Trust seals, such as the VeriSign and TRUSTe logos, are widely used to indicate a website is reputable. But how much protection do they offer to online shoppers? We conducted a study in which 60 experienced online shoppers rated 6 websites – with and without trust seals based on how trustworthy they perceived them to be. Eye tracking data reveals that 38% of participants failed to notice any of...

Northern elephant seals, Mirounga angustirostris, travel between colonies along the west coast of North America and foraging areas in the North Pacific. They also have the ability to return to their home colony after being experimentally translocated. However, the mechanisms of this navigation are not known. Visual information could serve an important role in navigation, either primary or suppl...

An ultrasonic testing method employing the pulse-echo inspection technique was developed to assess the integrity of annular seals surrounding casings (i.e.. instrument tubes or well casings). This nondestructive testing method permits testing aseal from inside acasing without disturbing the casing, seal. or formation. Seals constructed with cement-based and bentonite-based sealants surrounding ...

Fault zones have the potential to act as leakage pathways through low permeability structural seals in geological reservoirs. Faults may facilitate migration of groundwater contaminants and stored anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO $_2$ ), where waste fluids would otherwise remain securely trapped. We present an analytical model that describes dynamics a fault zone cutting multiple aquifers seals...

In North Atlantic European waters, the nasal mite Halarachne halichoeri has been described affecting Grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) producing different levels of respiratory disease. This study provides data on the prevalence, clinical signs and produced macro-pathology of this parasite mite infecting juvenile wild Grey seals stranded in North-Western Spanish coast. Among the 25 seals examined...

Giardia and Cryptosporidium are protozoan parasites known to cause enteric disease in terrestrial wildlife species (mammals, reptiles and birds). Few surveys for Giardia and Cryptosporidium in marine wildlife species, such as pinnipeds, have been reported. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and genotype of Giardia and Cryptosporidium in two species of pinnipeds, harp se...

During their long migrations through the Pacific, northern elephant seals, Mirounga angustirostris, never haul out on land and they rarely spend more than a few minutes at a time at the surface. They are almost constantly making repetitive, deep dives, raising the question of when do they rest? One type of dive, the drift dive, characterized by a time-depth profile with a phase of lower than av...

The Austral autumn-winter is a critical period for capital breeders such as Weddell seals that must optimize resource acquisition and storage to provision breeding in the subsequent spring. However, how Weddell seals find food in the winter months remains poorly documented. We equipped adult Weddell seals after their annual molt with satellite-relayed data loggers at two sites in East Antarctic...

We measured concentrations of aluminum (Al), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), total mercury (THg), methylmercury (MeHg), selenium (Se), silver (Ag), and zinc (Zn) in liver from Harbor Seals (n 5 31) stranded dead in the inland waters of Washington State between 2004 and 2007. Results were compared by age class and region, and to results from past studies. Signifi...

Interpolation of geolocation or Argos tracking data is a necessity for habitat use analyses of marine vertebrates. In a fluid marine environment, characterized by curvilinear structures, linearly interpolated track data are not realistic. Based on these two facts, we interpolated tracking data from albatrosses, penguins, boobies, sea lions, fur seals and elephant seals using six mathematical al...