A model of fish preference and mortality under hypoxic water in the coastal environment

Eutrophication and associated occurrence of hypoxic condition could cause significant damage to marine ecosystems, resulting in considerable economic losses to fisheries and aquaculture and is a major source of stress that fish often have to contend with in order to survive. This problem is likely to be exacerbated in the coming years, since the wastewater treatment facilities is unlikely to catch up with increasing human activities. Moreover, large-scale reclamation projects in coastal areas have recently been increased, and these activities certainly have adverse impacts on water quality and fisheries resources. Coastal construction has a significant role in the development of hypoxic water by changing the current and mixing pattern of water. Changes in species composition and decreases in species richness and diversity have been well documented in hypoxic systems. Hypoxia could cause endocrine disruption in fish and eliminate populations of sensitive species. Shallow coastal areas are of great importance for the special nursery of fish and shellfish and land reclamation in these areas cause strong damage to fisheries. Although the tolerance of aquatic life to hypoxia is known, there is no information about the mortality of fish caused by hypoxia because fish can swim around it and no modeling study has yet been carried out. Criteria that influence the movement of fish are: amounts of food, water temperature and depth, dissolved oxygen concentration and nature of seabed. However, among these, water temperature and dissolved oxygen are the most crucial parameters that affect survival, movement and growth of fish. In this paper, a model of fish preference and mortality for environmental conditions was developed and applied to the Hakata Bay where hypoxic water occurs every summer. For the purpose of this study, a field survey of fish behavior under hypoxic water was conducted by releasing marbled sale (Pleuronectes yokohamae) in the inner bay. Moreover, a series of preference tests for DO, salinity and temperature in the laboratory were conducted in order to decide preference parameters of fish. Using the results of both field and laboratory studies, a sub-module of fish preference and mortality was coded within an integrated hydrothermal and eutrophication model (CHEM) to predict the behavior and mortality of marbled sale when hypoxia would occur in the bay. The model could reasonably simulate the behavior of the fish under hypoxia. An assessment of the impact of the ongoing land reclamation project of about 401 ha in the Wajiro tidal flat zones at the head of the bay on the fisheries resources was also conducted using the model. The results showed that the artificial land lowered the mortality rate of fish under hypoxic condition in the bay during the summer period.     

Short-term earthquake prediction: Current status of seismo-electromagnetics

Loss of human lives as a result of earthquakes is caused overwhelmingly by the collapse of buildings within less than a few minutes of main shocks. The most urgent countermeasure consists of two key elements. One is strengthening of weak structures and the other is short-term earthquake prediction. Short-term prediction needs precursors. Although some promising precursors are reported, the prevailing views in Japan and elsewhere are overly pessimistic. The pessimism largely roots in the fact that short-term precursors are generally non-seismic and tools developed for seismology are not designed to detect them. Nonetheless, nationally funded large-scale earthquake prediction programs always emphasize the need to reinforce seismometer networks. They do not take into account the views of those in the science community who point to the importance of non-seismic precursors. While there are well-founded causes to be skeptical, the situation needs to be improved. One reason for skepticism is that the observations of precursors have not yet been perfect enough and another is that some important fundamental aspects of non-seismic precursors are still unresolved. We review some of these problems.     

Seismic electric signals in seismic prone areas

The Varotsos-Alexopoulos-Nomicos(VAN) method of short-term earthquake prediction was introduced in the 1980s. The VAN method enables estimation of the epicenter, magnitude and occurrence time of an impending earthquake by observing transient changes of the electric field of the Earth termed seismic electric signals(SES). Here, we present a few examples of SES observed in various earthquake prone areas worldwide.     

High sensitivity SiO maser survey for mira variables

Simultaneous observations of the six transitions of SiO for 106 late-type stars were made. The SiO maser emission was detected in 83 stars. Thev=3 maser emission was detected in eight stars, and the²⁹SiOv=0 emission in six stars. The²⁹SiOv=0 emission is stronger and narrower than that of²⁸SiO, suggesting that the²⁹SiO emission is masing.Paper presented at the IAU Third Asian-Pacific Regional Meeting, held in Kyoto, Japan, between 30 September–6 October, 1984.     

Production of the Blood Pressure Lowing Peptides from Brown Alga （ Undaria pinnatifida ）

Brown alga （ Undaria pinnatifida） was treated with alginate lyase and hydrolyzed using 17 kinds of proteases and the inhibitory activity of the hydrolysates for the angiotensin-I-converting enzyme （ACE） was measured. Four hydrolysates with potent ACE-inhibitory activity were administered singly and orally to spontaneously hypertensive rats （SHRs）. The systolic blood pressure of SHRs decreases significantly after single oral administration of the brown alga hydrolysates by pro- tease S ＇ Amano＇ （from Bacillus stearothermophilus） at the concentration of 10 （mg protein） （kg body weight）^ - 1. In the 17 weeks of feeding experiment, 7-week-old SHRs were fed standard diet supplemented with the brown alga hydrolysates for 10 weeks. In SHRs fed 1.0 and 0.1% brown alga hydrolysates, elevating of systolic bloodpressure was significantly suppressed for 7 weeks. To elucidate the active components, the brown alga hydrolysates were fractionated by 1-butanol extraction and HPLC on a reverse-phase column. Seven kinds of ACE-inhibitory peptides were isolated and identified by amino acid composition analysis, sequence analysis, and LC-MS with the results Val-Tyr, Ile-Tyr, Ala-Trp, Phe-Tyr, Val-Trp, Ile-Trp, and Leu-Trp. Each peptide was determined to have an antihypertensive effect after a single oral administration in SHRs. The brown alga hydrolysates were also confirmed to decrease the blood pressure in humans.     

Quaternary tectonic rotation in central Japan: Paleomagnetism of the Eboshidake volcanic rocks

Abstract   Neotectonic crustal deformation in central Japan near a triple-junction of plates is investigated on the basis of paleomagnetic data. The progressive thermal demagnetization test isolated characteristic remanent magnetization from 18 sites of the early Quaternary Eboshidake volcanic rocks erupted around the termination of active strike-slip faults. The site-mean directions show considerably large scatter in declinations, and easterly deflection in average (D_m = −161.7°). On the basis of inclination statistics, measured inclinations (I_m = −48.9°, δI = 6.6°) are concordant with an expected value from latitude of the study area. Because the sampling was planned to cover a wide stratigraphic range and eliminate the effect of geomagnetic secular variation, an easterly deflection is attributed to clockwise rotation around vertical axis. Together with previous paleomagnetic data, the present study indicates that clockwise-rotated areas in central Japan are aligned on a northeast–southwest recent shear zone delineated through geodetic survey. Deflection and scatter of paleomagnetic declinations of the Eboshidake volcanic rocks are much greater than those extrapolated from a recent strain rate, and might be explained by complicated motion anticipated at fault terminations and/or enhanced crustal rotation under elevated temperatures around a Quaternary volcanic province.     

Observations of some oxygen-containing and sulfur-containing organic molecules in cold dark clouds

Observations of nine oxygen- and sulfur-containing organic molecules have been made toward the cold dark clouds TMC-1 and L134N. We have confirmed the presence of para-ketene (H2C2O) in TMC-1, have for the first time observed ortho-ketene, and find a total ketene column density approximately 1 x 10(13) cm-2. Thioformaldehyde (H2CS) is easily detectable in both TMC-1 and L134N, with a column density about 5 times larger in the former source (approximately 3 x 10(13) cm-2). The fractional abundance of ketene is comparable to the predictions of ion-molecule chemistry, while that of thioformaldehyde in TMC-1 is one to two orders of magnitude greater than that expected from such models at steady state. Interstellar sulfur chemistry thus continues to be poorly understood. We set upper limits for the column densities of formic acid (HCOOH), vinyl alcohol (CH2CHOH), methyl formate (HCO2CH3), formamide (NH2CHO), methyl mercaptan (CH3SH), isothiocyanic acid (HNCS), and thioketene (H2C2S) in both sources.     

Particle size effect on the saturation of methane hydrate in sediments – Constrained from experimental results

Except for those occurring at seafloor, most of natural gas hydrate form in sediments and are subject to the influence of sediment. Among these factors, the particle size effect on hydrate saturation level in sediment have been studied with a series of silica sands with various sizes, and the results obtained clearly indicate that particle size does play an important role in affecting the saturation level of hydrate in sediments. The proton relaxation times of water confined in the same series of silica sands, which were determined with NMR measurement, show logarithmic relationship with particle size. By comprehensive consideration of the results of hydrate saturation and water proton relaxation times, the particle size effect observed is tentatively explained by the water availability for hydrate formation in sediments.