Tag Archives: new england

New Sensor Array to Monitor Impacts of Changing Gulf of Maine Conditions on New England Red Tide

By Guest PostMay 14, 2014Environmentalexandrium fundyense, brexit, changing, computer model, condition, costs of healthcare, don anderson, environmental sample processors, gulf of maine, harmful algal bloom, hawking, henry cabin, kohl kanwit, manik mian, michael cleman, new england, noaa, oceanographic institution, palmaz schatz stent, phenomenon, red tide, street hawker, votum, whoi, woods hole

Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) are kicking off an innovative NOAA-funded pilot program using robotic instruments and computer modeling analysis to shed light on changing ocean conditions in the Gulf of Maine as they relate to the harmful algal bloom (HAB) phenomenon commonly known as the New England red tide.

The red tide is caused by the germination of dormant cysts of alga called Alexandrium fundyense, which produces a toxin that can cause paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP). These cysts are found in bottom sediments and near-bottom waters, accumulating in “seedbeds” that serve as the source of swimming, rapidly dividing cells that form the blooms each spring. (more…)

New Robotic Instruments to Provide Real-Time Data on Gulf of Maine Red Tide

By Guest PostJune 2, 2013Environmentalexandrium bloom season, alexandrium fundyense, amnesic shellfish poisoning, asp, chris scholin, coast of portsmouth, coastal waters, current status, dennis mcgillicuddy, diatom, don anderson, environmental sample processors, epa, espchris, espdon, esps, fda, greg doucette, gulf of maine, habs, harmful algal blooms, kohl kanwit, MIT, molecular biology labs, neracoos, new england, new robotic instruments, nh, noaa, paralytic shellfish poisoning, pseudo nitzschia, psp, real time data, red tide, sea grant program, single celled algae, toxins, WHO

Deployment could lead transformation of toxic HAB monitoring

A new robotic sensor deployed by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Gulf of Maine coastal waters may transform the way red tides or harmful algal blooms (HABs) are monitored and managed in New England. The instrument was launched at the end of last month, and a second such system will be deployed later this spring.

The results will add critical data to weekly real-time forecasts of New England red tide this year distributed to more than 150 coastal resource and fisheries managers in six states as well as federal agencies such as NOAA, the FDA and the EPA. Researchers also plan to add data from the sensor to regular updates provided on the “Current Status” page of the Northeast PSP website. (more…)

Southern exposure: 21% of U.S. elderly take high-risk medicines

By Guest PostMay 6, 2013Generalalbany, amal trivedi, brown university, danya qato, demographic analysis, high risk medication, hospital referral regions, hrrs, mason city, medicare advantage plans, new england, pharmacist, poor areas, public health researchers, seniors, seniors in alexandria, south atlantic, south carolina, southeast united states, texas

A study of more than 6 million seniors in Medicare Advantage plans in 2009 found that 21 percent received a prescription for at least one potentially harmful “high-risk medication.” Nearly 5 percent received at least two. Questionable prescriptions are more common in the South and among people who live in poor areas.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — More than one in five seniors with Medicare Advantage plans received a prescription for a potentially harmful “high-risk medication” in 2009, according to an analysis by Brown University public health researchers. The questionable prescriptions were significantly more common in the Southeast United States, as well as among women and people living in relatively poor areas. (more…)

Researchers Issue Forecast for ‘Moderate’ New England Red Tide in 2013

By Guest PostMay 2, 2013Environmentalexandrium fundyense, blooms, bruce keafer, chris nash, current status, don anderson, ecohab program, gulf of maine, harmful algal blooms, moderate, new england, noaa, paralytic shellfish poisoning, psp, quay dortch, red tide, toxic algae, whoi biologist

New England is expected to experience a “moderate” red tide this spring and summer, report NOAA-funded scientists studying the toxic algae that cause blooms in the Gulf of Maine. The “red tide” is caused by an alga Alexandrium fundyense, which produces a toxin that can cause paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP). Red tide typically occurs annually along some portions of the Gulf of Maine coast. This year’s outlook is similar to the 2012 red tide which was also classified as “moderate.”

As with the past five forecasts for this region, the 2013 outlook is based on the quantities of the A. fundyense in its cyst (dormant) state detected in Gulf of Maine sediments last fall. These data are combined with a computer model to produce a range of bloom scenarios based on previous years’ conditions. This year, the team also used a forecast of toxicity impact developed from 34 years of historical data as part of the 2013 outlook. The 2013 bloom is expected to fall somewhere in the middle in terms of toxicity impact, justifying a “moderate” forecast done by the established method. (more…)

A ‘Golden Era’ of Insight: Big Data’s Bright Future

By Guest PostFebruary 18, 2013Technologybangalore, Beijing, big data, bing, bing directions, bing maps, bing voice search, biomedical informatics terabytes, breakthroughs, bright future, buzzwords, cambridge, capturing data, China, computational mechanisms, data analytics, data centric methods, decision-making, distinguished scientist, DNA, eric horvitz, golden era, government, hawaii, insight, labs, law, machine intelligence, machine learning, mandarin, microsoft research, networking, new england, new york city, North America, predictive modeling, predictive models, redmond, rick rashid, sensing, silicon valley, storage, tianjin, traffic free route, visualization, web

For over 20 years, Microsoft Research’s labs around the world have focused on research across a broad spectrum of topics in computer science. From the start, the organization has invested heavily in pioneering breakthroughs in machine intelligence, including efforts in machine learning and big data. In this interview, Distinguished Scientist Eric Horvitz talks about advances he sees on the horizon, the influence they will have on your daily life, and how insights from big data and developing more intelligent software and services will change the world.

REDMOND, Wash. – Feb. 15, 2013 – At Microsoft Research labs around the world, some very deep thinkers are contemplating big data.

This includes Eric Horvitz, distinguished scientist at Microsoft and co-director of Microsoft Research’s Redmond lab, who was recently elected to the National Academy of Engineering for his work in “computational mechanisms for decision making under uncertainty and with bounded resources.” (more…)

Sail Far and Wide from New York City

By Guest PostFebruary 9, 2013Holidays 'n Travelsamerican, ancestor routes, beautiful autumn colors, bermuda, boston, canada, cape town, city, cruise to caribbean, cruise travel, cruise web team, eastern coast, Europe, far and wide, focal point, full of sunshine, halifax, new england, new york, new york city, North America, norwegian breakaway, norwegian cruise line, panama canal, passengers, quebec city, sail, South Africa, that never sleeps, transatlantic cruise, tropical breezes

New York is a hub. This city has served as a focal point for so many things American, from fashion to publishing to bagels and so much more. Now the “city that never sleeps” is becoming a hub for cruise travel. You can now cruise around the world, right from New York.

Here are four major destinations that you can discover on a cruise from New York.

Europe – Set sail for a European adventure on a transatlantic cruise. This sailing has old world charm, as you cross the ocean like many immigrants did generations ago, to experience the new world and embark upon a new life. You can trace back your ancestor’s routes and see the precious places they came from. (more…)

‘Earth Perfect?’

By Guest PostOctober 23, 2012Culture, Natureancient greek, annette giesecke, book, contemporary architecture, delaware, earthly delights, ecological decline, ecological meaning, garden, hieronymus bosch, humanity, maine, naomi jacobs, Nature, new england, organic farming, perfect earth, political, pompeii, relationship, repository, roman gardens, roman studies, social, spiritual, symbolic, university, versailles

Professor’s new book examines nature, utopia and the garden

“the result of humanity’s attempt to carve out an ideal place in nature, thereby fashioning a ‘perfect’ earth” — is the subject of a new book, co-authored and edited by the University of Delaware’s Annette Giesecke.

Earth Perfect? Nature, Utopia, and the Garden is a lushly illustrated, 303-page volume that brings together essays from writers and experts across disciplines to study the relationship — historical, present and future — between humanity and the garden. (more…)

Scientists Uncover Diversion of Gulf Stream Path in Late 2011

By Guest PostOctober 14, 2012Environmental plueddemann, autumn, bottom temperature, commercial fishermen, continental shelf, core rings, current, data, david calhoun, david spencer, eddies, emolt, fred mattera, georges bank, glen gawarkiewicz, gulf stream, historical data, hole, hurricane, irene, james manning, katia, longitude, magdalena andres, mate, motion, mystery, new england, norbert stamps, ocean current, oceanographic institution, ooi, physical oceanographer, program, robert todd, salinity, salinity levels, satellite altimeters, shelfbreak, surface water, temperature, tim shaw, warming period, whoi, woods

Warmer waters flowed to shelfbreak south of New England

At a meeting with New England commercial fishermen last December, physical oceanographers Glen Gawarkiewicz and Al Plueddemann from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) were alerted by three fishermen about unusually high surface water temperatures and strong currents on the outer continental shelf south of New England.

“I promised them I would look into why that was happening,” Gawarkiewicz says. (more…)