Larval settlement of the polychaete Hydroides elegans Haswell, 1883 is mediated by marine biofilms; complex agglomerates of bacteria, diatoms, fungi and protozoa enmeshed in a matrix of extracellular polymers (EPS). In our previous investigations, benthic diatoms were demonstrated to be potent mediators of larval settlement in H. elegans. The putative diatom-derived settlement cues were heat-st...

The problem of estimating the settlement of shallow foundations on granular soils is complex and not yet entirely understood. In the past, many empirical and theoretical methods have been developed for predicting the settlement of shallow foundations on granular soils; however, these methods are far from accurate and consistent. In recent times, artificial neural networks (ANNs) have been used ...

To determine consumer sensory acceptance and value of beef steaks differing in marbling level (high = upper USDA Choice and low = USDA Select), but similar in Warner-Bratzler shear value, consumers in Chicago and San Francisco (n = 124 per city) evaluated two matched pairs of high- and low-marbled strip steaks, and had the opportunity to participate in a silent, sealed-bid auction to purchase s...

Settlement of larvae of Crassostrea gigas on shell chips (SC) prepared from shells of 11 different species of mollusks was investigated. Furthermore, the settlement inducing compound in the shell of C. gigas was extracted and subjected to various treatments to characterize the chemical cue. C. gigas larvae settled on SC of all species tested except on Patinopecten yessoensis and Atrina pinnata....

This paper studies determinants of drinking behavior and formation of subjective thresholds of acceptable drinking behavior using a sample of students in a major Irish University. We find evidence of strong associations between amounts of alcohol students consume and drinking of their fathers and older siblings. In contrast, we find little evidence of impacts of other non-drinking aspects of fa...

Otolith microstructure has been shown to record valuable information about fishes including age, growth, and the timing of life history transitions, while microchemical analysis can reveal information about environmental history, dispersal, and migration. For the bluehead wrasse Thalassoma bifasciatum, a common coral reef fish on an oceanic island, we examined whether otolith chemistry could be...

Cities are increasingly the fundamental socio-economic units of human societies worldwide, but we still lack a unified characterization of urbanization that captures the social processes realized by cities across time and space. This is especially important for understanding the role of cities in the history of human civilization and for determining whether studies of ancient cities are relevan...

Many marine populations exhibit high variability in the recruitment of young into the population. While environmental cycles and oceanography explain some patterns of replenishment, the role of other growth-related processes in influencing settlement and recruitment is less clear. Examination of a 65-mo. time series of recruitment of a common coral reef fish, Stegastes partitus, to the reefs of...

Variation in density of early stages, that is, larvae and juveniles, is a major determinant of the distribution and abundance of the adult population of most marine invertebrates. These early stages thus play a key role in competitive interactions, and, more specifically, in invasion dynamics when biologically similar native and non-native species (NNS) come into contact in the same habitat. We...