Calibration, validation and the NERC Airborne Remote Sensing Facility

The application of airborne and satellite remote sensing to terrestrial applications has been dominated by empirically-based, semi-quantitative approaches, in contrast to those developed in the marine and atmospheric sciences which have often developed from rigorous physically-based models. Furthermore, the traceability of EO data and the methodological basis of many applications has often been taken for granted, with the result that the repeatability of analyses and the reliability of many terrestrial EO products can be questioned. ‘NCAVEO’ is a recently established network of Earth Observation experts and data users committed to exchanging knowledge and understanding in the area of remote sensing data calibration and validation. It aims to provide a UK-based forum to collate available knowledge and expertise associated with the calibration and validation of EO-based products from both UK and overseas providers, in different discipline areas including land, ocean and atmosphere. This paper will introduce NCAVEO and highlight some of the contributions it hopes to make to airborne remote sensing in the UK

Prospect for Regional Planning in California

Because the environment is being seriously threatened by overpopulation, overdevelopment, and pollution, there has been an increasing awareness of dhe need to control land usage through comprehensive regional planning. While California has failed to effectively respond to that need in the past, it appears that the Legislature is now moving in that direction and the establishment of at least some comprehensive regional planning agencies is imminent. In this article, the authors discuss various approaches to regional planning, problems of enforcement of regional plans, and alternatives available for controlling the regional planning process. The authors conclude dheir analysis by setting forth commendations for basic criteria necessary for effective regional planning legislation in 1973

A Histological Examination of the Ovaries of Pacific Sanddab, Citharichthys sordidus, Captured at Two Oil Platforms and Two Natural Sites in the Southern California Bight

A number of the 26 offshore oil and gas platforms off California may be nearing the end of their economic lives. Decisions as to the disposition of these platforms will be based on a number of parameters, including the biological role of the structures. One issue that has arisen is the possible contamination of fishes living around platforms resulting from contaminants released during drilling and production. If significant contamination is occurring, it would be expected to impair the reproductive abilities of impacted fishes. One form of reproductive impairment is atresia, the abnormal reabsorption of oocytes that are destined to be spawned. Atresia has been widely used as an indicator of pollutant-related reproductive impairment in fishes. We examined the occurrence of atretic oocytes in Pacific sanddab, Citharichthys sordidus, collected near two offshore platforms in the Santa Barbara Channel (B and Gilda) and from two natural reference sites (off the east end of Santa Cruz Island and in mid-channel off Rincon). While pronounced atresia was observed in a few fish at one natural site and one platform, there was no evidence of widespread pronounced atresia at any of the four sites

BIRS Course: RNA Vaccine Manufacture and Assessment of Regulatory Documents for RNA Vaccines

This paper is in three segments: (A) Segment on Vaccine Manufacture; (B) Segment on Ready to Use (RTU) Fluid Path for Compounded Sterile Preparations, mRNA Vaccines, and Phage Therapy, (C) Segment on Competency Framework for Addressing Regulatory Review These segments can be used separately or in combination. Additionally, they can be presented in any order. The time devoted to each segment depends on the depth of the course coverage. These segments are interrelated and describe how to make vaccines, how to manufacture vaccines with a point-of-care system built from ready-to-use parts; and how to regulate vaccines. This is a timely review because of the importance of vaccines for the treatment of diseases. It is hoped that it will lead to new approaches to vaccine manufacture and regulation

Statistical approaches to certain problems in geophysics

Thesis. (Ph.D.) Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Geology and Geophysics, 1953.Vita.Includes bibliographies.by Stephen Milton Simpson, Jr.Ph.D

Selection of microbes for control of Rhizoctonia root rot on wheat using a high throughput pathosystem

© 2017 Elsevier. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This author accepted manuscript is made available following 12 month embargo from date of publication (July 2017) in accordance with the publisher’s archiving policyThe promise of microbial biological control of soilborne fungal pathogens of crops has yet to be fully realised with only a few strains commercialised and available to growers. One bottleneck is the availability of suitable methods to screen microorganisms for disease control efficacy relevant to controlling disease in the field. A 3-phase in planta pathosystem containing field soil was developed to screen 2310 microorganisms for control of Rhizoctonia root rot on wheat. Test strains were added to seeds as a suspension at planting and plant growth assessed at two weeks. Strains increasing plant height and number of roots (185) were tested in a replicated Rhizoctonia pot bioassay with five wheat seedlings grown for four weeks and assessed for plant growth and root disease. Forty-three strains (1.9% of strains tested) performed better than our benchmark strains and were reassessed in pot bioassays at three inoculation levels. These tested strains represented a wide diversity of microbial genotypes including fungi, (Trichoderma, Aspergillus and Cylindrocarpon) and bacteria encompassing four phyla (Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes). These results show that microbes can be successfully and rapidly screened directly for disease control on plants

Concert recording 2016-09-16

[Tracks 1-3]. Passione amorosa / Giovanni Bottesini -- [Tracks 4-5]. Gran duo concertante for violin, double bass, and piano / Bottesini -- [Track 6]. Quintet for piano and strings in A major, op. 114, D. 667, Trout quintet / Franz Schubert

Vacuum stress-energy density and its gravitational implications

In nongravitational physics the local density of energy is often regarded as merely a bookkeeping device; only total energy has an experimental meaning - and it is only modulo a constant term. But in general relativity the local stress-energy tensor is the source term in Einstein\u27s equation. In closed universes, and those with Kaluza-Klein dimensions, theoretical consistency demands that quantum vacuum energy should exist and have gravitational effects, although there are no boundary materials giving rise to that energy by van der Waals interactions. In the lab there are boundaries, and in general the energy density has a nonintegrable singularity as a boundary is approached (for idealized boundary conditions). As pointed out long ago by Candelas and Deutsch, in this situation there is doubt about the viability of the semiclassical Einstein equation. Our goal is to show that the divergences in the linearized Einstein equation can be renormalized to yield a plausible approximation to the finite theory that presumably exists for realistic boundary conditions. For a scalar field with Dirichlet or Neumann boundary conditions inside a rectangular parallelepiped, we have calculated by the method of images all components of the stress tensor, for all values of the conformal coupling parameter and an exponential ultraviolet cutoff parameter. The qualitative features of contributions from various classes of closed classical paths are noted. Then the Estrada-Kanwal distributional theory of asymptotics, particularly the moment expansion, is used to show that the linearized Einstein equation with the stress-energy near a plane boundary as source converges to a consistent theory when the cutoff is removed. © 2008 IOP Publishing Ltd