Pulling Results Out of Thin Air: Four Years of Ozone and Greenhouse Gas Measurements by the Alpha Jet Atmospheric Experiment (AJAX)

The Alpha Jet Atmospheric eXperiment (AJAX) has been measuring atmospheric ozone, carbon dioxide, methane and meteorological parameters from near the surface to 8000 m since January 2011. The main goals are to study photochemical ozone production and the impacts of extreme events on western US air quality, provide data to support satellite observations and aid in the quantification of emission sources e.g. wildfires, urban outflow, diary and oil and gas. The aircraft is based at Moffett Field and flies multiple times a month to sample vertical profiles at selected sites in California and Nevada, providing long-term data records at these sites. AJAX is also uniquely positioned to launch with short notice sampling flights in rapid response to extreme events e.g. the 2013 Yosemite Rim fire. This talk will focus on the impacts of vertical transport on surface air quality, and investigation of emission sources from diaries and wildfires

More resilience, more Green Berets: A quantitative analysis of the effects of Functional Imagery Training during British Army Commando training

This study investigates the low completion rates of the British Army commando training course in 2018-2019, recorded at 20%, following concerns raised by course Directing Staff. It examines the relationship between resilience and performance in military contexts and evaluates whether resilience-building interventions can improve completion rates. To establish how completion rates could be improved, sixty-two candidates from three commando training cohorts were recruited and assigned to either a Functional Imagery Training (FIT) intervention or a control group. Interventions were delivered in week one of training with a booster in week five. FIT, a goal-centred imagery intervention, has previously improved resilience-related characteristics such as grit but has not been delivered in a military context. In this research, resilience was measured pre- and post-intervention using the Brief Resilience Scale and Directing Staff reported candidates who completed the training. Resilience and completion increased in participants who received FIT; however, when compared with the control, only resilience increased significantly (t(36) = -2.68, p = .01, 95% CI [-0.76, -0.11]; t(11) = -3.62, p = .004, 95% CI [-1.19, -0.29]). The strengths, limitations and implications of this research are discussed with reference to how the findings enhance the literature and support the delivery of FIT in a military context and suggestions for future research outlined

Development of instrumentation and measurements of non-methane hydrocarbons at a remote background site

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

The role of TNF-alpha converting enzyme (TACE:ADAM17) in L-selection shedding and lymphocyte migration

The leucocyte adhesion molecule L-selectin mediates the tethering and rolling of lymphocytes in high endothelial venules (HEV), which precedes migration across the vessel wall into the lymph node. L-selectin is cleaved by proteolysis in the membrane proximal region, but the physiological role of this shedding is unclear. Studies using hydroxamate-based metalloproteinase inhibitors have implicated metalloproteinase(s) in L-selectin shedding and lymphoid cells lacking in the metalloproteinase TACE (ADAM 17) fail to shed L-selectin, suggesting that it is directly or indirectly involved in cleavage. Knockout mice in which the catalytic domain of TACE has been targeted (taceZn/Zn) die in utero. To study the role of TACE in leucocytes, irradiated mice were used as hosts for reconstitution with taceZn/Zn or wild type (WT) foetal liver stem cells. Phenotypic analysis of the reconstituted chimeric mice determined that there was no significant effect of the TACE mutation on the proportions of cell subsets in the lymph nodes or thymus. The taceZn/Zn chimeric spleen was found to be significantly larger than that of mice reconstituted with WT cells and, on further analysis, was shown to have a higher proportion of large granular cells (36% of total cells) in comparison to WT (19%). A higher proportion of large granular cells was also seen in taceZn/Zn chimeric bone marrow (70% vs. 59%). Increased L-selectin expression was seen on taceZn/Zn B lymphocytes and non-neutrophil myeloid cells in the bone marrow, and on taceZn/Zn on neutrophils in the spleen. PMA stimulation of blood lymphocytes and splenocytes confirmed that taceZn/Zn T and B lymphocytes are unable to shed L-selectin. However, taceZn/Zn peripheral lymph node T lymphocytes undergo constitutive basal shedding in vitro suggesting a TACE independent shedding pathway in these cells. TACE independent shedding was confirmed by the presence of wild type levels of soluble L-selectin in the sera of L-selectin-/- mice reconstituted with taceZn/Zn foetal liver cells. taceZn/Zn cells migrated normally through a cultured high endothelial cell (HEC) monolayer and down-regulated L-selectin upon adhesion to HEC. There was no effect of the TACE mutation on lymphocyte trafficking into peripheral lymph nodes in vivo. We conclude that TACE is not the only enzyme responsible for L-selectin cleavage in T lymphocytes and, that TACE does not regulate lymphocyte interactions with HEC during migration into peripheral lymph nodes

A Study of Ozone at Railroad Valley, NV and Trinidad Head, CA

A STUDY OF OZONE AT RAILROAD VALLEY, NV and TRINIDAD HEAD, CA Ozone (Oᴣ) is a form of oxygen that protects the planet Earth from deadly ultraviolet rays emitted by the sun; without this triatomic molecule high in the atmosphere, life processes on the planet would be impossible. Ozone is an air pollutant and toxic in the lowest part of the atmosphere, and inhaling it could cause permanent damage to animals’ respiratory system. Long term exposure to high concentration of ozone has been linked with the development of asthma in children. Because of its complicated role in our atmosphere, scientists are studying its depletion and recovery in the stratosphere, and the minimization of ozone formation in the atmospheric boundary layer (the lowest part of the atmosphere). Here at NASA Ames Research Center (ARC), the Atmospheric Branch of Earth Science Division is conducting a study to examine and compare ozone concentrations in the atmospheric boundary layer (0 to ~2 km above the surface of the Earth) to those of the free troposphere (~2 km to ~10 km, where regional transport occurs), and to validate the accuracy of the ozone instrument used in the experiment. Using a 2BTechnology, Inc., Dual Beam Ozone Monitor installed inside the wing pod of an Alpha jet aircraft based at Moffett Field vertical profiles of ozone concentrations have been collected at Trinidad Head, California, and Railroad Valley (RRV), Nevada. The airborne data at Trinidad Head are also compared to standard measurements collected by the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA) using a balloonborne DMT Electrochemical Concentration Cell Ozonesonde. My area of research is to support the calibration of the ozone instrument, to aggregate ozone measurements, and to analyze data collected from the three subject locations

Testing and Improving a UAV-Based System Designed for Wetland Methane Source Measurements

Wetlands are the single highest emitting methane source category, but the magnitude of wetland fluxes remains difficult to fully characterize due to their large spatial extent and heterogeneity. Fluxes can vary with land surface conditions, vegetation type, and seasonal changes in environmental conditions. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are an emerging platform to better characterize spatial variability in these natural ecosystems. While presenting some advantages over traditional techniques like towers and flux chambers, in that they are mobile vertically and horizontally, their use is still challenging, requiring continued improvement in sensor technology and field measurement approaches. In this work, we employ a small, fast response laser spectrometer on a Matrice 600 hexacopter. The system was previously deployed successfully for 40 flights conducted in a four-day period in 2018 near Fairbanks, Alaska. These flights revealed several potential areas for improvement, including: vertical positioning accuracy, the need for sensor health indicators, and approaches to deal with low wind speeds. An additional set of flights was conducted this year near Antioch in California. Flights were conducted several meters above ground up to 15-25 m in a curtain pattern. These curtains were flown both upwind and downwind of a tower site, allowing us to calculate a mass balance methane flux estimate that can be compared to eddy covariance fluxes from the tower. Testing will better characterize the extent to which altitude drifts in-flight and how GPS values compare with measurements from the onboard LIDAR, as well as the agreement between two-dimensional wind speed and direction on the ground versus measured onboard the UAV. Hardware improvements to the sensor and GPS are being considered to help reduce these sources of uncertainty. Results of this testing and how system performance relates to needs for quantifying wetland fluxes, will be presented

Maintaining standing stones benefits biodiversity in lowland heathland

The exploitation of natural resources by people generally has detrimental effects on nature but in some cases anthropogenic activities can result in changes to the natural environment that produce new habitats and increase biodiversity. Understanding and supporting such cultural aspects of land use is an important part of effective conservation strategies. The UK has a range of cultural landscapes that contribute to the landscape matrix and are often important for biodiversity. However, little research has been conducted on the relationship between various types of cultural landscapes or their effects on biodiversity. We examined the interaction between semi-natural sacred sites and lowland heathland in Cornwall, and the contribution these sites make to the overall biodiversity within the habitat. We found that semi-natural sacred sites had significantly higher levels of biodiversity compared to surrounding heathland; the existence and use of the sites created new and important habitats for rare and threatened heathland species; and the spiritual and cultural use of the sites aids the management of heathland. Promoting the use of semi-natural sacred sites could therefore contribute to biodiversity conservation. Furthermore, the cultural and spiritual importance of such sites potentially increases the availability of volunteer resources for their management. We highlight the importance of an integrated management approach for achieving effective biodiversity conservation in areas containing multiple types of cultural landscapes

Marine social sciences: Looking towards a sustainable future

Marine and coastal environments provide extensive and essential ecosystem services upon which much of humanity relies, yet the incorporation of human dimensions into marine and coastal policy and management has historically been lacking. As efforts to address the substantial and diverse challenges facing marine and coastal environments continue, recent years have seen a growing call for greater consideration of people, how they interact with the marine environment, and the resultant implications for developing effective policy and man- agement. Indeed, in recent times recognition of the importance of marine social science research, data, evidence and expertise has undergone an upward trajectory. Despite this growing level of awareness of the value of social science to the wider marine and coastal management agenda, effective and meaningful inclusion of marine social science into research and practice has remained a challenge. Here we approach this global challenge as an opportunity to bring the community together to set a forward-looking international research agenda, recognising the role of multiple approaches and diverse methods understanding the relationship between society and the sea, galvanising the research and practice community across marine social sciences and beyond. Furthermore, by bringing together this increasingly active community, we can identify mechanisms of change and pathways to enable inclusion of marine social sciences within global ocean policy. This paper draws on the views of re- searchers and practitioners from across the marine social science disciplines, brought together through an expert workshop held at the MARE 2019 conference (June 2019) and representing a range of geographical regions and perspectives. Through the workshop, delegates identified a number of priorities for the ongoing development of the marine social science community, including the need to improve capacity for marine social science research globally, the importance of nurturing an inclusive and equitable marine social science research community and the role of networks to continue to raise the profile of marine social science data and evidence for global ocean policy and management. Additionally, the discussions provided valuable insight into existing knowledge gaps and potential research priorities for the future. Finally, the paper presents a future vision and recommendations for an international and interdisciplinary marine social science agenda, calling for collaborative and strategic thinking on marine social sciences from across the marine science and policy interface. Critically, we show how social science needs to be embedded in all aspects of marine and coastal management in order to create truly sustainable solutions to the pervasive environmental challenges we face

Automated Ex Situ Assays of Amyloid Formation on a Microfluidic Platform.

Increasingly prevalent neurodegenerative diseases are associated with the formation of nanoscale amyloid aggregates from normally soluble peptides and proteins. A widely used strategy for following the aggregation process and defining its kinetics involves the use of extrinsic dyes that undergo a spectral shift when bound to β-sheet-rich aggregates. An attractive route to carry out such studies is to perform ex situ assays, where the dye molecules are not present in the reaction mixture, but instead are only introduced into aliquots taken from the reaction at regular time intervals to avoid the possibility that the dye molecules interfere with the aggregation process. However, such ex situ measurements are time-consuming to perform, require large sample volumes, and do not provide for real-time observation of aggregation phenomena. To overcome these limitations, here we have designed and fabricated microfluidic devices that offer continuous and automated real-time ex situ tracking of the protein aggregation process. This device allows us to improve the time resolution of ex situ aggregation assays relative to conventional assays by more than one order of magnitude. The availability of an automated system for tracking the progress of protein aggregation reactions without the presence of marker molecules in the reaction mixtures opens up the possibility of routine noninvasive study of protein aggregation phenomena.Financial support from the Frances and Augustus Newman Foundation, the BBSRC, the EPSRC, the ERC and the Swiss National Science Foundation is gratefully acknowledged.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2015.11.352