Pollution Pipe: Street to Stream

This document discusses the non-point sources of pollution found in runoff and the effects of development (especially impervious paved cover) on watersheds. Users can view charts and text that demonstrate the relationship between urban development and the impervious ground cover created by streets, parking lots, and roofs. A list of pollutants typically found in runoff is provided, as well as some steps that can be taken to prevent water pollution. Suggested sources for additional information are also provided. Educational levels: High school, Middle school

Phosphorus and the Green Scum

This resource explains the relationship between the overabundance of the element phosphorus in the environment and explosive algae growth (called algae blooms or green scum) as well as the progress toward eutrophication. The origins of excess phosphorus are listed as: too much fertilizer, leaves and grass, human and animal waste, and eroded soils. The site contains suggestions for phosphorus control, including soil testing, composting yard debris, and educating the public. Educational levels: High school, Middle school

Roots of the Hawaiian Hotspot

In this lesson students will investigate the seismology and geological origins of the Hawaiian Islands to discover how scientists can obtain information on geological processes deep within the Earth. As a result of this activity, students will be able to explain the processes of plate tectonics and volcanism that formed the Hawaiian Islands and describe, compare, and contrast S waves and P waves. They will also learn how seismic data recorded at different locations can be used to determine the epicenter of an earthquake, and will infer a probable explanation for the existence of ultra-low velocity zones, and how these zones may be related to the Hawaiian hotspot. Educational levels: High school

An Ocean of Weather

In this lesson, students will investigate the close relationship between the ocean and the atmosphere to determine the extent the ocean affects the Earth's weather in the South Atlantic Bight region. As they study this relationship, students will learn that the ocean and atmosphere work together as a system. They will experiment to find out that heat transfer from the ocean is a cause of much of Earth's weather and will make and explain an ocean water cycle. Educational levels: Intermediate elementary, Middle school

Ring Detectives

This lesson will help students understand what Gulf Stream rings are and why are they significant. Students will describe the overall flow of the Gulf Stream, explain how it affects biological communities in the North Atlantic Ocean, and describe Gulf Stream rings and how they are formed. They will also compare and contrast warm-core rings and cold-core rings and explain how Gulf Stream rings may affect biological communities on the edge and slope of the continental shelf adjacent to the coasts of North and South Carolina. This hands-on activity uses online data resources and includes: focus questions, learning objectives, teaching time, background information, learning procedures, extensions, and resources and student handouts. Educational levels: Middle school

Mountains in the Sea: No Escape

In this activity, students will explore the fate of benthic invertebrate larvae in the vicinity of seamounts. They will review field data to evaluate a hypothesis about the influence of a water circulation cell on the retention of benthic invertebrate larvae, and describe some potential advantages and disadvantages to species whose larvae are retained. They will also be able to describe the consequences of partial or total larval retention on the biological evolution of species producing these larvae. In addition to following National Science Education Standards, this hands-on, inquiry-based activity includes focus questions, background information for teachers, links to interesting websites, and extensions. Educational levels: High school

Current Events

This lesson on the cause of currents and water circulation in the Arctic Ocean will require students to investigate the influence of salinity and temperature on the density of seawater to determine what factors drive water circulation in the Arctic Ocean. Students identify the primary driving forces for ocean currents and infer the type of water circulation to be expected in the Arctic Ocean, given information on temperature, salinity, and bathymetry. Educational levels: High school

Currents: Bad for Divers, Good for Corals

In this lesson students will investigate deep-sea currents such as density and barotropic currents, which can be significantly accelerated near the ocean bottom or near large solid objects like seamounts. This activity focuses on the effects of topography on currents, and how these effects may make some habitats more favorable for certain species such as precious coral communities. As a result of this activity, students will be able to describe, compare, and contrast major forces that drive ocean currents and discuss the general effects of topography on current velocity. They will also be able to discuss how velocity affects the ability of a current to transport sand and explain why deep-sea precious corals are more frequently found in areas having strong currents. Educational levels: High school

Background modeling for video sequences by stacked denoising autoencoders

Nowadays, the analysis and extraction of relevant information in visual data flows is of paramount importance. These images sequences can last for hours, which implies that the model must adapt to all kinds of circumstances so that the performance of the system does not decay over time. In this paper we propose a methodology for background modeling and foreground detection, whose main characteristic is its robustness against stationary noise. Thus, stacked denoising autoencoders are applied to generate a set of robust characteristics for each region or patch of the image, which will be the input of a probabilistic model to determine if that region is background or foreground. The evaluation of a set of heterogeneous sequences results in that, although our proposal is similar to the classical methods existing in the literature, the inclusion of noise in these sequences causes drastic performance drops in the competing methods, while in our case the performance stays or falls slightly.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech