Expendable oceanographic mooring (XMOOR)

An expendable, self-deploying mooring (XMOOR) for shallow water applications has been developed to address Navy requirements for environmental monitoring. The project has been conducted jointly between the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Naval Research Laboratory at Stennis, MS. WHOI has taken the lead on the mechanical design of the system while NR has developed the electronics. Eight prototype XMOOR systems have been built. They are designed for water depths between 10 and 100m, for deployments of up to 3-months duration, and for automatic deployment. Their sensor suite includes barometrc pressure, air temperatue, water temperature at up to 25 levels, and conductivity and pressure at up to 3 levels. Data telemetry is accomplished via the Argos DCS and by line-of-sight VH confguration of the data collection program. This report describes the XMOOR mechanical system. The data collection and telemetry systems are described separately in (1) and (2).Funding was provided by the Office of Naval Research through Contract Nos. NOOO-14-92-C-6028 and NOOO-14-95-1-0774

Immunological Changes after Cancer Treatment and Participation in an Exercise Program

Purpose: The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the impact of undertaking peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBST) on T-cell number and function, and to determine the role of a mixed type, moderate intensity exercise program in facilitating the recovery of T-cell number and function. Methods: Immunological measures of white blood cell, lymphocyte, CD3+, CD4+, and CD8+ counts, and CD3+ cell function were assessed pretransplant (PI), immediately posttransplant (PII), and 1 month (I1), 2 months (I2) and 3 months (PIII) posttransplant. After PII, 12 patients were divided equally into a control group (CG) or exercise intervention group (EG). Results: Lower total T-cell, helper T-cell, and suppressor T-cell counts (P < 0.01), as well as lower T-cell function (P < 0.01), when compared with normative data, were found at PI. More specifically, 88% of the group had CD3+, CD4+, and CD8+ counts that were more than 40%, 20%, and 50% below normal at PI, respectively. Undertaking a PBST caused further adverse changes to the total leukocyte, lymphocyte, CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+ count, and the helper/suppressor ratio. Although CD8+ counts had returned to normal by PIII, CD3+, CD4+, and the CD4+/CD8+ ratio remained significantly lower than normative data (P < 0.01), with 66%, 100%, and 100% of the subject group reporting counts and ratios, respectively, below the normal range. Conclusion: The PBST patients were immunocompromised before undertaking the transplant, and the transplant procedure imposed further adverse changes to the leukocyte and lymphocyte counts. The leukocyte and CD8+ counts returned to normal within 3 months posttransplant; however, the other immunological parameters assessed demonstrated a delayed recovery. Although participation in the exercise program did not facilitate a faster immune cell recovery, neither did the exercise program hinder or delay recovery

Space Utilization for the Boulder Cemetery

The purpose of this project in Boulder, Montana was to determine how much usable space was left in the cemetery for future burials and to locate old burial sites where headstones no longer exist.https://digitalcommons.mtech.edu/stdt_rsch_day_2013/1001/thumbnail.jp

Salmonid species diversity predicts salmon consumption by terrestrial wildlife

1. Resource waves—spatial variation in resource phenology that extends feeding opportunities for mobile consumers—can affect the behaviour and productivity of recipient populations. Interspecific diversity among Pacific salmon species (Oncorhynchus spp.) creates staggered spawning events across space and time, thereby prolonging availability to terrestrial wildlife. 2. We sought to understand how such variation might influence consumption by terrestrial predators compared with resource abundance and intra- and interspecific competition. 3. Using stable isotope analysis, we investigated how the proportion of salmon in the annual diet of male black bears (Ursus americanus; n = 405) varies with species diversity and density of spawning salmon biomass, while also accounting for competition with sympatric black and grizzly bears (U. arctos horribilis), in coastal British Columbia, Canada. 4. We found that the proportion of salmon in the annual diet of black bears was ≈40% higher in the absence of grizzly bears, but detected little effect of relative black bear density and salmon biomass density. Rather, salmon diversity had the largest positive effect on consumption. On average, increasing diversity from one salmon species to ~four (with equal biomass contributions) approximately triples the proportion of salmon in diet. 5. Given the importance of salmon to bear life histories, this work provides early empirical support for how resource waves may increase the productivity of consumers at population and landscape scales. Accordingly, terrestrial wildlife management might consider maintaining not only salmon abundance but also diversit

Eosinophil Lipid Bodies: Specific, Inducible Intracellular Sites for Enhanced Eicosanoid Formation

The specific intracellular sites at which enzymes act to generate arachidonate-derived eicosanoid mediators of inflammation are uncertain. We evaluated the formation and function of cytoplasmic lipid bodies. Lipid body formation in eosinophils was a rapidly (<1 h) inducible response which was platelet-activating factor (PAF) receptor–mediated, involved signaling through protein kinase C, and required new protein synthesis. In intact and enucleated eosinophils, the PAF-induced increases in lipid body numbers correlated with enhanced production of both lipoxygenase- and cyclooxygenase-derived eicosanoids. All principal eosinophil eicosanoid-forming enzymes, 5-lipoxygenase, leukotriene C4 synthase, and cyclooxygenase, were immunolocalized to native as well as newly induced lipid bodies in intact and enucleated eosinophils. Thus, lipid bodies are structurally distinct, inducible, nonnuclear sites for enhanced synthesis of paracrine eicosanoid mediators of inflammation

The Spatial Distribution of Coalescing Neutron Star Binaries: Implications for Gamma-Ray Bursts

We find the distribution of coalescence times, birthrates, spatial velocities, and subsequent radial offsets of coalescing neutron stars (NSs) in various galactic potentials accounting for large asymmetric kicks introduced during a supernovae. The birthrates of bound NS-NS binaries are quite sensitive to the magnitude of the kick velocities but are, nevertheless, similar (~10 per Galaxy per Myr) to previous population synthesis studies. The distribution of merger times since zero-age main sequence is, however, relatively insensitive to the choice of kick velocities. With a median merger time of ~100 Myr, we find that compact binaries should closely trace the star formation rate in the Universe. In a range of plausible galactic potentials (M_galaxy > 3 x 10^10 M_solar) the median radial offset of a NS-NS mergers is less than 10 kpc. At a redshift of z=1 (with H_0 = 65 km/s/Mpc and Omega = 0.2), this means that half the coalescences should occur within ~1.3 arcsec from the host galaxy. In all but the most shallow potentials, ninety percent of NS-NS binaries merge within 30 kpc of the host. We find that although the spatial distribution of coalescing neutron star binaries is consistent with the close spatial association of known optical afterglows of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with faint galaxies, a non-negligible fraction (~15 percent) of GRBs should occur well outside (>30 kpc) dwarf galaxy hosts. Extinction due to dust in the host, projection of offsets, and a range in interstellar medium densities confound the true distribution of NS-NS mergers around galaxies with an observable set of optical transients/galaxy offsets.Comment: Accepted to MNRAS (12 Jan 1999