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Prioritisation of natural assets for monitoring and research activities facilitates equitable allocation of finite conservation resources. We present a framework that identifies broad monitoring and research priorities for conservation areas, such as marine parks, and threatened species. Criteria within the framework are used to assess: the value (V) of assets; anthropogenic pressures (P) that affect assets; and the current state of asset knowledge (K). A panel of experts score criteria and the relative importance of each asset is calculated for monitoring (V * P), fundamental research (V * K) and applied research (V * P * K). The framework allows prioritisation of assets in an initial evaluation that agrees with institutional mandates, and facilitates future assessment of the feasibility and cost of monitoring or research in the implementation phase. The utility of the framework is that it can be easily applied by conservation practitioners and can concurrently prioritise monitoring and research of species, habitats and communities in marine and terrestrial environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On wet and windy days, the inclined cables of cable-stayed bridges can experience large amplitude, potentially damaging oscillations known as rain-wind-induced vibration (RWIV). RWIV is believed to be the result of a complicated non-linear interaction between rivulets of rain water that run down the cables and the wind loading on the cables from the unsteady aerodynamics; however, despite a considerable international research effort, the underlying physical mechanism that governs this oscillation is still not satisfactorily understood. An international workshop on RWIV was held in April 2008, hosted at the University of Strathclyde. The main outcomes of this workshop are summarised in the paper. A numerical method to investigate aspects of the RWIV phenomenon has recently been developed by the authors, which couples an unsteady aerodynamic solver to a thin-film model based on lubrication theory for the flow of the rain water to ascertain the motion of the rivulets owing to the unsteady aerodynamic field. This novel numerical technique, which is still in the relatively early stages of development, has already provided useful information on the coupling between the external aerodynamic flow and the rivulet, and a summary of some of the key results to date is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the effects of habitat degradation and fishing through climate change on coral reef fish communities. It mentions the study conducted in Lau, Fiji, which was affected by fishing pressure and benthic habitat degradation. It reveals that the coral degradation and structural complexity loss which affected the shallowing of the coral reef fish communities were due to the reduction in fishing pressure, bleaching and indirect impact of fishing-induced starfish outbreaks.

As climate change increasingly threatens biodiversity, identifying specific drivers of species loss as well as the attributes of species most vulnerable to climatic disturbances is a key challenge to ecologists and conservationists. Here we assess the effects of coral loss versus declines in structural complexity on obligate and facultative coral feeding butterflyfishes on coral reefs in the central and western Indian Ocean. In the inner Seychelles, the abundance of the obligate coral feeding group declined markedly in response to live coral mortality (r2 = 0.48), but showed no further decline with respect to erosion of the physical matrix of the reef. Conversely, the facultative feeding group showed no decline in response to live coral loss, reflecting their feeding versatility; however they did decline in response to structural erosion of the reef framework (r2 = 0.26). There were no significant changes in either obligate or facultative corallivore abundances at a reference location (Chagos archipelago), highlighting that butterflyfish populations are stable in the absence of habitat disturbance. While specialised coral dependant fishes are highly vulnerable to coral loss caused by climate-induced coral bleaching, the structural collapse of dead coral colonies may have significant, but more variable, impacts across a wide range of fishes. If conservation and mitigation planning are to be effective, there is a clear need to better understand the mechanisms of reef structural collapse and the dynamics of system recovery following large-scale disturbance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Habitat perturbations play a major role in shaping community structure; however, the elements of disturbance-related habitat change that affect diversity are not always apparent. This study examined the effects of habitat disturbances on species richness of coral reef fish assemblages using annual surveys of habitat and 210 fish species from 10 reefs on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Over a period of 11 years, major disturbances, including localised outbreaks of crown-of-thorns sea star (Acanthaster planci), severe storms or coral bleaching, resulted in coral decline of 46-96% in all the 10 reefs. Despite declines in coral cover, structural complexity of the reef framework was retained on five and species richness of coral reef fishes maintained on nine of the disturbed reefs. Extensive loss of coral resulted in localised declines of highly specialised coral-dependent species, but this loss of diversity was more than compensated for by increases in the number of species that feed on the epilithic algal matrix (EAM). A unimodal relationship between areal coral cover and species richness indicated species richness was greatest at approximately 20% coral cover declining by 3-4 species (6-8% of average richness) at higher and lower coral cover. Results revealed that declines in coral cover on reefs may have limited short-term impact on the diversity of coral reef fishes, though there may be fundamental changes in the community structure of fishes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study design:An exploratory study of the practicality and feasibility of an instrument.Objectives:To adapt an activity monitor for use on a wheelchair to assess long-term mobility in a free-living environment in the spinal cord injury (SCI) population, and to explore the utility of the data collected.Setting:Glasgow, UK.Methods:An activity monitor was adapted for use on a wheelchair wheel. The monitor was used to assess, for 1 week, the wheelchair mobility of seven participants with SCI who only used a wheelchair. In conjunction with a second monitor on the thigh the mobility of seven participants with SCI who used a wheelchair and upright mobility, and five healthy non-wheelchair users, were assessed for 1 day.Results:The adapted monitor collected 1260 h of data and was suitable for use on both manual and electric wheelchairs. During 1 week, participants with SCI who only used a wheelchair spent between 4 and 13 h moving in the wheelchair, covering a distance of between 7 and 28 km. Distinct differences in mobility were shown between participants with an SCI and non-wheelchair users. The differences in time spent in mobility activities between the groups of participants with SCI were smaller.Conclusions:The system was successfully used in this group of participants with SCI, and could provide useful information on the mobility of people with SCI in a free-living environment.Spinal Cord (2008) 46, 352–357; doi:10.1038/sj.sc.3102153; published online 11 December 2007 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lubrication approximation is used to obtain a complete description of the steady unidirectional flow of a thin rivulet of perfectly wetting fluid on an inclined substrate subject to a prescribed uniform longitudinal surface shear stress. The quasi-steady stability of such a rivulet is analysed, and the conditions under which it is energetically favourable for such a rivulet to split into one or more subrivulets are determined. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: The introduction of a transscrotal access for implantation of an artificial urinary sphincter (AUS) offers an alternative to the perineal approach for dealing with post-prostatectomy incontinence. Should a revision be necessary, the entire implant can be explored via this access and only one incision is needed. The aim of our study was to present the advantage of the transscrotal approach in different malfunctions of AUSs (AMS 800).Materials and Methods: Surgical exploration was exemplary indicated in three male patients because of recurrent incontinence after artificial sphincter implantation. The reasons for malfunction were urethral atrophy, a mechanical defect of the device, and urethral erosion of the cuff, which led to explantation via the perineal approach of the entire artificial sphincter system. The patient whose sphincter system had a mechanical defect had the entire system substituted by the transscrotal route. In the case of perineal explantation a complete new AMS 800 system was implanted transscrotally at the unaffected bulbar ureter following complete healing. In the case of urethral atrophy a tandem-cuff was implanted by a transscrotal approach. Because of mechanical complications the whole system was exchanged, a completely new AUS (AMS 800) system being implanted by the transscrotal approach after perineal explantation.Results: There were no complications of any of the revision operations. The postoperative course was uneventful and after activation of the system all patients regained their former continence status. Three months after implantation all patients remained continent and their AMS 800 sphincter systems were fully functional.Conclusion: When a revision operation is needed, the transscrotal access offers a quick and easy alternative to the perineal method. Our patients had no postoperative complications, and their continence rates were satisfactory. Further studies are needed to reveal whether this approach will prove superior to the perineal approach in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Degraded coral reef ecosystems yield limited goods and services, which is expected to have significant socio-economic impacts on isolated tropical island communities with strong reliance on coral reefs. This study investigates socio-economic changes, specifically in fresh fish consumption and fishing activities, associated with environmental degradation at five fishing grounds (qoliqoli) in the Lau Islands (Fiji). Semi-structured interviews with fishers and senior household members revealed that the importance of fishing was low relative to other occupations, and consumption of fresh fish has declined over the last decade. Reduced fishing and choice of fresh fish is largely attributable to an increased need to derive income as well as new income-generating opportunities. A possible consequence of reduced reliance on marine resources was limited awareness of recent environmental degradation caused by climate-induced coral bleaching and outbreaks of coral-feeding crown-of-thorns starfish. Limited use and reduced awareness of the local marine environment in the short term may erode social memory and local ecological knowledge, reducing opportunities to fall back on marine resources. This may also compromise long-term economic and social stability. Conversely, low reliance on marine resources may confer greater flexibility to adapt to future ecological change in the marine environment. Importantly, changes in fish consumption and exploitation of marine resources were linked to socio-economic factors rather than a consequence of recent degradation of marine environments. Greater knowledge of the dynamics driving change in marine resource use is necessary to understand how societies respond to ecological and socio-economic change, and to identify opportunities for adaptive sustainable ecosystem management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Satellite and compiled in situ observations of sea surface temperatures have greatly increased the ability to detect anomalous and persistent warm water and are being widely used to predict climate change, coral bleaching and mortality. A field-based synoptic view of coral bleaching spanning eight countries and ~35° of latitude in the western Indian Ocean tested the accuracy of synoptic temperature data derived from satellites and shipboard data to detect and predict bleaching during 2005. The ability to predict the degree of bleaching based on degree heating weeks data was moderate, but increased when past temperature anomalies and coral community susceptibility were included. It is estimated that slightly more than half of the bleaching response is due to anomalous warm water and nearly half due to taxa and community level acclimation or adaptation, where these two factors have opposing effects. Cumulative temperature anomalies do identify general areas with bleaching but both large over and underestimates of bleaching intensity were observed. Consequently, field observations are needed to confirm the synoptic satellite predictions for particular reefs, particularly where acclimation and reorganization of the coral community have occurred due to past bleaching events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cousin Island marine reserve (Seychelles) has been an effectively protected no-take marine protected area (MPA) since 1968 and was shown in 1994 to support a healthy herbivorous fish assemblage. In 1998 Cousin Island reefs suffered extensive coral mortality following a coral bleaching event, and a phase shift from coral to algal dominance ensued. By 2005 mean coral cover was <1%, structural complexity had fallen and there had been a substantial increase in macroalgal cover, up to 40% in some areas. No clear trends were apparent in the overall numerical abundance and biomass of herbivorous fishes between 1994 and 2005, although smaller individuals became relatively scarce, most likely due to the loss of reef structure. Analysis of the feeding habits of six abundant and representative herbivorous fish species around Cousin Island in 2006 demonstrated that epilithic algae were the preferred food resource of all species and that macroalgae were avoided. Given the current dominance of macroalgae and the apparent absence of macroalgal consumers, it is suggested that the increasing abundance of macroalgae is reducing the probability of the system reverting to a coral dominated state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The standard industrial process of blade-coating is now being used to produce new liquid crystal displays (LCDs) in which a liquid crystal and optical layers are coated onto a substrate. Motivated by this new LCD manufacturing process, we use the Ericksen-Leslie equations to develop a simple mathematical model for blade coating of a nematic liquid crystal. The direction and uniformity of the director are important factors for the performance of the displays, particularly when this alignment is 'frozen in' within optical layers. For this reason we investigate the flow and director within a liquid crystal film both after emerging from the region under a blade (the so-called 'drag-out' problem) and before entering the region under a blade (the so-called 'drag-in' problem). We restrict our attention to thin films and small director angles, and we study two particular cases in which either orientational elasticity effects or flow effects dominate the alignment of the liquid crystal. We find that there is a unique solution of the drag-out problem, whereas there may be multiple solutions of the drag-in problem. When orientational elasticity effects dominate we obtain a simple analytical solution for the director. When flow effects dominate we find that the director is uniform in the bulk of the liquid crystal, which exhibits thin orientational boundary layers near the substrate and the free surface, within which the director orientation changes rapidly from its prescribed boundary value to the flow alignment angle. These boundary layers may be potential locations for the nucleation of defects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by the industrially important processes of blade coating and cavity filling of liquid crystalline materials, we consider steady, two-dimensional shear-driven (Couette) and pressure-driven (plane Poiseuille) flow of a thin film of a nematic liquid crystal in the slowly varying channel formed between a fixed blade of prescribed shape and a planar substrate. Specifically, blade coating motivates the study of shear-driven flow due to the motion of the substrate parallel to itself with constant velocity, while cavity filling motivates the study of pressure-driven flow due to an imposed pressure drop. We use a combination of analytical and numerical techniques to analyze the Ericksen-Leslie equations governing the fluid velocity and pressure and the director orientation in cases when both the aspect ratio of the channel and the distortion of the director field are small. We demonstrate a variety of flow and director-orientation patterns occurring in different parameter regimes. In the limit of weak flow effects, flow alignment does not occur and the appropriate solution of the governing equations is found explicitly. In the limit of strong flow effects flow alignment occurs and orientational boundary layers exist near the substrate and near the blade, and, in addition, an orientational internal layer may also exist within which the director orientation changes from +θ0 to -θ0, where θ0 is the flow-alignment angle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infection is a devastating complication of penile prosthesis surgery that occurs in approximately 2–5% of all primary inflatable penile primary implants in most series. Prevention of hematoma and swelling with closed-suction drains has been shown not to increase infection rate and yield an earlier recovery time. Despite the intuitive advantages of short-term closed-suction drainage in reducing the incidence of postoperative scrotal swelling and associated adverse effects, many urologists are reluctant to drain the scrotum because of a theoretical risk of introducing an infection. In conclusion, this study was undertaken to evaluate the incidence of infection in three-piece penile prosthesis surgery with scrotal closed-suction drainage. A retrospective review of 425 consecutive primary three-piece penile prosthesis implantations was performed at three institutions in New Jersey, Ohio, and Arkansas from 1998 to 2002. Following the prosthesis insertion, 10 French Round Blake (Johnson & Johnson) or, in a few cases, 10 French Jackson Pratt, closed-suction drains were placed in each patient for less than 24 h. All subjects received standard perioperative antibiotic coverage. Average age at implant was 62 y (range 24–92 y). Operative time (incision to skin closure) was less than 60 min in the vast majority of cases. There were a total of 14 (3.3%) infections and three hematomas (0.7%) during an average 18-month follow-up period. In conclusion, this investigation revealed that closed-suction drainage of the scrotum for approximately 12–24 h following three-piece inflatable penile prosthesis surgery does not result in increased infection rate and is associated with a very low incidence of postoperative hematoma formation, swelling, and ecchymosis.International Journal of Impotence Research (2005) 17, 535–538. doi:10.1038/sj.ijir.3901354; published online 23 June 2005 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the Caribbean millions of queen conch ( Strombus gigas Linnaeus) are harvested each year and shells discarded randomly or as middens. Fish use of discarded conch shells was investigated in four different habitat types: sand, seagrass beds, mangrove forests, and coral reefs. The study was carried out in the waters off South Caicos, Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), between October 2003 and January 2004. The density of discarded shells was greatest near coral reefs; however, the percentage of shells occupied by adult fish was higher in isolated shells on sand and in mangrove habitats. Juvenile fish also showed a preference for sheltering in conch shells relative to other microhabitat types on sandy plains and in mangrove and seagrass habitats. Differences in use of single shells by fish in different habitats were attributed to differences in piscivore abundance and habitat complexity. Although not all isolated shells were occupied by fish, all conch middens deposited by fishermen had fish inhabitants. Examination of fish use of conch middens in three habitat types and conch piles of one, three, and five shells constructed on sand found both fish diversity and abundance increased on conch middens of increasing size. This study suggests that disposal of conch shells as large middens in habitats of low complexity will increase the amount of shelter present and may enhance fish populations in these habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use the lubrication approximation to investigate the steady locally unidirectional gravity-driven draining of a thin rivulet of a perfectly wetting Newtonian fluid with prescribed volume flux down both a locally planar and a locally non-planar slowly varying substrate inclined at an angle α to the horizontal. We interpret our results as describing a slowly varying rivulet draining in the azimuthal direction some or all of the way from the top (α = 0) to the bottom (α = π) of a large horizontal circular cylinder with a non-uniform transverse profile. In particular, we show that the behaviour of a rivulet of perfectly wetting fluid is qualitatively different from that of a rivulet of a non-perfectly wetting fluid. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We use the lubrication approximation to investigate the steady flow of slender non‐uniform rivulets of a viscous fluid on an inclined plane that is either heated or cooled relative to the surrounding atmosphere. Four non‐isothermal situations in which thermocapillary effects play a significant role are considered. We derive the general equations for a slender rivulet subject to gravity, surface tension, thermocapillarity and a constant surface shear stress. Similarity solutions describing a thermocapillary‐driven rivulet widening or narrowing due to either gravitational or surface‐tension effects on a non‐uniformly heated or cooled substrate are obtained, and we present examples of these solutions when the substrate temperature gradient depends on the longitudinal coordinate according to a general power law. When gravitational effects are strong there is a unique solution representing both a narrowing pendent rivulet and a widening sessile rivulet whose transverse profile always has a single global maximum. When surface‐tension effects are strong there is a one‐parameter family of solutions representing both a narrowing and a widening rivulet whose transverse profile has either a single global maximum or two equal global maxima and a local minimum. Unique similarity solutions whose transverse profiles always have a single global maximum are also obtained for both a gravity‐driven and a constant‐surface‐shear‐stress‐driven rivulet widening or narrowing due to thermocapillarity on a uniformly heated or cooled substrate. The solutions in both cases represent both a narrowing rivulet on a heated substrate and a widening rivulet on a cooled substrate (albeit with infinite width in the gravity‐driven case). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]