Feasibility of Neural Networks for Maritime Visual Detection on a Mobile Platform

Object detection through computer vision has traditionally been difficult to reliably implement due to various lighting conditions caused by weather and time of day. Any changes in conditions can be detrimental to the detector’s ability to accurately identify objects. A modern approach implements deep learning techniques to classify and train a neural network. While highly effective, this approach can be cumbersome and computationally intensive. This project will investigate the feasibility of using deep learning to detect, classify, and track objects in near real-time while being processed on a mobile platform. I will investigate the feasibility of these processes on a small embedded system, such as the NVIDIA Jetson TX1. I will investigate several promising algorithms such as Faster R-CNN, TensorBox, DetectNet, and YOLO. This research is beneficial because it will transition deep learning techniques developed primarily for research in a lab environment to a real-world situation in which high accuracy and fast processing are vital. The work solved through this research will greatly benefit platforms that require object detection capabilities, but do not have the space, budget, or power capabilities for large GPUs or GPU clusters

Sea-level change and storm surges in the context of climate change

This paper reviews the latest research in New Zealand surrounding the issues of sea-level rise and extreme sea levels in the context of global warming and variability in the Pacific-wide El Nino– Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Past records of climate, sea level (excluding tides) and sea and air temperatures have shown that they are continuously fluctuating over various long-term timescales of years, decades and centuries. This has made it very difficult to determine whether the anthropogenic effects such as increased levels of “greenhouse” gases are having an accelerating effect on global sea levels or an increased incidence of extreme storms. Over the past century, global sea level has risen by 10–25 cm, and is in line with the rise in relative sea level at New Zealand’s main ports of +1.7 mm yr –1. What has become very clear is the need to better understand interannual (year-to-year) and decadal variability in sea-level, as these larger signals of the order of 5–15 cm in annual-mean sea level have a significant “flow-on” effect on the long-term trend in sea level. The paper describes sea level variability in northern New Zealand—both long- and short-term—involved in assessing the regional trends in sea level. The paper also discusses the relative contributions of tides, barometric pressure and wind set-up in causing extreme sea levels during storm surges. Some recent research also looked at a related question—Is there any sign of increased storminess, and hence storm surge, in northern New Zealand due to climate change? The paper concludes that, while no one can be completely sure how sea-level and the degree of storminess will respond in the near future, what is clear is that interannual and decadal variability in sea level is inextricably linked with Pacific-wide ENSO response and longer inter-decadal shifts in the Pacific climate regime, such as the latest shift in 1976

Autonomous Dynamic Localization System

The Robotics Association participates in all six major Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) sponsored collegiate competitions. One such competition is Robosub, which is a competition for an autonomous submarine to navigate a course and complete various tasks. During the course of this competition, precision localization is necessary. While various underwater navigational solutions can be purchased, they are often extremely expensive. This project, Autonomous Dynamic Localization System (ADLS), is designed to use hydrophones and cameras to achieve localization and virtual object marking. Hydrophones would be used to localize distance from a pinger based on time delay, while cameras would be used to track the movement of fixed objects through the frame. These two data sources can be combined to calculate a current position, as well as a direction vector. Experimental tests of the vision system have been conducted, and have provided promising results

Analysis of SLC16A11 Variants in 12,811 American Indians: Genotype-Obesity Interaction for Type 2 Diabetes and an Association With RNASEK Expression

Genetic variants in SLC16A11 were recently reported to be associated with type 2 diabetes in Mexican and other Latin American populations. The diabetes risk haplotype had a frequency of 50% in Native Americans from Mexico but was rare in Europeans and Africans. In the current study, we analyzed SLC16A11 in 12,811 North American Indians and found that the diabetes risk haplotype, tagged by the rs75493593 A allele, was nominally associated with type 2 diabetes (P = 0.001, odds ratio 1.11). However, there was a strong interaction with BMI (P = 5.1 × 10(-7)) such that the diabetes association was stronger in leaner individuals. rs75493593 was also strongly associated with BMI in individuals with type 2 diabetes (P = 3.4 × 10(-15)) but not in individuals without diabetes (P = 0.77). Longitudinal analyses suggest that this is due, in part, to an association of the A allele with greater weight loss following diabetes onset (P = 0.02). Analyses of global gene expression data from adipose tissue, skeletal muscle, and whole blood provide evidence that rs75493593 is associated with expression of the nearby RNASEK gene, suggesting that RNASEK expression may mediate the effect of genotype on diabetes

Identity-by-Descent Mapping Identifies Major Locus for Serum Triglycerides in Amerindians Largely Explained by an APOC3 Founder Mutation

Background—Identity-by-descent (IBD) mapping using empirical estimates of IBD allele sharing may be useful for studies of complex traits in founder populations, where hidden relationships may augment the inherent genetic information that can be used for localization. Methods and Results—Through IBD mapping, using ~400,000 SNPs, of serum lipid profiles we identified a major linkage signal for triglycerides (TG) in 1,007 Pima Indians (LOD=9.23, p=3.5×10−11 on chromosome 11q). In subsequent fine-mapping and replication association studies in ~7,500 Amerindians, we determined that this signal reflects effects of a loss-of-function Ala43Thr substitution in APOC3 (rs147210663) and 3 established functional SNPs in APOA5. The association with rs147210663 was particularly strong; each copy of the Thr allele conferred 42% lower TG (β=−0.92±0.059 SD unit, p=9.6×10−55 in 4,668 Pimas and 2,793 Southwest Amerindians combined). The Thr allele is extremely rare in most global populations, but has a frequency of 2.5% in Pimas. We further demonstrated that 3 APOA5 SNPs with established functional impact could explain the association with the most well-replicated SNP (rs964184) for TG identified by genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Collectively these 4 SNPs account for 6.9% of variation in TG in Pimas (and 4.1% in Southwest Amerindians), and their inclusion in the original linkage model reduced the linkage signal to virtually null. Conclusions—APOC3/APOA5 constitutes a major locus for serum triglycerides in Amerindians, especially the Pimas, and these results provide an empirical example for the concept that population-based linkage analysis is a useful strategy to identify complex trait variants

Sediment Management for Southern California Mountains, Coastal Plains, and Shoreline

During FY77, with financial support from Los Angeles County, U. S. Geological Survey, Orange County, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, and discretionary funding provided by a grant from the Ford Foundation, substantial progress was made at EQL and SPL in achieving the objectives of the initial Planning and Assessment Phase of the CIT/SIO Sediment Management Project. The current timetable for completion of this phase is June 1978. This report briefly describes the project status including general administration, special activities, and technical work

Deep coverage whole genome sequences and plasma lipoprotein(a) in individuals of European and African ancestries

Lipoprotein(a), Lp(a), is a modified low-density lipoprotein particle that contains apolipoprotein(a), encoded by LPA, and is a highly heritable, causal risk factor for cardiovascular diseases that varies in concentrations across ancestries. Here, we use deep-coverage whole genome sequencing in 8392 individuals of European and African ancestry to discover and interpret both single-nucleotide variants and copy number (CN) variation associated with Lp(a). We observe that genetic determinants between Europeans and Africans have several unique determinants. The common variant rs12740374 associated with Lp(a) cholesterol is an eQTL for SORT1 and independent of LDL cholesterol. Observed associations of aggregates of rare non-coding variants are largely explained by LPA structural variation, namely the LPA kringle IV 2 (KIV2)-CN. Finally, we find that LPA risk genotypes confer greater relative risk for incident atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases compared to directly measured Lp(a), and are significantly associated with measures of subclinical atherosclerosis in African Americans

Quantification of CO2 removal in a large-scale enhanced weathering field trial on an oil palm plantation in Sabah, Malaysia

Modeling studies show that large-scale deployment of enhanced rock weathering on croplands has the potential to reduce levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide by the end of the century. There is, however, a pressing need to verify model predictions through long-term field trials. Here we report results from the first 3 years of an ongoing enhanced weathering field trial, carried out on an oil palm plantation in Sabah, Malaysia. Crushed silicate rock was applied to three hydrologically isolated catchments, and three adjacent (paired) reference catchments were left untreated. The drawdown of atmospheric CO2 was quantified via the export of alkalinity in stream waters and changes in soil carbonate content. The amended and reference catchments were found to have a similar extent of CO2 drawdown via alkalinity export [respectively, 3.8 ± 0.8 (1 SD) and 3.7 ± 0.6 (1 SD) tCO2 ha−1] when all catchments were averaged over the study period (October 2018 to July 2021). However, differences were observed between the different catchment pairs (plots): two of the plots displayed a similar extent of CO2 removal for both the amended and reference catchments, but the third amended catchment had a higher extent of CO2 removal of ~1 tCO2 ha−1 relative to its adjacent reference catchment. The difference in CO2 removal rates determined for this plot can likely be attributed to increased weathering of silicate minerals in the amended catchment. Soil carbonate concentrations were on average < 0.2 wt% CaCO3, but we report a small increase of ~0.03 wt% CaCO3 in the top 30 cm of soil in the amended soils relative to the reference catchments. The magnitude of CO2 drawdown via alkalinity export determined for these agricultural catchments is around an order of magnitude higher than in natural forested catchments in Sabah and similar to that of basaltic catchments. We show that these high weathering rates are primarily driven by weathering of carbonate fertilizers. The data presented from this field trial provide vital contextual information on the real-world efficacy and practicalities associated with the implementation of enhanced weathering for atmospheric CO2 removal that will help to inform further trials as well as wider-scale deployment

Climatic history of the northeastern United States during the past 3000 years

Many ecosystem processes that influence Earth system feedbacks – vegetation growth, water and nutrient cycling, disturbance regimes – are strongly influenced by multidecadal- to millennial-scale climate variations that cannot be directly observed. Paleoclimate records provide information about these variations, forming the basis of our understanding and modeling of them. Fossil pollen records are abundant in the NE US, but cannot simultaneously provide information about paleoclimate and past vegetation in a modeling context because this leads to circular logic. If pollen data are used to constrain past vegetation changes, then the remaining paleoclimate archives in the northeastern US (NE US) are quite limited. Nonetheless, a growing number of diverse reconstructions have been developed but have not yet been examined together. Here we conduct a systematic review, assessment, and comparison of paleotemperature and paleohydrological proxies from the NE US for the last 3000 years. Regional temperature reconstructions (primarily summer) show a long-term cooling trend (1000 BCE–1700 CE) consistent with hemispheric-scale reconstructions, while hydroclimate data show gradually wetter conditions through the present day. Multiple proxies suggest that a prolonged, widespread drought occurred between 550 and 750 CE. Dry conditions are also evident during the Medieval Climate Anomaly, which was warmer and drier than the Little Ice Age and drier than today. There is some evidence for an acceleration of the longer-term wetting trend in the NE US during the past century; coupled with an abrupt shift from decreasing to increasing temperatures in the past century, these changes could have wide-ranging implications for species distributions, ecosystem dynamics, and extreme weather events. More work is needed to gather paleoclimate data in the NE US to make inter-proxy comparisons and to improve estimates of uncertainty in reconstructions