Sensor-assisted Video Mapping of the Seafloor

In recent years video surveys have become an increasingly important ground-truthing of acousticseafloor characterization and benthic habitat mapping studies. However, the ground-truthing and detailed characterization provided by video are still typically done using sparse sample imagery supplemented by physical samples. Combining single video frames in a seamless mosaic can provide a tool by which imagery has significant areal coverage, while at the same time showing small fauna and biological features at mm resolution. The generation of such a mosaic is a challenging task due to height variations of the imaged terrain and decimeter scale knowledge of camera position. This paper discusses the current role of underwater video survey, and the potential for generating consistent, quantitative image maps using video data, accompanied by data that can be measured by auxiliary sensors with sufficient accuracy, such as camera tilt and heading, and their use in automated mosaicking techniques. The camera attitude data also provide the necessary information to support the development of a video collage. The collage provides a quick look at the large spatial scale features in a scene and can be used to pinpoint regions that are likely to yield useful information when rendered into high-resolution mosaics. It is proposed that high quality mosaics can be produced using consumer-grade cameras and low-cost sensors, thereby allowing for the economical scientific video surveys. A case study is presented with the results from benthic habitat mapping and the ground-truthing ofseafloor acoustic data using both real underwater imagery and simulations. A computer modeling of the process of video data acquisition (in particular on a non-flat terrain) allows for a better understanding of the main sources of error in mosaic generation and for the choice of near-optimal processing strategies. Various spatial patterns of video survey coverage are compared and it is shown that some patterns have certain advantages in the sense of accumulated error and overall mosaic accuracy

Organic sulfur: a spatially variable and understudied component of marine organic matter

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Longnecker, K., Oswald, L., Soule, M. C. K., Cutter, G. A., & Kujawinski, E. B. Organic sulfur: a spatially variable and understudied component of marine organic matter. Limnology and Oceanography Letters, (2020), doi:10.1002/lol2.10149.Sulfur (S) is a major heteroatom in organic matter. This project evaluated spatial variability in the concentration and molecular‐level composition of organic sulfur along gradients of depth and latitude. We measured the concentration of total organic sulfur (TOS) directly from whole seawater. Our data reveal high variability in organic sulfur, relative to established variability in total organic carbon or nitrogen. The deep ocean contained significant amounts of organic sulfur, and the concentration of TOS in North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) decreased with increasing age while total organic carbon remained stable. Analysis of dissolved organic matter extracts by ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry revealed that 6% of elemental formulas contained sulfur. The sulfur‐containing compounds were structurally diverse, and showed higher numbers of sulfur‐containing elemental formulas as NADW moved southward. These measurements of organic sulfur in seawater provide the foundation needed to define the factors controlling organic sulfur in the global ocean.We thank Catherine Carmichael, Winifred Johnson, and Gretchen Swarr for assistance with sample collection and processing, and Joe Jennings for the analysis of inorganic nutrients. The help of the captain and crew of the R/V Knorr and the other cruise participants during the “DeepDOM” cruise is appreciated. Two anonymous reviewers and Patricia Soranno provided thorough comments that greatly improved the manuscript. The ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry samples were analyzed at the WHOI FT‐MS Users' Facility that is funded by the National Science Foundation (grant OCE‐0619608) and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (GMBF1214). This project was funded by NSF grants OCE‐1154320 (to EBK and KL), the W.M. Marquet Award (to KL), and OCE‐1435708 (to GAC). The authors declare no conflicts of interest

Mothers of Soldiers in Wartime: A National News Narrative

National news media represent mothers of US combat soldiers in the Iraq War as archetypal good mothers, that is, mothers who continue their maternal work even after their children are deployed. However, not all mothers are depicted as the archetypal patriotic mother, i.e., a good mother who is also stoic and silent about the war and her child\u27s role in it. Mothers of soldiers are portrayed as good mothers who sometimes also voice their attitudes about the war effort. The maternal attitudes ranged from complete support for the war to opposition to the war but support for the soldiers. The findings suggest a picture of wartime motherhood that is more nuanced than the historical image of the patriotic mother suggests

Sources And Cycling of Carbonyl Sulfide in the Sargasso Sea

The cycling of the radiatively important gas carbonyl sulfide (OCS) was studied in surface waters of the Sargasso Sea. In August 1999, surface OCS concentrations averaged 8.6 pmol L-1, showed minor diel variations, and varied little with depth. An OCS precursor, total dissolved organic sulfur (DOS), was lowest at the surface (40 nmol L-1) and increased with depth. The photoproduction rate of OCS from in situ incubations averaged 9.6 pmol L-1 h-1, whereas dark production was 7.0 pmol L-1 h-1. Apparent quantum yields were 10-5-10-7 from 313-436 nm and varied with the water depth irradiated. In March 2000, there were strong diel variations in surface OCS (highest in late afternoon; overall average, 16.9 pmol L-1). Depth profiles in the afternoon showed surface water maxima and decreases with depth, whereas DOS had a surface maximum of 419 nmol L-1 and decreased with depth. Dark production was 4.0 pmol L-1 h-1. Modeling of the diel cycle suggested a photoproduction rate of 16.4 pmol L-1 h-1. Overall, the photochemical production of OCS strongly depended on DOS and chromophoric dissolved organic matter, whereas dark production was influenced by the presence of particles and perhaps microbial respiration, showing a direct biotic influence on OCS cycling

Trust, morality and altruism in the donation of biological material : the case of Portugal

This paper examines a number of social, ethical and cultural issues related to the application of biotechnology. The focus of the paper relies on two different cases of governing biotechnology in Portugal, referring to donation of biological material: the act of donation of eggs and sperm; and volunteers for donation of DNA material for the forensic national DNA database. We analyze the discourses on donation of biological material framing them in rhetorical devices of gift, altruism, informed consent and social responsibility. This comes blended with still unclear and emergent regulation and policies of access, retention, preservation and governing of biological material and of donors’ identification. The risks are mitigated by narratives of science and technology as social progress and providers of public good and health benefits, as well as by underlining the individual responsibility in this domain and by reinforcing the rhetoric of gene quality, based on socio-cultural and bio-genetic criteria

Signal yields, energy resolution, and recombination fluctuations in liquid xenon

This work presents an analysis of monoenergetic electronic recoil peaks in the dark-matter-search and calibration data from the first underground science run of the Large Underground Xenon (LUX) detector. Liquid xenon charge and light yields for electronic recoil energies between 5.2 and 661.7 keV are measured, as well as the energy resolution for the LUX detector at those same energies. Additionally, there is an interpretation of existing measurements and descriptions of electron-ion recombination fluctuations in liquid xenon as limiting cases of a more general liquid xenon re- combination fluctuation model. Measurements of the standard deviation of these fluctuations at monoenergetic electronic recoil peaks exhibit a linear dependence on the number of ions for energy deposits up to 661.7 keV, consistent with previous LUX measurements between 2-16 keV with $^3$H. We highlight similarities in liquid xenon recombination for electronic and nuclear recoils with a comparison of recombination fluctuations measured with low-energy calibration data.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures, 3 table