The hunter River estuary water quality model

© Australasian Coasts and Ports 2019 Conference. All rights reserved. This paper presents a detailed hydrodynamic and water quality model to simulate ecological processes in the Hunter River estuary. Following an extensive 3-year multi-disciplinary field campaign, the model was developed to assess total catchment management options. The model outcomes are linked to existing water sharing plans, pollution reduction plans and coastal reforms underway in NSW. Initially a detailed scoping study was undertaken to determine the values and requirements of the key stakeholders across the catchment. Data gaps were subsequently prioritised, and an inter-agency modelling oversight committee was formed to ensure that the modelling tools would be accepted across the region. Following these developmental stages, a field program was initiated which included: estuary wide flow gauging and water quality assessments, microbial linkages, ecotoxicological assessments, sedimentation dynamics, DNA sequencing, qPCR analyses, catchment hydrological flux measurements, nutrient mesocosm experiments, bathymetry surveys and the development of crop irrigation modules. The field data analyses resulted in a conceptual model of the eco-hydraulics of the estuary. A robust numerical model was formulated through an extensive process of external peer review. A source model was selected that ensured the broadest flexibility and ongoing usage rates. A multi-disciplinary approach was undertaken to ensure the model represents a wide range of estuarine processes. The final model is currently undergoing additional peer review, calibration/validation and simulation testing

Privaros: A Framework for Privacy-Compliant Delivery Drones

We present Privaros, a framework to enforce privacy policies on drones. Privaros is designed for commercial delivery drones, such as the ones that will likely be used by Amazon Prime Air. Such drones visit a number of host airspaces, each of which may have different privacy requirements. Privaros provides an information flow control framework to enforce the policies of these hosts on the guest delivery drones. The mechanisms in Privaros are built on top of ROS, a middleware popular in many drone platforms. This paper presents the design and implementation of these mechanisms, describes how policies are specified, and shows that Privaros's policy specification can be integrated with India's Digital Sky portal. Our evaluation shows that a drone running Privaros can robustly enforce various privacy policies specified by hosts, and that its core mechanisms only marginally increase communication latency and power consumption

Primrose syndrome: Characterization of the phenotype in 42 patients

Primrose syndrome (PS; MIM# 259050) is characterized by intellectual disability (ID), macrocephaly, unusual facial features (frontal bossing, deeply set eyes, down-slanting palpebral fissures), calcified external ears, sparse body hair and distal muscle wasting. The syndrome is caused by de novo heterozygous missense variants in ZBTB20. Most of the 29 published patients are adults as characteristics appear more recognizable with age. We present 13 hitherto unpublished individuals and summarize the clinical and molecular findings in all 42 patients. Several signs and symptoms of PS develop during childhood, but the cardinal features, such as calcification of the external ears, cystic bone lesions, muscle wasting, and contractures typically develop between 10 and 16 years of age. Biochemically, anemia and increased alpha-fetoprotein levels are often present. Two adult males with PS developed a testicular tumor. Although PS should be regarded as a progressive entity, there are no indications that cognition becomes more impaired with age. No obvious genotype-phenotype correlation is present. A subgroup of patients with ZBTB20 variants may be associated with mild, nonspecific ID. Metabolic investigations suggest a disturbed mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation. We suggest a regular surveillance in all adult males with PS until it is clear whether or not there is a truly elevated risk of testicular cancer.This article is freely available via Open Access. Click on the Publisher URL to access it via the publisher's site.published version, accepted version (12 month embargo) submitted versio

Resource-Aware Coverage and Task Assignment in Visual Sensor Networks

visual sensor network (VSN) consists of a large amount of camera nodes which are able to process the captured image data locally and to extract the relevant information. The tight resource limitations in these networks of embedded sensors and processors represent a major challenge for the application development. In this paper we focus on finding optimal VSN configurations which are basically given by (i) the selection of cameras to sufficiently monitor the area of interest, (ii) the setting of the cameras\u2019 frame rate and resolution to fulfill the quality of service (QoS) requirements, and (iii) the assignment of processing tasks to cameras to achieve all required monitoring activities. We formally specify this configuration problem and describe an efficient approximation method based on an evolutionary algorithm. We analyze our approximation method on three different scenarios and compare the predicted results with measurements on real implementations on a VSN platform. We finally combine our approximation method with an expectation-maximization algorithm for optimizing the coverage and resource allocation in VSN with pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera nodes

Smart Resource-aware Multimedia Sensor Network for Automatic Detection of Complex Events

This paper presents a smart resource-aware multimedia sensor network. We illustrate a surveillance system which supports human operators, by automatically detecting the complex events and giving the possibility to recall the detected events and searching them in an intelligent search engine. Four subsystems have been implemented, the tracking and detection system, the network configuration system, the reasoning system and an advanced archiving system in an annotated multimedia database

Placental fractalkine is up-regulated in severe early-onset preeclampsia

The pathogenesis of preeclampsia (PE) includes the release of placental factors into the maternal circulation, inducing an inflammatory environment in the mother. One of the factors may be the proinflammatory chemokine fractalkine, which is expressed in the syncytiotrophoblast of human placenta, from where it is released into the maternal circulation by constitutive shedding. We examined whether placental fractalkine is up-regulated in severe early-onset PE and whether the proinflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-{alpha} and IL-6 are able to increase the expression of fractalkine. Gene expression analysis, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and immunohistochemistry consistently showed increased fractalkine expression in placentas from severe early-onset PE, compared to gestational age-matched controls. Expression of a disintegrin and metalloproteinases 10 and 17, which convert transmembrane fractalkine into the soluble form, was significantly increased in these cases. Incubation of first-trimester placental explants with TNF-{alpha} provoked a significant increase in fractalkine expression and release of the soluble form, whereas IL-6 had no effect. TNF-{alpha}-mediated up-regulation of placental fractalkine was reversed in the presence of the aspirin-derivative salicylate, which impaired activation of NF-{kappa}B p65 in TNF-{alpha}-treated explants. On the basis of data from placental explants, we suggest that increased maternal TNF-{alpha} may up-regulate the expression and release of placental fractalkine, which, in turn, may contribute to an exaggerated systemic inflammatory response in PE

Alterations in metabolic patterns have a key role in diagnosis and progression of primrose syndrome

Primrose syndrome is characterized by unusual facial features, macrocephaly, intellectual disability, enlarged, and calcified external ears, sparse body hair, and distal muscle wasting. Nine patients have been described in the literature. The disorder is due to missense mutations in ZBTB20. Here we describe one newly diagnosed 18-month-old patient and provide 10 year follow-up of an earlier reported patient, highlighting the progression and complexity of the disorder. Metabolic studies showed reduced glucose tolerance with prevalence of amino acids and fatty acids catabolism, ketogenesis, and gluconeogenesis, resulting in a Krebs cycle reversion