Spatiotemporal and kinematic changes in gait while carrying an energy harvesting assault pack system

Soldiers are fielded with a variety of equipment including battery powered electronic devices. An energy harvesting assault pack (EHAP) was developed to provide a power source to recharge batteries and reduce the quantity and load of extra batteries carried into the field. Little is known about the biomechanical implications of carrying a suspended-load energy harvesting system compared to the military standard assault pack (AP). Therefore, the goal of this study was to determine the impact of pack type and load magnitude on spatiotemporal and kinematic parameters while walking at 1.34 m/s on an instrumented treadmill at decline, level, and incline grades. There was greater forward trunk lean while carrying the EHAP and the heavy load (decline: p < 0.001; level: p = 0.009; incline: p = 0.003). As load increased from light to heavy, double support stance time was longer (decline: p = 0.012; level: p < 0.001; incline: p < 0.001), strides were shorter (incline: p = 0.013), and knee flexion angle at heel strike was greater (decline: p = 0.033; level: p = 0.035; incline: p = 0.005). When carrying the EHAP, strides (decline: p = 0.007) and double support stance time (incline: p = 0.006) was longer, the knee was more flexed at heel strike (level: p = 0.014; incline: p < 0.001) and there was a smaller change in knee flexion during weight acceptance (decline: p = 0.0013; level: p = 0.007; incline: p = 0.0014). Carrying the EHAP elicits changes to gait biomechanics compared to carrying the standard AP. Understanding how load-suspension systems influence loaded gait biomechanics are warranted before transitioning these systems into military or recreational environments.     

Construction of a physical map of the 45 kb photosynthetic gene cluster of Rhodobacter sphaeroides

1) A number of overlapping clones have been isolated from a Rhodobacter sphaeroides gene bank. Following conjugative gene transfer from Escherichia coli these clones restore a wild type phenotype to several mutants unable to synthesise bacteriochlorophyll. 2) The insert DNA was analysed by restriction mapping and together the clones form the basis of the first restriction map of the 45 kb photosynthetic gene cluster of Rb. sphaeroides. 3) This cluster is bounded on one side by puh A encoding the reaction centre H polypeptide and on the other by the puf operon encoding reaction centre L and M apoproteins and light harvesting LH1 and polypeptides. 4) DNA fragments from the 45 kb cluster were used to probe genomic DNA from other photosynthetic bacteria. Using heterologous hybridisation conditions, a significant degree of homology is shown between Rb. sphaeroides and these other bacteria, suggesting close evolutionary links with Rb. capsulatus in particular.     

Towards automation: Radiata pine shoot hedges in vitro

A novel system for in vitro shoot production has been developed whereby shoot hedges are maintained in one vessel. Monthly crops of shoots are produced for rooting. Radiata pine shoot hedges were maintained on Lepoivre (LP) nutrient agar medium for 18 months using a weekly liquid-nutrient replenishment system. In a separate experiment liquid-LP-nutrient replenishment of shoots twice weekly without transfers (D) resulted in better shoot growth and health than monthly transfers to fresh agar medium (B), monthly transfers to fresh agar medium plus aeration twice weekly (C), or no transfers and no liquid nutrient addition (A). Liquid nutrient replenishment twice weekly was better than 2 weekly or 4 weekly replenishment. The percentage of normal waxy (abundant tubular epicuticular wax) shoots harvested monthly increased significantly over the culture period from 41% at the first harvest to 93% at the eight harvest, and remained high at 97% from the ninth to twelfth harvest. The percentage of wet (no tubular epicuticular wax, small amounts of globular epicuticular wax) shoots harvested showed a corresponding decline—from 59%, to 7% at the eighth harvest. Shoots were harvested at a rate of 672/h (1.19 cents/shoot at a labour cost of NZ$8.00/h) and approximately 1100 shoots were produced per square metre of agar surface per month. Initial problems of contamination and crowding were overcome. These results will greatly facilitate progress towards automation of shoot production and reduction of costs of micropropagated trees. An automated system used in combination with other cost-saving techniques or robotics could potentially result in a substantial reduction in costs. This is the first report of a method of culturing shoots as hedges for a period of up to 18 months without manual subculturing.     

Long‐term population dynamics of a coral reef gastropod and responses to disturbance

The age‐specific density of the red‐lipped stromb Strombus luhuanus (Mollusca: Gastropoda) was monitored over 13 years (1981–1993) at four locations on the intertidal reef flat at Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef. Densities were highly variable, but there were persistent, location‐specific differences in population density, age structure and adult body size, the latter indicating that the populations were not extensively linked by adult movement. There was relatively high recruitment at most locations in 1984, 1989 and 1993, each occurring approximately 2 years after El Niño/Southern Oscillation events, although recruit density during these years varied in both space and time. The studied strombs experienced three disturbance events: (i) experimental harvesting at two locations (1984–1985); (ii) siltation from a harbour dredging operation (1987–1988); and (iii) a severe cyclone (1992). Resilience to harvesting at a local scale (0.5–2 ha) was high: density had recovered within a year, due to immigration of adults and older juveniles. Strombus luhuanus responded much more strongly to broad‐scale changes to its environment than to localized harvesting. After dredging, there was a progressive density decline coupled with low recruitment at two locations, and a later decline at a third location, followed by a recruitment‐driven rebound after the cyclone. Generalized environmental effects of siltation and the cyclone were also reflected in substantial changes in algal cover. Long‐term variations in environmental conditions probably cause high temporal variation over large spatial scales through effects on the survival of larvae or recruits. Localized short‐term field monitoring of such species would give a misleading picture of key factors affecting population dynamics.     

Is maximum sustainable yield independent of body size for mammals (and others)?

Summary Provided carrying capacity (K) for non-primate mammals scales with the –0.75 power of adult body weight (W), MSY (in weight) should be approximately one-sixth ofC, whereC is defined byK =CW ^–0.75.     

The dynamics of two-species allelopathic competition with optimal harvesting

This paper analyses a bionomic model of two competitive species in the presence of toxicity with different harvesting efforts. An interesting dynamics in the first quadrant is analysed and two saddle-node bifurcations are detected for different bifurcation parameters. It is noted that under certain parametric restrictions, the model has a unique positive equilibrium point that is globally asymptotically stable whenever it is locally stable. It is also noted that the model can have zero, one or two feasible equilibria appearing through saddle-node bifurcations. The non-existence of a limit cycle in the interior of the first quadrant is also discussed using the Poincare–Dulac criteria. The saddle-node bifurcations are studied using Sotomayor's theorem. Numerical simulations are carried out to validate the analytical findings. The conditions for the existence of bionomic equilibria are discussed and an optimal harvesting policy is derived using Pontryagin's maximum principle.     

Dynamics of an age-structured population with Allee effects and harvesting

We propose a discrete-time, age-structured population model to study the impact of Allee effects and harvesting. It is assumed that survival probabilities from one age class to the next are constants and fertility rate is a function of weighted total population size. Global extinction is certain if the maximal growth rate of the population is less than one. The model can have multiple attractors and the asymptotic dynamics of the population depend on its initial distribution if the maximal growth rate is larger than one. An Allee threshold depending on the components of the unstable interior equilibrium is derived when only the last age class can reproduce. The population becomes extinct if its initial population distribution is below the threshold. Harvesting on any particular age class can decrease the magnitude of the possible stable interior equilibrium and increase the magnitude of the unstable interior equilibrium simultaneously.     

A model of litter harvesting by the Western Australian wheatbelt termite,Drepanotermes tamminensis (Hill), with particular reference to nutrient dynamics

A series of papers have been published which describe the influence of vegetation and soil type on the Western Australian wheatbelt termite,Drepanotermes tamminensis (Hill), and also on its litter harvesting levels and contribution to the soil nutrient budget. This paper integrates these findings by means of a computer simulation model. The model consists of three modules which respectively describe the dynamics of litter on the ground, the dynamics of litter within termite mounds and how these in turn influence nutrient loads within the habitat. The outputs of the model suggest that this litter harvesting termite plays an important role in the nutrient dynamics of the area and it provides an estimate of the unmeasured variable, litter consumed in mounds by termites, which is consistent with measurements for other termite species with similar feeding habits.     

Taylor's law and body size in exploited marine ecosystems

Taylor's law (TL), which states that variance in population density is related to mean density via a power law, and density‐mass allometry, which states that mean density is related to body mass via a power law, are two of the most widely observed patterns in ecology. Combining these two laws predicts that the variance in density is related to body mass via a power law (variance‐mass allometry). Marine size spectra are known to exhibit density‐mass allometry, but variance‐mass allometry has not been investigated. We show that variance and body mass in unexploited size spectrum models are related by a power law, and that this leads to TL with an exponent slightly <2. These simulated relationships are disrupted less by balanced harvesting, in which fishing effort is spread across a wide range of body sizes, than by size‐at‐entry fishing, in which only fish above a certain size may legally be caught.