Florida Atlantic University Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a family of genes that has become an important marker in measuring the diversity of immune response in a wide range of species. The MHC complex can be thought of as a transport device; it carries the pathogenic peptide to the surface of the cell and presents it to the T-cell receptor initiating the body's immune response against potential pathogens. Since MHC's first discovery in mid 1930's by Peter Gorer, this multigene family has been identified in every mammalian species studied to date. The diversity of MHC influences an individual's susceptibility to disease and autoimmunity (Ackerman & Brigil, 2011)

The ocean engineering summer internship project focused on designing, modeling, constrncting and virtually testing a fully functional undetwater housing for a novel instrnment called a fluorolidar.

The interaction between seagrass and macroalgae affects the growth and distribution of both photosynthetic communities. The Central Indian River Lagoon displays a wide variety of seagrass and macroalgae, both of which are in constant flux due to seasonal variations. The purpose of this study was to ascertain a relationship between seagrass and macroalgal communities along a latitudinal gradient in the Central Indian River Lagoon. It is predicted that there will be a positive relationship between seagrass and macroalgae; an increase in percent cover for seagrass will yield a conctment increase for
macroalgae. Our data do not support this claim, but rather the opposite; there is an inverse relationship between seagrass and macroalgae. We attribute this relationship partially to competition of attached algae and sea grass, but mostly to the hydrodynamic properties of the Indian River Lagoon which greatly affects the movement of drift algae in and around seagrass beds.

This paper discusses the development of a automated system which will be used to monitor manatee abundance and behavior 24 hours a day. The main motivation for doing this project is that recent observations suggest manatees utilize the HBOI channel as a thermal refuge. It has also been observed that manatees are drinking from a drainage pipe pumping fresh water into the channel. The main objective of the project is to gain better insight into the manatee behavior in relation to environmental factors. This purpose was achieved by developing software that can control the camera with several functions: taking still images, video recording, zooming in/out, full screen option, patrol channel function and function to see if water is flowing from the pipe. The next step was to develop an algorithm to detect movement, different colors and contours in the channel. I show study at this problem in water enviromnent in this research paper. The software was developed in Microsoft Visual C# 2010 Express in programming language C#. I also developed a system to save the pictures and recordings made by the camera according to the date and time at which they were taken. The steps I have taken during my time working on the project will allow the scientists studying the manatees to more easily keep track of their data.

As a result of increased oil exploration and an increased risk of oil spills in the marine environment, the ability to detect and characterize spilled oil with spectral fingerprinting has major significance. First, a spectrometer and fluorometer were used to characterize and compare spectral properties of parent polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) and their alkylated homologs in relation to oil and the weathering processes. Next, prepared parent PAH compounds were tested for sensor responses to seven commercially available off-the-shelf instruments with varying optical parameters that measure the fluorescence of hydrocarbon molecules. Lastly, the seven fluorometer responses were tested in response to oil in water solutions. From absorbance and Excitation Emission spectra, the spectral properties of parent and alkylated PAHs are very similar. For each parent PAH, the Cl-Alkylated homolog had a lower concentration and less defined absorbance spectrum than the parent PAH. The Chelsea UviLux and Cyclops-7 Refined Oil sensors had an extremely linear and sensitive response to Fluorene. The C3-Crude Oil fluorometer surprisingly did not have strong response to the 1.4 g/L North Sea Crude water accommodated fraction. The Chelsea UviLux T-Piot sensor output detects lower concentrations of oil in water and provides higher resolution data than the DAQ Plotter for both water accommodated and chemically dispersed solutions.

This paper presents the design process of an underwater housing and mount for the LytroTM light field rendering (LFR) camera system. One interesting property of the LFR camera is the Synthetic Aperture Imaging (SAl). The objective of this project is to use the SAl property of the LFR camera to develop the image acquisition apparatus that will be the foundation of an aquaculture breeding tanks fish larvae population estimation system. The design, fabrication and assembly of the apparatus are illustrated in the paper. Results from the initial evaluation tests of the apparatus using a staircase calibration target in three difference scenarios: in the air, in fresh water and in turbid salt water are analyzed. The results from the in air tests fully demonstrated the SAl propetiy of the LFR camera: to take pictures of resolution targets at various depths and
individual focus on them during post processing. Overall, promising test results were obtained from the fresh water and salt water tests, but further improvement of the system will be required to achieve the optimal results. This paper outlines the ground work for this project and the very first test results gathered with this system and will provide a solid base for futiher research and testing to build on.