Acorn barnacles are important model species in researches on intertidal ecology, larval development and bio-fouling. At present, with the development of mitochondrial genomics, it is helpful to understand the phylogenetic relationship from the mitogenomic level. The complete mitochondrial genome of Chthamalus challengeri was presented. The genome is a circular molecule of 15 358 bp. Compared with other species in Balanomorpha, the non-coding region is longer, while the length of the genes is similar to the other species. The overall A+T content of the mitochondrial genome of C. challengeri is 70.5%. There are variations of initiation and stop codons in the known Balanomorpha mitochondrial genomes. The C. challengeri and C. antennatus within the same genus share the identical gene arrangement. However, the gene arrangement of different genera in Chthamalidae is different, as there is a translocation between two tRNA genes and an inversion involving a large gene block. In particular, both srRNA and lrRNA of the two species in Chthamalus are encoded in the heavy strand, differing from the former Balanomorpha species. The topology and gene arrangement in Chthamalidae support each other. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that the Chthamalidae is monophyletic, while the Balanidae and Archaeobalanidae are polyphyletic.

The hydrodynamic efficiencies of caisson-type vertical porous seawalls used for protecting coastal areas were calculated in this study. Physical models were developed to compare the wave reflection from vertical plane, semi-porous, and porous seawalls caused by both regular and random waves. Tests were carried out for a wide range of wave heights, wave periods, and different water depths (d=0.165, 0.270 and 0.375 m). The performance regarding the reflected waves from porous and semi-porous seawalls showed improvement when compared with those from the plane seawall. The reflection coefficients of the porous and semi-porous seawalls were calculated as 0.6 and 0.75, respectively, while the coefficient for the fully reflecting plane vertical wall was significantly higher (0.9). It was also observed that the reflection coefficient decreases with increase in wave steepness and relative water depth. In addition, the reduction in the reflection coefficient of porous and semi-porous seawalls, as compared to that of a plane seawall, was observed for both regular and random waves. New equations were also proposed to calculate the reflection coefficient of different types of seawalls with the aid of laboratory experiments. By verifying the developed equations using some other experimental data, it was validated that the equations could be used for practical situations. The results of the present study can be applied to optimize the design of vertical seawalls and for coastal protecting schemes.

This study aimed to improve the thermostability of arylsulfatase from Pseudoalteromonas carrageenovora. A library of P. carrageenovora arylsulfatase mutants was constructed by introducing random mutagenesis using error-prone PCR. After screening, two mutants of H260L and D84A/H260L showed enhanced thermal stability than the wild-type predecessor (WT). Site-directed mutagenesis demonstrated that only amino acid residue at Position 260 plays an important role in the thermostability of P. carrageenovora arylsulfatase. Thermal inactivation analysis showed that the half-life (t_1/2) values at 55°C for H260L, H260I, H260Q, H260F and H260R were 40.6, 48.4, 30.9, 29.1 and 34.5 min, respectively, while that of WT was 9.1 min. Structure modeling demonstrated that the additional hydrogen bonds and/or optimization of surface charge-charge interactions could be responsible for the increased thermostability imparted by H260L, H260I, H260Q, H260F and H260R.

A great deal of oil contaminated the shoreline by the Qingdao oil pipeline explosion in 2013. The four oil-degrading consortia were enriched from sediment samples with crude oil as sole carbon and energy sources. The biodiversity and community analysis showed that the Luteibacter, Parvibaculum and a genus belonging to Alcanivoracaceae were found predominant bacteria in the four consortia, which belonged to Proteobacteria. Nine strains exhibiting distinct 16S rRNA gene sequences were isolated from the consortia. These strains were identified to eight genera based on 16S rRNA gene sequences. Five of the nine strains degraded more than 30% of the crude oil in two weeks by gravimetric method. From the analysis of GC-MS, most of the isolated strains tended to degrade n-alkanes rather than PAHs. Five strains showed high degrading ability of the total n-alkanes. Only Strain D2 showed great PAHs degrading ability and the degrading rates ranged from 34.9% to 77.5%. The sequencing analysis of the oil-degrading consortia confirmed that the genus of Alcanivorax was one of the dominant bacteria in Consortia A and E and Strain E4 might be one of the dominant bacteria. The strains obtained in this study demonstrated the potential for oil bioremediation in oil-contaminated beach ecosystems.

Seven bacterial clones with alginate-utilizing activity were isolated from rotten kelp. By activity test, the Vibrio sp. QD-5 with the potential alginate-degrading capability was chosen to carry out the draft genome sequencing, and the result showed that the Vibrio sp. QD-5 containing an alginate lyase gene cluster. One of these genes, aly-IV, was cloned and characterized for the first time. After overexpression, Aly-IV, with a molecular mass of about 62 kDa and a theoretical isoelectric point (pI) of 5.12, was purified to a specific activity of 1 256.78 U/mg and showed highest activity at 35°C in the Tris-HCl buffer at pH of 8.9. Moreover, the enzyme activity was enhanced by the metal ions of Na⁺, K⁺ and Mg²⁺ under certain concentration. Aly-IV degraded favorably polyG blocks in an endo-type, yielding monomer and dimer as the main products. Due to its high substrate specificity, Aly-IV could be used as a potential tool for production of polyG oligosaccharides with low degree of polymerization (DP) and for determining the fine structure of alginate.

In this study, the method of lines (MOLs) with higher order central difference approximation method coupled with the classical fourth order Runge-Kutta (RK(4,4)) method is used in solving shallow water equations (SWEs) in Cartesian coordinates to foresee water levels associated with a storm accurately along the coast of Bangladesh. In doing so, the partial derivatives of the SWEs with respect to the space variables were discretized with 5-point central difference, as a test case, to obtain a system of ordinary differential equations with time as an independent variable for every spatial grid point, which with initial conditions were solved by the RK(4,4) method. The complex land-sea interface and bottom topographic details were incorporated closely using nested schemes. The coastal and island boundaries were rectangularized through proper stair step representation, and the storing positions of the scalar and momentum variables were specified according to the rules of structured C-grid. A stable tidal regime was made over the model domain considering the effect of the major tidal constituent, M₂ along the southern open boundary of the outermost parent scheme. The Meghna River fresh water discharge was taken into account for the inner most child scheme. To take into account the dynamic interaction of tide and surge, the generated tidal regime was introduced as the initial state of the sea, and the surge was then made to come over it through computer simulation. Numerical experiments were performed with the cyclone April 1991 to simulate water levels due to tide, surge, and their interaction at different stations along the coast of Bangladesh. Our computed results were found to compare reasonable well with the limited observed data obtained from Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) and were found to be better in comparison with the results obtained through the regular finite difference method and the 3-point central difference MOLs coupled with the RK(4,4) method with regard to the root mean square error values.

The parameter inversion of internal solitary waves (ISWs) based on optical remote sensing images is a key work. A new approach is proposed and demonstrated for simulating the optical remote sensing images of ISWs with a smooth surface in the laboratory. An optical remote sensing simulation system used to detect ISWs is constructed by a two-dimensional ISW flume, a LED (light emitting diode) light source and two CCD (charge coupled device) cameras. The optical remote sensing images of the horizontal surface and ISWs propagation images of a vertical side are detected simultaneously, which aims to explore the response of optical remote sensing corresponding to ISWs with the smooth surface. The results show that during the propagation of ISWs, dark pattern images are obtained by CCD 1 camera. The characteristics of the dark patterns vary along with the incident angle of the light source. The characteristic parameters of the optical remote sensing images correspond to the wave factors of vertical profiles. The experiment also shows a positive correlation between the dark pattern width and the half wave width under different amplitudes of ISWs. The system has the advantages of clear phenomenon and high repeatability, which provides the scientific basis for quantitative investigation on imaging mechanism of ISW by optical remote sensing.

In this paper, effort is made to demonstrate the quality of high-resolution regional ocean circulation model in realistically simulating the circulation and variability properties of the northern Indian Ocean (10°S–25°N, 45°–100°E) covering the Arabian Sea (AS) and Bay of Bengal (BoB). The model run using the open boundary conditions is carried out at 10 km horizontal resolution and highest vertical resolution of 2 m in the upper ocean. The surface and sub-surface structure of hydrographic variables (temperature and salinity) and currents is compared against the observations during 1998–2014 (17 years). In particular, the seasonal variability of the sea surface temperature, sea surface salinity, and surface currents over the model domain is studied. The high-resolution model’s ability in correct estimation of the spatio-temporal mixed layer depth (MLD) variability of the AS and BoB is also shown. The lowest MLD values are observed during spring (March-April-May) and highest during winter (December-January-February) seasons. The maximum MLD in the AS (BoB) during December to February reaches 150 m (67 m). On the other hand, the minimum MLD in these regions during March-April-May becomes as low as 11–12 m. The influence of wind stress, net heat flux and freshwater flux on the seasonal variability of the MLD is discussed. The physical processes controlling the seasonal cycle of sea surface temperature are investigated by carrying out mixed layer heat budget analysis. It is found that air-sea fluxes play a dominant role in the seasonal evolution of sea surface temperature of the northern Indian Ocean and the contribution of horizontal advection, vertical entrainment and diffusion processes is small. The upper ocean zonal and meridional volume transport across different sections in the AS and BoB is also computed. The seasonal variability of the transports is studied in the context of monsoonal currents.

The present work is an analytical study of the influence of geometrical parameters, such as length, thickness and immersion of the plate, on the reflection coefficient of a regular wave for an immersed horizontal plate in the presence of a uniform current with the same direction as the propagation of the incident regular wave. This study was performed using the linearized potential theory with the evanescent modes while searching for complex roots to the dispersion equation that are neither pure real nor pure imaginary. The results show that the effects of the immersion and the relative length on the reflection coefficient of the plate are accentuated by the presence of the current, whereas the plate thickness practically does not have an effect if it is relatively small.