Unsupervised classification and areal measurement of land and water coastal features on the Texas coast

Multispectral scanner (MSS) digital data from ERTS-1 was used to delineate coastal land, vegetative, and water features in two portions of the Texas Coastal Zone. Data (Scene ID's 1037-16244 and 1037-16251) acquired on August 29, 1972, were analyzed on NASA Johnson Space Center systems through the use of two clustering algorithms. Seventeen to 30 spectrally homogeneous classes were so defined. Many classes were identified as being pure features such as water masses, salt marsh, beaches, pine, hardwoods, and exposed soil or construction materials. Most classes were identified to be mixtures of the pure class types. Using an objective technique for measuring the percentage of wetland along salt marsh boundaries, an analysis was made of the accuracy of areal measurement of salt marshes. Accuracies ranged from 89 to 99 percent. Aircraft photography was used as the basis for determining the true areal size of salt marshes in the study sites

The Effect of Steffen Waste on the Fermentation of Pentosans from the Corn Stalk

It was found that Steffen waste furnishes a suitable source of nitrogen, salts, and buffers for the growth of Aerobacter pectinovorum on pentosan material prepared from corn-stalks

On the Use of Linearized Euler Equations in the Prediction of Jet Noise

Linearized Euler equations are used to simulate supersonic jet noise generation and propagation. Special attention is given to boundary treatment. The resulting solution is stable and nearly free from boundary reflections without the need for artificial dissipation, filtering, or a sponge layer. The computed solution is in good agreement with theory and observation and is much less CPU-intensive as compared to large-eddy simulations

Integrating Refugee Healthcare Professionals In The UK National Health Service: Experience From A Multi-Agency Collaboration.

Purpose: Refugee healthcare professionals (RHPs) may encounter several barriers to employment upon moving to the UK, such as conversion of professional qualifications and a lack of familiarity with the recruitment process. The Building Bridges Programme (BBP) is a London-based multi-agency collaboration which helps refugee healthcare professionals seek employment in the UK National Health Service (NHS). Methods: We have kept an electronic database of all RHPs who have participated in the BBP from October 2009 to March 2018. Data collected include gender, language spoken, country of initial medical qualification, immigration status, religion, ethnicity and professional work experience. In this paper, we focus on employment outcomes and determine the proportion (%) of RHPs joining the BBP who enter employment in the NHS. Results: Between October 2009 and March 2018, the BBP supported 372 refugee doctors, 42 refugee pharmacists, 69 refugee dentists, 25 refugee biomedical scientists, 4 refugee physiotherapists and 83 refugee nurses. The following are the results for the RHPs who settled into a registered NHS position appropriate to their (home country) professional qualifications: 98/372 (26%) doctors, 4/42 (10%), pharmacists, 17/69 (25%) dentists, 1/25 (9%) biomedical scientists, 1/4 (25%) physiotherapists and 2/83 (2%) nurses. The following are the results for the RHPs who settled in associated healthcare profession positions: 109/372 (29%) doctors, 16/42 (38%) pharmacists, 12/69 (17%) dentists, 10/25 (40%) biomedical scientists, 3/4 (75%) physiotherapists and 34/83 (41%) nurses. Conclusion: The BBP provides a useful model that is transferable to other countries. Future studies assessing the utility of such programmes should ensure that the long-term employment outcomes of RHPs are more closely tracked. A key limitation of this paper is the absence of a control group of participants who did not join the BPP, which would help to conclusively demonstrate whether participants who joined our programme had a statistically significant improvement in employment outcomes

Direct Computation of Sound Radiation by Jet Flow Using Large-scale Equations

Jet noise is directly predicted using large-scale equations. The computational domain is extended in order to directly capture the radiated field. As in conventional large-eddy-simulations, the effect of the unresolved scales on the resolved ones is accounted for. Special attention is given to boundary treatment to avoid spurious modes that can render the computed fluctuations totally unacceptable. Results are presented for a supersonic jet at Mach number 2.1

Ecological Consequences of a Millennium of Introduced Dogs on Madagascar

Introduced predators currently threaten endemic animals on Madagascar through predation, facilitation of human-led hunts, competition, and disease transmission, but the antiquity and past consequences of these introductions are poorly known. We use directly radiocarbon dated bones of introduced dogs (Canis familiaris) to test whether dogs could have aided human-led hunts of the island’s extinct megafauna. We compare carbon and nitrogen isotope data from the bone collagen of dogs and endemic “fosa” (Cryptoprocta spp.) in central and southwestern Madagascar to test for competition between introduced and endemic predators. The distinct isotopic niches of dogs and fosa suggest that any past antagonistic relationship between these predators did not follow from predation or competition for shared prey. Radiocarbon dates confirm that dogs have been present on Madagascar for over a millennium and suggest that they at least briefly co-occurred with the island’s extinct megafauna, which included giant lemurs, elephant birds, and pygmy hippopotamuses. Today, dogs share a mutualism with pastoralists who also occasionally hunt endemic vertebrates, and similar behavior is reflected in deposits at several Malagasy paleontological sites that contain dog and livestock bones along with butchered bones of extinct megafauna and extant lemurs. Dogs on Madagascar have had a wide range of diets during the past millennium, but relatively high stable carbon isotope values suggest few individuals relied primarily on forest bushmeat. Our newly generated data suggest that dogs were part of a suite of animal introductions beginning over a millennium ago that coincided with widespread landscape transformation and megafaunal extinction.Introduction Materials and Methods - Specimen and Site Selection - 14C and Stable Isotope Analyses - Data Analysis Results - Chronological Data - Stable Isotope Data Discussio

Rewiring coral: Anthropogenic nutrients shift diverse coral–symbiont nutrient and carbon interactions toward symbiotic algal dominance

Improving coral reef conservation requires heightened understanding of the mechanisms by which coral cope with changing environmental conditions to maintain optimal health. We used a long‐term (10 month) in situ experiment with two phylogenetically diverse scleractinians (Acropora palmata and Porites porites) to test how coral–symbiotic algal interactions changed under real‐world conditions that were a priori expected to be beneficial (fish‐mediated nutrients) and to be harmful, but non‐lethal, for coral (fish + anthropogenic nutrients). Analyzing nine response variables of nutrient stoichiometry and stable isotopes per coral fragment, we found that nutrients from fish positively affected coral growth, and moderate doses of anthropogenic nutrients had no additional effects. While growing, coral maintained homeostasis in their nutrient pools, showing tolerance to the different nutrient regimes. Nonetheless, structural equation models revealed more nuanced relationships, showing that anthropogenic nutrients reduced the diversity of coral–symbiotic algal interactions and caused nutrient and carbon flow to be dominated by the symbiont. Our findings show that nutrient and carbon pathways are fundamentally “rewired” under anthropogenic nutrient regimes in ways that could increase corals’ susceptibility to further stressors. We hypothesize that our experiment captured coral in a previously unrecognized transition state between mutualism and antagonism. These findings highlight a notable parallel between how anthropogenic nutrients promote symbiont dominance with the holobiont, and how they promote macroalgal dominance at the coral reef scale. Our findings suggest more realistic experimental conditions, including studies across gradients of anthropogenic nutrient enrichment as well as the incorporation of varied nutrient and energy pathways, may facilitate conservation efforts to mitigate coral loss.We provide a long‐term field experiment to test the implications of different nutrient sources, fish excretion and moderate levels of anthropogenic nutrients, for coral health and coral–symbiont interactions. Our study identifies a potentially novel "transition state" whereby despite maintaining high growth rates and creating no apparent negative external effects, anthropogenic nutrient enrichment drives coral–algal interactions to be dominated by the algal symbiont—that is, increased prominence of energy and nutrient flow from the algal symbiont under conditions of Fish + anthropogenic nutrients (NPK) in the figure. We hypothesize that this “rewiring” of the coral–symbiont interactions may render the coral more vulnerable to additional stressors.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162733/2/gcb15230_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162733/1/gcb15230.pd

Cutmarked bone of drought-tolerant extinct megafauna deposited with traces of fire, human foraging, and introduced animals in SW Madagascar

People could have hunted Madagascar’s megafauna to extinction, particularly when introduced taxa and drought exacerbated the effects of predation. However, such explanations are difficult to test due to the scarcity of individual sites with unambiguous traces of humans, introduced taxa, and endemic megaherbivores. We excavated three coastal ponds in arid SW Madagascar and present a unique combination of traces of human activity (modified pygmy hippo bone, processed estuarine shell and fish bone, and charcoal), along with bones of extinct megafauna (giant tortoises, pygmy hippos, and elephant birds), extirpated fauna (e.g., crocodiles), and introduced vertebrates (e.g., zebu cattle). The disappearance of megafauna from the study sites at ~ 1000 years ago followed a relatively arid interval and closely coincides with increasingly frequent traces of human foraging, fire, and pastoralism. Our analyses fail to document drought-associated extirpation or multiple millennia of megafauna hunting and suggest that a late combination of hunting, forest clearance, and pastoralism drove extirpations.Results - Subfossils and chronology. - Charcoal. Discussion Method

Oral delivery of il-27 recombinant bacteria attenuates immune colitis in mice

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) would benefit from specific targeting of therapeutics to the intestine. We developed a strategy for localized delivery of the immunosuppressive cytokine IL27, which is actively synthesized in situ by the food-grade bacterium Lactococcuslactis (LL-IL-27), and tested its ability to reduce colitis in mice. METHODS: The 2 genes encoding mouse IL27 were synthesized with optimal codon usage for L lactis and joined with a linker; a signal sequence was added to allow for secretion of the product. The construct was introduced into L lactis. Colitis was induced via transfer of CD4(+)CD45RB(hi) T cells into Rag(−/−) mice to induce colitis; 7.5 weeks later, LL-IL-27 was administered to mice via gavage. Intestinal tissues were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: LL-IL-27 administration protected mice from T-cell transfer-induced enterocolitis and death. LL-IL-27 reduced disease activity scores, pathology features of large and small bowel, and levels of inflammatory cytokines in colonic tissue. LL-IL-27 also reduced numbers of CD4(+) and IL17(+) T cells in gut-associated lymphoid tissue. The effects of LL-IL-27 required production of IL10 by the transferred T cells. LL-IL-27 was more effective than either LL-IL-10 or systemic administration of recombinant IL27 in reducing colitis in mice. LL-IL-27 also reduced colitis in mice following administration of dextran sodium sulfate. CONCLUSIONS: L lactis engineered to express IL27 (LL-IL-27) reduces colitis in mice, by increasing production of IL10. Mucosal delivery of LL-IL-27 could be a more effective and safer therapy for IBD

Interleukin-27 Is a Potential Rescue Therapy for Acute Severe Colitis Through Interleukin-10-Dependent, T-Cell-Independent Attenuation of Colonic Mucosal Innate Immune Responses

Background: If treatment with intravenous steroids fail, inflammatory bowel disease patients with acute severe colitis face systemic anti–tumor necrosis factor biologic rescue therapy or colectomy. Interleukin (IL)-27 is a cytokine with an immunosuppressive role in adaptive immune responses. However, the IL-27 receptor complex is also expressed on innate immune cells, and there is evidence that IL-27 can impact the function of innate cell subsets, although this particular functionality in vivo is not understood. Our aim was to define the efficacy of IL-27 in acute severe colitis and characterize novel IL-27–driven mechanisms of immunosuppression in the colonic mucosa. Methods: We assessed oral delivery of Lactococcus lactis expressing an IL-27 hyperkine on the innate immune response in vivo in a genetically intact, noninfective, acute murine colitis model induced by intrarectal instillation of 2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid in SJL/J mice. Results: IL-27 attenuates acute severe colitis through the reduction of colonic mucosal neutrophil infiltrate associated with a decreased CXC chemokine gradient. This suppression was T cell independent and IL-10 dependent, initially featuring enhanced mucosal IL-10. IL-27 was associated with a reduction in colonic proinflammatory cytokines and induced a multifocal, strong, positive nuclear expression of phosphorylated STAT-1 in mucosal epithelial cells. Conclusion: We have defined novel mechanisms of IL-27 immunosuppression toward colonic innate immune responses in vivo. Mucosal delivery of IL-27 has translational potential as a novel therapeutic for inflammatory bowel disease, and it is a future mucosal directed rescue therapy in acute severe inflammatory bowel disease