Species-specific preferences of German recreational anglers for freshwater fishing experiences, with emphasis on the intrinsic utilities of fish stocking and wild fishes.

To answer the question, whether anglers have an intrinsic preference for stocking or a preference for catch outcomes (e.g. catch rates) believed to be maintained by stocking, a discrete choice experiment was conducted among a sample of anglers (n = 1335) in Lower Saxony, Germany. After controlling for catch aspects of the fishing experience, no significant influence of two stocking attributes (stocking frequency and composition of the catch in terms of wild v. hatchery fishes) on the utility gained from fishing was found for any of the freshwater species that were studied. It was concluded that the previously documented large appreciation of fish stocking by anglers may be indicative of an underlying preference for sufficiently high catches rather than reflect an intrinsic preference for stocking or the catching of wild fishes per se.

Heterogeneity of schizoaffective disorder compared with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

OBJECTIVE: Low diagnostic reliability, the need to meet criteria of two disorders, and its status as residual diagnosis in clinical practice led us to hypothesize that schizoaffective disorder (SAD) is characterized by considerable heterogeneity, particularly in comparison with schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD). As this has not been investigated the aim of this study is to test whether heterogeneity is larger in SAD than in SZ and BD. METHOD: Systematic search for studies simultaneously comparing all three diagnoses regarding demographic, clinical, psychometric (clinical rating scales and IQ tests), and biological parameters; comparison of heterogeneity as measured by standard deviation (SD). RESULTS: Standard deviation of SAD samples (N = 47) was smaller than in both differential diagnoses. SDs were 7% higher in BD than in SAD (SZ: 2% higher); in studies employing DSM-IIIR/-IV pooled SD was 4% higher in BD (8% lower in SZ). Differences between diagnoses were limited to the comparison of SAD and BD, and became smaller when only psychotic BD was considered. CONCLUSION: Heterogeneity of SZ and BD is not smaller than that of SAD. SAD seems not to be more diverse than other functional psychoses. Results are preliminary because of the novelty of the approach and to the small number of studies.

Experimental observation of temporal soliton molecules.

A bound state of temporal solitons in optical fibers is predicted numerically and demonstrated experimentally. It is appropriately described as a pair of bright solitons, bound together by a dark soliton. This structure exists only in dispersion-managed fiber and is different from bound solitons in fiber lasers.