Measuring the Impact of Thermal Stress on Coral Resilience in Hawai\u27i Using Large-Area Imagery

Coral reefs worldwide are declining due to several anthropogenic stressors, but rising ocean temperature is the most serious threat to coral reef persistence. Developing models that document changes in coral communities following thermal stress events and forecast trends in reef recovery is crucial in identifying resilient reefs. Traditional approaches to generating the coral vital rates necessary for demographic modeling are time consuming and field intensive; however, by leveraging Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry, we can accurately track populations over time at a large spatial scale. In this study, I assessed the population dynamics of the dominant coral species across the Hawaiian archipelago and investigated the impact of thermal stress on coral populations. The annual growth, survival and recruitment of 3,852 coral colonies (5,636 unique colony-level transitions) for 3 genera was recorded at 16 sites spanning the Hawaiian archipelago across 14 intervals from 2013 to 2019, including 3 bleaching events. These data were used to estimate vital rates (growth, survival, and recruitment) and build integral projection models to determine the impact of thermal stress on population growth. To overcome the inherent challenges in estimating coral reproduction, I modeled recruitment in four different ways and present a comparison of datarich to data-poor estimation methods. Degree Heating Week output from the NOAA Coral Reef Watch daily global 5km satellite was used to estimate thermal conditions at each site by calculating temperature stress severity (the mean of all maximum thermal anomalies) and frequency (number of thermal stress events per 10 years). I found that all three coral genera, which have different morphologies and life-history strategies, had negative population growth rates. As expected, smaller colonies experienced faster growth, but large colonies had a high probability of shrinking, due to partial mortality. Large, multi-fragmented colonies had high survivorship and it may be advantageous for larger colonies to fragment into smaller pieces to avoid total mortality. Population dynamics were primarily driven by coral growth and survival and should be targeted in future restoration and adaptation projects. Additionally, across all taxa, population growth rates (λ) varied spatiotemporally, but most sites exhibited a declining population growth rate (λ \u3c 1). While increased severity and frequency of thermal stress events negatively impacted the population growth rate of massive Porites corals, there was no signal of this effect on encrusting Montipora corals. I demonstrate that despite variations in the responses observed among taxa, there is an overall expected population decline across the Hawaiian archipelago. While most coral population growth rates are higher following bleaching events, signifying recovery, the projected increase in both the severity and frequency of thermal anomalies may overwhelm corals’ ability to recover and threaten coral population persistence

Avian Flu: An AgentSheets Project

To use Agent Sheets software to tract the spread of the Avian Flu given certain factors

Mechatronic Carnival

The goal for our design was to create a two-player water gun shooting game. The object of the game is to use a water gun to aim a stream of water at a target and fill up a tank. The player who is able to successfully fill up their tank first is the winner. The design consists of two water guns that are powered by a pump. They are used to shoot at a target in the backboard of the device. As the tank fills up, LEDs light up to indicate each player’s progress. When a tank is full, all of the LEDs will be on, and music will play. Also, when one player’s tank is full the game is over meaning that both player tanks drain, and the pump turns off

A temperature sensitive live-attenuated canine influenza virus H3N8 vaccine

Canine influenza is a respiratory disease of dogs caused by canine influenza virus (CIV). CIV subtypes responsible for influenza in dogs include H3N8, which originated from the transfer of H3N8 equine influenza virus to dogs; and the H3N2 CIV, which is an avian-origin virus that adapted to infect dogs. Influenza infections are most effectively prevented through vaccination to reduce transmission and future infection. Currently, only inactivated influenza vaccines (IIVs) are available for the prevention of CIV in dogs. However, the efficacy of IIVs is suboptimal, and novel approaches are necessary for the prevention of disease caused by this canine respiratory pathogen. Using reverse genetics techniques, we have developed a live-attenuated CIV vaccine (LACIV) for the prevention of H3N8 CIV. The H3N8 LACIV replicates efficiently in canine cells at 33°C but is impaired at temperatures of 37 to 39°C and was attenuated compared to wild-type H3N8 CIV in vivo and ex vivo. The LACIV was able to induce protection against H3N8 CIV challenge with a single intranasal inoculation in mice. Immunogenicity and protection efficacy were better than that observed with a commercial CIV H3N8 IIV but provided limited cross-reactive immunity and heterologous protection against H3N2 CIV. These results demonstrate the feasibility of implementing a LAIV approach for the prevention and control of H3N8 CIV in dogs and suggest the need for a new LAIV for the control of H3N2 CIV. Importance: Two influenza A virus subtypes has been reported in dogs in the last 16 years: the canine influenza viruses (CIV) H3N8 and H3N2 of equine and avian origins, respectively. To date, only inactivated influenza vaccines (IIVs) are available to prevent CIV infections. Here, we report the generation of a recombinant, temperature-sensitive H3N8 CIV as a live-attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV), which was attenuated in mice and dog tracheal, explants compared to CIV H3N8 wild type. A single dose of H3N8 LACIV showed immunogenicity and protection against a homologous challenge that was better than that conferred with an H3N8 IIV, demonstrating the feasibility of implementing a LAIV approach for the improved control of H3N8 CIV infections in dogs

Determination of fats, oils and greases in food service establishment wastewater using a modification of the Gerber Method

Discharges from food service establishments (FSEs) are a major source of fat, oil and grease (FOG) which cause blockages in sewer networks. Previous research has identified that current methods are unsuitable for quantifying FOG in FSE wastewater owing to interference from surfactants in detergents, and protein from food residuals which emulsify FOG. A novel quantification method, based on the dairy industry Gerber method, has been developed which negates the impact of surfactants. Moreover, the method allows free and emulsified oil to be quantified separately providing greater insight into FOG management strategies. Trials in synthetic and real FSE wastewaters indicate the novel method is more reliable than standard liquid–liquid and solid phase extraction in FOG‐rich systems

The Development of the WISE (Writing to Inspire Successful Education) Writing Mentoring Program: A University-School Collaboration

Abstract This paper describes the development of a service learning writing mentoring program designed to close the achievement gap in writing proficiency for economically disadvantaged seventh grade students. Compared to writing mentoring studies found in the published literature, this program has three distinguishing components. First, it focused on economically disadvantaged middle school students. Second, it provided writing mentoring through a university-school partnership in which college students provided the intervention in collaboration with a seventh-grade teacher. Third, the program used technology to facilitate the mentoring process. Over the course of an academic year, mentors created videos with feedback on 19 writing assignments. The writing mentoring program was associated with a four-fold increase in the percentage of students who were graded as ‘proficient’ on a state standardized writing exam. These results suggest that semi-virtual, intensive writing mentoring and individualized feedback from college students can close the achievement gap and improve the quality of middle level education provided to economically disadvantaged students