CONTRIBUTIONS OF OPTICAL REMOTE SENSING TO PERMAFROST MAPPING IN DONNELLY TRAINING AREA, ALASKA

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OFKiran Thapa, for the Master of Science degree in Geography and Environmental Resources, presented on April 8, 2020, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.TITLE: CONTRIBUTIONS OF OPTICAL REMOTE SENSING TO PERMAFROST MAPPING IN DONNELLY TRAINING AREA, ALASKA MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Guangxing Wang Permafrost occupies about a quarter of the northern hemisphere land with 25.5 million ha. Global warming and anthropogenic activities affect the dynamics of permafrost. Snow and permafrost, in turn, serve as an indicator of climate change and human activity disturbance. The dynamics of permafrost are often estimated using interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) methods. However, acquiring and processing InSAR images is costly and computation intensive. Due to various spectral variables and indices available from optical images, Landsat satellite images that are free-downloadable provide the potential for studying and monitoring changes of permafrost. The overall objective of this study was to explore the use of optical images as a cost-effective method to map permafrost in Donnelly Training Area (DTA) - an installation located in Alaska. First, Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS images from January 2014 to December 2018 were used to calculate various remote sensing variables. The variables included Land Surface Temperature (LST), albedo, Soil Moisture index (SMI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI), Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI), Normalized Difference Water index (NDWI), Simple Ratio (SR), Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI), Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR), Triangular Vegetation Index(TVI), Visible Atmospherically Resistant Index (VARI), and Active Layer Thickness (ALT). Moreover, elevation, slope, and aspect were obtained from a digital elevation model (DEM). The variables were used to estimate the probabilities of permafrost presence (POP) for DTA. The logistic and linear models were respectively selected and optimized based on logistic and linear stepwise regression for the estimation of and ALT. A total of 414 field observations that were collected from 1994 to 2012 were utilized for validation of models.The results showed that the POP in DTA was significantly affected by all the factors except aspect and EVI. The factor that was most correlated with ln((1-POP)/POP) was elevation, then NDVI, albedo, ALT, LST, NDWI, NDSI, slope, TVI, RSR, SMI, NDBI, SR, SAVI, NBR and VARI. A total of six prediction models were obtained. The elevation, NDVI, LST, TVI, ALT, SLOPE, RSR, SMI, NBR, and NDSI were finally chosen in the best model 5.6 with the smallest relative root mean square error (RMSE) and Akaike information criterion (AIC). The albedo used in previous studies was excluded in the final model, implying that the albedo was not critical to the prediction of POP. In addition to the previously used elevation, NDVI and SMI, other predictors including LST, TVI, ALT, SLOPE, RSR, NBR, and NDSI could not be ignored in the prediction of POP. The model generated reasonable spatial distribution of POP in which POP had greater values in the east, northeast, north, and northwest parts and smaller in the south and southwest parts. Except for NDVI, NDWI, NDSI, aspect, and RSR, moreover, all other predictors showed significant contributions to the prediction of ALT. The SMI, ELEVATION, SAVI, NDBI, SLOPE, LST, SR, EVI, VARI, and TVI were finally selected in the best model 5.14 with the smallest relative RMSE and AIC. The ALT highly varied over the study area with the spatial patterns inversely consistent with those of POP.The results are essential for the governments, policymakers, and other concerned stakeholders to estimate the degradation of permafrost in DTA and minimize the risk of policy decision-making for land use management and planning. This study will help to understand the global climate change, changing ecosystems, increasing concentration in the atmosphere, and human activity-induced disturbance

Detecting Saliency by Combining Speech and Object Detection in Indoor Environments

Describing scenes such as rooms, city streets, or routes, is a very common human task that requires the ability to identify and describe the scene sufficiently for a hearer to develop a mental model of the scene. When people talk about such scenes, they mention some objects of the scene at the exclusion of others. We call the mentioned objects salient objects as people consider them noticeable or important in comparison to other non-mentioned objects. In this thesis, we look at saliency of visual scenes and how visual saliency informs what can and should be said about a scene when describing it. Previous work on saliency focuses on the scenes themselves, whereas we are interested in what people actually say about those scenes. For this, we take the scenes and human dialogue into account. To collect the dialogue data, we developed a web application and used a crowd sourcing platform to get access to an on-demand workforce which allowed us to get more realistic and varied responses from users. To automate the process of detecting salient objects given a novel scene, we used a popular image content analysis tool to extract objects present in the scene. We used the dialogue data to rank the detected objects based on their saliency which gives us candidate objects to mention. We also compare how different features of the gathered data can be used to develop saliency detection models. Our initial investigation shows that human dialogue data significantly improves the detection of salient objects

Clinical Profile and Outcome of Asphyxiated Newborn in a Medical College Teaching Hospital

Introduction: Perinatal asphyxia, a major topic in neonatology, is a severe condition which has a high impact on neonatal mortality and morbidity and neurological and intellectual development of the infant. It is defined by WHO as 'failure to initiate and sustain breathing at birth'. It is estimated that around four million babies are born asphyxiated and among those one million die and an equal number of babies develop serious neurological consequences ranging from cerebral palsy and mental retardation to epilepsy. This study was done to identify the occurrence, clinical profile and, immediate outcome of perinatal asphyxia in Lumbini Medical College Teaching Hospital. Methods: It was a retrospective study where 82 cases who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were included between December 2014 to November 2015. Inclusion criteria included newborns with: a) Apgar score equal to or less than six at five minutes, b) requirement of  more than one minute of positive pressure ventilation, c) signs of fetal distress (heart rate of less than 100 beats per minute, late decelerations). Results: Out of total 425 neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admissions, 82 (19.3%) cases were of asphyxia among which 56 were inborn and 26 were referred from outside. Of those 82 cases, 47 (57.3%) cases developed hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE); HIE stage I had good outcome with survival rate of 95% and HIE stage III had poor outcome with survival rate of only 25%. Conclusion: Despite advances in management of neonates, perinatal asphyxia is still the leading cause of neonatal intensive care unit admission and mortality and morbidity in neonates

Parental School Involvement on Physical Activity and Screen Time Among Middle and High School Students

Background: High levels of sedentary activity and low levels of physical activity have led to an increase in childhood obesity. A reduction of sedentary behavior and the promotion of an active lifestyle positively impacts weight status of children. A child may modify their behavior through direct interventions from their parents, such as enforcement of rules or guided activities, or through broad interventions, by expressing their values and modeling behavior. Current research does not establish if broad or specific parental involvement has a greater effect on healthy behavior. Our group sought to support existing evidence that parental involvement directly impacts behavior that reduces the likelihood of childhood obesity and determines if broad or specific parental involvement had a greater impact on healthy behavior. Methods: The study population included all children grades 6-12 who completed the Georgia Student Health Survey 2.0. Survey questions from 674,354 students in Georgia were used for the analysis. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to derive a composite measure. Two factors were generated, broad parental involvement and specific parental involvement. Mixed-effects logistic regression was run using physical activity as the dependent variable and the two composite measures of parental involvement as predictors. The same mixed-effects logistic regression was performed using screen time as the dependent variable. Results: Both measures of parental involvement showed a statistically significant positive relationship with physical activity. Both measures of parental involvement were significantly associated with screen time. Conclusion: Results suggest that specific parental involvement leads to an increase in weekly physical activity and a decrease in daily screen time. Increasing physical activity and reducing screen time have demonstrated clear reductions in the rate of obesity amongst children. To improve healthy behavior and reduce the likelihood of childhood obesity, parents should be directly involved in their child’s school behavior

Evaluation of Alcazar Scoring System to Differentiate Between Benign and Malignant Ovarian Masses- A Nepalese Perspective

Introduction: Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer in Nepalese females and the tenth overall, accounting for 5% of the total new cases of cancer in females in 2020. Ultrasonography (USG) remains the primary tool for the diagnosis and characterization of ovarian masses in which many grey-scale and Doppler characteristics are evaluated. Various scoring systems have been described incorporating different USG parameters to differentiate the benign and malignant nature of ovarian masses. Alcazar scoring system includes both grey-scale as well as Doppler characteristics of the ovarian masses and is one of the more widely used systems worldwide. Methods: This was an observational cross-sectional study based on 52 consecutive patients who were clinically suspected to have ovarian mass and referred for USG evaluation and who subsequently underwent surgery.Results:As confirmed by histopathology, 37 cases were benign and 15 were malignant masses. Alcazar system of scoring identified 34 out of 37 benign cases and 15 out of 15 malignant cases with sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing malignant cases of 83.3% and 91.1% respectively. Conclusion: Alcazar system of scoring is a highly effective tool to differentiate between benign and malignant ovarian masses and can be of great help in diagnosis, characterization and effective preoperative planning

Antagonistic effect of chitin-degrading microfungi on thick-shelled pig helminth eggs

The rising demand for pigs produced in organic farming systems, which require access to outdoor areas and associated increased risk of gastrointestinal nematode infections, is creating growing interest in alternative control strategies. Also development of anthelminthic resistance due to extensive use of anthelmintics is a concern in intensive pig production. Use of chitin-degrading microfungi is one of the options. Extensive research has been conducted on biological control of plant pathogenic nematodes using such fungi, and some fungal species are commercially available for plant protection. In contrast, there are only limited laboratory studies conducted on eggs from nematodes which are animal parasites. The aim of present study is to investigate the antagonistic effect of chitin-degrading microfungi on thick-shelled pig helminth eggs (i.e. Ascaris suum and Trichuris suis) both in the laboratory as well as in the field. We have performed a pilot study of the ovicidal effect of Paecilomyces lilacinus alone and in combination with chitin supplement on A. suum eggs over 4 weeks in 2% water agar. Within 1 week more than 90% of the eggs were hatched in both cases within the Petri dish as compared to controls, indicating that the fungus is capable of degrading the chitin wall so the larvae are becoming free. Soon we will proceed for full-fledged study with 2 fungal species (P. lilacinus and Pochonia chlamydosporia) which were proven to have ovicidal activity against nematode eggs. This will be done in the laboratory using soil samples amended with A. suum eggs, under semi-natural (pasture plot) conditions and finally on heavily contaminated pastures

Evaluation of soil microfungi as biological control agents against ascarid eggs

Thick-shelled ascarid eggs have been reported to remain infective in the environment for several years, thus posing a prolonged risk of infection to animals and/or humans. The following in vitro study was therefore conducted to evaluate the negative impact of two species of naturally occuring soil microfungi (Pochonia chlamydosporia and Paecilomyces lilacinus), on the viability of Ascaridia galli, Toxocara canis and Ascaris suum eggs. Approximately 150 fresh eggs of individual ascarid species were embryonated on a 2% water agar in Petri dishes with or without a fungus (P. chlamydospria or P. lilacinus). On days 7, 14, 21, 28, 35 and 42 post experimental set up (p.s.), the viability of the eggs in each experimental group was evaluated (destructive sampling). By day 14 p.s., P. chlamydosporia had reduced the viability of A. galli and T. canis eggs by 70-86% and 52-67%, respectively, compared to the controls. In contrast, P. lilacinus had reduced the viability of A. galli and T. canis eggs by only 17-30% and 6-28%, respectively. Neither fungal species was found to be effective against A. suum eggs (<4% reduction in both cases). These results indicate interspecies differences in the susceptibility of ascarid eggs to microfungi. Ascaridia galli and T. canis eggs seemed to have been degenerated mainly due to hydrolysis of shells by fungal enzymes. The present study demonstrates that P. chlamydosporia may potentially be utilized as a biological control agent against A. galli and T. canis eggs in the environment

Evaluation of soil microfungi as biological control agents against eggs of animal parasitic nematodes

Thick-shelled eggs of ascarid nematodes have been reported to remain infective in the environment for several years, thus posing a prolonged risk of infection to animal livestock and/or humans. An in vitro study was therefore conducted to evaluate the negative impact of two species of soil microfungi, Pochonia chlamydosporia and Purpureocillium lilacinum (syn. Paecilomyces lilacinus), on the viability of Ascaridia galli, Toxocara canis and Ascaris suum eggs. Approximately 150 fresh eggs of individual ascarid species were embryonated on a 2% water agar in Petri dishes with or without a fungus (P. chlamydospria or P. lilacinum). On days 7, 14, 21, 28, 35 and 42 post experimental set up (p.s.), the viability of the eggs from each experimental group was evaluated (destructive sampling). By day 14 p.s., P. chlamydosporia had reduced the viability of A. galli and T. canis eggs by 70-86% and 52-67%, respectively, compared to the controls. In contrast, P. lilacinum had reduced the viability of A. galli and T. canis eggs by only 17-30% and 6-28%, respectively. Neither fungal species was found to be effective against A. suum eggs (<4% reduction in both cases). These results indicate interspecies differences in the susceptibility of ascarid eggs to soil microfungi. Ascaridia galli and T. canis eggs seemed to have been degenerated mainly due to hydrolysis of shells by fungal enzymes. The present study demonstrates that P. chlamydosporia may potentially be utilized as a biological control agent against A. galli and T. canis egg contaminations in the soil environment

Successful Management of Quadruplet Pregnancy following Spontaneous Conception

Introduction: When more than two fetuses simultaneously develop in the uterus, it is called higher order multiple pregnancy. The incidence of such pregnancies ranges from 0.01% to 0.07%. Case report: We report a case of 26-year-old G2P1L0D2 with previous history of preterm vaginal twin delivery, diagnosed to have quadruplet pregnancy. She was admitted at 28 weeks of gestation for safe confinement. At 33 weeks of gestation, emergency cesarean section was conducted with outcome of two female and two male babies with quadriamniotic and quadrichorionic placenta, without any intra and post-operative complications. Conclusion: A multidisciplinary approach with good neonatal care facilities is warranted for a better outcome in higher order multiple pregnancies

Nutritional status and its association with quality of life among people living with HIV attending public anti-retroviral therapy sites of Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

This article was published in AIDS Research and Therapy [© 2015 BioMed Central Ltd.] and the definite version is available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4417539/Background: Little evidence exists on the connections between nutrition, diet intake, and quality of life (QoL) among people living with HIV (PLHIV). The study aimed to estimate the prevalence of under-nutrition among PLHIV in Nepal, and identify risk factors and assess correlations with PLHIVs' QoL and nutritional status. Methods: This quantitative cross-sectional study used Body Mass Index (BMI) as an indicator for nutritional status, and additional information on opportunistic infections (OIs), CD4 count, and World Health Organization (WHO) clinical staging was collected from medical records. Participants were asked to complete surveys on food security and QoL. Descriptive analysis was used to estimate the prevalence of under nutrition. To assess associations between nutrition status and independent variables, bivariate and multivariate analysis was completed. Spearman's rank correlation test was used to assess the association between nutritional status and QoL. Results: One in five PLHIVs was found to be under nourished (BMI <18.5 kg/m2). Illiteracy, residence in care homes, CD4 cells count <350 cells/mm3, OIs, and illness at WHO clinical stages III and IV were found to be significant predictors of under nutrition. BMI was significantly correlated with three domains of QoL (psychological, social and environmental). Conclusion: Nutrition interventions should form an integral part of HIV care programs. Understanding the presence of OI, decline in CD4 count, and advancing WHO clinical stages as risk factors can be helpful in preventing under nutrition from developing. Longitudinal research is necessary to further explicate associations between nutritional status and QoL.Publishe