Piracy in the Horn of Africa: The Role of Somalia’s Fishermen

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-12-01

37 Catherine Zara Raymond, “Piracy and Armed Robbery in the Malacca Strait: a Problem Solved?” Naval War College review, summer 2009, 62:3, 37. 38...302 Catherine Zara Raymond, “Piracy in Southeast Asia: new trends, Issues and Responses,” Institute of Defense and strategic Studies Singapore...search.aspx?query=pirates%20threaten%20ship%20traffic %20in%20gulf%20of%20aden (accessed October 4, 2010). Raymond, Catherine Zara . “Piracy and

Modern Piracy and Regional Security Cooperation in the Maritime Domain: The Middle East and Southeast Asia

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-03-01

Information Sharing Centre (ISC),” 433. 33 Catherine Zara Raymond, “Piracy and Armed Robbery in the Malacca Straits,” Naval War College Review 62:3...2009); Catherine Zara Raymond, “Piracy and Armed Robbery in the Malacca Straits,” Naval War College Review 62:3 (Summer 2009); Carolin Liss, “The...Charlottesville, Virginia: University Press of Virginia, 1988). Raymond, Catherine Zara . “Piracy and Armed Robbery in the Malacca Straits.” Naval War College

Maritime security report number 1. January 1996 [piracy ; Colombia ; Brazil

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1996-01-01

The first article deals with piracy in Brazil. Because of the high incident rate of maritime piracy in Brazil, the Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO) has change reporting procedures for its ships and port agents in that country. In a r...

Piracy the Somali Way

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-04-01

University Press, August 2008. “Anger as Piracy Gets Out of Control,” Australian, 21 November 2008. Bateman, Sam, Catherine Zara Raymond, and Joshua, Ho...Contemporary Piracy and Maritime Terrorism, 18. 23 Sam Batemen, Catherine Zara Raymond and Joshua Ho, “Safety and Security in the Malacca and Singapore

Capacity Building as an Answer to Piracy in the Horn of Africa

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-12-01

reliable professional choice .17 Also, many Somali pirates consider themselves protectors of their waters against foreign trawlers that illegally fish.18...the area. Many young Somali males view piracy as an optional professional choice .23 Finally, two important contributors to the rise in piracy in the

Blackbeard: Politician, Pirate or Jihadi - The Relationship Between State Failure and Piracy in Somalia

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-12-01

political stability and piracy. To prove these hypotheses this paper examines two related topics. Firstly, it reviews the conditions that led to the...networks prefer a weak state to a failed state and that there is a relationship between political stability and piracy. The first section investigated the

Intention to Commit Online Music Piracy and Its Antecedents: An Empirical Investigation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morton, Neil A.; Koufteros, Xenophon

2008-01-01

Online piracy of copyrighted digital music has become rampant as Internet bandwidth and digital compression technologies have advanced. The music industry has suffered significant financial losses and has responded with lawsuits, although online music piracy remains prevalent. This article developed a research model to study the determinants of…

College Students; Justification for Digital Piracy: A Mixed Methods Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yu, Szde

2012-01-01

A mixed methods project was devoted to understanding college students' justification for digital piracy. The project consisted of two studies, a qualitative one and a quantitative one. Qualitative interviews were conducted to identify main themes in students' justification for digital piracy, and then the findings were tested in a quantitative…

49 CFR 1544.303 - Bomb or air piracy threats.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 9 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Bomb or air piracy threats. 1544.303 Section 1544... AND COMMERCIAL OPERATORS Threat and Threat Response § 1544.303 Bomb or air piracy threats. (a) Flight.... (d) Notification. Upon receipt of any bomb threat against the security of a flight or facility, or...

Naval War College Review. Volume 63, Number 1, Winter 2010

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-01-01

Impeccable Incident. Summer 2009:101–11 Raymond, Catherine Zara . Piracy and Armed Robbery in the Malacca Strait: A Problem Solved? Summer 2009:31–42...an Old Problem: Report of the Naval War College Workshop on Countering Maritime Piracy. Autumn 2009:141–54 Raymond, Catherine Zara . Piracy and Armed

Software Quality and Copyright: Issues in Computer-Assisted Instruction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Helm, Virginia

The two interconnected problems of educational quality and piracy are described and analyzed in this book, which begins with an investigation of the accusations regarding the alleged dismal quality of educational software. The reality behind accusations of rampant piracy and the effect of piracy on the quality of educational software is examined…

49 CFR 1544.303 - Bomb or air piracy threats.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 49 Transportation 9 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Bomb or air piracy threats. 1544.303 Section 1544... AND COMMERCIAL OPERATORS Threat and Threat Response § 1544.303 Bomb or air piracy threats. (a) Flight.... (d) Notification. Upon receipt of any bomb threat against the security of a flight or facility, or...

49 CFR 1544.303 - Bomb or air piracy threats.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 49 Transportation 9 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Bomb or air piracy threats. 1544.303 Section 1544... AND COMMERCIAL OPERATORS Threat and Threat Response § 1544.303 Bomb or air piracy threats. (a) Flight.... (d) Notification. Upon receipt of any bomb threat against the security of a flight or facility, or...

49 CFR 1544.303 - Bomb or air piracy threats.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 49 Transportation 9 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Bomb or air piracy threats. 1544.303 Section 1544... AND COMMERCIAL OPERATORS Threat and Threat Response § 1544.303 Bomb or air piracy threats. (a) Flight.... (d) Notification. Upon receipt of any bomb threat against the security of a flight or facility, or...

49 CFR 1544.303 - Bomb or air piracy threats.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 49 Transportation 9 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Bomb or air piracy threats. 1544.303 Section 1544... AND COMMERCIAL OPERATORS Threat and Threat Response § 1544.303 Bomb or air piracy threats. (a) Flight.... (d) Notification. Upon receipt of any bomb threat against the security of a flight or facility, or...

Piracy: The Best Business Model Available

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-11-01

9 3. SOF Hostage Rescue Missions .......................................... 15 4. Recent Evolution of Piracy...positive effect when the pirate enterprise has acted and taken American hostages . However, a course of action with more fundamental results should include...solutions to crimes committed on the seas. As will be discussed, proposed counter-piracy operations aimed at support structures may require SOF air

Student Digital Piracy in the Florida State University System: An Exploratory Study on Its Infrastructural Effects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reiss, Jeffrey

2010-01-01

Digital piracy is a problem that may never disappear from society. Through readily available resources such as those found in a university, students will always have access to illegal goods. While piracy is a global phenomenon, an institution's resources combined with the typical college student's lack of funds makes it more lucrative. Students…

Optimizing the Naval Force for the Horn of Africa Anti-Piracy Mission

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-05-04

new trend emerged for an increased number of 1 International Chamber of Commerce International...Countering Piracy Off the Horn of Africa: Partnership & Action Plan. Dec 2008, 3. 3 International Chamber of Commerce International Maritime Bureau...Increase off Somali Coast” Release #053- 09. 30 Mar 2009. 26 International Chamber of Commerce Commercial Crime Services. “Live Piracy Report

Stream piracy in the Black Hills: A geomorphology lab exercise

USGS Publications Warehouse

Zaprowski, B.J.; Evenson, E.B.; Epstein, J.B.

2002-01-01

The Black Hills of South Dakota exhibits many fine examples of stream piracy that are very suitable for teaching geomorphology lab exercises. This lab goes beyond standard topographic map interpretation by using geologic maps, well logs, gravel provenance and other types of data to teach students about stream piracy. Using a step-by-step method in which the lab exercises ramp up in difficulty, students hone their skills in deductive reasoning and data assimilation. The first exercises deal with the identification of stream piracy at a variety of spatial scales and the lab culminates with an exercise on landscape evolution and drainage rearrangement.

Continuity and Contingency in USAF Posture Planning

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-01-01

with these adversaries. It also galvanized U.S. legislators , who dropped their normal objections to building bases overseas and resourced the efforts...Organized crime threats to El Savador gov Terrorism/piracy/crime Central America/Carb 81 Terrorists bomb Colombian parliament Terrorism/piracy/crime...Epidemic 4 2025-2034 Terrorists bomb Colombian parliament Terrorism/piracy/crime 81 2025-2034 Kosovo Civil conflict 18 2025-2034 Israel-Egypt in Sinai

High Noon on the High Seas: A Proximity-Complexity Model of Maritime Piracy Threats

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-04-01

International Maritime Bureau, Annual Report: Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships (Kuala Lumpur: International Chamber of Commerce , 2008). 4...Against Ships (Kuala Lumpur: International Chamber of Commerce , 2007). 7. International Maritime Bureau, Annual Report: Piracy and Armed Robbery...Against Ships (Kuala Lumpur: International Chamber of Commerce , 2008). 8. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 11.0 for Windows Student

Software Piracy in Research: A Moral Analysis.

PubMed

Santillanes, Gary; Felder, Ryan Marshall

2015-08-01

Researchers in virtually every discipline rely on sophisticated proprietary software for their work. However, some researchers are unable to afford the licenses and instead procure the software illegally. We discuss the prohibition of software piracy by intellectual property laws, and argue that the moral basis for the copyright law offers the possibility of cases where software piracy may be morally justified. The ethics codes that scientific institutions abide by are informed by a rule-consequentialist logic: by preserving personal rights to authored works, people able to do so will be incentivized to create. By showing that the law has this rule-consequentialist grounding, we suggest that scientists who blindly adopt their institutional ethics codes will commit themselves to accepting that software piracy could be morally justified, in some cases. We hope that this conclusion will spark debate over important tensions between ethics codes, copyright law, and the underlying moral basis for these regulations. We conclude by offering practical solutions (other than piracy) for researchers.

Evaluation and selection of security products for authentication of computer software

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roenigk, Mark W.

2000-04-01

Software Piracy is estimated to cost software companies over eleven billion dollars per year in lost revenue worldwide. Over fifty three percent of all intellectual property in the form of software is pirated on a global basis. Software piracy has a dramatic effect on the employment figures for the information industry as well. In the US alone, over 130,000 jobs are lost annually as a result of software piracy.

Countering 21st Century Piracy in the Horn of Africa

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-02-01

2nd ed., s.v. “piracy; pirate.” 2 International Chamber of Commerce Home Page, http://www.icc-ccs.org/ (International Maritime Bureau, accessed...January 2010. 7 International Chamber of Commerce Home Page, “Piracy Figures for 2009.” 8 The United Nations Home Page, Documents – Security Council...Resolution 1846 (accessed January 10, 2010). 9 International Chamber of Commerce Home Page, “Advice to Masters.” 10 United Nations Convention on

Piracy off the Horn of Africa: What is the Most Effective Method of Repression

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-05-04

off the Horn of Africa is growing in frequency, range, aggression, and severity at an alarming rate.” 15 According to the International Chamber of Commerce ‟s...of Africa: Partnership & Action Plan (December 1, 2008), 6. 2 International Chamber of Commerce International Maritime Bureau, Piracy and Armed...Robbery Against Ships. (London, United Kingdom: International Chamber of Commerce International Maritime Bureau, October 2008), 25. 3 Piracy and

Piracy in the Horn of Africa: A Comparative Study with Southeast Asia

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-12-01

Federal 2 Graham Gerard Ong-Webb, Piracy in Maritime Asia: Current Trends, ed. Peter Lehr (Routledge: New York, 2007), 55. 3 Catherine Zara ... Zara Raymond (Singapore: Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, 2005), 61. 46 ICC International Maritime Bureau, Piracy and Armed Robbery against...Southeast Asia.” In The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: Maritime Security in the Asia-Pacific, edited by Joshua Ho and Catherine Zara Raymond, 61

Countering Piracy off the Horn of Africa

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-01-26

rate high and local communities focusing on survival. With agriculture limited more or less to self-sustainment, and the waters overfished by...the last two decades. The reason behind this is the failure of the international community to focus on the hub of the region’s piracy: The failed state...decades. The reason behind this is the failure of the international community to focus on the hub of the region‟s piracy: The failed state of Somalia

Building the Right Framework for Effective Multinational Anti-Piracy Operations in the Gulf of Aden

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-05-04

Chamber of Commerce – Commercial Crime Services and 6 The International Maritime Bureau Maritime Organization of West and Central Africa 7... Chamber of Commerce - Commercial Crime Services, April 21, 2009, http://www.icc- ccs.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=350:piracy... Chamber of Commerce – Commercial Crime Services (ICC-CCS) and the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) Similar in operation to ReCAAP, the IMB’s Piracy

Multinational Counter-Piracy Operations: How Strategically Significant is the Gulf of Guinea to the Major Maritime Powers

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-12-01

DISTRIBUTION CODE 13. ABSTRACT (maximum 200 words ) Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea regularly exceeded that of the Gulf of Aden between 2000 and 2007. But...flow of goods is the flow of services, which in today’s computer-centric world travels electronically in digital bits and bytes through fiber optic...piracy prosecutions, among others. Second order costs include fisheries, food security and food price inflation, tourism , and environmental pollution

Movie Piracy Networks at Alaba International Market, Lagos, Nigeria.

PubMed

Tade, Oludayo; Mmahi, Okoro Paul

2018-01-01

This study examined the veiled chain of film piracy, a major crime in the Nigeria entertainment industry. Studies on film piracy in Nigeria have focused on its economic implications, both on the copyright owners and on the Nigerian economy. The organization of the activities of the film pirates has, however, been neglected. Narratives were extracted through in-depth interviews with pirates, "marketers," and "producers." Data indicated that pirates were insiders in the film marketing industry and included importers of foreign movies, registered and nonregistered retailers of Nigerian films, as well as marketers appointed by copyright owners to distribute their films. With the connivance of sales girls working with the copyright owners and dubbing companies, original copies of films (white face) are "procured." Pirates distributed pirated copies, also secretly known as "green face," without issuing receipts or putting the logo of the company on it. For security reasons, pirated films are sold only to buyers introduced by a member in the piracy network. Efforts aimed at fighting piracy must take into account this veiled network to effectively combat intellectual theft via aggressive ban on the public sale of such products.

Maritime Piracy: Examining the U.S. Response to a Global Threat

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-03-01

Security Council in December 2008, as the Countering Piracy off the Horn of Africa Partnership & Action Plan ( CPAP ). In accordance with U.S. policy to...international efforts,‖43 the plan places significant importance on multilateral action to solve the problem of Somali piracy. CPAP seeks to involve a siege...an interest in maritime security.‖44 CPAP directs the U.S., in concert with a ―global partnership,‖ to address three lines of operation: 1

A novel anti-piracy optical disk with photochromic diarylethene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Guodong; Cao, Guoqiang; Huang, Zhen; Wang, Shenqian; Zou, Daowen

2005-09-01

Diarylethene is one of photochromic material with many advantages and one of the most promising recording materials for huge optical data storage. Diarylethene has two forms, which can be converted to each other by laser beams of different wavelength. The material has been researched for rewritable optical disks. Volatile data storage is one of its properties, which was always considered as an obstacle to utility. Many researches have been done for combating the obstacle for a long time. In fact, volatile data storage is very useful for anti-piracy optical data storage. Piracy is a social and economical problem. One technology of anti-piracy optical data storage is to limit readout of the data recorded in the material by encryption software. By the development of computer technologies, this kind of software is more and more easily cracked. Using photochromic diarylethene as the optical recording material, the signals of the data recorded in the material are degraded when it is read, and readout of the data is limited. Because the method uses hardware to realize anti-piracy, it is impossible cracked. In this paper, we will introduce this usage of the material. Some experiments are presented for proving its feasibility.

Of Publishers and Pirates: License Agreements Promote Unethical Behavior, But That's Only the Beginning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pournelle, Jerry

1984-01-01

Discussion of software license agreements implies that they actually contribute to software piracy because of their stringency and indicates that competition in the software publishing field will eventually eliminate the piracy problem. (MBR)

Counter Piracy: A More Comprehensive Approach

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-04-25

almost non-existent. The lack of governance allowed local and foreign fishing vessels to take advantage and overfish Somali waters. The local Any...piracy. 18 populace was powerless to stop them from overfishing those grounds that once provided subsistence.67 This situation enabled the

Task force on deterrence of air piracy : final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1978-11-01

In February 1969, as the frequency of hijacking of U.S. air carrier aircraft was rising to an all-time high, the Federal Aviation Administration established a multi-disciplinary Task Force on Deterrence of Air Piracy. The work of the Task Force in de...

75 FR 75486 - Maritime Security Directive 104-6 (Rev. 4); Guidelines for U.S. Vessels Operating in High Risk...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-03

... Directive 104-6 (series), we have developed piracy-related Port Security Advisories (PSAs) to provide... compliance with this directive. The PSAs can be found at http://homeport.uscg.mil/piracy , including a non...

Spatial, Temporal and Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Maritime Piracy.

PubMed

Marchione, Elio; Johnson, Shane D

2013-11-01

To examine patterns in the timing and location of incidents of maritime piracy to see whether, like many urban crimes, attacks cluster in space and time. Data for all incidents of maritime piracy worldwide recorded by the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency are analyzed using time-series models and methods originally developed to detect disease contagion. At the macro level, analyses suggest that incidents of pirate attacks are concentrated in five subregions of the earth's oceans and that the time series for these different subregions differ. At the micro level, analyses suggest that for the last 16 years (or more), pirate attacks appear to cluster in space and time suggesting that patterns are not static but are also not random. Much like other types of crime, pirate attacks cluster in space, and following an attack at one location the risk of others at the same location or nearby is temporarily elevated. The identification of such regularities has implications for the understanding of maritime piracy and for predicting the future locations of attacks.

Piracy off the Horn of Africa

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-04-19

mandate followed months of renewed pirate activity in the region, including the November 2009 seizure of the MV Maran Centaurus , an Greek-flagged...Sirius Star, MV De Xin Hai, MV Maran Centaurus , and the April 2010 hijacking of the MT Samho Dream illustrate the threat piracy can pose to

Piracy off the Horn of Africa

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-04-21

carried out with the intention of damaging or sinking the ship and injuring or killing its crew in retaliation for the deaths of three Somali pirates...of Conduct to repress acts of piracy and armed robbery against ships,” 45 Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives , Seychelles, Somalia, the

Piracy off the Horn of Africa

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-04-24

damaging or sinking the ship and injuring or killing its crew in retaliation for the deaths of three Somali pirates during U.S. military efforts to...a Code of Conduct to repress acts of piracy and armed robbery against ships,” 45 Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives , Seychelles

Asset Allocation to Cover a Region of Piracy

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-09-01

1087-1092. 8. Kirkpatrick, S., Optimization by Simulated Annealing. Science, 1983. 220(4598): p. 671-680. 9. Daskin , M. S., A bibliography for some...... a uniform piracy risk and where some areas are more vulnerable than others. Simulated annealing was used to allocate the patrolling naval assets

Effect of slope failures on river-network pattern: A river piracy case study from the flysch belt of the Outer Western Carpathians

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baroň, Ivo; Bíl, Michal; Bábek, Ondřej; Smolková, Veronika; Pánek, Tomáš; Macur, Lukáš

2014-06-01

Landslides are important geomorphic agents in various mountainous settings. We document here a case of river piracy from the upper part of the Malá Brodská Valley in the Vsetínské Mts., Czech Republic (Rača Unit of the flysch Magura Group of Nappes, flysch belt of the Outer Western Carpathians) controlled by mass movement processes. Based on the field geological, geomorphological and geophysical data, we found out that the landslide accumulations pushed the more active river of out of two subparallel river channels with different erosion activity westwards and forced intensive lateral erosion towards the recently abandoned valley. Apart from the landslide processes, the presence of the N-striking fault, accentuated by higher flow rates of the eastern channel as a result of its larger catchment area, were the most critical factors of the river piracy. As a consequence of the river piracy, intensive retrograde erosion in the elbow of capture and also within the upper portion of the western catchment occurred. Deposits of two landslide dams document recent minimum erosion rates to be 18.8 mm.ky- 1 in the western (captured) catchment, and 3.6 mm.ky- 1 in the eastern catchment respectively. The maximum age of the river piracy is estimated to be of the late Glacial and/or the early Holocene.

The Rearmament of Japan: Increased Regional Stability in the Western Pacific or Unnecessary Increase in Tensions

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-05-04

not view themselves as allies. Although the 21 Onishi , Norimitsu. "Japan to Deploy Anti-Piracy...www.financialsense.com/node/350. 17 Onishi , Norimitsu. "Japan to Deploy Anti-Piracy Naval Mission to Somalia Waters." New York Times, February 8, 2009

Buried treasure: evolutionary perspectives on microbial iron piracy

PubMed Central

Barber, Matthew F.; Elde, Nels C.

2015-01-01

Host-pathogen interactions provide valuable systems for the study of evolutionary genetics and natural selection. The sequestration of essential iron has emerged as a critical innate defense system termed nutritional immunity, leading pathogens to evolve mechanisms of `iron piracy' to scavenge this metal from host proteins. This battle for iron carries numerous consequences not only for host-pathogen evolution, but also microbial community interactions. Here we highlight recent and potential future areas of investigation on the evolutionary implications of microbial iron piracy in relation to molecular arms races, host range, competition, and virulence. Applying evolutionary genetic approaches to the study of microbial iron acquisition could also provide new inroads for understanding and combating infectious disease. PMID:26431675

Congress Seeks Tales of Piracy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Read, Brock

2007-01-01

This month, leaders of two committees in the U.S. House of Representatives sent letters warning of an epidemic of online music and movie piracy to 19 colleges, singling out those schools that, in the eyes of entertainment-industry officials, have been unable to stop students from illegally downloading music and movies. Enclosed with each message…

Analysis of the Strategy to Combat Maritime Piracy

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-12-11

26  Contemporary Maritime Piracy: Causative Factors...NSC National Security Council PUC Persons Under Control viii SLOC Sea lines of communication SSA Ships Security Assessment SSP Ships Security Plan...UNCLOS United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea USD United States Dollar U.S. United States ix ILLUSTRATIONS Page Figure 1.  Factors

What Do Computer Science Students Think about Software Piracy?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Konstantakis, Nikos I.; Palaigeorgiou, George E.; Siozos, Panos D.; Tsoukalas, Ioannis A.

2010-01-01

Today, software piracy is an issue of global importance. Computer science students are the future information and communication technologies professionals and it is important to study the way they approach this issue. In this article, we attempt to study attitudes, behaviours and the corresponding reasoning of computer science students in Greece…

On How Editors of Academic Journals at Institutions of Higher Learning Should Resist Academic Corruption

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jing, Xiao

2007-01-01

Academic corruption is a hot issue in today's society. "Academic corruption" means that certain individuals in academic circles, driven by the desire for personal gain, resort to various kinds of nonnormative and unethical behavior in academic research activities. These include: academic self-piracy, academic piracy, copying and…

Spatial, Temporal and Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Maritime Piracy

PubMed Central

Marchione, Elio

2013-01-01

Objectives: To examine patterns in the timing and location of incidents of maritime piracy to see whether, like many urban crimes, attacks cluster in space and time. Methods: Data for all incidents of maritime piracy worldwide recorded by the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency are analyzed using time-series models and methods originally developed to detect disease contagion. Results: At the macro level, analyses suggest that incidents of pirate attacks are concentrated in five subregions of the earth’s oceans and that the time series for these different subregions differ. At the micro level, analyses suggest that for the last 16 years (or more), pirate attacks appear to cluster in space and time suggesting that patterns are not static but are also not random. Conclusions: Much like other types of crime, pirate attacks cluster in space, and following an attack at one location the risk of others at the same location or nearby is temporarily elevated. The identification of such regularities has implications for the understanding of maritime piracy and for predicting the future locations of attacks. PMID:25076796

Piracy in cyber space: consumer complicity, pirates and enterprise enforcement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chaudhry, Peggy E.; Chaudhry, Sohail S.; Stumpf, Stephen A.; Sudler, Hasshi

2011-05-01

This article presents an overview of the growth of internet piracy in the global marketplace. The ethical perceptions (or lack of) of the younger generation is addressed, in terms of their willingness to consume counterfeit goods on the web. Firms face the task of educating the consumer that downloading music, software, movies and the like, without compensation, is unethical. This awareness is critical for decreasing the demand for counterfeit goods in the virtual marketplace, where a consumer can exhibit a rogue behaviour with a limited fear of prosecution. We address the pyramid of internet piracy, which encompasses sophisticated suppliers/facilitators, such as the Warez group. Recent sting operations, such as Operation Buccaneer, are also depicted to highlight successful tactical manoeuvres of enforcement agencies. An overview of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the No Electronic Theft Act is included to debate the controversy surrounding this legislation. A discussion of enterprise enforcement mechanisms and novel anti-piracy technology for cyberspace is provided to reveal some of the tools used to fight the pirates, such as innovations in digital watermarking and NEC's recently announced video content identification technology. Enterprise information systems and its interdependence on the internet are also demanding new technologies that enable internet investigators to rapidly search, verify and potentially remove pirated content using web services. The quality of service of web services designed to efficiently detect pirated content is a growing consideration for new anti-piracy technology.

Changes in reproductive life-history strategies in response to nest density in a shell-brooding cichlid, Telmatochromis vittatus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ota, Kazutaka; Hori, Michio; Kohda, Masanori

2012-01-01

To determine whether the appearance of a reproductively parasitic tactic varies, and how this variation affects territorial males of the Lake Tanganyika cichlid fish Telmatochromis vittatus, we examined the reproductive ecology of territorial males in Mtondwe and compared it with that of a neighboring Wonzye population, where nest density differs from that at Mtondwe. In Wonzye, with high nest density, male tactics change with their body size from a territorial to a non-territorial parasitic tactic called piracy in which they conquer several nests defended by territorial males and take over the nests while females are spawning. These "pirate" males could decrease the costs incurred by travelling among nests by exclusively targeting aggregations of nests in close proximity while avoiding separate nests. Territorial males in Wonzye sacrifice the potential higher attractiveness offered by large nests and instead compete for nests farther from neighbors on which pirates less frequently intrude. In contrast, the Mtondwe population had lower nest density and piracy was absent. Given that the success of piracy depends on the close proximity of nests, nest density is likely responsible for the observed variation in the occurrence of piracy between the two populations. Furthermore, in Mtondwe, territorial males competed for larger nests and were smaller than the territorial males in Wonzye. Thus, this lower nest density may free territorial males from the selection pressures for increased size caused by both defense against nest piracy and the need to develop into pirates as they grow.

Is China a Threat to the U.S. Economy?

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-08-10

U.S. steel industry. 62 Reuters, “China Piracy Costs Film Industry $2.7 Billion in 2005,” June 19, 2006. 63 For example, in 2004, 13 infants in China...estimated that China’s domestic film industry lost about $1.5 billion in revenue to piracy in 2005.62 Chinese press reports indicate a number of health and

Is China a Threat to the U.S. Economy?

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-01-23

2006 to discuss issues of concern to the U.S. steel industry. 71 Reuters, “China Piracy Costs Film Industry $2.7 Billion in 2005,” June 19, 2006. 72...Motion Picture Association of America estimated that China’s domestic film industry lost about $1.5 billion in revenue to piracy in 2005.71 Chinese

Old Glory and the Jolly Roger: The Cultural Constraints and Strategic Imperatives of Modern Piracy

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-06-01

41. Watkins , Eric. "Pirates Seize Another Tanker Off Yemen." Oil and Gas Journal (9 January 2009), http://www.ogj.com/display_article/352052/7...Piracy in the Graeco-Roman World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Dobbins, James, Seth G. Jones, Keith Crane, and Beth Cole DeGrasse. The

Combating Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea: Taking a Page from the Gulf of Aden International Anti-Piracy Operation

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-06-09

89 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Maritime partnerships and maritime security and safety are...largely depends on the victims’ safety . They rarely killed crewmembers under normal circumstances.52...Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia , The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, The Philippines, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Singapore, Spain, Thailand

Cross-National Attitudes and Perceptions Concerning Software Piracy: A Comparative Study of Students from the United States and China

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rawlinson, David R.; Lupton, Robert A.

2007-01-01

Students' attitudes and perceptions regarding the use of unlicensed software are important to educators and businesses. Students have a proven propensity to pirate software and other intellectual property. By understanding how attitudes and perceptions toward software piracy differ among university students in a cross-national context, educators…

Understanding Plagiarism and How It Differs from Copyright Infringement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dames, K. Matthew

2007-01-01

Plagiarism has become the new piracy. Just as piracy was a few years ago, plagiarism has become the hot, new crime du jour--an act that suggests immorality and often scandal at once. What's more, plagiarism allegations feed into the society's "Candid Camera" mentality--the seemingly insatiable need to uncover wrongdoing. One of the biggest…

Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea Subregion: Threats, Challenges and Solutions

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-03-16

the GoG maritime domain. These threats adversely impact the socio-economic and political fabrics of most countries within the region. Poaching ...geographical location as well as environmental and demographic factors. Poaching , piracy, transnational crime, boundary disputes and environmental...and demographic factors. Poaching , piracy, transnational crime, boundary disputes and environmental degradation are common threats to security of the

75 FR 19869 - Blocking Property of Certain Persons Contributing to the Conflict in Somalia

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-04-15

... in Somalia, and acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea off the coast of Somalia, which have... determine that, among other threats to the peace, security, or stability of Somalia, acts of piracy or armed... order, and to take necessary action to give effect to that determination. Sec. 8. This order is not...

Deindividuation and Internet software piracy.

PubMed

Hinduja, Sameer

2008-08-01

Computer crime has increased exponentially in recent years as hardware, software, and network resources become more affordable and available to individuals from all walks of life. Software piracy is one prevalent type of cybercrime and has detrimentally affected the economic health of the software industry. Moreover, piracy arguably represents a rend in the moral fabric associated with the respect of intellectual property and reduces the financial incentive of product creation and innovation. Deindividuation theory, originating from the field of social psychology, argues that individuals are extricated from responsibility for their actions simply because they no longer have an acute awareness of the identity of self and of others. That is, external and internal constraints that would typically regulate questionable behavior are rendered less effective via certain anonymizing and disinhibiting conditions of the social and environmental context. This exploratory piece seeks to establish the role of deindividuation in liberating individuals to commit software piracy by testing the hypothesis that persons who prefer the anonymity and pseudonymity associated with interaction on the Internet are more likely to pirate software. Through this research, it is hoped that the empirical identification of such a social psychological determinant will help further illuminate the phenomenon.

41 CFR 128-1.5009 - Authorization for use of the Federal Bureau of Investigation anti-piracy warning seal.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... of these laws and the authority of the FBI to enforce them. (b) The APW Seal is a modified image of the Official FBI Seal with the words “FBI ANTI-PIRACY WARNING” displayed horizontally across its... text or images appear on the same screen or page. (i) “The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of...

41 CFR 128-1.5009 - Authorization for use of the Federal Bureau of Investigation anti-piracy warning seal.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... of these laws and the authority of the FBI to enforce them. (b) The APW Seal is a modified image of the Official FBI Seal with the words “FBI ANTI-PIRACY WARNING” displayed horizontally across its... text or images appear on the same screen or page. (i) “The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of...

Piracy off the Horn of Africa

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-04-27

issued a warning strongly advising all U.S. registered yachts and sailing vessels against passage in the Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea, Somali Basin ...between Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia , which are credited with having drastically reduced the instance of piracy in Southeast Asia since 2005...in November 2008. Media reports suggested Somali pirates received a $4 million ransom in December 2009 to release the Chinese bulk coal carrier MV

Film Piracy, Organized Crime, and Terrorism

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-01-01

appointed Malaysian Inspector General of Police renewed efforts to fight organized crime by dedicating more resources to Operation Copperhead, originally...opera- tions in Kuala Lumpur.104 The Malaysian government singled out the dragonhead of the Ang Bin Hoey triad, Tee Yam (aka Khoo Tee Yam), as its...interviews with Serious Crime Division of Malaysian Police, August 1, 2005. Getting Down to Cases: Organized Crime and Film Piracy 71 in

Evaluation of a landscape evolution model to simulate stream piracies: Insights from multivariable numerical tests using the example of the Meuse basin, France

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benaïchouche, Abed; Stab, Olivier; Tessier, Bruno; Cojan, Isabelle

2016-01-01

In landscapes dominated by fluvial erosion, the landscape morphology is closely related to the hydrographic network system. In this paper, we investigate the hydrographic network reorganization caused by a headward piracy mechanism between two drainage basins in France, the Meuse and the Moselle. Several piracies occurred in the Meuse basin during the past one million years, and the basin's current characteristics are favorable to new piracies by the Moselle river network. This study evaluates the consequences over the next several million years of a relative lowering of the Moselle River (and thus of its basin) with respect to the Meuse River. The problem is addressed with a numerical modeling approach (landscape evolution model, hereafter LEM) that requires empirical determinations of parameters and threshold values. Classically, fitting of the parameters is based on analysis of the relationship between the slope and the drainage area and is conducted under the hypothesis of equilibrium. Application of this conventional approach to the capture issue yields incomplete results that have been consolidated by a parametric sensitivity analysis. The LEM equations give a six-dimensional parameter space that was explored with over 15,000 simulations using the landscape evolution model GOLEM. The results demonstrate that stream piracies occur in only four locations in the studied reach near the city of Toul. The locations are mainly controlled by the local topography and are model-independent. Nevertheless, the chronology of the captures depends on two parameters: the river concavity (given by the fluvial advection equation) and the hillslope erosion factor. Thus, the simulations lead to three different scenarios that are explained by a phenomenon of exclusion or a string of events.

Maritime Terrorism and the Small Boat Threat to the United States: A Proposed Response

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-03-01

vessel chokepoints,43 and in 2004, the Abu Sayyaf terror group in the Philippines placed a bomb on a passenger ferry that ultimately resulted in...AWW program,61 which encourages boaters 58 Christopher McDaniel & Matthew Tardy , “Role-Based...Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines , has become a hotbed of maritime piracy and terrorism. It is the region most prone to acts of piracy, accounting

USAFRICOM’s Role in Counter-Piracy Operations Within the Horn of Africa

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-05-04

for Nature ( WWF ) estimated that IUU fishing threatens essentially every fishery and “accounts for up to 30 percent of total catches in some important...fisheries.” 25 According to the WWF website, IUU fishing is an “organized criminal activity” – similar to maritime piracy. IUU fishing activities...preventing the foreign ships from illegally fishing within Somali territorial waters. 25 WWF -World

Dynamic Asset Allocation Approaches for Counter-Piracy Operations

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-07-01

problem, has attracted much interest due to an increase in the number of pirate activities in recent years. Marsh [26] provided a game theoretic...model, where one interdiction asset and one surveillance asset are utilized for a counter-piracy mission. Due to the two-person zero sum game structure...that policy using online learning and simulation. The attractive aspects of rollout algorithms are its simplicity, broad applicability, and

Transnational Crime and Security Threats in Indonesia

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-03-01

archipelagos, while the region’s climate and cultures have also made it highly attractive to leisure activities. Piracy has been a traditional way of...coordinated patrols by Indonesia, Malaysia , and Singapore, along with increased security on vessels have sparked a dramatic downturn in piracy according to...just local but also international. Some sources believe that the network route runs from Cambodia to Southern Philippines to Malaysia then enters

The Long War Against Piracy: Historical Trends (Occasional Paper, Number 32)

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-05-01

develop bases closer to their targets.8 Tortuga , located off the northwest coast of Hispaniola, was the first great pirate sanctuary. It maintained...the boucaniers fled to Tortuga , a small island off the northwest coast of Hispaniola, and turned to piracy. The French boucaniers, whose name was...buccaneers commanded large sailing vessels and operated with impunity throughout the Caribbean. Although the Spanish raided Tortuga from time to time

River piracy and drainage basin reorganization led by climate-driven glacier retreat

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shugar, Daniel H.; Clague, John J.; Best, James L.; Schoof, Christian; Willis, Michael J.; Copland, Luke; Roe, Gerard H.

2017-04-01

River piracy--the diversion of the headwaters of one stream into another one--can dramatically change the routing of water and sediment, with a profound effect on landscape evolution. Stream piracy has been investigated in glacial environments, but so far it has mainly been studied over Quaternary or longer timescales. Here we document how retreat of Kaskawulsh Glacier--one of Canada's largest glaciers--abruptly and radically altered the regional drainage pattern in spring 2016. We use a combination of hydrological measurements and drone-generated digital elevation models to show that in late May 2016, meltwater from the glacier was re-routed from discharge in a northward direction into the Bering Sea, to southward into the Pacific Ocean. Based on satellite image analysis and a signal-to-noise ratio as a metric of glacier retreat, we conclude that this instance of river piracy was due to post-industrial climate change. Rapid regional drainage reorganizations of this type can have profound downstream impacts on ecosystems, sediment and carbon budgets, and downstream communities that rely on a stable and sustained discharge. We suggest that the planforms of Slims and Kaskawulsh rivers will adjust in response to altered flows, and the future Kaskawulsh watershed will extend into the now-abandoned headwaters of Slims River and eventually capture the Kluane Lake drainage.

Pirate Mother Ship Warning and Reporting System (PMSW&RS)

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-09-01

1958 Geneva Convention and the 1982 Safety of Life At Sea (SOLAS) Convention both direct nations to cooperate in suppression of piracy on the high... seas (Department of the Navy & Department of Homeland Security, 2007). Countering the piracy threat requires a multifaceted approach with all...Pirate attacks on the world’s seas totaled 266 in the first six months of 2011, up from 196 incidents in the same period last year” (International

Somali Piracy and Anti-Shipping Activity Messages: Lessons for a Successful Counterpiracy Strategy

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-06-01

solving the differences found in each organization’s reporting. This suggestion seems valid and demonstrates an unbiased approach. 19 The studies...agrees the IMB data sets are not free from debate and criticism, yet claims the reports provide the only consistent and reliable set of figures to...different approach to using piracy incident reports. Hastings (2009) explores the political and economic landscapes of failed and weak states to determine

A resolution commending Captain Richard Phillips, the crew of the "Maersk Alabama", and the United States Armed Forces, recognizing the growing problem of piracy off Somalia's coast, and urging the development of a comprehensive strategy to address piracy and its root causes.

THOMAS, 111th Congress

Sen. Leahy, Patrick J. [D-VT

2009-04-22

Senate - 04/22/2009 Submitted in the Senate, considered, and agreed to without amendment and with a preamble by Unanimous Consent. (All Actions) Tracker: This bill has the status Agreed to in SenateHere are the steps for Status of Legislation:

Organizing Chaos: Restructuring Counter-Piracy Forces Off the Coast of Somalia

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-05-04

the Maersk Alabama cargo ship. Prior to these attacks, most Americans were likely to associate a pirate with Hollywood’s mascara-wearing Johnny Depp...However, the approach to countering Somali pirates is disorganized. The international community attempts to achieve unity of effort by relying heavily...conducting counter-piracy as ―a good model not only for the Gulf of Aden and the Somali bases, but also for future such endeavors.‖ 12 Mr. Countryman

Piracy and Armed Robbery in the Malacca Strait: A Problem Solved

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-01-01

PIRACY AND ARMED ROBBERY IN THE MALACCA STRAIT A Problem Solved? Catherine Zara Raymond The Malacca Strait is a narrow waterway that extends nearly...waterway is extremely small. With statistics such as these, one might wonder why we are still seeing the publication of articles such Catherine Zara Raymond...Shrivenham, United Kingdom. She is also a PhD student at King’s College London. Previ- ously, Zara worked as an analyst for the security consul- tancy

The Effect of Piracy on Somalia as a Failed State

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-02-01

economic stability and security for Somalia needed to eradicate piracy. If the U.S. were involved in another operation in Somalia to eradicate pirate bases, the international community must provide security and economic stability via a land-based approach. Problem: If the U.S. were involved in another operation in Somalia to eradicate pirate bases, Somalia’s geography, transportation, and political conditions present challenges. The country suffered from drought in the 1990’s, which made peacekeeping forces depend ’on organic supplies.

What is the Primary Etiology of Contemporary Somali Piracy and Can the Current U.S. Counter-Piracy Strategy be Effective without Addressing it

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-06-12

be my amaranthine imagos. vi To Stefani, my beautiful wife, mentioned last because she is most important; for patience I do not deserve, for...organizations, and the maritime industry play and promises to maximize coordination between the efforts of all parties involved.20 The document...textbook definition of a failed state. Its lack of government and industry caused entire generations to believe that violence was the rule in life

Maritime Security: Fighting Piracy in the Gulf of Aden and Beyond (Heritage Special Report, Number 59, June 24, 2009)

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-06-24

Ghana 3 5 3 3 1 Guinea 4 5 1 4 2 Ivory Coast 2 4 3 1 0 Kenya 1 1 0 0 4 Liberia 1 2 0 0 1 Madagascar 0 1 1 0 1 Mauritania 0 2 1 1 0 Morocco 0 0 1 0 1...expanding governance in the country. This means that piracy, as well as poaching and environmental deso- lation by foreigners, should be vigorously

Somali Piracy: An Age-Old Solution to a Modern Day Problem

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-05-19

the British-flagged Asian Glory was seized off Somalia and the twenty-thousand ton Singaporean-flagged chemical tanker M /V Pramoni was seized in the...rival clans . h b’ bl I’ 129agaInst one anot er may e a VIa e so utIon. Another option is to leverage some of the influential Somali "entrepreneurs...ofInternational Affairs, 2005: 236­ 239. Raymond, Catherine Zara . "Piracy in Southeast Asia: New Trends, Issues, and Responses." Harvard Asia Quarterly

Trading Nets for Guns: The Impact of Illegal Fishing on Piracy in Somalia

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-09-01

Reconsidering the Letter of Marque,” Public Contract Law Journal 39, no. 3 (Spring 2010): 412–464; Katie Stuhldreher, “To Turn the Tide on Piracy in...18 Ibid; Theodore Richard, “Reconsidering the Letter of Marque,” Public Contract Law Journal 39, no. 3 (Spring 2010): 412–464; Martin Murphy...the Letter of Marque,” Public Contract Law Journal 39, no. 3 (Spring 2010): 412–464. 38 Richey, Warren. “Where will captured Somali pirate get

Countering Piracy with the Next-Generation Piracy Performance Surface Model

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-03-01

your rod and your staff they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows...me when I became discouraged. He opened my eyes to a world filled with color and for this I am grateful. I am ever indebted to my advisor, Dr...NPS OR Professors for their devotion and commitment to teaching me, the military officer, and the world of academia. My closing thought...The Man in

On the dynamics of stream piracy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goren, L.; Willett, S. D.

2012-04-01

Drainage network reorganization by stream piracy is invoked repeatedly to explain the morphology of unique drainage patterns and as a possible mechanism inducing abrupt variations of sediment accumulation rates. However, direct evidence of stream piracy is usually rare, and is highly interpretation dependent. As a first step in assessing how probable capture events are and establishing the conditions that favor stream piracy versus the those that favor stable landscapes, we formulate analytically the physics of divide migration and capture events and study this formulation from a dynamical system point of view. The formulation is based on a one-dimensional topographic cross section between two channels that share a water divide. Two hillslope profiles diverge from the divide and drain into two fluvial bedrock tributaries, whose erosion rate is controlled by a stream power law. The rate of erosion at the bounding channels is thus a function of the upstream drainage area and local slope. A tectonically induced downward perturbation of the elevation of one of the bounding channels lowers the channel slope but at the same time increases the drainage area due to outward migration of the water divide. The changes in slope and area have opposing effect on the erosion rate at the bounding channels, so that the perturbation may either grow or be damped. We define the geomorphic and tectonic parameters that control the behavior of the system and find the regimes that lead to stable landscapes and to capture events.

Growth of desferrioxamine-deficient Streptomyces mutants through xenosiderophore piracy of airborne fungal contaminations.

PubMed

Arias, Anthony Argüelles; Lambert, Stéphany; Martinet, Loïc; Adam, Delphine; Tenconi, Elodie; Hayette, Marie-Pierre; Ongena, Marc; Rigali, Sébastien

2015-07-01

Due to the necessity of iron for housekeeping functions, nutrition, morphogenesis and secondary metabolite production, siderophore piracy could be a key strategy in soil and substrate colonization by microorganisms. Here we report that mutants of bacterium Streptomyces coelicolor unable to produce desferrioxamine siderophores could recover growth when the plates were contaminated by indoor air spores of a Penicillium species and Engyodontium album. UPLC-ESI-MS analysis revealed that the HPLC fractions with the extracellular 'resuscitation' factors of the Penicillium isolate were only those that contained siderophores, i.e. Fe-dimerum acid, ferrichrome, fusarinine C and coprogen. The restored growth of the Streptomyces mutants devoid of desferrioxamine is most likely mediated through xenosiderophore uptake as the cultivability depends on the gene encoding the ABC-transporter-associated DesE siderophore-binding protein. That a filamentous fungus allows the growth of desferrioxamine non-producing Streptomyces in cocultures confirms that xenosiderophore piracy plays a vital role in nutritional interactions between these taxonomically unrelated filamentous microorganisms. © FEMS 2015. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Maritime Security on the Horn of Africa: Threading the Needle at a Seam of Responsibility

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-11-06

Chamber of Commerce International Maritime Bureau. “Weekly Piracy Report 13-28 OCT 2007”. http://www.icc-ccs.org/prc/piracyreport.php (accessed 30 October 2007) 2 quarter of 2007 jumped by 37% when compared to the second quarter of 2006.2 The smuggling of refugees across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia to Yemen is also approaching record levels and reflects growing instability in the region. Piracy and human smuggling are motivated by profit and are predominantly criminal enterprises. Although both pirate and terrorist networks exist in

Analyzing Naval Strategy for Counterpiracy Operations, Using the Massive Multiplayer Online War Game Leveraging the Internet (MMOWGLI) and Discrete Event Simulation (DES)

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-01

the Monterey Tennis Center. It was always a great stress relief to get out and dominate the tennis courts with each of you. I will never forget the...The author of this thesis considers the work being done at ATC to be the best in the field for piracy and other research. There has been quite a bit of...Marsh, http://hdl.handle.net/10945/4542.  “Disrupting Somali Piracy Via Trust and Influence Operations,” June 2009, by Robert Bair, http

Late Quaternary stream piracy and strath terrace formation along the Belle Fourche and lower Cheyenne Rivers, South Dakota and Wyoming

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stamm, John F.; Hendricks, Robert R.; Sawyer, J. Foster; Mahan, Shannon; Zaprowski, Brent J.; Geibel, Nicholas M.; Azzolini, David C.

2013-01-01

Stream piracy substantially affected the geomorphic evolution of the Missouri River watershed and drainages within, including the Little Missouri, Cheyenne, Belle Fourche, Bad, and White Rivers. The ancestral Cheyenne River eroded headward in an annular pattern around the eastern and southern Black Hills and pirated the headwaters of the ancestral Bad and White Rivers after ~ 660 ka. The headwaters of the ancestral Little Missouri River were pirated by the ancestral Belle Fourche River, a tributary to the Cheyenne River that currently drains much of the northern Black Hills. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating techniques were used to estimate the timing of this piracy event at ~ 22–21 ka. The geomorphic evolution of the Cheyenne and Belle Fourche Rivers is also expressed by regionally recognized strath terraces that include (from oldest to youngest) the Sturgis, Bear Butte, and Farmingdale terraces. Radiocarbon and OSL dates from fluvial deposits on these terraces indicate incision to the level of the Bear Butte terrace by ~ 63 ka, incision to the level of the Farmingdale terrace at ~ 40 ka, and incision to the level of the modern channel after ~ 12–9 ka. Similar dates of terrace incision have been reported for the Laramie and Wind River Ranges. Hypothesized causes of incision are the onset of colder climate during the middle Wisconsinan and the transition to the full-glacial climate of the late-Wisconsinan/Pinedale glaciation. Incision during the Holocene of the lower Cheyenne River is as much as ~ 80 m and is 3 to 4 times the magnitude of incision at ~ 63 ka and ~ 40 ka. The magnitude of incision during the Holocene might be due to a combined effect of three geomorphic processes acting in concert: glacial isostatic rebound in lower reaches (~ 40 m), a change from glacial to interglacial climate, and adjustments to increased watershed area resulting from piracy of the ancestral headwaters of the Little Missouri River.

Late Quaternary stream piracy and strath terrace formation along the Belle Fourche and lower Cheyenne Rivers, South Dakota and Wyoming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stamm, John F.; Hendricks, Robert R.; Sawyer, J. Foster; Mahan, Shannon A.; Zaprowski, Brent J.; Geibel, Nicholas M.; Azzolini, David C.

2013-09-01

Stream piracy substantially affected the geomorphic evolution of the Missouri River watershed and drainages within, including the Little Missouri, Cheyenne, Belle Fourche, Bad, and White Rivers. The ancestral Cheyenne River eroded headward in an annular pattern around the eastern and southern Black Hills and pirated the headwaters of the ancestral Bad and White Rivers after ~ 660 ka. The headwaters of the ancestral Little Missouri River were pirated by the ancestral Belle Fourche River, a tributary to the Cheyenne River that currently drains much of the northern Black Hills. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating techniques were used to estimate the timing of this piracy event at ~ 22-21 ka. The geomorphic evolution of the Cheyenne and Belle Fourche Rivers is also expressed by regionally recognized strath terraces that include (from oldest to youngest) the Sturgis, Bear Butte, and Farmingdale terraces. Radiocarbon and OSL dates from fluvial deposits on these terraces indicate incision to the level of the Bear Butte terrace by ~ 63 ka, incision to the level of the Farmingdale terrace at ~ 40 ka, and incision to the level of the modern channel after ~ 12-9 ka. Similar dates of terrace incision have been reported for the Laramie and Wind River Ranges. Hypothesized causes of incision are the onset of colder climate during the middle Wisconsinan and the transition to the full-glacial climate of the late-Wisconsinan/Pinedale glaciation. Incision during the Holocene of the lower Cheyenne River is as much as ~ 80 m and is 3 to 4 times the magnitude of incision at ~ 63 ka and ~ 40 ka. The magnitude of incision during the Holocene might be due to a combined effect of three geomorphic processes acting in concert: glacial isostatic rebound in lower reaches (~ 40 m), a change from glacial to interglacial climate, and adjustments to increased watershed area resulting from piracy of the ancestral headwaters of the Little Missouri River.

Imperial boyhood: piracy and the play ethic.

PubMed

Deane, Bradley

2011-01-01

Representations of perpetual boyhood came to fascinate the late Victorians, partly because such images could naturalize a new spirit of imperial aggression and new policies of preserving power. This article traces the emergence of this fantasy through a series of stories about the relationship of the boy and the pirate, figures whose opposition in mid-Victorian literature was used to articulate the moral legitimacy of colonialism, but who became doubles rather than antitheses in later novels, such as R.L. Stevenson's "Treasure Island" and Joseph Conrad's "Lord Jim." Masculine worth needed no longer to be measured by reference to transcendent, universal laws, but by a morally flexible ethic of competitive play, one that bound together boyishness and piracy in a satisfying game of international adventure.

The Online Underworld.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scrogan, Len

1988-01-01

Discusses some of the misuses of telecommunicating using school computers, including online piracy, hacking, phreaking, online crime, and destruction boards. Suggests ways that schools can deal with these problems. (TW)

World-systems analysis.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Evans, Amanda M.

2007-12-01

Jamaica sloops were vernacular watercraft designed, built, and utilized by Caribbean colonists beginning in the late-17th century. Despite their popularity, no design or construction records or even a specific definition of their form survive, and many sources simply describe them as an early version of the Bermuda sloop. Vernacular Jamaica sloops were a unique adaptation by English colonists to combat the effects of piracy, and their design was specific to the economic, geographic, and political circumstances of colonial Jamaica. This article proposes a set of characteristics that can be used to define vernacular Jamaica sloops, firstly to distinguish them from the eighteenth-century naval Jamaica-class sloops but also to better understand them as a social response to external stimuli within the complex relationship between maritime economy, piracy and colonial control executed through the navy.

Piracy without Penalty.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foster, Andrea L.

2003-01-01

Outlines the confusion arising when public colleges invoke a constitutional shield when they are accused of pirating software. Some state institutions claim immunity under the 11th Amendment from prosecution for infringement of intellectual property. (SLD)

77 FR 21619 - Shipping Coordinating Committee; Notice of Committee Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-10

... goods, solid cargoes and containers; Stability, load lines and fishing vessel safety; Bulk liquids and... safety assessment; Piracy and armed robbery against ships; General cargo ship safety; Implementation of...

Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention Act

THOMAS, 112th Congress

Rep. Goodlatte, Bob [R-VA-6

2011-07-13

House - 08/25/2011 Referred to the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet. (All Actions) Tracker: This bill has the status IntroducedHere are the steps for Status of Legislation:

Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention Act

THOMAS, 111th Congress

Sen. Schumer, Charles E. [D-NY

2010-08-05

Senate - 12/06/2010 Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 674. (All Actions) Tracker: This bill has the status IntroducedHere are the steps for Status of Legislation:

Digital rights management for digital cinema

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kirovski, Darko; Peinado, Marcus; Petitcolas, Fabien A. P.

2001-12-01

There is a wide consensus among the feature film production studios that the Internet era brings a new paradigm for film distribution to cinemas worldwide. The benefits of digital cinema to both producers and cinemas are numerous: significantly lower distribution and maintenance costs, immediate access to film libraries, higher presentation quality, and strong potential for developing new business models. Despite these advantages, the studios are still reluctant to jump into the digital age. The main showstopper for digital cinema is the danger of widespread piracy. Piracy already costs Hollywood an estimated two billion dollars annually and digital cinema without proper copyright enforcement could increase this number. In this paper, we present a copyright management system that aims at providing the set of necessary security tools: standard cryptographic primitives and copyright protection mechanisms that enable a reliable and secure feature film delivery system.

Molecular piracy: manipulation of the ubiquitin system by Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus.

PubMed

Fujimuro, Masahiro; Hayward, S Diane; Yokosawa, Hideyoshi

2007-01-01

Ubiquitination, one of several post-translational protein modifications, plays a key role in the regulation of cellular events, including protein degradation, signal transduction, endocytosis, protein trafficking, apoptosis and immune responses. Ubiquitin attachment at the lysine residue of cellular factors acts as a signal for endocytosis and rapid degradation by the 26S proteasome. It has recently been observed that viruses, especially oncogenic herpesviruses, utilise molecular piracy by encoding their own proteins to interfere with regulation of cell signalling. Kaposi's sarcoma- associated herpesvirus (KSHV) manipulates the ubiquitin system to facilitate cell proliferation, anti-apoptosis and evasion from immunity. In this review, we will describe the strategies used by KSHV at distinct stages of the viral life-cycle to control the ubiquitin system and promote oncogenesis and viral persistence. (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

49 CFR 1522.105 - Adoption and implementation of the security program.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

..., against acts of criminal violence and air piracy, and against the introduction into aircraft of any... it proposes for the amendment to become effective, unless the designated official allows a shorter...

49 CFR 1542.221 - Records of law enforcement response.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... each. (2) The number of acts and attempted acts of aircraft piracy. (3) The number of bomb threats received, real and simulated bombs found, and actual detonations on the airport. (4) The number of arrests...

77 FR 21837 - Continuation of the National Emergency With Respect to Somalia

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-11

... by the fragile security situation and the persistence of violence in Somalia, and acts of piracy and... continue in effect beyond April 12, 2012. Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National...

76 FR 19895 - Continuation of the National Emergency With Respect to Somalia

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-08

... deterioration of the security situation and the persistence of violence in Somalia, and acts of piracy and armed... in effect beyond April 12, 2011. Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National...

78 FR 21011 - Continuation of the National Emergency With Respect to Somalia

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-04-08

... deterioration of the security situation and the persistence of violence in Somalia, acts of piracy and armed... measures adopted on that date and on July 20, 2012, to deal with that emergency, must continue in effect...

Copyright Goes Philosophical

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Romano, Carlin

2012-01-01

Last month brought an explosion of breaking news about intellectual-property issues, including copyright--the public battle over Internet-piracy bills in Congress, with ideological alliances crisscrossing standard lines, and sponsors turning against their own bills; the Supreme Court decision, "Golan v. Holder," which strengthened copyright…

Counter-Piracy Escort Operations in the Gulf of Aden

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-06-01

downloads/ Hari, J. (2009, January 4). You are being lied to about pirates. Retrieved December 28, 2010, from Huffington Post : http...the conception of the scenario. Mary McDonald supplied extensive statistical and analysis experience. I am grateful for her responsiveness

Intellectual Property in the Information Age.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilbert, Steven W.; Lyman, Peter

1989-01-01

Nearly every academic practice is being transformed by information technology. The concept of "piracy," or "theft," presumes that ideas can still be treated as if they are property, and if so, that the rules controlling the movement of idea-properties can be enforced. (MLW)

Legal Considerations of Internet Use--Issues To Be Addressed.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Daphyne Saunders; Forcht, Karen A.; Counts, Peter

1998-01-01

Explores issues related to legal considerations of the widespread use of the Internet worldwide. Topics considered include: e-mail; data theft and piracy; search and seizure; electronic banking; offensive behavior; liability; copyright infringement; laws regulating the Internet; and the Telecommunications Act. (PEN)

Piracy and Maritime Crime: Historical and Modern Case Studies

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-01-01

rights to protect tourism , fisheries, and other environmental resources in their territorial waters and EEZs. However, many coastal Southeast Asian...Then the local Moroccan gover - nor intervened, inflicting enough “punishment” to satisfy John Drummond Hay, the British consul at Tangier. However

The Economics of Educational Software Portability.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oliveira, Joao Batista Araujo e

1990-01-01

Discusses economic issues that affect the portability of educational software. Topics discussed include economic reasons for portability, including cost effectiveness; the nature and behavior of educational computer software markets; the role of producers, buyers, and consumers; potential effects of government policies; computer piracy; and…

Crime, Abuse, and Hacker Ethics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Deborah G.

1994-01-01

Discusses computer ethics and the use of computer networks. Topics addressed include computer hackers; software piracy; computer viruses and worms; intentional and unintentional abuse; intellectual property rights versus freedom of thought; the role of information in a democratic society; individual privacy; legislation; social attitudes; and the…

Computer Software & Intellectual Property. Background Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. Office of Technology Assessment.

This background paper reviews copyright, patent, and trade secret protections as these issues are related to computer software. Topics discussed include current issues regarding legal protection for computer software including the necessity for defining intellectual property, determining what should or should not be protected, commerical piracy,…

Piracy Off the Horn of Africa

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-09-28

on the U.S.-flagged MV Liberty Sun allegedly was carried out with the intention of damaging or sinking the ship and injuring or killing its crew in...djibouti-meeting. 78 Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives , Seychelles, Somalia, the United Republic of Tanzania, and Yemen signed the

76 FR 2402 - Maritime Security Directive 104-6 (Rev 5); Guidelines for U.S. Vessels Operating in High Risk Waters

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-01-13

... Vessel Activities, Coast Guard, telephone 202-372-1038, e-mail [email protected] . If you have... partners to prevent piracy. On February 10, 2006, the Coast Guard announced the release of MARSEC Directive...

75 FR 29358 - Maritime Security Directive 104-6 (Rev 2 and 3); Guidelines for U.S. Vessels Operating in High...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-25

... developed piracy-related Port Security Advisories (PSAs)to provide further guidance and direction to U.S. flagged vessels operating in high risk waters to help facilitate compliance with this directive. The PSAs...

Sailing into Troubled Waters: Predicting Piracy Off Africa

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-03-22

from various Somalia seaports, including Eyl, Garard, Bosasso, Ras Asir , Alula Cape and Chismayu.39 However, given the recent large payoffs in ransom...other pirate gangs operating from various Somalia seaports, including Eyl, Garard, Bosasso, Ras Asir , Alula Cape and 22 Chismayu.54 Currently the

Counter Piracy: A Repeated Game with Asymmetric Information

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-09-01

Christopher D. Marsh Approved by: Kyle Y. Lin Thesis Advisor Timothy H. Chung Second Reader Robert F. Dell Chairman, Department of...encourage Malaysia and Indonesia to work with the Singapore Navy in coordinated patrols of the region. Increased cooperation in the region includes the

Maritime Domain Awareness In The South China Sea: An Operational Picture Design

DTIC Science & Technology

China Sea (SCS) region. Socio- economic issues plague the SCS, including overfishing, piracy, and energy usage, and have forced many countries to...disregard borders, laws, and economic exclusionary zones (EEZ). These actions have caused numerous vessels of interest (VOIs) to turn off required

The Case for Spacecrime: The Rise of Crime and Piracy in the Space Domain

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-06-01

resulted in generally outdated hardware with limited capabilities.21 More recent hardware platforms such as Arduino, BeagleBone, Raspberry Pi and others...www.citizensinspace.org; Arduino platform, http://www.arduino.cc; Beaglebone platform, http://www.beagleboard.org; Raspberry Pi platform, http

The Implications of Unstable Yemen on Saudi Arabia

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-02-28

total illiteracy, overpopulation , poverty, and lawlessness draw quite a gloomy picture. Yemen has a rapidly growing population with limited resources...is a transit path for oil from the Arabian Gulf 21 and goods from Southeastern Asia . The piracy threat in the Gulf of Aden, along with terrorist

Piracy in the Straits of Malacca

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-05-08

operations or economic alternatives that USPACOM can advocate are the following:  Job creation for coastal community : USPACOM can work with host... coastal community fishing is their inability to maximize their time out on the ocean. USAID can seek the support of fishing experts who understand how to

Computer Ethics Topics and Teaching Strategies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeLay, Jeanine A.

An overview of six major issues in computer ethics is provided in this paper: (1) unauthorized and illegal database entry, surveillance and monitoring, and privacy issues; (2) piracy and intellectual property theft; (3) equity and equal access; (4) philosophical implications of artificial intelligence and computer rights; (5) social consequences…

Software Piracy, Ethics, and the Academician.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bassler, Richard A.

The numerous software programs available for easy, low-cost copying raise ethical questions. The problem can be examined from the viewpoints of software users, teachers, authors, vendors, and distributors. Software users might hesitate to purchase or use software which prevents the making of back-up copies for program protection. Teachers in…

Unintended Consequences: Twelve Years under the DMCA

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Von Lohmann, Fred

2010-01-01

Since they were enacted in 1998, the "anti-circumvention" provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA"), codified in section 1201 of the Copyright Act, have not been used as Congress envisioned. Congress meant to stop copyright infringers from defeating anti-piracy protections added to copyrighted works and to ban…

Antipiracy Campaign Exasperates Colleges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rampell, Catherine

2008-01-01

This article reports on the withdrawal of some universities' support of a music industry's campaign against music piracy on their campuses. Talk to the chief information officer at just about any American university, and he will probably say that his institution has bent over backward to help the Recording Industry Association of America curb…

32 CFR 182.2 - Applicability and scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... by the DoD-Department of Homeland Security Memorandum of Agreement for Department of Defense Support to the United States Coast Guard for Maritime Homeland Security. (7) Aircraft piracy operations... 32 National Defense 1 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Applicability and scope. 182.2 Section 182.2...

32 CFR 182.2 - Applicability and scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... by the DoD-Department of Homeland Security Memorandum of Agreement for Department of Defense Support to the United States Coast Guard for Maritime Homeland Security. (7) Aircraft piracy operations... 32 National Defense 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Applicability and scope. 182.2 Section 182.2...

From "Piracy" to Payment: Audio-Visual Copyright and Teaching Practice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Peter

1993-01-01

The changing circumstances in Australia governing the use of broadcast television and radio material in education are examined, from the uncertainty of the early 1980s to current management of copyrighted audiovisual material under the statutory licensing agreement between universities and an audiovisual copyright agency. (MSE)

Indigenous Knowledge and Intellectual Property Rights: Confronting Modern Norms to Promote Sustainability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Godbole-Chaudhuri, Pragati; Srikantaiah, Deepa; van Fleet, Justin

2008-01-01

The global proliferation of intellectual property rights (IPRs), most recently through the World Trade Organization's Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, poses a grave threat for Indigenous knowledge systems. There is an increasing amount of "piracy" of Indigenous knowledge, whereby corporations and scientists…

Online Ethics: What's a Teacher to Do?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carpenter, Cal

1996-01-01

Considers ethics issues involved with using online resources like the Internet in elementary and secondary education and suggests that educators initiate and model a standardized role of ethical behavior for Internet users. Topics include hackers; privacy, piracy, and security; screening electronic sites; ethics education; and an ethics model.…

International piracy and armed robbery at sea : hindering maritime trade and water transportation around the world

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-04-01

Pirates prey upon targets of opportunity. Given optimal conditions (e.g., calm weather, slow cruising speed, and daylight4) relatively small, fast vessels (e.g., containerships) may be no less at risk than large, slower vessels (e.g., crude carriers)...

A 5TH GENERATION FIGHTER FOR BELGIUM:LUXURY OR NECESSITY

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-02-16

violence to assert power. Overall, 3 we see threats, old and new, from piracy to terrorism to cyber-attacks. Based on these increased threats, NATO...share information seamlessly and contribute to a Common Operating Picture ( COP ). This construct will balance speed with accuracy to deliver the

The Classroom, Board Room, Chat Room, and Court Room: School Computers at the Crossroads.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stewart, Michael

2000-01-01

In schools' efforts to maximize technology's benefits, ethical considerations have often taken a back seat. Computer misuse is growing exponentially and assuming many forms: unauthorized data access, hacking, piracy, information theft, fraud, virus creation, harassment, defamation, and discrimination. Integrated-learning activities will help…

Colleges Charge "Reconnect Fees" to Students Cited for Copyright Violations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Read, Brock

2007-01-01

Like most institutions that have received copyright-infringement notices from the entertainment industry, Stanford University has a straightforward process for dealing with the complaints. Campus officials identify students accused of piracy, ask them to delete the offending material from their computers, and disconnect from the campus network…

Moral Responsibility and Computer Technology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Friedman, Batya

Noting a recent increase in the number of cases of computer crime and computer piracy, this paper takes up the question, "How can understanding the social context of computing help us--as parents, educators, and members of government and industry--to educate young people to become morally responsible members of an electronic information…

Processes of Terrace Formation on the Piedmont of the Santa Cruz River Valley During Quaternary Time, Green Valley-Tubac Area, Southeastern Arizona

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lindsey, David A.; Van Gosen, Bradley S.

2010-01-01

In this report we describe a series of stepped Quaternary terraces on some piedmont tributaries of the Santa Cruz River valley in southeastern Arizona. These terraces began to form in early Pleistocene time, after major basin-and-range faulting ceased, with lateral planation of basin fill and deposition of thin fans of alluvium. At the end of this cycle of erosion and deposition, tributaries of the Santa Cruz River began the process of dissection and terrace formation that continues to the present. Vertical cutting alternated with periods of equilibrium, during which streams cut laterally and left thin deposits of channel fill. The distribution of terraces was mapped and compiled with adjacent mapping to produce a regional picture of piedmont stream history in the middle part of the Santa Cruz River valley. For selected tributaries, the thickness of terrace fill was measured, particle size and lithology of gravel were determined, and sedimentary features were photographed and described. Mapping of terrace stratigraphy revealed that on two tributaries, Madera Canyon Wash and Montosa Canyon Wash, stream piracy has played an important role in piedmont landscape development. On two other tributaries, Cottonwood Canyon Wash and Josephine Canyon Wash, rapid downcutting preempted piracy. Two types of terraces are recognized: erosional and depositional. Gravel in thin erosional terraces has Trask sorting coefficients and sedimentary structures typical of streamflood deposits, replete with bar-and-swale surface topography on young terraces. Erosional-terrace fill represents the channel fill of the stream that cuts the terrace; the thickness of the fill indicates the depth of channel scour. In contrast to erosional terraces, depositional terraces show evidence of repeated deposition and net aggradation, as indicated by their thickness (as much as 20+ m) and weakly bedded structure. Depositional terraces are common below mountain-front canyon mouths where streams drop their load in response to abrupt flattening of gradients and expansion of channel banks, and they extend down the piedmont along Josephine Canyon Wash. Gravel in depositional terraces also has sorting coefficients typical of streamflood deposits. Sedimentary features in both types of terraces are consistent with deposition by flash floods in ephemeral streams, suggesting the climate was arid. Bedding and clast armor are weakly developed, clast clusters and imbrication are common, and crossbedding is generally absent. Debris-flow deposits, even near the mountain front, are surprisingly rare. On the tectonically stable piedmont of southeastern Arizona, stream piracy and climate change are the most likely agents of terrace formation. Both piracy and climate change can cause rapid changes in discharge and sediment supply, which initiate cycles of incision, lateral cutting, and aggradation. Increased stream discharge initiates downcutting, but increased sediment supply interrupts downcutting and causes streams to cut laterally and aggrade. At times, on Madera Canyon Wash and Montosa Canyon Wash, stream piracy affected stream discharge and sediment supply, but on Cottonwood Canyon Wash and Josephine Canyon Wash, only climate change could have initiated terrace cutting. Terraces probably formed during extended arid intervals when sparse vegetation and flashy stream discharge combined to increase sediment supply. In most cases, sediment supply was sufficient to promote lateral cutting but not long-term aggradation. Thus, most streams formed erosional terraces. The middle Pleistocene Josephine Canyon Wash formed a depositional terrace because it had a source of abundant unconsolidated sediment.

Copyright and the Assurance of Quality Courseware.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Helm, Virginia M.

Issues related to the illegal copying or piracy of educational software in the schools and its potential effect on quality software availability are discussed. Copyright violation is examined as a reason some software producers may be abandoning the school software market. An explanation of what the copyright allows and prohibits in terms of…

Private Security Contractors: A Way of Combating Piracy in the Horn of Africa

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-05-22

September 2011. 79Financial Action Task Force, “Financial Action Task Force Annual Report, 2010-2011,” FATF /OECD, 2011, 10. 80Andrew J. Shapiro...Report, 2010-2011.” FATF /OECD. Paris, 2011. Fox News. “Private Security Firms Join Battle Against Somali Pirates,” October 26, 2008. http

31 CFR Appendix A to Part 551 - EXECUTIVE ORDER 13536

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S... directly or indirectly threaten the peace, security, or stability of Somalia, including but not limited to..., or stability of Somalia, acts of piracy or armed robbery at sea off the coast of Somalia threaten the...

A Music Service Dies, Survived by Piracy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Jeffrey R.

2009-01-01

For online music services, an endorsement from colleges is the kiss of death. Ruckus Network, in which more than 200 colleges had signed up with to provide a free and legal alternative to unauthorized file swapping, shut down without warning on February 6, reminding some officials of two years ago when another company, Cdigix, abruptly announced…

On the Web, a Textbook Proliferation of Piracy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Jeffrey R.

2008-01-01

Book publishers are stepping up efforts to stop college students from downloading illegal copies of textbooks online. One Web site, Textbook Torrents, promises more than 5,000 textbooks for download in PDF format, complete with the original books' layouts and full-color illustrations. Users must simply set up a free account and download a free…

The Music Industry as a Vehicle for Economic Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klein, Christopher C.

2015-01-01

Issues arising in the music industry in response to the availability of digital music files provide an opportunity for exposing undergraduate students to economic analyses rarely covered in the undergraduate economics curriculum. Three of these analyses are covered here: the optimal copyright term, the effect of piracy or illegal file sharing, and…

Ship Response Capability Models for Counter-Piracy Patrols in the Gulf of Aden

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-09-01

exhibit one of six possible readiness states that can fit into one of four categories 8: (a) All helicopters at high alert level ( HHH ) (b) Two...Coordinated 30 min Uncoordinated 30 min Coordinated Figure 16: Effect of helicopter readiness on response capabilities. configurations HHH , HHL and HLH

Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-2010

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-03-10

marines and sailors) to discourage piracy and the slave trade along the Ivory coast, and to punish attacks by the natives on American seamen and...Naval forces sought to stop seal poaching . 1891 Chile. August 28 to 30. U.S. forces protected the American consulate and the women and children who

Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-2001

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-02-05

various parties (one of 200 marines and sailors) to discourage piracy and the slave trade along the Ivory coast, and to punish attacks by the natives...sought to protect American lives and property on Navassa Island. 1891— Bering Strait. July 2 to October 5. Naval forces sought to stop seal poaching

Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-2007

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-01-14

parties (one of 200 marines and sailors) to discourage piracy and the slave trade along the Ivory coast, and to punish attacks by the natives on...seal poaching . 1891 Chile. August 28 to 30. U.S. forces protected the American consulate and the women and children who had taken refuge in it

Research on Intellectual Property Right Problems of Peer-to-Peer Networks.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dong, Ying; Li, Mingshu; Chen, Meizhang; Zheng, Shengli

2002-01-01

Discusses digital intellectual property rights relating to peer-to-peer networks, using Napster as an example. Suggests anti-piracy solutions to prevent litigation and considers how libraries can develop potential service models using peer-to-peer networks, including the development of personal libraries on the Internet, interlibrary loan,…

77 FR 41316 - Federal Bureau of Investigation Anti-Piracy Warning Seal Program

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-13

... comment suggested that the references to particular United States Code sections, such as are at paragraph...-1.5009, rather than only what is contained in paragraph (d). Additionally, the reference to the... rule will have less than $100 million in economic impact were unsubstantiated by any data provided. In...

Piracy among Undergraduate and Graduate Students: Influences on Unauthorized Book Copies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dionisio, Pedro; Leal, Carmo; Pereira, Helia; Salgueiro, Maria Fatima

2013-01-01

The unauthorized duplication of books through photocopies and Internet downloads, especially in the case of academic books, is currently one of the most challenging problems facing the publishing industry. Photocopying has become widespread with these texts, apparently without major ethical concerns on the part of students. The purpose of this…

14 CFR 243.3 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... control over an aircraft, by force or violence or threat of force or violence, or by any other form of... piracy. Contact means a person not on the covered flight or an entity that should be contacted in case of an aviation disaster. The contact need not have any particular relationship to a passenger. Covered...

14 CFR 243.3 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... control over an aircraft, by force or violence or threat of force or violence, or by any other form of... piracy. Contact means a person not on the covered flight or an entity that should be contacted in case of an aviation disaster. The contact need not have any particular relationship to a passenger. Covered...

14 CFR 243.3 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... control over an aircraft, by force or violence or threat of force or violence, or by any other form of... piracy. Contact means a person not on the covered flight or an entity that should be contacted in case of an aviation disaster. The contact need not have any particular relationship to a passenger. Covered...

14 CFR 243.3 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... control over an aircraft, by force or violence or threat of force or violence, or by any other form of... piracy. Contact means a person not on the covered flight or an entity that should be contacted in case of an aviation disaster. The contact need not have any particular relationship to a passenger. Covered...

14 CFR 243.3 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... control over an aircraft, by force or violence or threat of force or violence, or by any other form of... piracy. Contact means a person not on the covered flight or an entity that should be contacted in case of an aviation disaster. The contact need not have any particular relationship to a passenger. Covered...

Better Enforcement of Online Copyright Would Help, Not Harm, Consumers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Castro, Daniel

2010-01-01

Legislation introduced in Congress last month (the "Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act") would take an aggressive and needed stand against online piracy, a growing problem that hurts American consumers and costs Americans jobs. Critics of the legislation argue that this bill would hurt free speech, encourage censorship in foreign…

Piracy and Maritime Terrorism; A Seamless Transition

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-05-18

1/.html>. [24 April 2004]. Cropley , Ed. “Asia eyes sea security after threats, US warning.” Reuters. 22 Apr 2004. <http://www.marketnewzealand.com...stm>. ii Ed Cropley , “Asia eyes sea security after threats, US warning,” Reuters, 22 Apr 2004. <http://www.marketnewzealand.com/mnz/News/Story.aspx

From Realities to Values: A Strategy Framework for Digital Natives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blowers, Helene

2010-01-01

For many Digital Natives, text messaging or SMS is the communication channel of choice, but preferences in communication channels aren't the only distinguishing traits of Digital Natives. Attitudes and perceptions related to digital privacy, identity, creativity, piracy, and advocacy also help to set younger generations apart. So how does one take…

Pedagogy beyond Piracy: Un-Learning the White Body to Recreate a Body of Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perkinson, James W.

2012-01-01

This essay highlights a range of questions that arise when white suburban students engage urban neighborhoods of poverty and color in the United States. How can involvement in an "other" context move beyond "educational tourism"? The essay presents a pedagogical style that raises questions of the kind of socialized body one…

Music Piracy--Differences in the Ethical Perceptions of Business Majors and Music Business Majors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Susan Lee

2004-01-01

In this study, the author investigated the ethical perceptions of business majors and music business majors from a private university and observed whether the taking of a business ethics course affected students' perceptions regarding the ethical aspects of downloading, sharing, copying, and selling copyrighted music from Internet and non-Internet…

Solving the Ancient Maritime Problem: Piracy Operations in the Gulf of Aden

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-04-22

of2009, pirates captured the Greek-flagged tanker Maran Centaurus while it was carrying 275,000 metric tons of crude oi1.28 That is equivalent to about 2...million barrels of oil worth roughly $150 million, stated Ben Cahill, head of the Petroleum Risk Manager service at PFC Energy. Maran Centaurus was

Securing the Aviation Transportation System

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-12-01

accessed 27 May 2007) 13 Robert W. Poole, Jr., “ Airport Security : Time for a New Model,” Reason Foundation online article, January 2006, Available from...15 Robert W. Poole, Jr., “ Airport Security : Time for a New Model,” Reason Foundation online article, January 2006...commercial jetliners. 24 Peter St. John, Air Piracy, Airport Security , and International Terrorism

Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-2007

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-09-12

one of 200 marines and sailors) to discourage piracy and the slave trade along the Ivory coast, and to punish attacks by the natives on American... poaching . 1891 Chile. August 28 to 30. U.S. forces protected the American consulate and the women and children who had taken refuge in it during a

Ethical Use of Information Technologies in Education: Important Issues for America's Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sivin, Jay P.; Bialo, Ellen R.

In response to the rapid growth of computer crime and such illegitimate practices as piracy and fraud, the National Institute of Justice and the Office for Educational Research and Improvement have formed a partnership to promote school programs on the ethical uses of new technologies. This report, the first of the partnership, is designed to…

Software Piracy among Technology Education Students: Investigating Property Rights in a Culture of Innovation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Teston, George

2008-01-01

When asked about individual perceptions of "technology," 68% of Americans primarily equate the term to the computer. Although this perception under represents the true breadth of the field, the statistic does speak to the ubiquitous role the computer plays across many technology disciplines. Software has become the building block of all major…

Options for the Navy’s Future Fleet

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-05-01

increase in the service’s average annual funding. 9. See Dave Ahearn, “Winter Says Piracy a Major Challege for Navy,” Defense News (January 12, 2006...production. When the LPD-17’s hull was designed, space was reserved to accommodate a bank of 16 VLS cells in the front of the ship, which would be

Options for the Navy’s Future Fleet

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-05-01

increase in the service’s average annual funding. 9. See Dave Ahearn, “Winter Says Piracy a Major Challege for Navy,” Defense News (January 12...serial production. When the LPD-17’s hull was designed, space was reserved to accommodate a bank of 16 VLS cells in the front of the ship, which would

Copyright Protection for Computer Software: Is There a Need for More Protection?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ku, Linlin

Because the computer industry's expansion has been much faster than has the development of laws protecting computer software and since the practice of software piracy seems to be alive and well, the issue of whether existing laws can provide effective protection for software needs further discussion. Three bodies of law have been used to protect…

U.S. Maritime Security: Sustainability Challenges

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-09-01

Security Council ICE Immigration and Customs Enforcement IOC Interagency Operation Center JHOC Joint Harbor Operation Center JIATF-S Joint...maritime threats into nation threats, transnational criminal and piracy threats, environmental destruction, and illegal seaborne immigration (U.S...safe and secure borders, welcome lawful immigrants and visitors and promote the free-flow of commerce (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2011

Frank Talk about Hacker Attacks, Emergency Notification, and Online Piracy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fischman, Josh; Carlson, Scott; Young, Jeffrey R.

2008-01-01

Technology decisions should not be made solely in some geeky corner of the campus, but should be central to strategic planning and involve top academic leaders. Campus-technology leaders traded tales from the trenches and plenty of advice during the two-day Technology Forum, held in Tampa, Florida in February 2008. Ohio University responded to a…

Strategic Implications of Piracy in Benin’s Territorial Waters

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-01

requires that all stakeholders, political leaders, international organizations and the private sector work together to efficiently mitigate or...international partner. The GGC is composed of the eight countries of Angola, Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial-Guinea, Nigeria , Republic of Congo, Democratic...environment complicated by territorial disputes exists between Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo,14 between the Republic of Nigeria and the

Security Challenges in the Gulf of Guinea Sub-Region: Strategy for Nigeria

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-06-01

Gas Fisheries Defense of Shipping Data Sea Power Functioning Ecosystem Nation-States Pollution & Misuse Criminal Activities Poaching ...region, these increased activities have created challenging security issues including increased piracy, poaching , terrorism, militant youth activities... impact its economic, social and political development. Also, the GoG’s vast sea area presents great challenges to the Nigerian nation and the

NATO Regional Capacity Building: The Foundation for Success in the Counter-Piracy Campaign

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-04-16

could best tailor 68 Nana K. Poku, Neil Renwick, and Joao Gomes Porto, “Human Security and...be established for 79 Alberto Bin, “NATO’s Mediterranean dialogue,” in The Future of the...nations. 81 Alberto Bin, “NATO’s Mediterranean dialogue,” in The Future of the Euro-Mediterranean Security Dialogue, ed. Martin Ortega (Paris

Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, Annual Report 2009

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-01-01

International financial crisis Global warning/ climate change Pandemic disease Drug trafficking Illegal migration Piracy Terrorism Arms smuggling Illegal...Resource scarcity/rivalry Global warming/ climate change Drug trafficing Illegal fishing Crime Territorial disputes Pandemic disease Government...APCSS. March 2009. <http://www.apcss.org/Publications/da vis2009governanceInChina2010. pdf > hashmi, Taj, “Emerging Changes in America’s Pakistan Policy

Failing Intellectual Property Protection 101: Character Education May Be the Key to Piracy Prevention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kruger, Bob

2004-01-01

Behind every book there is an author; behind every music CD there are composers and musicians; and behind every software program there are developers and programmers. All are paid for their creative works--or at least they should be. Today's college students, however, are having trouble understanding the connection between the media they use and…

Staff Judge Advocate Deskbook. Revised

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-01-01

precision in defiming and interpreting the rules of customary law has been a principal motivation behind efforts to codify LOAC through treaties and...by state vessels or attacks without a profit motivation . Despite its romantic legends piracy is not a thing of the past, but an ongoing and very...common criminal activity. 0903 DEFINING TERRORISM International terrorism is the premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against

Continuum Model for River Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giacometti, Achille; Maritan, Amos; Banavar, Jayanth R.

1995-07-01

The effects of erosion, avalanching, and random precipitation are captured in a simple stochastic partial differential equation for modeling the evolution of river networks. Our model leads to a self-organized structured landscape and to abstraction and piracy of the smaller tributaries as the evolution proceeds. An algebraic distribution of the average basin areas and a power law relationship between the drainage basin area and the river length are found.

A New Security Paradigm for Anti-Counterfeiting: Guidelines and an Implementation Roadmap

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lehtonen, Mikko

Product counterfeitingand piracy continue to plague brand and trademark owners across industry sectors. This chapter analyses the reasons for ineffectiveness of past technical anti-counterfeitingstrategies and formulates managerial guidelines for effective use of RFID in anti-counterfeiting. An implementation roadmap toward secure authentication of products tagged with EPC Gen-2 tags is proposed and possible supply chain locations for product checks are discussed.

A resolution supporting enhanced maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea and encouraging increased cooperation between the United States and West and Central African countries to fight armed robbery at sea, piracy, and other maritime threats.

THOMAS, 113th Congress

Sen. Flake, Jeff [R-AZ

2013-11-06

Senate - 01/07/2014 Resolution agreed to in Senate without amendment and with a preamble by Unanimous Consent. (All Actions) Tracker: This bill has the status Agreed to in SenateHere are the steps for Status of Legislation:

A Mature Maritime Strategy for Africa to Meet National Security Goals

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-06-17

by corrupt governments, poverty, piracy, poaching in territorial waters, terrorist cells, militant youth activities, environmental violations, illegal...regions with maritime distress that are, or have the potential to impact vital U.S. national interests. Good national strategy that informs combatant and...environmental violations and many other debilitating maritime activities get conveyed ashore and directly impact the security and well-being of the

Testing the Waters: Climate Change in Africa and Anticipating Regional Conflicts

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-05-04

be adequately assessed without careful consideration of the history of economic change and political activities within populations‟ respective areas...to the defined National Security objectives of the USG in Africa. This training often consists of operational activities such as counter-piracy...thus, the USG. However, it is telling that African military leaders have identified security forces training in more fundamental activities such as

JPRS Report. Soviet Union: Political Affairs

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-07-28

10 Armenian CP Büro on Internal Procedural, Structural Changes [KOMMUNIST 21 May 89] 10 MEDIA, PROPAGANDA Officials Seek Advances in Video ...Availability, VCR Production 12 More Video Theaters, VCR’s Planned [A. Ladynin; SOVETSKAYA ROSSIYA 11 Jun 89] 12 Clarification of Permitted Standards...Procuracy Reviews Recent Illegal Land Appropriations [V Razmadze; ZARYA VOSTOKA 20 Jun 89] 23 Specialist on Video Piracy, Pornography, Black Market [S

Ethical Issues of ICT Use by Teacher Trainers: Use of E-Books in Academic Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kilickaya, Ferit; Krajka, Jaroslaw

2015-01-01

In an attempt to address the issue of ethics in ICT use by university teacher trainers, the current study aimed to investigate academics' downloading and sharing e-books as well as the reasons that led them to be involved in this piracy. The participants included 140 teacher trainers working at faculties of education in Turkey, and a questionnaire…

The ASEAN Political-Security Community: Enhancing Defense Cooperation

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-12-01

Yoong Lee, ASEAN Matters: Reflecting on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Singapore; Hackensack, NJ: World Scientific., 2011), i, http...from becoming overpopulated —by moving Javanese to low-density islands: Kalimantan, Sumatera, Papua, and Sulawesi. 58 Collins, Security and Southeast...In the mid-2000s, the increasing number of piracy and armed robbery activities in the Malacca Straits attracted world attention and attributed to the

Small Combatants for the Homeland Defense Mission

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-01

MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) N/ A 10. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY REPORT NUMBER 11. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES The views expressed in...the U.S. Navy relies on a shrinking group of aging Oliver Hazard Perry class frigates to conduct counter- piracy, counter-narcotics, counter maritime...the ideal ship: it is too expensive, too vulnerable, and undermanned, and it has a modular concept that is too underdeveloped for practical naval

JPRS Report, Near East & South Asia.

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-06-13

reminded them of their obligation to defend the sovereignty of Bangladesh waters . Dhaka Protests to Burma Over ’Gunboat Piracy’ 46001460 Dhaka THE... BANGLADESH OBSERVER in English 12 Apr 89 pp 1, 10 [Text] Cox’s Bazar, 11 Apr—Repeated intrusion into the Bangladesh waters near St Martin island by...local fishermen. Bangladesh lodged strong protests with the Burmese Government on intrusion of Burmese naval boats inside Bangladesh waters and lifting

Determinants of Achieving Effective Shared Situational Awareness within the Context of Global Maritime Partnerships

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-06-01

and security, vessel traffic management, accident and disaster response, search and rescue as well as law enforcement are collecting information...piracy threat. Individually Nigeria , Ghana, Benin, Togo, Cameroon and Senegal have taken practical steps to police their waters but they lack...use their vast natural resources for socio-economic development of their countries. Lloyd’s, the leading maritime insurer, has listed Nigeria , Benin

Passive automatic anti-piracy defense system of ships

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Szustakowski, M.; Życzkowski, M.; Ciurapiński, W.; Karol, M.; Kastek, M.; Stachowiak, R.; Markowski, P.

2013-10-01

The article describes the technological solution for ship self-defense against pirate attacks. The paper presents the design solutions in the field of direct physical protection. All the solutions are connected with the latest optoelectronic and microwave systems and sensors to detect, recognize and the threat posed by pirates. In particular, tests of effectiveness and the detection-range of technology demonstrator developed by a team of authors were carried out.

Somalia Piracy: Challenges and Solutions

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-04-01

agricultural goods are the most threatened. Agricultural goods like mangoes, avocadoes and canned beans are exported by sea. 9 The value of these...imported and exported goods. 1 It is of international strategic importance because of the importance of the sea lanes off the Somalia coast (roughly...vessels re-route to avoid the HOA, and increased delays in delivery of goods.31 Kenya’s major exported items, including tea, coffee, and other

Rising Sun Over Africa: Japan’s New Frontier for Military Normalization

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-06-01

Party MLIT Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism MOD Ministry of Defense MOFA Ministry of Foreign Affairs MSDF Maritime Self...primary go-between, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism (MLIT).100 Even shortly after the passing of Japan’s Anti-Piracy Law...construction of its presidential palace, its main administration building, a national war memorial, a stadium, and two sports complexes. More

Sea Piracy in Southeast Asia: Implications for Countering Maritime Terrorism in the United States

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-06-01

least ten agencies that have some involvement in maritime security management with nine authorized to conduct law enforcement operations at sea...exercises, cooperating on consequence management , and sustaining capacity building operations .173 The United States has important bilateral security...Overview and Evaluation,” Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management 2, no. 4 (2005). 221 Frittelli, “Terminal Operators ,” 2006, 3

16th International Seapower Symposium

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-06-01

chemical tankers, or large container ships. There are also nu- merous passenger cruise liners and ferries that transit these waters. The danger of piracy...carried on board and put on the piers and give us an instant picture of what is inside of the container, visual and chemical . Technology must enable us to...and illegal movement of nuclear, chemical , biological and other potentially deadly material, and in the regard emphasizes the need to enhance

An Analysis of Music Fan towards Music Streaming Purchase Intention of Thailand's Music Industry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanitnarathorn, Pannawit

2018-01-01

Digital music streaming are climbing but overall music revenue is declining with digital music piracy being blamed as the culprit. In a 10 year period from 2003 to 2013, global music sales dropped from $US23.3 to $US15 billion dollars with Thailand's music industry following the trend dropping from $US 304 million in 2010 to $US 279 million in…

Combating Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-02-01

stretching from Cape Verde to An- gola (Figure 1), is the main transit hub and facilitator to the region’s rapid economic growth which has averaged...tio n in 1 5 yr s Sm al l C ra ft A cq ui si tio n in 1 0 yr s So ur ce s of A cq ui si tio n Benin 65 7 7 China, France Cabo Verde 530 2 3

Networking the Global Maritime Partnership

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-06-01

19th and 20th centuries , naval coalitions morphed and changed based on the needs of the nations involved. In one example, the Boxer Uprising of 1900...Perspective One of the macro-trends of the late-twentieth, and now the twenty-first century , has been globalization. Globalization—generally...seas or near-shore waters than ever before. The dramatic increase in piracy in this century , a scourge many thought no longer existed, is but one

Multinational Experiment 7. Regional Analysis: Western Indian Ocean

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-01

its five Working Groups as observers. Decisions must be taken by consensus by the members of CGPCS. As of February 2013 representatives of71...action against pirate supply bases onshore. The decision was implemented for the first time on May 15 as helicopters destroyed a number of fast...regime. As of early 2013, however, we do not believe that those efforts have been decisive in reducing piracy activities. Presently, two regimes

Interspecies modulation of bacterial development through iron competition and siderophore piracy

PubMed Central

Traxler, Matthew F.; Seyedsayamdost, Mohammad R.; Clardy, Jon; Kolter, Roberto

2012-01-01

Summary While soil-dwelling actinomycetes are renowned for secreting natural products, little is known about the roles of these molecules in mediating actinomycete interactions. In a previous co-culture screen, we found that one actinomycete, Amycolatopsis sp. AA4, inhibited aerial hyphae formation in adjacent colonies of Streptomyces coelicolor. A siderophore, amychelin, mediated this developmental arrest. Here we present genetic evidence that confirms the role of the amc locus in the production of amychelin and in the inhibition of S. coelicolor development. We further characterize the Amycolatopsis sp. AA4 - S. coelicolor interaction by examining expression of developmental and iron acquisition genes over time in co-culture. Manipulation of iron availability and/or growth near Amycolatopsis sp. AA4 led to alterations in expression of the critical developmental gene bldN, and other key down-stream genes in the S. coelicolor transcriptional cascade. In Amycolatopsis sp. AA4, siderophore genes were down-regulated when grown near S. coelicolor, leading us to find that deferrioxamine E, produced by S. coelicolor, could be readily utilized by Amycolatopsis sp. AA4. Collectively these results suggest that competition for iron via siderophore piracy and species-specific siderophores can alter patterns of gene expression and morphological differentiation during actinomycete interactions. PMID:22931126

Interspecies modulation of bacterial development through iron competition and siderophore piracy.

PubMed

Traxler, Matthew F; Seyedsayamdost, Mohammad R; Clardy, Jon; Kolter, Roberto

2012-11-01

While soil-dwelling actinomycetes are renowned for secreting natural products, little is known about the roles of these molecules in mediating actinomycete interactions. In a previous co-culture screen, we found that one actinomycete, Amycolatopsis sp. AA4, inhibited aerial hyphae formation in adjacent colonies of Streptomyces coelicolor. A siderophore, amychelin, mediated this developmental arrest. Here we present genetic evidence that confirms the role of the amc locus in the production of amychelin and in the inhibition of S. coelicolor development. We further characterize the Amycolatopsis sp. AA4 - S. coelicolor interaction by examining expression of developmental and iron acquisition genes over time in co-culture. Manipulation of iron availability and/or growth near Amycolatopsis sp. AA4 led to alterations in expression of the critical developmental gene bldN, and other key downstream genes in the S. coelicolor transcriptional cascade. In Amycolatopsis sp. AA4, siderophore genes were downregulated when grown near S. coelicolor, leading us to find that deferrioxamine E, produced by S. coelicolor, could be readily utilized by Amycolatopsis sp. AA4. Collectively these results suggest that competition for iron via siderophore piracy and species-specific siderophores can alter patterns of gene expression and morphological differentiation during actinomycete interactions. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Reexamining Computational Support for Intelligence Analysis: A Functional Design for a Future Capability

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-07-14

applicability of the sensor model in the context under consideration. A similar information flow can be considered for obtaining direct reliability of an... Modeling , Bex Concepts Human Intelligence Simulation USE CASES Army: Opns in Megacities, Syrian Civil War Navy: Piracy (NATO, Book), Autonomous ISR...2007) 6 [25] Bex, F. and Verheij, B ., Story Schemes for Argumentation about the Facts of a Crime, Computational Models of Narrative: Papers from the

Understanding Modern Maritime Piracy: A Complex Adaptive System Approach

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-03-12

hol6 pet response Including the time for reviewing lnttructions. lellldling IJdsting deta aoun:es gatherin9end melntalnlng the data nNded. end...have a more drastic economic impact since the pirate organizations are able to capitalize on the sale of stolen cargo more quickly than the ransom...century, the corsairs increased their opportunity from the sea by conducting a greater number of raids inland against the European nations, venturing

Disrupting Somali Piracy via Trust and Influence Operations

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-06-01

cigarettes, and other provisions for future missions, 30 percent in bribes to government officials” (Associated Press, 2009a). Once a group of pirates...incentive – there is a lack of incentive for the crewmembers to be proactive since in most cases pirates pose little threat to the crew; legal and... ethical issues – shipping companies are hesitant to arm their crews due to the dangers associated with firearms onboard ship, insurance restrictions

A Maritime Approach to Countering Horn of Africa Piracy

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-04-26

rights of all others. Additionally, the rights enjoyed by pirates must be balanced against concerns for the common good, mainly the safety of... worklife /08/27/woman.pirate/index.html (accessed 18 December 2011) . 27 Antony, 42. 28 Ibid., 44. 29 The British Navy engaged two notorious...http://edition.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/ worklife /08/27/woman.pirate/index.html (accessed 18 December 2011) . Kontorovich, Eugene. “A Guantanamo on the

Counter Piracy In The Gulf Of Guinea: A Whole-Of-Government Approacch

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-02-13

consumers, insurance premiums for shipping companies, purchases of security details to protect merchant ships transiting through the region, and the...who benefited from the oil industry “make down payments for the purchase of influential ministerial positions” which the industry then fills with “oil...the WILBROS company, bribed the Nigerian government and some of its top leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) millions of dollars in

Wooing the Dark Continent: U.S. and China Engagement Strategy in Africa, is it Complimentary or Competition

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-05-01

huge advantage over any trading partner. This is done by currency manipulation ( devalued remnibi), piracy, lax health and safety standards, lax...Africa relations. Issues like devalued Chinese currency , imports, and exports place both the U.S. and Africa in the same corner with regards to China...International Monetary Fund ( IMF ) and World Bank. Bretton Woods Western Economic Policies: China is not associated with the structural adjustment

China’s Role in Counter-Piracy Operations

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-06-01

Jinrong Shibao Online is website of China’s leading financial daily, published by People’s Bank of China. 137 “China Economic Update – June 2014,” The...has also been involved in Africa’s energy sector , including hydropower dams in Ethiopia and Uganda; solar and wind power plants in Ethiopia, Morocco...and South Africa; and biogas development in Guinea, Sudan, and Tunisia.142 Other Chinese economic sectors are actively involved in agriculture

A Distributed Sensor Network Architecture for Defense Against the Ship as a Weapon in the Maritime Domain

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-06-01

time delays, and even insurance premiums [3]. Piracy has plagued the straits of Malacca and Singapore for many years. Though the number of...Island while traversing west to east, it will attract considerable attention when it cuts across the TSS before heading towards Jurong Island (see the...delimited vectors), ’cutvector’ % (NaN-clipped vectors with cuts connecting holes to the % exterior of the polygon

Stopping Piracy: Refocusing on Land-based Governance

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-01

control over Guadeloupe, Hispaniola, and Martinique. They also held nominal sway over Tortuga , later to become a pirate safe haven. The Dutch began to...population of Tortuga to move to Jamaica in an effort to reinforce the island’s defenses. By 1665, more than 2,000 pirates operated out of Port Royal...mainly worked out of Tortuga . The French pirate Francois l’Olonais was a particularly brutal criminal, and reportedly decapitated 87 Spanish

The French Officers: Craftsmen of the Conquest and Pacification of Tonkin (1871-1897)

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-08

business with Chinese in Yunnan. 1873 February: Rear-Admiral Dupré started a cultural college to teach Annamite culture to French officers. 5...Annamites and Chinese armies, then finally the local piracy and insurgency. Based on their personal experience and culture , they used an empirical...and used these places as strategic trade ports and hubs opening to the Chinese outlet market.37 To support this economic motivation and find new

The Case for Nation-building: Why and How to Fix Failed States

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-12-01

Asia), pandemic disease (AIDS), and ecologi - cal disaster—to say nothing of the occasional global terrorist organization. Time and time again...borders. And piracy along the east coast of Africa has increased over the last two decades since Somalia’s collapse into anarchy . These threats...ignore the problems, allow anarchy to consume failed states, and pay ever higher costs to isolate themselves and repair any damage after the fact. But

Physical modeling of transverse drainage mechanisms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Douglass, J. C.; Schmeeckle, M. W.

2005-12-01

Streams that incise across bedrock highlands such as anticlines, upwarps, cuestas, or horsts are termed transverse drainages. Their relevance today involves such diverse matters as highway and dam construction decisions, location of wildlife corridors, better-informed sediment budgets, and detailed studies into developmental histories of late Cenozoic landscapes. The transient conditions responsible for transverse drainage incision have been extensively studied on a case-by-case basis, and the dominate mechanisms proposed include: antecedence, superimposition, overflow, and piracy. Modeling efforts have been limited to antecedence, and such the specific erosional conditions required for transverse drainage incision, with respect to the individual mechanisms, remains poorly understood. In this study, fifteen experiments attempted to simulate the four mechanisms and constructed on a 9.15 m long, 2.1 m wide, and 0.45 m deep stream table. Experiments lasted between 50 and 220 minutes. The stream table was filled with seven tons of sediment consisting of a silt and clay (30%) and a fine to coarse sand (70%) mixture. The physical models highlighted the importance of downstream aggradation with regard to antecedent incision versus possible defeat and diversion. The overflow experiments indicate that retreating knickpoints across a basin outlet produce a high probability of downstream flooding when associated with a deep lake. Misters used in a couple of experiments illustrate a potential complication with regard to headward erosion driven piracy. Relatively level asymmetrically sloped ridges allow for the drainage divide across the ridge to retreat from headward erosion, but hindered when the ridge's apex undulates or when symmetrically sloped. Although these physical models cannot strictly simulate natural transverse drainages, the observed processes, their development over time, and resultant landforms roughly emulate their natural counterparts. Proposed originally from an extensive literature search, most of the criteria that indicate the expected evidence associated with each mechanism following transverse drainage incision were replicated for antecedence, overflow, and piracy. Two superimposition experiments failed to replicate the mechanism and test the associated criteria. Following experimentation, the criteria were applied in a cursory fashion to twenty randomly selected sites in the southwestern USA. Development of first order hypotheses were ranked on a confidence scale tied to individual criterion noted in the field, literature, and DEMs for each site. The results indicate a possible link between the dominant tectonic regime and the proposed mechanisms; and highlight the importance of short-lived fluvial instabilities in relation to understanding long-term drainage development.

Sea piracy sequelae: assessment according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5.

PubMed

Ziello, Antonio Rosario; Fasanaro, Angiola Maria; Petrelli, Cristina; Ricci, Giovanna; Sirignano, Ascanio; Amenta, Francesco

2014-01-01

Our previous studies have investigated the psychological consequences of kidnapping in a group of Italian seafarers assaulted by sea pirates and held in captivity and in their family members by the criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-4. These studies have shown that both the victims and the family members showed significant psychological disturbances, corresponding to a chronic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), in the victims, and a pattern of anxiety and depression in their family members. After publication of these studies, an updated edition of the DSM became available, namely, the DSM-5. The DSM-5 redefines some diagnostic criteria, including those related to the PTSD. This work was focused on the re-evaluation of the results of our previous studies in the light of the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria. Sixteen Italians including 4 kidnapped seafarers and 12 family members were examined by a semi-structured interview followed by Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS-DX) and the Cognitive Behaviour al Assessment (CBA 2.0) for victims and by State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) X-1 and X-2 of CBA 2.0 and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) for family members. Data already obtained were reviewed and re-analysed according to the DSM-5 criteria and the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5). The use of the CAPS-5 did not modify the diagnosis for the victims' group: 3 of 4 had a PTSD diagnosis performed through the CAPS-5. Seven of 12 family members had PTSD diagnosis performed through the CAPS-5, with negative cognitions and mood symptoms being those obtaining the highest score. Using DSM-5 criteria, the diagnosis of PTSD in the direct victims of piracy was confirmed. The same diagnosis could apply to a group of their family members. Besides anxiety and fear, in fact, we found in 7 out 12 subjects the presence of symptoms included by the DSM-5 in the PTSD spectrum. These symptoms were: avoidance, negative alterations in mood and cognition, blame of self or others. The use of updated diagnostic criteria may enable more correct assessment of the consequences of piracy acts. This may be also useful for establishing proper compensations for the damage suffered by seafarers, depending on the degree of disability resulting from the criminal acts they suffered.

Somali Pirates: A New Phase Zero Stability Operational Approach, a Strategic Imperative in the Horn of Africa

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-06-18

criminals, but most are not. Therefore, the cause of piracy is within Somalia itself and must be addressed from within, rather than contested at sea ...commons. It explored the operating environment of northern Somalia, highlighting the root causes of the criminal behavior at sea . It was found that...During this period, Larson found employment in the commercial fishing industry Bering Sea Alaska. Returning to active service in 1997, Larson returned

Inference of vessel intent and behaviour for maritime security operations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van den Broek, Bert; Smith, Arthur; den Breejen, Eric; van de Voorde, Imelda

2014-10-01

Coastguard and Navy assets are increasingly involved in Maritime Security Operations (MSO) for countering piracy, weapons and drugs smuggling, terrorism and illegal trafficking. Persistent tracking of vessels in interrupted time series over long distances and the modelling of intent and behaviour from multiple data sources are key enablers for Situation Assessment in MSO. Results of situation assessment are presented for AIS/VTS observations in the Dutch North Sea and for simulated scenarios in the Gulf of Oman.

Decreasing Variance in Response Time to Singular Incidents of Piracy in the Horn of Africa Area of Operation

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-06-01

must be considered when forces are (notionally) allocated . The model in this thesis will attempt to show the amount of time each person in the 2...Command and Control organization will allocate to this mission. This thesis then intends to demonstrate that an organizational structure that...Indian Ocean. Focusing on this geographic area helps to frame the structure of the Department of Defense forces that monitor, assess, allocate

An Argument for Consolidation: The ANZUS Carrier Task Force

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-05

the USN, assisting U.S. and NATO forces in Operation SLIPPER 18 by providing MSO (including counter piracy and counter-terrorism) as part of the...continues to be a key foreign policy objective of AUS.” 33 At AUSMIN 2010 (AUS-US Ministerial Consultations), the principal forum for bilateral...force tailored specifically to meet the concerns of the IP at a shared price and draw up a force-structure framework. In addition to the CVN, a

China’s Participation in Anti-Piracy Operations off the Horn of Africa: Drivers and Implications

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-07-01

stakeholder” in resolving global issues , China may be opening the door for other cooperative efforts in the future. China’s naval cooperation in anti...cooperate on global issues of mutual interest. This is particularly important, panelists noted, because the U.S. will increasingly need China’s...to continue to “challenge China to participate as a responsible stakeholder” on global issues , and to provide positive feedback when it does so

IC Piracy Protection by APUF and Logic Obfuscation

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-01-01

ABSTRACT UU 18. NUMBER OF PAGES 19a. NAME OF RESPONSIBLE PERSON GARRETT S. ROSE a. REPORT U b . ABSTRACT U c. THIS PAGE U 19b. TELEPHONE NUMBER...activation energy respectively. A and B are technology dependent constants. As shown in Equation 2, the Vth shift heavily depends on temperature (T) and...shown in Figure 2, two 4-bit operands (operand A and B ) are fed into each ALU and a 4-bit output (S1~ S4) can be obtained from each ALU. For delay

The Maritime Dimension of International Security: Terrorism, Piracy, and Challenges for the United States

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-01-01

terrestrial surface area. 5 Rupert Herbert-Burns, “Terrorism in the Early 21st Century Maritime Domain,” in Joshua Ho and Catherine Zara Raymond, eds., The... Zara Raymond, “Maritime Terrorism, A Risk Assessment: The Australian Example,” in Ho and Raymond, 2005, p. 179. Maritime Terrorism 23 are...Delhi, November 29–30, 2004. Ho, Joshua, and Catherine Zara Raymond, eds., The Best of Times, the Worst of Times: Maritime Security in the Asia-Pacific

Additive Manufacturing: Preparing for the Reality of Science Fiction

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-01

3, 2007, http://ipi.org/ipi_issues/detail/the- true-cost-of-copyright-industry-piracy-to-the-us-economy. 21 are Bitcoin , the crypto-currency, and... Bitcoin is the New Napster….And That Is a Good Thing,” The Casey Report, August 28, 2013, https://www.caseyresearch.com/articles/ bitcoin -is-the-new...chiefs- issue-recommendations-drones-look-how-they-measure. Steinhart, Dan. “ Bitcoin is the New Napster…And That Is a Good Thing.” The Casey Report

Counter Piracy Off Somalia; A Case for Applying the Comprehensive Approach Strategy

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-01-03

operations conducted by HDMS ABSALON 15 comprise the threat of being captured , trialed and jailed for many years in another country. Finally a pirate...The first wave secured the open deck of the ship and the second wave breached into the bridge and took over control of the ship manoeuvres. In the...at this stage not able to take command of his own ship. The chock and stress he had been through had obviously had an impact on him. But after a

The Administrative, Financial, and Logistical Foundation of British Naval Power, 1649-1654

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-06-21

and flow of the material. But all mistakes are mine alone. Signed: ( 1 June 1991 I has been o pproved Lor public -e and ale; its Research directed by...successful consolidation of Britain by the English. Ireland and Scotland could not have been conquered without the navy’s protection of the army’s supply...to succeed militarily without resorting to looting or piracy. Consequently, the English consolidated Britain and its place as a major naval power in

From the black Atlantic to the bleak Pacific: Re-reading “Benito Cereno”

PubMed Central

Ganser, Alexandra

2018-01-01

ABSTRACT Herman Melville’s novella “Benito Cereno” (1855/56) is one of the best-studied texts both within Melville’s oeuvre and nineteenth-century American literature in general. In recent decades, its puzzling structure and fragmented narrative perspective as well as its symbolism and themes have been subject to critical scrutiny mostly in the context of inquiries into the text’s racial politics regarding the institution of slavery. More specifically, the canonical tale about a slave uprising on the ship San Dominick, its detection by a Massachusetts-born captain and its consequences, has been discussed in the context of Paul Gilroy’s black Atlantic paradigm. Few readings of the tale consider the significance of the Pacific setting of a story grounded in the transatlantic slave trade but happening far away from the center of American slavery. Taking a fresh look at Melville’s tale, this essay focuses on its translation of (black) Atlantic subject matters and epistemologies onto the Pacific. Not only do I read the tale as both an Atlantic and a Pacific text, demonstrating that the institution of slavery and its specters know no geographical borders in Melville’s imagination; I also argue that piracy is an important trope in this context. Anticipating the shift of piracy cases and slavery to the Pacific towards the end of the nineteenth century, it both recalls a black Atlantic and predicts a bleak Pacific of violent imperial scenarios that would come to characterize US–Pacific relations. PMID:29696056

['Piracy of kowledge'--the role of a buccaneer-scientist in the knowledge circulation around diseases and drugs in the tropics].

PubMed

Snelders, Stephen

2009-01-01

Knowledge circulation in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was not only stimulated by the mutual interaction of trade and science. In the context of territorial expansion, war, and the activities of privateers and pirates, knowledge of diseases and drugs in the tropics was increased as well. An important part in this process was performed by so-called 'buccaneer-scientists': adventurers with medical and scientific backgrounds and/or interest who operated on the cultural borders in different parts of the hemisphere. The characteristics of this type of contributor to Early Modern knowledge circulation are explored and analyzed in the example of Scottish surgeon and pirate Lionel Wafer (c. 1660 - c. 1705). The buccaneer scientist had to share the passions of other scientists, resulting in accurate and detailed empirical observation; be able to judge the relevance of observations and 'facts'; be part of a context that stimulates these observations; be capable of describing of these observations; and be part of a network of dissemination of observations. His activities should have an important practical and pragmatic component stimulating trade, expansion and even piracy. And he should possess personal characteristics such as perseverance, a healthy constitution, and ruthlessness, to work and survive in a violent and traumatic environment. Wafer is typical for other 'buccaneer-scientists' of this period--not only pirates and privateers, but also physicians and natural explorers operating in other and more 'respectable' areas of the European overseas expansion.

V-22 Osprey Program: Are We Properly Protecting This Valuable Asset and Its Passengers?; Does It Meet the Full Requirement for All Future USMC Medium Lift Operations?

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-05-01

DOCUMENT IS PERMITTED PROVIDED PROPER ACKNOWLEDGEMENT IS MADE. i AAA AGL ASE BP CAS DA DIRCM DR ECO FAC(A) FARP FLIR GWOT HA HOTAS HUD IRCM LHAlLHD...helicopters and tilt-rotor aircraft. These aviation programs have been placed on the back burner in recent years with Congress instead putting money into... ECO ), Humanitarian Assistance (RA)! Disaster Relief (DR), dealing with the Global War on Terror (GWOT), and now piracy. The requirements for more

Trick or treat?

PubMed Central

Cehreli, Murat; Cehreli, Zafer; Stamm, Thomas; Meyer, Ulrich; Wiesmann, Hans-Peter

2007-01-01

The purpose of this article is to draw attention to current transgressions in scientific writing and to promote commitment to ethical standards and good science. All participants of any research project, particularly under interdiciplinary team approach, should not only play an active role on the management and carrying out of their study but also ensure that their study is not fraudulent. Manuscript fabrication, data and/or figure manupilation, piracy (plagiarism), sloppy research, and transgressions in authorship are reasons for loss of scientific value and records, retraction of articles, and application of a variety of sanctions. PMID:17498285

Mating and Parental Care in Lake Tanganyika's Cichlids

PubMed Central

Sefc, Kristina M.

2011-01-01

Cichlid fishes of Lake Tanganyika display a variety of mating and parental care behaviors, including polygamous and monogamous mouthbrooding and substrate breeding, cooperative breeding, as well as various alternative reproductive tactics such as sneaking and piracy. Moreover, reproductive behaviors sometimes vary within species both in space and in time. Here, I survey reports on mating and parenting behaviors of Lake Tanganyika cichlid species and address the evolution of mating and parental care patterns and sexual dimorphism. Notes on measures of sexual selection intensity and the difficulties of defining mating systems and estimating selection intensities at species level conclude the essay. PMID:21822482

Criminal Regulation of Anti-Forensic Tools in Japan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ishii, Tetsuya

This paper discusses the continuing landmark debate in a Japanese Court concerning the development and distribution of a peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing program. The program, known as Winny, facilitates illegal activities such as piracy and the distribution of child pornography because of the encryption and anonymity afforded to users. The court has to determine whether Isamu Kaneko, the designer of Winny, is criminally liable for developing and distributing the program. This paper also assesses whether the judgment in the Winny case might set a precedent for regulating the creation and distribution of anti-forensic tools.

Piracy of Decay-Accelerating Factor (CD55) Signal Transduction by the Diffusely Adhering Strain Escherichia coli C1845 Promotes Cytoskeletal F-Actin Rearrangements in Cultured Human Intestinal INT407 Cells

PubMed Central

Peiffer, Isabelle; Servin, Alain L.; Bernet-Camard, Marie-Françoise

1998-01-01

Diffusely adhering Escherichia coli (DAEC) C1845 (clinical isolate) harboring the fimbrial adhesin F1845 can infect cultured human differentiated intestinal epithelial cells; this process is followed by the disassembly of the actin network in the apical domain. The aim of this study was to examine the mechanism by which DAEC C1845 promotes F-actin rearrangements. For this purpose, we used a human embryonic intestinal cell line (INT407) expressing the membrane-associated glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) protein-anchored decay-accelerating factor (DAF), the receptor of the F1845 adhesin. We show here that infection of INT407 cells by DAEC C1845 can provoke dramatic F-actin rearrangements without cell entry. Clustering of phosphotyrosines was observed, revealing that the DAEC C1845-DAF interaction involves the recruitment of signal transduction molecules. A pharmacological approach with a subset of inhibitors of signal transduction molecules was used to identify the cascade of signal transduction molecules that are coupled to the DAF, that are activated upon infection, and that promote the F-actin rearrangements. DAEC C1845-induced F-actin rearrangements can be blocked dose dependently by protein tyrosine kinase, phospholipase Cγ, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, protein kinase C, and Ca2+ inhibitors. F-actin rearrangements and blocking by inhibitors were observed after infection of the cells with two E. coli recombinants carrying the plasmids containing the fimbrial adhesin F1845 or the fimbrial hemagglutinin Dr, belonging to the same family of adhesins. These findings show that the DAEC Dr family of pathogens promotes alterations in the intestinal cell cytoskeleton by piracy of the DAF-GPI signal cascade without bacterial cell entry. PMID:9712744

A new approach of watermarking technique by means multichannel wavelet functions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agreste, Santa; Puccio, Luigia

2012-12-01

The digital piracy involving images, music, movies, books, and so on, is a legal problem that has not found a solution. Therefore it becomes crucial to create and to develop methods and numerical algorithms in order to solve the copyright problems. In this paper we focus the attention on a new approach of watermarking technique applied to digital color images. Our aim is to describe the realized watermarking algorithm based on multichannel wavelet functions with multiplicity r = 3, called MCWM 1.0. We report a large experimentation and some important numerical results in order to show the robustness of the proposed algorithm to geometrical attacks.

The Fight Against Piracy in Peer-to-Peer Networks: the Sword of Damocles Hanging over ISP's Head?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Werkers, Evi; Coudert, Fanny

During the past few years, copyright holders and holders of related rights have started to legally challenge peer-to-peer networks. Their latest strategy consists of trying to actively involve Internet service providers (ISPs) in this combat, e.g. through the implementation of filters. This development raises legal problems and questions both in terms of the liability of ISPs and the protection of privacy of their clients. This chapter discusses the difficult task of balancing copyright interests and fundamental rights which as the European Court of Justice clearly stated in the Promusicae case remains a matter of Member States.

Enhanced situational awareness in the maritime domain: an agent-based approach for situation management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brax, Christoffer; Niklasson, Lars

2009-05-01

Maritime Domain Awareness is important for both civilian and military applications. An important part of MDA is detection of unusual vessel activities such as piracy, smuggling, poaching, collisions, etc. Today's interconnected sensorsystems provide us with huge amounts of information over large geographical areas which can make the operators reach their cognitive capacity and start to miss important events. We propose and agent-based situation management system that automatically analyse sensor information to detect unusual activity and anomalies. The system combines knowledge-based detection with data-driven anomaly detection. The system is evaluated using information from both radar and AIS sensors.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory`s Computer Security Short Subjects Videos: Hidden Password, The Incident, Dangerous Games and The Mess; Computer Security Awareness Guide

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

A video on computer security is described. Lonnie Moore, the Computer Security Manager, CSSM/CPPM at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Gale Warshawsky, the Coordinator for Computer Security Education and Awareness at LLNL, wanted to share topics such as computer ethics, software piracy, privacy issues, and protecting information in a format that would capture and hold an audience`s attention. Four Computer Security Short Subject videos were produced which ranged from 1--3 minutes each. These videos are very effective education and awareness tools that can be used to generate discussions about computer security concerns and good computing practices.

Forensic age estimation in anti-piracy trials in Seychelles: Experiences and challenges faced.

PubMed

Gunawardena, S A; Liyanage, U A; Weeratna, J B; Mendis, N D N A; Perera, H J M; Jayasekara, R W; Fernando, R

2017-01-01

Forensic age estimation (FAE) was conducted using a multifactorial method on thirteen Somali detainees claiming juvenile status during the anti-piracy trials of the Seychelles Supreme Court in 2014/2015. A multidisciplinary team, comprising of four of the authors covering specialties in forensic medicine, forensic odontology and radiology, conducted the FAE using a five-stage protocol. Each detainee was interviewed with an interpreter and examined for disorders affecting dental/skeletal development and for assessment of genital development through Tanner staging. Dental maturity was assessed clinically and radiologically. Eruption stage was assessed using Olze et al. and mandibular third-molar maturity was assessed using Demirjian's classification. Skeletal maturity was assessed from hand-wrist X-rays according to Greulich & Pyle and from CT-clavicle according to Kellinghaus et al. and Schultz et al. Interpretation of findings was done using reference population data from similar ethnic and social backgrounds wherever possible. Final age-ranges were calculated by combining dental and clavicle maturity stages using the regression formula developed by Bassed et al. followed by a 10% correction factor. The team later testified on their findings under cross-examination. The protocol adopted by the authors increased the scientific validity of the findings and was useful in addressing cross-examination queries on exclusion of developmental disorders, ethnic/socioeconomic variability and maintaining chain of custody. Unforeseen jurisdictional and practical limitations were experienced but did not affect the outcome. Combining dental and clavicle developmental data provided the court with a much clearer picture on the likelihood of the detainees' juvenile status which emphasizes the importance of conducting more population studies using combinations of different developmental sites. The authors note that available reference data is mostly from affluent populations whereas FAE is mostly required in individuals from less-developed regions. Regional networks that collate and share population-specific data need to be established to overcome these limitations. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evolving together: the biology of symbiosis, part 2

PubMed Central

2000-01-01

Symbiotic trade-offs dominate the world of biology and medicine in colonist-host relationships and between separate, mutually dependent organisms of different species. Infectious and parasitic diseases can be better understood by exploring the dynamic continuum between pathogenicity and mutualism, between antagonism and cooperation—the sliding scale along which microorganisms can move in a moment's notice with a single nucleotide substitution. Organisms practicing piracy or pastoralism may be close genetic relatives. Mergers occur not only between cells but also between genomes; viruses co-opt host genes and in turn insert themselves into host genomes. Separate organisms, from ants to fungi to plants, establish symbiotic ties with each other that bind over deep time, generating much of the diversity we see in nature. PMID:16389348

Morphotectonics of a high plateau on the northwestern flank of the Continental Rift of southeastern Brazil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Modenesi-Gauttieri, May Christine; Takashi Hiruma, Silvio; Riccomini, Claudio

2002-03-01

Integration of landform and structural analysis allowed the identification of Late Pleistocene-Holocene pulses of tectonic activity in the Campos do Jordão Plateau with ages and regimes similar to the ones from the continental rift. Fault reactivation along Precambrian shear zones give rise to a series of conspicuous morphotectonic features, determine the formation of stream piracy phenomena, and divide the plateau into smaller blocks. Recognition of these tectonic pulses as well as of their effects in landform development—particularly clear on the Campos de São Francisco at the highest area of the SE edge of the plateau—show that besides the climate-related Quaternary environmental changes significant neotectonic instability should be considered in the geomorphic evolution of the Campos do Jordão Plateau.

Sci-Hub: What Librarians Should Know and Do about Article Piracy.

PubMed

Hoy, Matthew B

2017-01-01

The high cost of journal articles has driven many researchers to turn to a new way of getting access: "pirate" article sites. Sci-Hub, the largest and best known of these sites, currently offers instant access to more than 58 million journal articles. Users attracted by the ease of use and breadth of the collection may not realize that these articles are often obtained using stolen credentials and downloading them may be illegal. This article will briefly describe Sci-Hub and how it works, the legal and ethical issues it raises, and the problems it may cause for librarians. Librarians should be aware of Sci-Hub and the ways it may change their patrons' expectations. They should also understand the risks Sci-Hub can pose to their patrons and their institutions.

Rivers and valleys of Pennsylvania, revisited

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morisawa, Marie

1989-09-01

The 1889 paper by William Morris Davis on the "Rivers and Valleys of Pennsylvania" is a landmark in the history of geomorphology. It was in this manuscript that he set forth what came to be known as the Davisian system of landscape. It is important to understand that Davis' interpretation of landforms was restricted by the geologic paradigms of his day. Uniformitarianism was strongly entrenched and Darwin's theory of evolution had become popularly accepted. The concept of the landmass Appalachia and then current theories on mountain building affected the approach that Davis took in hypothesizing the origin and development of the Folded Appalachian drainage. All of these geologic precepts influenced the formulation and explanation of his theories. In his exposition he adapted, synthesized and embellished on ideas he derived from fellow geologists such as Gilbert, Dutton, Powell, and McGee. A number of the concepts he proposed in the 1889 paper quickly became the bases for geomorphic studies by others: the cycles of river erosion and landscape evolution and the peneplain (here called base level erosion). The cycle of erosion became the model for subsequent geomorphic analyses, and peneplain hunting became a popular sport for geomorphologists. Davis' hypothesis of the origin and development of Pennsylvanian drainage stimulated subsequent discussion and further hypotheses by others. In fact, many of the later theories were refinements and/or elaborations of ideas mentioned in this paper of Davis. He proposed the origin of the drainage as consequent streams, then antecedence, superposition, headward extension of divides by piracy, erosion along lines of weaknesses (faults, easily erodible beds) through resistant ridges and normal fluvial erosion. Thus, the hypotheses of regional superposition (Johnson), extended consequents (Ruedemann), consequents and local superposition (Meyerhoff and Olmstead), the utilization of structural weaknesses in development of transverse drainage (Thompson; Meyerhoff; Oberlander, among others), and migration of divides (Thompson), all had been suggested by Davis in 1889. Although the concepts of erosion cycles and peneplaination have waned in popularity in recent geomorphic research, the principles of formation of water and wind gaps, headward migration of divides, stream piracy and adjustment to streams to structure, so clearly and minutely explained in his 1889 publication, are still viable today.

Quantifying erosion over timescales of one million years: A photogrammetric approach on the amount of Rhenish erosion in southwestern Germany

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strasser, Annette; Strasser, Marcel; Seyfried, Hartmut

2010-10-01

The Lein valley in southwestern Germany possesses well-preserved Pliocene to mid Pleistocene land surfaces featuring a gentle relief and sediments accumulated by former tributaries of the Danube. This ancient Danubian land surface was captured and incised by mid Pleistocene to Holocene tributaries of the River Rhine. In a photogrammetric approach we calculated the volume of material extracted by Rhenish erosion providing a first quantification of the effects of stream piracy on timescales of about 1 Ma. Using stereoscopic surface modelling software a DEM was generated with a resolution of 5 m. From borehole data, literature, geological maps, and own field observations we determined the morphometric parameters of the ancient Danubian Ur-Lein valley. The gradient was imported as a 3D-breakline into the model where it controls the reinterpolation of surrounding data points. The result is a high-resolution DEM of the valley of the Ur-Lein. Subtraction of the DEM of the actual landscape from the DEM of the ancient Ur-Lein valley yields a model representing the rock volume eroded by the Rhenish Lein which totals 1.39 km 3 and converts into a rate of erosion between 63 and 74 mm/ka over a period of 700 to 600 ka, respectively, in accordance with figures obtained elsewhere in Central Europe through cosmogenic nuclides. It reflects the dominance of frequent fluctuations in climate and is considered to be mainly a product of strong changes in temperature and related processes during the transitional times between mid to late Pleistocene warm and cold states. A filtering procedure applied to cold and transitional state erosion rates of the Middle and Late Pleistocene yielded peak values between 66 and 77 mm/ka, up to three times higher than the modern rate or the rate of warm-state episodes. An assessment of the contribution of Rhenish stream piracy on long-term mid Pleistocene denudation under changing climate conditions resulted in a maximum 4.9-fold acceleration.

The cytomegalovirus homolog of interleukin-10 requires phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase activity for inhibition of cytokine synthesis in monocytes.

PubMed

Spencer, Juliet V

2007-02-01

Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) has evolved numerous strategies for evading host immune defenses, including piracy of cellular cytokines. A viral homolog of interleukin-10, designated cmvIL-10, binds to the cellular IL-10 receptor and effects potent immune suppression. The signaling pathways employed by cmvIL-10 were investigated, and the classic IL-10R/JAK1/Stat3 pathway was found to be activated in monocytes. However, inhibition of JAK1 had little effect on cmvIL-10-mediated suppression of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) production. Inhibition of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt pathway had a more significant impact on TNF-alpha levels but did not completely relieve the immune suppression, demonstrating that cmvIL-10 stimulates multiple signaling pathways to modulate cell function.

Ship recognition for improved persistent tracking with descriptor localization and compact representations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van den Broek, Sebastiaan P.; Bouma, Henri; den Hollander, Richard J. M.; Veerman, Henny E. T.; Benoist, Koen W.; Schwering, Piet B. W.

2014-10-01

For maritime situational awareness, it is important to identify currently observed ships as earlier encounters. For example, past location and behavior analysis are useful to determine whether a ship is of interest in case of piracy and smuggling. It is beneficial to verify this with cameras at a distance, to avoid the costs of bringing an own asset closer to the ship. The focus of this paper is on ship recognition from electro-optical imagery. The main contribution is an analysis of the effect of using the combination of descriptor localization and compact representations. An evaluation is performed to assess the usefulness in persistent tracking, especially for larger intervals (i.e. re-identification of ships). From the evaluation on recordings of imagery, it is estimated how well the system discriminates between different ships.

Integrated fingerprinting in secure digital cinema projection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Delannay, Damien; Delaigle, Jean-Francois; Macq, Benoit M. M.; Quisquater, Jean-Jacques; Mas Ribes, Joan M.; Boucqueau, Jean M.; Nivart, Jean-Francois

2001-12-01

This paper describes the functional model of a combined conditional access and fingerprinting copyright (-or projectionright) protection system in a digital cinema framework. In the cinema industry, a large part of early movie piracy comes from copies made in the theater itself with a camera. The evolution towards digital cinema broadcast enables watermark based fingerprinting protection systems. Besides an appropriate fingerprinting technology, a number of well defined security/cryptographic tools are integrated in order to guaranty the integrity of the whole system. The requirements are two-fold: On one side, we must ensure that the media content is only accessible at exhibition time (under specific authorization obtained after an ad-hoc film rental agreement) and contains the related exhibition fingerprint. At the other end, we must prove our ability to retrieve the fingerprint information from an illegal copy of the media.

Visible digital watermarking system using perceptual models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Qiang; Huang, Thomas S.

2001-03-01

This paper presents a visible watermarking system using perceptual models. %how and why A watermark image is overlaid translucently onto a primary image, for the purposes of immediate claim of copyright, instantaneous recognition of owner or creator, or deterrence to piracy of digital images or video. %perceptual The watermark is modulated by exploiting combined DCT-domain and DWT-domain perceptual models. % so that the watermark is visually uniform. The resulting watermarked image is visually pleasing and unobtrusive. The location, size and strength of the watermark vary randomly with the underlying image. The randomization makes the automatic removal of the watermark difficult even though the algorithm is known publicly but the key to the random sequence generator. The experiments demonstrate that the watermarked images have pleasant visual effect and strong robustness. The watermarking system can be used in copyright notification and protection.

Omnify: Investigating the Visibility and Effectiveness of Copyright Monitors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Potharaju, Rahul; Seibert, Jeff; Fahmy, Sonia; Nita-Rotaru, Cristina

The arms race between copyright agencies and P2P users is an ongoing and evolving struggle. On the one hand, content providers are using several techniques to stealthily find unauthorized distribution of copyrighted work in order to deal with the problem of Internet piracy. On the other hand, P2P users are relying increasingly on blacklists and anonymization methods in order to avoid detection. In this work, we propose a number of techniques to reveal copyright monitors' current approaches and evaluate their effectiveness. We apply these techniques on data we collected from more than 2.75 million BitTorrent swarms containing 71 million IP addresses. We provide strong evidence that certain nodes are indeed copyright monitors, show that monitoring is a world-wide phenomenon, and devise a methodology for generating blacklists for paranoid and conservative P2P users.

Watermarking textures in video games

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Huajian; Berchtold, Waldemar; Schäfer, Marcel; Lieb, Patrick; Steinebach, Martin

2014-02-01

Digital watermarking is a promising solution to video game piracy. In this paper, based on the analysis of special challenges and requirements in terms of watermarking textures in video games, a novel watermarking scheme for DDS textures in video games is proposed. To meet the performance requirements in video game applications, the proposed algorithm embeds the watermark message directly in the compressed stream in DDS files and can be straightforwardly applied in watermark container technique for real-time embedding. Furthermore, the embedding approach achieves high watermark payload to handle collusion secure fingerprinting codes with extreme length. Hence, the scheme is resistant to collusion attacks, which is indispensable in video game applications. The proposed scheme is evaluated in aspects of transparency, robustness, security and performance. Especially, in addition to classical objective evaluation, the visual quality and playing experience of watermarked games is assessed subjectively in game playing.

Near Real Time Ship Detection Experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brusch, S.; Lehner, S.; Schwarz, E.; Fritz, T.

2010-04-01

A new Near Real Time (NRT) ship detection processor SAINT (SAR AIS Integrated Toolbox) was developed in the framework of the ESA project MARISS. Data are received at DLRs ground segment DLR-BN (Neustrelitz, Germany). Results of the ship detection are available on ftp server within 30 min after the acquisition started. The detectability of ships on Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) ERS-2, ENVISAT ASAR and TerraSAR-X (TS-X) images is validated by coastal (live) AIS and space AIS. The monitoring areas chosen for surveillance are the North-, Baltic Sea, and Cape Town. The detectability in respect to environmental parameters like wind field, sea state, currents and changing coastlines due to tidal effects is investigated. In the South Atlantic a tracking experiment of the German research vessel Polarstern has been performed. Issues of piracy in particular in respect to ships hijacked at the Somali coast are discussed. Some examples using high resolution images from TerraSAR-X are given.

MAC, A System for Automatically IPR Identification, Collection and Distribution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Serrão, Carlos

Controlling Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in the Digital World is a very hard challenge. The facility to create multiple bit-by-bit identical copies from original IPR works creates the opportunities for digital piracy. One of the most affected industries by this fact is the Music Industry. The Music Industry has supported huge losses during the last few years due to this fact. Moreover, this fact is also affecting the way that music rights collecting and distributing societies are operating to assure a correct music IPR identification, collection and distribution. In this article a system for automating this IPR identification, collection and distribution is presented and described. This system makes usage of advanced automatic audio identification system based on audio fingerprinting technology. This paper will present the details of the system and present a use-case scenario where this system is being used.

Collusion-Resistant Audio Fingerprinting System in the Modulated Complex Lapped Transform Domain

PubMed Central

Garcia-Hernandez, Jose Juan; Feregrino-Uribe, Claudia; Cumplido, Rene

2013-01-01

Collusion-resistant fingerprinting paradigm seems to be a practical solution to the piracy problem as it allows media owners to detect any unauthorized copy and trace it back to the dishonest users. Despite the billionaire losses in the music industry, most of the collusion-resistant fingerprinting systems are devoted to digital images and very few to audio signals. In this paper, state-of-the-art collusion-resistant fingerprinting ideas are extended to audio signals and the corresponding parameters and operation conditions are proposed. Moreover, in order to carry out fingerprint detection using just a fraction of the pirate audio clip, block-based embedding and its corresponding detector is proposed. Extensive simulations show the robustness of the proposed system against average collusion attack. Moreover, by using an efficient Fast Fourier Transform core and standard computer machines it is shown that the proposed system is suitable for real-world scenarios. PMID:23762455

Intentional cargo disruption by nefarious means: Examining threats, systemic vulnerabilities and securitisation measures in complex global supply chains.

PubMed

McGreevy, Conor; Harrop, Wayne

2015-01-01

Global trade and commerce requires products to be securely contained and transferred in a timely way across great distances and between national boundaries. Throughout the process, cargo and containers are stored, handled and checked by a range of authorities and authorised agents. Intermodal transportation involves the use of container ships, planes, railway systems, land bridges, road networks and barges. This paper examines the the nefarious nature of intentional disruption and nefarious risks associated with the movement of cargo and container freight. The paper explores main threats, vulnerabilities and security measures relevant to significant intermodal transit risk issues such as theft, piracy, terrorism, contamination, counterfeiting and product tampering. Three risk and vulnerability models are examined and basic standards and regulations that are relevant to safe and secure transit of container goods across international supply networks are outlined.

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus-encoded interleukin-6.

PubMed

Aoki, Y; Jones, K D; Tosato, G

2000-04-01

Since the discovery of the virus in 1994, the rapid pace with which Karposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) research has progressed has quickly led to a broad understanding of the structure of the virus and its biology and pathology in humans. Molecular piracy of potentially useful cellular genes has emerged as a characteristic feature of this virus. The viral homolog of human IL-6, vIL-6 is an example in kind. Studies in vitro and in vivo have shown that vIL-6 can stimulate the growth of KSHV-infected primary infusion lymphoma (PEL) cells, can promote hematopoiesis, and act as an angiogenic factor through the induction of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). It is not difficult to envision how vIL-6, through these properties and perhaps others yet to be identified, can contribute to KSHV survival and spread in the human population.

An Evaluation of Multiple Perceptions of Digital Rights Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stott, Allyn D.; Taneja, Aakash

Digital Rights Management (DRM) solutions have generated much interest because of their influence on the expectations and responsibilities of customers and related organizations. It was created to restrict piracy and enhance digital media sales, however, it is found to be unable to fulfill its objectives. We find the protections by DRM lack an understanding of the end user and the evolving nature of copyright and fair use. The potential motives for pirating appear to increase as DRM becomes more intrusive causing a conflict in the objectives of DRM. Thus, adjustments must be made to the current DRM model in order for it to become beneficial for both the producer and the consumer. Our research identifies the needs, desires, and responsibilities of the various DRM stakeholders so that a successful use of DRM technologies can be modeled: a challenge faced by the media industry.

Genetic mating systems and reproductive natural histories of fishes: lessons for ecology and evolution.

PubMed

Avise, John C; Jones, Adam G; Walker, DeEtte; DeWoody, J Andrew

2002-01-01

Fish species have diverse breeding behaviors that make them valuable for testing theories on genetic mating systems and reproductive tactics. Here we review genetic appraisals of paternity and maternity in wild fish populations. Behavioral phenomena quantified by genetic markers in various species include patterns of multiple mating by both sexes; frequent cuckoldry by males and rare cuckoldry by females in nest-tending species; additional routes to surrogate parentage via nest piracy and egg-thievery; egg mimicry by nest-tending males; brood parasitism by helper males in cooperative breeders; clutch mixing in oral brooders; kinship in schooling fry of broadcast spawners; sperm storage by dams in female-pregnant species; and sex-role reversal, polyandry, and strong sexual selection on females in some male-pregnant species. Additional phenomena addressed by genetic parentage analyses in fishes include clustered mutations, filial cannibalism, and local population size. All results are discussed in the context of relevant behavioral and evolutionary theory.

Cooperative measures to mitigate Asia-Pacific maritime conflicts.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chai, Wen-Chung

2003-05-01

The economies of East Asia are predominantly export based and, therefore, place special emphasis on the security of the sea lines of communication (SLOCs). Due to economic globalization, the United States shares these concerns. Cooperative measures by the concerned parties could reduce the potential for disruption by maritime conflicts. Primary threats against the SLOCs are disputes over the resources under the seas, disputes over some small island groups, disputes between particular parties (China-Taiwan and North-South Korea), or illegal activities like smuggling, piracy, or terrorism. This paper provides an overview on these threats, issue by issue, to identify common elements andmore » needed cooperation. Cooperation on other topics such as search and rescue, fisheries protection, and oil spill response may help support improved relations to prevent maritime conflicts. Many technologies can help support maritime cooperation, including improved communications links, tracking and emergency beacon devices, and satellite imaging. Appropriate technical and political means are suggested for each threat to the SLOCs.« less

Basal and thermal control mechanisms of the Ragnhild glaciers, East Antarctica

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pattyn, Frank; de Brabander, Sang; Huyghe, Ann

The Ragnhild glaciers are three enhanced-flow features situated between the Sør Rondane and Yamato Mountains in eastern Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. We investigate the glaciological mechanisms controlling their existence and behavior, using a three-dimensional numerical thermomechanical ice-sheet model including higher-order stress gradients. This model is further extended with a steady-state model of subglacial water flow, based on the hydraulic potential gradient. Both static and dynamic simulations are capable of reproducing the enhanced ice-flow features. Although basal topography is responsible for the existence of the flow pattern, thermomechanical effects and basal sliding seem to locally soften and lubricate the ice in the main trunks. Lateral drag is a contributing factor in balancing the driving stress, as shear margins can be traced over a distance of hundreds of kilometers along west Ragnhild glacier. Different basal sliding scenarios show that central Ragnhild glacier stagnates as west Ragnhild glacier accelerates and progressively drains the whole catchment area by ice and water piracy.

Fungal Mimicry of a Mammalian Aminopeptidase Disables Innate Immunity and Promotes Pathogenicity.

PubMed

Sterkel, Alana K; Lorenzini, Jenna L; Fites, J Scott; Subramanian Vignesh, Kavitha; Sullivan, Thomas D; Wuthrich, Marcel; Brandhorst, Tristan; Hernandez-Santos, Nydiaris; Deepe, George S; Klein, Bruce S

2016-03-09

Systemic fungal infections trigger marked immune-regulatory disturbances, but the mechanisms are poorly understood. We report that the pathogenic yeast of Blastomyces dermatitidis elaborates dipeptidyl-peptidase IVA (DppIVA), a close mimic of the mammalian ectopeptidase CD26, which modulates critical aspects of hematopoiesis. We show that, like the mammalian enzyme, fungal DppIVA cleaved C-C chemokines and GM-CSF. Yeast producing DppIVA crippled the recruitment and differentiation of monocytes and prevented phagocyte activation and ROS production. Silencing fungal DppIVA gene expression curtailed virulence and restored recruitment of CCR2(+) monocytes, generation of TipDC, and phagocyte killing of yeast. Pharmacological blockade of DppIVA restored leukocyte effector functions and stemmed infection, while addition of recombinant DppIVA to gene-silenced yeast enabled them to evade leukocyte defense. Thus, fungal DppIVA mediates immune-regulatory disturbances that underlie invasive fungal disease. These findings reveal a form of molecular piracy by a broadly conserved aminopeptidase during disease pathogenesis. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cyclic AMP-receptor protein activates aerobactin receptor IutA expression in Vibrio vulnificus.

PubMed

Kim, Choon-Mee; Kim, Seong-Jung; Shin, Sung-Heui

2012-04-01

The ferrophilic bacterium Vibrio vulnificus can utilize the siderophore aerobactin of Escherichia coli for iron acquisition via its specific receptor IutA. This siderophore piracy by V. vulnificus may contribute to its survival and proliferation, especially in mixed bacterial environments. In this study, we examined the effects of glucose, cyclic AMP (cAMP), and cAMP-receptor protein (Crp) on iutA expression in V. vulnificus. Glucose dose-dependently repressed iutA expression. A mutation in cya encoding adenylate cyclase required for cAMP synthesis severely repressed iutA expression, and this change was recovered by in trans complementing cya or the addition of exogenous cAMP. Furthermore, a mutation in crp encoding Crp severely repressed iutA expression, and this change was recovered by complementing crp. Accordingly, glucose deprivation under iron-limited conditions is an environmental signal for iutA expression, and Crp functions as an activator that regulates iutA expression in response to glucose availability.

On the implementation of IP protection using biometrics based information hiding and firewall

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basu, Abhishek; Nandy, Kingshuk; Banerjee, Avishek; Giri, Supratick; Sarkar, Souvik; Sarkar, Subir Kumar

2016-02-01

System-on-chip-based design style creates a revolution in very large scale integration industry with design efficiency, operating speed and development time. To support this process, reuse and exchange of components are essential in electronic form called intellectual property (IP). This, however, increases the possibility of encroachment of IP of the design. So copyright protection of IP against piracy is the most important concern for IP vendors. The existing solutions for IP protection are still not secure enough with flexibility, cost, etc. This paper proposes an information-hiding-based solution for IP protection by embedding a biometric copyright information and firewall inside an IP in the form of a finite state machine with unique configuration. The scheme first introduces biometric signature-based copyright as ownership proof. Second, firewall interrupts the normal functionality of IP at the end of the user time period. The experimental outcomes of field-programmable-gate-array implementation illustrate the efficiency of the proposed method.

Non-Traditional Security Threats in the Border Areas: Terrorism, Piracy, Environmental Degradation in Southeast Asian Maritime Domain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dabova, E. L.

2013-11-01

In addition to facilitating peaceful trade and economic development, sovereign territory, territorial waters and international waters are being used by various criminal groups that pose threats to governments, businesses and civilian population in Southeast Asia. Nonstate criminal maritime activities were not receiving appropriate attention as they were overshadowed by traditional military security challenges. Yet more and more frequently, the non-traditional actors challenge lines of communication, jeopardize access to strategic resources, complicate traditional defence tasks, and harm the environment. Understanding the nature of non-traditional threats, and the ways to combat them, requires international legal, historical and political science analysis within a united problem-oriented approach. A fair critique to pure interest, power and knowledge -based theories of regime formation was developed by E.K. Leonard's1, who explained the evolution of the international system from the global governance perspective. The present study is based on the premise that pure nation-state approaches are incapable of providing a theoretical ground for addressing the growing influence of international criminal networks in South East Asia. From an international relations theory perspective, the author of this study agrees with D.Snidal2 that the hegemonic stability theory has "limits" and is insufficient in describing modern challenges to sustainable international security regime, including non-traditional threats, where collective action is more efficient from an interest and capability standpoint. At the same time the author of this study does not share the viewpoint on "marginalization"3 of international law in current international order due to its fragmentation and regionalization4 and "global power shifts"5 . The United Nations, as a global institution at the top of the vertical hierarchy of international legal order, and the EU as an example of "self-contained" regime along with other subsystems like South East Asia may have different approaches to global governance, international constitutional order, or particular cases such as the measure of infringement of human rights when targeting individuals suspected of terrorist links. Yet international law remains the key part of the Asian and global security regime. The hypothesis of this study is that the "void of governance" regime in territorial and international waters provides lucrative environment for developing terrorism, piracy, environmental degradation, and other criminal activities that pose untraditional threats to the regional security. This "void of governance" regime can be caused by either, or both, de jure or de facto insufficient control over particular marine territories.

Evidences of early aqueous Mars: Implications on the origin of branched valleys in the Ius Chasma, Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martha, Tapas R.; Jain, Nirmala; Vamshi, Gasiganti T.; Vinod Kumar, K.

2017-11-01

This study shows results of morphological and spectroscopic analyses of Ius Chasma and its southern branched valleys using Orbiter datasets such as Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)-Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM), High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (MRO-HiRISE) and digital terrain model (HRSC-DTM). Result of the spectral analysis reveals presence of hydrated minerals such as opal, nontronite and vermiculite in the floor and wall rock areas Ius Chasma indicating alteration of parent rock in an water rich environment of early Mars. Topographic gradient and morphological evidences such as V-shaped valleys with theatre shaped stubby channels, dendritic drainage and river piracy indicate that these valleys were initially developed by surface runoff due to episodic floods and further expanded due to groundwater sapping controlled by faults and fractures. Minerals formed by aqueous alteration during valley formation and their intricate association with different morphological domains suggest that surface runoff played a key role in the development of branched valleys south of Ius Chasma on Mars.

Computer Security Awareness Guide for Department of Energy Laboratories, Government Agencies, and others for use with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory`s (LLNL): Computer security short subjects videos

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

Lonnie Moore, the Computer Security Manager, CSSM/CPPM at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Gale Warshawsky, the Coordinator for Computer Security Education & Awareness at LLNL, wanted to share topics such as computer ethics, software piracy, privacy issues, and protecting information in a format that would capture and hold an audience`s attention. Four Computer Security Short Subject videos were produced which ranged from 1-3 minutes each. These videos are very effective education and awareness tools that can be used to generate discussions about computer security concerns and good computing practices. Leaders may incorporate the Short Subjects into presentations. After talkingmore » about a subject area, one of the Short Subjects may be shown to highlight that subject matter. Another method for sharing them could be to show a Short Subject first and then lead a discussion about its topic. The cast of characters and a bit of information about their personalities in the LLNL Computer Security Short Subjects is included in this report.« less

Patent and product piracy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ignat, V.

2016-08-01

Advanced industrial countries are affected by technology theft. German industry annually loses more than 50 billion euros. The main causes are industrial espionage and fraudulent copying patents and industrial products. Many Asian countries are profiteering saving up to 65% of production costs. Most affected are small medium enterprises, who do not have sufficient economic power to assert themselves against some powerful countries. International organizations, such as Interpol and World Customs Organization - WCO - work together to combat international economic crime. Several methods of protection can be achieved by registering patents or specific technical methods for recognition of product originality. They have developed more suitable protection, like Hologram, magnetic stripe, barcode, CE marking, digital watermarks, DNA or Nano-technologies, security labels, radio frequency identification, micro color codes, matrix code, cryptographic encodings. The automotive industry has developed the method “Manufactures against Product Piracy”. A sticker on the package features original products and it uses a Data Matrix verifiable barcode. The code can be recorded with a smartphone camera. The smartphone is connected via Internet to a database, where the identification numbers of the original parts are stored.

A multi-sensor scenario for coastal surveillance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van den Broek, A. C.; van den Broek, S. P.; van den Heuvel, J. C.; Schwering, P. B. W.; van Heijningen, A. W. P.

2007-10-01

Maritime borders and coastal zones are susceptible to threats such as drug trafficking, piracy, undermining economical activities. At TNO Defence, Security and Safety various studies aim at improving situational awareness in a coastal zone. In this study we focus on multi-sensor surveillance of the coastal environment. We present a study on improving classification results for small sea surface targets using an advanced sensor suite and a scenario in which a small boat is approaching the coast. A next generation sensor suite mounted on a tower has been defined consisting of a maritime surveillance and tracking radar system, capable of producing range profiles and ISAR imagery of ships, an advanced infrared camera and a laser range profiler. For this suite we have developed a multi-sensor classification procedure, which is used to evaluate the capabilities for recognizing and identifying non-cooperative ships in coastal waters. We have found that the different sensors give complementary information. Each sensor has its own specific distance range in which it contributes most. A multi-sensor approach reduces the number of misclassifications and reliable classification results are obtained earlier compared to a single sensor approach.

The Impact of the AMOC Resumption in the Western South Atlantic Thermocline at the Onset of the Last Interglacial

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santos, Thiago P.; Lessa, Douglas O.; Venancio, Igor M.; Chiessi, Cristiano M.; Mulitza, Stefan; Kuhnert, Henning; Albuquerque, Ana Luiza S.

2017-11-01

After glacial terminations, large amounts of heat and salt were transferred from low to high latitudes, which is a crucial phenomenon for the reestablishment of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). However, how different glacial terminations evolved in the (sub)tropics is still poorly documented. Here we use foraminifera oxygen (δ18O) and carbon (δ13C) stable isotopes to show that the North Atlantic heat piracy, following the AMOC resumption at the early Last Interglacial, affected the thermocline δ18O levels of the subtropical western South Atlantic. Because of the cooling imposed by this process, glacial δ18O persisted in the thermocline for 7 kyr after the onset of the Last Interglacial, dampening the effect of sea level rise usually imprinted on foraminifera δ18O during terminations. Faunal composition and δ13C also suggest the existence of a colder and thicker South Atlantic Central Water coeval with the AMOC recovery. This process apparently did not occur during the last deglaciation.

Semantically transparent fingerprinting for right protection of digital cinema

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Xiaolin

2003-06-01

Digital cinema, a new frontier and crown jewel of digital multimedia, has the potential of revolutionizing the science, engineering and business of movie production and distribution. The advantages of digital cinema technology over traditional analog technology are numerous and profound. But without effective and enforceable copyright protection measures, digital cinema can be more susceptible to widespread piracy, which can dampen or even prevent the commercial deployment of digital cinema. In this paper we propose a novel approach of fingerprinting each individual distribution copy of a digital movie for the purpose of tracing pirated copies back to their source. The proposed fingerprinting technique presents a fundamental departure from the traditional digital watermarking/fingerprinting techniques. Its novelty and uniqueness lie in a so-called semantic or subjective transparency property. The fingerprints are created by editing those visual and audio attributes that can be modified with semantic and subjective transparency to the audience. Semantically-transparent fingerprinting or watermarking is the most robust kind among all existing watermarking techniques, because it is content-based not sample-based, and semantically-recoverable not statistically-recoverable.

A Novel Rules Based Approach for Estimating Software Birthmark

PubMed Central

Binti Alias, Norma; Anwar, Sajid

2015-01-01

Software birthmark is a unique quality of software to detect software theft. Comparing birthmarks of software can tell us whether a program or software is a copy of another. Software theft and piracy are rapidly increasing problems of copying, stealing, and misusing the software without proper permission, as mentioned in the desired license agreement. The estimation of birthmark can play a key role in understanding the effectiveness of a birthmark. In this paper, a new technique is presented to evaluate and estimate software birthmark based on the two most sought-after properties of birthmarks, that is, credibility and resilience. For this purpose, the concept of soft computing such as probabilistic and fuzzy computing has been taken into account and fuzzy logic is used to estimate properties of birthmark. The proposed fuzzy rule based technique is validated through a case study and the results show that the technique is successful in assessing the specified properties of the birthmark, its resilience and credibility. This, in turn, shows how much effort will be required to detect the originality of the software based on its birthmark. PMID:25945363

The Ocean: Our Future

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Independent World Commission On The Oceans; Soares, Mario

1998-09-01

The Ocean, Our Future is the official report of the Independent World Commission on the Oceans, chaired by Mário Soares, former President of Portugal. Its aim is to summarize the very real problems affecting the ocean and its future management, and to provide imaginative solutions to these various and interlocking problems. The oceans have traditionally been taken for granted as a source of wealth, opportunity and abundance. Our growing understanding of the oceans has fundamentally changed this perception. We now know that in some areas, abundance is giving way to real scarcity, resulting in severe conflicts. Territorial disputes that threaten peace and security, disruptions to global climate, overfishing, habitat destruction, species extinction, indiscriminate trawling, pollution, the dumping of hazardous and toxic wastes, piracy, terrorism, illegal trafficking and the destruction of coastal communities are among the problems that today form an integral part of the unfolding drama of the oceans. Based on the deliberations, experience and input of more than 100 specialists from around the world, this timely volume provides a powerful overview of the state of our water world.

Comparative phylogenetic analysis of male alternative reproductive tactics in ray-finned fishes.

PubMed

Mank, Judith E; Avise, John C

2006-06-01

Using comparative phylogenetic analysis, we analyzed the evolution of male alternative reproductive tactics (MARTs) in ray-finned fishes (Actinopterygii). Numerous independent origins for each type of MART (involving sneaker males, female mimics, pirates, and satellite males) indicate that these behaviors have been highly labile across actinopterygiian evolution, consistent with a previous notion that convergent selection in fishes can readily mold the underlying suites of reproductive hormones into similar behaviors. The evolutionary appearance of MARTs was significantly correlated with the presence of sexually selected traits in bourgeois males (P = 0.001) but not with the presence of male parental care. This suggests that MARTs often arise from selection on some males to circumvent bourgeois male investment in mate monopolization, rather than to avoid male brood care per se. We found parsimony evidence for an evolutionary progression of MARTs wherein sneaking is usually the evolutionary precursor to the presumably more complex MARTs of female mimicry and cooperative satellite behavior. Nest piracy appears not to be part of this evolutionary progression, possibly because its late onset in the life cycle of most ray-finned fishes reduces the effects of selection on this reproductive tactic.

In-theater piracy: finding where the pirate was

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chupeau, Bertrand; Massoudi, Ayoub; Lefèbvre, Frédéric

2008-02-01

Pirate copies of feature films are proliferating on the Internet. DVD rip or screener recording methods involve the duplication of officially distributed media whereas 'cam' versions are illicitly captured with handheld camcorders in movie theaters. Several, complementary, multimedia forensic techniques such as copy identification, forensic tracking marks or sensor forensics can deter those clandestine recordings. In the case of camcorder capture in a theater, the image is often geometrically distorted, the main artifact being the trapezoidal effect, also known as 'keystoning', due to a capture viewing axis not being perpendicular to the screen. In this paper we propose to analyze the geometric distortions in a pirate copy to determine the camcorder viewing angle to the screen perpendicular and derive the approximate position of the pirate in the theater. The problem is first of all geometrically defined, by describing the general projection and capture setup, and by identifying unknown parameters and estimates. The estimation approach based on the identification of an eight-parameter homographic model of the 'keystoning' effect is then presented. A validation experiment based on ground truth collected in a real movie theater is reported, and the accuracy of the proposed method is assessed.

Diffraction-based optical sensor detection system for capture-restricted environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khandekar, Rahul M.; Nikulin, Vladimir V.

2008-04-01

The use of digital cameras and camcorders in prohibited areas presents a growing problem. Piracy in the movie theaters results in huge revenue loss to the motion picture industry every year, but still image and video capture may present even a bigger threat if performed in high-security locations. While several attempts are being made to address this issue, an effective solution is yet to be found. We propose to approach this problem using a very commonly observed optical phenomenon. Cameras and camcorders use CCD and CMOS sensors, which include a number of photosensitive elements/pixels arranged in a certain fashion. Those are photosites in CCD sensors and semiconductor elements in CMOS sensors. They are known to reflect a small fraction of incident light, but could also act as a diffraction grating, resulting in the optical response that could be utilized to identify the presence of such a sensor. A laser-based detection system is proposed that accounts for the elements in the optical train of the camera, as well as the eye-safety of the people who could be exposed to optical beam radiation. This paper presents preliminary experimental data, as well as the proof-of-concept simulation results.

Genetic documentation of filial cannibalism in nature

PubMed Central

DeWoody, J. Andrew; Fletcher, Dean E.; Wilkins, S. David; Avise, John C.

2001-01-01

Cannibalism is widespread in natural populations of fishes, where the stomachs of adults frequently contain conspecific juveniles. Furthermore, field observations suggest that guardian males routinely eat offspring from their own nests. However, recent genetic paternity analyses have shown that fish nests often contain embryos not sired by the nest-tending male (because of cuckoldry events, egg thievery, or nest piracy). Such findings, coupled with the fact that several fish species have known capabilities for distinguishing kin from nonkin, raise the possibility that cannibalism by guardian males is directed primarily or exclusively toward unrelated embryos in their nests. Here, we test this hypothesis by collecting freshly cannibalized embryos from the stomachs of several nest-tending darter and sunfish males in nature and determining their genetic parentage by using polymorphic microsatellite markers. Our molecular results clearly indicate that guardian males do indeed consume their own genetic offspring, even when unrelated (foster) embryos are present within the nest. These data provide genetic documentation of filial cannibalism in nature. Furthermore, they suggest that the phenomenon may result, at least in part, from an inability of guardians to differentiate between kin and nonkin within their own nests. PMID:11309508

Marine biotechnologies and synthetic biology, new issues for a fair and equitable profit-sharing commercial use.

PubMed

Bloch, Jean-François; Tardieu-Guigues, Elisabeth

2014-10-01

The sea will be a source of economic development in the next years. Today the research works in marine biotechnologies supply new products and processes. The introduction in the laboratories of a new technology, synthesis biology, is going to increase the possibilities of creation of new products. Exploitation of product stemming from marine biodiversity has to be made with regard to various rights among which industrial property law, maritime law and the Convention on BioDiversity. All participants involved in the promotion of research in marine biotechnology must address the fair and equitable sharing of any commercial exploitation. Carrying out work involving synthetic biology has increased the number of unanswered questions about how operators should manage in order to avoid any threat of being sued for infringements of IP rights or for alleged bio-piracy. This paper, by no means exhaustive in the field, analyzes some of the issues raised on the modification to the landscape in marine biotechnology by the advent of synthetic biology. Such issues indicate how important the collaboration between researchers, industrialists, lawyers is for allowing proper use of marine biotech. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

In vivo inhibition of CC and CX3C chemokine-induced leukocyte infiltration and attenuation of glomerulonephritis in Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats by vMIP-II.

PubMed

Chen, S; Bacon, K B; Li, L; Garcia, G E; Xia, Y; Lo, D; Thompson, D A; Siani, M A; Yamamoto, T; Harrison, J K; Feng, L

1998-07-06

Chemokines play a central role in immune and inflammatory responses. It has been observed recently that certain viruses have evolved molecular piracy and mimicry mechanisms by encoding and synthesizing proteins that interfere with the normal host defense response. One such viral protein, vMIP-II, encoded by human herpesvirus 8, has been identified with in vitro antagonistic activities against CC and CXC chemokine receptors. We report here that vMIP-II has additional antagonistic activity against CX3CR1, the receptor for fractalkine. To investigate the potential therapeutic effect of this broad-spectrum chemokine antagonist, we studied the antiinflammatory activity of vMIP-II in a rat model of experimental glomerulonephritis induced by an antiglomerular basement membrane antibody. vMIP-II potently inhibited monocyte chemoattractant protein 1-, macrophage inflammatory protein 1beta-, RANTES (regulated on activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted)-, and fractalkine-induced chemotaxis of activated leukocytes isolated from nephritic glomeruli, significantly reduced leukocyte infiltration to the glomeruli, and markedly attenuated proteinuria. These results suggest that molecules encoded by some viruses may serve as useful templates for the development of antiinflammatory compounds.

Recognition of ships for long-term tracking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van den Broek, Sebastiaan P.; Bouma, Henri; Veerman, Henny E. T.; Benoist, Koen W.; den Hollander, Richard J. M.; Schwering, Piet B. W.

2014-06-01

Long-term tracking is important for maritime situational awareness to identify currently observed ships as earlier encounters. In cases of, for example, piracy and smuggling, past location and behavior analysis are useful to determine whether a ship is of interest. Furthermore, it is beneficial to make this assessment with sensors (such as cameras) at a distance, to avoid costs of bringing an own asset closer to the ship for verification. The emphasis of the research presented in this paper, is on the use of several feature extraction and matching methods for recognizing ships from electro-optical imagery within different categories of vessels. We compared central moments, SIFT with localization and SIFT with Fisher Vectors. From the evaluation on imagery of ships, an indication of discriminative power is obtained between and within different categories of ships. This is used to assess the usefulness in persistent tracking, from short intervals (track improvement) to larger intervals (re-identifying ships). The result of this assessment on real data is used in a simulation environment to determine how track continuity is improved. The simulations showed that even limited recognition will improve tracking, connecting both tracks at short intervals as well as over several days.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa adapts its iron uptake strategies in function of the type of infections

PubMed Central

Cornelis, Pierre; Dingemans, Jozef

2013-01-01

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative γ-Proteobacterium which is known for its capacity to colonize various niches, including some invertebrate and vertebrate hosts, making it one of the most frequent bacteria causing opportunistic infections. P. aeruginosa is able to cause acute as well as chronic infections and it uses different colonization and virulence factors to do so. Infections range from septicemia, urinary infections, burn wound colonization, and chronic colonization of the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients. Like the vast majority of organisms, P. aeruginosa needs iron to sustain growth. P. aeruginosa utilizes different strategies to take up iron, depending on the type of infection it causes. Two siderophores are produced by this bacterium, pyoverdine and pyochelin, characterized by high and low affinities for iron respectively. P. aeruginosa is also able to utilize different siderophores from other microorganisms (siderophore piracy). It can also take up heme from hemoproteins via two different systems. Under microaerobic or anaerobic conditions, P. aeruginosa is also able to take up ferrous iron via its Feo system using redox-cycling phenazines. Depending on the type of infection, P. aeruginosa can therefore adapt by switching from one iron uptake system to another as we will describe in this short review. PMID:24294593

A study of side-effects of Pandemrix® influenza (H1N1) vaccine on board a Norwegian naval vessel.

PubMed

Munch, Johan Storm; Johnsen, Bjørn Helge; Birkeland, Ingelin; Finne, Morten; Utkilen, Torun; Bøe, Tommy; Mjølhus, Gry; Sommerfelt-Pettersen, Jan

2010-01-01

The frigate His Norwegian Majesty's ship (HNoMS) Fridtjof Nansen was participating in operations in the Gulf of Aden in support of the EU mission tasked with protecting vessels from the threat of piracy. The crew was therefore prioritized and given the first batch of Influenza A (H1N1) vaccine (Pandemrix(®)). To investigate the type, frequency, and intensity of side effects after whole-crew vaccination with Pandemrix vaccine in healthy subjects in a controlled environment. A hundred and thirty-three members of the crew were vaccinated, and then they participated in the study. The side effects of the vaccination were evaluated through a survey. Seventy-five per cent of the vaccinated sailors reported adverse reactions to the vaccine, with 9% not being able to perform their daily duties for one day. Muscle pain, headaches, malaise, and fatigue were the most frequent symptoms reported. The vaccination program using Pandemrix H1N1 vaccine resulted in a high rate of side effects, which were generally mild and resolved within a few days. No serious lasting side effects of the vaccination were reported or registered. The adverse effects of the vaccination did not affect the operational capacity of the vessel.

Discrete cosine transform and hash functions toward implementing a (robust-fragile) watermarking scheme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Al-Mansoori, Saeed; Kunhu, Alavi

2013-10-01

This paper proposes a blind multi-watermarking scheme based on designing two back-to-back encoders. The first encoder is implemented to embed a robust watermark into remote sensing imagery by applying a Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) approach. Such watermark is used in many applications to protect the copyright of the image. However, the second encoder embeds a fragile watermark using `SHA-1' hash function. The purpose behind embedding a fragile watermark is to prove the authenticity of the image (i.e. tamper-proof). Thus, the proposed technique was developed as a result of new challenges with piracy of remote sensing imagery ownership. This led researchers to look for different means to secure the ownership of satellite imagery and prevent the illegal use of these resources. Therefore, Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST) proposed utilizing existing data security concept by embedding a digital signature, "watermark", into DubaiSat-1 satellite imagery. In this study, DubaiSat-1 images with 2.5 meter resolution are used as a cover and a colored EIAST logo is used as a watermark. In order to evaluate the robustness of the proposed technique, a couple of attacks are applied such as JPEG compression, rotation and synchronization attacks. Furthermore, tampering attacks are applied to prove image authenticity.

A new approach to pre-processing digital image for wavelet-based watermark

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agreste, Santa; Andaloro, Guido

2008-11-01

The growth of the Internet has increased the phenomenon of digital piracy, in multimedia objects, like software, image, video, audio and text. Therefore it is strategic to individualize and to develop methods and numerical algorithms, which are stable and have low computational cost, that will allow us to find a solution to these problems. We describe a digital watermarking algorithm for color image protection and authenticity: robust, not blind, and wavelet-based. The use of Discrete Wavelet Transform is motivated by good time-frequency features and a good match with Human Visual System directives. These two combined elements are important for building an invisible and robust watermark. Moreover our algorithm can work with any image, thanks to the step of pre-processing of the image that includes resize techniques that adapt to the size of the original image for Wavelet transform. The watermark signal is calculated in correlation with the image features and statistic properties. In the detection step we apply a re-synchronization between the original and watermarked image according to the Neyman-Pearson statistic criterion. Experimentation on a large set of different images has been shown to be resistant against geometric, filtering, and StirMark attacks with a low rate of false alarm.

Using the time shift in single pushbroom datatakes to detect ships and their heading

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Willburger, Katharina A. M.; Schwenk, Kurt

2017-10-01

The detection of ships from remote sensing data has become an essential task for maritime security. The variety of application scenarios includes piracy, illegal fishery, ocean dumping and ships carrying refugees. While techniques using data from SAR sensors for ship detection are widely common, there is only few literature discussing algorithms based on imagery of optical camera systems. A ship detection algorithm for optical pushbroom data has been developed. It takes advantage of the special detector assembly of most of those scanners, which allows apart from the detection of a ship also the calculation of its heading out of a single acquisition. The proposed algorithm for the detection of moving ships was developed with RapidEye imagery. It algorithm consists mainly of three steps: the creation of a land-watermask, the object extraction and the deeper examination of each single object. The latter step is built up by several spectral and geometric filters, making heavy use of the inter-channel displacement typical for pushbroom sensors with multiple CCD lines, finally yielding a set of ships and their direction of movement. The working principle of time-shifted pushbroom sensors and the developed algorithm is explained in detail. Furthermore, we present our first results and give an outlook to future improvements.

The Sulu-Sulawesi Sea: environmental and socioeconomic status, future prognosis and ameliorative policy options.

PubMed

DeVantier, Lyndon; Alcala, Angel; Wilkinson, Clive

2004-02-01

The Sulu-Sulawesi Sea, with neighboring Indonesian Seas and South China Sea, lies at the center of the world's tropical marine biodiversity. Encircled by 3 populous, developing nations, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, the Sea and its adjacent coastal and terrestrial ecosystems, supports ca. 33 million people, most with subsistence livelihoods heavily reliant on its renewable natural resources. These resources are being impacted severely by rapid population growth (> 2% yr-1, with expected doubling by 2035) and widespread poverty, coupled with increasing international market demand and rapid technological changes, compounded by inefficiencies in governance and a lack of awareness and/or acceptance of some laws among local populations, particularly in parts of the Philippines and Indonesia. These key root causes all contribute to illegal practices and corruption, and are resulting in severe resource depletion and degradation of water catchments, river, lacustrine, estuarine, coastal, and marine ecosystems. The Sulu-Sulawesi Sea forms a major geopolitical focus, with porous borders, transmigration, separatist movements, piracy, and illegal fishing all contributing to environmental degradation, human suffering and political instability, and inhibiting strong trilateral support for interventions. This review analyzes these multifarious environmental and socioeconomic impacts and their root causes, provides a future prognosis of status by 2020, and recommends policy options aimed at amelioration through sustainable management and development.

SEE: improving nurse-patient communications and preventing software piracy in nurse call applications.

PubMed

Unluturk, Mehmet S

2012-06-01

Nurse call system is an electrically functioning system by which patients can call upon from a bedside station or from a duty station. An intermittent tone shall be heard and a corridor lamp located outside the room starts blinking with a slow or a faster rate depending on the call origination. It is essential to alert nurses on time so that they can offer care and comfort without any delay. There are currently many devices available for a nurse call system to improve communication between nurses and patients such as pagers, RFID (radio frequency identification) badges, wireless phones and so on. To integrate all these devices into an existing nurse call system and make they communicate with each other, we propose software client applications called bridges in this paper. We also propose a window server application called SEE (Supervised Event Executive) that delivers messages among these devices. A single hardware dongle is utilized for authentication and copy protection for SEE. Protecting SEE with securities provided by dongle only is a weak defense against hackers. In this paper, we develop some defense patterns for hackers such as calculating checksums in runtime, making calls to dongle from multiple places in code and handling errors properly by logging them into database.

Wide-area littoral discreet observation: success at the tactical edge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toth, Susan; Hughes, William; Ladas, Andrew

2012-06-01

In June 2011, the United States Army Research Laboratory (ARL) participated in Empire Challenge 2011 (EC-11). EC-11 was United States Joint Forces Command's (USJFCOM) annual live, joint and coalition intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) interoperability demonstration under the sponsorship of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (USD/I). EC-11 consisted of a series of ISR interoperability events, using a combination of modeling & simulation, laboratory and live-fly events. Wide-area Littoral Discreet Observation (WALDO) was ARL's maritime/littoral capability. WALDO met a USD(I) directive that EC-11 have a maritime component and WALDO was the primary player in the maritime scenario conducted at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The WALDO effort demonstrated the utility of a networked layered sensor array deployed in a maritime littoral environment, focusing on maritime surveillance targeting counter-drug, counter-piracy and suspect activity in a littoral or riverine environment. In addition to an embedded analytical capability, the sensor array and control infrastructure consisted of the Oriole acoustic sensor, iScout unattended ground sensor (UGS), OmniSense UGS, the Compact Radar and the Universal Distributed Management System (UDMS), which included the Proxy Skyraider, an optionally manned aircraft mounting both wide and narrow FOV EO/IR imaging sensors. The capability seeded a littoral area with riverine and unattended sensors in order to demonstrate the utility of a Wide Area Sensor (WAS) capability in a littoral environment focused on maritime surveillance activities. The sensors provided a cue for WAS placement/orbit. A narrow field of view sensor would be used to focus on more discreet activities within the WAS footprint. Additionally, the capability experimented with novel WAS orbits to determine if there are more optimal orbits for WAS collection in a littoral environment. The demonstration objectives for WALDO at EC-11 were: * Demonstrate a networked, layered, multi-modal sensor array deployed in a maritime littoral environment, focusing on maritime surveillance targeting counter-drug, counter-piracy and suspect activity * Assess the utility of a Wide Area Surveillance (WAS) sensor in a littoral environment focused on maritime surveillance activities * Demonstrate the effectiveness of using UGS sensors to cue WAS sensor tasking * Employ a narrow field of view full motion video (FMV) sensor package that is collocated with the WAS to conduct more discrete observation of potential items of interest when queued by near-real-time data from UGS or observers * Couple the ARL Oriole sensor with other modality UGS networks in a ground layer ISR capability, and incorporate data collected from aerial sensors with a GEOINT base layer to form a fused product * Swarm multiple aerial or naval platforms to prosecute single or multiple targets * Track fast moving surface vessels in littoral areas * Disseminate time sensitive, high value data to the users at the tactical edge In short we sought to answer the following question: how do you layer, control and display disparate sensors and sensor modalities in such a way as to facilitate appropriate sensor cross-cue, data integration, and analyst control to effectively monitor activity in a littoral (or novel) environment?

Scaling the Morphology of Sapping and Pressurized Groundwater Experiments to Martian Valleys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marra, W. A.; Kleinhans, M. G.

2013-12-01

Various valleys exist on Mars, which shows the former existence of fluvial activity and thus liquid water at the surface. Although these valleys show similarities with some valleys on Earth, many morphological features are unique for Mars or are very rare on Earth. Therefore, we lack knowledge about the formative processes of these enigmatic valleys. In this study, we explored possible groundwater scenarios for the formation of these valleys using flume experiments, as there are no pure Earth analogues for these systems. We aim to infer their formative processes from morphological properties. A series of flume experiments were carried out in a 4x6x1 m experimental setup, where we observed the valley formation as result from seeping groundwater by both local and distal groundwater sources and by pressurized groundwater release. Time-lapse imagery and DEMs of the experiments show the morphological development, associated processes, and landscape evolution. Indicators of the processes where we particularly looked at were changes in valley slope, cross-sectional shape, the relations between valley dimensions, and regional landscape properties as drainage density and valley size distributions. Hydrological modelling assists in scaling the observed experimental features to real-world systems. Additionally, we looked at valleys on Earth in the Atacama Desert, at Box canyon in Idaho, valleys around Kohala on Hawaii and Apalachicola bluffs in Florida to test the applicability of our methods to real-world systems. In the seeping groundwater valleys, valleys develop due to a combination of mass-wasting failures, mudflows and fluvial flow. The latter two processes are expressed in the final morphology by a break in slope. The mass wasting processes result in U-shaped valleys, which are more pronounced in distal groundwater cases. However, in real-world cases of similar shaped valleys, the cross-sectional shape seems strongly influenced by the strength of the material as well. Groundwater flow piracy of multiple valleys within one system are characterized by equal ratios of width and length development, a property that is absent in case of a local groundwater source which does not induce flow piracy. In case of pressurized groundwater release, the sediment surface in the source area fractured and pits developed due to high groundwater pressure. The resulting valley head consisted of feather-shaped converging flow features. Scaling of the non-fluvial features that relate to groundwater pressure is possible by using hydrological modelling of groundwater pressure and geophysical modelling of the behaviour of the material under such pressures. Our results on sapping valley formation, combined with insights from multiple terrestrial sites of similar valleys contribute to the discussion of some enigmatic valleys on Mars. We provide several quantitative morphological measures, which directly relate to the formative process, which is valuable in linking morphology to the formative process. Our results on pressurized groundwater release prove a long-standing hypothesis on the formation on some of the largest valleys observed in our solar system. In both cases, the insights in the formative processes enable us to quantify the amount of water required for the formation of groundwater-induced Martian valleys.

Improved resiliency and well-being among military personnel in a Swedish Naval Force after a counter-piracy operation off the coast of Somalia.

PubMed

Bäccman, Charlotte; Hjärthag, Fredrik; Almqvist, Kjerstin

2016-08-01

The aim of this study was to explore: (1) how the psychological health of the members of the first European Union Naval Force (ME01) was affected by international deployment off the coast of Somalia; and (2) if and how organizational and personal factors (e.g., type of personnel category, previous experiences, and resilience) affected their psychological health and well-being post-deployment. The study had an exploratory longitudinal design, where the participants were assessed both before and after deployment (i.e., T1 and T2). The participants (n = 129, 120 men, 9 women) were equally distributed between officers (n = 68; 64 men, 4 women) and sailors (n = 61; 56 men, 5 women). The members' average age was 31 years, ranging from 20 to 61. For the majority (78%) ME01 was their first international deployment and officers were, in general, more experienced than sailors. The overall results showed that the members' reported a positive experience with improved resilience and well-being (e.g., sense of coherence). However, the result also showed that type of personnel category (i.e., officer or sailor) affected their psychological health. Why and how these differences among military personnel arise is discussed, but deserves further attention. © 2016 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Delineation of a Re-establishing Drainage Network Using SPOT and Landsat Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bailey, J. E.; Self, S.; Mouginis-Mark, P. J.

2008-12-01

The 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, The Philippines, provided a unique opportunity to study the effects on the landscape of a large eruption in part because it took place after the advent of regular satellite-based observations. The eruption formed one large (>100km2) ignimbrite sheet, with over 70% of the total deposit deposited in three primary drainage basins to the west of the volcano. High-resolution (20 m/pixel) satellite images, showing the western drainage basins and surrounding region both before and after the eruption were used to observe the re-establishment and evolution of drainage networks on the newly emplaced ignimbrite sheet. Changes in the drainage networks were delineated from a time series of SPOT (Satellite Pour l'Observation de la Terre) and Landsat multi-spectral satellite images. The analysis of which was supplemented by ground- based observations. The satellite images showed that the blue prints for the new drainage systems were established early (within days of the eruption) and at a large-scale followed the pre-eruption pattern. However, the images also illustrated the ephemeral nature of many channels due to the influence of secondary pyroclastic flows, lahar- dammed lake breakouts, stream piracy and shifts due to erosion. Characteristics of the defined drainage networks were used to infer the relative influence on the lahar hazard within each drainage basin.

Event Networks and the Identification of Crime Pattern Motifs

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

In this paper we demonstrate the use of network analysis to characterise patterns of clustering in spatio-temporal events. Such clustering is of both theoretical and practical importance in the study of crime, and forms the basis for a number of preventative strategies. However, existing analytical methods show only that clustering is present in data, while offering little insight into the nature of the patterns present. Here, we show how the classification of pairs of events as close in space and time can be used to define a network, thereby generalising previous approaches. The application of graph-theoretic techniques to these networks can then offer significantly deeper insight into the structure of the data than previously possible. In particular, we focus on the identification of network motifs, which have clear interpretation in terms of spatio-temporal behaviour. Statistical analysis is complicated by the nature of the underlying data, and we provide a method by which appropriate randomised graphs can be generated. Two datasets are used as case studies: maritime piracy at the global scale, and residential burglary in an urban area. In both cases, the same significant 3-vertex motif is found; this result suggests that incidents tend to occur not just in pairs, but in fact in larger groups within a restricted spatio-temporal domain. In the 4-vertex case, different motifs are found to be significant in each case, suggesting that this technique is capable of discriminating between clustering patterns at a finer granularity than previously possible. PMID:26605544

Infrared technique for decoding of invisible laser markings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haferkamp, Heinz; Jaeschke, Peter; Stein, Johannes; Goede, Martin

2002-03-01

Counterfeiting and product piracy continues to be an important issue not only for the Western industry, but also for the society in general. Due to the drastic increase in product imitation and the request for plagiarism protection as well as for reducing thefts there is a high interest in new protection methods providing new security features. The method presented here consists of security markings which are included below paint layers. These markings are invisible for the human eye due to the non-transparency of the upper layers in the visible spectral range. However, the markings can be detected by an infrared technique taking advantage on the partial transparency of the upper paint layers in the IR-region. Metal sheets are marked using laser radiation. The beam of a Nd:YAG-laser provides a modification of the surface structure, resulting in dark markings due to the annealing effect. After coating of the laser-marked material, the markings are invisible for the bare eye. In order to read out the invisible information below the coating, an infrared reflection technique is used. The samples are illuminated with halogen lamps or infrared radiators. Many coating materials (i. e. paints) show a certain transparency in the mid-infrared region, especially between 3 - 5 micrometers . The reflected radiation is detected using an IR-camera with a sensitivity range from 3.4 - 5 micrometers . Due to the different reflection properties between the markings and their surrounding, the information can be detected.

Active tectonics of the southeastern Upper Rhine Graben, Freiburg area (Germany)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nivière, B.; Bruestle, A.; Bertrand, G.; Carretier, S.; Behrmann, J.; Gourry, J.-C.

2008-03-01

The Upper Rhine Graben has two Plio-Quaternary depocentres usually interpreted as resulting from tectonic reactivation. The southern basin, near Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany), contains up to 250 m of sediments. Beneath the younger alluvial deposits related to the current drainage system, a former river network deeply entrenched in the substratum reveals a very low regional base level of early Pleistocene age. The offset of channels at faults allows us to infer a Pleistocene reactivation of the syn-rift fault pattern and the estimation of slip rates. Maximum vertical movements along the faults have not exceeded 0.1 mm/yr since the middle Pleistocene. Current activity is concentrated along the westernmost faults. Morphologic markers indicate late Pleistocene reactivation of the Rhine River fault, and geophysical prospecting suggests a near-surface offset of young sedimentary deposits. The size of the fault segments potentially reactivated suggests that earthquakes with magnitude larger than Mw=6.3 could be expected in the area with a return interval of about 8000 years. Extrapolated to the duration of the Plio-Pleistocene, the strain rate estimates reveal that the tectonic forcing may account for only one-third to one-half of the whole thickness of the Plio-Pleistocene sediments of the basin fill. Thus other processes must be invoked to understand the growth of the Plio-Pleistocene basin. Especially the piracy of the Rhine River to the north during the early Pleistocene could explain these effects.

Scale-dependent erosional patterns in steady-state and transient-state landscapes.

PubMed

Tejedor, Alejandro; Singh, Arvind; Zaliapin, Ilya; Densmore, Alexander L; Foufoula-Georgiou, Efi

2017-09-01

Landscape topography is the expression of the dynamic equilibrium between external forcings (for example, climate and tectonics) and the underlying lithology. The magnitude and spatial arrangement of erosional and depositional fluxes dictate the evolution of landforms during both statistical steady state (SS) and transient state (TS) of major landscape reorganization. For SS landscapes, the common expectation is that any point of the landscape has an equal chance to erode below or above the landscape median erosion rate. We show that this is not the case. Afforded by a unique experimental landscape that provided a detailed space-time recording of erosional fluxes and by defining the so-called E50-area curve, we reveal for the first time that there exists a hierarchical pattern of erosion. Specifically, hillslopes and fluvial channels erode more rapidly than the landscape median erosion rate, whereas intervening parts of the landscape in terms of upstream contributing areas (colluvial regime) erode more slowly. We explain this apparent paradox by documenting the dynamic nature of SS landscapes-landscape locations may transition from being a hillslope to being a valley and then to being a fluvial channel due to ridge migration, channel piracy, and small-scale landscape dynamics through time. Under TS conditions caused by increased precipitation, we show that the E50-area curve drastically changes shape during landscape reorganization. Scale-dependent erosional patterns, as observed in this study, suggest benchmarks in evaluating numerical models and interpreting the variability of sampled erosional rates in field landscapes.

The hybrid theatre

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gillen, Ron

2008-02-01

Ever since the first movie picture house was opened, experiencing the unique cinematic experience has constantly evolved. Technological advances continually guarantee that more changes will happen to create the ultimate cinematic experience. Cinema has been reincarnated time after time, from the first hand cranked silent movie to the modern day Digital Cinema. The technology used to depict the story changes; along with that change is the human thirst for a better transformation, for a more enjoyable, more encompassing, more believable, more immersive, yet simultaneously a more bewitching, entertainment experience. "In this volatile business of ours, we can ill afford to rest on our laurels, even to pause in retrospect. Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future." --Walt Disney. 1 It has been said that "content is king". By itself, that implies a disservice to the technology that supports it. Without the technology, the content could not exist. In today's digital society; a movie can be downloaded to a handheld playback device the moment it is released. Offering these services at a cheap rate would enable studios to stay ahead of the curve, virtually eliminate video piracy and create the ability to deliver first class uncompromised content. It's only a matter of time when new released movies would be distributed this way too and people are given the choice to view in the comfort of their own homes, hand held device or view at a local theatre.

Scale-dependent erosional patterns in steady-state and transient-state landscapes

PubMed Central

Tejedor, Alejandro; Singh, Arvind; Zaliapin, Ilya; Densmore, Alexander L.; Foufoula-Georgiou, Efi

2017-01-01

Landscape topography is the expression of the dynamic equilibrium between external forcings (for example, climate and tectonics) and the underlying lithology. The magnitude and spatial arrangement of erosional and depositional fluxes dictate the evolution of landforms during both statistical steady state (SS) and transient state (TS) of major landscape reorganization. For SS landscapes, the common expectation is that any point of the landscape has an equal chance to erode below or above the landscape median erosion rate. We show that this is not the case. Afforded by a unique experimental landscape that provided a detailed space-time recording of erosional fluxes and by defining the so-called E50-area curve, we reveal for the first time that there exists a hierarchical pattern of erosion. Specifically, hillslopes and fluvial channels erode more rapidly than the landscape median erosion rate, whereas intervening parts of the landscape in terms of upstream contributing areas (colluvial regime) erode more slowly. We explain this apparent paradox by documenting the dynamic nature of SS landscapes—landscape locations may transition from being a hillslope to being a valley and then to being a fluvial channel due to ridge migration, channel piracy, and small-scale landscape dynamics through time. Under TS conditions caused by increased precipitation, we show that the E50-area curve drastically changes shape during landscape reorganization. Scale-dependent erosional patterns, as observed in this study, suggest benchmarks in evaluating numerical models and interpreting the variability of sampled erosional rates in field landscapes. PMID:28959728

Persistent maritime surveillance using multi-sensor feature association and classification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van den Broek, Sebastiaan P.; Schwering, Piet B. W.; Liem, Kwan D.; Schleijpen, Ric

2012-06-01

In maritime operational scenarios, such as smuggling, piracy, or terrorist threats, it is not only relevant who or what an observed object is, but also where it is now and in the past in relation to other (geographical) objects. In situation and impact assessment, this information is used to determine whether an object is a threat. Single platform (ship, harbor) or single sensor information will not provide all this information. The work presented in this paper focuses on the sensor and object levels that provide a description of currently observed objects to situation assessment. For use of information of objects at higher information levels, it is necessary to have not only a good description of observed objects at this moment, but also from its past. Therefore, currently observed objects have to be linked to previous occurrences. Kinematic features, as used in tracking, are of limited use, as uncertainties over longer time intervals are so large that no unique associations can be made. Features extracted from different sensors (e.g., ESM, EO/IR) can be used for both association and classification. Features and classifications are used to associate current objects to previous object descriptions, allowing objects to be described better, and provide position history. In this paper a description of a high level architecture in which such a multi-sensor association is used is described. Results of an assessment of the usability of several features from ESM (from spectrum), EO and IR (shape, contour, keypoints) data for association and classification are shown.

Virus-encoded chemokine receptors--putative novel antiviral drug targets.

PubMed

Rosenkilde, Mette M

2005-01-01

Large DNA viruses, in particular herpes- and poxviruses, have evolved proteins that serve as mimics or decoys for endogenous proteins in the host. The chemokines and their receptors serve key functions in both innate and adaptive immunity through control of leukocyte trafficking, and have as such a paramount role in the antiviral immune responses. It is therefore not surprising that viruses have found ways to exploit and subvert the chemokine system by means of molecular mimicry. By ancient acts of molecular piracy and by induction and suppression of endogenous genes, viruses have utilized chemokines and their receptors to serve a variety of roles in viral life-cycle. This review focuses on the pharmacology of virus-encoded chemokine receptors, yet also the family of virus-encoded chemokines and chemokine-binding proteins will be touched upon. Key properties of the virus-encoded receptors, compared to their closest endogenous homologs, are interactions with a wider range of chemokines, which can act as agonists, antagonists and inverse agonists, and the exploitation of many signal transduction pathways. High constitutive activity is another key property of some--but not all--of these receptors. The chemokine receptors belong to the superfamily of G-protein coupled 7TM receptors that per se are excellent drug targets. At present, non-peptide antagonists have been developed against many chemokine receptors. The potentials of the virus-encoded chemokine receptors as drug targets--ie. as novel antiviral strategies--will be highlighted here together with the potentials of the virus-encoded chemokines and chemokine-binding proteins as novel anti-inflammatory biopharmaceutical strategies.

Effects of large deep-seated landslides on hillslope morphology, western Southern Alps, New Zealand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Korup, Oliver

2006-03-01

Morphometric analysis and air photo interpretation highlight geomorphic imprints of large landslides (i.e., affecting ≥1 km2) on hillslopes in the western Southern Alps (WSA), New Zealand. Large landslides attain kilometer-scale runout, affect >50% of total basin relief, and in 70% are slope clearing, and thus relief limiting. Landslide terrain shows lower mean local relief, relief variability, slope angles, steepness, and concavity than surrounding terrain. Measuring mean slope angle smoothes out local landslide morphology, masking any relationship between large landslides and possible threshold hillslopes. Large failures also occurred on low-gradient slopes, indicating persistent low-frequency/high-magnitude hillslope adjustment independent of fluvial bedrock incision. At the basin and hillslope scale, slope-area plots partly constrain the effects of landslides on geomorphic process regimes. Landslide imprints gradually blend with relief characteristics at orogen scale (102 km), while being sensitive to length scales of slope failure, topography, sampling, and digital elevation model resolution. This limits means of automated detection, and underlines the importance of local morphologic contrasts for detecting large landslides in the WSA. Landslide controls on low-order drainage include divide lowering and shifting, formation of headwater basins and hanging valleys, and stream piracy. Volumes typically mobilized, yet still stored in numerous deposits despite high denudation rates, are >107 m3, and theoretically equal to 102 years of basin-wide debris production from historic shallow landslides; lack of absolute ages precludes further estimates. Deposit size and mature forest cover indicate residence times of 101-104 years. On these timescales, large landslides require further attention in landscape evolution models of tectonically active orogens.

A Holocene history of dune-mediated landscape change along the southeastern shore of Lake Superior

USGS Publications Warehouse

Loope, Walter L.; Fisher, Timothy G.; Jol, Harry M.; Anderton, John B.; Blewett, William L.

2004-01-01

Causal links that connect Holocene high stands of Lake Superior with dune building, stream damming and diversion and reservoir impoundment and infilling are inferred from a multidisciplinary investigation of a small watershed along the SE shore of Lake Superior. Radiocarbon ages of wood fragments from in-place stumps and soil O horizons, recovered from the bottom of 300-ha Grand Sable Lake, suggest that the near-shore inland lake was formed during multiple episodes of late Holocene dune damming of ancestral Sable Creek. Forest drownings at ~3000, 1530, and 300 cal. years BP are highly correlated with local soil burial events that occurred during high stands of Lake Superior. During these and earlier events, Sable Creek was diverted onto eastward-graded late Pleistocene meltwater terraces. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) reveals the early Holocene valley of Sable Creek (now filled) and its constituent sedimentary structures. Near-planar paleosols, identified with GPR, suggest two repeating modes of landscape evolution mediated by levels of Lake Superior. High lake stands drove stream damming, reservoir impoundment, and eolian infilling of impoundments. Falling Lake Superior levels brought decreased sand supply to dune dams and lowered stream base level. These latter factors promoted stream piracy, breaching of dune dams, and aerial exposure and forestation of infilled lakebeds. The bathymetry of Grand Sable Lake suggests that its shoreline configuration and depth varied in response to events of dune damming and subsequent dam breaching. The interrelated late Holocene events apparent in this study area suggest that variations in lake level have imposed complex hydrologic and geomorphic signatures on upper Great Lakes coasts.

Knickzone propagation in the Black Hills and northern High Plains: a different perspective on the late Cenozoic exhumation of the Laramide Rocky Mountains

USGS Publications Warehouse

Zaprowski, Brent J.; Evenson, Edward B.; Pazzaglia, Frank J.; Epstein, Jack B.

2001-01-01

Geomorphic research in the Black Hills and northern High Plains poses an intriguing hypothesis for the Cenozoic evolution of this salient of the Laramide Rockies. Most recently, geologists have appealed to late Cenozoic epeirogenic uplift or climate change to explain the post-Laramide unroofing of the Rockies. On the basis of field mapping and the interpretation of long-valley profiles, we conclude that the propagation of knickzones is the primary mechanism for exhumation in the Black Hills. Long profiles of major drainages show discrete breaks in the slope of the channel gradient that are not coincident with changes in rock type. We use the term knickzones to describe these features because their profiles are broadly convex over tens of kilometers. At and below the knickzone, the channel is incising into bedrock, abandoning a flood plain, and forming a terrace. Above the knickzone, the channel is much less incised, resulting in a broad valley bottom. Numerous examples of stream piracy are documented, and in each case, the capture is recorded in the same terrace level. These observations are consistent with migrating knickzones that have swept through Black Hills streams, rearranging drainages in their wake. We demonstrate there are two knickzone fronts associated with mapped terraces. Preliminary field evidence of soil development shows that these terraces are time transgressive in nature. Our data strongly suggest that knickzone propagation must be considered a viable mechanism driving late Cenozoic fluvial incision and exhumation of the northern High Plains and adjacent northern Rocky Mountains.

Upper ocean climate of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea during the Holocene Insolation Maximum - a model study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adloff, F.; Mikolajewicz, U.; Kucera, M.; Grimm, R.; Maier-Reimer, E.; Schmiedl, G.; Emeis, K.

2011-05-01

Nine thousand years ago, the Northern Hemisphere experienced enhanced seasonality caused by an orbital configuration with a minimum of the precession index. To assess the impact of the "Holocene Insolation Maximum" (HIM) on the Mediterranean Sea, we use a regional ocean general circulation model forced by atmospheric input derived from global simulations. A stronger seasonal cycle is simulated in the model, which shows a relatively homogeneous winter cooling and a summer warming with well-defined spatial patterns, in particular a subsurface warming in the Cretan and Western Levantine areas. The comparison between the SST simulated for the HIM and the reconstructions from planktonic foraminifera transfer functions shows a poor agreement, especially for summer, when the vertical temperature gradient is strong. However, a reinterpretation of the reconstructions is proposed, to consider the conditions throughout the upper water column. Such a depth-integrated approach accounts for the vertical range of preferred habitat depths of the foraminifera used for the reconstructions and strongly improves the agreement between modelled and reconstructed temperature signal. The subsurface warming is recorded by both model and proxies, with a light shift to the south in the model results. The mechanisms responsible for the peculiar subsurface pattern are found to be a combination of enhanced downwelling and wind mixing due to strengthened Etesian winds, and enhanced thermal forcing due to the stronger summer insolation in the Northern Hemisphere. Together, these processes induce a stronger heat transfer from the surface to the subsurface during late summer in the Western Levantine; this leads to an enhanced heat piracy in this region.

Medieval and Renaissance anatomists: the printing and unauthorized copying of illustrations, and the dissemination of ideas.

PubMed

Lanska, Douglas J; Lanska, John Robert

2013-01-01

The vanguard that began to question Galenic anatomical dogma originated in northern Italy in the latter half of the thirteenth century, and not coincidentally this was where human dissection was introduced, which in turn eventually fostered the origins of realistic anatomical illustration in the late fifteenth century. With the advent of the printing press and moveable type at this time, printed books began to supersede hand-copied medieval manuscripts, and labor-intensive techniques were soon developed to integrate text and illustrations on the printed page. The same technology was used to pirate the illustrations of prior authors with varying fidelity. Specific medieval and Renaissance anatomical illustrations can often be traced from their inceptions through different stages of development to the final printed images, and then through subsequent pirated versions in various abridgements or other compendia. The most important milestone in the development of anatomy and anatomical illustration was the publication in 1543 by Andreas Vesalii of De humani corporis fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body), commonly referred to simply as the Fabrica. With this work, Vesalii succeeded in coordinating a publication production team (author, artists, block cutters, publisher, and typesetters) to achieve an unprecedented integration of scientific discourse, medical illustration, and typography. However, despite Vesalii's valiant efforts to prevent unauthorized duplication, the illustrations from the Fabrica were extensively plagiarized. Although Vesalii found such piracy frustrating and annoying, the long-term effect was to make Vesalii's ideas known to a wider readership and to help solidify his own revolutionary contributions to anatomy. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Pseudomonas fluorescens Pirates both Ferrioxamine and Ferricoelichelin Siderophores from Streptomyces ambofaciens

PubMed Central

Galet, Justine; Deveau, Aurélie; Hôtel, Laurence; Frey-Klett, Pascale; Leblond, Pierre

2015-01-01

Iron is essential in many biological processes. However, its bioavailability is reduced in aerobic environments, such as soil. To overcome this limitation, microorganisms have developed different strategies, such as iron chelation by siderophores. Some bacteria have even gained the ability to detect and utilize xenosiderophores, i.e., siderophores produced by other organisms. We illustrate an example of such an interaction between two soil bacteria, Pseudomonas fluorescens strain BBc6R8 and Streptomyces ambofaciens ATCC 23877, which produce the siderophores pyoverdine and enantiopyochelin and the siderophores desferrioxamines B and E and coelichelin, respectively. During pairwise cultures on iron-limiting agar medium, no induction of siderophore synthesis by P. fluorescens BBc6R8 was observed in the presence of S. ambofaciens ATCC 23877. Cocultures with a Streptomyces mutant strain that produced either coelichelin or desferrioxamines, as well as culture in a medium supplemented with desferrioxamine B, resulted in the absence of pyoverdine production; however, culture with a double mutant deficient in desferrioxamines and coelichelin production did not. This strongly suggests that P. fluorescens BBbc6R8 utilizes the ferrioxamines and ferricoelichelin produced by S. ambofaciens as xenosiderophores and therefore no longer activates the production of its own siderophores. A screening of a library of P. fluorescens BBc6R8 mutants highlighted the involvement of the TonB-dependent receptor FoxA in this process: the expression of foxA and genes involved in the regulation of its biosynthesis was induced in the presence of S. ambofaciens. In a competitive environment, such as soil, siderophore piracy could well be one of the driving forces that determine the outcome of microbial competition. PMID:25724953

Thermal evolution of the western South Atlantic and the adjacent continent during Termination 1

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chiessi, C. M.; Mulitza, S.; Mollenhauer, G.; Silva, J. B.; Groeneveld, J.; Prange, M.

2015-06-01

During Termination 1, millennial-scale weakening events of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) supposedly produced major changes in sea surface temperatures (SSTs) of the western South Atlantic, and in mean air temperatures (MATs) over southeastern South America. It has been suggested, for instance, that the Brazil Current (BC) would strengthen (weaken) and the North Brazil Current (NBC) would weaken (strengthen) during slowdown (speed-up) events of the AMOC. This anti-phase pattern was claimed to be a necessary response to the decreased North Atlantic heat piracy during periods of weak AMOC. However, the thermal evolution of the western South Atlantic and the adjacent continent is so far largely unknown. Here we address this issue, presenting high-temporal-resolution SST and MAT records from the BC and southeastern South America, respectively. We identify a warming in the western South Atlantic during Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1), which is followed first by a drop and then by increasing temperatures during the Bølling-Allerød, in phase with an existing SST record from the NBC. Additionally, a similar SST evolution is shown by a southernmost eastern South Atlantic record, suggesting a South Atlantic-wide pattern in SST evolution during most of Termination 1. Over southeastern South America, our MAT record shows a two-step increase during Termination 1, synchronous with atmospheric CO2 rise (i.e., during the second half of HS1 and during the Younger Dryas), and lagging abrupt SST changes by several thousand years. This delay corroborates the notion that the long duration of HS1 was fundamental in driving the Earth out of the last glacial.

Thermal evolution of the western South Atlantic and the adjacent continent during Termination 1

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chiessi, C. M.; Mulitza, S.; Mollenhauer, G.; Silva, J. B.; Groeneveld, J.; Prange, M.

2014-12-01

During Termination 1, millennial-scale weakening events of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) supposedly produced major changes in sea surface temperatures (SST) of the western South Atlantic, and in mean air temperatures (MAT) over southeastern South America. It was suggested, for instance, that the Brazil Current (BC) would strengthen (weaken) and the North Brazil Current (NBC) would weaken (strengthen) during slowdown (speed-up) events of the AMOC. This anti-phase pattern was claimed to be a necessary response to the decreased North Atlantic heat piracy during periods of weak AMOC. However, the thermal evolution of the western South Atlantic and the adjacent continent is largely unknown and a compelling record of the BC-NBC anti-phase behavior remains elusive. Here we address this issue, presenting high temporal resolution SST and MAT records from the BC and southeastern South America, respectively. We identify a warming in the western South Atlantic during Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1), which is followed first by a drop and then by increasing temperatures during the Bølling-Allerød, in-phase with an existing NBC record. Additionally, a similar SST evolution is shown by a southernmost eastern South Atlantic record, suggesting a South Atlantic-wide pattern in SST evolution during most of Termination 1. Over southeastern South America, our MAT record shows a two-step increase during Termination 1, synchronous with atmospheric CO2 rise (i.e., during the second half of HS1 and during the Younger Dryas), and lagging abrupt SST changes by several thousand years. This delay corroborates the notion that the long duration of HS1 was fundamental to drive the Earth out of the last glacial.

Contingency table analysis of pebble lithology and roundness: A case study of Huangshui River, China and comparison to rivers in the Rocky Mountains, USA

USGS Publications Warehouse

Miao, X.; Lindsey, D.A.; Lai, Z.; Liu, Xiuying

2010-01-01

Contingency table analysis of pebble lithology and roundness is an effective way to identify the source terrane of a drainage basin and to distinguish changes in basin size, piracy, tectonism, and other events. First, the analysis to terrace gravel deposited by the Huangshui River, northeastern Tibet Plateau, China, shows statistically contrasting pebble populations for the oldest terrace (T7, Dadongling, 1.2. Ma) and the youngest terraces (T0-T3, ?. 0.15. Ma). Two fluvial processes are considered to explain the contrast in correlation between lithology and roundness in T7 gravel versus T0-T3 gravel: 1) reworking of T7 gravel into T0-T3 gravel and 2) growth in the size of the river basin between T7 and T0-T3 times. We favor growth in basin size as the dominant process, from comparison of pebble counts and contingency tables. Second, comparison of results from Huangshui River of China to three piedmont streams of the Rocky Mountains, USA highlights major differences in source terrane and history. Like Rocky Mountain piedmont gravel from Colorado examples, the Huangshui gravels show a preference (observed versus expected frequency) for rounded granite. But unlike Rocky Mountain gravel, Huangshui gravel shows a preference for angular quartzite and for rounded sandstone. In conclusion, contrasting behavior of lithologies during transport, not always apparent in raw pebble counts, is readily analyzed using contingency tables to identify the provenance of individual lithologies, including recycled clasts. Results of the analysis may help unravel river history, including changes in basin size and lithology. ?? 2009.

Intrinsic stream-capture control of stepped fan pediments in the High Atlas piedmont of Ouarzazate (Morocco)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pastor, A.; Babault, J.; Teixell, A.; Arboleya, M. L.

2012-11-01

The Ouarzazate basin is a Cenozoic foreland basin located to the south of the High Atlas Mountains. The basin has been externally drained during the Quaternary, with fluvial dynamics dominated by erosive processes from a progressive base level drop. The current drainage network is composed of rivers draining the mountain and carrying large amounts of coarse sediments and by piedmont streams with smaller catchments eroding the soft Cenozoic rocks of the Ouarzazate basin. The coarse-grained sediments covering the channel beds of main rivers cause the steepening of the channel gradient and act as a shield inhibiting bedrock incision. Under such circumstances, piedmont streams that incise to lower gradients evolve to large, depressed pediments at lower elevations and threaten to capture rivers originating in the mountain. Much of the current surface of the Ouarzazate basin is covered by coarse sediments forming large systems of stepped fan pediments that developed by the filling of low elevation pediments after a capture event. We identified 14 capture events, and previously published geochronology support an ~ 100 ka frequency for fan pediment formation. Our study indicates that the reorganization of the fluvial network in the Ouarzazate basin during the late Pleistocene and Holocene has been controlled by the piedmont-stream piracy process, a process ultimately controlled by the cover effect. The stream capture is influenced by erosion, sediment supply and transport, and therefore may not be entirely decoupled from tectonic and climatic forcing. Indeed, we show that at least two capture events may have occurred during climate changes, and local tectonic structures control at most the spatial localization of capture events.

Fluvial Connectivity and Sediment Dispersal within Continental Extensional Basins; Assessment of Controlling Factors using Numerical Modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geurts, A., Jr.; Cowie, P. A.; Gawthorpe, R.; Huismans, R. S.; Pedersen, V. K.

2017-12-01

Progressive integration of drainage networks has been documented in many regional-scale studies of extensional continental systems. While endorheic drainage and lake sedimentation are common features observed in basin stratigraphy, they often disappear from the record due to the development of a through-going river network. Because changes in the fluvial connectivity of extensional basins have profound impact on erosion and sediment dispersal, and thus the feedback between surface processes and tectonics, it is of great importance to understand what controls them. Headward erosion (also called headward capture or river piracy) is often suggested to be the main mechanism causing basins to become interconnected over time with one another and with the regional/coastal drainage network. We show that overspill mechanisms (basin over-filling or lake over-spilling) play a key role in the actively extending central Italian Apennines, even though this area is theoretically favorable for headward erosion (short distances to the coast in combination with rapid surface uplift). In other tectonic settings (e.g. contractional basins and high plateaux) the role of headward erosion in transverse drainage development and integrating endorheic basins has also been increasingly questioned. These two mechanisms predict very different spatio-temporal patterns of sediment dispersal and thus timing of sediment loading (or erosional unloading) along active normal faults, which in turn may influence the locus of subsequent extensional deformation. By means of surface process modelling we develop a process-based understanding of the controls on fluvial connectivity between extensional basins in the central Italian Apennines. We focus on which conditions (tectonic and erosional) favour headward erosion versus overspill and compare our model results with published field evidence for drainage integration and the timing of basin sedimentation/incision.

Evolution of the Li-Yu Lake at Eastern Taiwan: Evidences from Magnetic Proxies and Pollen Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, T.; Wang, L.; Chen, S.

2008-12-01

The Li-Yu Lake located at Hua-Lien County of eastern Taiwan seems to be originally a river and was trapped by a landslide to form a lake after. To investigate the truth, a lacustrine sediment core of about 8 meters was raised from the lake and magnetic proxies and pollen analysis were employed to analyze it. Based on the C- 14 dating, this core provides the information for the last 7000 years Magnetic proxies point out that the records could be clearly distinguished into two parts from the depth of about 2.6 meters : the deeper part dominates very coarse grained with higher oxidized magnetic minerals and vice versa at the shallower part. This boundary corresponds an ages of about 2300 yrB.P. Pollen analysis reveals that no pollen could be found at the depths below 2.8 meters; only aquatic plant pollens, such as Poaceae, Cyperaceae and Mynophyllum, were found at the depth between 2.8-2.5 meters; tree and shrub pollens began to appear at about 2.5 m in depth. These results proposed that sediments below 2.8 m (before 2400 yrBP) might be a river deposit; the river was blocked at its northern end to form a lake between 2300-2400 yrBP in consideration of the topography, and regular lake deposits occurred after 2300 yrBP. Furthermore, magnetic proxies were found to have a clear change during the age interval of about 900-600 yrBP. Pollen patterns also support this point. It is proposed that the river piracy might have happened at the southern area of the lake at this time. The literatures recording the human activity in this area seem to support this point of view.

Enterococcus faecalis Prophage Dynamics and Contributions to Pathogenic Traits

PubMed Central

Matos, Renata C.; Lapaque, Nicolas; Rigottier-Gois, Lionel; Debarbieux, Laurent; Meylheuc, Thierry; Gonzalez-Zorn, Bruno; Repoila, Francis; Lopes, Maria de Fatima; Serror, Pascale

2013-01-01

Polylysogeny is frequently considered to be the result of an adaptive evolutionary process in which prophages confer fitness and/or virulence factors, thus making them important for evolution of both bacterial populations and infectious diseases. The Enterococcus faecalis V583 isolate belongs to the high-risk clonal complex 2 that is particularly well adapted to the hospital environment. Its genome carries 7 prophage-like elements (V583-pp1 to -pp7), one of which is ubiquitous in the species. In this study, we investigated the activity of the V583 prophages and their contribution to E. faecalis biological traits. We systematically analyzed the ability of each prophage to excise from the bacterial chromosome, to replicate and to package its DNA. We also created a set of E. faecalis isogenic strains that lack from one to all six non-ubiquitous prophages by mimicking natural excision. Our work reveals that prophages of E. faecalis V583 excise from the bacterial chromosome in the presence of a fluoroquinolone, and are able to produce active phage progeny. Intricate interactions between V583 prophages were also unveiled: i) pp7, coined EfCIV583 for E. faecalis chromosomal island of V583, hijacks capsids from helper phage 1, leading to the formation of distinct virions, and ii) pp1, pp3 and pp5 inhibit excision of pp4 and pp6. The hijacking exerted by EfCIV583 on helper phage 1 capsids is the first example of molecular piracy in Gram positive bacteria other than staphylococci. Furthermore, prophages encoding platelet-binding-like proteins were found to be involved in adhesion to human platelets, considered as a first step towards the development of infective endocarditis. Our findings reveal not only a role of E. faecalis V583 prophages in pathogenicity, but also provide an explanation for the correlation between antibiotic usage and E. faecalis success as a nosocomial pathogen, as fluoriquinolone may provoke release of prophages and promote gene dissemination among isolates. PMID:23754962

Methanobactin from Methylocystis sp. strain SB2 affects gene expression and methane monooxygenase activity in Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b.

PubMed

Farhan Ul-Haque, Muhammad; Kalidass, Bhagyalakshmi; Vorobev, Alexey; Baral, Bipin S; DiSpirito, Alan A; Semrau, Jeremy D

2015-04-01

Methanotrophs can express a cytoplasmic (soluble) methane monooxygenase (sMMO) or membrane-bound (particulate) methane monooxygenase (pMMO). Expression of these MMOs is strongly regulated by the availability of copper. Many methanotrophs have been found to synthesize a novel compound, methanobactin (Mb), that is responsible for the uptake of copper, and methanobactin produced by Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b plays a key role in controlling expression of MMO genes in this strain. As all known forms of methanobactin are structurally similar, it was hypothesized that methanobactin from one methanotroph may alter gene expression in another. When Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b was grown in the presence of 1 μM CuCl2, expression of mmoX, encoding a subunit of the hydroxylase component of sMMO, was very low. mmoX expression increased, however, when methanobactin from Methylocystis sp. strain SB2 (SB2-Mb) was added, as did whole-cell sMMO activity, but there was no significant change in the amount of copper associated with M. trichosporium OB3b. If M. trichosporium OB3b was grown in the absence of CuCl2, the mmoX expression level was high but decreased by several orders of magnitude if copper prebound to SB2-Mb (Cu-SB2-Mb) was added, and biomass-associated copper was increased. Exposure of Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b to SB2-Mb had no effect on expression of mbnA, encoding the polypeptide precursor of methanobactin in either the presence or absence of CuCl2. mbnA expression, however, was reduced when Cu-SB2-Mb was added in both the absence and presence of CuCl2. These data suggest that methanobactin acts as a general signaling molecule in methanotrophs and that methanobactin "piracy" may be commonplace. Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Upper ocean climate of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea during the Holocene Insolation Maximum - a model study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adloff, F.; Mikolajewicz, U.; Kučera, M.; Grimm, R.; Maier-Reimer, E.; Schmiedl, G.; Emeis, K.-C.

2011-10-01

Nine thousand years ago (9 ka BP), the Northern Hemisphere experienced enhanced seasonality caused by an orbital configuration close to the minimum of the precession index. To assess the impact of this "Holocene Insolation Maximum" (HIM) on the Mediterranean Sea, we use a regional ocean general circulation model forced by atmospheric input derived from global simulations. A stronger seasonal cycle is simulated by the model, which shows a relatively homogeneous winter cooling and a summer warming with well-defined spatial patterns, in particular, a subsurface warming in the Cretan and western Levantine areas. The comparison between the SST simulated for the HIM and a reconstruction from planktonic foraminifera transfer functions shows a poor agreement, especially for summer, when the vertical temperature gradient is strong. As a novel approach, we propose a reinterpretation of the reconstruction, to consider the conditions throughout the upper water column rather than at a single depth. We claim that such a depth-integrated approach is more adequate for surface temperature comparison purposes in a situation where the upper ocean structure in the past was different from the present-day. In this case, the depth-integrated interpretation of the proxy data strongly improves the agreement between modelled and reconstructed temperature signal with the subsurface summer warming being recorded by both model and proxies, with a small shift to the south in the model results. The mechanisms responsible for the peculiar subsurface pattern are found to be a combination of enhanced downwelling and wind mixing due to strengthened Etesian winds, and enhanced thermal forcing due to the stronger summer insolation in the Northern Hemisphere. Together, these processes induce a stronger heat transfer from the surface to the subsurface during late summer in the western Levantine; this leads to an enhanced heat piracy in this region, a process never identified before, but potentially characteristic of time slices with enhanced insolation.

Corrigendum to "Upper ocean climate of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea during the Holocene Insolation Maximum - a model study" published in Clim. Past, 7, 1103-1122, 2011

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adloff, F.; Mikolajewicz, U.; Kučera, M.; Grimm, R.; Maier-Reimer, E.; Schmiedl, G.; Emeis, K.-C.

2011-11-01

Nine thousand years ago (9 ka BP), the Northern Hemisphere experienced enhanced seasonality caused by an orbital configuration close to the minimum of the precession index. To assess the impact of this "Holocene Insolation Maximum" (HIM) on the Mediterranean Sea, we use a regional ocean general circulation model forced by atmospheric input derived from global simulations. A stronger seasonal cycle is simulated by the model, which shows a relatively homogeneous winter cooling and a summer warming with well-defined spatial patterns, in particular, a subsurface warming in the Cretan and western Levantine areas. The comparison between the SST simulated for the HIM and a reconstruction from planktonic foraminifera transfer functions shows a poor agreement, especially for summer, when the vertical temperature gradient is strong. As a novel approach, we propose a reinterpretation of the reconstruction, to consider the conditions throughout the upper water column rather than at a single depth. We claim that such a depth-integrated approach is more adequate for surface temperature comparison purposes in a situation where the upper ocean structure in the past was different from the present-day. In this case, the depth-integrated interpretation of the proxy data strongly improves the agreement between modelled and reconstructed temperature signal with the subsurface summer warming being recorded by both model and proxies, with a small shift to the south in the model results. The mechanisms responsible for the peculiar subsurface pattern are found to be a combination of enhanced downwelling and wind mixing due to strengthened Etesian winds, and enhanced thermal forcing due to the stronger summer insolation in the Northern Hemisphere. Together, these processes induce a stronger heat transfer from the surface to the subsurface during late summer in the western Levantine; this leads to an enhanced heat piracy in this region, a process never identified before, but potentially characteristic of time slices with enhanced insolation.

An oceanography summer school in Ghana, West Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arbic, B. K.; Ansong, J. K.; Johnson, W.; Nyadjro, E. S.; Nyarko, E.

2016-02-01

Because oceanography is a global science, it clearly benefits from the existence of a world-wide network of oceanographers. As with most STEM disciplines, sub-Saharan Africa is not as well represented in the field of oceanography as it should be, given its large population. The need for oceanographers in sub-Saharan Africa is great, due to a long list of ocean-related issues affecting African development, including but not limited to fishing, oil drilling, sea level rise, coastal erosion, shipping, and piracy. We view this as an opportunity as well as a challenge. Many of the world's fastest growing economies are in sub-Saharan Africa, and STEM capacity building could further fuel this growth. With support from the US National Science Foundation, we ran an oceanography summer school from August 24-27, 2015, at the Regional Maritime University (RMU) in Ghana, West Africa. This first summer school was lecture-based, with a focus on basic chemical oceanography, basic physical oceanography, ocean modeling, and satellite oceanography. About 35 participants came to almost every lecture, and about 20 other participants came to some of the lectures as their time permitted. The participants included RMU faculty, 12 students from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, one Associate Oceanographer from the University of Ghana, and some participants from private sector companies and Ghanaian governmental agencies. There were long and lively discussions at the end of each lecture, and there was a lengthy discussion at the conclusion of the school on how to improve future summer schools. In 2016 and 2017, we plan to divide into smaller groups so that participants can pursue their particular interests in greater depth, and to allow time for student presentations. We also plan to begin exploring the potential for research partnerships, and to utilize distance learning to involve more faculty and students from locations throughout Ghana and perhaps from even other countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Canyon incision chronology based on ignimbrite stratigraphy and cut-and-fill sediment sequences in SW Peru documents intermittent uplift of the western Central Andes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thouret, Jean-Claude; Gunnell, Yanni; Jicha, Brian R.; Paquette, Jean-Louis; Braucher, Régis

2017-12-01

Based on an 40Ar/39Ar- and U/Pb-based chronostratigraphy of ignimbrite sheets and the geomorphological features of watersheds, river profiles and slope deposits in the Ocoña-Cotahuasi-Marán (OCM) and Colca valleys of southwest Peru, we reconstruct the valley incision history of the western Central Andes over the last c. 25 Myr. We further document the Pleistocene and Holocene evolution of deep valleys on the basis of 14 10Be surface-exposure ages obtained on debris-avalanche deposits and river straths. The data suggest that uplift was gradual over the past 25 Myr, but accelerated after c. 9 Ma. Valley incision started around 11-9 Ma and accelerated between 5 and 4 Ma. Incision was followed by several pulses of valley cut-and-fill after 2.3 Ma. Evidence presented suggest that the post-5 Ma sequence of accelerated canyon incision probably resulted from a combination of drainage piracy from the Cordilleran drainage divide towards the Altiplano, accentuated flexural tilting of the Western Cordillera towards the SE, and increased rainfall on the Altiplano after late Miocene uplift of the Eastern Cordillera. The valley deepening and slope steepening driven by tectonic uplift gave rise to large occurrences of rockslope failure. The collapsed rock masses periodically obstructed the canyons, thus causing abrupt changes in local base levels and interfering with the steadiness of fluvial incision. As a result, channel aggradation has prevailed in the lower-gradient, U-shaped Pacific-rim canyons, whereas re-incision through landslide deposits has occurred more rapidly across the steeper V-shaped, upper valleys. Existing canyon knickpoints are currently arrested at the boundary between the plutonic bedrock and widespread outcrops of middle Miocene ignimbritic caprock, where groundwater sapping favouring rock collapse may be the dominant process driving headward erosion.

Piracy of PGE2/EP receptor mediated signaling by Kaposi’s sarcoma associated herpes virus (KSHV/HHV-8) for latency gene expression: Strategy of a successful pathogen

PubMed Central

Paul, Arun George; Sharma-Walia, Neelam; Kerur, Nagaraj; White, Carl; Chandran, Bala

2010-01-01

KSHV is implicated in the pathogenesis of KS, a chronic inflammation associated malignancy. COX-2 and its metabolite PGE2, two pivotal proinflammatory/oncogeneic molecules, are proposed to play roles in the expression of major KSHV latency associated nuclear antigen-1 (LANA-1). Microsomal prostaglandin E2 synthase (mPGES), PGE2 and its receptors (EP1, EP2, EP3, and EP4) were detected in KS lesions with the distinct staining of EP2/EP4 in KS lesions. In latently infected endothelial TIVE-LTC cells, EP receptor antagonists down-regulated LANA-1 expression as well as Ca2+, p-Src, p-PI3K, p-PKCζ/λ, and p-NF-κB, which are also some of the signal molecules proposed to be important in KS pathogenesis. Exogenous PGE2 and EP receptor agonists induced the LANA-1 promoter in 293 cells, and YY1, Sp1, Oct-1, Oct-6, C/EBP and c-Jun transcription factors appear to be involved in this induction. PGE2/EP receptor induced LANA-1 promoter activity was down-regulated significantly by the inhibition of Ca2+, p-Src, p-PI3K, p-PKCζ/λ, and p-NF-κB. These findings implicate the inflammatory PGE2/EP receptors and the associated signal molecules in herpes virus latency and uncover a novel paradigm that demonstrates the evolution of KSHV genome plasticity to utilize inflammatory response for its survival advantage of maintaining latent gene expression. This data also suggests that potential use of anti-COX-2 and anti-EP receptor therapy may not only ameliorate the chronic inflammation associated with KS but could also lead to elimination of the KSHV latent infection and the associated KS lesions. PMID:20388794

Fault-sourced alluvial fans and their interaction with axial fluvial drainage: An example from the Plio-Pleistocene Upper Valdarno Basin (Tuscany, Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fidolini, Francesco; Ghinassi, Massimiliano; Aldinucci, Mauro; Billi, Paolo; Boaga, Jacopo; Deiana, Rita; Brivio, Lara

2013-05-01

The present study deals with the fault-sourced, alluvial-fan deposits of the Plio-Pleistocene Upper Valdarno Basin (Northern Apennines, Italy). Different phases of alluvial fan aggradation, progradation and backstep are discussed as possible effects of the interaction among fault-generated accommodation space, sediment supply and discharge variations affecting the axial fluvial drainage. The Upper Valdarno Basin, located about 35 km SE of Florence, is filled with 550 m palustrine, lacustrine and alluvial deposits forming four main unconformity-bounded units (i.e. synthems). The study alluvial-fan deposits belong to the two uppermost synthems (Montevarchi and Torrente Ciuffenna synthems) and are Early to Middle Pleistocene in age. These deposits are sourced from the fault-bounded, NE margin of the basin and interfinger with axial fluvial deposits. Alluvial fan deposits of the Montevarchi Synthem consist of three main intervals: i) a lower interval, which lacks any evidence of a depositional trend and testify balance between the subsidence rate (i.e. fault activity) and the amount of sediment provided from the margin; ii) a coarsening-upward middle interval, pointing to a decrease in subsidence rate associated with an augment in sediment supply; iii) a fining-upward, upper interval (locally preserved), documenting a phase of tectonic quiescence associated with a progressive re-equilibration of the tectonically-induced morphological profile. The basin-scale unconformity, which separates the Montevarchi and Torrente Ciuffenna synthems was due to the entrance of the Arno River into the basin as consequence of a piracy. This event caused a dramatic increase in water discharge of the axial fluvial system, and its consequent embanking. Such an erosional surface started to develop in the axial areas, and propagated along the main tributaries, triggering erosion of the alluvial fan deposits. Alluvial-fan deposits of the Torrente Ciuffenna Synthem accumulated above the unconformity during a phase of tectonic quiescence, and show a fining-upward depositional trend. This trend was generated by a progressive decrease in sediment supply stemming out from upstream migration of the knickpoints developed during the embanking of the axial system.

Application of year-round atmospheric transmission data, collected with the MSRT multiband transmissometer during the FATMOSE trial in the False Bay area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Jong, Arie N.; van Eijk, Alexander M. J.; Cohen, Leo H.; Fritz, Peter J.; Gunter, Willem H.; Vrahimis, George; October, Faith J.

2011-09-01

The FATMOSE trial (False Bay Atmospheric Experiment) is a continuation of the cooperative work between TNO and IMT on atmospheric propagation and point target detection and identification in a maritime environment, South Africa). The atmospheric transmission, being of major importance for target detection, was measured with the MSRT multiband optical/IR transmissometer over a path of 15.7 km over sea. Simultaneously a set of instruments was installed on a midpath lighthouse for collection of local meteorological data, including turbulence, scintillation, sea surface temperature and visibility. The multiband transmission data allow the retrieval of the size distribution (PSD) of the particles (aerosols) in the transmission path. The retrieved PSD's can be correlated with the weather data such as windspeed, wind direction, relative humidity and visibility. This knowledge will lead to better atmospheric propagation models. The measurement period covered nearly a full year, starting in November 2009 and ending in October 2010. The False Bay site is ideal for studies on propagation effects over sea because of the large variety of weather conditions, including high windspeed, expected from the South East with maritime air masses, as well as Northerly winds, expected to bring warm and dry air from the continent. From an operational point of view the False Bay area is interesting, being representative for the scenery around the African coast with warships in an active protecting role in the battle against piracy. The yearround transmission data are an important input for range performance calculations of electro-optical sensors against maritime targets. The data support the choice of the proper spectral band and contain statistical information about the detection ranges to be expected. In this paper details on the instrumentation will be explained as well as the methods of calibration and PSD retrieval. Data are presented for various weather conditions, showing correlations between different parameters and including statistical behaviour over the year. Examples will be shown of special conditions such as refractive gain, gravity waves and showers.

Morphotectonic Index Analysis as an Indicator of Neotectonic Segmentation of the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morrish, S.; Marshall, J. S.

2013-12-01

The Nicoya Peninsula lies within the Costa Rican forearc where the Cocos plate subducts under the Caribbean plate at ~8.5 cm/yr. Rapid plate convergence produces frequent large earthquakes (~50yr recurrence interval) and pronounced crustal deformation (0.1-2.0m/ky uplift). Seven uplifted segments have been identified in previous studies using broad geomorphic surfaces (Hare & Gardner 1984) and late Quaternary marine terraces (Marshall et al. 2010). These surfaces suggest long term net uplift and segmentation of the peninsula in response to contrasting domains of subducting seafloor (EPR, CNS-1, CNS-2). In this study, newer 10m contour digital topographic data (CENIGA- Terra Project) will be used to characterize and delineate this segmentation using morphotectonic analysis of drainage basins and correlation of fluvial terrace/ geomorphic surface elevations. The peninsula has six primary watersheds which drain into the Pacific Ocean; the Río Andamojo, Río Tabaco, Río Nosara, Río Ora, Río Bongo, and Río Ario which range in area from 200 km2 to 350 km2. The trunk rivers follow major lineaments that define morphotectonic segment boundaries and in turn their drainage basins are bisected by them. Morphometric analysis of the lower (1st and 2nd) order drainage basins will provide insight into segmented tectonic uplift and deformation by comparing values of drainage basin asymmetry, stream length gradient, and hypsometry with respect to margin segmentation and subducting seafloor domain. A general geomorphic analysis will be conducted alongside the morphometric analysis to map previously recognized (Morrish et al. 2010) but poorly characterized late Quaternary fluvial terraces. Stream capture and drainage divide migration are common processes throughout the peninsula in response to the ongoing deformation. Identification and characterization of basin piracy throughout the peninsula will provide insight into the history of landscape evolution in response to differential uplift. Conducting this morphotectonic analysis of the Nicoya Peninsula will provide further constraints on rates of segment uplift, location of segment boundaries, and advance the understanding of the long term deformation of the region in relation to subduction.

A high-resolution record of Holocene millennial-scale oscillations of surface water, foraminiferal paleoecology and sediment redox chemistry in the SE Brazilian margin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dias, B. B.; Barbosa, C. F.; Albuquerque, A. L.; Piotrowski, A. M.

2014-12-01

Holocene millennial-scale oscillations and Bond Events (Bond et al. 1997) are well reported in the North Atlantic as consequence of fresh water input and weaking of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). It has been hypothesized that the effect of weaking of AMOC would lead to warming in the South Atlantic due to "heat piracy", causing surface waters to warm and a reorganization of surface circulation. There are few reconstructions of AMOC strength in the South Atlantic, and none with a high resolution Holocene record of changes of productivity and the biological pump. We reconstruct past changes in the surface water mass hydrography, productivity, and sediment redox changes in high-resolution in the core KCF10-01B, located 128 mbsl water depth off Cabo Frio, Brazil, a location where upwelling is strongly linked to surface ocean hydrography. We use Benthic Foraminiferal Accumulation Rate (BFAR) to reconstruct productivity, which reveals a 1.3kyr cyclicity during the mid- and late-Holocene. The geochemistry of trace and rare earth elements on foraminiferal Fe-Mn oxide coatings show changes in redox-sensitive elements indicating that during periods of high productivity there were more reducing conditions in sediment porewaters, producing a Ce anomaly and reduction and re-precipitation of Mn oxides. Bond events 1-7 were identified by a productivity increase along with reducing sediment conditions which was likely caused by Brazil Current displacement offshore allowing upwelling of the nutritive bottom water South Atlantic Central Waters (SACW) to the euphotic zone and a stronger local biological pump. In a global context, correlation with other records show that this occurred during weakened AMOC and southward displacement of the ITCZ. We conclude that Bond climatic events and millennial-scale variability of AMOC caused sea surface hydrographic changes off the Brazilian Margin leading to biological and geochemical changes recorded in coastal records. The 8.2kyr climatic event is reported here for the first time in South American coastal sediment records as high productivity conditions and a rapid change in porewater redox chemistry.

Active tectonic deformation along rejuvenated faults in tropical Borneo: Inferences obtained from tectono-geomorphic evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mathew, Manoj Joseph; Menier, David; Siddiqui, Numair; Kumar, Shashi Gaurav; Authemayou, Christine

2016-08-01

The island of Borneo is enveloped by tropical rainforests and hostile terrain characterized by high denudation rates. Owing to such conditions, studies pertaining to neotectonics and consequent geomorphic expressions with regard to surface processes and landscape evolution are inadequately constrained. Here we demonstrate the first systematic tectono-geomorphic evaluation of north Borneo through quantitative and qualitative morphotectonic analysis at sub-catchment scale, for two large drainage basins located in Sarawak: the Rajang and Baram basins. The extraction of morphometric parameters utilizing digital elevation models arranged within a GIS environment focuses on hypsometric curve analysis, distribution of hypsometric integrals through spatial autocorrelation statistics, relative uplift values, the asymmetry factor and the normalized channel steepness index. Hypsometric analysis suggests a young topography adjusting to changes in tectonic boundary conditions. Autocorrelation statistics show clusters of high values of hypsometric integrals as prominent hotspots that are associated with less eroded, young topography situated in the fold and thrust belts of the Interior Highlands of Borneo. High channel steepness and gradients (> 200 m0.9) are observed in zones corresponding to the hotspots. Relative uplift values reveal the presence of tectonically uplifted blocks together with relatively subsided or lesser uplifted zones along known faults. Sub-catchments of both basins display asymmetry indicating tectonic tilting. Stream longitudinal profiles demonstrate the presence of anomalies in the form of knickzones without apparent lithological controls along their channel reaches. Surfaces represented by cold spots of low HI values and low channel gradients observed in the high elevation headwaters of both basins are linked to isolated erosional planation surfaces that could be remnants of piracy processes. The implication of our results is that Borneo experiences active folding of the Rajang Group fold-thrust belt to present and these events reactivated old major faults and minor related dislocations. From geomorphic analysis associated with sedimentary record, we posit that the terrain could have undergone high uplift rates since 5 Ma or multi-phased uplift with periodic intermittent pulses of high and low uplift rates.

Uplift of the Eastern Cordillera, Colombia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Siravo, Gaia; Faccenna, Claudio; Giuditta Fellin, Maria; Molin, Paola; Bayona, German; Giachetta, Emanuele

2017-04-01

The Eastern Cordillera (EC) of Colombia is a double-vergent thrust and fold belt formed during the Cenozoic by the inversion of a Mesozoic rift. It is located 400 km far from the trench where the Nazca slab subducts below the South American plate. Tomography and seismicity highlight the presence of a flat slab subduction north of 5° N. Our goal is to explore the relation between surface and crustal processes in the topography growth of the EC north of 6° N. To reach this aim we integrate data derived from the fluvial network analysis with long-term erosion data derived from thermochronology. The northern EC is an asymmetric chain with a gentle flank on the western side and steep flank to the east. The two sides are separated by the maximum elevation of 5000 m reached at the Cocuy Sierra. Here the EC has the widest width ( 200 km) and changes northward to the Santander Massif Range. We obtained new low-T (U-Th)/He ages on zircons (ZHe) and apatites (AHe) from samples collected along two transects. Our ages combined with previous data indicate that along both transects exhumation occurred from shallow burial depths (≤ 6-8 km) during the Oligo-Miocene and locally continued until the Pliocene. Along the transect across the central part of the EC up to the Cocuy Sierra, the youngest Pliocene ages (AHe) are located at the highest elevations above 4000 m. Along the second transect the youngest ages are found close to and east of a main strike-slip structure (Bucaramanga fault). This fault has a significant dip-slip component evidenced by an offset of about 10 Ma among the AHe ages across the fault. The main rivers draining the northern EC flow parallel to the main tectonic structures and locally cut across them. The analysis of river longitudinal profiles reveal transient features such as knickpoint not related to lithological or structural contrast. Channel slope and chi analysis suggest a river capture event possibly influenced by the crustal structures. Wind gaps with matching Pleistocene fluvial deposits in addition to river elbows appear to confirm a drainage network reorganization phase given by fluvial piracy.

Paleo-watertable definition using cave ferromanganese stromatolites and associated cave-wall notches (Sierra de Arnero, Spain)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rossi, Carlos; Villalaín, Juan J.; Lozano, Rafael P.; Hellstrom, John

2016-05-01

The steeply-dipping-dolostone-hosted caves of the Sierra de Arnero (N Spain) contain low-gradient relict canyons with up to ten mapped levels of ferromanganese stromatolites and associated wall notches over a vertical range of 85 m, the highest occurring 460 m above base level. Despite a plausible speleogenetic contribution by pyrite oxidation, and the irregular cave-wall mesomorphologies suggestive of hypogenic speleogenesis, the Arnero relict caves are dominantly epigenic, as indicated by the conduit pattern and the abundant allogenic sediments. Allogenic input declined over time due to a piracy-related decrease in the drainage area of allogenic streams, explaining the large size of the relict Arnero caves relative to the limited present-day outcrop area of the karstified carbonates. Allogenic-sediment input also explains the observed change from watertable canyons to phreatic conduits in the paleo-downstream direction. Stromatolites and notches arguably formed in cave-stream passages at the watertable. The best-defined paleo-watertables show an overall slope of 1.7°, consistent with the present-day relief of the watertable, with higher-slope segments caused by barriers related to sulfide mineralization. The formation of watertable stromatolites favored wall notching by the combined effect of enhanced acidity by Mn-Fe oxidation and shielding of cave floors against erosion. Abrasive bedload further contributed to notch formation by promoting lateral mechanical erosion and protecting passage floors. The irregular wallrock erosional forms of Arnero caves are related partly to paragenesis and partly to the porous nature of the host dolostones, which favored irregular dissolution near passage walls, generating friable halos. Subsequent mechanical erosion contributed to generate spongework patterns. The dolostone porosity also contributes to explain the paradox that virtually all Arnero caves are developed in dolostone despite being less soluble than adjacent limestone. U-series dating of carbonate speleothems and paleomagnetic data from ferromanganese stromatolites and clastic sediments indicate that the paleo-watertables recorded 320 m above the present-day watertable formed during the Matuyama Chron but prior to 1.5 Ma, implying long-term base-level-lowering rates from 125 to 213 m/Ma. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt of paleomagnetic dating of cave ferromanganese stromatolites. These deposits are excellent geomagnetic recorders and offer a direct way to delineate and date paleo-watertables, especially in caves developed in dolostone.

Analysis of the deconstruction of Dyke Marsh, George Washington Memorial Parkway, Virginia-Progression, geologic and manmade causes, and effective restoration scenarios

USGS Publications Warehouse

Litwin, Ronald J.; Smoot, Joseph P.; Pavich, Milan J.; Markewich, Helaine W.; Oberg, Erik; Helwig, Ben; Steury, Brent; Santucci, Vincent L.; Durika, Nancy J.; Rybicki, Nancy B.; Engelhardt, Katharina M.; Sanders, Geoffrey; Verardo, Stacey; Elmore, Andrew J.; Gilmer, Joseph

2011-01-01

Photoanalysis of time-sequence aerial photographs of Dyke Marsh enabled us to calculate shoreline erosion estimates for this marsh over 19 years (1987-2006), as well as to quantify overall marsh acreage for 6 calendar years spanning an ~70 year interval (1937-2006). Photo overlay of a historic map enabled us to extend our whole-marsh acreage calculations back to 1883. Both sets of analyses were part of a geologic framework study in support of current efforts by the National Park Service (NPS) to restore this urban wetland. Two time intervals were selected for our shoreline erosion analyses, based on image quality and availability: 1987 to 2002, and 2002 to 2006. The more recent time interval shows a marked increase in erosion in the southern part of Dyke Marsh, following a wave-induced breach of a small peninsula that had protected its southern shoreline. Field observations and analyses of annual aerial imagery between 1987 and 2006 revealed a progressive increase in wave-induced erosion that presently is deconstructing Hog Island Gut, the last significant tidal creek network within the Dyke Marsh. These photo analyses documented an overall average westward shoreline loss of 6.0 to 7.8 linear feet per year along the Potomac River during this 19-year time interval. Additionally, photographic evidence documented that lateral erosion now is capturing existing higher order tributaries in the Hog Island Gut. Wave-driven stream piracy is fragmenting the remaining marsh habitat, and therefore its connectivity, relatively rapidly, causing the effective mouth of the Hog Island Gut tidal network to retreat headward visibly over the past several decades. Based on our estimates of total marsh area in the Dyke Marsh derived from 1987 aerial imagery, as much as 12 percent of the central part of the marsh has eroded in the 19 year period we studied (or ~7.5 percent of the original ~78.8 acres of 1987 marshland). Shoreline loss estimates for marsh parcels north and south of our study area have not yet been analyzed, although annual aerial photos from 1987 to 2002 confirm visible progressive shoreline loss in those areas over this same time interval.

Implications of drainage rearrangement for passive margin escarpment evolution in southern Brazil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Sordi, Michael Vinicius; Salgado, André Augusto Rodrigues; Siame, Lionel; Bourlès, Didier; Paisani, Julio Cesar; Léanni, Laëtitia; Braucher, Régis; Do Couto, Edivando Vítor; Aster Team

2018-04-01

Although several authors have pointed out the importance of earth surface process to passive margin escarpments relief evolution and even drainage rearrangements, the dynamics of a consolidated capture area (after a drainage network erodes the escarpment, as the one from the Itajaí-Açu River) remain poorly understood. Here, results are presented from radar elevation and aerial imagery data coupled with in-situ-produced 10Be concentrations measured in sand-sized river-born sediments from the Serra Geral escarpment, southern Brazil. The Studied area's relief evolution is captained by the drainage network: while the Itajaí-Açu watershed relief is the most dissected and lowest in elevation, it is significantly less dissected in the intermediate elevation Iguaçu catchment, an important Paraná River tributary. These less dissected and topographically higher areas belong to the Uruguai River catchment. These differences are conditioned by (i) different lithology compositions, structures and genesis; (ii) different morphological configurations, notably slope, range, relief; and (iii) different regional base levels. Along the Serra Geral escarpment, drainage features such as elbows, underfitted valleys, river profile anomalies, and contrasts in mapped χ-values are evidence of the rearrangement process, mainly beheading, where ocean-facing tributaries of the Itajaí-Açu River capture the inland catchments (Iguaçu and Uruguai). The 10Be derived denudation rates reinforced such processes: while samples from the Caçador and Araucárias Plateaus yield weighted means of 3.1 ± 0.2 and 6.5 ± 0.4 m/Ma respectively, samples from along the escarpment yield a weighted mean of 46.8 ± 3.6 m/Ma, almost 8 times higher. Such significant denudation rate differences are explained by base-level control, relief characteristics, and the geology framework. The main regional morphological evolutionary mechanism is headward denudation and piracy by the Itajaí-Açu River tributaries. As the escarpment moves from east to west, Itajaí-Açu River tributaries develop, leading to regional relief lowering and area losses within the Iguaçu and Uruguai catchments. Such processes were accelerated since Itajaí-Açu tributaries reached into sedimentary and volcanic rocks. From this moment on, Serra Geral became the main hydrographic divide between the ocean- and inland facing-catchments in the area.

Response of the St. Joseph River to lake level changes during the last 12,000 years in the Lake Michigan basin

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kincare, K.A.

2007-01-01

The water level of the Lake Michigan basin is currently 177 m above sea level. Around 9,800 14C years B.P., the lake level in the Lake Michigan basin had dropped to its lowest level in prehistory, about 70 m above sea level. This low level (Lake Chippewa) had profound effects on the rivers flowing directly into the basin. Recent studies of the St. Joseph River indicate that the extreme low lake level rejuvenated the river, causing massive incision of up to 43 m in a valley no more than 1.6 km wide. The incision is seen 25 km upstream of the present shoreline. As lake level rose from the Chippewa low, the St. Joseph River lost competence and its estuary migrated back upstream. Floodplain and channel sediments partially refilled the recently excavated valley leaving a distinctly non-classical morphology of steep sides with a broad, flat bottom. The valley walls of the lower St. Joseph River are 12-18 m tall and borings reveal up to 30 m of infill sediment below the modern floodplain. About 3 ?? 108 m3 of sediment was removed from the St. Joseph River valley during the Chippewa phase lowstand, a massive volume, some of which likely resides in a lowstand delta approximately 30 km off-shore in Lake Michigan. The active floodplain below Niles, Michigan, is inset into an upper terrace and delta graded to the Calumet level (189 m) of Lake Chicago. In the lower portion of the terrace stratigraphy a 1.5-2.0 m thick section of clast-supported gravel marks the entry of the main St. Joseph River drainage above South Bend, Indiana, into the Lake Michigan basin. This gravel layer represents the consolidation of drainage that probably occurred during final melting out of ice-marginal kettle chains allowing stream piracy to proceed between Niles and South Bend. It is unlikely that the St. Joseph River is palimpsest upon a bedrock valley. The landform it cuts across is a glaciofluvial-deltaic feature rather than a classic unsorted moraine that would drape over pre-glacial topography. ?? 2006 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

Drainage and Landscape Evolution in the Bighorn Basin Accompanying Advection of the Yellowstone Hotspot Swell Through North America

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guerrero, E. F.; Meigs, A.

2012-12-01

Mantle plumes have been recognized to express themselves on the surface as long wavelength and low amplitude topographic swells. These swells are measured as positive geoid anomalies and include shorter wavelength topographic features such as volcanic edifices and pre-exisitng topography. Advection of the topographic swell is expected as the lithosphere passes over the plume uplift source. The hot spot swell occurs in the landscape as transient signal that is expressed with waxing and waning topography. Waxing topography occurs at the leading edge of the swell and is expressed as an increase in rock uplift that is preserved by rivers and landscapes. Advection of topography predicts a shift in a basin from deposition to incision, an increase in convexity of a transverse river's long profile and a lateral river migration in the direction of advection. The Yellowstone region has a strong positive geoid anomaly and the volcanic signal, which have been interpreted as the longer and shorter wavelength topographic expressions of the hot spot. These expressions of the hot spot developed in a part of North America with a compounded deformation and topographic history. Previous studies of the Yellowstone topographic swell have concentrated on the waning or trailing signal preserved in the Snake River Plain. Our project revisits the classic geomorphology study area in the Bighorn Basin of Wyoming and Montana, which is in leading edge of the swell. Present models identify the swell as having a 400 km in diameter and that it is centered on the Yellowstone caldera. If we assume advection to occur in concert with the caldera eruptive track, the Yellowstone swell has migrated to the northeast at a rate of 3 cm yr-1 and began acting on the Bighorn Basin's landscape between 3 and 2 Ma. The Bighorn Basin has an established history of a basin-wide switch from deposition to incision during the late Pliocene, yet the age control on the erosional evolution of the region is relative. This basin is an ideal location to quantify long wavelength dynamic topography due to its low relief. Long river profiles streams that are transverse to the topographic swell in the basin suggest a transient advective signal preserved as profile knickpoints. Abandoned strath terraces, stream piracy, drainage reorganization, and lateral channel migration within the Bighorn Basin are all consistent indicators of the advection of a topographic swell. However, the lack of a high-resolution absolute age chronology precludes us from attributing the primary landscape and drainage forcing to climate change or dynamic topography. Our future work will focus on the timing of geomorphic and river profile evolution to disentangle competing effects of topographic advection, climate, and other factors.

United Arab Emirates.

PubMed

1985-02-01

This discussion of the United Arab Emirates focuses on the following: the people; geography; history; government; political conditions; defense; the economy; foreign relations; and relations between the US and the United Arab Emirates. In 1983 the population was estimated at 1,194,000. In 1984 the annual growth rate was negative. Life expectancy is about 60 years. Fewer than 20% of the population are UAE citizens. Indigenous Emiris are Arab; the rest of the population includes significant numbers of other Arabs -- Palestinians, Egyptians, Jordanians, Yemenis, Omanis, as well as many Iranians, Pakistanis, Indians, and West Europeans, especially in Dubai. The UAE is in the eastern Arabian Peninsula, bounded on the north by the Persian Gulf. European and Arab pirates roamed the Trucial Coast area from the 17th century into the 19th century. Early British expeditions against the pirates led to further campaigns against their headquarters. Piracy continued intermittently until 1835, when the shaikhs agreed not to engage in hostilities at sea. Primarily in reaction to the ambitions of other European countries, the UK and the Trucial States established closer bonds in an 1892 treaty. In 1968 the British government announced its decision, reaffirmed in March 1971, to end the treaty relationship with the gulf shaikhdoms. When the British protective treaty with the Trucial Shaikhdoms ended on December 1, they became fully independent. On December 2, 1971, 6 of them entered into a union called the United Arab Emirates. The 7th, Ras al-Khaimah, joined in early 1972. Administratively, the UAE is a loose federation of 7 emirates, each with its own ruler. The pace at which local government in each emirate is evolving, from traditional to modern, is set primarily by the ruler. Under the provisional constitution of 1971, each emirate reserves considerable powers, including control over mineral rights, taxation, and police powers. In this milieu, the growth of federal powers has developed slowly. Since achieving independence in 1971, the UAE has begun to strengthen its federal institutions. The UAE has no political parties. Prior to oil production, the UAE economy was dominated by fishing, agriculture, and herding. Since the rise of oil prices in 1973, petroleum has dominated the economy, accounting for almost all of its export earnings and providing significant opportunities for productive investment. The UAE has huge proven oil reserves estimated at 32.4 billion barrels and gas reserves of 810 million cubic meters. As in most of the oil-rich Persian Gulf, the 1974-77 boom in the UAE has ended. For some years the US has enjoyed friend, informal relations with the Trucial Shaikhdoms, a relationship built on important and mutually advantageous private US contacts in the area.

Geodiversity, geoheritage and cultural landscape: an example from the Messinian geosites of the Piemonte region (NW-Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giordano, Enrico; Natalicchio, Marcello; Ghiraldi, Luca; Lozar, Francesca; Dela Pierre, Francesco; Giardino, Marco

2015-04-01

The Piemonte region (NW-Italy) contains a remarkable diversity of landscapes, some of them included in and protected by the World Heritage list, as well as some recently proposed geosites which testify the dramatic paleoevironmental, paleobiological and paleoclimatic event that occurred in the Mediterranean area around 6 Ma ago during the so-called Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC). However the link between landform, geodiversity, geoheritage, and cultural landscape has not yet fully explored. The aims of this study, promoted by the multidisciplinary research project 'PROGEO-Piemonte' (PROactive management of GEOlogical heritage in the Piemonte region), are: 1) to analyse the link between geosites and recent landscape modification, 2) to reconstruct the landscape evolution and, through geotourism, 3) to promote geological knowledge in an area with great potential for tourism. The study area is located in the SE part of the Cuneo plain, at the foot of the Langhe hills, where heterogeneous landforms, mainly related to the Tanaro river piracy, are observed. The sediments recording the MSC event, mostly consisting of thick gypsum layers, have been recently studied by a multidisciplinary approach and the results allowed the detailed reconstruction of the MSC evolution in this region. Two maps have been produced to disseminate the geodiversity knowledge (the geological - landscape map) and to promote geotourism fruition (the geotouristic map). The geological - landscape map deals with different geological and geomorphologic issues thanks to illustrations of the main features of the Messinian deposits, their depositional environments and the exposed landforms. To underline the high geodiversity of the area, it has been divided into several geomorphologic sectors based of their characteristic landforms and evolution. In each of these sectors, geosites have been identified to clarify the comprehension of the related topics at the widest public: particularly, the geosites help to reconstruct the stages of the MSC and to understand the implication of fast environmental changes on the living beings. The geotouristic map describes the geological and geomorphologic features with a simpler language and shorter form than the previous one. Trails, viewpoints and museums are reported on the map to facilitate the comprehension of the landscape and to create a link between scientific issues and human activities (i.e. use of gypsum in the building industry). Moreover the geomorphologic analysis of the present landscape allows to decipher its recent evolution and to evaluate the risks connected with the tourist fruition, thus improving the potential safe use of anthropogenic landforms for geo-environmental education. Here the MSC is dealt with through the stages of scientific discoveries that led to the formulation of the current theories. In conclusion, the produced maps may help both to improve people knowledge and awareness on environmental modification and past climate variability and to address the crucial question whether they could happen again in the future.

A conceptual model for the development of pristine drainage systems during exhumation of metamorphic core complexes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trost, Georg; Neubauer, Franz; Robl, Jörg

2017-04-01

Metamorphic core complexes (MCCs) are defined as large scale geological features of domal shape. The essential characteristic comprises metamorphic rocks, which have been exhumed from lower crustal levels and now are exposed to the surface. The updoming process occurs at different tectonic settings of high strain zones initially exposing pristine gently dipping fault planes to Earth's surface. Consequently, the dome shape highly influences the type of adaption of the drainage systems to the active landforms. However, drainage systems and their characteristic metrics in regions shaped by MCCs have only been sparsely investigated and were not examined regarding the distinction between different MCC-types (A-type, B-type, C-type). In this study we investigate the drainage patterns of MCCs formed by different tectonic settings and build up a conceptual model for the development of the drainage systems under these conditions. We apply the χ-method to detect variations in uplift, as well as spatial unconformities in the drainage patterns. The χ-method is a mathematical approach to transform stream longitudinal profiles to the χ space where the slope of steady state profiles is solely dependent on uplift rate and bedrock erodibility. From this transformation we calculate color-coded χ-maps and χ-profiles of the main streams draining the MCCs. The applied method allows the interpretation of channel metrics in terms of (a) spatial gradients in uplift rate and (b) the time dependent evolution of drainage divides including drainage divide migration. Our results show a high variation in the shape and greatest elevation of the χ-profiles. This indicates the migration of active uplift zones along the dome axes. Even though only MCCs younger than Miocene age are investigated, the shape of the χ-profiles clearly points to different development stages of these areas. K-profiles plotted over the detachment underlying an active updoming process show concave shaped χ-profiles. In contrast, χ-profiles plotted over the detachments coined by long-term erosional processes tend to preserve prominent knickpoints in linearly proceeding profiles. Additionally, the migration of the watersheds indicates lateral extension of the domes, potentially influenced by rolling hinges. MCCs subjected to active uplift show proceeding stream piracy of streams following tectonically induced lineaments. Drainage systems have systematically deflected streams at the edges of the dome structures. The deflections can be especially observed at A-type domes (dome axis oriented parallel to the direction of extension). We conclude that our observations can be explained by the Rolling-Hinge model for MCC-formation. This model is applicable for all types of MCCs and gives the mechanical basis for the updoming process and such for the first stages of drainage development. Some of the observed features are dedicated to ongoing erosional processes and hence represent later phases of MCC development.

Centimeter-scale surface deformation caused by the 2011 Mineral, Virginia, earthquake sequence at the Carter farm site—Subsidiary structures with a quaternary history

USGS Publications Warehouse

Harrison, Richard W.; Schindler, J. Stephen; Pavich, Milan J.; Horton, J. Wright; Carter, Mark W.

2016-08-25

Centimeter-scale ground-surface deformation was produced by the August 23, 2011, magnitude (M) 5.8 earthquake that occurred in Mineral, Virginia. Ground-surface deformation also resulted from the earthquake aftershock sequence. This deformation occurred along a linear northeast-trend near Pendleton, Virginia. It is approximately 10 kilometers (km) northeast of the M5.8 epicenter and near the northeastern periphery of the epicentral area as defined by aftershocks. The ground-surface deformation extends over a distance of approximately 1.4 km and consists of parallel, small-scale (a few centimeters (cm) in amplitude) linear ridges and swales. Individual ridge and swale features are discontinuous and vary in length across a zone that ranges from about 20 meters (m) to less than 5 m in width. At one location, three fence posts and adjoining rails were vertically misaligned. Approximately 5 cm of uplift on one post provides a maximum estimate of vertical change from pre-earthquake conditions along the ridge and swale features. There was no change in the alignment of fence posts, indicating that deformation was entirely vertical. A broad monoclinal flexure with approximately 1 m of relief was identified by transit survey across surface deformation at the Carter farm site. There, surface deformation overlies the Carter farm fault, which is a zone of brittle faulting and fracturing along quartz veins, striking N40°E and dipping approximately 75°SE. Brecciation and shearing along this fault is interpreted as Quaternary in age because it disrupts the modern B-soil horizon. However, deformation is confined to saprolitized schist of the Ordovician Quantico Formation and the lowermost portion of overlying residuum, and is absent in the uppermost residuum and colluvial layer at the ground surface. Because there is a lack of surface shearing and very low relief, landslide processes were not a causative mechanism for the surface deformation. Two possible tectonic models and one non-tectonic model are considered: (1) tectonic, monoclinal flexuring along the Carter farm fault, probably aseismic, (2) tectonic, monoclinal flexuring related to a shallow (1–3 km) cluster of aftershocks (M2 to M3) that occurred approximately 1 to 1.5 km to the east of Carter farm, and (3) non-tectonic, differential response to seismic shaking between more-rigid quartz veins and soft residuum-saprolite under vertical motions that were created by Rayleigh surface waves radiating away from the August 23, 2011, hypocenter and propagating along strike of the Carter farm fault. These processes are not considered mutually exclusive, and all three support brittle deformation on the Carter farm fault during the Quaternary. In addition, abandoned stream valleys and active stream piracy are consistent with long-term uplift in vicinity of the Carter farm fault.

Quaternary landscape evolution of tectonically active intermontane basins: the case of the Middle Aterno River Valley (Abruzzo, Central Italy)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Falcucci, Emanuela; Gori, Stefano; Della Seta, Marta; Fubelli, Giandomenico; Fredi, Paola

2014-05-01

The Middle Aterno River Valley is characterised by different Quaternary tectonic depressions localised along the present course of the Aterno River (Central Apennine) .This valley includes the L'Aquila and Paganica-Castelnuovo-San Demetrio tectonic basins, to the North, the Middle Aterno Valley and the Subequana tectonic basin, to the South. The aim of this contribution is to improve the knowledge about the Quaternary geomorphological and tectonic evolution of this portion of the Apennine chain. A synchronous lacustrine depositional phase is recognized in all these basins and attributed to the Early Pleistocene by Falcucci et al. (2012). At that time, this sector of the chain showed four distinct closed basins, hydrologically separated from each other and from the Sulmona depression. This depression, actually a tectonic basin too, was localized South of the Middle Aterno River Valley and it was drained by an endorheic hydrographic network. The formation of these basins was due to the activity of different fault systems, namely the Upper Aterno River Valley-Paganica system and San Pio delle Camere fault, to the North, and the Middle Aterno River Valley-Subequana Valley fault system to the South. These tectonic structures were responsible for the origin of local depocentres inside the depressions which hosted the lacustrine basins. Ongoing surveys in the uppermost sectors of the Middle Aterno River Valley revealed the presence of sub-horizontal erosional surfaces that are carved onto the carbonate bedrock and suspended several hundreds of metres over the present thalweg. Gently dipping slope breccias referred to the Early Pleistocene rest on these surfaces, thus suggesting the presence of an ancient low-gradient landscape adjusting to the local base level.. Subsequently, this ancient low relief landscape underwent a strong erosional phase during the Middle Pleistocene. This erosional phase is testified by the occurrence of valley entrenchment and of coeval fluvial deposition within the Middle Aterno River Valley. These fluvial deposits are deeply embedded into the lacustrine sequence, thus suggesting the happening of a hydrographic connection among the originally separated tectonic depressions. This was probably due to the headward erosion by streams draining the Sulmona depression that progressively captured the hydrological networks of the Subequana basin, the Middle Aterno Valley, the L'Aquila and Paganica-Castelnuovo-San Demetrio basins to the North. Stream piracy was probably helped by an increase of the regional uplift rate, occurred between the Lower and the Middle Pleistocene. To reconstruct the paleo-landscape that characterised the early stages of these basins formation we sampled the remnants of the Quaternary erosinal/depositional surfaces and reconstructed the ancient topographic surfaces using the Topo to Raster tool of ArcGIS 10.0 package. Finally we have cross-checked the geological and geomorphological data with the model of the Middle Aterno River paleo-drainage basin obtained through the GIS based method. References Falcucci E., Scardia G., Nomade S., Gori S., Giaccio B., Guillou H., Fredi P. (2012). Geomorphological and Quaternary tectonic evolution of the Subequana basin and the Middle Aterno Valley (central Apennines).16th Joint Geomorphological Meeting Morphoevolution of Tectonically Active Belts Rome, July 1-5, 2012

Amaro-autonomous real-time detection of moving maritime objects: introducing a flight experiment for an on-board ship detection system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schwenk, Kurt; Willburger, Katharina; Pless, Sebastian

2017-10-01

Motivated by politics and economy, the monitoring of the world wide ship traffic is a field of high topicality. To detect illegal activities like piracy, illegal fishery, ocean dumping and refugee transportation is of great value. The analysis of satellite images on the ground delivers a great contribution to situation awareness. However, for many applications the up-to-dateness of the data is crucial. With ground based processing, the time between image acquisition and delivery of the data to the end user is in the range of several hours. The highest influence to the duration of ground based processing is the delay caused by the transmission of the large amount of image data from the satellite to the processing centre on the ground. One expensive solution to this issue is the usage of data relay satellites systems like EDRS. Another approach is to analyse the image data directly on-board of the satellite. Since the product data (e.g. ship position, heading, velocity, characteristics) is very small compared to the input image data, real-time connections provided by satellite telecommunication services like Iridium or Orbcomm can be used to send small packets of information directly to the end user without significant delay. The AMARO (Autonomous real-time detection of moving maritime objects) project at DLR is a feasibility study of an on-board ship detection system involving a real-time low bandwidth communication. The operation of a prototype on-board ship detection system will be demonstrated on an airborne platform. In this article, the scope, aim and design of a flight experiment for an on-board ship detection system scheduled for mid of 2018 is presented. First, the scope and the constraints of the experiment are explained in detail. The main goal is to demonstrate the operability of an automatic ship detection system on board of an airplane. For data acquisition the optical high resolution DLR MACS-MARE camera (VIS/NIR) is used. The system will be able to send product data, like position, size and a small image of the ship directly to the user's smart-phone by email. The time between the acquisition of the image data and the delivery of the product data to the end-user is aimed to be less than three minutes. For communication, the SMS-like Iridium Short Burst Data (SBD) Service was chosen, providing a message size of around 300 Bytes. Under optimal sending/receiving conditions, messages can be transmitted bidirectional every 20 seconds. Due to the very small data bandwidth, not all product data may be transmittable at once, for instance, when flying over busy ships traffic zones. Therefore the system offers two services: a query and a push service. With the query service the end user can explicitly request data of a defined location and fixed time period by posting queries in an SQL-like language. With the push service, events can be predefined and messages are received automatically, if and when the event occurs. Finally, the hardware set-up, details of the ship detection algorithms and the current status of the experiment is presented.

Earth Science knowledge and Geodiversity awareness in the Langhe area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Calorio, Matteo; Giardino, Marco; Lozar, Francesca; Perotti, Luigi; Vigna, Rossella

2017-04-01

Hills of Central Piemonte Region (Langhe, Monferrato) have a range of geological and geomorphological features that make them very attractive for both viticulture and tourism activities. Particularly, the Langhe area, located at the inner margin of the SW-Alps, is part of the Piedmont Basin (PB) a Late Eocene-Miocene succession composed by continental, shallow and deep marine deposits. Its monocline structure caused the present-day characteristic "cuestas" morphology of the Langhe hills. Quaternary evolution of river network is here characterized by the effects of the Tanaro piracy. Despite of its rich geodiversity and even if on 2014 the area has been included within the UNESCO WH, its recognition is limited to cultural heritage. In fact, a comprehensive use of Earth science knowledge in the assessment of natural heritage of this area is still lacking. As a consequence, geoheritage is under-recognized as well as endangered by both natural hazards and increased human "pressure". The geodiversity loss in the Langhe area is thus due either to human activities, i.e. high mechanization of viticulture activities in the last 30 years, particularly for new vineyards installation, or to active geomorphological processes, such as planar slide, flow, soil slips and floods. The Langhe area is in fact highly sensitive to climate change and prone to these processes. In term of "human sensitivity", several sociological surveys have shown that "perceived risk", not "real risk", influences people's behavior towards natural hazards. The same approach can be applied to geodiversity and geoheritage. Based on these assumptions, we considered the possible strategic roles played by dissemination of scientific research and application of new technologies: 1) to enhance awareness, either of geodiversity or environmental dynamics and 2) to improve knowledge, both on geoheritage management and natural risk reduction. Within the activities of the "PROGEO-Piemonte Project" we performed a systematic review of geodiversity and natural hazards information in the Piemonte Region (NW-Italy) leading to the identification of 9 strategic geothematic areas: one of these is the Langhe area . For enhancing geoheritage we propose a multidisciplinary approach based on the use of geomathic (UAV, GIS, Virtual Globes) and the diffusion of scientific knowledge on the Langhe area. We first focused on promoting and protecting the existing geosites. Their peculiar geological, geomorphological and paleontological characteristics have been described, then new geosites searched, through field activities on geological mapping. Second, we focused on the production of geothematic maps and promotional materials for locals and tourists; in this phase we proposed meeting and field trip for the promotion and discovery of geodiversity. Since the Langhe area shows important links between geology and wine, we also started analyses on geological components of terroir, first with the local producer, and then with tourists. As final results, better recognition of the economic value of geodiversity and stronger perception of both geoheritage and natural hazards have been achieved. Valuable contributions to reduce local vulnerability to natural disasters and to support a territorial integrated quality management system of geoheritage have been achieved, suitable for tourism and sustainable development.

Assessment of an in-channel redistribution technique for large woody debris management in Locust Creek, Linn County, Missouri

USGS Publications Warehouse

Heimann, David C.

2017-10-24

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Conservation and Missouri Department of Natural Resources, completed a study to assess a mechanical redistribution technique used for the management of large woody debris (LWD) jams in Locust Creek within Pershing State Park and Fountain Grove Conservation Area, Linn County, Missouri. Extensive LWD jams were treated from 1996 to 2009 using a low-impact technique in which LWD from the jams was redistributed to reopen the channel and to mimic the natural geomorphic process of channel migration and adjustment to an obstruction. The scope of the study included the comparison of selected channel geometry characteristics and bed material particle-size distribution in seven LWD treatment reaches with that of adjacent untreated reaches (unaffected by LWD accumulations) of Locust Creek. A comparison of 1996 and 2015 survey cross sections in treated and untreated reaches and photograph documentation were used to assess channel geomorphic change and the stability of redistributed LWD. The physical characteristics of LWD within jams present in the study reach during 2015–16 also were documented.Based on the general lack of differences in channel metrics between treated and untreated reaches, it can be concluded that the mechanical redistribution technique has been an effective treatment of extensive LWD jams in Locust Creek. Channel alterations, including aggradation, streamflow piracy, and diversions, have resulted in temporal and spatial changes in the Locust Creek channel that may affect future applications of the redistribution technique in Pershing State Park. The redistribution technique was used to effectively manage LWD in Locust Creek at a potentially lower financial cost and reduced environmental disturbance than the complete removal of LWD.A comparison of four channel metrics (bankfull cross-sectional area, channel width, streamflow capacity, and width-depth ratio) for individual treatment reaches with adjacent untreated reaches indicated no statistically significant difference in most comparisons. Where statistically significant differences in channel metrics were determined between individual reaches, the channel metrics in treatment reaches were significantly less than adjacent untreated reaches in some comparisons, and significantly greater than adjacent untreated reaches in others. Without immediate posttreatment cross sections in treated and untreated reaches for comparison, it is impossible to say with certainty that a lack of significant differences in channel metrics is a result of posttreatment channel adjustment or, conversely, that any significant differences that remain are a result of the treatment of LWD.Characteristics of LWD in accumulations sampled within the study area in 2015 indicate that most sampled pieces were in the 1–2 foot diameter size class, the 5–16 foot length class, and the advanced decay class. Most of documented LWD pieces were loose and not buried, about 20 percent on average had a root wad attached, and about 6.5 percent on average were sawn logs. Most of sampled material was less than one-half of the bankfull channel width, indicating it was easily transportable, and the advanced decay class of material entering the study area indicated that it was likely sourced from outside of Pershing State Park.Redistributed LWD associated with treatment seems to be intact in the 1996 treated reaches from direct observation and from inference because there was net channel aggradation between 1996 and 2015 in comparison surveys. The change in channel area resulting from aggradation in time (1996 to 2015) in treated and untreated reaches exceeded the differences in channel characteristics between the treated and untreated channels in 2015 surveys.

Biodiversity and global health—hubris, humility and the unknown

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stephens, Carolyn

2012-03-01

In November 2011, botanists on a remote island off Papua New Guinea discovered a new species of orchid—uniquely and mysteriously night-flowering [1]. New to science, and with so much more to understand, this flower is threatened by deforestation [2]. Also in November 2011, a survey of 583 conservation scientists reported a unanimous (99.5%) view that 'it is likely a serious loss of biological diversity is underway at a global extent' and that, for scientists, 'protection of biological diversity for its cultural and spiritual values and because of its usefulness to humans were low priorities, which suggests that many scientists do not fully support the utilitarian concept of ecosystem services' [3]. In terms of management, some scientists now advocate controversial conservation strategies such as triage (prioritization of species that provide unique or necessary functions to ecosystems) [4, 5]. Meanwhile, there are many scientists who contend that there is an urgent need to improve our understanding of the importance of biodiversity for human health and well-being, arguing that only an anthropocentric view of biodiversity within a paradigm 'ecosystem service' will enable decision-makers to prioritize the theme [6-9]. A 2011 UN report argues that this need for understanding is especially urgent in fragile and vulnerable ecosystems where communities depend directly on the resources of their environment [10]. Here we have a paradox: international conservation scientists think that we cannot protect biodiversity on the basis of its cultural and spiritual value, nor its usefulness to humans. Other scientists argue that using a utilitarian ecosystem services framework is the only way to get humans to protect biodiversity. Meanwhile, communities directly dependent on biodiverse ecosystems are often those who best understand and protect biodiversity, for exactly these reasons of use and spiritual connection, but they do not hold only a utilitarian view of their environment and its diversity. These communities often define their own 'health' as integrally linked to the 'health' of the ecosystem, and they see themselves as an integral part of the ecosystem [11]. It is generally accepted that the destruction of biodiverse ecosystems internationally is not by communities directly dependent on these ecosystems, but from processes such as deforestation, mining, resource extraction and biopiracy, generated by external human demand [12-16]. Rich countries and their populations are currently particularly responsible for the resource extraction that impacts negatively on biodiversity and on the well-being of local communities [17]. However, increasingly, urban populations in every country demand resources and products from biodiverse regions, and with rising urban populations this threat is likely to increase. To illustrate, we can take one example. Amazonia is one of Earth's most important biodiverse tropical moist forest ecosystems. As the Amazonian forest reaches the Andes it becomes a contiguous and equally vital ecosystem: the Yungas or Cloud Forest [18]. These two sister forests are amongst the most biodiverse ecosystems of the world, spanning several Latin American countries (including Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador), and over 7 million square kilometres [18, 19]. For millennia, across modern geopolitical boundaries, Amazonia/Yungas has been protected by over 1000 different indigenous peoples [20]. In turn, Amazonia/Yungas has provided health and spiritual well-being for indigenous peoples via food, medicines, home and culture [21]. Using a utilitarian view of the ecosystem, these forests also provide the world with some of its most important ecosystem services in terms of forest and food resources, current and potential new medicines, rainfall regulation and a global carbon sink [19, 22]. In terms of protection of these ecosystems, there is evidence that recognized 'indigenous territories' within Amazonia/Yungas are better protected, in terms of biodiversity and environmental damage, than other conservation units such as national or regional reserves [23, 24]. Yet deforestation, resource extraction and climate change threaten all parts of the Amazonia/Yungas [19, 25-28], and indigenous communities, amongst the most marginalized peoples in Latin America [29], are experiencing increasing threats to their territories, and their health and well-being [20]. Figures 1-3 show different aspects of the Andean Yungas and high mountain ecosystems of Argentina. The ecosystems are highly biodiverse. We are only beginning to understand the extent of their importance for human well-being, and these incredible forests are at risk from deforestation, mining and climate change. Figure 1 Figure 1. Rio Cochuna in Tucumán, Argentina, part of the vital and extensive river system of the Andean Yungas, home to amazing and underexplored biodiversity. By Carolyn Stephens. Figure 2 Figure 2. Argiope argentata—widespread and striking, this spider can eat twice her weight in insects and her venom is thought to have medicinal properties. By Carolyn Stephens. Figure 3 Figure 3. Humming birds may not seem to have a direct ecosystem service, but they, along with many insect species, are important pollinators of plants and trees which themselves may be directly important for human health. By Alfredo Gutierrez. It is notable that, recognizing their vital role in ecosystem understanding protection, indigenous peoples and local communities now play an important part in global policy processes, including the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) [30]. In 2011, the IUCN met with indigenous representatives and conservation organizations to discuss conservation priorities in the context of indigenous rights. IUCN agreed to review the implementation of resolutions related to indigenous peoples taken at the 4th World Conservation Congress (WCC4) in 2008, and to advance their implementation. These resolutions, along with the Durban Action Plan and the Programme of Work on Protected Areas of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), are often termed as the 'new conservation paradigm' [31]. Scientists, UN agencies, and indigenous and local communities agree that we have reached a critical time for biodiversity globally. But who will decide on the policies for protection of biodiversity? Triage may be on the agenda of pessimistic conservation scientists, but indigenous and local communities would rarely have such hubris as to assume that they have the wisdom to make triage decisions, and nor would many communities have the arrogance to think they have the right to intervene in this way in their complex ecosystems. While debates continue and biodiversity declines annually, there is a group of actors who will be crucial in decisions on our planet's future, including biodiversity and climate change. The world's population is now predominantly urban [32]. It is urban citizens who are driving the exploitation of the world's ecosystems and the model of unsustainable over-consumption [33]. It is highly likely that it is urban populations who will decide the fate of biodiversity and climate change, through their decisions about resource use and consumption [34, 35]. We demand a great deal of urban populations when we ask them to lead a sustainable future. The majority of urban citizens are trained, as are most scientists, to hold a utilitarian view of the environment. Perhaps this is the great hubris of recent human history—the assumptions of the anthropocentric view of the global ecosystem: seeing our planet only for its services or its threats, and viewing ourselves as somehow external to the integrity of the ecosystem. And our most profound arrogance is in the assumption that we understand the implications of our destruction of biodiversity for the well-being of future generations. There is much to be learnt from the indigenous and local communities who depend directly on, value spiritually, and fight for, their biodiverse ecosystems. And perhaps the most difficult thing to learn is the humility that these communities have—they do not assume that they know enough about the ecosystem to be able to decide which species the planet needs and which it does not. They do not hold a model that sees human beings as separate from their global ecosystem in all its complex biological and cultural diversity. They do not see themselves as owners of the planet, but as guardians of it for the future. 2012 will see a plethora of UN and government meetings devoted to the Rio +20 summit and its theme of a green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication. Biodiversity and climate change should be key concerns of this meeting. But it will not be global summits that protect biodiversity or reduce the emissions that produce climate change—and it will not be scientists arguing for and against the utilitarian concept of ecosystem services. The real decision-makers will be every human on the planet and their resource needs and their choices. We have some evidence of what the global population 'needs', in terms of food, water and shelter [36], but we do not know for sure what they will 'choose'. More worryingly, even if the global population chooses to change their view of the planet and their place in it, and to reduce resource consumption to sustainable levels, we do not know if we will be in time. ERL focus issue on biodiversity, human health and well-being ERL is contributing to Rio + 20 through a special issue devoted to the issues of biodiversity, human health and well-being. We particularly welcome papers from scientists and community groups working on biodiversity from the perspective of a broad understanding of health and well-being, including spiritual, cultural and intergenerational aspects; urban groups working on biodiversity and well-being; and the links of biodiversity to the green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty alleviation. References [1] Schuiteman A et al 2011 Nocturne for an unknown pollinator: first description of a night-flowering orchid (Bulbophyllum nocturnum) Bot. J. Linean Soc. 167 344-50 [2] Kinver M and Gill V 2011 Botanists discover 'remarkable' night-flowering orchid BBC News Science and Environment (www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15818662) [3] Rudd M A 2011 Scientists' opinions on the global status and management of biological diversity Conserv. Biol. 25 1165-75 [4] Bottrill M C et al 2008 Is conservation triage just smart decision making? Trends Ecol. Evol. 23 649-54 [5] Parr M J et al 2009 Why we should aim for zero extinction Trends Ecol. Evol. 24 181 Bottrill M C et al 2009 Finite conservation funds mean triage is unavoidable Trends Ecol. Evol. 24 183-4 [6] Pushpangadan P and Behl H M 2005 Environment & Biodiversity: Agenda for Future (Lucknow: International Society of Environmental Botanists) (http://isebindia.com/icpep-3/icpep3-s-2.html) [7] Alves R and Rosa I 2007 Biodiversity, traditional medicine and public health: where do they meet? J. Ethnobiol. Ethnomed. 3 14 [8] Center for Biodiversity and Conservation 1997 Biodiversity and Human Health: A Guide for Policymakers (New York: American Museum of Natural History) [9] Chivian E 1997 Global environmental degradation and biodiversity loss: implications for human health Biodiversity and Human Health ed F Grifo and J Rosenthal (Washington, DC: Island) pp 7-38 [10] UNEP-WCMC 2011 Health and Well Being of Communities Directly Dependent on Ecosystem Goods and Services: An Indicator for the Convention on Biological Diversity (Cambridge: UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre) [11] Nettleton C, Stephens C and Bristow F 2007 Utz Wachil: a study of indigenous perceptions of health and environment in five countries Ecohealth 4 461-772 [12] Jones G P et al 2004 Coral decline threatens fish biodiversity in marine reserves Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. 101 8251-3 [13] Merson J 2000 Bio-prospecting or bio-piracy: intellectual property rights and biodiversity in a colonial and postcolonial context Osiris 15 282-96 [14] Soejarto D D 1996 Biodiversity prospecting and benefit-sharing: perspectives from the field J. Ethnopharmacol. 51 1-15 [15] Foley J A et al 2007 Amazonia revealed: forest degradation and loss of ecosystem goods and services in the Amazon Basin Front. Ecol. Environ. 5 25-32 [16] King S R, Carlson T J and Moran K 1996 Biological diversity, indigenous knowledge, drug discovery and intellectual property rights: creating reciprocity and maintaining relationships J. Ethnopharmacol. 51 45-57 [17] Witzig R and Ascencios M 1999 The road to indigenous extinction: case study of resource exportation, disease importation, and human rights violations against the Urarina in the Peruvian Amazon Health Hum. Rights 4 60-81 [18] Fundacion Proyungas 2007 Bitácora de las Yungas: Bosques Nublados (Tucuman: Fundacion de las Yungas) [19] US Government 2003 Conserving Biodiversity in the Amazon Basin: Context and Opportunities for USAID (Washington, DC: USAID) [20] Montenegro R A and Stephens C 2006 Indigenous health in Latin America and the Caribbean Lancet 367 1859-69 [21] Stephens C, Nettleton C and Bristow F (ed) 2003 Utz' Wach'il: Health and Well-Being Among Indigenous Peoples (London: Health Unlimited and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) (http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/php/sehr/indigenous/docs/utzpamphlet.pdf) [22] Brown A et al 2007 Finca San Andres—Un Espacio de Cambios Ambientales y Sociales en el Alto Bermejo (Ediciones del Subtropico: Yerba Buena) [23] Ramos A and Junqueira R 2010 The contribution of indigenous people to forest conservation and recovery Everything is Connected: Climate and Biodiversity in a Fragile World ed C Foley (London: DEFRA) (http://sd.defra.gov.uk/2010/11/everything-is-connected-climate-and-biodiversity-in-a-fragile-world/) [24] Dunning E, Osti M and Pavese H 2010 The role of protected areas in mitigating climate change and conserving biodiversity Everything is Connected: Climate and Biodiversity in a Fragile World ed C Foley (London: DEFRA) pp 7-10 (http://sd.defra.gov.uk/2010/11/everything-is-connected-climate-and-biodiversity-in-a-fragile-world/) [25] Kunst C R, Bravo S and Panagatti J L (ed) 2003 Fuego en los Ecosistemas Argentinos (Santiago del Estero: Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria) [26] Miranda C P 2003 Tucumán y Los Recursos Naturales. Biodiversidad Los Recursos Silvestres, Los Ambientes Naturales y Las Areas Protegidas (Tucumán: Gobierno de La Provincia de Tucumán) [27] Redford K H, Naughton L and Ráez-Luna E F 2000 Forest wildlife and its exploitation by humans The Conservation Atlas of Tropical Forests: The Americas ed C S Harcourt and J A Sayer (New York: Simon and Schuster/IUCN) [28] Kappelle M and Brown A (ed) 2001 Bosques Nublados del Neotrópico (San Jose: Editorial INBio) [29] Hall G and Patrinos H A 2005 Indigenous Peoples, Poverty and Human Development in Latin America: 1994-2004 (Washington, DC: The World Bank) [30] Macchi M 2008 Indigenous and Traditional Peoples and Climate Change (Geneva: IUCN) [31] IUCN 2011 IUCN to review and advance implementation of the 'new conservation paradigm' focusing on rights of indigenous peoples CEESP News, 2 May 2011 (available from: www.iucn.org/about/union/commissions/ceesp/ceesp news/?7399/IUCN-to-review-and-advance-implementation-of-the-new-conservation-paradigm, cited 29 November 2011) [32] UN Habitat 2010 State of the World's Cities 2010/2011: Bridging the Urban Divide (Nairobi: UN Human Settlements Programme) (first published by Earthscan 2008) [33] Rees W 1996 Ecological footprints of the future. Overview People Planet 5 (2) 6-9 [34] Stephens C 2011 Revisting urban health and social inequalities: the devil is in the detail and the solution is in all of us Environ. Urban. 23 29-40 [35] Anderson J M 2005 Blueprint for a greener city: growth need not cost the earth Water Sci. Technol. 52 61-7 [36] United Nations Population Division 2008 World Urbanization Prospects: The 2007 Revision Population Database (New York: United Nations Population Division)