We describe a time series analysis that differentiates the effects of variable larval supply and the mortality impact of shell disease on cohorts of the American lobster Homarus americanus in a southern New England, USA, coastal population. Prior to the onset of a shell disease epizootic in 1997, larval settlement alone fully explained 82% of the variation in the numbers of pre-recruit lobsters...

The centralized market for the settlement of credit default swaps (CDS), which governs more than $10 trillion’s worth of outstanding CDS contracts, has been criticized for mispricing the defaulted bonds that underlie the contracts. I take a mechanism design approach to the settlement of CDS contracts. I fully characterize robust settlement mechanisms that deliver unbiased prices for the underly...

1. Two common species of acorn barnacle, Chthamalus montagui and C. stellatus , with similar resource needs, occur together on rocky shores of NW Europe but differ in their adult distribution over two environmental gradients, wave exposure and vertical height on the shore. 2. A sampling programme was undertaken over 2 years to determine the causal mechanisms of this differential distribution. T...

The Blue Crab, Callinectes sapidus, is a commercially, culturally, and ecologically significant species in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), whose offshore stages were likely impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DWH). To test for DWH effects and to better understand the planktonic ecology of this species, we monitored Callinectes spp. megalopal settlement and condition at sites within and outsi...

This paper suggests a new set of analytical solutions for predicting leakage-induced seepage field and ground settlement in saturated clay. A unique feature of the solutions presented is considering the effect of the tunnel lining through the relative permeability between the tunnel and the soil. Through the superposition method, the proposed method can be easily extended to twin parallel tunne...

Recruitment via settlement of pelagic larvae is critical for the persistence of benthic marine populations. For many benthic invertebrates, larval settlement occurs in response to surface microbial films. Larvae of the serpulid polychaete Hydroides elegans can be induced to settle by single bacterial species. Until now, only Pseudoalteromonas luteoviolacea had been subjected to detailed genetic...

Proper estimation of foundation settlement is a crucial factor in designing shallow foundations. Recent literature shows the applicability of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) in predicting the settlement of shallow foundations. However, conventional ANNs have some drawbacks: getting trapped in local minima and a slow rate of learning. Utilization of an optimization algorithm such as Particle S...

Rapid growth of informal settlements in developing countries constitutes one of the most intriguing forms of urbanization. However, factors and theories underpinning this rapid and prevalent dynamic of informal settlements are often restricted to the descriptive phase. Limited studies have been undertaken to effectively demonstrate how these factors and theories can be incorporated into a frame...

One of the methods for the improvement of soil against the tensile stresses is using the artificial supplements in soil such as metal belts or nets, polymer materials and natural fibers. Technically this method is called the reinforced of soil.  When a pavement is located on soft soil, great deformations can occur as a result of the crossing of traffic load in superstructure layers of the body....