Image calibration to like-values in mapping shallow water quality from multitemporal data

The applicability of image calibration to like-values in mapping water quality parameters from multitemporal images is explored, Six sets of water samples were collected at satellite overpasses over Moreton Bay, Brisbane, Australia. Analysis of these samples reveals that waters in this shallow bay are mostly TSS-dominated, even though they are occasionally dominated by chlorophyll as well. Three of the images were calibrated to a reference image based on invariant targets. Predictive models constructed from the reference image were applied to estimating total suspended sediment (TSS) and Secchi depth from another image at a discrepancy of around 35 percent. Application of the predictive model for TSS concentration to another image acquired at a time of different water types resulted in a discrepancy of 152 percent. Therefore, image calibration to like-values could be used to reliably map certain water quality parameters from multitemporal TM images so long as the water type under study remains unchanged. This method is limited in that the mapped results could be rather inaccurate if the water type under study has changed considerably. Thus, the approach needs to be refined in shallow water from multitemporal satellite imagery.

Ecosystem process models at multiple scales for mapping tropical forest productivity

Quantifying mass and energy exchanges within tropical forests is essential for understanding their role in the global carbon budget and how they will respond to perturbations in climate. This study reviews ecosystem process models designed to predict the growth and productivity of temperate and tropical forest ecosystems. Temperate forest models were included because of the minimal number of tropical forest models. The review provides a multiscale assessment enabling potential users to select a model suited to the scale and type of information they require in tropical forests. Process models are reviewed in relation to their input and output parameters, minimum spatial and temporal units of operation, maximum spatial extent and time period of application for each organization level of modelling. Organizational levels included leaf-tree, plot-stand, regional and ecosystem levels, with model complexity decreasing as the time-step and spatial extent of model operation increases. All ecosystem models are simplified versions of reality and are typically aspatial. Remotely sensed data sets and derived products may be used to initialize, drive and validate ecosystem process models. At the simplest level, remotely sensed data are used to delimit location, extent and changes over time of vegetation communities. At a more advanced level, remotely sensed data products have been used to estimate key structural and biophysical properties associated with ecosystem processes in tropical and temperate forests. Combining ecological models and image data enables the development of carbon accounting systems that will contribute to understanding greenhouse gas budgets at biome and global scales.

Response to Drs Greve and Bianchini

We would like to thank Drs Greve and Bianchini for their interest in our paper and we agree that psychological factors involved in pain presentations can be complex. However, Drs Greve and Bianchini seem to have missed the point of our study. It was not the aim of this study to investigate psychological factors involved in whiplash injury. On the contrary, the aim of the study was to longitudinally investigate the development of sensory changes from the acute stage of whiplash injury until either recovery or the development of persistent symptoms. The GHQ-28 was used as a broad measure of psychological distress in an attempt to account for the effect of psychological distress on pain threshold measures. The authors may like to note that our later paper specifically investigated the development of psychological changes following whiplash injury

Does health service utilisation vary by remoteness? South Australian population data and the Accessibility and Remoteness Index of Australia

Objective: To compare rates of self-reported use of health services between rural, remote and urban South Australians. Methods: Secondary data analysis from a population-based survey to assess health and well-being, conducted in South Australia in 2000. In all, 2,454 adults were randomly selected and interviewed using the computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) system. We analysed health service use by Accessibility and Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA) category. Results: There was no statistically significant difference in the median number of uses of the four types of health services studied across ARIA categories. Significantly fewer residents of highly accessible areas reported never using primary care services (14.4% vs. 22.2% in very remote areas), and significantly more reported high use ( greater than or equal to6 visits, 29.3% vs. 21.5%). Fewer residents of remote areas reported never attending hospital (65.6% vs. 73.8% in highly accessible areas). Frequency of use of mental health services was not statistically significantly different across ARIA categories. Very remote residents were more likely to spend at least one night in a public hospital (15.8%) than were residents of other areas (e.g. 5.9% for highly accessible areas). Conclusion: The self-reported frequency of use of a range of health services in South Australia was broadly similar across ARIA categories. However, use of primary care services was higher among residents of highly accessible areas and public hospital use increased with increasing remoteness. There is no evidence for systematic rural disadvantage in terms of self-reported health service utilisation in this State.

Recognition memory effects in event-based prospective memory

Prospective memory (ProM) is the memory for future actions. It requires retrieving content of anaction in response to an ambiguous cue. Currently, it is unclear if ProM is a distinct form of memory, or merely a variant of retrospective memory (RetM). While content retrieval in ProM appears analogous to conventional RetM, less is known about the process of cue detection. Using a modified version of the standard ProM paradigm, three experiments manipulated stimulus characteristics known to influence RetM, in order to examine their effects on ProM performance. Experiment 1 (N — 80) demonstrated that low frequency stimuli elicited significantly higher hit rates and lower false alarm rates than high frequency stimuli, comparable to the mirror effect in RetM. Experiment 2 (N = 80) replicated these results, and showed that repetition of distracters during the test phase significantly increased false alarm rates to second and subsequent presentations of low frequency distracters. Building on these results. Experiment 3 (AT = 40) showed that when the study list was strengthened, the repeated presentation of targets and distracters did not significantly affect response rates. These experiments demonstrate more overlap between ProM and RetM than has previously been acknowledged. The implications for theories of ProM are considered.

The 23rd October 2002 dust storm in eastern Australia: characteristics and meteorological conditions

The dust storm of 23 October 2002 covered most of eastern Australia and carried one of the largest recorded dust loads in Australia. In the 6 months leading up to the event, severe drought conditions in eastern Australia, plus above average maximum temperatures resulted in high potential evapo-transpiration rates, producing severe soil moisture deficits and reduced vegetation cover. Although increased wind speeds associated with a fast moving cold front were the meteorological driving force, these winds speeds were lower than those for the previously documented large dust storms. The dust storm was 2400 km long, up to 400 km across and 1.5-2.5 km in height. The plume area was estimated at 840,860 km 2 and the dust load at 0900 h was 3.35-4.85 million tones (Mt). These dust load estimates are highly sensitive to assumptions, regarding visibility-dust concentration relationships, vertical dust concentration profiles and dust ceilings. The event is examined using meteorological records, remote sensing and air quality monitoring. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of microinjections of apomorphine and haloperidol into the inferior colliculus on the latent inhibition of the conditioned emotional response

Electrical or chemical stimulation of the inferior colliculus (IC) induces fear-like behaviors. More recently, consistent evidence has shown that electrical stimulation of the central nucleus of the IC supports Pavlovian conditioning and latent inhibition (Li). LI is characterized by retardation in conditioning and also by an impaired ability to ignore irrelevant stimuli, after a non-reinforced pre-exposure to the conditioned stimulus. LI has been proposed as a behavioral model of cognitive abnormalities seen in schizophrenia. The aim of the present study was to determine whether dopaminergic mechanisms in the IC are involved in LI of the conditioned emotional response (CER). To induce LI, a group of rats was pre-exposed (PE) to six tones in two sessions, while rats that were not pre-exposed (NPE) had two sessions without tone presentations. The conditioning consisted of two tone presentations to the animal, followed immediately by a foot shock. PE and NPE rats received IC microinjections of physiological saline, the dopaminergic agonist apomorphine (9.0 mu g/0.5 mu L/side), or the dopaminergic antagonist haloperidol (0.5 mu g/0.5 mu L/side) before both pre-exposure and conditioning. During the test, the PE rats that received saline or haloperidol had a lower suppression of the licking response compared to NPE rats that received vehicle or haloperidol, indicating that latent inhibition was induced. There was no significant difference in the suppression ratio in rats that received apomorphine injections into the IC, indicating reduced latent inhibition. These results suggest that dopamine-mediated mechanisms of the IC are involved in the development of LI. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mapping changes in coastline geomorphic features using Landsat TM and ETM+ imagery: examples in southeastern Brazil

Multitemporal Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) imagery was used to assess coastline morphological changes in southeastern Brazil. A spectral linear mixing approach (SLMA) was used to estimate fraction imagery representing amounts of vegetation, clean water (a proxy for shade) and soil. Fraction abundances were related to erosive and depositional features. Shoreline, sandy banks (including emerged and submerged banks) and sand spits were highlighted mainly by clean water and soil fraction imagery. To evaluate changes in the coastline geomorphic features, the fraction imagery generated for each data set was classified in a contextual approach using a segmentation technique and ISOSEG, an unsupervised classification. Evaluation of the classifications was performed visually and by an error matrix relating ground-truth data to classification results. Comparison of the classification results revealed an intense transformation in the coastline, and that erosive and depositional features are extremely dynamic and subject to change in short periods of time.

Highlights from the III International Symposium of Thrombosis and Anticoagulation (ISTA), October 14-16, 2010, Sao Paulo, Brazil

To discuss and share knowledge around advances in the care of patients with thrombotic disorders, the Third International Symposium of Thrombosis and Anticoagulation was held in So Paulo, Brazil, from October 14-16, 2010. This scientific program was developed by clinicians for clinicians, and was promoted by four major clinical research institutes: the Brazilian Clinical Research Institute, the Duke Clinical Research Institute of the Duke University School of Medicine, the Canadian VIGOUR Centre, and the Uppsala Clinical Research Center. Comprising 3 days of academic presentations and open discussion, the symposium had as its primary goal to educate, motivate, and inspire internists, cardiologists, hematologists, and other physicians by convening national and international visionaries, thought-leaders, and dedicated clinician-scientists. This paper summarizes the symposium proceedings.

Identification of river sections for domestic water supply along the Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province, China

This paper presents major findings from a recent study aiming to systematically determine suitable river sections for local domestic water supply along the Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province, China. On the basis of analysis on the current riverbank utilization and bank stability, accessible and stable river sections in the region were selected. The water quality in these river sections was then studied using a two-dimensional unsteady flow and pollutant transport/transformation model, RBFVM-2D. The model was calibrated and verified against the hydrodynamic data, water quality data and remote sensing data collected from the river. The investigation on the pollution sources along the river identified 56 main pollution point sources. The pollution zones downstream of these point sources are the main threat for the water quality in the river. The model was used to compute the pollution zones. In particular, simulations were conducted to establish the relationship between the extent of the pollution zone and the wastewater discharge rate of the associated point source. These water quality simulation results were combined with the riverbank stability analysis to determine suitable river sections for local domestic water supply.

A Previously Undescribed Syndrome Combining Fibular Agenesis/Hypoplasia, Oligodactylous Clubfeet, Anonychia/Ungual Hypoplasia, and Other Defects

We describe an apparently new genetic syndrome in six members of a family living in a remote area in Northeastern Brazil. This syndrome comprises: short stature Clue to a marked decrease in the length of the lower limbs (predominantly mesomelic with fibular agenesis/marked hypoplasia), grossly malformed/deformed clubfeet with severe oligodactyly, tipper limbs with acromial dimples and variable motion limitation of the forearms and/or hands, severe nail hypoplasia/anonychia sometimes associated with mild brachydactyly and occasionally with pre-axial polydactyly. This syndrome is apparently distinct from the syndrome of brachydactyly-ectrodactyly with fibular aplasia or hypoplasia (OMIM 113310), the syndrome of fibular aplasia or hypoplasia, femoral bowing and poly-, syn-, and oligodactyly (OMIM 228930), and from other previously described conditions exhibiting fibular agenesis/hvpoplasia. (C) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Neurological manifestations and ATP7B mutations in Wilson`s disease

Wilson`s disease (WD) is a rare inborn metabolic error characterized by deficient biliary copper excretion secondary to ATP7B gene mutations. Neurological presentations are variable in respect to both pattern and age of onset; commonly a movement disorder presents in the second or third decade. The aim of this study was to ascertain genotype correlations with distinct neurological manifestations in 41 WD patients in a Brazilian center for WD. A total of 23 distinct mutations were detected, and the frameshift 3402de1C had the highest allelic frequency (31.7%). An association between 3402de1C and dysphagia was detected (p = 0.01) but the limited number of patients is insufficient to allow one to draw conclusions. Both clinical studies analyzing larger cohorts and basic research on ATP7B protein function could potentially shed more light on our understanding of WD. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.