Geodatabase Development to Support Hyperspectral Imagery Exploitation

Geodatabase development for coastal studies conducted by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is essential to support the exploitation of hyperspectral imagery (HSI). NRL has found that the remote sensing and mapping science community benefits from coastal classifications that group coastal types based on similar features. Selected features in project geodatabases relate to significant biological and physical forces that shape the coast. The project geodatabases help researchers understand factors that are necessary for imagery post processing, especially those features having a high degree of temporal and spatial variability. NRL project geodatabases include a hierarchy of environmental factors that extend from shallow water bottom types and beach composition to inland soil and vegetation characteristics. These geodatabases developed by NRL allow researchers to compare features among coast types. The project geodatabases may also be used to enhance littoral data archives that are sparse. This paper highlights geodatabase development for recent remote sensing experiments in barrier island, coral, and mangrove coast types

Hydrothermal activity lowers trophic diversity in Antarctic sedimented hydrothermal vents

Sedimented hydrothermal vents are those in which hydrothermal fluid vents through sediment and are among the least studied deep-sea ecosystems. We present a combination of microbial and biochemical data to assess trophodynamics between and within hydrothermally active and off-vent areas of the Bransfield Strait (1050–1647 m depth). Microbial composition, biomass and fatty acid signatures varied widely between and within vent and non-vent sites and provided evidence of diverse metabolic activity. Several species showed diverse feeding strategies and occupied different trophic positions in vent and non-vent areas and stable isotope values of consumers were generally not consistent with feeding structure morphology. Niche area and the diversity of microbial fatty acids reflected trends in species diversity and was lowest at the most hydrothermally active site. Faunal utilisation of chemosynthetic activity was relatively limited but was detected at both vent and non-vent sites as evidenced by carbon and sulphur isotopic signatures, suggesting that the hydrothermal activity can affect trophodynamics over a much wider area than previously thought

Trophic upgrading and mobilization of wax esters in microzooplankton

Heterotrophic protists play pivotal roles in aquatic ecosystems by transferring matter and energy, including lipids, from primary producers to higher trophic predators. Using Oxyrrhis marina as a model organism, changes to the non-saponifiable protist lipids were investigated under satiation and starvation conditions. During active feeding on the alga Cryptomonas sp., the O. marina hexane soluble non-saponifiable fraction lipid profile reflected its food source with the observed presence of long chain mono-unsaturated fatty alcohols up to C25:1. Evidence of trophic upgrading in O. marina was observed with long chain mono-unsaturated fatty alcohol accumulation of up to C35:1. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first evidence that heterotrophic dinoflagellates are capable of producing ester derived alcohols and that dinoflagellates like O. marina are capable of synthesizing fatty alcohols up to C 35 . Additionally, we show evidence of trophic upgrading of lipids. During a 20-day resource deprivation, the lipid profile remained constant. During starvation, the mobilization of wax esters as energy stores was observed with long chain fatty alcohols mobilized first. Changes in lipid class profile and utilization of wax esters in O. marina provides insight into the types of lipids available for energy demand, the transfer of lipids through the base of marine food webs, and the catabolic response induced by resource deprivation

Outcome following valve surgery in Australia: Development of an enhanced database module

Background: Valvular heart disease, including rheumatic heart disease (RHD), is an important cause of heart disease globally. Management of advanced disease can include surgery and other interventions to repair or replace affected valves. This article summarises the methodology of a study that will incorporate enhanced data collection systems to provide additional insights into treatment choice and outcome for advanced valvular disease including that due to RHD. Methods: An enhanced data collection system will be developed linking an existing Australian cardiac surgery registry to more detailed baseline co-morbidity, medication, echocardiographic and hospital separation data to identify predictors of morbidity and mortality outcome following valve surgery. Discussion: This project aims to collect and incorporate more detailed information regarding pre and postoperative factors and subsequent morbidity. We will use this to provide additional insights into treatment choice and outcome. © 2017 The Author(s)

Family-group names in Coleoptera (Insecta)

We synthesize data on all known extant and fossil Coleoptera family-group names for the first time. A catalogue of 4887 family-group names (124 fossil, 4763 extant) based on 4707 distinct genera in Coleoptera is given. A total of 4492 names are available, 183 of which are permanently invalid because they are based on a preoccupied or a suppressed type genus. Names are listed in a classification framework. We recognize as valid 24 superfamilies, 211 families, 541 subfamilies, 1663 tribes and 740 subtribes. For each name, the original spelling, author, year of publication, page number, correct stem and type genus are included. The original spelling and availability of each name were checked from primary literature. A list of necessary changes due to Priority and Homonymy problems, and actions taken, is given. Current usage of names was conserved, whenever possible, to promote stability of the classification.We would like to sincerely thank the following people for their assistance with nomenclatural and/or bibliographical issues during this project: R. Aalbu (Tenebrionidae), A. Bennett (Hymenoptera), C. Chaboo (Chrysomelidae), C. Bellamy (Buprestidae), L. Bocák (various), M. Bologna (Meloidae), P. Bouchet (Gastropoda), M. Brancucci (publication dates), M. Buck (Hymenoptera), P. Cate (Elateridae), D. Chandler (Anthicidae), C. Costa (Elateridae), J. Cracraft (Aves), J. Cumming (Diptera), H. Douglas (Elateridae), M. Engel (Hymenoptera), W. Eschmeyer (Pisces), N. Evenhuis (Diptera), C. Ferraris (Pisces), G. Flores (literature), R. Foottit (Hemiptera), G. Gibson (Hymenoptera), B. Gill (Scarabaeoidea), M. Gimmel (Cyclaxyridae), V. Grebennikov (various), V. Gusarov (Staphylinidae), A. Hamilton (Hemiptera), L. Herman (Staphylinidae), M. Ivie (Tenebrionoidea), D. Iwan (Coleoptera), E. Jendek (Buprestoidea), P. Johnson (Elateridae), P. Jolivet (Chrysomelidae), S. Kazantsev (literature), I. Kitching (Lepidoptera), J. Kolibáč (Cleridae), H. Labrique (literature), D. Lafontaine (Lepidoptera), S. Laplante (various), M. LeCroy (Aves), S. Laplante (Coleoptera), A. Legalov (Curculionoidea), L. LeSage (Chrysomelidae), R. Leschen (various), I. Löbl (various), O. Lonsdale (Diptera), E. Matthews (Tenebrionidae), O. Merkl (Tenebrionidae), E. Michel (ICZN Cases), J. Muona (Eucnemidae, Elateridae), J. Nieto Nafría (Hemiptera), R. Oberprieler (Curculionoidea), J. O’Hara (Diptera), W. Opitz (Cleridae), D. Pavićević (Staphylinidae), K. Philips (Ptinidae), J. Pinto (Meloidae), G. Poinar (Curculionoidea), D. Pollock (Tenebrionoidea), R. Pyle (Pisces), D. Reeder (Mammalia), F. Riedel (Mollusca), C. Roper (Cephalopoda), C. Schmidt (Lepidoptera), N. Simmons (Mammalia), J. Skevington (Diptera), A. Smetana (various), W. Steiner (Tenebrionidae), M. Thayer (stems, Staphyliniformia), C. Thompson (Diptera), F. Vaz-de-Mello (Scarabaeidae), T. Virro (Rotifera), R. Wharton (Hymenoptera) and Q. Yu (Nematoda). M. Thayer provided data on the correct stem of Coleoptera genera. S. Gamman and P. Madaire, the library staff at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (Ottawa), are thanked for their assistance with acquisition of important literature. A. Newton partial grant support for catalog database construction: United States National Science Foundation grants 8814449 (Field Museum Coleoptera collection inventory), 0118749 (south temperate Staphylinidae catalog) and 0715705 (world Staphylinini catalog).Peer Reviewe

Authenticating Hybrid Cell Lines

Hybrid (both intra-species and inter-species) cell lines arise through intentional or nonintentional fusion of somatic cells having different origins. Hybrid cell lines can pose a problem for authentication testing to confirm cell line identity, since the results obtained may not conform to the results expected for the two parental cell types. Thus, depending on the identity testing methodology, a hybrid cell may display characteristics of one of the parental cell type or of both. In some instances, the hybrid cell line may display characteristics that are different from those displayed by either parental cell type; these differences may not necessarily indicate cellular cross-contamination. Testing should be performed as soon as possible after an intended fusion has occurred, so that a baseline reference profile is available for later comparison. In this article, we describe the various approaches that have been used for identifying hybrid cell lines and the results that might be expected when using various technologies for this purpose

Flux Compactifications of M-Theory on Twisted Tori

We find the bosonic sector of the gauged supergravities that are obtained from 11-dimensional supergravity by Scherk-Schwarz dimensional reduction with flux to any dimension D. We show that, if certain obstructions are absent, the Scherk-Schwarz ansatz for a finite set of D-dimensional fields can be extended to a full compactification of M-theory, including an infinite tower of Kaluza-Klein fields. The internal space is obtained from a group manifold (which may be non-compact) by a discrete identification. We discuss the symmetry algebra and the symmetry breaking patterns and illustrate these with particular examples. We discuss the action of U-duality on these theories in terms of symmetries of the D-dimensional supergravity, and argue that in general it will take geometric flux compactifications to M-theory on non-geometric backgrounds, such as U-folds with U-duality transition functions.Comment: Latex, 47 page

Engineering novel complement activity into a pulmonary surfactant protein

Complement neutralizes invading pathogens, stimulates inflammatory and adaptive immune responses, and targets non- or altered-self structures for clearance. In the classical and lectin activation pathways, it is initiated when complexes composed of separate recognition and activation subcomponents bind to a pathogen surface. Despite its apparent complexity, recognition-mediated activation has evolved independently in three separate protein families, C1q, mannose-binding lectins (MBLs), and serum ficolins. Although unrelated, all have bouquet-like architectures and associate with complement-specific serine proteases: MBLs and ficolins with MBL-associated serine protease-2 (MASP-2) and C1q with C1r and C1s. To examine the structural requirements for complement activation, we have created a number of novel recombinant rat MBLs in which the position and orientation of the MASP-binding sites have been changed. We have also engineered MASP binding into a pulmonary surfactant protein (SP-A), which has the same domain structure and architecture as MBL but lacks any intrinsic complement activity. The data reveal that complement activity is remarkably tolerant to changes in the size and orientation of the collagenous stalks of MBL, implying considerable rotational and conformational flexibility in unbound MBL. Furthermore, novel complement activity is introduced concurrently with MASP binding in SP-A but is uncontrolled and occurs even in the absence of a carbohydrate target. Thus, the active rather than the zymogen state is default in lectin·MASP complexes and must be inhibited through additional regions in circulating MBLs until triggered by pathogen recognition