Effectively Mapping and Charting of Remote Locations with Satellites, Lasers and Acoustics

In 2018, Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) commissioned hydrographic survey work in the Ha’apai island group in the Kingdom of Tonga to update the charts in the area to improve maritime safety. A combination of sensor technologies were used in the survey, comprising Satellite Derived Bathymetry (SDB), Airborne Laser Bathymetry (ALB) and Multibeam Echo Sounder (MBES). The novel approach allowed for efficient utilisation of resources during the data acquisition phase. Commencing with SDB, the subsequent ALB extents were refined after a review of the SDB coverage. Similarly, the MBES extents were reviewed based on the achieved ALB coverage. This ensured the efficient and effective use of each technology. Before incorporating the data into charts, each sensor dataset and combinations of datasets were analysed to assess data quality. This informed the decision on how best to portray the data and quality attributes on the charting products.En 2018, Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) comisionó trabajos de levantamientos hidrográficos en el archipiélago Ha’apai en el Reino de Tonga para actualizar las cartas del área y mejorar la seguridad marítima. En este levantamiento se usó una combinación de tecnologías de sensores, incluyendo Batimetría Derivada por Satélite (SDB), Batimetría por Laser Aéreo (ALB) y Ecosonda Multihaz (MBES). Este nuevo enfoque permitió el uso eficiente de recursos durante la fase de adquisición de datos. Después de comenzar con SDB, los siguientes barridos ALB se afinaron después de una revisión de la cobertura SDB. De manera similar, los barridos MBES se revisaron basándose en la cobertura ALB alcanzada. Esto aseguró el uso eficiente y efectivo de cada tecnología. Antes de incorporar los datos en las cartas, se analizó el conjunto de datos de cada sensor y las combinaciones de los datos, para valorar la calidad de los datos. En esto se basó la decisión de cómo representar los datos y los atributos de calidad en los productos cartográficos.En 2018, Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) a fait réaliser des levés hydrographiques dans l’archipel d’Ha'apai du Royaume de Tonga afin de mettre à jour les cartes marines de la région pour améliorer la sécurité maritime. Une combinaison de technologies de capteurs a été utilisée pour les levés, incluant la bathymétrie dérivée par satellite (SDB), la bathymétrie laser aéroportée (ALB) et les échosondeurs multifaisceaux (MBES). Cette nouvelle approche a permis d'utiliser efficacement les ressources pendant la phase d'acquisition des données. Après avoir commencé par la SDB, les balayages ultérieurs de l'ALB ont été peaufinés après un examen de la couverture de la SDB. De même, les balayages MBES ont été revus à partir de la couverture ALB obtenue. Cela a permis de garantir l'utilisation efficace et efficiente de chaque technologie. Avant d'incorporer les données dans les cartes marines, chaque jeu de données de capteurs et les combinaisons de jeux de données ont été analysés pour évaluer la qualité des données. Cela a permis de décider de la meilleure façon de représenter les données et les attributs de qualité sur les produits de cartographie marine

The Heart of the Matter: Health Status of Aged Care Clients Receiving Home- and Community-Based Care

Objective. To determine the current health status of home based elderly clients receiving government funded aged care packages. Design. Prospective Observational study. Setting. Community based, home care program in Australia. Participants. Community-dwelling older adults receiving aged care packages. Measurements. A comprehensive test battery of physical, mental and social scales were completed including a Caregiver Strain Index where appropriate. Results. 37% of the 334 subjects were male and the mean age was 81 ± 8 years. Physical functioning was low compared to the Australian population. Depression was highly prevalent with 15.9% severely depressed and 38.7% mildly depressed. 26% of clients screened positive for dementia. Relatively good levels of social support were reported, however social networking activity levels were low. Sixty one percent of clients had caregivers, of whom 63.3% had high levels of strain. Strain was higher in caregivers of clients on higher levels of care (78.5% versus 50.6% highly strained). Conclusion. The data suggests that as a group there is a high degree of comorbidity, and depression, dementia and caregiver strain are highly prevalent. The findings may aid administrators and health policy planners in directing resources to key areas impacting on health outcomes in this group

¿Cómo monitorear el movimiento del ganado en un mosaico de áreas boscosas con GPS en combinación con SIG?

El manejo de bosques de Piñon-Juniper (PJ) ocupa más de 30 millones de hectáreas en el oeste de Estados Unidos. Este ecosistema constituye un importante recurso para la producción y conservación de vida silvestre. Sin embargo, estos han cambiado considerablemente los últimos 30 años, principalmente para manejar ganado en pastoreo. El objetivo fue determinar la cobertura de dosel (TCC) y monitorear, durante la primavera, el uso del ganado del paisaje arbolado. El estudio se realizó en una pastura de 146 ha de la zona central de Nuevo México. La TCC de PJ se determinó a partir de ortofotos digitales recientes usando Feature Analyst® para ArcGIS® 9.1. El sitio de estudio fue segmentado en celdas de 1 ha para mapear cobertura arbórea. Ocho vacas, equipadas con GPS, fueron rastreadas durante 31 días a intervalos de 5 min. Una sección de la pastura con cobertura arbórea mayor que 30 % se utilizó para describir la relación distribución de pastoreo y cobertura de dosel. Se encontró una relación exponencial negativa significativa entre TCC y el uso relativo del ganado (y = 450,41e-12,329x). La cubierta arbórea explicó 50,1 % de la variación en la utilización relativa por el ganado de las celdas. La mayoría de las posiciones animales registradas en áreas dominadas por PJ ocurrieron en celdas con 30-50 % de TCC. Una cobertura del dosel de 50 % podría proporcionar un equilibrio adecuado entre la permanencia y el consumo de  forraje para el ganado durante la primavera

Impact of an Advanced Practice Pharmacist Type 2 Diabetes Management Program: A Pilot Study

Background: The purpose of this study was to describe the impact of an Advanced Practice Pharmacist (APh) on lowering hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) in patients with type 2 diabetes within a patient centered medical home (PCMH) and to classify the types of therapeutic decisions made by the APh. Methods: This was a retrospective study using data from electronic health records. The study evaluated a partnership between Chapman University School of Pharmacy and Providence St. Joseph Heritage Healthcare that provided diabetes management by an Advanced Practice Pharmacist in a PCMH under a collaborative practice agreement. Change in the HbA1c was the primary endpoint assessed in this study. The type of therapeutic decisions made by the APh were also evaluated. Descriptive analysis and Wilcoxon signed rank test were used to analyze data. Results: The study included 35 patients with diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus managed by an APh from May 2017 to December 2017. Most of the patients were 60-79 years old (68.5%), 45.7% were female, and 45.7% were of Hispanic/Latino ethnicity. The average HbA1c was 8.8%±1.4% (range=6.0%-12.4%) and 7.5%±1.4% (range=5.5%-12.4%) at the initial and final APh visit, respectively (p\u3c0.0001). Therapeutic decisions made by the APh included drug dose increase (35.5% of visits), drug added (16.4%), drug dose decrease (6.4%), drug switch (5.5%), and drug discontinuation (1.8%). Conclusion: The Advanced Practice Pharmacist’s interventions had a significant positive impact on lowering HbA1c in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in a PCMH. The most common therapeutic decisions made by the APh included drug dose increase and adding a new drug

A New 24 micron Phase Curve for upsilon Andromedae b

We report the detection of 24 micron variations from the planet-hosting upsilon Andromedae system consistent with the orbital periodicity of the system's innermost planet, upsilon And b. We find a peak-to-valley phase curve amplitude of 0.00130 times the mean system flux. Using a simple model with two hemispheres of constant surface brightness and assuming a planetary radius of 1.3 Jupiter radii gives a planetary temperature contrast of >900 K and an orbital inclination of >28 degrees. We further report the largest phase offset yet observed for an extrasolar planet: the flux maximum occurs ~80 degrees before phase 0.5. Such a large phase offset is difficult to reconcile with most current atmospheric circulation models. We improve on earlier observations of this system in several important ways: (1) observations of a flux calibrator star demonstrate the MIPS detector is stable to 10^-4 on long timescales, (2) we note that the background light varies systematically due to spacecraft operations, precluding use of this background as a flux calibrator (stellar flux measured above the background is not similarly affected), and (3) we calibrate for flux variability correlated with motion of the star on the MIPS detector. A reanalysis of our earlier observations of this system is consistent with our new result.Comment: Submitted to ApJ. 15 pages, 6 figures, 4 table

Additive Manufacturing of Liquid Rocket Engine Combustion Devices: A Summary of Process Developments and Hot-Fire Testing Results

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is an emerging technology with a focus on complex metallic component fabrication: Enables complex shapes and internal features that were not possibly with traditional manufacturing techniques, and significant schedule and overall lifecycle cost reductions. To date at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), combustion devices component hardware ranging in size from 100 - 35,000 lbf has been designed and manufactured using AM and many of these pieces have been hot-fire tested

Tolerance Induction to Cytoplasmic β\beta-Galactosidase by Hepatic AAV Gene Transfer — Implications for Antigen Presentation and Immunotoxicity

Background: Hepatic gene transfer, in particular using adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors, has been shown to induce immune tolerance to several protein antigens. This approach has been exploited in animal models of inherited protein deficiency for systemic delivery of therapeutic proteins. Adequate levels of transgene expression in hepatocytes induce a suppressive T cell response, thereby promoting immune tolerance. This study addresses the question of whether AAV gene transfer can induce tolerance to a cytoplasmic protein. Major Findings: AAV-2 vector-mediated hepatic gene transfer for expression of cytoplasmic $\beta$-galactosidase ($\beta$-gal) was performed in immune competent mice, followed by a secondary $\beta$-gal gene transfer with E1/E3-deleted adenoviral Ad-LacZ vector to provoke a severe immunotoxic response. Transgene expression from the AAV-2 vector in $\sim$2% of hepatocytes almost completely protected from inflammatory T cell responses against $\beta$-gal, eliminated antibody formation, and significantly reduced adenovirus-induced hepatotoxicity. Consequently, $\sim$10% of hepatocytes continued to express $\beta$-gal 45 days after secondary Ad-LacZ gene transfer, a time point when control mice had lost all Ad-LacZ derived expression. Suppression of inflammatory T cell infiltration in the liver and liver damage was linked to specific transgene expression and was not seen for secondary gene transfer with Ad-GFP. A combination of adoptive transfer studies and flow cytometric analyses demonstrated induction of Treg that actively suppressed CD8$^+$ T cell responses to $\beta$-gal and that was amplified in liver and spleen upon secondary Ad-LacZ gene transfer. Conclusions: These data demonstrate that tolerance induction by hepatic AAV gene transfer does not require systemic delivery of the transgene product and that expression of a cytoplasmic neo-antigen in few hepatocytes can induce Treg and provide long-term suppression of inflammatory responses and immunotoxicity