Flow convergence and stability at a tidal estuarine front: Acoustic Doppler current observations

Characteristics of the flow field in an estuarine frontal zone have been investigated in a field study in the lower James River estuary. Underway sampling with an acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) on repeated transects across the front provided information on the structure of the flow field near the front and its evolution in time. As this tidal intrusion front advanced up the estuary during the flooding tide, prominent and consistent features in the velocity field included a localized zone of convergent flow beneath the visible surface line and a stratified shear layer just upriver of the front. Within the shear layer between the buoyant surface water and the faster, higher-salinity undercurrent, gradient Richardson number estimates suggest that the flow was at or near the threshold for sheer instability. Another shear-type gradient in the flow field, the across-front variation of the along-front velocity component, strengthened over a sequence of transects, with intensity increasing toward the surface. Tracking of the front was then interrupted when the identifying line of foam and accumulated material on the surface, previously sharp and well defined, broke up and dispersed to such an extent that the visible signature of the front was lost temporarily. A visible frontal expression later reappeared, and propagation upriver continued. Lower bound estimates of downwelling flow in the frontal zone were determined by continuity considerations

Financial reporting on corporate real estate: a study of the annual reports of non-investment companies listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZSE)

Corporate Real Estate (CRE) is a significant asset, which has been shown to add value to businesses if it is efficiently and effectively managed. Globalisation of capital markets, advancements in technology and the current economic condition have again increased the awareness of the importance of CRE’s contribution. In order to be successful businesses need CRE to create and maintain their competitive edge in the marketplace. Advancement in terms of Corporate Real Estate Asset Management (CREAM) and the positive attitude shift of executives towards corporate real estate (CRE) have been made possible through research into the contribution CRE makes to a business’s bottom line. The objective of this study is to describe the financial reporting practices of companies (excluding investment companies) listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZSE) in order to reveal the current attitudes of management towards CRE. The results showed that information chaos exists behind the façade of the Balance Sheet, revealing that management have a surface level attitude and lack a real focus towards CRE assets. In New Zealand and overseas there is minimal literature that this study could build upon. The methodology involved an exploratory study of the 2008 annual reports; the results formed a snap shot of the current reporting practices of CRE and revealed the current attitudes of management in entities towards CRE

Understanding Student Protest in Canada: The University of Toronto Strike Vote

A behavioural indicator of student protest - voting in favour of a student strike referendum - is shown to be positively associated with two social discontinuities accompanying the student role: the weakening of ties with the family of origin and an uncertain future. Also, a student's commitment to the social order as measured by a variety of items is shown to be inversely related to favouring the strike. An argument is made that recent student protest in Canada and the United States differed in terms of the major issues involved and that the difference can be explained by variation in the valued means of social participation in the two societies.L 'article démontre que la question d'un référendum de grève – mesure de comportement typique dans les constestations estudiantines - est en rapport positif avec deux discontinuités intrinsèques dans le rôle d'étudiant: le relâchement des liens de famille et un avenir incertain. De plus, l'engagement de l'étudiant à l'ordre social se présente en rapport inverse avec un vote positif pour la grève. L'article soutient qu'il existe une différence entre les raisons principales des récentes contestations au Canada et aux Etats-Unis. Cette différence s'explique en variant les formes idéologiquement établies de la participation sociale dans les deux pays

Historical Arctic Logbooks Provide Insights into Past Diets and Climatic Responses of Cod

Gadus morhua (Atlantic cod) stocks in the Barents Sea are currently at levels not seen since the 1950s. Causes for the population increase last century, and understanding of whether such large numbers will be maintained in the future, are unclear. To explore this, we digitised and interrogated historical cod catch and diet datasets from the Barents Sea. Seventeen years of catch data and 12 years of prey data spanning 1930–1959 cover unexplored spatial and temporal ranges, and importantly capture the end of a previous warm period, when temperatures were similar to those currently being experienced. This study aimed to evaluate cod catch per unit effort and prey frequency in relation to spatial, temporal and environmental variables. There was substantial spatio-temporal heterogeneity in catches through the time series. The highest catches were generally in the 1930s and 1940s, although at some localities more cod were recorded late in the 1950s. Generalized Additive Models showed that environmental, spatial and temporal variables are all valuable descriptors of cod catches, with the highest occurring from 15–45°E longitude and 73–77°N latitude, at bottom temperatures between 2 and 4°C and at depths between 150 and 250 m. Cod diets were highly variable during the study period, with frequent changes in the relative frequencies of different prey species, particularly Mallotus villosus (capelin). Environmental variables were particularly good at describing the importance of capelin and Clupea harengus (herring) in the diet. These new analyses support existing knowledge about how the ecology of the region is controlled by climatic variability. When viewed in combination with more recent data, these historical relationships will be valuable in forecasting the future of Barents Sea fisheries, and in understanding how environments and ecosystems may respond

Dissipation and mixing during the onset of stratification in a temperate lake, Windermere

Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers and chains of temperature sensors were used to observe the spring transition to stable stratification over a 55 day period in a temperate lake. Observations of the flow structure were complemented by measurements of dissipation, based on the Structure Function method, near the lake bed and in the upper part of the water column. During complete vertical mixing, wind-driven motions had horizontally isotropic velocities with roughly equal barotropic and baroclinic kinetic energy. Dissipation was closely correlated with the wind-speed cubed, indicating law of the wall scaling, and had peak values of ~1 x 10-5.5 W kg-1 at 10 m depth during maximum wind forcing (W~ 15 m s-1). As stratification developed, the flow evolved into a predominantly baroclinic regime dominated by the first mode internal seiche, with root mean square (rms) axial flow speeds of ~2-3 cm-1; ~ 2.5-times the transverse component. At 2.8 m above the bed, most of the dissipation occurred in a number of strong maxima coinciding with peaks of near-bed flow. In the pycnocline, dissipation was low most of the time, but with pronounced maxima (reaching ~1 x 10-5 W kg-1) closely related to the local velocity shear. The downward diffusive heat flux across the pycnocline over 27.5 days accounted for ~ 70% of the temperature rise in the water column below. Total lake kinetic energy increased by a factor of 3 between mixed and stratified regimes, in spite of reduced wind forcing, indicating less efficient damping in stable conditions

Biologically-informed neural networks guide mechanistic modeling from sparse experimental data

Biologically-informed neural networks (BINNs), an extension of physics-informed neural networks [1], are introduced and used to discover the underlying dynamics of biological systems from sparse experimental data. In the present work, BINNs are trained in a supervised learning framework to approximate in vitro cell biology assay experiments while respecting a generalized form of the governing reaction-diffusion partial differential equation (PDE). By allowing the diffusion and reaction terms to be multilayer perceptrons (MLPs), the nonlinear forms of these terms can be learned while simultaneously converging to the solution of the governing PDE. Further, the trained MLPs are used to guide the selection of biologically interpretable mechanistic forms of the PDE terms which provides new insights into the biological and physical mechanisms that govern the dynamics of the observed system. The method is evaluated on sparse real-world data from wound healing assays with varying initial cell densities [2]

REMAP:An online remote sensing application for land cover classification and monitoring

Recent assessments of progress towards global conservation targets have revealed a paucity of indicators suitable for assessing the changing state of ecosystems. Moreover, land managers and planners are often unable to gain timely access to the maps they need to support their routine decision-making. This deficiency is partly due to a lack of suitable data on ecosystem change, driven mostly by the considerable technical expertise needed to develop ecosystem maps from remote sensing data. We have developed a free and open-access online remote sensing and environmental modelling application, the Remote Ecosystem Monitoring and Assessment Pipeline (Remap; https://remap-app.org), that enables volunteers, managers and scientists with little or no experience in remote sensing to generate classifications (maps) of land cover and land use change over time. Remap utilizes the geospatial data storage and analysis capacity of Google Earth Engine and requires only spatially resolved training data that define map classes of interest (e.g. ecosystem types). The training data, which can be uploaded or annotated interactively within Remap, are used in a random forest classification of up to 13 publicly available predictor datasets to assign all pixels in a focal region to map classes. Predictor datasets available in Remap represent topographic (e.g. slope, elevation), spectral (archival Landsat image composites) and climatic variables (precipitation, temperature) that are relevant to the distribution of ecosystems and land cover classes. The ability of Remap to develop and export high-quality classified maps in a very short (<10 min) time frame represents a considerable advance towards globally accessible and free application of remote sensing technology. By enabling access to data and simplifying remote sensing classifications, Remap can catalyse the monitoring of land use and change to support environmental conservation, including developing inventories of biodiversity, identifying hotspots of ecosystem diversity, ecosystem-based spatial conservation planning, mapping ecosystem loss at local scales and supporting environmental education initiatives

From Start to Finish?

Article published in the Michigan State International Law Review

Antibodies to normal and Alzheimer human brain structures from non-immunised mice of various ages

AbstractSupernatants from mouse spleen hybridoma lines established without previous immunisation were screened immunohistochemically against cryostat sections of human temporal cortex and found to stain a variety of brain structures, including Alzheimer plaques and tangles. The age of the mice had no effect on antibody production

Serial characterisation of monocyte and neutrophil function after lung resection.

OBJECTIVES: The primary aim of this prospective study was to perform a comprehensive serial characterisation of monocyte and neutrophil function, circulating monocyte subsets, and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid after lung resection. A secondary aim was to perform a pilot, hypothesis-generating evaluation of whether innate immune parameters were associated with postoperative pneumonia. METHODS: Forty patients undergoing lung resection were studied in detail. Blood monocytes and neutrophils were isolated preoperatively and at 6, 24 and 48 h postoperatively. BAL was performed preoperatively and immediately postoperatively. Monocyte subsets, monocyte responsiveness to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and neutrophil phagocytic capacity were quantified at all time points. Differential cell count, protein and cytokine concentrations were measured in BAL. Pneumonia evaluation at 72 h was assessed using predefined criteria. RESULTS: After surgery, circulating subsets of classical and intermediate monocytes increased significantly. LPS-induced release of proinflammatory cytokines from monocytes increased significantly and by 48 h a more proinflammatory profile was found. Neutrophil phagocytosis demonstrated a small but significant fall. Factors associated with postoperative pneumonia were: increased release of specific proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines from monocytes; preoperative neutrophilia; and preoperative BAL cell count. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that postoperative lung inflammation is associated with specific changes in the cellular innate immune response, a better understanding of which may improve patient selection and prediction of complications in the future