camera. In order to solve the above problem, we propose a nonuniform video deblurring method that combines weighted curvelet accumulation with motion vector duty cycle. In the proposed method, firstly we propose a weighted curvelet accumulation method that can synthesize the multiple adjacent frames in the frequency domain for estimating the initial latent sharp frame. Secondly, because the duty cycle has a close relation with the accuracy of the blur kernel, we propose a motion vector duty cycle estimation method by utilizing the inter-frame correlation information and the estimated initial latent sharp frame to improve the blur kernel accuracy. Finally, we build a novel nonblind video deblurring model by fully utilizing the spatiotemporal information and the estimated blur kernel for obtaining the deblurred frame. Experimental results on the numerous videos show that the proposed method achieves the state-of-the-art results either in subjective vision or in objective evaluation.

Fatty acid profiles and distribution among lipid classes in the edible parts of seven commonly consumed marine fishes in Chile were investigated. Peruvian morwong, Chilean jack mackerel and Pacific sandperch were found to be the richest sources of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) with 440.2, 343.7 and 313.9 mg EPA + DHA/100 g raw fillet respectively among the studied fishes. DHA was mainly found in the phospholipid fraction in all cases, following EPA the same trend except for Pacific sandperch, Chilean hake (most EPA in triacylglycerols) and Peruvian morwong (most EPA as free fatty acid). A very favorable n-3/n-6 PUFA ratio was found in all studied species, and PUFA/SFA ratios ranged between 0.94 and 1.72, which is desirable to keep a healthy cardiovascular status. This is the first study reporting fatty acid profiles and distribution of commonly consumed marine fishes in Chile.

International audience; Blurring occurs frequently in video sequences captured by consumer devices, as a result of various factors such as lens aberrations, defocus, relative camera-scene motion, and camera shake. When it comes to the contents of archive documents such as old films and television shows, the degradations are even more serious due to several physical phenomena happening during the sensing, transmission, recording, and storing processes. We propose in this paper a versatile formulation of blind video deconvolution problems that seeks to estimate both the sharp unknown video sequence and the underlying blur kernel from an observed video. This inverse problem is severely ill-posed, and an appropriate solution can be obtained by modeling it as a nonconvex minimization problem. We provide a novel iterative algorithm to solve it, grounded on the use of recent advances in convex and nonconvex optimization techniques, and having the ability of including numerous well-known regularization strategies.

RF vulnerabilities is a massive problem nowadays. If you see TV remote, AC remote, camera and car remotes RF have been using everywhere. The problem with RF security is that it always generates a signal with the same key which locked or unlock the system. RF signals are also unencrypted and It transfers signal through an unsecured channel so It suffers from key relay attack where the same key signal used to generate every time from a captured RF signal having the same key to make work to the system. Our problem statement is “Removing RF vulnerabilities to transfer data securely so that RF can avoid any types of relay attack threats”. we proposed a system which transferred data securely, In our system, we advise key rolling algorithm with a 2-way handshake, Key rolling algorithm rolls key which provides a new key every time of data transferring and 2-way handshaking provide synchronization between sender and receiver.

Understanding and validating annual structures in fish otoliths are important for stock assessments and fisheries ecology. Biannual translucent zone formation has been demonstrated for 3–21 months old Namibian shallow-water hake Merluccius capensis. This paper addresses the hypothesis that the pattern continues in older fish. Otolith zone periodicity was studied for four cohorts hatched in July of 1996, 1998, 2002 and 2005, based on modal progression analysis (n = 1059). Edge analysis and marginal increment analysis were performed on otoliths representing eleven months of the year from port samples (n = 1153) from the years 2007–2015. Two to three translucent (T)-zones are formed on the hake otoliths each year, one or two between austral summer and autumn (January to April) and one in winter–spring (between July and October). Annual zones are usually the T2, T5, T8 zones (likely every third T-zone). Annual zones are not distinguishable from pseudo-annuli under the light microscope, and therefore otolith length measurements (OL) at each T-zone should be used as a guide for assigning age (9, 15 and 19 mm OL for ages 1, 2 and 3 respectively). Otolith T-zones are associated with both warm and cold periods, when they are presumably limited by temperature or dissolved oxygen concentration as well as food availability and feeding efficiency at both ends of their tolerance range. The most noticeable factor influencing the formation of translucent zones in otoliths is fish condition, not always linked with spawning (not always linked with high GSI). M. capensis otolith zonation is thus linked with their endogenous adaptation to the ecosystem, their fish physiology and also regulated by environmental variability.

For many people, the habit of leg shaking is an annoyance to themselves and people around them. In this work, we present SPINDLES+, a smartphone-based leg shaking detection application that detects and alerts users of leg shaking. In addition to being a low-power, low-latency, non-intrusive and high accuracy mobile application, SPINDLES+ extends the work of its predecessor, SPINDLES, by addressing the need for personalization in detecting a body motion that is unique to the individual. We show that SPINDLES+ is able to learn the characteristics that define an individual׳s leg shaking signature and allows the user to adjust the parameters of the detector, based on personal preference, to find an optimal point between accuracy, latency, and power consumption. Finally, we compare SPINDLES+ with related works to further illustrate improvements over the robustness and personalization aspects that SPINDLES+ affords. By providing leg shaking alerts in a timely manner, we hope to help users become more aware of and reduce the occurrence of this behavior.

Electro-hydraulic shake table (EHST), also known as earthquake simulator, is of considerable significance in civil engineering for evaluating structures or infrastructures subjected to earthquake ground motions. However, reproduction of prescribed accelerations at table for EHST systems remains to be imperfect as the whole systems are confronted with hydraulic nonlinearity, varying dynamics, unexpected disturbance, etc. For enhancing the acceleration tracking performance of EHST systems, an acceleration waveform reproduction strategy using offline designed parametric feedforward compensator (PFC) and online functional link adaptive controller (FLAC) is proposed in this paper. The PFC controller is established on the basis of classical three variable controller (TVC) as an inner compensation loop, in which multi-innovation forgetting gradient (MIFG) algorithm together with zero magnitude error tracking (ZMET) technique are utilized during the design process. The FLAC controller is combined to the PFC controller as an outer loop for further acceleration enhancement purpose, and the controller’s nonlinear mapping ability is achieved with trigonometric expansion implementation. Following theoretical analysis of the proposed controller, comparative experiments are performed on an established unidirectional EHST test bench with both random and real-time recorded earthquake input waveforms. The experimental results validate the feasibility and superiority of the proposed acceleration reproduction strategy.

In the present study, we examined how pre-service mathematics teachers initiated the problem-formulation process when given another problem as a starting point and what types of considerations they made in the problem-formulation process. Nine pre-service mathematics teachers were given car rental and handshake problems and were asked to formulate new problems based on the given problems. Then, task-based interviews were conducted with the pre-service mathematics teachers, and the data obtained were subjected to thematic analysis. The results indicated that the pre-service mathematics teachers tended to formulate a problem by finding the solution to the given problem, and while formulating their problems, they considered cognitive, metacognitive, and instructional factors, which differed according to the task type. Taking these factors into account, we developed a new learning framework by reinterpreting the existing frameworks that combine problem formulation, problem solving, and active learning.

International audience; Organisms are exposed to various stressors including parasites and micropollutants. Their combined effects are hard to predict. This study assessed the trophic relationship, micropollutants bioaccumulation and infection degree in a host-parasite couple. Carbon and nitrogen isotopic ratios were determined in hake Merluccius merluccius muscle and in its parasite Anisakis sp. Concentrations of both priority (mercury species and polychlorinated biphenyls congeners) and emerging (musks and sunscreens) micropollutants were also measured for the parasite and its host, to detect potential transfer of contaminants between the two species. The results showed partial trophic interaction between the parasite and its host, in accordance with the Anisakis sp. life encysted in hake viscera cavity. PCB transfer between the two species may result from some lipids uptake by the parasite, while no relation occurred for the two other contaminants. Finally, a positive correlation was found between the number of Anisakis sp. larvae and the methylmercury contamination for hake, emphasizing the assumption that the contamination level in methylmercury can weaken immune system of the host enough to affect parasite infection degree. Micropollutant concentrations in hake and its parasite reveal a partial trophic interaction and a link between hake contamination and infection degree by parasites.

Nowadays there is drastic growth in underwater communication for submarines and also in commercial systems. The challenging communication in underwater is severe attenuation, multi-path effect, and limited power, also complicated for long-distance communications. In this observe an efficient protocol and algorithm is mandatory for the data communication with route discovery. In the underwater sensor, continuous communication is required between the sensor nodes because sometimes it may affect due to the natural disaster, so the data loss may happen in the communication. In this paper, a novel design for underwater communication is proposed by using the Artificial Fish Algorithm (AFISH) with Handshake protocol. The proposed model is evaluated at a particular distance by deploying the sensor nodes and routes constructed between the source and destination. It is clear that the data communication has been done with less delay and loss.

There is no question that the internet has transformed our lives, and we are seeing its importance for creating connection despite forced physical disconnection in the wake of Covid-19. Of course, this is obvious with telemedicine and using Zoom to teach online. However, it also reminds us that online dispute resolution (ODR) is a viable and important avenue for providing access to justice, even if we cannot be in the same room. Indeed, it gives my book with Colin Rule, “the New Handshake,” a whole new meaning. With this in mind, this essay seeks to revive ideas articulated in the book and provide insights on how ODR can be easily deployed to provide access to remedies. People may be “forced” to try ODR in the wake of the epidemic – but that may help usn see how ODR can expand Access to Justice.

This study examines how seismic shocks impact mortgage lenders’ risk perception and therefore change their credit decisions. We find that noticeable but non-damaging earthquakes affected lenders’ pricing and sales strategies but not credit accessibility. Lenders were more likely to sell loans from the shaking Census tracts to the GSEs while raising the interest rate and the sales rate in the entire affected county area. Lenders’ responses were explained by increased risk salience instead of worsened borrowers’ creditworthiness or permanent collateral devaluation. Moreover, lenders’ access to local information, size, and sales capability influenced their ability to detect and transfer seismic risk.

The crust of the earth releases stored energy suddenly which produces the seismic waves. These waves can shake the surface of the earth which is called an earthquake. Mostly frequent earthquakes are seen in the areas which fall under seismic zone but they can appear in any geographical region. Earthquake takes only a few seconds to damage life and property in a broad stretch of land. At the point when quakes happen in urban regions, the outcomes of these catastrophes are essentially more horrific due to the losses and degree of the harm to the living bodies and property that is caused. After the earthquake, its aftershocks and Tsunami are having a high probability to occur which further creates fear among individuals living in the influenced region. Hence, there is a need for designing an innovative system for the detection and forecast of earthquakes which will be the best solution for a sustainable society. In this paper, we primarily concentrate on the investigation of the current scenario for earthquake detection, its prediction techniques and the problems associated with them. First, we analyze the various existing methods of detection using wireless sensor nodes and then IP based WSN and the Internet of Things (IoT). Then we analyze the data acquisition techniques using various protocols. Then we analyze the data processing and earthquake forecasting techniques. Based on the above discussions we analyze the shortcomings and propose a system for the solution.

This study aimed to optimize an ion-exchange chromatography method for an accurate quantification of phosphates. Coelution of nucleotides was detected following the quantification of small amounts of di- and trimetaphosphates in hake fillets. In some samples, triphosphates were added to the glaze ice, therefore, defrosting waters (glaze ice + drip loss of fillets) should be analyzed for an effective assessment of the use of phosphates in seafood. Even low amounts of adenosine 5′-diphosphate (ADP) and inosine 5′-monophosphate (IMP) triggered false positive results for P2O74− and P3O93−. Keeping the initial isocratic conditions for longer was crucial for the separation of ADP from P2O74− and of IMP from P3O93−. The improved method showed that in general, hake fillets did not have diphosphates, and trimetaphosphates were residual. Triphosphates were clearly added in only four defrosting waters, and in most of the remaining ones, diphosphates and trimetaphosphates contents corresponded to false positive results.

Europe's Blue Growth strategy promotes the intensification of human activities at sea and increases the environmental risk such as the decline of the provision of key ecosystem services and potential conflicts among human activities. The fishing sector, in the Alboran Sea, is economically and culturally one of the most important and relies on overexploited target species such as European hake (Merlucius merlucius). Here we identified and quantified the impact of human pressures on the capacity of marine habitats to support the provision of food as an important ecosystem service. We modelled the spatial distribution of nursery areas of European hake in the Alboran Sea, using General Additive Models (GAM) and overlaid those with European Nature Information System (EUNIS) habitats. A sensitivity analysis of hake nursery areas to cumulative human impacts identified the Bay of Malaga as the most sensitive area with trawling frequencies up to 60 times higher than the habitats recovery time. Further, we identified an increased conflict potential among human activities such as trawling and extraction with the presence of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), which provide MPAs a high vulnerability similar to that found in unprotected areas. Future scenarios considering the increase of renewable energy and alternative food production show conflicts between aquaculture and MPAs as well as offshore wind farms and offshore shipping. Hence, our results show strong arguments for an integrated spatial management approach, including benthic trawling. We also suggest restricting trawling activities inside MPAs to safeguard the habitats capacity to support ecosystem services. Our spatially explicit assessment framework is transparent and transferable to other Mediterranean regions. Thus, it can function as a model on how to incorporate cumulative effect assessments in marine spatial planning processes.

The bulk storage and mass capture of small forage fish has played a primary role in the cultural traditions and subsistence practices of many ancient and modern indigenous communities throughout the world. Archaeologists are improving their recognition of human interaction with these fisheries through the application of fine-mesh screening techniques and ichthyofaunal analysis of fish bone. Because of the differing life histories of many of these fish, determining their species from archaeological contexts can improve our resolution of past harvesting and consumption patterns. This has remained a challenge for many categories of fish, such as salmon and smelt. Here, we present an improved genetic species identification process that utilizes ancient DNA amplification techniques involving a reagent-rich PCR protocol (i.e., “Rescue PCR”) and a PCR Enhancer Cocktail P (i.e., PEC-P) to identify smelt and other forage fish bone from five archaeological sites located along the northern California (United States) Pacific coast dating to the Late Period (after 1300 cal BP). Through the application of these novel techniques, our species identification success rate increased to 71.2% overall, with some sites having a remarkable 100% success rate. We identified the species of 104 of 146 fish vertebrae, and determined that inhabitants at these sites harvested primarily surf smelt with potentially less emphasis on night smelt. Observations of herring, perch, sculpin and rainbow trout/steelhead were also made. Along with these small surf fish, we found evidence of larger fish such as shark and Pacific hake (common predatory fish in the area). The study demonstrates a significant breakthrough in ancient DNA identification techniques that resulted in information that speak to the long term continuity of use of mass harvested forage fish by indigenous peoples. The results of this project help establish a better understanding of subsistence and cultural traditions of northern California indigenous communities, with the potential to provide a more global understanding of fishing technologies, sustainability, and mass harvesting of small fishes.

Fish habitat models based on remotely-sensed data may be limited by satellite coverage and availability. We compared the fit and predictive power of Random Forest habitat classifiers that were developed using predictors derived from a coupled biophysical model (i.e., modeled predictors) versus similar classifiers that used remotely-sensed satellite data for two data sets (eggs and adults) and four species that occur widely in the California Current system. When tested on independent data, classifiers of spawning habitat that used derived predictors (derived classifiers) had nearly identical accuracies (0–2% difference) to similar classifiers based on satellite data (satellite classifiers). Accuracies of derived classifiers of adult habitat were within −8% to +7% of comparable satellite classifiers. Accuracies of both types of classifiers on test data were much greater for Northern anchovy Engraulis mordax and Pacific hake Merluccius productus (0.75–0.97) than for jack mackerel Trachurus symmetricus and Pacific sardine Sardinops sagax (0.61–0.72), and generally were greater for classifiers of spawning habitat than for adult habitat. Specificity was very good for both types of classifiers, but sensitivity was poor, because classifiers identified potential habitat which was not fully occupied. Adults of all species used a broader range of habitat conditions during summer than during the spring spawning period. Derived classifiers have some advantages over satellite classifiers; they are not limited by cloud cover and they can make predictions in near real-time or the short-term future. However, there was no consistent improvement in the accuracy of derived predictors that included modeled zooplankton concentrations over comparable satellite classifiers that included reflectance/chlorophyll concentration.

In this paper, we study the privacy protection problem of handshake protocol for mobile healthcare social network, and introduce the concept of attribute-based handshake (ABH) protocol. Using ABH, users in mobile healthcare social network can make a handshake to authenticate each other and obtain a common session key without exposing their privacy when their attributes meet the social needs of each other. Then, we provide the formal definition and security model of ABH protocol with a specific construction proving its security in the standard model. Finally, we introduce how to deploy our ABH protocol in the mobile healthcare social network.

Deconvolution is the process that evaluates the seismic motion at depth of a soil profile, which can then be used as input excitation in soil-structure interaction (SSI) analyses. Clearly, the reliability of the SSI analysis depends on the precision of the derived deconvolved motions at depth. In this paper, the phase-amplitude modification procedure is presented to deconvolve both horizontal and vertical target (design) surface ground motions in multi-layered, equivalent-linear viscoelastic media for use in finite element time-domain structural analyses. The aim is to determine the seismic motions at the appropriate depth in the soil profile by modifying the target surface ground motions based on the mathematical model of the system, which is assessed by analyzing input-output data. The nonlinear behavior of the soil layers is approximated by employing the equivalent soil properties in the finite element model. The exact solution of vertical wave propagation, obtained with the SHAKE software, is used as a guide to obtain the equivalent properties of the soil layers, and evaluate the damping ratios. The procedure is validated using a multi-layered soil profile. The numerical results demonstrate that the convolved surface ground motions from the finite element analysis and the target ones are in almost perfect agreement, indicating that the approach can be used for reliable SSI evaluation in finite element time-domain analyses. Furthermore, the results indicate that the use of the deconvolved base motions resulting from SHAKE and applied directly in the finite element time-domain analysis may result in considerable error. In addition, the examination of different models of Rayleigh damping suggested that the optimized Rayleigh damping can decrease the frequency-dependency of the damping at high frequencies, which is more compatible with the frequency-independent behavior of soils, as verified experimentally by several researchers.

Steel building frames consisting of tension-only braces have been recently recognized as adequate lateral force resisting systems for use in low-rise buildings in the regions with seismicity. To further promote the use of such systems, this investigation was focused on developing recommendations for calculating the horizontal seismic force demands on the nonstructural components attached to the systems. Specifically, two full-scale three-story experimental models were designed, constructed and tested using shake tables. The two experimental models differed from each other primarily in that one model consisted of the exterior walls with non-negligible contributions to the system lateral stiffness while the other experimental model did not have such exterior walls. A series of shake table tests using the excitations scaled to different intensity levels were performed on each experimental model. It was found that the existing design and analysis methods appear inadequate in predicting the horizontal seismic force demands on the nonstructural components. Based on the test results, a practical model which can well capture the central tendency of the test results and can be integrated into the existing design method was developed. Test results also revealed that the exterior walls with non-negligible contributions to the system lateral stiffness can arouse larger horizontal seismic force demands on the nonstructural components.

By using combination of multiple energy-harvesters, a novel self-powered wireless-sensing-node is proposed and developed for event-driven autonomous alarming, where the vibration pattern can be recognized. The energy-harvester based wireless-sensing-node has three unique advantages of (1) vibration pattern distinguishable sensing, (2) event-driven autonomous wireless monitoring and alarming, and (3) no electric-power supply needed. In the sensing microsystem, two threshold-triggered harvesters are designed and fabricated to monitor vibration in a vibration pattern distinguishable way. Each of the two threshold-triggered harvesters can independently switch into electric-generating state only when the monitored acceleration exceeds the preset-threshold. In the dual-harvester array, one threshold-triggered harvester is more sensitive to low-frequency shake and the other is triggered more easily by high-frequency knock, thereby, both vibration amplitude and frequency can be distinguished that allows vibration pattern identification. For quick wireless-transmission, another electromagnetic energy-harvester is involved to rapidly generate electric-power. The wireless-sensing-node is installed onto a protection-fence for engineering protection. In this experiment, the device can clearly distinguish the vibration patterns between hand-shake and hammer-knock. The vibration-event induced alarm messages together with the vibration pattern information is wirelessly sent to a phone. The developed technique is really promising for smart wireless-monitoring where no on-site power can be supplied.

Spawning frequency (SF) is a parameter that represents the number of spawning events per time unit, used to estimate the reproductive potential of many fish populations. We analyzed the relationship between SF and size and age of Argentine hake females from the Patagonian stock. We also studied the influence of female nutritional condition and physical variables on spawning and estimated the monthly egg production in relation to size structure. Samples were collected during the spawning season between 2000 and 2014. This study revealed that the size and age of spawners had a positive effect on the SF of the stock. During the reproductive season this parameter ranged between 13 and 3 days for females within a total length (TL) interval of 35–80 cm. A positive relationship between the spawning activity and the water temperature was also observed, suggesting that this variable could has an influence on the growth and maturation of oocytes. Towards the end of the reproductive period SF was higher than at the beginning of the spawning, but batch fecundity was lower. This could be associated with the poor nutritional condition of females at the end of seasonal spawning. Our results reinforce the hypothesis of a significant maternal effect in Argentine hake, characterized by a higher reproductive output in larger females (>50 cm TL), which in general is not considered in the traditional stock assessment. Fil: Macchi, Gustavo Javier. Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones y Desarrollo Pesquero; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; Argentina Fil: Rodrigues, Karina Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones y Desarrollo Pesquero; Argentina Fil: Leonarduzzi, Ezequiel. Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones y Desarrollo Pesquero; Argentina Fil: Diaz, Marina Vera. Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones y Desarrollo Pesquero; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; Argentina

This article aims to gain a better understanding of the relationship between economic recession and entrepreneurship. The process of entrepreneurship, rather than the action itself, is a complex phenomenon, and such complexity surfaces when local context conditions worsen after an economic recession. This paper addresses the issue of how the likelihood of individuals to engage in the creation of new firms is affected by a recessionary climate. Furthermore, the study focuses on how the recession-driven shake-out effect varies across local contexts (i.e., sub-national regions). The case of Spain in the critical period of 2007–2010 is examined by using multilevel logistic mediation models on individual-level and sub-national region-level panel data. The results show that entrepreneurship shrinks during economic downturns, suggesting a pro-cyclical trend. A weaker perception by individuals of business opportunities resulting from the shake-out explains, to a large extent, the lower propensity to create firms during economic recession."

The combined effect of ozone gaseous treatment and passive refrigeration system on microbiological, biochemical, and sensory changes of fresh cod (Merluccius merluccius), red shrimp (Aristeus antennatus), scald fish (Arnoglossus laterna) and musky octopus (Eledone moschata) was evaluated by monitoring quality during 12 days of storage. Except for hake, ozonation exerted a significant bactericidal effect on psychrotrophs, H2S-producing bacteria, Aeromonas and Brochothrix spp. TVB-N and TMA-N experienced the same trend in the four fish types with higher increases in scald fish. The remarkable contents recorded in musky octopus for both parameters appeared to be due to autolytic activity. Except for red shrimp, the level of fat hydrolysis rarely appeared to be different within the ozonated and control samples. According to sensory assessment, ozonation may have a varying impact depending on the fish product: the treatment extended the scald fish shelf-life up to one week, while in red shrimp no difference occurred for the first week. Based on the outcomes, the combined approach developed here has proven to be an effective technology for fish shelf-life extension, with the best influence on microbial control in scald fish and musky octopus. At any rate, conditions for treatment need to be fine-tuned to the specific fish product.

This paper presents the design of multiple parameter-dependent robust controllers for mass-produced miniaturized optical image stabilizers (OIS’s), which are used to minimize the image blur in mobile devices caused by hand-induced camera shake. The dynamics of batch-fabricated OIS’s with inevitable product variations is represented by a set of linear models, parameterized by two product-dependent natural frequencies and one uncertain gain. It turns out that the natural frequencies for each OIS product are difficult to determine accurately, and thus assumed to be estimated with errors. The controller is designed to be parameter-dependent on estimated natural frequencies, as well as to be robust against both estimation errors of the natural frequencies and the gain uncertainty. Experimental results on large-scale prototypes demonstrate that the proposed controller outperforms a conventional parameter-independent robust controller as well as a single parameter-dependent robust controller. Specifically, the proposed controller yields more than 27% improvement over the conventional robust controller in terms of lens-tilting tracking performance.

Gandhinagar City (the Capital of Gujarat, India) falls under Zone III on the seismic zoning map of India where an earthquake of magnitude 6 can be expected. It is a well established fact that the site amplification/ shaking and damage is large in soil covered areas. To estimate the effect of soil on ground motion and to estimate the strong ground motion parameters at surface, soil modeling and the ground response analysis have been conducted along uniformly distributed 14 boreholes drilled upto a depth of 50 m. The methodology is divided into three parts (i) Estimation of depth of Engineering Bed layer (EBL) (a layer with a shear wave velocity 400 m/s ≤ Vs ≤ 750 m/s, N value >80 and minimum soil variation below it) through soil modeling, (ii) Estimation of Ground Motion at EBL due to scenario earthquake at nearby active fault and (iii) Estimation of surface strong ground motion using 1D ground response analysis through SHAKE 2000 program. The EBL is found at a depth of 21–33 m (shallower in central part and deeper in northern and southern parts). The Near-Field scenario earthquake (Eq.) of magnitude Mw 6.0 has been considered along East Cambay Fault (normal fault, 60° dip) located at about ~ 20 km east and Far Field scenario Eq. of Mw 7.6 is considered along Kachchh Mainland Fault located ~270 km west. The Peak Ground acceleration (PGA) of 0.172–0.237 g have been estimated at surface due to near field earthquake scenario. The mean spectral acceleration maps for 0.1–0.4 s, 0.4–0.7 s, 0.7–1.0 s and 1.0–1.5 s have also been computed. The mean spectral acceleration for the period of 0.1–0.4 s has been varying from 0.330 g to 0.508 g, for period of 0.4–0.7 Sec, it has been varying from 0.151 g to 0.161 g and for period between 1.0 and 1.5 Sec, it has been found from 0.83 g to 0.09 g. The PGA is found increased by 5–38% in the first subsurface soil layer in Gandhinagar city. The PGA of the order of 0.059–0.072 g and peak Spectral acceleration of the order of 0.187–0.259 g have been computed (with predominant periods of ~0.1 s and 0.31 s) due to Far-Field Eq. scenario and are found less than Indian code. The PGA and Spectral acceleration (Sa) values are found higher than the Indian code in the period range of 0.1–0.4 s (one to four storey buildings) for Near Field Eq. Scenario.

10 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables, A sampling programme to understand the factors affecting zoonotic parasite presence and infection intensity of Atlantic European hake populations was conducted from 2013 to 2015. Commercial fish samples comprising 430 hake specimens from northern (Grand Sole) and southern (Atlantic Iberian Peninsula) fishing grounds were sampled, recorded and inspected. We also analysed 75 additional samples collected around Scotland. Parasites were microscopically identified to genus level. Fish biometric measurements were statistically evaluated as categorical predictors of parasite recruitment into fish stocks. Stable isotope composition was determined in another sample batch of 501 hakes from the NE Atlantic (Grand Sole and Galician grounds) to explore trophic indicators as potential predictors of parasite burden. Partial sequences from mitochondrial and nuclear marker genes (mtDNA cox2 and EF1 α-1 nDNA) from a set of 915 Anisakis larvae confirmed the northern stock to be parasitized by A. simplex (s.s.) while off the Iberian Peninsula hake there was a mixed infection pattern with larvae of A. simplex s.s. (67.4% of identified larvae), A. pegreffii (31.9%) and the F1hybrid (0.7%). The observed burden of Anisakis spp. larvae differed markedly between fishing areas. The presence of very high Anisakis spp. burdens in a comparatively small proportion of individual fish was well-illustrated with characteristic tensegrity grid architecture for parasite aggregation derived from a plaque-forming cell response observed in the abdominal cavity of larger fish specimens. Demographic infection values were remarkably high in Grand Sole and off the Iberian Peninsula, with 100% prevalence and mean abundances in the fillets ranging from 247 (A. simplex) in hake from Grand Sole to 60 A. simplex and 20 A. pegreffii in southern European populations. Infections were less prevalent and less intense in the hake sample from Scottish waters. Fish size was the most important factor affecting Anisakis spp. prevalence and abundance, with larger fish containing more Anisakis larvae. Anisakis abundance within individual fish was also positively correlated with the condition index although this does not rule out negative effects on the host, and with trophic level, even after fish size was accounted for. These results suggest that higher Anisakis burden is associated with a higher food intake and with eating larger prey. The risk profile for zoonotic parasites herein described for European hake populations underlines the urgent need for adopting a contingency plan that minimizes the risk exposure, This research was supported by the European Commission under the project PARASITE (FP7-GA-312068)

The European hake Merluccius merluccius is one of the most commercially important and widely distributed fish species, occurring both in European and Mediterranean Sea fisheries. We analyzed the distribution and infection rates of different species of Anisakis in M. merluccius (N = 1130 hakes), by site of infection in the fish host (viscera, dorsal and ventral fillets) from 13 different fishing grounds of the Mediterranean Sea (FAO area 37). The fillets were examined using the UV-Press method. A large number of Anisakis specimens (N = 877) were identified by diagnostic allozymes, sequence analysis of the partial EF1 α-1 region of nDNA and mtDNA cox2 gene. Among these, 813 larvae corresponded to A. pegreffii, 62 to A. physeteris, 1 to A. simplex (s. s.), whereas one resulted as a F1 hybrid between A. pegreffii and A. simplex (s. s.). Remarkably high levels of infection with A. pegreffii were recorded in hakes from the Adriatic/Ionian Sea compared to the fish of similar length obtained from the western Mediterranean fishing grounds. A positive correlation between fish length and abundance of A. pegreffii was observed. Concerning the localization of A. pegreffii larvae in the fish, 28.3% were detected in the liver, 62.9% in the rest of the viscera, 6.6% in the ventral part of the flesh, whereas 2.1% in the dorsal flesh.

Accurate VS30 estimates are increasingly important in seismically active areas due to their efficacy in site effect analysis for seismic hazard assessment as well as microzonation evaluation and shake maps development. A comparison between different approaches for the time-averaged shear-wave velocity (VS) in the upper 30 m (VS30) is presented. In this study of VS30 a site-to-site or averaged zonation value technique comparison is assessed for proxy-based and measured or assigned values, respectively. Three urban areas of Edessa, Grevena and Xanthi in Northern Greece were selected for this study. The merit of this selection was based on the historical seismicity, geology and geomorphology of these areas. This paper highlights the strong correlation between the proxy-based approach and the assigned average values in zones of common geophysical and geotechnical characteristics within the frame of EC8 site characterization. In addition, on site-by-site comparison proxy-based VS30 values, agree with the ones derived from measured geophysical data. With the exception of areas where shear wave velocity has a high rate increase with depth, as well as, in shallow bedrock above 30 m the proxy tends to underestimate the VS30 value. Higher disagreements are reported when stiffer formations are denoted through geotechnical mapping that are not clarified in the geological map.