Symbiotic Binary YY Her – Eclipses, Flares and Outbursts

The long-term CCD and photoelectric observations of YY Her covering the period of its post-outburst activity (JD 2 451 823 -- 2 452 996) are presented. We explain the periodic variations of the brightness of YY Her by the eclipses of the components in the system. The model with a deformed (non-homogeneous) envelope, surrounding the white dwarf is discussed. In addition, we observed a flare in about JD 2 452 440, during the primary minimum, that was later followed by an energetic outburst in JD 2 452 700.     

Doppler Images of ζ Andromedae

Doppler images are presented for the RS CVn-type binary ζ And. Our upgraded Doppler imaging code TempMap_ε takes into account the distorted geometry of the primary giant component. On the maps several low latitude spots are restored with a temperature contrast of about 1000 K. Some weak polar features are also found. Cross-correlation of the consecutive Doppler-maps suggests solar-like differential surface rotation.     

马尼拉全海笋的生态观察

对马尼拉全海笋Ｂａｒｎｅａｍａｎｉｌｅｎｓｉｓ（Ｐｈｉｌｉｐｐｉ）的生态环境、生活习性与分布等进行了观察。马尼拉全海笋在我国仅分布于南海，生活在潮间带高、中潮区风化岩石或胶粘的泥质中，生活海区的水温８～３２℃，盐度２０～３３，海水ｐＨ８．２～８．４，穴深随壳长的增长而加深，洞穴与滩面呈４５～９０°。以底栖硅藻和有机碎屑为食。壳长平均第一年为４５．１ｍｍ，第二年达５７．２ｍｍ，第三年６３．２ｍｍ。雌雄异体，繁殖期在夏季。肉可食用。     

Radial Velocity and Light Curves Analysis of the Contact Binary V1073 Cygni

In this study complete BV light curves of the W Ursae Majoris binary V1073 Cygni obtained in 2005 are presented. We have used the spectroscopic data of V1073 Cyg obtained by Ahn et al. (1992) for analysis. The analysis of radial velocity and light curves was made with Wilson} program (1998) and the geometric and physical elements} of the system were derived. By searching the simultaneous} solutions of the system, we have determined the masses and radii of the components: 1.64M_⊙, 2.275R_⊙ for the primary component and 0.55M_⊙, 1.397R_⊙ for the secondary component respectively. The effective temperature of 6494 ± 53 K for the secondary component was also estimated.     

INTEGRAL observations of TeV plerions

Amongst the sources seen in very high gamma-rays several are associated with Pulsar Wind Nebulae (“TeV plerions”). The study of hard X-ray/soft gamma-ray emission is providing an important insight into the energetic particle population present in these objects. The unpulsed emission from pulsar/pulsar wind nebula systems in the energy range accessible to the INTEGRAL satellite is mainly synchrotron emission from energetic and fast cooling electrons close to their acceleration site. Our analyses of public INTEGRAL data of known TeV plerions detected by ground based Cherenkov telescopes indicate a deeper link between these TeV plerions and INTEGRAL detected pulsar wind nebulae. The newly discovered TeV plerion in the northern wing of the Kookaburra region (G313.3+0.6 powered by the middle aged PSR J1420-6048) is found to have a previously unknown INTEGRAL counterpart which is besides the Vela pulsar the only middle aged pulsar detected with INTEGRAL. We do not find an INTEGRAL counterpart of the TeV plerion associated with the X-ray PWN “Rabbit” G313.3+0.1 which is possibly powered by a young pulsar.     

Photometric observations and orbital period variations of HS 0705 + 6700 and NY Vir

We present photometric observations of two post-common-envelope stars, NY Vir (=PG 1336-018) and HS 0705 + 6700. The V band CCD observation of NY Vir was performed by a 40 cm telescope at Ege University Observatory and the R band observations of HS 0705 + 6700 were performed by 100 cm telescope at TÜB?TAK National Observatory. The new light curves were analyzed by the WD code and the physical parameters of stars were determined. We obtained new mid-eclipse timings for HS 0705 + 6700 and combined them with those previously published data. The analysis of the O-C residuals yields a period of about 8.06 ± 0.28 yr and an amplitude of 98.5 s for the system HS 0705 + 6700, which is attributed to the third star physically bounded to the evolved eclipsing pair. A mass function of 1.2 × 10⁻⁴ M_⊙ for the third star is obtained. The existence of a third star is also confirmed by the light curve analysis, indicating light contribution of about 0.043 at phase 0.25 in R-bandpass of the eclipsing pair. Using mass-luminosity relationship of the low mass stars we estimate a mass of 0.12 M_⊙ with an orbital inclination of about 20°. The O-C residuals obtained for the system NY Vir were represented by a downward parabola which indicates orbital period decrease in the system. Using the coefficient of quadratic term we calculate a rate of orbital period decrease of about dP/dt = −4.09 × 10⁻⁸days yr⁻¹. The period decrease we have measured in NY Vir may be explained by angular momentum loss from the binary system.     

Flexible management of fishing rights and a sustainable fisheries industry in Europe

Although overexploitation of commercial fish stocks in European waters has been in the public debate now for more than 20 years, the European Union has so far failed to implement sustainable fisheries management. Millions in subsidies paid to the fishing industry have led to significant excess capacity in the fishing fleet. Various feeble attempts to stop overexploitation of marine resources have failed. The cause is that fishing policy is highly dominated by short-term socioeconomic interests. There is an urgent need for a new fisheries management system in Europe that supports reductions in the fishing fleet, increases responsibility among fishers and guarantees long-term conservation of natural marine resources.Transferable rights to fish have proved a reliable and effective means of creating incentives to conserve marine resources. By strengthening individual fishing rights under flexible quota management systems, the EU Member States could, within the Common Fisheries Policy, make a significant contribution to conserving fish stocks, to reducing excess capacity and to raising the profitability of the fisheries industry. A closer look at existing reservations against a flexible management system shows most of the objections to be overstated or capable of resolution.     

Applicability of Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs) in Japanese fisheries: A comparison of rights-based fisheries management in Iceland, Japan, and United States

ITQs have not yet been introduced by the Government of Japan. In coastal areas, fishery cooperative associations have traditionally played an important role in managing fisheries through self-imposed rules and peer-monitoring systems. Recently, however, the economic competitiveness of Japanese fisheries in the international market is being questioned. In this paper, a detailed examination of the pros and cons of the current system in Japan is compared to the current fishery management measures of Iceland and the United States, where attaining economically or biologically efficient outcomes may be prioritized in making fisheries management decisions. For many coastal fisheries in Japan, maintaining a management scheme in which stakeholders play an active role in determining fisheries measures seems more relevant if their priority is to maintain the stability of coastal communities and equity of stakeholders. Intensive dialog among stakeholders would be necessary to identify shared objectives of their fishery operations and to make decisions to establish specific steps toward the goal of increasing economic efficiency, environmental sustainability, or stability of communities and equity of stakeholders.     

Modelling mussel growth in ecosystems with low suspended matter loads using a Dynamic Energy Budget approach

The environmental and the economic importance of shellfish stimulated a great deal of studies on their physiology over the last decades, with many attempts to model their growth. The first models developed to simulate bivalve growth were predominantly based on the Scope For Growth (SFG) paradigm. In the last years there has been a shift towards the Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) paradigm. The general objective of this work is contributing to the evaluation of different approaches to simulate bivalve growth in low seston waters by: (i) implementing a model to simulate mussel growth in low suspended matter ecosystems based on the DEB theory (Kooijman, S.A.L.M., 2000. Dynamic and energy mass budgets in biological systems, Cambridge University Press); (ii) comparing and discussing different approaches to simulate feeding processes, in the light of recently published works both on experimental physiology and physiology modeling; (iii) comparing and discussing results obtained with a model based on EMMY (Scholten and Smaal, 1998). The model implemented allowed to successfully simulate mussel feeding and shell length growth in two different Galician Rias. Obtained results together with literature data suggest that modeling of bivalve feeding should incorporate physiologic feed-backs related with food digestibility. In spite of considerable advances in bivalve modeling a number of issues is yet to be resolved, with emphasis on the way food sources are represented and feeding processes formulated.