Project RISE: Recognizing Industrial Smoke Emissions

Industrial smoke emissions pose a significant concern to human health. Prior works have shown that using Computer Vision (CV) techniques to identify smoke as visual evidence can influence the attitude of regulators and empower citizens to pursue environmental justice. However, existing datasets are not of sufficient quality nor quantity to train the robust CV models needed to support air quality advocacy. We introduce RISE, the first large-scale video dataset for Recognizing Industrial Smoke Emissions. We adopted a citizen science approach to collaborate with local community members to annotate whether a video clip has smoke emissions. Our dataset contains 12,567 clips from 19 distinct views from cameras that monitored three industrial facilities. These daytime clips span 30 days over two years, including all four seasons. We ran experiments using deep neural networks to establish a strong performance baseline and reveal smoke recognition challenges. Our survey study discussed community feedback, and our data analysis displayed opportunities for integrating citizen scientists and crowd workers into the application of Artificial Intelligence for social good.Comment: Technical repor

Low intestinal inflammation model (HP48) in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and inflammatory mitigation by Bactocell

Moderate levels of intestinal damage and inflammation are often seen in intensive fish aquaculture. The causes may be due to antinutrients from plant meals, stress or other causes. There is currently a lack of good models to explore these effects and so how to mitigate the consequences. Most studies have used full-fat soy or other compounds that cause intestinal damage that are likely not reversible. In this study we have explored the possibility of using soybean HP48, made from solvent extracted peeled soybeans, as a low-inflammation model in post-smolt Atlantic salmon, and then investigated whether supplementation of the probiotic Pediococcus acidilactici CNCM I-4622 – MA 18/5 M (Bactocell) could diminish this effect. The fish were fed triplicate diets. A Control diet containing 18.08% soy protein concentrate (SPC), a HP48 diet where most of the SPC was replaced by HP48 (5.00% SPC and 17.68% HP48), and a Bactocell diet that was identical to the HP48 diet but contained 0.03% Bactocell. After 10 weeks of feeding, the mid- and hind-intestinal health were assessed by histology, integrity (Ussing chamber) and gene expression (RNAseq). Transcriptomic and integrity data suggests that HP48 led to a disturbed mid-intestinal homeostasis with impaired cellular integrity and increased inflammation and cell turnover. Most of the transcriptomic effects were reversed with Bactocell including downregulation of immune genes and upregulation of transmembrane proteins such as type IV collagen, which is important in restoring epithelial homeostasis. In the hind-intestine, the HP48 diet led to deleterious morphological changes such as widening of lamina propria and stratum granulosum, disrupted mucosal folds, loss of absorptive vacuoles, and upregulation of several immune regulated genes and downregulation of genes involved in solute- and water transport. The intestinal integrity assessed by Ussing chamber was not affected. Bactocell supplementation did alleviate several of the morphological effects. However, it was not able to completely reverse the expression of immune- or transport related genes, suggesting a higher effect of probiotic supplement in the mid-intestine compared to the hind-intestine. This study demonstrates that the level of HP48 used here is sufficient to create low-level intestinal changes in Atlantic salmon, which is within range for functional feed ingredients to reverse.publishedVersio

Mid and hindgut transcriptome profiling analysis of Atlantic salmon (Salmon salar) under unpredictable chronic stress

The intestinal epithelium is a selectively permeable barrier for nutrients, electrolytes and water, while maintaining effective protection against pathogens. Combinations of stressors throughout an animal's life, especially in agriculture and aquaculture settings, may affect the regular operativity of this organ with negative consequences for animal welfare. In the current study, we report the effects of a three-week unpredictable chronic stress (UCS) period on the intestinal morphology and transcriptome response of Atlantic salmon (Salmon salar) parr midgut and hindgut. Midgut and hindgut from both control and UCS fish were collected for histology and RNA-sequencing analysis to identify respective changes in the membrane structures and putative genes and pathways responding to UCS. Histological analysis did not show any significant effect on morphometric parameters. In the midgut, 1030 genes were differentially expressed following UCS, resulting in 279 genes which were involved in 13 metabolic pathways, including tissue repair pathways. In the hindgut, following UCS, 591 differentially expressed genes were detected with 426 downregulated and 165 upregulated. A total of 53 genes were related to three pathways. Downregulated genes include cellular senescence pathways, p53 signalling and cytokine–cytokine receptor pathways. The overall results corroborate that salmon parr were at least partly habituating to the UCS treatment. In midgut, the main upregulation was related to cell growth and repair, while in the hindgut there were indications of the activated apoptotic pathway, reduced cell repair and inhibited immune/anti-inflammatory capacity. This may be the trade-off between habituating to UCS and health resilience. This study suggests possible integrated genetic regulatory mechanisms that are tuned when farmed Atlantic salmon parr attempt to cope with UCS.publishedVersio

Intestinal health in Atlantic salmon post-smolt (Salmo salar) when fed low- and high HUFA diets

It is well established that farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) need n3-highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA) in their diet to thrive and grow. However, the biological functions to the individual HUFAs may differ, implying that future supplementation could require fixed ratios for maximum benefit. The intestinal barrier is essential to f ish health, and any disruption of the barrier can have detrimental effects. The current experiment was designed to examine the response of the intestinal hindgut when fed a low HUFA diet with 8.5 g/kg EPA + DHA (4.5% total fatty acid) or two high HUFA diets, with either high DHA (28.7 g/kg and 5.9% total fatty acid) or high EPA (25 g/kg and 14.2% total fatty acid). The diets were fed to Atlantic salmon post-smolt over 10 weeks and thereafter exposed to 3 weeks of chronic stress. After 10 weeks of feeding there were no differences in intestinal permeability and integrity, but intestinal morphology indicated increased intestinal health in the high EPA group. Gene expression also suggest that fish fed the high EPA diet had more regulation of pathways related to protein turnover compared to the high DHA fed fish. There was also indication of lower energy utilization in the low HUFA fed fish than high HUFA. Subjecting fish to 3 weeks of chronic stress led to a reduction in transepithelial resistance, increased ion flux and active L-lysine transport across the intestinal barrier in addition to a decrease in mucosal fold, enterocyte height and supranuclear vacuole density and an increase in thickness of the intestinal muscularis. After stress, the low HUFA group showed signs of inflammation with increased infiltration of MHCII positive cells. Gene expression also showed that low HUFA fed fish had a lower response to chronic stress compared to the high HUFA groups. Comparing fish fed either high DHA or EPA exposed to chronic stress showed few physical effects, but a lower density of supranuclear vacuoles and upregulation in immune-related gene expression indicate inflammation in the high DHA group.publishedVersio