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A continuous time delay-diff erence model (CTDDM) has been established that considers continuous time delays of biological processes. The southern Atlantic albacore ( Thunnus alalunga) stock is the one of the commercially important tuna population in the marine world. The age structured production model (ASPM) and the surplus production model (SPM) have already been used to assess the albacore stock. However, the ASPM requires detailed biological information and the SPM lacks the biological realism. In this study, we focus on applying a CTDDM to the southern Atlantic albacore ( T. alalunga) species, which provides an alternative method to assess this fishery. It is the first time that CTDDM has been provided for assessing the Atlantic albacore ( T. alalunga) fishery. CTDDM obtained the 80% confidence interval of MSY (maximum sustainable yield) of (21 510 t, 23 118t). The catch in 2011 (24 100 t) is higher than the MSY values and the relative fishing mortality ratio ( F/ F) is higher than 1.0. The results of CTDDM were analyzed to verify the proposed methodology and provide reference information for the sustainable management of the southern Atlantic albacore stock. The CTDDM treats the recruitment, the growth, and the mortality rates as all varying continuously over time and fills gaps between ASPM and SPM in this stock assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on field work, organic geochemical analyses and experimental testing, a six-property assessment method for shale gas is proposed. These six properties include organic matter properies, lithofacies, petrophysical properties, gas content, brittleness and local stress field. Due to the features of continuous distribution over a large area and low resource abundance in shale plays, a sweet spot should have these following properties: (a) TOC>2%; (b) brittle minerals content (>40%) and clay minerals (<30%); (c) Ro (>1.1%); (d) porosity (>2%) and permeability (>0.000 1 mD), and (e) effective thickness (30-50 m). Applying these criteria in the Sichuan Basin, the Silurian Longmaxi shale consists of four prospecting sweet spots, including blocks of Changning, Weiyuan, Zhaotong and Fushun-Yongchuan. Although these four blocks have some similarities, different features were usually observed. After comprehensive analyses using the six-property assessment method, the Fushun-Yongan Block ranks the most favorable sweet spot, followed by the Weiyuan Block. For the other two blocks, the Changning Block is better than the Zhaotong Block. By comparing with the Mississippian Barnett shale, characteristics that are crucial for a high-yielding in the Sichuan Basin include a high content of organic matter (TOC>2.5%), a moderate thermal maturity ( Ro=0.4%-2%), a high content of brittle minerals (quartz: 30%-45%), a high gas content (>2.5 m·t), and types I and II kerogen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]