Diel, seasonal and vertical changes in the abundance, biomass and community structure of pelagic polychaetes at the subtropical station S1 in the western North Pacific: comparison with the results from the subarctic station K2.

Information on pelagic polychaete community structure in the western North Pacific is available for the subarctic region (Station K2) but not for the subtropical region. Hence, we analyzed day-night vertically stratified samples collected in eight layers within the first 1000 m of the water column during four seasons in 1 year, using the same sampling method as St. K2, at the subtropical region (Station S1).

Temporal changes in radiocesium contamination derived from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in oceanic zooplankton in the western North Pacific.

We investigated temporal changes of the contamination of oceanic zooplankton with radiocesium (Cs and Cs) derived from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident one month to three years after the accident at subarctic and subtropical stations (1900 and 900-1000 km from the plant, respectively) in the western North Pacific. The maximum activity concentrations of Cs in zooplankton were two orders of magnitude higher than the pre-accident level. In the first four months after the accident, the activity concentrations of radiocesium in subtropical zooplankton decreased rapidly, but no similar change was observed at the subarctic station.

Possible association of diazotrophs with marine zooplankton in the Pacific Ocean.

Dinitrogen fixation, the biological reduction in N gas to ammonia contributes to the supply of new nitrogen in the surface ocean. To understand the diversity and abundance of potentially diazotrophic (N fixing) microorganisms associated with marine zooplankton, especially copepods, the nifH gene was studied using zooplankton samples collected in the Pacific Ocean. In total, 257 nifH sequences were recovered from 23 nifH-positive DNA extracts out of 90 copepod samples.

Resource management simulator for radiology departments.

We propose a new system to manage modalities in radiology departments. Our system introduces a novel method to accurately estimate some indexes in order to provide an analysis of resource plans within three broad categories: financial affairs, patient satisfaction, and productivity. The main idea is to simulate the operational status of modalities.