Storm impact on sea surface temperature and chlorophyll α in the Gulf of Mexico and Sargasso Sea based on daily cloud-free satellite data reconstructions

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2016. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Research Letters 43 (2016): 12,199–12,207, doi:10.1002/2016GL071178.Upper ocean responses to tropical storms/hurricanes have been extensively studied using satellite observations. However, resolving concurrent sea surface temperature (SST) and chlorophyll α (chl α) responses along storm tracks remains a major challenge due to extensive cloud coverage in satellite images. Here we produce daily cloud-free SST and chl α reconstructions based on the Data INterpolating Empirical Orthogonal Function method over a 10 year period (2003–2012) for the Gulf of Mexico and Sargasso Sea regions. Daily reconstructions allow us to characterize and contrast previously obscured subweekly SST and chl α responses to storms in the two main storm-impacted regions of the Atlantic Ocean. Statistical analyses of daily SST and chl α responses revealed regional differences in the response time as well as the response sensitivity to maximum sustained wind speed and translation speed. This study demonstrates that SST and chl α responses clearly depend on regional ocean conditions and are not as universal as might have been previously suggested.Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative/GISR Grant Number: 02-S130202; NOAA Grant Number: NA11NOS0120033; NASA Grant Numbers: NNX12AP84G, NNX13AD80G2017-06-1

Variational data assimilative modeling of the Gulf of Maine in spring and summer 2010

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2015. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 120 (2015): 3522–3541, doi:10.1002/2014JC010492.A data assimilative ocean circulation model is used to hindcast the Gulf of Maine [GOM) circulation in spring and summer 2010. Using the recently developed incremental strong constraint 4D Variational data assimilation algorithm, the model assimilates satellite sea surface temperature and in situ temperature and salinity profiles measured by expendable bathythermograph, Argo floats, and shipboard CTD casts. Validation against independent observations shows that the model skill is significantly improved after data assimilation. The data-assimilative model hindcast reproduces the temporal and spatial evolution of the ocean state, showing that a sea level depression southwest of the Scotian Shelf played a critical role in shaping the gulf-wide circulation. Heat budget analysis further demonstrates that both advection and surface heat flux contribute to temperature variability. The estimated time scale for coastal water to travel from the Scotian Shelf to the Jordan Basin is around 60 days, which is consistent with previous estimates based on in situ observations. Our study highlights the importance of resolving upstream and offshore forcing conditions in predicting the coastal circulation in the GOM.Research support was provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) grant NA06NOS4780245 for the Gulf of Maine Toxicity (GOMTOX) program. RH and DJM were also supported by NOAA grant NA11NOS4780023 under the PCMHAB program. YL was partly supported by Postdoctoral Scholar Program at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, with funding provided by the George D. Grice Postdoctoral Scholarship.2015-11-1

Flow-type landslides Impacting V-shaped Diversions: Physical Modelling

In rural and sparsely populated areas, government issued pamphlets often recommend the construction of V-shaped diversions to protect personal property from flow-type landslides hazards, including debris flows. V-shaped diversions are advantageous because they attract low impact forces and runup heights due to their oblique impact angle. However, current design approaches are empirical, so it is unclear what resisting forces and wall heights are required. In this extended abstract, details of a new experimental setup and some preliminary results are presented. It is envisioned that findings from this study will help to shed light on scientific-based recommendations to design V-shaped diversions to enhance the resiliency of mountain communities globally

Dynamics of an intense Alexandrium catenella red tide in the Gulf of Maine: satellite observations and numerical modeling

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Li, Y., Stumpf, R. P., McGillicuddy, D. J.,Jr, & He, R. Dynamics of an intense Alexandrium catenella red tide in the Gulf of Maine: satellite observations and numerical modeling. Harmful Algae, 99, (2020): 101927, doi:10.1016/j.hal.2020.101927.In July 2009, an unusually intense bloom of the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella occurred in the Gulf of Maine. The bloom reached high concentrations (from hundreds of thousands to one million cells L−1) that discolored the water and exceeded normal bloom concentrations by a factor of 1000. Using Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) imagery processed to target chlorophyll concentrations (>2 µg L−1), patches of intense A. catenella concentration were identified that were consistent with the highly localized cell concentrations observed from ship surveys. The bloom patches were generally aligned with the edge of coastal waters with high-absorption. Dense bloom patches moved onshore in response to a downwelling event, persisted for approximately one week, then dispersed rapidly over a few days and did not reappear. Coupled physical-biological model simulations showed that wind forcing was an important factor in transporting cells onshore. Upward swimming behavior facilitated the horizontal cell aggregation, increasing the simulated maximum depth-integrated cell concentration by up to a factor of 40. Vertical convergence of cells, due to active swimming of A. catenella from the subsurface to the top layer, could explain the additional 25-fold intensification (25 × 40=1000-fold) needed to reach the bloom concentrations that discolored the water. A model simulation that considered upward swimming overestimated cell concentrations downstream of the intense aggregation. This discrepancy between model and observed concentrations suggested a loss of cells from the water column at a time that corresponded to the start of encystment. These results indicated that the joint effect of upward swimming, horizontal convergence, and wind-driven flow contributed to the red water event, which might have promoted the sexual reproduction event that preceded the encystment process.DJM gratefully acknowledges support of the Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health, funded jointly by the National Science Foundation (OCE-1314642 and OCE-1840381) the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (P01ES021923–01 and P01 ES028938–01). RH acknowledges support made possible by NOAA grant NA15NOS4780196 and NA16NOS0120028

Four years of multi-modal odometry and mapping on the rail vehicles

Precise, seamless, and efficient train localization as well as long-term railway environment monitoring is the essential property towards reliability, availability, maintainability, and safety (RAMS) engineering for railroad systems. Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) is right at the core of solving the two problems concurrently. In this end, we propose a high-performance and versatile multi-modal framework in this paper, targeted for the odometry and mapping task for various rail vehicles. Our system is built atop an inertial-centric state estimator that tightly couples light detection and ranging (LiDAR), visual, optionally satellite navigation and map-based localization information with the convenience and extendibility of loosely coupled methods. The inertial sensors IMU and wheel encoder are treated as the primary sensor, which achieves the observations from subsystems to constrain the accelerometer and gyroscope biases. Compared to point-only LiDAR-inertial methods, our approach leverages more geometry information by introducing both track plane and electric power pillars into state estimation. The Visual-inertial subsystem also utilizes the environmental structure information by employing both lines and points. Besides, the method is capable of handling sensor failures by automatic reconfiguration bypassing failure modules. Our proposed method has been extensively tested in the long-during railway environments over four years, including general-speed, high-speed and metro, both passenger and freight traffic are investigated. Further, we aim to share, in an open way, the experience, problems, and successes of our group with the robotics community so that those that work in such environments can avoid these errors. In this view, we open source some of the datasets to benefit the research community

The Effect of the Antimicrobial Peptide Plectasin on the Growth Performance, Intestinal Health, and Immune Function of Yellow-Feathered Chickens

The goal of the study was to test the effects of an antibiotic substitute, plectasin, on the growth performance, immune function, intestinal morphology and structure, intestinal microflora, ileal mucosal layer construction and tight junctions, ileal immune-related cytokines, and blood biochemical indices of yellow-feathered chickens. A total of 1,500 one-day-old yellow-feathered chicks were randomly divided into four dietary treatment groups with five replicates in each group and 75 yellow-feathered chicks in each replication, as follows: basal diet (group A); basal diet supplemented with 10 mg enramycin/kg of diet (group B), basal diet supplemented with 100 mg plectasin/kg of diet (group C), and basal diet supplemented with 200 mg plectasin/kg of diet (group D). It was found that the dietary antimicrobial peptide plectasin could improve the ADG and had better F/G for the overall period of 1–63 days. Dietary plectasin can enhance H9N2 avian influenza virus (AIV) and Newcastle disease virus (NDV) antibody levels of yellow-feathered chickens at 21, and 35 days of age. Dietary plectasin can enhance the intestine structure, inhibit Escherichia coli and proinflammatory cytokines in the ileum, and ameliorate the blood biochemical indices of yellow-feathered chickens at 21 days of age. This study indicates that the antimicrobial peptide plectasin has beneficial effects on the growth performance, intestinal health and immune function of yellow-feathered chickens

Suppression of the 2010 Alexandrium fundyense bloom by changes in physical, biological, and chemical properties of the Gulf of Maine

Author Posting. © American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, 2011. This article is posted here by permission of American Society of Limnology and Oceanography for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Limnology and Oceanography 56 (2011): 2411-2426, doi:10.4319/lo.2011.56.6.2411.For the period 2005–2009, the abundance of resting cysts in bottom sediments from the preceding autumn was a first-order predictor of the overall severity of spring–summer blooms of Alexandrium fundyense in the western Gulf of Maine and southern New England. Cyst abundance off mid-coast Maine was significantly higher in autumn 2009 than it was preceding a major regional bloom in 2005. A seasonal ensemble forecast was computed using a range of forcing conditions for the period 2004–2009, suggesting that a large bloom was likely in the western Gulf of Maine in 2010. This did not materialize, perhaps because environmental conditions in spring–summer 2010 were not favorable for growth of A. fundyense. Water mass anomalies indicate a regional-scale change in circulation with direct influence on A. fundyense's niche. Specifically, near-surface waters were warmer, fresher, more stratified, and had lower nutrients than during the period of observations used to construct the ensemble forecast. Moreover, a weaker-than-normal coastal current lessened A. fundyense transport into the western Gulf of Maine and Massachusetts Bay. Satellite ocean color observations indicate the 2010 spring phytoplankton bloom was more intense than usual. Early season nutrient depletion may have caused a temporal mismatch with A. fundyense's endogenous clock that regulates the timing of cyst germination. These findings highlight the difficulties of ecological forecasting in a changing oceanographic environment, and underscore the need for a sustained observational network to drive such forecasts.We gratefully acknowledge support of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (grant NA06NOS4780245 for the Gulf of Maine Toxicity (GOMTOX) program) and the Woods Hole Center for Oceans and Human Health through National Science Foundation grants OCE-0430724 and OCE-0911031 and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences grant 1P50- ES01274201

ACHIKO-M Database for high myopia analysis and its evaluation

Myopia is the leading public health concern with high prevalence in developed countries. In this paper, we present the ACHIKO-M fundus image database with both myopic and emmetropic cases for high myopia study. The database contains 705 myopic subjects and 151 normal subjects with both left eye and right eye images for each subject. In addition, various clinical data is also available, allowing correlation study of different risk factors. We evaluated two state-of-the-art automated myopia detection algorithms on this database to show how it can be used. Both methods achieve more than 90% accuracy for myopia diagnosis. We will also discuss how ACHIKO-M can be a good database for both scientific and clinical research of myopia

NO SPACE LEFT BEHIND - Graduate Urban Design Studio - LANDARCH 606

The following report documents the work of the 2015 Spring Graduate Urban Design Studio course in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning. This fourteen week studio focused on using tactical urbanism to engage Springfield’s Metro Center neighborhood with visions to revitalize the downtown core of this legacy city. In addition to completing the components of a traditional urban design studio (site analyses, schematic plans, spatial designs, and programming), the student teams also developed conceptual projects to immediately engage the public. These efforts culminated in a free afternoon walking tour throughout the Metro Center that presented several tactical interventions. These interactive, public installations illustrated potential future initiatives and brought attention to overlooked areas and assets. Throughout the semester the teams were challenged to continuously consider both the short-term impacts of their interventions and the long-term visions for the future of Springfield’s urban core. This strategy allowed students to develop a process-based approach to urban design. It provided opportunities to engage stakeholders and test new ideas with the public, rather than simply creating a master plan without any real world interactions with the city and its populace. STUDIO GOALS • To enliven public space in Springfield’s Metro Center through small-scale urban design interventions which illustrate and inform long-term plans • To activate residual spaces in the downtown with Tactical Urbanism By matching long-term visions for the Metro Center with short-term, site-specific tactical interventions the teams were able to deliver a variety of ideas in multiple formats. Furthermore, the experience of interacting with community members during the installation of projects added a great deal of meaning to the research and design process. The work explores a community service learning strategy within the framework of an urban design studio with the goal of revitalizing the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, through sustainable design, planning, and engagement with the community. The six design-team interventions are documented and published as team-authored videos: 1. Union Station Green Corridor Maozhu Mao, Yuqing Wu https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnE8Yt8x0Es&feature=youtu.be 2. (No) Vacancy Chris Counihan, Michalagh Stoddard, Ruoying Tang https://youtu.be/CapaQ9gDxeM 3. Extra Space, Active Street Yu Yu https://youtu.be/2pgYq5HLNHA 4. Spring into Art Emilie Jordao, Matt Hisle, Jing Wang https://youtu.be/Vf2yk6Se6rU 5. Urban Agua Kellie Fenton, James Prendergast, Nelle Ward https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk2PUJMdhTU&feature=youtu.be 6. Make the Connection Yue Li, Yanhua Lu, Yi Yang https://youtu.be/EvQD0QYV97

Are C-Reactive Protein Associated Genetic Variants Associated with Serum Levels and Retinal Markers of Microvascular Pathology in Asian Populations from Singapore?

Introduction:C-reactive protein (CRP) levels are associated with cardiovascular disease and systemic inflammation. We assessed whether CRP-associated loci were associated with serum CRP and retinal markers of microvascular disease, in Asian populations.Methods:Genome-wide association analysis (GWAS) for serum CRP was performed in East-Asian Chinese (N = 2,434) and Malays (N = 2,542) and South-Asian Indians (N = 2,538) from Singapore. Leveraging on GWAS data, we assessed, in silico, association levels among the Singaporean datasets for 22 recently identified CRP-associated loci. At loci where directional inconsistencies were observed, quantification of inter-ethnic linkage disequilibrium (LD) difference was determined. Next, we assessed association for a variant at CRP and retinal vessel traits [central retinal artery equivalent (CRAE) and central retinal vein equivalent (CRVE)] in a total of 24,132 subjects of East-Asian, South-Asian and European ancestry.Results:Serum CRP was associated with SNPs in/near APOE, CRP, HNF1A and LEPR (p-values ≤4.7×10-8) after meta-analysis of Singaporean populations. Using a candidate-SNP approach, we further replicated SNPs at 4 additional loci that had been recently identified to be associated with serum CRP (IL6R, GCKR, IL6 and IL1F10) (p-values ≤0.009), in the Singaporean datasets. SNPs from these 8 loci explained 4.05% of variance in serum CRP. Two SNPs (rs2847281 and rs6901250) were detected to be significant (p-value ≤0.036) but with opposite effect directions in the Singaporean populations as compared to original European studies. At these loci we did not detect significant inter-population LD differences. We further did not observe a significant association between CRP variant and CRVE or CRAE levels after meta-analysis of all Singaporean and European datasets (p-value >0.058).Conclusions:Common variants associated with serum CRP, first detected in primarily European studies, are also associated with CRP levels in East-Asian and South-Asian populations. We did not find a causal link between CRP and retinal measures of microvascular disease