Relating Streamflow Discharge to Surface Elastic Response Under Hydrologic Loading Using Single GPS Vertical Displacement and the Storage-Discharge Relationship at Local Watershed Scales

Uncertainties associated with climate change and increasing demands for water resources require better methods for estimating water availability at small to intermediate watershed scales (\u3c1500 km2). Temporal changes in watershed storage and transport across various watersheds in the western U.S. were investigated using the hydrologic loading signal from GPS vertical displacements as a proxy for changes in watershed total terrestrial storage. GPS vertical displacement and streamflow discharge relationships were analyzed at daily to monthly temporal resolution. Stream connected storage changes were inferred using discharge using a first-order dynamical system model. Storage inferred from discharge, GPS vertical displacement and storage inferred from a regional scale western U.S. GPS network array were compared. Analyzing the average behavior over the period of record (10+ years), we find that GPS vertical displacement is well correlated to discharge during periods of hydrograph recession resulting in R2 values ranging from (0.78 to 0.96) with 30-day smoothing. We show that local GPS measurements are in close agreement with regional GPS storage inferences. When GPS station array density is sparse, local GPS stations display better agreement with discharge inferred storage estimates and have the potential to provide higher spatial and temporal resolution relative to current published methods of inferring storage from regional GPS inversions. The GPS vertical displacement-discharge relationship provides an independent analysis of watershed function, insight into antecedent conditions, and strong correlations that may enhance predictive power when estimating water availability at local watershed scales most useful to hydrologist and water resources management

Quantifying Missing Heritability at Known GWAS Loci

Recent work has shown that much of the missing heritability of complex traits can be resolved by estimates of heritability explained by all genotyped SNPs. However, it is currently unknown how much heritability is missing due to poor tagging or additional causal variants at known GWAS loci. Here, we use variance components to quantify the heritability explained by all SNPs at known GWAS loci in nine diseases from WTCCC1 and WTCCC2. After accounting for expectation, we observed all SNPs at known GWAS loci to explain 1.29 X more heritability than GWAS-associated SNPs on average (P = 3.3 X 10[superscript -5]). For some diseases, this increase was individually significant:2.07 X for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) (P = 6.5 X 10 [superscript -9]) and for Crohn's Disease (CD) (P = 1.3 X 10[superscript -3]); all analyses of autoimmune diseases excluded the well-studied MHC region. Additionally, we found that GWAS loci from other related traits also explained significant heritability. The union of all autoimmune disease loci explained 7.15 X more MS heritability than known MS SNPs (P 20,000 Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) samples typed on ImmunoChip, with 2.37 X more heritability from all SNPs at GWAS loci (P = 2.3 X 10[superscript -6]) and more heritability from all autoimmune disease loci (P < 1 X 10[superscript -16]) compared to known RA SNPs (including those identified in this cohort). Our methods adjust for LD between SNPs, which can bias standard estimates of heritability from SNPs even if all causal variants are typed. By comparing adjusted estimates, we hypothesize that the genome-wide distribution of causal variants is enriched for low-frequency alleles, but that causal variants at known GWAS loci are skewed towards common alleles. These findings have important ramifications for fine-mapping study design and our understanding of complex disease architecture.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R03HG006731)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Fellowship F32GM106584

A communal catalogue reveals Earth's multiscale microbial diversity

Our growing awareness of the microbial world's importance and diversity contrasts starkly with our limited understanding of its fundamental structure. Despite recent advances in DNA sequencing, a lack of standardized protocols and common analytical frameworks impedes comparisons among studies, hindering the development of global inferences about microbial life on Earth. Here we present a meta-analysis of microbial community samples collected by hundreds of researchers for the Earth Microbiome Project. Coordinated protocols and new analytical methods, particularly the use of exact sequences instead of clustered operational taxonomic units, enable bacterial and archaeal ribosomal RNA gene sequences to be followed across multiple studies and allow us to explore patterns of diversity at an unprecedented scale. The result is both a reference database giving global context to DNA sequence data and a framework for incorporating data from future studies, fostering increasingly complete characterization of Earth's microbial diversity.Peer reviewe

A communal catalogue reveals Earth’s multiscale microbial diversity

Our growing awareness of the microbial world’s importance and diversity contrasts starkly with our limited understanding of its fundamental structure. Despite recent advances in DNA sequencing, a lack of standardized protocols and common analytical frameworks impedes comparisons among studies, hindering the development of global inferences about microbial life on Earth. Here we present a meta-analysis of microbial community samples collected by hundreds of researchers for the Earth Microbiome Project. Coordinated protocols and new analytical methods, particularly the use of exact sequences instead of clustered operational taxonomic units, enable bacterial and archaeal ribosomal RNA gene sequences to be followed across multiple studies and allow us to explore patterns of diversity at an unprecedented scale. The result is both a reference database giving global context to DNA sequence data and a framework for incorporating data from future studies, fostering increasingly complete characterization of Earth’s microbial diversity

Relating Geodetic Deflection Under Hydrologic Loading to Stream Discharge Through Storage-Discharge Relationships

Relating Geodetic Deflection Under Hydrologic Loading to Stream Discharge Through Storage-Discharge Relationships Noah Clayton, MA Geosciences Candidate Dr. W. Payton Gardner, University of Montana Dr. Hilary Martens, University of Montana Climate change impacts and increasing demands for water require better methods for estimating water resources at small to intermediate watershed scales (~ 1500 km2). In this study, we analyze relationships between GPS vertical deflection under hydrologic loading and stream discharge to investigate temporal changes in terrestrial water storage in watersheds with strong seasonal hydrologic events. Using publicly available GPS time series from UNAVCO and UNR and stream discharge time series from USGS, we isolate vertical GPS deflections resulting from hydrologic loading, use that deflection as a proxy for changes in watershed storage with daily to weekly temporal resolution, and investigate relationships between terrestrial water storage and discharge during streamflow recession periods. We compare terrestrial water storage inferred through conventional storage-discharge relationships to GPS measurements as a proxy for changes in storage to develop knowledge of the spatial and temporal patterns of storage and discharge in our studied watersheds. Our results indicate that geodetic deflection can potentially be used as a fundamental constraint of the watershed’s hydrologic behavior. The geodetic deflection measurement provides unprecedented insight into the antecedent storage conditions and/or evapotranspiration which could lead to significantly improved streamflow prediction and water resource estimates

Formula SAE Electric

The Formula SAE Competition is an international collegiate design competition where teams design and build formula-style race cars. The cars are evaluated by a technical inspection, design and cost judging, a business logic scenario, and a series of driving events ending in an endurance race. During the 2020-21 academic year, the WPI FSAE team made the transition away from the combustion competition to the electric formula competition. The vehicle had to be designed from the ground up to incorporate an accumulator, an electric motor, and other tractive systems. The frame is completely redesigned in order to package all of these new components along with a driver. The team is using a two year build cycle in which the vehicle will be finished by the 2021-22 MQP team

James Franklin Collins correspondence.

Senders Fa-Fe (1866-1919