Recent progress toward reducing seawalls in Puget Sound

Recovery efforts for Puget Sound have focused on improving shoreline function by reducing seawalls (e.g. rock and concrete bank protection) and encouraging alternatives, such as soft shore protection. Shoreline armor was one of the key stressors identified by the Puget Sound Partnership in 2010 to protect and restore habitat. Armor is one of the Puget Sound Vital Signs, those measures used by the Puget Sound Partnership to track ecosystem health. One of the targets associated with the Vital Sign, a net reduction of the total extent of armor between 2011 and 2020, is tracked using the Hydraulic Project Approval (HPA) permitting database maintained by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Projects are categorized as new, replacement and removed armor. A summary of permit information indicates that generally, trend in new shoreline armor decreased from 2005 – 2016, while the pace of hard armor removal increased. Two additional targets identified by the Partnership, emphasizes the importance of keeping intact eroding bluffs (locally referred to as feeder bluffs) that maintain Puget Sound beaches, and encouraging the use of softer, nature-based approaches to erosion control. The HPA data, combined with recent detailed mapping of coastal landforms, provide an indication of progress towards the feeder bluff target. Soft shoreline techniques have long been of interest on Puget Sound, but have been slow to be widely adopted. These soft techniques are difficult to categorize, as many are hybrids, combining natural elements and beach nourishment with more conventional rock or concrete structural measures. New technical guidance, combined with increased regulatory emphasis and locally-based outreach efforts, have led to improvements in the implementation and the success of new methods of addressing erosion. We describe significant regulatory, educational, scientific, and restoration efforts focused on this issue in Puget Sound

BMQ

BMQ: Boston Medical Quarterly was published from 1950-1966 by the Boston University School of Medicine and the Massachusetts Memorial Hospitals

Eddington-limited accretion and the black hole mass function at redshift 6

We present discovery observations of a quasar in the Canada-France High-z Quasar Survey (CFHQS) at redshift z=6.44. We also use near-IR spectroscopy of nine CFHQS quasars at z~6 to determine black hole masses. These are compared with similar estimates for more luminous Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) quasars to investigate the relationship between black hole mass and quasar luminosity. We find a strong correlation between MgII FWHM and UV luminosity and that most quasars at this early epoch are accreting close to the Eddington limit. Thus these quasars appear to be in an early stage of their life cycle where they are building up their black hole mass exponentially. Combining these results with the quasar luminosity function, we derive the black hole mass function at z=6. Our black hole mass function is ~10^4 times lower than at z=0 and substantially below estimates from previous studies. The main uncertainties which could increase the black hole mass function are a larger population of obscured quasars at high-redshift than is observed at low-redshift and/or a low quasar duty cycle at z=6. In comparison, the global stellar mass function is only ~10^2 times lower at z=6 than at z=0. The difference between the black hole and stellar mass function evolution is due to either rapid early star formation which is not limited by radiation pressure as is the case for black hole growth or inefficient black hole seeding. Our work predicts that the black hole mass - stellar mass relation for a volume-limited sample of galaxies declines rapidly at very high redshift. This is in contrast to the observed increase at 4<z<6 from the local relation if one just studies the most massive black holes.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, AJ in pres

The emotional context of self-management in chronic illness: A qualitative study of the role of health professional support in the self-management of type 2 diabetes

Background: Support for patient self-management is an accepted role for health professionals. Little evidence exists on the appropriate basis for the role of health professionals in achieving optimum self-management outcomes. This study explores the perceptions of people with type 2 diabetes about their self-management strategies and how relationships with health professionals may support this.Methods: Four focus groups were conducted with people with type 2 diabetes:&nbsp; two with English speaking and one each with Turkish and Arabic-speaking. Transcripts from the groups were analysed drawing on grounded hermeneutics and interpretive description.Results: We describe three conceptually linked categories of text from the focus groups based on emotional context of self management, dominant approaches to self management and support from health professionals for self management. All groups described important emotional contexts to living with and self-managing diabetes and these linked closely with how they approached their diabetes management and what they looked for from health professionals. Culture seemed an important influence in shaping these linkages.Conclusion: Our findings suggest people construct their own individual self-management and self-care program, springing from an important emotional base. This is shaped in part by culture and in turn determines the aims each&nbsp; person has in pursuing self-management strategies and the role they make available to health professionals to support them. While health professionals\u27&nbsp; support for self-care strategies will be more congruent with patients\u27 expectations if they explore each person\u27s social, emotional and cultural circumstances, pursuit of improved health outcomes may involve a careful balance between supporting as well as helping shift the emotional constructs surrounding a patient life with diabetes.<br /

Understanding the genetic complexity of puberty timing across the allele frequency spectrum

Pubertal timing varies considerably and is associated with later health outcomes. We performed multi-ancestry genetic analyses on ~800,000 women, identifying 1,080 signals for age at menarche. Collectively, these explained 11% of trait variance in an independent sample. Women at the top and bottom 1% of polygenic risk exhibited ~11 and ~14-fold higher risks of delayed and precocious puberty, respectively. We identified several genes harboring rare loss-of-function variants in ~200,000 women, including variants in ZNF483, which abolished the impact of polygenic risk. Variant-to-gene mapping approaches and mouse gonadotropin-releasing hormone neuron RNA sequencing implicated 665 genes, including an uncharacterized G-protein-coupled receptor, GPR83, which amplified the signaling of MC3R, a key nutritional sensor. Shared signals with menopause timing at genes involved in DNA damage response suggest that the ovarian reserve might signal centrally to trigger puberty. We also highlight body size-dependent and independent mechanisms that potentially link reproductive timing to later life disease

Emerging changes in a newly constructed salt marsh restoration project at Union River, Hood Canal

Tidal influence was restored to former estuarine marsh habitat in August 2013 to re-establish salt marsh in a 32 acre site associated with the Union River in Hood Canal. The former salt marsh was cut off from the river and estuary by a dike built in the early 1900’s, and used predominantly as pasture and to grow hay. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife worked in partnership with the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group to design and construct the estuary restoration site as part of a larger initiative which has protected over 500 acres of salt marsh and tidelands in the Lynch Cove estuary near Belfair, Washington. The restoration site provides habitat connectivity with Lynch Cove and the Union River, a key watershed within the ESU of federally listed Hood Canal summer chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta). The summer chum recovery plan identifies “degraded nearshore/marine and estuarine conditions” as a limiting factor, emphasizing the role of estuarine marshes for feeding/rearing, refuge from predation and as a transitional habitat as the juvenile salmon move from freshwater to saltwater. The Union River estuary restoration project was designed to support habitat objectives and community values. In addition to restoration of tidal influence to the former salt marsh, we prioritized re-establishment of high salt marsh and tidal channels as indicated in the 1884 T-sheet. Strong community demand to maintain the dike top trail precluded full dike removal, since the existing dike is part of a popular trail system (Theler Wetlands) with over 200,000 user days/year. The final design included two pedestrian bridges located over 100 and 300 foot dike breaches, excavation of over 35,000 cubic yards for 10,000 feet of tidal channels and associated marsh elevations, and construction of a 2300 foot setback dike with new trail, forming a trail loop around the restoration site. Monitoring of the salt marsh development is currently underway to describe and quantify vegetation colonization, physical changes and fish use. The section of the trail system with the new bridges re-opened in mid-September, allowing the public an opportunity to view the transformation of the construction site to newly developed salt marsh habitat

Harper Estuary restoration project: lessons learned during project implementation

Harper Estuary is a shallow embayment located in southern Kitsap County, bisected by a roadway and impacted by historic development. Juvenile salmonids are documented to use the adjacent shoreline and estuary during the spring outmigration. A brick mining and manufacturing facility was built in the southwest portion of the estuary in the early 1900s, which was then a lobe of the estuary but filled in later years. When the factory was abandoned in the 1940’s, the buildings were demolished, with much of the material pushed into the estuary. The estuary natural functions have also been impacted by road fill, both current and historic, along with other fill material for the informally constructed boat launch and upland development. The estuary was bisected by a roadway, with tidal influence also restricted by two undersized culverts. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife partnered with Department of Ecology and Kitsap County to complete an estuarine habitat restoration project as part of the natural resource damage work associated with the Asarco settlement. Phase 1 was completed in winter 2016-17, with Phase 2 delayed until additional funding is obtained. During initial planning and design, the project encountered substantial challenges to define and remove brick material, complete tideland property boundary line surveys and determining appropriate design of replacement structures for the of undersized culverts. This presentation will discuss lessons learned from this project development and implementation

Tidal culverts, bridges and tidegates: A summary of a literature review of fish passage in tidal ecosystems

Fish access improvements to estuarine and coastal ecosystems have consistently been identified as one of the most effective investments for protection and recovery of Pacific salmon species. Several species of Pacific salmon are federally listed, including Chinook and chum salmon which are often dependent on estuaries and marine nearshore habitats during early life history. Salmon access estuaries and lower reaches of streams as juveniles and during migration along shorelines, including small streams categorized as too small or ephemeral to support spawning fish. The consequences of delaying or reducing access to streams and estuarine habitat during portions of the tidal cycle due to man-made structures are not well documented or understood. Washington State has an active fish passage barrier correction program, with millions of dollars spent annually on fish passage barrier remediation. Tidal water crossing structures, including culverts, bridges, tidegates and control structures pose a unique problem for assessment and design for fish passage and estuarine habitat connectivity, since the criteria was developed primarily to allow adult salmon to access upstream spawning habitat. Although tidal events may naturally prohibit migration at some periods of the tide, obstructions can further reduce migration periods, particularly for juvenile salmon, due to increased velocities from undersized culverts or water crossing structures. Little is known about to what extent fish behavioral ecology is modified or how to assess the duration and extent of negative effects to fish migration during the tidal cycles. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife recently partnered with NOAA Fisheries Northwest Fisheries Science Center to develop a comprehensive literature review and data gap analysis to support an evaluation and update of current technical guidance on tidal water crossing structures. This poster will summarize the findings of the literature review and data gap analysis