Applied Remote Sensing Program (ARSP)

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Impulsive noise pollution in the Northeast Atlantic: Reported activity during 2015-2017

Underwater noise pollution from impulsive sources (e.g. explosions, seismic airguns, percussive pile driving) can affect marine fauna through mortality, physical injury, auditory damage, physiological stress, acoustic masking, and behavioural responses. Given the potential for large-scale impact on marine ecosystems, some countries are now monitoring impulsive noise activity, coordinated internationally through Regional Seas Conventions. Here, we assess impulsive noise activity in the Northeast Atlantic reported during 2015-2017 to the first international impulsive noise register (INR), established in 2016 under the OSPAR Convention. Seismic airgun surveys were the dominant noise source (67%-83% of annual activity) and declined by 38% during 2015-2017. Reported pile driving activity increased 46%. Explosions and sonar/acoustic deterrent devices both had overall increases in reported activity. Some increases were attributable to more comprehensive reporting in later years. We discuss utilising the INR for risk assessment, target setting, and forward planning, and the implementation of similar systems in other regions

Scale-up of an intensified bioprocess for the expansion of bovine adipose-derived stem cells (bASCs) in stirred tank bioreactors

Cultivated meat is an emerging field, aiming to establish the production of animal tissue for human consumption in an in vitro environment, eliminating the need to raise and slaughter animals for their meat. To realise this, the expansion of primary cells in a bioreactor is needed to achieve the high cell numbers required. The aim of this study was to develop a scalable, microcarrier based, intensified bioprocess for the expansion of bovine adipose-derived stem cells as precursors of fat and muscle tissue. The intensified bioprocess development was carried out initially in spinner flasks of different sizes and then translated to fully controlled litre scale benchtop bioreactors. Bioprocess intensification was achieved by utilising the previously demonstrated bead-to-bead transfer phenomenon and through the combined addition of microcarrier and medium to double the existing surface area and working volume in the bioreactor. Choosing the optimal time point for the additions was critical in enhancing the cell expansion. A significant fold increase of 114.19 ± 1.07 was obtained at the litre scale in the intensified bioprocess compared to the baseline (**p < .005). The quality of the cells was evaluated pre- and post-expansion and the cells were found to maintain their phenotype and differentiation capacity

Remote sensing for the geobotanical and biogeochemical assessment of environmental contamination

Under Contract Number DE-AC08-90NV10845, the DOE has funded the Desert Research Institute (DRI) to examine several aspects of remote sensing, specifically with respect to how its use might help support Environmental Restoration and Waste Management (ERWM) activities at DOE sites located throughout the country. This report represents partial fulfillment of DRI`s obligations under that contract and includes a review of relevant literature associated with remote sensing studies and our evaluation and recommendation as to the applicability of various remote sensing techniques for DOE needs. With respect to DOE ERWM activities, remote sensing may be broadly defined as collecting information about a target without actually being in physical contact with the object. As the common platforms for remote sensing observations are aircraft and satellites, there exists the possibility to rapidly and efficiently collect information over DOE sites that would allow for the identification and monitoring of contamination related to present and past activities. As DOE sites cover areas ranging from tens to hundreds of square miles, remote sensing may provide an effective, efficient, and economical method in support of ERWM activities. For this review, remote sensing has been limited to methods that employ electromagnetic (EM) energy as the means of detecting and measuring target characteristics

“Networked coalitions” as metropolitan governance: Lessons from the emergence of Australia’s Committees for Cities and Regions

The continuous rescaling of metropolitan governance has been a prominent feature of the neoliberal state. Metropolitan coalitions are one variant of governance in which disparate actors are brought together around a common agenda or platform. Drawing upon the example of Australia’s Committees for Cities and Regions (CCRs), this article applies urban governance theory to better understand the effectiveness of networked metropolitan governance coalitions. We find that such coalitions derive political legitimacy from the externalities produced by their network relations, which we theorize as a three-dimensional nexus of vertical (between levels of government), horizontal (between local actors), and diagonal (with CCR counterparts) components. Although the CCR model is distinctive to Australia and New Zealand, it reflects similar networked and multiscalar processes at work elsewhere, serving as a template for political landscapes in which in-built legacy political arrangements largely preclude metropolitan-scale issues from being addressed

Comethyl: a network-based methylome approach to investigate the multivariate nature of health and disease.

Health outcomes are frequently shaped by difficult to dissect inter-relationships between biological, behavioral, social and environmental factors. DNA methylation patterns reflect such multivariate intersections, providing a rich source of novel biomarkers and insight into disease etiologies. Recent advances in whole-genome bisulfite sequencing enable investigation of DNA methylation over all genomic CpGs, but existing bioinformatic approaches lack accessible system-level tools. Here, we develop the R package Comethyl, for weighted gene correlation network analysis of user-defined genomic regions that generates modules of comethylated regions, which are then tested for correlations with multivariate sample traits. First, regions are defined by CpG genomic location or regulatory annotation and filtered based on CpG count, sequencing depth and variability. Next, correlation networks are used to find modules of interconnected nodes using methylation values within the selected regions. Each module containing multiple comethylated regions is reduced in complexity to a single eigennode value, which is then tested for correlations with experimental metadata. Comethyl has the ability to cover the noncoding regulatory regions of the genome with high relevance to interpretation of genome-wide association studies and integration with other types of epigenomic data. We demonstrate the utility of Comethyl on a dataset of male cord blood samples from newborns later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) versus typical development. Comethyl successfully identified an ASD-associated module containing regions mapped to genes enriched for brain glial functions. Comethyl is expected to be useful in uncovering the multivariate nature of health disparities for a variety of common disorders. Comethyl is available at github.com/cemordaunt/comethyl with complete documentation and example analyses