Areas Of Hawaii Research Articles

Cancer care coordination in rural Hawaii: a focus group study

BackgroundRural populations consistently experience a disproportionate burden of cancer, including higher incidence and mortality rates, compared to the urban populations. Factors that are thought to contribute to these disparities include limited or lack of access to care and challenges with care coordination (CC). In Hawaii, many patients residing in rural areas experience unique challenges with CC as they require inter-island travel for their cancer treatment. In this focus group study, we explored the specific challenges and positive experiences that impact the CC in rural Hawaii cancer patients.MethodsWe conducted two semi-structured focus group interviews with cancer patients receiving active treatment for any type of cancer (n = 8). The participants were recruited from the rural areas of Hawaii, specifically the Hawaii county and Kauai. Rural was defined using the Rural-Urban Commuting Area Codes (RUCA; rural ≥ 4). The focus group discussions were facilitated using open-ended questions to explore patients’ experiences with CC.ResultsContent analysis revealed that 47% of the discussions were related to CC-related challenges, including access to care (27.3%), insurance (9.1%), inter-island travel (6.1%), and medical literacy (4.5%). Other major themes from the discussions focused on facilitators of CC (30.3%), including the use of electronic patient portal (12.1%), team-based approach (9.1%), family caregiver support (4.5%), and local clinic staff (4.5%).ConclusionOur findings indicate that there are notable challenges in rural patients’ experiences regarding their cancer care coordination. Specific factors such as the lack of oncologist and oncology services, fragmented system, and the lack of local general medical providers contribute to problems with access to care. However, there are also positive factors found through the help of facilitators of CC, notability the use of electronic patient portal, team-based approach, family caregiver support, and local clinic staff. These findings highlight potential targets of interventions to improve cancer care delivery for rural patients.Trial RegistrationNot required.

Associations of self-advocacy and perceptions of care coordination among rural patients with early-stage cancer.

329 Background: Effective care coordination (CC) is an essential component of high-quality, patient-centered cancer care; however, many rural cancer patients experience significant CC-related challenges. For rural patients, one’s ability to self-advocate for their cancer care-related needs may play an important role in CC. To date, little is known about self-advocacy and care coordination in rural cancer patients. In this study, we examined associations between patient-reports of self-advocacy and CC among rural patients with early-stage cancer. Methods: 31 patients with early-stage (I-III) cancer completed the self-advocacy and care coordination questionnaires in 2021-2022. Participants were receiving active treatment and residing in rural areas of Hawaii at time of survey completion. Levels of self-advocacy were measured using the adapted Female Self-Advocacy in Cancer Survivorship Scale (FSACS; Hagan et al., 2018). The FSACS assesses overall self-advocacy and includes three subscales, Informed Decision Making, Effecting Communication, and Connected Strength. The validated Care Coordination Instrument (CCI) was used to assess patients’ perceptions of CC. The CCI assesses overall (total) and three CC domains, Communication, Navigation, and Operational. Pearson’s correlation analyses were conducted to examine associations between self-advocacy and CC. Results: Mean age of participants was 58.6, and 64.5% were female. The most common cancer types were breast (41.9%) and GI (32.3%). Overall, the total self-advocacy scores were positively associated with the total CCI and Operational domain scores ( r = .39 and .41, p < .05). Informed Decision Making and Effective Communication subscale scores were also positively correlated with the total CCI and CC domain scores ( r = .682-.945, p < .001). Connected Strength subscale scores were not associated with CCI scores. The presence of a patient navigator was associated with higher self-advocacy scores ( p = .011). Conclusions: Our findings indicate that higher levels of self-advocacy are associated with better perceptions of care coordination among rural patients with early-stage cancer. Conversely, patients with lower levels of self-advocacy report poorer CC and are less likely to present with a patient navigator. These findings suggest that interventions to enhance self-advocacy skills may be a potential strategy to improve rural patients’ CC experiences.

Time to diagnosis and treatment initiation during the COVID-19 pandemic among rural patients with cancer.

132 Background: Time to diagnosis (TTD) and treatment initiation (TTI) are important measures of access and quality of cancer care, but little is known about TTD and TTI for rural cancer patients. Rural residents experience disproportionate burdens of cancer including higher incidence and mortality, and many rural patients face challenges in health care access. Further understanding of TTD and TTI in rural areas is essential to improving the quality of cancer care delivery and cancer outcomes in rural areas. In this study, we describe TTD and TTI among rural cancer patients in Hawaii during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Information about TTD and TTI was collected from 80 rural cancer patients enrolled on a care coordination study between Sept. 2020 and Dec. 2021. Participants were receiving active treatment for any cancer and residing in rural areas in Hawaii. We used descriptive statistics to describe TTD and TTI for the overall sample and specifically for those with breast and GI cancers, the two most common cancers in this study sample. Results: Participants were 56% female, with the mean age of 63 (SD = 12.1). 43% were White/Caucasian, 30% Native Hawaiian, and 25% two or more race. Reporting of symptoms to a healthcare provider led to diagnosis for 61.6% of the overall sample, whereas 38.4% received diagnosis following screening. For breast cancer, 36.8% indicated symptoms led to diagnosis, and 63.2% by screening. Among those with GI cancer, 76.5% reported symptoms led to diagnosis, and 23.5% by screening. Overall, 62.5% of participants reported TTD of within one month (< = 30 days) of screening or reporting symptoms to a healthcare provider (30-day TTD 62.5% for breast and 60.0% for GI). Median TTI for the overall sample was 60.6 days (IQR 30-62). For those with breast and GI cancers, median TTI was 61.0 (IQR 31-70) and 31.0 (IQR 0-61) days, respectively. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that although TTD in this rural sample was comparable to other studies, TTI overall, and particularly for those with breast cancer, was nearly twice the TTI reported in other population-based studies. Delays in cancer treatment initiation have been associated with worse survival for breast and other cancers, especially among underserved populations. Our findings indicate that during the COVID-19 pandemic, rural residents in Hawaii experienced substantial delays in cancer treatment initiation. This study highlights the importance of addressing timely healthcare system access to minimize delays in treatment initiation and to improve health outcomes for rural cancer patients.

Perceptions of cancer care coordination among rural patients in Hawaii.

e18553 Background: Rural residents experience disproportionate burdens of cancer including higher incidence and mortality than urban residents. Disparities in rural cancer health outcomes are partially attributed to limited access to specialty care and care coordination challenges in rural areas. To date, little is known about rural cancer patients’ perceptions of care coordination (CC). In this study, we examined rural patients’ perceptions of cancer CC and compared rural and urban patients’ perceptions of cancer CC using the Care Coordination Instrument (CCI), a validated patient-report measure of CC. Methods: 80 rural patients receiving active treatment for any cancer residing in rural areas of Hawaii (Hawaii Island, Kauai) completed the CCI from Sept. 2020 to Dec. 2021. These rural areas are on separate islands from Oahu (urban) where tertiary care hospitals in Hawaii are located. Data for the urban cohorts ( n = 220) were derived from our archival data. The CCI assesses overall patients’ perceptions of CC (Total) and includes subscales that evaluate CC across three domains (Communication, Navigation, Operational). We used descriptive statistics to describe rural patients’ CC details and linear regression models to compare CCI scores between rural and urban patients. Results: Among 300 patients, demographic and clinical characteristics were similar between the rural and urban cohorts (mean age = 63.6, 56% female, most common cancer type: 28% breast and 25% GI). Patients were racially diverse, with 25% White/Caucasian, 24% Japanese, 16% Native Hawaiian, and 24% two or more race. Among rural patients, 43% indicated having traveled by air to another island (Oahu; urban) for cancer treatment (50% surgery). Of these patients, 38% indicated having paid out-of-pocket for cancer care-related travel costs. 65% of these patients reported travel costs as a burden, with 6% of patients having canceled or delayed treatment due to costs. Overall, there were no differences on the Total CCI scores between rural and urban patients ( p = 0.73). However, significant differences were found for Communication and Navigation ( p = 0.02 and p = 0.04, respectively), with rural patients reporting lower scores on these domains. No differences were found for the Operational domain scores. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that that while rural patients’ overall perceptions of CC were similar to their urban cohorts, rural patients perceived greater CC challenges related to the communication and navigation aspects of CC. Off-island cancer care-related travel costs were reported as a significant burden for rural patients who must travel to another island for their cancer treatment. These findings highlight the need for interventions to address financial, communication and navigation challenges for rural patients in order to improve the quality of cancer care delivery in rural areas.

Analytical Model of ALOHA and Time- and Frequency-Asynchronous ALOHA with Forward Error Correction for IoT Systems.

The blooming of internet of things (IoT) services calls for a paradigm shift in the design of communications systems. Short data packets sporadically transmitted by a multitude of low-cost low-power terminals require a radical change in relevant aspects of the protocol stack. For example, scheduling-based approaches may become inefficient at the medium access (MAC) layer, and alternatives such as uncoordinated access policies may be preferred. In this context random access (RA) in its simplest form, i.e., additive links on-line Hawaii area (ALOHA), may again become attractive as also proved by a number of technologies adopting it. The use of forward error correction (FEC) can improve its performance, yet a comprehensive analytical model including this aspect is still missing. In this paper, we provide a first attempt by deriving exact expressions for the packet loss rate and spectral efficiency of ALOHA with FEC, and extend the result also to time- and frequency-asynchronous ALOHA aided by FEC. We complement our study with extensive evaluations of the expressions for relevant cases of study, including an IoT system served by low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. Non-trivial outcomes show how time- and frequency-asynchronous ALOHA particularly benefit from the presence of FEC and become competitive with ALOHA.

Tom Norris’s contributions to the acoustic density estimation of minke whales near Kauai, Hawaii

Tom Norris was involved in many collaborative efforts involving passive acoustic monitoring to study marine mammals. In the spring of 2010, he and his team conducted 1520 km of acoustic/visual line-transect surveys over 13 days of effort for minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) using the R/V Dariabar towing multiple hydrophones. The surveys were performed at the U.S. Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility’s offshore underwater range located north-west of Kauai, Hawaii. Minke whales have low observables and are rarely sighted in the Hawaii area which limits the available knowledge on their ecology. However they produce the distinctive boing vocalizations in the winter and spring seasons in the area, presumably for breeding purposes, which makes PAM methods attractive. Simultaneous with the acoustic line-transect surveys, the PMRF hydrophone data were also collected to estimate the boing vocalization density in a collaborative effort. Combining the minke whale density from the acoustic line-transect survey with the minke whale boing vocalization density provided an estimate for the call rate for boing calling minke whales which was a major accomplishment at the time.

Transport of Explosive Chemicals in Fire-Affected Hawaiian Topsoil

Abstract Several areas in Hawaii have background concentrations of unexploded ordnance (UXO) as a consequence of past and current military training. The presence of UXO and the release of their che...

Local adaptation constrains drought tolerance in a tropical foundation tree

Abstract Plant species with broad climatic ranges might be more vulnerable to climate change than previously appreciated due to intraspecific variation in climatic stress tolerance. In tropical forests, drought is increasingly frequent and severe, causing widespread declines and altering community dynamics. Yet, little is known about whether foundation tropical trees vary in drought tolerance throughout their distributions, and how intraspecific variation in drought tolerance might contribute to their vulnerability to climate change. We tested for local adaptation in seedling emergence and establishment with a full‐factorial reciprocal transplant experiment including 27 populations and 109,350 seeds along a 3,500 mm precipitation gradient for a widespread tropical foundation tree, Metrosideros polymorpha, in Hawaii. To more precisely relate seedling performance to soil moisture, we conducted a complementary greenhouse experiment to test responses of the same focal populations to simulated drought. In the reciprocal transplant experiment, we observed significant variation among populations and sites in germination and seedling establishment rates. Overall, there was a significant link between historical rainfall of populations and their performance under current rainfall at the study sites consistent with local adaptation. In particular, populations from historically wet sites demonstrated lower germination rates in currently dry sites compared to wet field sites, while populations from historically dry sites germinated well across all sites, with particularly high germination in dry sites. In the greenhouse, seedlings from wet populations survived fewer days without water, and succumbed at wetter soil conditions than populations from historically dry sites, corroborating results from the field experiment. Synthesis. While climate change models project the greatest drying trends for historically dry areas in Hawaii, even moderate drying of wet sites could significantly reduce Metrosideros polymorpha recruitment given the sensitivity of seedlings to very slight changes in water regimes. Thus, although M. polymorpha demonstrates high seedling drought tolerance in some populations, providing evidence of resilience at the species‐scale, there are nonetheless vulnerable populations that will likely decline under climate change. Our approach demonstrates that even trees with high dispersal abilities can show significant clines in drought tolerance, and suggests that similar intraspecific variation might be an important consideration for other tropical foundational tree species.

A Framework for Correcting Ionospheric Artifacts and Atmospheric Effects to Generate High Accuracy InSAR DEM

Repeat-pass interferometric synthetic aperture radar is a well-established technology for generating digital elevation models (DEMs). However, the interferogram usually has ionospheric and atmospheric effects, which reduces the DEM accuracy. In this paper, by introducing dual-polarization interferograms, a new approach is proposed to mitigate the ionospheric and atmospheric errors of the interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data. The proposed method consists of two parts. First, the range split-spectrum method is applied to compensate for the ionospheric artifacts. Then, a multiresolution correlation analysis between dual-polarization InSAR interferograms is employed to remove the identical atmospheric phases, since the atmospheric delay is independent of SAR polarizations. The corrected interferogram can be used for DEM extraction. Validation experiments, using the ALOS-1 PALSAR interferometric pairs covering the study areas in Hawaii and Lebanon of the U.S.A., show that the proposed method can effectively reduce the ionospheric artifacts and atmospheric effects, and improve the accuracy of the InSAR-derived DEMs by 64.9% and 31.7% for the study sites in Hawaii and Lebanon of the U.S.A., respectively, compared with traditional correction methods. In addition, the assessment of the resulting DEMs also includes comparisons with the high-precision Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) altimetry data. The results show that the selection of reference data will not affect the validation results.

Underwater Wireless Communications for Cooperative Robotics with UWSim-NET

The increasing number of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) cooperating in underwater operations has motivated the use of wireless communications. Their modeling can minimize the impact of their limited performance in real-time robotic interventions. However, robotic frameworks hardly ever consider the communications, and network simulators are not suitable for HIL experiments. In this work, the UWSim-NET is presented, an open source tool to simulate the impact of communications in underwater robotics. It gathers the benefits of NS3 in modeling communication networks with those of the underwater robot simulator (UWSim) and the robot operating system (ROS) in modeling robotic systems. This article also shows the results of three experiments that demonstrate the capabilities of UWSim-NET in modeling radio frequency (RF) and acoustic links in underwater scenarios. It also permits evaluating several MAC protocols such as additive links online Hawaii area (ALOHA), slotted floor acquisition multiple access (S-FAMA) and user defined protocols. A third experiment demonstrated the excellent capabilities of UWSim-NET in conducting hardware in the loop (HIL) experiments.

Coded Pilot Random Access for Massive MIMO Systems

We present a novel access protocol for crowd scenarios in massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. Crowd scenarios are characterized by a large number of users with intermittent access behavior, whereas orthogonal scheduling is infeasible. In such scenarios, random access is a natural choice. The proposed access protocol relies on two essential properties of a massive MIMO system, namely, asymptotic orthogonality between user channels and asymptotic invariance of channel powers. Signal processing techniques that take advantage of these properties allow us to view a set of contaminated pilot signals as a graph code on which iterative belief propagation can be performed. This makes it possible to decontaminate pilot signals and increase the throughput of the system. Numerical evaluations show that the proposed access protocol increases the throughput by 36%, when there are 400 antennas at the base station, compared to the conventional method of slotted Additive Links On-line Hawaii Area. With 1024 antennas, the throughput is increased by 85%.

Spilling over deepwater boundaries: evidence of spillover from two deepwater restricted fishing areas in Hawaii

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 568:175-190 (2017) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12049 Spilling over deepwater boundaries: evidence of spillover from two deepwater restricted fishing areas in Hawaii Dana K. Sackett*, Christopher D. Kelley, Jeffrey C. Drazen Department of Oceanography, University of Hawai‘i, Manoa, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA *Corresponding author: danas4@hawaii.edu ABSTRACT: The net export of adults (spillover) is an important though contentious benefit of marine protected areas (MPAs). Controversy over spillover often exists because it is difficult to discern empirically. In addition, of those studies that have provided empirical evidence, nearly all are from shallow reef ecosystems. Here we examined 2 deepwater MPAs in the main Hawaiian Islands, established to benefit a complex of species called the ‘Deep 7.’ To study these fishes, we used baited cameras and commercial fishery data. Relative abundance, fish size, and species richness observed using camera data declined with distance from MPAs, signifying that species had begun to spill over the MPA boundaries into fishing grounds. Further, temporal analyses of these spatial trends indicated that they did not always exist but developed in the fifth and sixth years of sampling. Changes in fish size over time supported these results, with asymptotes in fish size seen inside and increases seen outside MPAs in the fifth and sixth years of sampling. Displaced fishing effort may have also caused initial declines in Etelis coruscans size and catch data that increased in later years. Further, low sample sizes and public announcements prior to sampling in Year 8 may have contributed to the decline in E. carbunculus sizes inside, and spatial trends outside, an MPA that were no longer significant in Year 8. Identifying the ability and time span for an MPA to begin to benefit a fishery and how quickly fishing may remove those benefits is crucial to resolving debates regarding the use of MPAs in fisheries management. KEY WORDS: Spillover · Deepwater · Marine protected area · Bottomfish restricted fishing area · BRFA · Snapper Full text in pdf format Supplementary material PreviousNextCite this article as: Sackett DK, Kelley CD, Drazen JC (2017) Spilling over deepwater boundaries: evidence of spillover from two deepwater restricted fishing areas in Hawaii. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 568:175-190. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12049 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 568. Online publication date: March 24, 2017 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2017 Inter-Research.

Play fairway analysis of geothermal resources across the state of Hawaii: 2. Resource probability mapping

We develop a new geostatistical method to combine evidence provided by diverse geological data sets and produce maps of geothermal resource probability. The application is to the State of Hawaii, and the data sets include the locations and ages of mapped volcanic centers, gravity and magnetotelluric measurements, groundwater temperature and geochemistry, ground surface deformation, seismicity, water table elevation, and groundwater recharge. Using the basic principles of Bayesian statistics, these data and expert knowledge about the effects and importance of the data are used to compute the probabilities of the primary resource qualities of elevated subsurface heat, reservoir permeability, and reservoir fluid content. The product of these marginal probabilities estimates the joint probability of all three qualities and hence the probability of a successful geothermal prospect at each map point. An analogous set of algorithms is used to quantify the confidence in the probability at each point. Not surprisingly, we find that successful geothermal prospects are most probable on the active volcanoes of Hawaii Island, including the area of Hawaii’s single geothermal energy plant. Probability decreases primarily with shield volcano age, being relatively moderate in select locations on Maui and Lanai, relatively low on Oahu, and minimal on Kauai. Future exploration efforts should consider these results as well as the practical, societal, and economic conditions that influence development viability. The difficulties of interisland power transmission mean that even areas with moderate to low probabilities are worth investigating on islands with population centers.

Collisionless Data Transmission to Improve Throughput Using Additive Links On-line Hawaii Area Technique With Timeslot Communication

The wireless sensor network forms a topology and transmits data reverse to the information collectors. Objectives: The cost and performance are optimized to check the throughput rate that should improve the data transmission rate. Based on the information flow tracking, the data dependencies among information objects should be reduced. Tags should be associated with input nodes and elevate the processing on output node data. Methods: The method is presented in this paper: the individual nodes communicate with the server in collision free mode and improve the strength of data transmission rate with reliable and compatible data. The network topology control is to uphold the data propagation and improve the network connectivity to provide reliable service. Findings: The network system is evaluated for altering the statistics arrival rate (as percentage) of the server node that arrive each second, and the number of requests waiting in the buffer as demonstrated in graphical presentation. Improvements: ALOHA mechanism is competent technique to synchronize the node intermediate access among the contending nodes in the network.

Case of Study: Honey without Bees? Chemical Risks Associated to Sugarcane (Saccharum Officinarum) from Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Sugarcane is one of the most important of raw materials used in manufactured food products. Its consumption is under public scrutiny for decades, always associated to cavities, obesity and diabetes. Sugary beverage portion sizes have exploded as high as 64 fluid ounces in some fast food chains in the USA. Meanwhile, anthropogenic activities such the application of arsenical pesticides has resulted in elevated (high as 900 g.g-6) levels of arsenic (As) in surface soils in many historic sugar cane areas of Hawaii, USA. To quantify simultaneously many elements as possible, it was applied the well-established nuclear analytical technique of Neutron Activation Analysis. Hazardous elements such As, Br, Na, some RREs (rare earth elements), Rb, Sc and U were detected and quantified in the product.

Skin pathology in Hawaiian goldring surgeonfish, Ctenochaetus strigosus (Bennett)

Twenty-eight goldring surgeonfish, Ctenochaetus strigosus (Bennett), manifesting skin lesions and originating from the north-western and main Hawaiian Islands were examined. Skin lesions were amorphous and ranged from simple dark or light discolouration to multicoloured tan to white sessile masses with an undulant surface. Skin lesions covered 2-66% of the fish surface, and there was no predilection for lesions affecting a particular part of the fish. Males appeared over-represented. Microscopy revealed the skin lesions to be hyperplasia, melanophoromas or iridophoromas. The presence of skin tumours in a relatively unspoiled area of Hawaii is intriguing. Explaining their distribution, cause and impact on survivorship of fish all merit further study because C.strigosus is an economically important fish in the region.

Diclidophlebia smithi (Hemiptera: Psyllidae), a potential biocontrol agent for Miconia calvescens in the Pacific: Population dynamics, climate-match, host-specificity, host-damage and natural enemies

Diclidophlebia smithi (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) has been proposed as a candidate biological control agent for Miconia calvescens (Melastomataceae), a neotropical tree regarded as one of the worst threats to the rainforest ecosystems of several Pacific islands. Populations of D. smithi monitored over three years at three sites in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil were found to peak during the cooler, drier months from April to July, with air temperatures as the factor most strongly correlated (negatively) with population density. A biologically significant match of climate conditions (+0.7 CMI, using CLIMEX regional matching) was found between the study region in Brazil and 3 of 9 weather stations in the potential release area of Hawaii. This result coupled with the wide variation in climatic conditions under which D. smithi populations have been found in Brazil suggest that D. smithi has good potential to establish in at least some regions of Hawaii. No significant predator, parasitoids or entomopathogens were found attacking D. smithi in its native range. No nymphs or adults of D. smithi were found on any plant belonging to a list of 102 species of 58 plant families growing in the vicinity of colonized M. calvescens individuals. Conversely, potted sentinel plants of the Hawaiian biotype of M. calvescens were readily colonized by D. smithi during an experimental six-month field exposure. Greenhouse no-choice tests with nine species of Melastomataceae also demonstrated that D. smithi has a host-range restricted to M. calvescens. A study of the morphological changes caused on tissues of M. calvescens by D. smithi showed that attack on leaves caused a collapse in the epidermis, cell disorganization and degeneration of the vascular system. This study confirms that D. smithi has significant potential as a biocontrol agent for M. calvescens.

Socioeconomic consequences of fishing displacement from marine protected areas in Hawaii

Marine protected areas (MPAs) have been implemented across the globe to protect marine biodiversity, critical habitats, and to enhance commercially harvested fish stocks. Although ecological effects of MPAs are well documented, their impacts on fishing communities and the spatial distribution of fishing effort remains elusive and poorly understood. In 1999, a MPA network was implemented to protect against perceived declines of reef fish harvested for the aquarium trade on the island of Hawaii. We investigated how the MPA network altered the spatial distribution of fishing effort and impacted perceived fisher socioeconomic well-being and fishing operations, as well as if the economic and catch benefits offset costs in the newly established non-MPA fishing areas. Data were collected using social surveys, experimental fishing, and catch reports. The results suggest the MPA network significantly displaced fishing effort from the central to the northern and southern coastal regions of the island farther from ports of entry. Estimated catch revenues and experimental catch per unit effort were statistically greater as distance from port of entry increased. Perceived fisher socioeconomic well-being was unaffected, but perceived fishing cost and travel time increased significantly post-MPA network implementation. Although the MPA network displaced fishing effort, fisher socioeconomic well-being was not compromised likely because they expanded their operating range and favorable market factors helped offset potential economic losses. Our findings are relevant because they help clarify how MPA networks alter spatial fishing behavior and impact the well-being of small-scale fishers.

Three new species of Fancy Case caterpillars from threatened forests of Hawaii (Lepidoptera, Cosmopterigidae, Hyposmocoma)

The endemic Hawaiian moth genus Hyposmocoma includes 348 described species and perhaps twice as many that remain undescribed. The genus is unusual within Lepidoptera in that its larvae create distinctive silk cases in which they perambulate while protected and camouflaged. An extraordinary diversity of case types exists, and to date more than ten different types have been identified, each corresponding roughly to a separate evolutionary lineage. In this study, we describe three new species of Hyposmocoma: Hyposmocoma ipohapuu sp. n. from Big Island, Hyposmocoma makawao sp. n. from Makawao Forest Reserve in Mauiand Hyposmocoma tantala sp. n. from Mt. Tantalus, Oahu, all of which produce tubular purse cases during their larval stage. We also describe the female of Hyposmocoma inversella Walsingham, which was previously undescribed, and re-describe two closely related species, Hyposmocoma auropurpurea Walsingham and Hyposmocoma nebulifera Walsingham, neither which have been formally described in recent years. We present for the first time, primer sequences for a 705 bp fragment of CAD, designed for Hyposmocoma and relatives. The molecular phylogeny based on mitochondrial and nuclear loci demonstrates that all are distinct species. The discovery of a new, endemic species from Mt. Tantalus, an area with many invasive species, suggests that even relatively degraded areas in Hawaii would be worthy of active conservation efforts.

Homogeneous magnesium isotopic composition of seawater: an excellent geostandard for Mg isotope analysis

The magnesium (Mg) isotopic compositions of 40 seawater samples from the Gulf of Mexico and of one seawater sample from the southwest Hawaii area were determined by multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS) to investigate the homogeneity of Mg isotopes in seawater. The results indicate that the Mg isotopic composition of seawater from the Gulf of Mexico is homogeneous, both vertically and horizontally, with average values for δ(26)Mg = -0.832 ± 0.068 and δ(25)Mg = -0.432 ± 0.053 (n = 40, 2SD)--identical to those of seawater from Hawaii (average δ(26)Mg = -0.829 ± 0.037 and δ(25)Mg = -0.427 ± 0.033) and to the average literature values of seawater worldwide (δ(26)Mg = -0.83 ± 0.11 and δ(25)Mg = -0.43 ± 0.06, n = 49, 2SD). Collectively, global seawater has a homogeneous Mg isotopic composition with δ(26)Mg = -0.83 ± 0.09 and δ(25) Mg = -0.43 ± 0.06 (2SD, n = 90). The magnesium isotopic composition of seawater is principally controlled by river water input, carbonate precipitation and oceanic hydrothermal interactions. The homogeneous Mg isotopic composition of seawater indicates a steady-state budget in terms of Mg isotopes in oceans, consistent with a long Mg residence time (~13 Ma). Considering that seawater is homogeneous, readily available in large amounts, can be easily accessed and processed for isotopic analysis, and has an isotopic composition near the middle of the natural range of variation, it is an excellent geostandard for accuracy assessment to rule out analytical artifacts during high-precision Mg isotopic analysis.