Single-blind test of airplane-based hyperspectral methane detection via controlled releases

Methane leakage from point sources in the oil and gas industry is a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. The majority of such emissions come from a small fraction of “super-emitting” sources. We evaluate the emission detection and quantification capabilities of Kairos Aerospace’s airplane-based hyperspectral imaging methane emission detection system for methane fluxes of 18–1,025 kg per hour of methane (kgh(CH4)). In blinded controlled releases of methane conducted over 4 days in San Joaquin County, CA, Kairos detected 182 of 200 valid nonzero releases, including all 173 over 15 kgh(CH4) per meter per second (mps) of wind and none of the 12 nonzero releases below 8.3 kgh(CH4)/mps. Nine of the 26 releases in the partial detection range of 5–15 kgh(CH4)/mps were detected. There were no false positives: Kairos did not detect methane during any of the 21 negative controls. Plume quantification accuracy depends on the wind measurement technique, with a parity slope of 1.15 (σ = 0.037, R2 = 0.84, N = 185) using a cup-based wind meter and 1.45 (σ = 0.059, R2 = 0.80, N = 157) using an ultrasonic anemometer. Performance is comparable even with only modeled wind data. For emissions above 15 kgh/mps, quantification error scales as roughly 30%–40% of emission size, even when using wind reanalysis data instead of ground-based measurements. This reflects both uncertainty in wind measurements and in Kairos’ estimates. These findings suggest that at 2 mps winds under favorable environmental conditions in the United States, Kairos could detect and quantify over 50% of total emissions by identifying super-emitting sources.

Incidence of colon cancer in younger population and lower incidence in Asians and females in central balley of California: Health disparity and epigenetic study model.

e19028 Background: California acts as a boiling pot for immigration and the perfect ecosystem to study epigenetic changes from dietary and environmental factors in various ethnicities. It has a significant immigrant population, with approximately a quarter of the 40 million residents being foreign-born. The impact of migration on colon cancer incidences over time has not yet been characterized on a broad-scale level in the Northern Central Valley. This provides a unique opportunity to study the influence of migration, socio-economic gradient, environmental, and racial identity on the incidence of cancer in a subset of California’s San Joaquin County Population. Colon cancer affects around 100,000 annually, with white and African Americans being more often affected than Asians or Hispanics. Methods: This study is a retrospective, single-institution study that compared the socio-demographic variables and clinical characteristics of the patients who had a history of colon cancer in an academic central valley institution. We reviewed all the patient charts with a diagnosis of colon cancer from 2014-2019 and compared the age, demographics, socioeconomic status, comorbidities, pathology, treatment, and outcomes in the population. Appropriate statistics have been used for analyzing the data. Results: A retrospective chart review of all patients diagnosed with colon cancer from our Hospital from 2014-2019 which revealed that 23.9% of patients were younger than 50 years at diagnosis, and mean age of diagnosis is 56.6 years, compared to the national average where younger population constituted at 11% and mean age for men and women are 68 years and 72 years respectively. 36.5% were 50-60 years old, and 39.2% were > 60 years old. Women constituted 31% in our group compared to compared to 35.6% nationally. Asians are 23% of the central California population, but only 11.4% of patients in our group of colon cancer patients were Asian/pacific islanders, with 6.4% being average weight. 36.7% of patients have obesity. 67.4% were > 25 BMI, of which 12.8% were younger Hispanics with BMI 25-30. Adenocarcinoma is seen in 91.4% of patients. Conclusions: The younger population with male predominance is seen. Asians see a surge in colon cancer incidence, but the incidence rate is still lower. Epigenetic, western lifestyle, and environmental are responsible factors. Younger overweight Hispanics are increasing in number as well. We will present further subgroup analysis at presentation.

Complete Genomic Sequences of Three Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica Serovar Muenchen Strains from an Orchard in San Joaquin County, California

We present here the complete genome sequences of three Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Muenchen strains, LG24, LG25, and LG26. All three strains were isolated from almond drupes grown in an orchard in San Joaquin County, California, in 2016. These genomic sequences are nonidentical and will contribute to our understanding of S. enterica genomics.

Effects of Single-Drop Impactions and Natural and Simulated Rains on the Dispersal of Botryosphaeria dothidea Conidia

Laboratory and field experiments were conducted to study the dispersal of Botryosphaeria dothidea conidia using single-drop impactions and natural and simulated precipitations. For laboratory studies, 200 single drops were released from a height of 1 m on infected pistachio nuts. On pieces of photographic film, 50% of the droplets were collected within 20 mm (average droplet travel distance) of the target area, and the droplets ranged from 0.041 to 3.19 mm in diameter, with an average of 0.3 mm. Each droplet carried an average of 23 B. dothidea conidia. In 3 years of field experiments, rainwater was collected in funnels connected to bottles positioned at different heights inside the tree canopy and at different distances away from the edge of tree canopy in three commercial pistachio orchards in San Joaquin, Yolo, and Glenn counties in California. Numbers of conidia in rainwater varied among and within sampling seasons by sampling dates and orchards. Up to 67,000 conidia/ml were obtained in rainwater samples collected from an orchard in Yolo County. Rainwater from orchards in Yolo and Glenn counties contained a consistently higher number of conidia than rainwater collected from the orchard in San Joaquin County. Variation in numbers of conidia also existed among heights where bottles were located. There were significantly more conidia in rainwater collected inside than outside tree canopies. Inside tree canopies, bottles located at 100 and 150 cm above ground collected more B. dothidea conidia than those placed at 50 and 200 cm. Conidia were collected as far as 1 m from the tree canopy edge. Based on data from the Glenn County orchard, a linear relationship between number of conidia (Y) and rainfall amount (X) in millimeters was determined as Y = 240X - 3,867, with r2 = 0.91, which meant that a minimum of 16.1 mm of rain was needed to disperse conidia of B. dothidea. The power law model best described the dispersal gradients of B. dothidea propagules in the 1999-2000 and 2001-02 sampling seasons, with r2 values of ≥0.73, whereas the exponential law model fit best for the 2000-01 data, with r2 values of ≥0.81. In a rain simulation experiment, the intensity of the rain generated by a nozzle at 138 kPa of pressure inside the tree canopy was approximately five times higher than rain recorded outside the tree canopy. Rain removed up to 65% of conidia from infected fruit. These results confirmed that B. dothidea is a splash-dispersed pathogen with relatively short distances of spore dispersal within pistachio orchards. Only pycnidia are present in pistachio orchards; therefore, the results also indicate that inoculum of B. dothidea should be entirely splashed dispersed.

Control of Dormancy and Budbreak in Sweet Cherry (Prunus avium L.) cv `Bing' with Surfactant + Calcium Ammonium Nitrate and Hydrogen Cyanamide

Continuing trials (1995–present) advanced budbreak and flowering with a surfactant and calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN17), and in 1997, hydrogen cyanamide (HCN). Chilling in 1996–1997 was marginal in San Joaquin County (SJ, 830 chill hours, 18 Feb.), and low in San Benito County (SB, 612 chill hours, 21 Feb.). When we used the “45 °F” chilling model, the most effective surfactant + nitrate treatment timings for both locations were similar by chill accumulation (≈72 % to 82% of required chilling for `Bing' = 850–880 chill hours), although the two locations differed in total chill accumulation and date of effective treatment. Full bloom (FB) was advanced by 1 week with 4% HCN in SJ, followed by 2% surfactant + 25% calcium ammonium nitrate applied on 21 Jan. (700 chill hours), compared to the untreated control. Bloom duration (full bloom to petal fall) was compressed most by surfactant and CAN17. Bloom in SB was also most advanced by HCN, followed by 2% surfactant + 25% CAN17 applied on 21 Feb. (612 chill hours). Fruit set was improved in SB by surfactant and CAN17 in mid-February; set was too low, however, for real impact. In SJ and SB, HCN advanced fruit maturity most, followed by surfactant and CAN17 applied 21 Jan.; these fruits were softer. We believe that, in order for treatments to be effective in advancing budbreak and full bloom, some minimum amount of chilling must be accumulated prior to application (perhaps 60% to 75% of chilling requirement). We have also determined that where chilling is well below minimum requirement, higher rates of CAN (25%) are necessary to advance bloom. A further advantage of using Armobreak + CAN is improved N level in buds and bark after treatment (1997).