Developing an acceptance test for non-hydrographic airborne bathymetric lidar data application to NOAA charts in shallow waters

Hydrographic data of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are typically acquired using sonar systems, with a small percent acquired via airborne lidar bathymetry for nearshore areas. This study investigates an integrated approach to meeting NOAA’s hydrographic survey requirements for nearshore areas of NOAA charts using existing U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) National Coastal Mapping Program (NCMP) topographic-bathymetric lidar (TBL) data. Because these existing NCMP bathymetric lidar datasets were not collected to NOAA hydrographic surveying standards, it is unclear if, and under what circumstances, they might aid in meeting certain hydrographic surveying requirements. The NCMP bathymetric lidar data were evaluated through a comparison against NOAA’s hydrographic Services Division (HSD) data derived from acoustic surveys. Key goals included assessing whether NCMP bathymetry can be used to fill in the data gap shoreward of the navigable area limit line (0 to 4 m depth) and if there is potential for applying NCMP TBL data to nearshore areas deeper than 10 m. The study results were used to make recommendations for future use of the data in NOAA. Additionally, this work may allow the development of future operating procedures and workflows using other topographicbathymetric lidar datasets to help update nearshore areas of the NOAA charts

Environmental geologic atlas of the Texas coastal zone : Corpus Christi area

UT Librarie

Local Health Departments’ Costs of Providing Environmental Health Services

Background: A detailed understanding of the costs that local health departments (LHDs) incur in the provision of public health services plays an important role in their efforts to provide services in an effective and efficient manner. However, surprisingly little evidence exists about the key cost components that LHDs incur in the provision of services. Purpose: The purpose of this report was to provide empirical estimates of LHDs’ cost structure. Methods: Using cost information for 2012 from 15 LHDs in North Carolina for two public health services—food and lodging and onsite water—this report first presents estimates of the total costs per service provided. In a second step, total costs are decomposed into key components, including direct and indirect costs. Both data collection and analysis were conducted in 2014. Results: For the LHDs examined in this report, median cost per service amounted to $145 for food and lodging and$82 for onsite water. Service costs, however, varied widely across agencies. Decomposition showed that direct labor costs represented more than 80% of total costs. Other direct costs accounted for 10% to 15% of total costs, while indirect costs represented 5% to 6% of total costs. Implications: The finding that labor costs represent a majority of the total costs of service provision has important implications for public health practitioners. Perhaps most importantly, for the purpose of costing public health services, estimation procedures may be simplified by focusing primarily on the cost of labor required to provide any given service

Lost learnings: Breaking the silence of failure in the energy and development sector

It is often said that in order to succeed, one most fail and yet, all too often, we fail to talk about failure. This is particularly true in energy and development (E&D), a sector that faces complex challenges leading to relatively high chances of project failure. This paper explores failure in E&D, specifically how it is discussed, its impact and mechanisms encourage discussion of failure. This was achieved through a review of academic literature, workshops and informal interviews, and is the first study to holistically examine the important topic of failure in E&D. The results show that failure is complex and linked to multiple factors. There is an important distinction to be made between “productive failures”, where new learnings are assimilated and shared, and “unproductive failures”, where this does not happen. Although failed projects consume scarce resources, reduce the productivity of the sector and increase the perceived risk of future projects, we argue that failure is a necessary part of experimentation and risk taking that generates new knowledge and important learnings. Changes to the nature of funding in the sector, compulsory project or research registration, open-source reporting on productive failure and networks that provide safe spaces for peer-to-peer learning could improve openness about failure. These mechanisms could increase the likelihood of future project success and accelerate progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 7

Method and apparatus for detecting and determining event characteristics with reduced data collection

A method and apparatus for detecting and determining event characteristics such as, for example, the material failure of a component, in a manner which significantly reduces the amount of data collected. A sensor array, including a plurality of individual sensor elements, is coupled to a programmable logic device (PLD) configured to operate in a passive state and an active state. A triggering event is established such that the PLD records information only upon detection of the occurrence of the triggering event which causes a change in state within one or more of the plurality of sensor elements. Upon the occurrence of the triggering event, the change in state of the one or more sensor elements causes the PLD to record in memory which sensor element detected the event and at what time the event was detected. The PLD may be coupled with a computer for subsequent downloading and analysis of the acquired data

Temporal Trends and Drivers of Mountain Lion Depredation in California, USA

Increasing human populations and expanding development across the globe necessitate continual progress in understanding and mitigating human–wildlife conflict. California, USA has the largest human population and at least half of the state is suitable mountain lion (Puma concolor) habitat. The juxtaposition of high human abundance within and adjacent to mountain lion habitat make California relevant for understanding human–large carnivore conflict. We compiled 7,719 confirmed incidents of mountain lions depredating domestic animals over a 48-year period (1972–2019) to examine temporal trends in mountain lion depredations as well as factors influencing annual depredation rates at the county level. Linear regressions demonstrated that the overall number of depredation events and those involving pets (e.g., dogs [Canis lupus familiaris] and cats [Felis catus]) and small hoofstock (primarily sheep [Ovis aries] and goats [Capra aegagrus hircus]) have increased significantly over time with small hoofstock comprising the majority of depredations. Poisson regression models revealed human density and agricultural productivity were negatively associated with increasing depredation rates while amount of suitable habitat and number of mountain lions removed in the previous year were positively associated with increasing depredation rates. In general, our results point to smaller-sized hoofstock operations in areas of suitable mountain lion habitat as key factors in predicting mountain lion depredations in California. Further, the permanent removal of offending individuals appears to increase the potential for conflict in the following year. Broadly speaking, improving husbandry standards for pets and small hoofstock living in areas occupied by large carnivores may be the most effective way to reduce human–predator conflict in California and elsewhere

Mining and Analyzing the Italian Parliament: Party Structure and Evolution

The roll calls of the Italian Parliament in the XVI legislature are studied by employing multidimensional scaling, hierarchical clustering, and network analysis. In order to detect changes in voting behavior, the roll calls have been divided in seven periods of six months each. All the methods employed pointed out an increasing fragmentation of the political parties endorsing the previous government that culminated in its downfall. By using the concept of modularity at different resolution levels, we identify the community structure of Parliament and its evolution in each of the considered time periods. The analysis performed revealed as a valuable tool in detecting trends and drifts of Parliamentarians. It showed its effectiveness at identifying political parties and at providing insights on the temporal evolution of groups and their cohesiveness, without having at disposal any knowledge about political membership of Representatives.Comment: 27 pages, 14 figure

Inhibition of Chromium(III) Oxidation through Manganese(IV) Oxide Passivation and Iron(II) Abiotic Reduction

Manganese (Mn) oxides are strong oxidants that are ubiquitous in soils and can oxidize redox-active metals, including chromium (Cr). In soil environments, trivalent chromium (Cr(III)) is a benign, immobile micronutrient, whereas the hexavalent Cr(VI) form is present as a highly mobile, toxic chromate oxyanion. Although many studies have characterized the capacity of Mn(III/IV) oxides to oxidize Cr(III) to toxic Cr(VI), the oxidative capacity of Mn oxides in the presence of potentially passivating soil constituents, specifically reduced soluble iron (Fe(II)aq), remains unresolved. We hypothesized that chemical processes at redox interfaces, such as diffusion-limited environments within soil aggregates, can lead to decreased Cr(VI) production from Mn oxide-driven oxidation due to passivation by Fe(II)aq. A multichamber diffusion-limited reactor was used to simulate transport at soil redox interfaces and investigate the capacity of poorly crystalline and crystalline Mn oxides to oxidize solid Cr(III) minerals to Cr(VI) in the presence of Fe(II)aq. As predicted, Cr(VI) was produced through the Mn oxide-catalyzed oxidation of Cr(III) at a rate controlled by the solubility of Cr(OH)3. However, in the presence of Fe(II)aq, the concentration of aqueous Cr(VI) decreased as a function of the Fe(II)aq concentration, where high concentrations of Fe(II)aq completely inhibited Cr(VI) production, likely through both the passivation of the Mn oxide and the direct reduction of Cr(VI) by Fe(II). At both low (14 μM) and high (100 μM) Fe(II)aq concentrations, the iron oxide minerals hematite (Fe2O3) and goethite (α-FeOOH) were associated with the Mn oxides, which can cause surface passivation, a likely role that decreases Cr(III) oxidation. Additionally, the Cr(III) oxidation rate decreased with increasing crystallinity of the Mn oxides whether or not Fe(II) was present

The scorpionfly (Panorpa cognata) genome highlights conserved and derived features of the peculiar dipteran X chromosome.

Many insects carry an ancient X chromosome - the Drosophila Muller element F - that likely predates their origin. Interestingly, the X has undergone turnover in multiple fly species (Diptera) after being conserved for more than 450 MY. The long evolutionary distance between Diptera and other sequenced insect clades makes it difficult to infer what could have contributed to this sudden increase in rate of turnover. Here, we produce the first genome and transcriptome of a long overlooked sister-order to Diptera: Mecoptera. We compare the scorpionfly Panorpa cognata X-chromosome gene content, expression, and structure, to that of several dipteran species as well as more distantly-related insect orders (Orthoptera and Blattodea). We find high conservation of gene content between the mecopteran X and the dipteran Muller F element, as well as several shared biological features, such as the presence of dosage compensation and a low amount of genetic diversity, consistent with a low recombination rate. However, the two homologous X chromosomes differ strikingly in their size and number of genes they carry. Our results therefore support a common ancestry of the mecopteran and ancestral dipteran X chromosomes, and suggest that Muller element F shrank in size and gene content after the split of Diptera and Mecoptera, which may have contributed to its turnover in dipteran insects