Infant Motor Development Predicts Sports Participation at Age 14 Years: Northern Finland Birth Cohort of 1966

Motor proficiency is positively associated with physical activity levels. The aim of this study is to investigate associations between the timing of infant motor development and subsequent sports participation during adolescence.Prospective observational study. The study population consisted of 9,009 individuals from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966. Motor development was assessed by parental report at age 1 year, using age at walking with support and age at standing unaided. At follow up aged 14 years, data were collected on the school grade awarded for physical education (PE). Self report was used to collect information on the frequency of sports participation and number of different sports reported.Earlier infant motor development was associated with improved school PE grade, for age at walking supported (p<0.001) and standing unaided (p = <0.001). Earlier infant motor development, in terms of age at walking supported, was positively associated with the number of different sports reported (p = 0.003) and with a greater frequency of sports participation (p = 0.043). These associations were independent of gestational age and birth weight, as well as father's social class and body mass index at age 14 years.Earlier infant motor development may predict higher levels of physical activity as indicated by higher school PE grade, participation in a greater number of different types of sports and increased frequency of sports participation. Identification of young children with slower motor development may allow early targeted interventions to improve motor skills and thereby increase physical activity in later life

Changing expendable bathythermograph fall rates and their impact on estimates of thermosteric sea level rise

A time-varying warm bias in the global XBT data archive is demonstrated to be largely due to changes in the fall rate of XBT probes likely associated with small manufacturing changes at the factory. Deep-reaching XBTs have a different fall rate history than shallow XBTs. Fall rates were fastest in the early 1970s, reached a minimum between 1975 and 1985, reached another maximum in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and have been declining since. Field XBT/CTD intercomparisons and a pseudoprofile technique based on satellite altimetry largely confirm this time history. A global correction is presented and applied to estimates of the thermosteric component of sea level rise. The XBT fall rate minimum from 1975 to 1985 appears as a 10-yr “warm period” in the global ocean in thermosteric sea level and heat content estimates using uncorrected data. Upon correction, the thermosteric sea level curve has reduced decadal variability and a larger, steadier long-term trend

IMOS national reference stations: A continental-wide physical, chemical and biological coastal observing system

Sustained observations allow for the tracking of change in oceanography and ecosystems, however, these are rare, particularly for the Southern Hemisphere. To address this in part, the Australian Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) implemented a network of nine National Reference Stations (NRS). The network builds on one long-term location, where monthly water sampling has been sustained since the 1940s and two others that commenced in the 1950s. In-situ continuously moored sensors and an enhanced monthly water sampling regime now collect more than 50 data streams. Building on sampling for temperature, salinity and nutrients, the network now observes dissolved oxygen, carbon, turbidity, currents, chlorophyll a and both phytoplankton and zooplankton. Additional parameters for studies of ocean acidification and bio-optics are collected at a sub-set of sites and all data is made freely and publically available. Our preliminary results demonstrate increased utility to observe extreme events, such as marine heat waves and coastal flooding; rare events, such as plankton blooms; and have, for the first time, allowed for consistent continental scale sampling and analysis of coastal zooplankton and phytoplankton communities. Independent water sampling allows for cross validation of the deployed sensors for quality control of data that now continuously tracks daily, seasonal and annual variation. The NRS will provide multi-decadal time series, against which more spatially replicated short-term studies can be referenced, models and remote sensing products validated, and improvements made to our understanding of how large-scale, long-term change and variability in the global ocean are affecting Australia's coastal seas and ecosystems. The NRS network provides an example of how a continental scaled observing systems can be developed to collect observations that integrate across physics, chemistry and biology

Mortality and pulmonary complications in patients undergoing surgery with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection: an international cohort study

Background: The impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on postoperative recovery needs to be understood to inform clinical decision making during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study reports 30-day mortality and pulmonary complication rates in patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: This international, multicentre, cohort study at 235 hospitals in 24 countries included all patients undergoing surgery who had SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed within 7 days before or 30 days after surgery. The primary outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality and was assessed in all enrolled patients. The main secondary outcome measure was pulmonary complications, defined as pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, or unexpected postoperative ventilation. Findings: This analysis includes 1128 patients who had surgery between Jan 1 and March 31, 2020, of whom 835 (74·0%) had emergency surgery and 280 (24·8%) had elective surgery. SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed preoperatively in 294 (26·1%) patients. 30-day mortality was 23·8% (268 of 1128). Pulmonary complications occurred in 577 (51·2%) of 1128 patients; 30-day mortality in these patients was 38·0% (219 of 577), accounting for 81·7% (219 of 268) of all deaths. In adjusted analyses, 30-day mortality was associated with male sex (odds ratio 1·75 [95% CI 1·28–2·40], p\textless0·0001), age 70 years or older versus younger than 70 years (2·30 [1·65–3·22], p\textless0·0001), American Society of Anesthesiologists grades 3–5 versus grades 1–2 (2·35 [1·57–3·53], p\textless0·0001), malignant versus benign or obstetric diagnosis (1·55 [1·01–2·39], p=0·046), emergency versus elective surgery (1·67 [1·06–2·63], p=0·026), and major versus minor surgery (1·52 [1·01–2·31], p=0·047). Interpretation: Postoperative pulmonary complications occur in half of patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection and are associated with high mortality. Thresholds for surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic should be higher than during normal practice, particularly in men aged 70 years and older. Consideration should be given for postponing non-urgent procedures and promoting non-operative treatment to delay or avoid the need for surgery. Funding: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland, Bowel and Cancer Research, Bowel Disease Research Foundation, Association of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons, British Association of Surgical Oncology, British Gynaecological Cancer Society, European Society of Coloproctology, NIHR Academy, Sarcoma UK, Vascular Society for Great Britain and Ireland, and Yorkshire Cancer Research

Earth Science and Communities: Great Earthquakes to Wild Rice

Connections between earth science and communities are not clear to many communities. This talk explores the geologic setting, the infrastructural damage, and the impact on communities of recent large earthquakes in Taiwan, Turkey, Haiti and Japan. Decisions made about geologic hazards had a profound impact on human life and the built environment. Ridgway shares how Purdue is building connections between the scientific community and Native American communities—especially by engaging Native American students in research on tribal lands

Assessment of geoid models offshore Western Australia using in-situ measurements

In Western Australia, coastal dynamics are influenced by a major ocean boundary current system, the Leeuwin Current, which is characterised by mesoscale features. To fully understand the Leeuwin Current using satellite altimeter measurements, we must have a precise (1–2 cm) and full-spatial-scale (<100 km) geoid model. This paper focuses on a comparison between two mean dynamic ocean topography models derived from independent hydrographic climatologies, and an altimeter-observed mean sea surface referenced to recently released geoid models offshore of Western Australia (20°S to 45°S, 108°E to 130°E). The geoid models used include combined global geopotential models from the GRACE satellite mission and AUSGeoid98. The estimated mean dynamic ocean topography models are compared with independent dynamic ocean topography from CSIRO's Atlas of Regional Seas (CARS) climatology. The results show that the EIGEN_GL04C and GGM02C + EGM96 global geopotential models to degree and order 360 give the best comparisons against CARS in the Leeuwin Current region, suggesting that they should be used in the future for computing ocean transport, surface current velocities, and dynamic topography, and be used as a reference field for future computations of regional marine geoid models

A search for the Tasman Front

The traditional view of the circulation in the Tasman Sea includes a coherent, quasi-zonal, eastward flow towards the northern tip of New Zealand that is widely referred to as the Tasman Front. This flow was first suggested in the 1960s by oceanographers reasoning that the source of volume transport “feeding” the East Auckland Current, around northern New Zealand and extending down the east coast, must be off eastern Australia. The first reported in situ measurements of the Tasman Front included hand-drawn temperature sections that highlighted features that are not supported by observations. Here, we objectively map the original data, showing that the published reports of strong, sub-surface, north-south temperature gradients were unjustified. In the absence of additional observations, we can’t be sure of the context of those original measurements - so we have objectively “searched” fields in a recent 25-year ocean reanalysis to identify scenarios that are consistent with the observations. We suggest that the most likely interpretation of the original data, is that they measured an eddy field - or a series of discontinuous streams across the central Tasman Sea. We also analyse data from surface drifting buoys to show that water traversing the Tasman Sea may take several different paths. We conclude that a continuous, zonal, eastward flow across the Tasman Sea is less common than widely-accepted conceptual models imply. Instead, we suggest that the eastward flow between Australia and northern New Zealand is perhaps better described as an “eastern extension of the EAC” - since this doesn’t imply the presence of a front, and doesn’t preclude a broad flow. For clarity, we also suggest that the southern branch of the EAC, known as the EAC extension, should be referred to as the “southern extension of the EAC”.Data was sourced from the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS, www.aodn.org.au). IMOS is a national collaborative research infrastructure, supported by the Australian Government. Satellite altimeter data is provided by NASA, ESA, ISRO, NOAA, and CNES. SST observations are provided by NOAA (www.nodc.noaa.gov) and Remote Sensing Systems (www.remss.com). Model data used in this study are from the Bluelink suite of global models (http://dapds00.nci.org.au/ thredds/catalog/gb6/BRAN/catalog.html) and from the Consortium for Ocean-Sea Ice Modelling in Australia (COSIMA; http://cosima.org.au). COSIMA is supported by the Australian Research Council Linkage grant LP160100073. Model runs used resources and services from the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI), which is supported by the Australian Government. We obtained the SCOW dataset from http:// cioss.coas.oregonstate.edu/scow/. We acknowledge support from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes (CE170100023

Observed impact of upwelling events on water properties and biological activity off the southwest coast of New Caledonia

International audienceThe upwelling events that follow strong trade wind episodes have been described in terms of their remarkable signature in the sea surface temperature southwest off New Caledonia. Upwelling brings deeper, and colder waters to the surface, causing 2-4 °C drops in temperature in a few hours, followed by a slower relaxation over several days. Upwelling may sporadically bring nutrients to the surface under certain conditions, and increase the biological productivity. Two multidisciplinary hydrographic cruises allow the impact of upwelling on the chemical and biological properties of the water to be documented. Both cruises took place in austral summer (December 2004 and December 2005), but the first cruise occurred during a strong upwelling event, while the second cruise occurred in calm conditions. The water properties and planktonic composition show important contrasts, with a strong southeastward current (the "ALIS current of New Caledonia") competing with the upwelling system. Our analysis suggests that, while observed productivities are far less than those of typical upwelling systems, some wind events in New Caledonia may contribute to biological activity. A currentmeter mooring, deployed during the second cruise, documents the ocean response to a changing wind field and the local impact of upwelling on currents and temperatures on the water column. The results are discussed, with the help of climatology, Argo float profiler data, satellite data and of a high-resolution numerical simulation

Final Technical Report of project: "Contactless Real-Time Monitoring of Paper Mechanical Behavior During Papermaking"

The early precursors of laser ultrasonics on paper were Prof. Y. Berthelot from the Georgia Institute of Technology/Mechanical Engineering department, and Prof. P. Brodeur from the Institute of Paper Science and Technology, both located in Atlanta, Georgia. The first Ph.D. thesis that shed quite some light on the topic, but also left some questions unanswered, was completed by Mont A. Johnson in 1996. Mont Johnson was Prof. Berthelot's student at Georgia Tech. In 1997 P. Brodeur proposed a project involving himself, Y. Berthelot, Dr. Ken Telschow and Mr. Vance Deason from INL, Honeywell-Measurex and Dr. Rick Russo from LBNL. The first time the proposal was not accepted and P. Brodeur decided to re-propose it without the involvement from LBNL. Rick Russo proposed a separate project on the same topic on his side. Both proposals were finally accepted and work started in the fall of 1997 on the two projects. Early on, the biggest challenge was to find an optical detection method which could detect laser-induced displacements of the web surface that are of the order of .1 micron in the ultrasonic range. This was to be done while the web was having an out-of-plane amplitude of motion in the mm range due to web flutter; while moving at 10 m/s to 30 m/s in the plane of the web, on the paper machine. Both teams grappled with the same problems and tried similar methods in some cases, but came up with two similar but different solutions one year later. The IPST, GT, INL team found that an interferometer made by Lasson Technologies Inc. using the photo-induced electro-motive force in Gallium Arsenide was able to detect ultrasonic waves up to 12-15 m/s. It also developed in house an interferometer using the Two-Wave Mixing effect in photorefractive crystals that showed good promises for on-line applications, and experimented with a scanning mirror to reduce motion-induced texture noise from the web and improve signal to noise ratio. On its side, LBNL had the idea to combine a commercial Mach-Zehnder interferometer to a spinning mirror synchronized to the web speed, in order to make almost stationary measurements. The method was demonstrated at up to 10 m/s. Both teams developed their own version of a web simulator that was driving a web of paper at 10 m/s or higher. The Department of Energy and members of the Agenda 2020 started to make a push for merging the two projects. This made sense because their topics were really identical but this was not well received by Prof. Brodeur. Finally IPST decided to reassign the direction of the IPST-INL-GT project in the spring of 1999 to Prof. Chuck Habeger so that the two teams could work together. Also at this time, Honeywell-Measurex dropped as a member of the team. It was replaced by ABB Industrial Systems whose engineers had extensive previous experience of working with ultrasonic sensors on paperboard. INL also finished its work on the project as its competencies were partly redundant with LBNL. From the summer of 1999, the IPST-GT and LBNL teams were working together and helped each other often by collaborating and visiting either laboratory when was necessary. Around the beginning of 2000, began an effort at IPST to create an off-line laser-ultrasonics instrument that could perform automated measurements of paper and paperboard's bending stiffness. It was widely known that the mechanical bending tests of paper used for years by the paper industry were very inaccurate and exhibited poor reproducibility; therefore the team needed a new instrument of reference to validate its future on-line results. In 1999-2000, the focus of the on-line instrument was on a pre-industrial demonstration on a pilot coater while reducing the damage to the web caused by the generation laser, below the threshold where it could be visible by the naked eye. During the spring of 2000 Paul Ridgway traveled to IPST and brought with him a redesigned system still using the same Mach-Zehnder interferometer as before, but this time employing an electric motor-driven spinning mirror instead of the previously belt-driven mechanical spinning mirror. For testing we chose to use a 1 foot-wide paper loop running on IPST's large scale web handler which could reach a web speed of 2,000 feet/min (10.16 m/s). This was more representative of the conditions encountered of a pilot coater, than on a table-top scale web simulator