Traditional Collection Methods Research Articles

Data Sources for CPI: Big Data of the Internet and the Systems of the Federal Tax Service of Russia

The paper substantiates possibilities for using alternative tools for calculating the consumer price index – a topical research subject in Russian economic and statistical science. One of the frequently mentioned solutions is using data arrays from information systems – big data. While analyzing the existing methodological and statistical information foundations for measuring the consumer price index in of- ficial Russian statistics, the authors consider both the advantages and disadvantages of the two main options for using big data: collecting information on the Internet (web scraping) and using data from electronic fiscal documents of cash registers (online cash registers). Several ways to increase the information content and quality of measuring inflation using big data collected via the Internet and on- line cash register system are discussed. It is noted that they have disadvantages (first and foremost, non-integration with the SNA-based macroeconomic calculations). In this regard, it is emphasized that optimism about the transition to fully automated price monitoring tools in the coming years should be considered excessive. The author's position is that soon big data can serve as complements rather than substitutes for traditional price collection methods. It just presupposes the need for further empirical studies of transaction prices, which are possible based on online checkout technology, which opens a fundamentally new format of statistical observation – not the supply prices at which goods and services are offered for sale, but the demand prices.

Faecal collection methods result in different estimates of nutrient apparent digestibility in Penaeus monodon

Accurate measurement of apparent digestibility (AD) is essential to characterise the nutritive value of ingredients in aquaculture. For crustaceans, current methods rely on collection of excreted faeces by settlement. Excreted faeces lose soluble nutrients through leaching, leading to an over-estimation of AD. An alternative approach is to remove faeces by dissecting them from the hindgut prior to evacuation. In this study, we compared estimates of nutrient AD of ingredients in Penaeus monodon from three faecal collection methods: faeces obtained by dissection, faeces collection onto a screen (FS) and faeces collection into a bucket which is then centrifuged in freshwater and decanted (FB). Furthermore, we dissected faeces from three gastro-intestinal tract regions: foregut, proximal hindgut and distal hindgut, to test the validity of the hypothesis that digestion and absorption do not occur beyond the hepatopancreas of P. monodon. Protein and amino acid AD of protein-rich ingredients were significantly different between methods. On average, estimates of protein AD of ingredients obtained using dissection were 15.2% and 27.0% lower compared to the FS and FB methods respectively (AD values of 60.6% vs. 71.5% and 83.0% respectively). Similar trends were observed regarding amino acid (AA) AD of ingredients, where values of AD by dissection were consistently lower than the other two methods. The range of protein and AA AD values observed for different ingredients was greater when using dissection than the other methods. Potentially, dissection allows for greater sensitivity in detecting differences in digestibility of protein ingredients. In contrast, AD estimates of dry matter, starch and lipid were not affected by sampling method. These results suggest that AD of protein and AA is significantly over-estimated using traditional faecal collection methods and that the standard practices for evaluating digestible protein of protein-rich ingredients in shrimp needs to be reconsidered.

TaqMan Array Card testing of participant-collected stool smears to determine the pathogen-specific epidemiology of travellers' diarrhoea†.

We assessed the compliance with self-collection of stool smears on Whatman® FTA® Elute Card (FTA Card) and detection of travellers' diarrhoea (TD)-associated pathogens by using a quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) assay [customized TaqMan® array card (TAC)] in a prospective, observational cohort of travellers. Enrolled travellers documented symptoms on a travel diary and collected an FTA Card during a diarrhoeal episode, or at the end of travel if they remained asymptomatic. TAC testing was performed on FTA Cards from TD cases and 1:1 matched asymptomatic controls and 1:1 matched loose stool cases that did not meet TD criteria. Odds ratios were used to determine the association between detected pathogens and TD. Of 2456 travellers, 484 (19.7%) completed an illness diary and met TD criteria, and 257 (53.1%) collected an FTA Card during the TD episode. FTA Cards were stored for a median of 2years at room temperature (IQR: 1-4years) before extraction and testing. The overall TAC detection rate in TD cases was 58.8% (95% CI: 52.5-64.8). Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli was the most common pathogen in TD cases (26.8%), and 3.5% of samples were positive for norovirus. The odds of detecting TD-associated pathogens in 231 matched cases and asymptomatic controls were 5.4 (95% CI: 3.6-8.1) and 2.0 (95% CI: 1.1-3.7) in 121 matched TD and loose stool cases (P < 0.05). Enteroaggregative E. coli was the most common pathogen detected in asymptomatic controls and loose stool cases. Detection of diarrhoeagenic E. coli, Shigella/enteroinvasive E. coli and Campylobacter spp. was significantly associated with TD. FTA Cards are a useful adjunct to traditional stool collection methods for evaluating the pathogen-specific epidemiology of TD in austere environments. Qualitative detection of pathogens was associated with TD. Measures to improve compliance and quality of FTA Card collection with decreased storage duration may further optimize detection.

In vivo and in vitro Digestibility of an Extruded Complete Dog Food Containing Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) Larvae Meal as Protein Source.

Growing attention is being directed toward insects as a novel and sustainable source of protein for pet food. The aim of the study was to evaluate nutrient digestibility of a diet containing black soldier fly larvae as its main protein source. Moreover, the purpose of the study was to compare the traditional in vivo total collection method with the in vivo marker method and in vitro digestibility method. Two isonitrogenous and isoenergetic dry diets containing either venison meal (CTRL diet) or black soldier fly larvae meal (BSF diet) as their primary sources of proteins were fed to six adult dogs, according to a Latin square design. The digestibility of nutrients was determined using both in vivo (“total collection” and “internal marker” approaches) and in vitro methods. The two diets showed similar nutrient digestibility values for dry matter, organic matter, ether extract, ash, and phosphorus. However, a statistical trend (p = 0.066) was observed indicating greater protein digestibility in the BSF diet compared with the CTRL diet. Calcium digestibility was higher in the BSF diet compared with the CTRL diet (p = 0.018). On the contrary, fiber digestibility was lower in the insect-based diet compared with the venison diet (p < 0.001). There was no difference between total collection and internal marker methods in the assessment of in vivo digestibility for any of the nutrients considered. The in vitro digestibility values for dry matter, organic matter, and crude protein, as well as the estimated in vivo digestibility of organic matter and crude protein by the means of the predictive equation, were aligned with the in vivo results, although in vitro estimations were consistently higher compared with those obtained by in vivo analysis. Digestibility analysis of a dog food containing insect meal as the sole source of protein (36.5% inclusion) showed promising results in terms of it presenting similar values as a meat-based diet, indicating its suitability as a sustainable protein source for pet food. Moreover, the study showed that both the in vivo marker method and the in vitro method could be possible alternatives to the traditional total collection method in digestibility trials.

Autonomous Fingerprinting and Large Experimental Data Set for Visible Light Positioning.

This paper presents an autonomous method of collecting data for Visible Light Positioning (VLP) and a comprehensive investigation of VLP using a large set of experimental data. Received Signal Strength (RSS) data are efficiently collected using a novel method that utilizes consumer grade Virtual Reality (VR) tracking for accurate ground truth recording. An investigation into the accuracy of the ground truth system showed median and 90th percentile errors of 4.24 and 7.35 mm, respectively. Co-locating a VR tracker with a photodiode-equipped VLP receiver on a mobile robotic platform allows fingerprinting on a scale and accuracy that has not been possible with traditional manual collection methods. RSS data at 7344 locations within a 6.3 × 6.9 m test space fitted with 11 VLP luminaires is collected and has been made available for researchers. The quality and the volume of the data allow for a robust study of Machine Learning (ML)- and channel model-based positioning utilizing visible light. Among the ML-based techniques, ridge regression is found to be the most accurate, outperforming Weighted k Nearest Neighbor, Multilayer Perceptron, and random forest, among others. Model-based positioning is more accurate than ML techniques when a small data set is available for calibration and training. However, if a large data set is available for training, ML-based positioning outperforms its model-based counterparts in terms of localization accuracy.

A new automated method for high-throughput carbon and hydrogen isotope analysis of gaseous and dissolved methane at atmospheric concentrations.

The dual isotope ratio analysis, carbon (δ13 C value) and hydrogen (δ2 H value), of methane (CH4 ) is a valuable tracer tool within a range of areas of scientific investigation, not least wetland ecology, microbiology, CH4 source identification and the tracing of geological leakages of thermogenic CH4 in groundwater. Traditional methods of collecting, purification, separating and analysing CH4 for δ13 C and δ2 H determination are, however, very time consuming, involving offline manual extractions. Here we describe a new gas chromatography, pyrolysis/combustion, isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) system for the automated analysis of either dissolved or gaseous CH4 down to ambient atmospheric concentrations (2.0 ppm). Sample introduction is via a traditional XYZ autosampler, allowing either helium (He) purging of gas or sparging of water from a range of suitable, airtight bottles. The system routinely achieves precision of <0.3‰ for δ13 C values and <3.0‰ for δ2 H values, based on long-term replicate analysis of an in-house CH4 /He mix standard (BGS-1), corrected to two externally calibrated reference gases at near atmospheric concentrations of methane. Depending upon CH4 concentration and therefore bottle size, the system runs between 21 (140-mL bottle) and 200 samples (12-mL exetainer) in an unattended run overnight. This represents the first commercially available IRMS system for dual δ13 C and δ2 H analysis of methane at atmospheric concentrations and a step forward for the routine (and high-volume) analysis of CH4 in environmental studies.

Enabling Remote Patient Monitoring Through the Use of Smart Thermostat Data in Canada: Exploratory Study.

BackgroundAdvances in technology have made the development of remote patient monitoring possible in recent years. However, there is still room for innovation in the types of technologies that are developed, used, and implemented. The smart thermostat solutions provided in this study can expand beyond typically defined features and be used for improved holistic health monitoring purposes.ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to validate the hypothesis that remote motion sensors could be used to quantify and track an individual’s movements around the house. On the basis of our results, the next step would be to determine if using remote motion sensors could be a novel data collection method compared with the national census-level surveys administered by governmental bodies. The results will be used to inform a more extensive implementation study of similar smart home technologies to gather data for machine learning algorithms and to build upon pattern recognition and comprehensive health monitoring.MethodsWe conducted a pilot study with a sample size of 8 to validate the use of remote motion sensors to quantify movement in the house. A large database containing data from smart home thermostats was analyzed to compare the following indicators; sleep, physical activity, and sedentary behavior. These indicators were developed by the Public Health Agency of Canada and are collected through traditional survey methods.ResultsThe results showed a significant Spearman rank correlation coefficient of 0.8 (P<.001), which indicates a positive linear association between the total number of sensors activated and the total number of indoor steps traveled by study participants. In addition, the indicators of sleep, physical activity, and sedentary behavior were all found to be highly comparable with those attained by the Public Health Agency of Canada.ConclusionsThe findings demonstrate that remote motion sensors data from a smart thermostat solution are a viable option when compared with traditional survey data collection methods for health data collection and are also a form of zero-effort technology that can be used to monitor the activity levels and nature of activity of occupants within the home.

The curious and neglected soft-bodied meiofauna: Rouphozoa (Gastrotricha and Platyhelminthes).

Gastrotricha and Platyhelminthes form a clade called Rouphozoa. Representatives of both taxa are main components of meiofaunal communities, but their role in the trophic ecology of marine and freshwater communities is not sufficiently studied. Traditional collection methods for meiofauna are optimized for Ecdysozoa, and include the use of fixatives or flotation techniques that are unsuitable for the preservation and identification of soft-bodied meiofauna. As a result, rouphozoans are usually underestimated in conventional biodiversity surveys and ecological studies. Here, we give an updated outline of their diversity and taxonomy, with some phylogenetic considerations. We describe successfully tested techniques for their recovery and study, and emphasize current knowledge on the ecology, distribution and dispersal of freshwater gastrotrichs and microturbellarians. We also discuss the opportunities and pitfalls of (meta)barcoding studies as a means of overcoming the taxonomic impediment. Finally, we discuss the importance of rouphozoans in aquatic ecosystems and provide future research directions to fill in crucial gaps in the biology of these organisms needed for understanding their basic role in the ecology of benthos and their place in the trophic networks linking micro-, meio- and macrofauna of freshwater ecosystems.

A pilot study to compare urinary protein of fractional urine collected over 24h period versus traditional 24h urine collection method

24 hours traditional urine collection method is cumbersome and tedious process with less patient compliance. Our study proposes a novel fractional urine collection method for protein estimation that would entail collection of small volumes of urine each time patient voids Over 24h Period. Our aim was to compare urine protein in proposed method versus traditional 24hour sampling method. Cross-sectional, prospective study was a collaborative work between Departments of Nephrology and Biochemistry in our tertiary care hospital. Volunteers (48) and Chronic Kidney disease subjects (52) were recruited. Out of which, 76 subjects were selected. Novel method was compared with conventional method in each of these groups, before and after centrifugation and with and without preservative. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Bland Altman analysis was used to evaluate for agreement between the two methods. All the values were combined without categorization into subgroups. Fractional urine collection method (before centrifugation) without preservative (F1) and with preservative (F2) was compared to conventional method, ICC was 0.93 (C.I, 0.9 to 0.95) and 0.96 (C.I, 0.94 to 0.97) respectively. After centrifugation, fractional urine collection method for F1and F2 versus conventional method, ICC was 0.95 (C.I, 0.92 to 0.97) and 0.91 (C.I, 0.86 to 0.94) respectively. The novel collection method is comparable and reliable as traditional 24-hour method. The use of thymol as preservative leads to negative interference and centrifugation is mandatory before urine analysis. With proper sampling, urine protein by novel method has a good agreement with the conventional technique.

Morphological and Molecular Assessment in Thyroid Cytology Using Cell-Capturing Scaffolds.

The increased frequency of thyroid nodules is paralleled by the rise of thyroid cancer diagnosis. To define the nature of most thyroid nodules, fine needle aspiration (FNA) followed by cytological evaluation is considered the method of choice. About 20% of FNA biopsies on thyroid nodules, however, show indeterminate cytological features and may require diagnostic surgery. Several immunocytochemical and molecular markers have been proposed to improve classification of thyroid nodules, but these tests require adequate cell amount and cytological paraffin inclusion. Polymeric matrices were recently proposed for the collection of cells for diagnostic purposes. In this study, we evaluated the diagnostic use of a new matrix (CytoMatrix). Morphological, molecular and immunohistochemical investigations were carried out on 23 FNA samples included in CytoMatrix and compared with data obtained from the definitive histology of surgical samples. Our results showed that CytoMatrix is suitable to capture and preserve the cellularity of the samples harvested by FNA and that its paraffin sections mimic the morphology of those obtained from real histological tissue. Immunohistochemistry on CytoMatrix samples was consistent with the immunophenotypical profile of the corresponding histological surgical specimens. Mutational analysis of the BRAF (V600E) gene performed on CytoMatrix inclusions and paired surgical tissue matched in all but one cases while matrix immunohistochemistry identified 91.6% of BRAF mutated samples. In conclusion, we suggest that CytoMatrix could be a reliable tool to overcome the current limits of traditional collection methods for the study of thyroid cytology, thereby improving their reliability for a conclusive diagnostic interpretation.

Estimating densities of larval Salmonflies (Pteronarcys californica) through multiple pass removal of post-emergent exuvia in Colorado rivers.

Traditional methods of collecting, sorting, and identifying benthic macroinvertebrate samples are useful for stream biomonitoring and ecological studies, however, these methods are time consuming, expensive, and require taxonomic expertise. Estimating larval densities through collection of post-emergent exuvia can be a practical and time efficient alternative. We evaluated the use of multiple pass depletion techniques of the post-emergent exuvia of Pteronarcys californica to estimate larval densities at ten sites in three Colorado rivers. Exuvia density was highly correlated with both final-instar larval density (R2 = 0.90) and total larval density (R2 = 0.88) and the multiple pass removal technique performed well. Exuvia surveys found P. californica at three low density sites where benthic sampling failed to detect it. At moderate and high density sites the exuvia surveys always produced lower density estimates than benthic surveys. Multiple pass depletion estimates of exuvia proved to be an accurate and efficient technique at estimating larval densities and provided an effective alternative for traditional benthic sampling when objectives are detecting and monitoring P. californica, especially at low density sites.

Correction to: Detection of freshwater mussels (Sinanodonta spp.) in artificial ponds through environmental DNA: a comparison with traditional hand collection methods

In the original publication of the article the sentence under the heading “Primer and probe design” was published incorrectly. The correct sentence is given in this correction.

1186. Decreased Laboratory-Identified Clostridioides difficile Infections with Implementation of an Electronic Hand Hygiene Monitoring System in a Long-Term Acute Care Hospital Decreased Laboratory-Identified Clostridioides difficile Infections with Implementation of an Electronic Hand Hygiene Monitoring System in a Long-Term Acute Care Hospital

BackgroundHand hygiene (HH) is the cornerstone of infection prevention and improved compliance has been associated with reduced healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). However, traditional methods for HH data collection have limitations and may not accurately reflect true compliance. We sought to evaluate whether an electronic hand hygiene monitoring system (HHMS) can improve data collection, compliance, and reduce HAIs.MethodsA HHMS was implemented as part of a pilot at a single facility in June 2018 for all healthcare workers (HCWs) who entered patient rooms. The system prompted HCWs to perform HH with an audible and visual reminder emitted from a badge if a HH event had not been registered within specific timeframes of entering or exiting a patient room. The system captured compliance with preferential handwashing (soap and water) for at least 15 seconds upon exit of Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) designated rooms. All HH data were collected by the HHMS. Hand hygiene compliance and HAI data were compared for the pre-intervention (June 2017-May 2018) and intervention periods (July 2018-March 2019). No changes were made to environmental cleaning protocols or compliance monitoring, nor in antibiotic stewardship practices.ResultsHH compliance by direct observation in the pre-intervention period was 91% (1,612 observations). HH compliance with the HHMS during the intervention period was 97% (2,778,402 observations). The mean monthly HH opportunities recorded during the pre-intervention period was 134, while the HHMS captured 308,711, a greater than 2,300-fold increase. The incidence of healthcare facility-onset C. difficile infections (HO-CDI) pre-intervention was 9.60 per 10,000 patient-days (41 GDH+/Toxin+ laboratory-identified [labID] events/42,726 patient-days). With the HHMS, HO-CDI decreased 70% (P = 0.0003) to 2.89 per 10,000 patient-days (9 labID events/31,169 patient-days). No policy changes in environmental cleaning of high-touch surfaces were made or observed during the pilot.ConclusionThe use of an HHMS facilitated more comprehensive HH data and improved compliance. The preliminary findings also support an association between more robust HH compliance data and a significant decrease in toxin-producing CDI.Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.

Crawling Chinese-Myanmar Parallel Corpus: Automatic Collection, Screening and Cleaning Corpus

The collection of Chinese-Myanmar Parallel Corpus (CMPC) is the key step in the natural language processing (NLP) and training Machine Translation Engine (MTE) of Southeast Asia minority languages. As the scarcity of CMPC resources that efficient corpus collection methods are worth studying extremely. Traditional corpus collection methods include manual collection, text recognition of books and Internet crawlers, etc. Among them, the most efficient method to collect corpus is internet crawler preached by many. Traditional Internet crawler algorithm is interfere easily by a lot of spamming and advertising that lead to the time-consuming and low-precision. We propose a web crawler mechanism combines acquisition automatically technology bilingual website list, crawling corpus and cleaning corpus to obtain high quality parallel corpus. Firstly, using the hyperlinks to recursively access related corpus websites through building the website graph. Furthermore, the breadth-first, Backline and PageRank crawler framework used to build a corpus selection model based on crawling with threshold, matching link, ranking the heat of page, through this, the CMPC can be found accurately. Finally, the corpus cleaning model based on the HTML parsing to determine a set of standardized token sequences. By testing the Chinese-Myanmar reptile algorithm established in this paper, the experimental results show that our benchmarks this model exceeds previous published benchmarks. Up to now, we have obtained 1.1 million parallel corpus pairs of Chinese-Myanmar.

Detection of freshwater mussels (Sinanodonta spp.) in artificial ponds through environmental DNA: a comparison with traditional hand collection methods

Populations of most freshwater mussels (Unionidae) are declining worldwide; these includes Sinanodonta spp., which inhabit artificial ponds in Japan. The detection of environmental DNA (eDNA) would be a rapid and efficient method for monitoring the distribution of Sinanodonta populations. Accordingly, the aim of the present study was to compare the results of real-time PCR-based eDNA detection to those of hand collection in 24 ponds in Japan. Sinanodonta eDNA was detected in most of the study ponds where Sinanodonta spp. were found by hand collection, and there was a positive correlation between the eDNA detection rate and the number of Sinanodonta specimens collected by hand. These findings demonstrate that eDNA detection is a valuable alternative method of evaluating the distribution of Sinanodonta spp., and that this method has a similar detection sensitivity to that of hand collection. The eDNA method can be used to monitor freshwater mussels at broad scales and prohibitive depths where hand collection is difficult.

Implementing a community vector collection strategy for monitoring vector-borne diseases in Ghana

Background: Monitoring vector-borne diseases requires sampling of very large numbers of disease vectors in order to corroborate infections in the human population. This can be challenging, as current vector collection tools are either inefficient, or expensive to implement from a public health perspective. To circumvent this challenge, this study compared a community vector collection strategy using a double-netted mosquito collection method (a tent trap (TT)) to the traditional human landing collection (HLC) method in three communities in lymphatic filariasis-endemic districts in Ghana. Methods: Following community entry and sensitization, community volunteers appointed by the community leaders were trained in the mosquito collection and storage methods and provided with supplies for mosquito collection over a 7-month period. They were visited occasionally by the study team to retrieve the mosquito samples for identification. The collectors were also assessed to evaluate their perspectives on using community vector collectors for monitoring vector-borne diseases. Results: The results of the study indicated that the TT method collected significantly more mosquitoes (63%) over the collection period than HLC (37%). Thus, the TTs were observed to be performing relatively better than the HLC (P&lt;0.001). The collectors knew the importance of mosquitoes in transmitting diseases, could identify the main diseases that were locally transmitted within their communities. They appreciated the involvement of the community in the collection as this enhanced community ownership of the programme as well as providing some financial incentives to those directly involved in the collection. Conclusions: The study revealed that use of community volunteers for the collection of mosquitoes for xenomonitoring purposes can be a viable strategy in the monitoring of vector-borne diseases. However, further development of the strategies and assessments of the costs involved will be required to make this a sustainable approach to monitoring vector-borne disease interventions and enhance community ownership of the programmes.

Implementing a community vector collection strategy for monitoring vector-borne diseases in Ghana

Background: Monitoring vector-borne diseases requires sampling of very large numbers of disease vectors in order to corroborate infections in the human population. This can be challenging, as current vector collection tools are either inefficient, or expensive to implement from a public health perspective. To circumvent this challenge, this study compared a community vector collection strategy using a double-netted mosquito collection method (a tent trap (TT)) to the traditional human landing collection (HLC) method in three communities in lymphatic filariasis-endemic districts in Ghana. Methods: Following community entry and sensitization, community volunteers appointed by the community leaders were trained in the mosquito collection and storage methods and provided with supplies for mosquito collection over a 7-month period. They were visited occasionally by the study team to retrieve the mosquito samples for identification. The collectors were also assessed to evaluate their perspectives on using community vector collectors for monitoring vector-borne diseases. Results: The results of the study indicated that the TT method collected significantly more mosquitoes (63%) over the collection period than HLC (37%). Thus, the TTs were observed to be performing relatively better than the HLC (P&lt;0.001). The collectors knew the importance of mosquitoes in transmitting diseases, could identify the main diseases that were locally transmitted within their communities. They appreciated the involvement of the community in the collection as this enhanced community ownership of the programme as well as providing some financial incentives to those directly involved in the collection. Conclusions: The study revealed that use of community volunteers for the collection of mosquitoes for xenomonitoring purposes can be a viable strategy in the monitoring of vector-borne diseases. However, further development of the strategies and assessments of the costs involved will be required to make this a sustainable approach to monitoring vector-borne disease interventions and enhance community ownership of the programmes.

Space-Temporal analysis of suspended sediment in low concentration reservoir by remote sensing

ABSTRACT The study of small reservoirs with low suspended sediment concentration (CSS) is still a challenge for remote sensing. In this work we estimate CSS from the optical properties of water and orbital imagery. Campaigns were carried out at selected dates according to the calendar of sensor passages, rainfall seasonality and hydrograph of the reservoir for the collection of surface water samples and field spectroradiometry. The calibration between CSS and spectral behavior generated CSS estimation models from MODIS and Landsat 8 data, allowing investigation of their temporal and spatial behavior. The MODIS model generated a time series of CSS from 2000 to 2017, presenting R2 = 0.8105 and RMSE% = 39.91%. The Landsat 8 model allowed the spatial analysis of CSS, with R2 = 0.8352 and RMSE% = 15.12%. The combination of the proposed models allowed the temporal and spatial analysis of the CSS and its relationships with the rainfall regime and the quota variation of the Descoberto reservoir (DF). The results showed that the use of orbital data complements the CSS information obtained by the traditional methods of collecting and analyzing water quality in low CSS reservoirs.

A low cost 1-cm accuracy electronic fish measurement board

Measurements of fish lengths are a basic requirement of most fisheries monitoring programmes globally, however traditional methods for collection of this data entails inherent inefficiencies and errors. Electronic devices for measuring fish and shellfish have been developed commercially, but for many organisations the cost of these devices is prohibitive. Low cost “build your own” devices have also been described, but construction of these requires considerable knowledge of electronics. Here, a design is presented for a USB electronic fish measuring board that can be assembled at low cost from “off the shelf” materials. This board was assembled using a set of skills that would be available in most research organisations. The design uses noncontact sensors activated by placing a magnet on the measurement board, which is easy to waterproof. The device is connected to a tablet computer, where a VB.NET programme records and validates the data. A running total of the estimated weight of the sample is provided, based on length-weight relationships. Length frequencies collected by both a conventional measuring board and this electronic board from the same commercial catches for 6 fish species showed no significant differences. The design described here allows the construction of a low cost unit which simultaneously improves both efficiency and accuracy of fish length data collection with minimal electronic construction skills.

A novel FTA™ elute card collection method that improves direct DNA amplification from bloodstained concrete

Concrete is a common construction material found in residential and commercial buildings, bridges and parking lots that is a composite matrix containing aggregate held together with cement. The porous nature of concrete can make the collection and genotyping of biological fluids, such as blood, challenging. Forensic evidence can become embedded within the matrix, potentially reducing the amount of DNA available for analysis. In forensic science, “direct” amplification refers to a genotyping method that amplifies a DNA profile directly from a sample without DNA extraction, saving time and money. We investigated a novel application of Whatman™ FTA™ Elute cards in their ability to directly amplify PowerPlex® Fusion and Y23 profiles from minute amounts of blood that had been deposited on different concrete structures. In comparison to traditional collection methods, directly profiling blood stained construction materials using FTA™ Elute cards increased the percentage loci amplified and significantly improved both allele peak height and peak height ratio while reducing allelic drop-out. FTA™ Elute cards can provide a reliable, inexpensive and superior alternative to traditional methods.