Circulating water traveling screen modifications to improve impinged fish survival and debris handling at Salem Generating Station

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ronafalvy, J.P.; Cheesman, R.R.; Matejek, W.M.

This paper summarizes modifications made to the Salem Generating Station`s (Salem) Circulating Water Traveling Screens (CWTS) as required by Salem`s New Jersey Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit (NJPDES Permit). The modifications incorporated newly designed CWTS baskets with hydrodynamically improved fish buckets (greatly reduced turbulence in the bucket); smooth woven mesh screens with 0.250 x 0.500 inch rectangular mesh openings (formerly 0.375 inch square mesh openings); lighter composite basket frame material allowing increased screen rotation speed; improved low and high pressure spray wash patterns; improved screen to sluice trough flap seal design and miscellaneous reliability improvements. In order to address themore » overall effects of the CWTS modifications on fish losses, the effect of both entrainment and impingement by fish size was addressed in a comparison study between modified and unmodified units. The results of the assessment indicate a 51% reduction in overall weakfish (Cynoscion regales) losses (expressed as equivalent adults, larger than 187 mm total length individuals). These modifications also enhanced debris removal capability of the CWTSs. 5 refs., 5 figs.« less

New Open-Source Version of FLORIS Released | News | NREL

Science.gov Websites

New Open-Source Version of FLORIS Released New Open-Source Version of FLORIS Released January 26 , 2018 National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) researchers recently released an updated open-source simplified and documented. Because of the living, open-source nature of the newly updated utility, NREL

A study of ecological sanitation as an integrated urban water supply system: case study of sustainable strategy for Kuching City, Sarawak, Malaysia.

PubMed

Seng, Darrien Mah Yau; Putuhena, Frederik Josep; Said, Salim; Ling, Law Puong

2009-03-01

A city consumes a large amount of water. Urban planning and development are becoming more compelling due to the fact of growing competition for water, which has lead to an increasing and conflicting demand. As such, investments in water supply, sanitation and water resources management is a strong potential for a solid return. A pilot project of greywater ecological treatment has been established in Kuching city since 2003. Such a treatment facility opens up an opportunity of wastewater reclamation for reuse as secondary sources of water for non-consumptive purposes. This paper aims to explore the potential of the intended purposes in the newly developed ecological treatment project. By utilizing the Wallingford Software model, InfoWorks WS (Water Supply) is employed to carry out a hydraulic modeling of a hypothetical greywater recycling system as an integrated part of the Kuching urban water supply, where the greywater is treated, recycled and reused in the domestic environment. The modeling efforts have shown water savings of about 40% from the investigated system reinstating that the system presents an alternative water source worth exploring in an urban environment.

Bubble Shuttle: A newly discovered transport mechanism, which transfers microorganisms from the sediment into the water column

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmale, O.; Stolle, C.; Leifer, I.; Schneider von Deimling, J.; Kiesslich, K.; Krause, S.; Frahm, A.; Treude, T.

2013-12-01

The diversity and abundance of methanotrophic microorganisms is well studied in the aquatic environment, indicating their importance in biogeochemical cycling of methane in the sediment and the water column. However, whether methanotrophs are distinct populations in these habitats or are exchanged between benthic and pelagic environments, remains an open question. Therefore, field studies were conducted at the 'Rostocker Seep' site (Coal Oil Point seep area, California, USA) to test our hypothesis that methane-oxidizing microorganisms can be transported by gas bubbles from the sediment into the water column. The natural methane emanating location 'Rostocker Seep' showed a strong surface water oversaturation in methane with respect to the atmospheric equilibrium. Catalyzed Reporter Deposition Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (CARD-FISH) analyzes were performed to determine the abundance of aerobic and anaerobic methanotrophic microorganisms. Aerobic methane oxidizing bacteria were detected in the sediment and the water column, whereas anaerobic methanotrophs were detected exclusively in the sediment. The key device of the project was the newly developed "Bubble Catcher" used to collect naturally emanating gas bubbles at the sea floor together with particles attached to the bubble surface rim. Bubble Catcher experiments were carried out directly above a natural bubble release spot and on a reference site at which artificially released gas bubbles were caught, which had no contact with the sediment. CARD-FISH analyzes showed that aerobic methane oxidizing bacteria were transported by gas bubbles from the sediment into the water column. In contrast anaerobic methanotrophs were not detected in the bubble catcher. Further results indicate that this newly discovered Bubble Shuttle transport mechanism might influence the distribution pattern of methanotrophic microorganisms in the water column and even at the air-sea interface. Methane seep areas are often characterized by an elevated abundance of methane-oxidizing microorganisms, which consume a considerable amount of methane before it escapes into the atmosphere. Based on our study we hypothesize that the Bubble Shuttle transport mechanism contributes to this pelagic methane sink by a sediment-water column transfer of methane oxidizing microorganisms. Furthermore, this Bubble Shuttle may influence the methanotrophic community in the water column after massive short-term submarine inputs of methane (e.g. release of methane from bore holes). Especially in deep-sea regions, where the abundance of methane oxidizing microorganisms in the water column is low in general, Bubble Shuttle may inject a relevant amount of methane oxidizing microorganisms into the water column during massive inputs, supporting indirectly the turnover of this greenhouse active trace gas in the submarine environment.

Case Study: Applying OpenEHR Archetypes to a Clinical Data Repository in a Chinese Hospital.

PubMed

Min, Lingtong; Wang, Li; Lu, Xudong; Duan, Huilong

2015-01-01

openEHR is a flexible and scalable modeling methodology for clinical information and has been widely adopted in Europe and Australia. Due to the reasons of differences in clinical process and management, there are few research projects involving openEHR in China. To investigate the feasibility of openEHR methodology for clinical information modelling in China, this paper carries out a case study to apply openEHR archetypes to Clinical Data Repository (CDR) in a Chinese hospital. The results show that a set of 26 archetypes are found to cover all the concepts used in the CDR. Of all these, 9 (34.6%) are reused without change, 10 are modified and/or extended, and 7 are newly defined. The reasons for modification, extension and newly definition have been discussed, including granularity of archetype, metadata-level versus data-level modelling, and the representation of relationships between archetypes.

Surface Water Connectivity, Flow Pathways and Water Level Fluctuation in a Cold Region Deltaic Ecosystem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peters, D. L.; Niemann, O.; Skelly, R.; Monk, W. A.; Baird, D. J.

2017-12-01

The Peace-Athabasca Delta (PAD) is a 6000 km2 deltaic floodplain ecosystem of international importance (Wood Buffalo National Park, Ramsar Convention, UNESCO World Heritage, and SWOT satellite water level calibration/validation site). The low-relief floodplain formed at the confluence of the Peace, Athabasca and Birch rivers with Lake Athabasca. More than 1000 wetland and lake basins have varying degrees of connectivity to the main flow system. Hydroperiod and water storage is influenced by ice-jam and open-water inundations and prevailing semi-arid climate that control water drawdown. Prior studies have identified pathways of river-to-wetland floodwater connection and historical water level fluctuation/trends as a key knowledge gaps, limiting our knowledge of deltaic ecosystem status and potential hydroecological responses to climate change and upstream water alterations to flow contributions. To address this knowledge gap, surface elevation mapping of the PAD has been conducted since 2012 using aerial remote sensing Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), plus thousands of ground based surface and bathymetric survey points tied to Global Positioning System (GPS) were obtained. The elevation information was used to develop a high resolution digital terrain model to simulate and investigate surface water connectivity. Importantly, the surveyed areas contain a set of wetland monitoring sites where ground-based surface water connectivity, water level/depth, water quality, and aquatic ecology (eg, vegetation, macroinvertebrate and muskrat) have been examined. The goal of this presentation is to present an assessment of: i) surface water fluctuation and connectivity for PAD wetland sites; ii) 40+ year inter-annual hydroperiod reconstruction for a perched basin using a combination of field measurements, remote sensing estimates, and historical documents; and iii) outline an approach to integrate newly available hydro-bio-geophysical information into a novel, multi-platform aquatic ecosystem observation system (eg, upcoming SWOT satellite and newly developed DNA metabarcoding) for cold regions deltaic wetlands, that will enable the assessment of floodplain ecosystem change resulting from multiple stressors, such as climate change and upstream development (hydroelectric and mining).

Emerging solid-state laser technology by lidar/DIAL remote sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Killinger, Dennis

1992-01-01

Significant progress has been made in recent years in the development of new, solid-state laser sources. This talk will present an overview of some of the new developments in solid-state lasers, and their application toward lidar/DIAL measurements of the atmosphere. Newly emerging lasers such as Ho:YAG, Tm:YAG, OPO, and Ti:Sapphire will be covered, along with the spectroscopic parameters required for differential operational modes of atmospheric remote sensing including Doppler-Windshear lidar, Tunable laser detection of water/CO2, and broad linewidth OPO's for open path detection of pollutant hydrocarbon gases. Additional considerations of emerging laser technology for lidar/DIAL will also be covered.

[Development of an incubation system for an inverted microscopy for long-term observation of cell cultures using chamber slides].

PubMed

Feicht, W; Buchner, A; Riesenberg, R

2001-05-01

Trifunctional bispecific antibodies open up new immunological possibilities in tumour treatment. Prior to clinical application, comprehensive investigations using animal models and in vitro examinations need to be done. To investigate long-term interactions between various immunologically active blood cells and individual tumour cells in the presence of antibodies, we developed an incubation system for experimental cell cultures on an inverted microscope. The system consists of a perspex box with a central moisture chamber with integrated water reservoir, external air circulation heating, and a CO2 supply. The sterile cell cultures are located in the wells of a slide positioned within a depression in the water reservoir. The newly developed incubation system enables continuous observation over the long term of experiments under optimal cell cultures conditions in combination with modern video techniques.

Effects of spray-dried Pseudomonas fluorescens, strain CL145A (Zequanox®) on reproduction and early development of the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas).

USGS Publications Warehouse

Waller, Diane L.; Luoma, James A.

2016-01-01

The biopesticide, Zequanox®, is registered for dreissenid mussel control in open water systems. Previous toxicity trials with nontarget organisms, including young-of-the year of several fish species and invertebrates, demonstrated selectivity of Zequanox for dreissenids. However, data are lacking on its safety to reproductive and early life stages of fish. The present study evaluated the effects of Zequanox on spawning and early life stages of the fathead minnow, Pimephales promelas, at the maximum approved concentration (100 mg Zequanox active ingredient /L) and exposure duration (8 h) for open water application. The results showed no significant effect of Zequanox on survival, condition, or cumulative egg deposition (21 d) in adult fathead minnow. Eggs (<24-h old) exposed to Zequanox developed to the eyed-stage at a similar rate to that of unexposed eggs. Additionally, Zequanox did not have a significant effect on survival and growth (90 d) of newly hatched fry (<24-h old). The results indicate that Zequanox treatment will not affect survival, spawning, and early life development of fathead minnows when applied at the recommended treatment regime.

Sequence dependency of canonical base pair opening in the DNA double helix

PubMed Central

Villa, Alessandra

2017-01-01

The flipping-out of a DNA base from the double helical structure is a key step of many cellular processes, such as DNA replication, modification and repair. Base pair opening is the first step of base flipping and the exact mechanism is still not well understood. We investigate sequence effects on base pair opening using extensive classical molecular dynamics simulations targeting the opening of 11 different canonical base pairs in two DNA sequences. Two popular biomolecular force fields are applied. To enhance sampling and calculate free energies, we bias the simulation along a simple distance coordinate using a newly developed adaptive sampling algorithm. The simulation is guided back and forth along the coordinate, allowing for multiple opening pathways. We compare the calculated free energies with those from an NMR study and check assumptions of the model used for interpreting the NMR data. Our results further show that the neighboring sequence is an important factor for the opening free energy, but also indicates that other sequence effects may play a role. All base pairs are observed to have a propensity for opening toward the major groove. The preferred opening base is cytosine for GC base pairs, while for AT there is sequence dependent competition between the two bases. For AT opening, we identify two non-canonical base pair interactions contributing to a local minimum in the free energy profile. For both AT and CG we observe long-lived interactions with water and with sodium ions at specific sites on the open base pair. PMID:28369121

Superintendents' Perceptions of the Effectiveness of Newly Hired Principals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lehman, Lynn E.; Boyland, Lori G.; Sriver, Shawn K.

2014-01-01

This study investigates the frequency of research-based leadership strategies utilized by newly hired school principals in the workplace. Public school superintendents in Indiana were asked to respond to two open-ended research questions. Through the use of content analysis, their comments were coded for the occurrence of effective leadership…

Does trade openness affect CO2 emissions: evidence from ten newly industrialized countries?

PubMed

Zhang, Shun; Liu, Xuyi; Bae, Junghan

2017-07-01

This paper examines whether the hypothetical environmental Kuznet curve (EKC) exists or not and investigates how trade openness affects CO 2 emissions, together with real GDP and total primary energy consumption. The study sample comprises ten newly industrialized countries (NICs-10) from 1971 to 2013. The results support the existence of hypothetical EKC and indicate that trade openness negatively and significantly affects emissions, while real GDP and energy do positive effects of emissions. Moreover, the empirical results of short-run causalities indicate feedback hypothetical linkage of real GDP and trade, unidirectional linkages from energy to emissions, and from trade to energy. The error correction terms (ECTs) reveal in the long run, feedback linkages of emissions, real GDP, and trade openness, while energy Granger causes emissions, real GDP, and trade, respectively. The study recommendations are that our policymakers should encourage and expand the trade openness in these countries, not only to restrain CO 2 emissions but also to boost their growth.

Prevalence and Distribution of Campylobacter jejuni in Small-Scale Broiler Operations.

PubMed

Tangkham, Wannee; Janes, Marlene; LeMieux, Frederick

2016-01-01

Campylobacter jejuni has been recognized as one of the most prevalent causes of foodborne bacterial illnesses in humans. Previous studies have focused on the transmission routes of C. jejuni from commercial flock farms to the final retail product. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of C. jejuni and Campylobacter spp. in eggshells, live birds, feed, drinking water, and the rearing environment in a small-scale broiler operation. Broilers were raised under two different production systems: (i) environmentally controlled housing and (ii) open-air housing with two replications. Each week, samples were collected from eggshells, bird feces, feed, drinking water, enclosures (vertical walls of bird housing), and feed troughs for enumeration and isolation testing. All samples were plated on modified charcoal-cefoperazone-deoxycholate agar to determine the log CFU per gram and percent prevalence of Campylobacter spp. Isolation of C. jejuni was verified with latex agglutination and hippurate hydrolysis tests. The results from this study suggest that vertical transmission of these bacteria from egg surfaces to newly hatched chicks is not a significant risk factor. The results also suggest that the prevalence of C. jejuni at time of harvest (week 6) was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in the open-air housing broilers than in those in the environmentally controlled housing. Elevated levels of cross-contaminants, especially water and feed, may have played a role in this outcome.

AmeriFlux US-Tw4 Twitchell East End Wetland

DOE Data Explorer

Baldocchi, Dennis [University of California, Berkeley

2016-01-01

This is the AmeriFlux version of the carbon flux data for the site US-Tw4 Twitchell East End Wetland. Site Description - The Twitchell East End Wetland is a newly constructed restored wetland on Twitchell Island, CA. This site and the surrounding region are part of the San Joaquin - Sacramento River Delta drained beginning in the 1850's and subsequently used for agriculture. The site was previously a corn field. The wetland was designed to have a mix of vegetated and open water channels and ponds (due to surface elevation differences). Flooding of the wetland was done gradually beginning in January, 2014. Berms wind throughout the wetland to allow vehicle access. Tule and Cattail plant material from a nearby wetland were spread along the berms immediately prior to flooding to facilitate plant establishment and stabilization of the berms from wind/water erosion. The tower was installed on November 25, 2013.

A coupled approach for the three-dimensional simulation of pipe leakage in variably saturated soil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peche, Aaron; Graf, Thomas; Fuchs, Lothar; Neuweiler, Insa

2017-12-01

In urban water pipe networks, pipe leakage may lead to subsurface contamination or to reduced waste water treatment efficiency. The quantification of pipe leakage is challenging due to inaccessibility and unknown hydraulic properties of the soil. A novel physically-based model for three-dimensional numerical simulation of pipe leakage in variably saturated soil is presented. We describe the newly implemented coupling between the pipe flow simulator HYSTEM-EXTRAN and the groundwater flow simulator OpenGeoSys and its validation. We further describe a novel upscaling of leakage using transfer functions derived from numerical simulations. This upscaling enables the simulation of numerous pipe defects with the benefit of reduced computation times. Finally, we investigate the response of leakage to different time-dependent pipe flow events and conclude that larger pipe flow volume and duration lead to larger leakage while the peak position in time has a small effect on leakage.

HTV4 Hatch opening

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-08-09

ISS036-E-030213 (9 Aug. 2013) --- European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano, Expedition 36 flight engineer, prepares to open the hatch to the newly attached Japanese "Kounotori" H2 Transfer Vehicle-4 (HTV-4) docked to the International Space Station's Harmony node.

45 CFR 159.120 - Data submission for the individual and small group markets.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... submit pricing and benefit data for portal plans associated with products that are newly open or newly... 45 Public Welfare 1 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Data submission for the individual and small group... RELATING TO HEALTH CARE ACCESS HEALTH CARE REFORM INSURANCE WEB PORTAL § 159.120 Data submission for the...

45 CFR 159.120 - Data submission for the individual and small group markets.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... submit pricing and benefit data for portal plans associated with products that are newly open or newly... 45 Public Welfare 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Data submission for the individual and small group... RELATING TO HEALTH CARE ACCESS HEALTH CARE REFORM INSURANCE WEB PORTAL § 159.120 Data submission for the...

A Cyclic Dissolution Test for Understanding Water Quality of Effluent from Rock Muck under Rain Events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Urakoshi, T.; Kawagoe, T.; Ohta, T.

2017-12-01

Effluent from rock muck piles consisting of waste rock, as a by-product of construction, sometimes contains heavy metals that affects human health and environment. Rain is the key to estimate water quality of the effluent because infiltrated rain to piles reacts with minerals of rocks. Thus, we newly proposed a dissolution test, namely cyclic injection test, considering rain events, as the following steps: Firstly, we crushed rock sample to particles of size of between 2 and 20 mm, and filled them into the column with 54 mm in diameter and 300 mm in length. Secondly, we saturated void in the column with pure water. One hour after, we opened a valve of the bottom of the column, and collected effluent. Thirdly, we preserved the column for 14 days. After then, we injected 200 ml of pure water from the top of the column within about 15 minutes, and collected efflent. We repeated injection of pure water every 14 days. We conducted the cyclic injection test for altered volcanic rock sample, and observed that the effluent just after the injection showed highest concentration. This result indicated that dissolved chemicals were released from minerals to capillary water after an injection, and advected outside of the column at the next injection.

Semiochemical lures reduce emigration and enhance pest control services in open-field predator augmentation

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Augmentation biocontrol is a commercially viable pest management tactic in enclosed glasshouse environments, but is far less effective in open-field agriculture where newly released enemies rapidly disperse from release sites. We tested the potential for behavior-modifying semiochemicals to increase...

33 CFR 66.01-13 - When must my newly manufactured equipment comply with these rules?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false When must my newly manufactured equipment comply with these rules? 66.01-13 Section 66.01-13 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY AIDS TO NAVIGATION PRIVATE AIDS TO NAVIGATION Aids to Navigation Other Than...

33 CFR 66.01-13 - When must my newly manufactured equipment comply with these rules?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false When must my newly manufactured equipment comply with these rules? 66.01-13 Section 66.01-13 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY AIDS TO NAVIGATION PRIVATE AIDS TO NAVIGATION Aids to Navigation Other Than...

33 CFR 66.01-13 - When must my newly manufactured equipment comply with these rules?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false When must my newly manufactured equipment comply with these rules? 66.01-13 Section 66.01-13 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY AIDS TO NAVIGATION PRIVATE AIDS TO NAVIGATION Aids to Navigation Other Than...

33 CFR 66.01-13 - When must my newly manufactured equipment comply with these rules?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false When must my newly manufactured equipment comply with these rules? 66.01-13 Section 66.01-13 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY AIDS TO NAVIGATION PRIVATE AIDS TO NAVIGATION Aids to Navigation Other Than...

33 CFR 66.01-13 - When must my newly manufactured equipment comply with these rules?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false When must my newly manufactured equipment comply with these rules? 66.01-13 Section 66.01-13 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY AIDS TO NAVIGATION PRIVATE AIDS TO NAVIGATION Aids to Navigation Other Than...

Seasonal and inter-annual variations of dissolved oxygen in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea (DYFAMED site)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coppola, Laurent; Legendre, Louis; Lefevre, Dominique; Prieur, Louis; Taillandier, Vincent; Diamond Riquier, Emilie

2018-03-01

Dissolved oxygen (O2) is a relevant tracer to interpret variations of both water mass properties in the open ocean and biological production in the surface layer of both coastal and open waters. Deep-water formation is very active in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea, where it influences intermediate and deep waters properties, nutrients replenishment and biological production. This study analyses, for the first time, the 20-year time series of monthly O2 concentrations at the DYFAMED long-term sampling site in the Ligurian Sea. Until the winters of 2005 and 2006, a thick and strong oxygen minimum layer was present between 200 and 1300 m because dense water formation was then local, episodic and of low intensity. In 2005-2006, intense and rapid deep convection injected 24 mol O2 m-2 between 350 and 2000 m from December 2005 to March 2006. Since this event, the deep layer has been mostly ventilated during winter time by newly formed deep water spreading from the Gulf of Lion 250 km to the west and by some local deep mixing in early 2010, 2012 and 2013. In the context of climate change, it is predicted that the intensity of deep convection will become weaker in the Mediterranean, which could potentially lead to hypoxia in intermediate and deep layers with substantial impact on marine ecosystems. With the exception of winters 2005 and 2006, the O2 changes in surface waters followed a seasonal trend that reflected the balance between air-sea O2 exchanges, changes in the depth of the mixed layer and phytoplankton net photosynthesis. We used the 20-year O2 time series to estimate monthly and annual net community production. The latter was 7.1 mol C m-2 yr-1, consistent with C-14 primary production determinations and sediment-trap carbon export fluxes at DYFAMED.

[Dry eye syndrome in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma].

PubMed

Boyko, E V; Simakova, I L; Yakushev, D Yu; Ignat'ev, S A; Alekseev, I B; Mel'nikova, N V; Alyab'ev, M V; Mal'tsev, D S

2015-01-01

to determine the frequency and severity of dry eye syndrome (DES) in primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) patients that are newly diagnosed or already receiving beta blocker instillation therapy. A total of 127 patients (190 eyes) with POAG were divided into two groups. Group 1 included 55 newly diagnosed patients (88 eyes), group 2-72 POAG patients (102 eyes) instilling timolol 0.5% twice daily into the affected eye. The control group included 20 patients (40 eyes) aged 60-88 years (73.6 ± 9.2 years on average) with early age-related cataract. DES was found in 69 POAG patients (79%) who was just starting their topical hypotensive therapy and 85 of those (84%) under treatment (p = 0.39). One should take into account when prescribing ocular hypotensive therapy that newly diagnosed POAG patients usually already suffer from a dry eye. The use of topical beta blockers that contain preservatives exacerbates dry eye signs and symptoms in these patients.

Teachers' and School Counselors' Perceptions of Their Cultural Competence in Working with Newly Arrived Latino Immigrant Students: A Mixed Methods Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guardiola Castillo, Irma V.

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore teachers' and school counselors' perceptions of their cultural competence in working with newly arrived Latino immigrant students by using a mixed instrument with closed-ended and open-ended items. Multicultural Counseling Competencies (MCC) served as the theoretical framework for this study (Sue,…

Revisiting the emissions-energy-trade nexus: evidence from the newly industrializing countries.

PubMed

Ahmed, Khalid; Shahbaz, Muhammad; Kyophilavong, Phouphet

2016-04-01

This paper applies Pedroni's panel cointegration approach to explore the causal relationship between trade openness, carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption, and economic growth for the panel of newly industrialized economies (i.e., Brazil, India, China, and South Africa) over the period of 1970-2013. Our panel cointegration estimation results found majority of the variables cointegrated and confirm the long-run association among the variables. The Granger causality test indicates bidirectional causality between carbon dioxide emissions and energy consumption. A unidirectional causality is found running from trade openness to carbon dioxide emission and energy consumption and economic growth to carbon dioxide emissions. The results of causality analysis suggest that the trade liberalization in newly industrialized economies induces higher energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. Furthermore, the causality results are checked using an innovative accounting approach which includes forecast-error variance decomposition test and impulse response function. The long-run coefficients are estimated using fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) method, and results conclude that the trade openness and economic growth reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the long run. The results of FMOLS test sound the existence of environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis. It means that trade liberalization induces carbon dioxide emission with increased national output, but it offsets that impact in the long run with reduced level of carbon dioxide emissions.

Observation of oxygen ventilation into deep waters through targeted deployment of multiple Argo-O2 floats in the north-western Mediterranean Sea in 2013

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coppola, L.; Prieur, L.; Taupier-Letage, I.; Estournel, C.; Testor, P.; Lefevre, D.; Belamari, S.; LeReste, S.; Taillandier, V.

2017-08-01

During the winter 2013, an intense observation and monitoring was performed in the north-western Mediterranean Sea to study deep water formation process that drives thermohaline circulation and biogeochemical processes (HYMEX SOP2 and DEWEX projects). To observe intensively and continuously the impact of deep convection on oxygen (O2) ventilation, an observation strategy was based on the enhancement of the Argo-O2 floats to monitor the offshore dense water formation area (DWF) in the Gulf of Lion prior to and at the end of the convective period (December 2012 to April 2013). The intense O2 measurements performed through shipborne CTD casts and Argo-O2 floats deployment revealed an O2 inventory rapidly impacted by mixed layer (ML) deepening on the month scale. The open-sea convection in winter 2013 ventilated the deep waters from mid-February to the end of May 2013. The newly ventilated dense water volume, based on an Apparent Oxygen Utilization (AOU) threshold, was estimated to be about 1.5 × 1013 m3 during the DWF episode, increasing the deep O2 concentrations from 196 to 205 µmol kg-1 in the north-western basin.

Laser-induced plasma cloud interaction and ice multiplication under cirrus cloud conditions

PubMed Central

Leisner, Thomas; Duft, Denis; Möhler, Ottmar; Saathoff, Harald; Schnaiter, Martin; Henin, Stefano; Stelmaszczyk, Kamil; Petrarca, Massimo; Delagrange, Raphaëlle; Hao, Zuoqiang; Lüder, Johannes; Petit, Yannick; Rohwetter, Philipp; Kasparian, Jérôme; Wolf, Jean-Pierre; Wöste, Ludger

2013-01-01

Potential impacts of lightning-induced plasma on cloud ice formation and precipitation have been a subject of debate for decades. Here, we report on the interaction of laser-generated plasma channels with water and ice clouds observed in a large cloud simulation chamber. Under the conditions of a typical storm cloud, in which ice and supercooled water coexist, no direct influence of the plasma channels on ice formation or precipitation processes could be detected. Under conditions typical for thin cirrus ice clouds, however, the plasma channels induced a surprisingly strong effect of ice multiplication. Within a few minutes, the laser action led to a strong enhancement of the total ice particle number density in the chamber by up to a factor of 100, even though only a 10−9 fraction of the chamber volume was exposed to the plasma channels. The newly formed ice particles quickly reduced the water vapor pressure to ice saturation, thereby increasing the cloud optical thickness by up to three orders of magnitude. A model relying on the complete vaporization of ice particles in the laser filament and the condensation of the resulting water vapor on plasma ions reproduces our experimental findings. This surprising effect might open new perspectives for remote sensing of water vapor and ice in the upper troposphere. PMID:23733936

Laser-induced plasma cloud interaction and ice multiplication under cirrus cloud conditions.

PubMed

Leisner, Thomas; Duft, Denis; Möhler, Ottmar; Saathoff, Harald; Schnaiter, Martin; Henin, Stefano; Stelmaszczyk, Kamil; Petrarca, Massimo; Delagrange, Raphaëlle; Hao, Zuoqiang; Lüder, Johannes; Petit, Yannick; Rohwetter, Philipp; Kasparian, Jérôme; Wolf, Jean-Pierre; Wöste, Ludger

2013-06-18

Potential impacts of lightning-induced plasma on cloud ice formation and precipitation have been a subject of debate for decades. Here, we report on the interaction of laser-generated plasma channels with water and ice clouds observed in a large cloud simulation chamber. Under the conditions of a typical storm cloud, in which ice and supercooled water coexist, no direct influence of the plasma channels on ice formation or precipitation processes could be detected. Under conditions typical for thin cirrus ice clouds, however, the plasma channels induced a surprisingly strong effect of ice multiplication. Within a few minutes, the laser action led to a strong enhancement of the total ice particle number density in the chamber by up to a factor of 100, even though only a 10(-9) fraction of the chamber volume was exposed to the plasma channels. The newly formed ice particles quickly reduced the water vapor pressure to ice saturation, thereby increasing the cloud optical thickness by up to three orders of magnitude. A model relying on the complete vaporization of ice particles in the laser filament and the condensation of the resulting water vapor on plasma ions reproduces our experimental findings. This surprising effect might open new perspectives for remote sensing of water vapor and ice in the upper troposphere.

High-speed pressure clamp.

PubMed

Besch, Stephen R; Suchyna, Thomas; Sachs, Frederick

2002-10-01

We built a high-speed, pneumatic pressure clamp to stimulate patch-clamped membranes mechanically. The key control element is a newly designed differential valve that uses a single, nickel-plated piezoelectric bending element to control both pressure and vacuum. To minimize response time, the valve body was designed with minimum dead volume. The result is improved response time and stability with a threefold decrease in actuation latency. Tight valve clearances minimize the steady-state air flow, permitting us to use small resonant-piston pumps to supply pressure and vacuum. To protect the valve from water contamination in the event of a broken pipette, an optical sensor detects water entering the valve and increases pressure rapidly to clear the system. The open-loop time constant for pressure is 2.5 ms for a 100-mmHg step, and the closed-loop settling time is 500-600 micros. Valve actuation latency is 120 micros. The system performance is illustrated for mechanically induced changes in patch capacitance.

FixO3 project results, legacy and module migration to EMSO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lampitt, Richard

2017-04-01

The fixed point open ocean observatory network (FixO3) project is an international project aimed at integrating in a single network all fixed point open ocean observatories operated by European organisations and to harmonise and coordinate technological, procedural and data management across the stations. The project is running for four years since September 2013 with 29 partners across Europe and a budget of 7M Euros and is now coming to its final phase. In contrast to several past programmes, the opportunity has arisen to ensure that many of the project achievements can migrate into the newly formed European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water column Observatory (EMSO) research infrastructure. The final phase of the project will focus on developing a strategy to transfer the results in an efficient way to maintain their relevance and maximise their use. In this presentation, we will highlight the significant achievements of FixO3 over the past three years focussing on the modules which will be transferred to EMSO in the coming 9 months. These include: 1. Handbook of best practices for operating fixed point observatories 2. Metadata catalogue 3. Earth Virtual Observatory (EarthVO) for data visualisation and comparison 4. Open Ocean Observatory Yellow Pages (O3YP) 5. Training material for hardware, data and data products used

Retention of Text Material under Cued and Uncued Recall and Open and Closed Book Conditions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nevid, Jeffrey S.; Pyun, Yea Seul; Cheney, Brianna

2016-01-01

Evidence supports the benefits of effortful processing in strengthening retention of newly learned material. The present study compared two forms of effortful processing, uncued (free) recall and cued recall, under both open and closed book conditions, on both immediate and delayed (one-week) test performance. Participants read a section of a…

Assessing data assimilation and model boundary error strategies for high resolution ocean model downscaling in the Northern North Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sandvig Mariegaard, Jesper; Huiban, Méven Robin; Tornfeldt Sørensen, Jacob; Andersson, Henrik

2017-04-01

Determining the optimal domain size and associated position of open boundaries in local high-resolution downscaling ocean models is often difficult. As an important input data set for downscaling ocean modelling, the European Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) provides baroclinic initial and boundary conditions for local ocean models. Tidal dynamics is often neglected in CMEMS services at large scale but tides are generally crucial for coastal ocean dynamics. To address this need, tides can be superposed via Flather (1976) boundary conditions and the combined flow downscaled using unstructured mesh. The surge component is also only partially represented in selected CMEMS products and must be modelled inside the domain and modelled independently and superposed if the domain becomes too small to model the effect in the downscaling model. The tide and surge components can generally be improved by assimilating water level from tide gauge and altimetry data. An intrinsic part of the problem is to find the limitations of local scale data assimilation and the requirement for consistency between the larger scale ocean models and the local scale assimilation methodologies. This contribution investigates the impact of domain size and associated positions of open boundaries with and without data assimilation of water level. We have used the baroclinic ocean model, MIKE 3 FM, and its newly re-factored built-in data assimilation package. We consider boundary conditions of salinity, temperature, water level and depth varying currents from the Global CMEMS 1/4 degree resolution model from 2011, where in situ ADCP velocity data is available for validation. We apply data assimilation of in-situ tide gauge water levels and along track altimetry surface elevation data from selected satellites. The MIKE 3 FM data assimilation model which use the Ensemble Kalman filter have recently been parallelized with MPI allowing for much larger applications running on HPC. The success of the downscaling is to a large degree determined by the ability to realistically describe and dynamically model the errors on the open boundaries. Three different sizes of downscaling model domains in the Northern North Sea have been examined and two different strategies for modelling the uncertainties on the open Flather boundaries are investigated. The combined downscaling and local data assimilation skill is assessed and the impact on recommended domain size is compared to pure downscaling.

Application of CCME Water Quality Index to monitor water quality: a case study of the Mackenzie River Basin, Canada.

PubMed

Lumb, Ashok; Halliwell, Doug; Sharma, Tribeni

2006-02-01

All six ecosystem initiatives evolved from many years of federal, provincial, First Nation, local government and community attention to the stresses on sensitive habitats and species, air and water quality, and the consequent threats to community livability. This paper assesses water quality aspect for the ecosystem initiatives and employs newly developed Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Water Quality Index (CCME WQI) which provides a convenient mean of summarizing complex water quality data that can be easily understood by the public, water distributors, planners, managers and policy makers. The CCME WQI incorporates three elements: Scope - the number of water quality parameters (variables) not meeting water quality objectives (F(1)); Frequency - the number of times the objectives are not met (F(2)); and Amplitude. the extent to which the objectives are not met (F(3)). The index produces a number between 0 (worst) to 100 (best) to reflect the water quality. This study evaluates water quality of the Mackenzie - Great Bear sub-basin by employing two modes of objective functions (threshold values): one based on the CCME water quality guidelines and the other based on site-specific values that were determined by the statistical analysis of the historical data base. Results suggest that the water quality of the Mackenzie-Great Bear sub-basin is impacted by high turbidity and total (mostly particulate) trace metals due to high suspended sediment loads during the open water season. Comments are also provided on water quality and human health issues in the Mackenzie basin based on the findings and the usefulness of CCME water quality guidelines and site specific values.

Characterization of the Newly Developed Soybean Cultivar DT2008 in Relation to the Model Variety W82 Reveals a New Genetic Resource for Comparative and Functional Genomics for Improved Drought Tolerance

PubMed Central

Ha, Chien Van; Le, Dung Tien; Nishiyama, Rie; Watanabe, Yasuko; Tran, Uyen Thi; Dong, Nguyen Van; Tran, Lam-Son Phan

2013-01-01

Soybean (Glycine max) productivity is adversely affected by drought stress worldwide, including Vietnam. In the last few years, we have made a great effort in the development of drought-tolerant soybean cultivars by breeding and/or radiation-induced mutagenesis. One of the newly developed cultivars, the DT2008, showed enhanced drought tolerance and stable yield in the field conditions. The purpose of this study was to compare the drought-tolerant phenotype of DT2008 and Williams 82 (W82) by assessing their water loss and growth rate under dehydration and/or drought stress conditions as a means to provide genetic resources for further comparative and functional genomics. We found that DT2008 had reduced water loss under both dehydration and drought stresses in comparison with W82. The examination of root and shoot growths of DT2008 and W82 under both normal and drought conditions indicated that DT2008 maintains a better shoot and root growth rates than W82 under both two growth conditions. These results together suggest that DT2008 has better drought tolerance degree than W82. Our results open the way for further comparison of DT2008 and W82 at molecular levels by advanced omic approaches to identify mutation(s) involved in the enhancement of drought tolerance of DT2008, contributing to our understanding of drought tolerance mechanisms in soybean. Mutation(s) identified are potential candidates for genetic engineering of elite soybean varieties to improve drought tolerance and biomass. PMID:23509774

Regulation of hTERT Expression and Function in Newly Immortalized p53(+) Human Mammary Epithelial Cell Lines

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-06-01

proteins during embryogene- sis, neurodevelopment and cancer. Part of their function is through the repression of CKIs, including p16. Some functions...protein 2 Other AUTS2 autism susceptibility candidate 2 C1orf24 chromosome 1 open reading frame 24 C20orf97 chromosome 20 open reading frame 97

Regulation of hTERT Expression and Function in Newly Immortalized p53(+) Human Mammary Epithelial Cell Lines

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-06-01

embryogene- sis, neurodevelopment and cancer. Part of their function is through the repression of CKIs, including p16. Some functions have been attributed to...AUTS2 autism susceptibility candidate 2 C1orf24 chromosome 1 open reading frame 24 C20orf97 chromosome 20 open reading frame 97 DKFZP566B183

Detonation Diffraction in a Multi-Step Channel

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-12-01

openings. This allowed the detonation wave diffraction transmission limits to be determined for hydrogen/air mixtures and to better understand...imaging systems to provide shock wave detail and velocity information. The images were observed through a newly designed explosive proof optical section...stepped openings. This allowed the detonation wave diffraction transmission limits to be determined for hydrogen/air mixtures and to better

Direction of ground-water flow in the surficial aquifer in the vicinity of impact areas G-10 and K-2, Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base, North Carolina, 2004

USGS Publications Warehouse

Harden, Stephen L.; Howe, Stephen S.; Terziotti, Silvia

2004-01-01

Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune is located in Onslow County in the North Carolina Coastal Plain. In support of North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resource requirements, Camp Lejeune is developing a site closure plan for two Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulated open burn/open detonation (OB/OD) facilities located within Impact Area K-2 and Impact Area G-10, respectively. Both Impact Areas are used for training activities involving live artillery fire. The two OB/OD facilities are used to treat RCRA regulated waste munitions. To provide Base officials with information needed for assessing the quality of ground water at these sites, hydrologic data were used to characterize groundwater flow directions and hydraulic gradients in the surficial aquifer underlying the Impact Areas. Water-level data in the unconfined surficial aquifer and potentiometric head data in the underlying Castle Hayne aquifer were compiled from existing and newly drilled wells. Water-table contour maps were developed for Impact Areas K-2 and G-10 to examine the direction of ground-water flow in the surficial aquifer. The primary directions of ground-water flow beneath K-2 are southward and eastward toward discharge zones along the New River and its tributaries. Beneath interior areas of G-10, water in the surficial aquifer flows outward in all directions toward discharge zones along local streams that drain westward to the New River or to streams that drain southward and eastward to the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean. Long-term water-level data for the period October 1994 through September 2004 at selected Camp Lejeune well sites were used to examine trends in ground-water levels and vertical hydraulic gradients between the surficial and Castle Hayne aquifers. Evaluation of water-level data for three wells in the surficial aquifer indicated no significant trends for this period of record. The apparent water-level declines in two of the three Castle Hayne wells examined are likely the result of local pumping of the Castle Hayne aquifer. Vertical hydraulic gradients determined for two well cluster sites indicate a downward flow of water from the surficial aquifer into the underlying Castle Hayne aquifer.

Highly robust thin-film composite pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) hollow fiber membranes with high power densities for renewable salinity-gradient energy generation.

PubMed

Han, Gang; Wang, Peng; Chung, Tai-Shung

2013-07-16

The practical application of pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) technology for renewable blue energy (i.e., osmotic power generation) from salinity gradient is being hindered by the absence of effective membranes. Compared to flat-sheet membranes, membranes with a hollow fiber configuration are of great interest due to their high packing density and spacer-free module fabrication. However, the development of PRO hollow fiber membranes is still in its infancy. This study aims to open up new perspectives and design strategies to molecularly construct highly robust thin film composite (TFC) PRO hollow fiber membranes with high power densities. The newly developed TFC PRO membranes consist of a selective polyamide skin formed on the lumen side of well-constructed Matrimid hollow fiber supports via interfacial polymerization. For the first time, laboratory PRO power generation tests demonstrate that the newly developed PRO hollow fiber membranes can withstand trans-membrane pressures up to 16 bar and exhibit a peak power density as high as 14 W/m(2) using seawater brine (1.0 M NaCl) as the draw solution and deionized water as the feed. We believe that the developed TFC PRO hollow fiber membranes have great potential for osmotic power harvesting.

Rapid photosynthetic acclimation of Shorea johorensis seedlings after logging disturbance in Central Kalimantan.

PubMed

Clearwater, M J; Susilawaty, R; Effendi, R; van Gardingen, P R

1999-12-01

This study examined the photosynthetic acclimation of pre-existing Shorea johorensis (Dipterocarpaceae) seedlings to the change in conditions that occurs at the time of logging in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. The hypothesis was that the seedlings would be unable to acclimate beyond partially open conditions after canopy disturbance caused by logging, therefore limiting the potential for regeneration in the most open areas. Bleaching and reductions in the predawn ratio of variable to maximum fluorescence (F v /F m ) indicated chronic photoinhibition and damage to the previously shade-adapted leaves of seedlings in an area logged 2 weeks earlier. The majority of seedlings in partially open and open environments of an area logged 3 months earlier were already growing fast. Leaves that had developed in the new environment showed only small reductions in predawn F v /F m and large increases in the light saturated rate of photosynthesis (A max ) per unit area when compared to shaded seedlings. Leaves in the most open environments had higher but more variable nitrogen concentrations, A max per unit area and A max per unit mass when compared to seedlings in partially open environments. Increases in dark respiration were disproportionately large compared to increases in A max , and may have been the result of increased investment in photoprotective mechanisms. The response of stomatal conductance to the vapour pressure deficit and leaf temperature was examined, but it suggested only a 10% reduction in daily leaf level carbon gain in open environments. The ratio of leaf area to fine root mass was highest in shade-suppressed and newly exposed seedlings, suggesting a potential hydraulic limitation to transpiration during acclimation. However, rainfall during this period was high and leaf water potentials did not differ between disturbed and undisturbed environments. S. johorensis seedlings were capable of significant acclimation to conditions more extreme than partial canopy opening. Low seedling density after logging during the wet season cannot be explained by a limited potential for photosynthetic acclimation.

Influence of Applying Additional Forcing Fans for the Air Distribution in Ventilation Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Szlązak, Nikodem; Obracaj, Dariusz; Korzec, Marek

2016-09-01

Mining progress in underground mines cause the ongoing movement of working areas. Consequently, it becomes necessary to adapt the ventilation network of a mine to direct airflow into newly-opened districts. For economic reasons, opening new fields is often achieved via underground workings. Length of primary intake and return routes increases and also increases the total resistance of a complex ventilation network. The development of a subsurface structure can make it necessary to change the air distribution in a ventilation network. Increasing airflow into newly-opened districts is necessary. In mines where extraction does not entail gas-related hazards, there is possibility of implementing a push-pull ventilation system in order to supplement airflows to newly developed mining fields. This is achieved by installing subsurface fan stations with forcing fans at the bottom of downcast shaft. In push-pull systems with multiple main fans, it is vital to select forcing fans with characteristic curves matching those of the existing exhaust fans to prevent undesirable mutual interaction. In complex ventilation networks it is necessary to calculate distribution of airflow (especially in networks with a large number of installed fans). In the article the influence of applying additional forcing fans for the air distribution in ventilation network for underground mine were considered. There are also analysed the extent of overpressure caused by the additional forcing fan in branches of the ventilation network (the operating range of additional forcing fan). Possibilities of increasing airflow rate in working areas were conducted.

Wind energy input into the upper ocean over a lengthening open water season

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahoney, A. R.; Rolph, R.; Walsh, J. E.

2017-12-01

Wind energy input into the ocean has important consequences for upper ocean mixing, heat and gas exchange, and air-sea momentum transfer. In the Arctic, the open water season is increasing and extending further into the fall storm season, allowing for more wind energy input into the water column. The rate at which the delayed freeze-up timing extends into fall storm season is an important metric to evaluate because the expanding overlap between the open water period and storm season could contribute a significant amount of wind energy into the water column in a relatively short period of time. We have shown that time-integrated wind speeds over open water in the Chukchi Sea and southern Beaufort region have increased since 1979 through 2014. An integrated wind energy input value is calculated for each year in this domain over the open water season, as well as for periods over partial concentrations of ice cover. Spatial variation of this integrated wind energy is shown along the Alaskan coastline, which can have implications for different rates of coastal erosion. Spatial correlation between average wind speed over open water and open water season length from 1979-2014 show positive values in the southern Beaufort, but negative values in the northern Chukchi. This suggests possible differences in the role of the ocean on open water season length depending on region. We speculate that the warm Pacific water outflow plays a more dominant role in extending the open water season length in the northern Chukchi when compared to the southern Beaufort, and might help explain why we can show there is a relatively longer open water season length there. The negative and positive correlations in wind speeds over open water and open water season length might also be explained by oceanic changes tending to operate on longer timescales than the atmosphere. Seasonal timescales of wind events such as regional differences in overlap of the extended open water season due to regional differences in delayed freeze-up into the fall storm season are also investigated. In addition, we have shown that the increased integrated wind energy input over open water values are more a result of the increased open water season length, rather than the increase in wind speeds over open water.

Interchange Reconnection Associated with a Confined Filament Eruption: Implications for the Source of Transient Cold-dense Plasma in Solar Winds

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zheng, Ruisheng; Chen, Yao; Wang, Bing

The cold-dense plasma is occasionally detected in the solar wind with in situ data, but the source of the cold-dense plasma remains illusive. Interchange reconnections (IRs) between closed fields and nearby open fields are known to contribute to the formation of solar winds. We present a confined filament eruption associated with a puff-like coronal mass ejection (CME) on 2014 December 24. The filament underwent successive activations and finally erupted, due to continuous magnetic flux cancelations and emergences. The confined erupting filament showed a clear untwist motion, and most of the filament material fell back. During the eruption, some tiny blobsmore » escaped from the confined filament body, along newly formed open field lines rooted around the south end of the filament, and some bright plasma flowed from the north end of the filament to remote sites at nearby open fields. The newly formed open field lines shifted southward with multiple branches. The puff-like CME also showed multiple bright fronts and a clear southward shift. All the results indicate an intermittent IR existed between closed fields of the confined erupting filament and nearby open fields, which released a portion of filament material (blobs) to form the puff-like CME. We suggest that the IR provides a possible source of cold-dense plasma in the solar wind.« less

40 CFR 148.17 - Waste specific prohibitions; newly listed wastes.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 22 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Waste specific prohibitions; newly listed wastes. 148.17 Section 148.17 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) WATER PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) HAZARDOUS WASTE INJECTION RESTRICTIONS Prohibitions on Injection § 148.17...

40 CFR 148.18 - Waste specific prohibitions-newly listed and identified wastes.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 22 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Waste specific prohibitions-newly listed and identified wastes. 148.18 Section 148.18 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) WATER PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) HAZARDOUS WASTE INJECTION RESTRICTIONS Prohibitions on...

CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF NEWLY DISCOVERED IODOACID DRINKING WATER DISINFECTION BYPRODUCTS

EPA Science Inventory

Iodoacid drinking water disinfection byproducts (DBPs) were recently uncovered in drinking water samples from source water with a high bromide/iodide concentration that was disinfected with chloramines. The purpose of this paper is to report the analytical chemical identification...

Microbiological evaluation of a newly designed dental air-turbine handpiece for anti-cross contaminations.

PubMed

Ohsuka, S; Ohta, M; Masuda, K; Kaneda, T; Ueda, M

1994-01-01

The effectiveness of a newly developed anti-cross contamination device for a dental air-turbine handpiece was tested. The handpiece with or without the anti-cross contamination device was contaminated with two bacterial strains, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus mutans, as well as two bacteriophage strains, T2 and MS2. After contamination with these microorganisms, the handpieces were disinfected with glutaraldehyde or replaced with newly autoclaved ones. Residual microorganisms inside the handpiece or an air/water supply hose line were collected and counted after overnight cultivation. The anti-cross contamination device effectively reduced the contamination level of an air-turbine handpiece to that of the negative control. No microbial contamination in the air/water supply hose line was detected with this device.

Practice and payment preferences of newly practising family physicians in British Columbia

PubMed Central

Brcic, Vanessa; McGregor, Margaret J.; Kaczorowski, Janusz; Dharamsi, Shafik; Verma, Serena

2012-01-01

Abstract Objective To examine the remuneration model preferences of newly practising family physicians. Design Mixed-methods study comprising a cross-sectional, Web-based survey, as well as qualitative content analysis of answers to open-ended questions. Setting British Columbia. Participants University of British Columbia family practice residents who graduated between 2000 and 2009. Main outcome measures Preferred remuneration models of newly practising physicians. Results The survey response rate was 31% (133 of 430). Of respondents, 71% (93 of 132) preferred non–fee-for-service practice models and 86% (110 of 132) identified the payment model as very or somewhat important in their choice of future practice. Three principal themes were identified from content analysis of respondents’ open-ended comments: frustrations with fee-for-service billing, which encompassed issues related to aggravations with “the business side of things” and was seen as impeding “the freedom to focus on medicine”; quality of patient care, which embraced the importance of a payment model that supported “comprehensive patient care” and “quality rather than quantity”; and freedom to choose, which supported the plurality of practice preferences among providers who strived to provide quality care for patients, “whatever model you happen to be working in.” Conclusion Newly practising physicians in British Columbia preferred alternatives to fee-for-service payment models, which were perceived as contributing to fewer frustrations with billing systems, improved quality of work life, and better quality of patient care. PMID:22586205

Long boundary drainage as a source of lahars: Can big cracks make big floods?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, P. J.; Valentine, G.; Lowry, C.; Sonder, I.; Stauffer, P. H.; Santacoloma, C.; Pulgarín, B.; Adriana, A.

2016-12-01

Two phreatic eruptions in 2007 at Nevado del Huila Volcano, Colombia, were associated with the formation of very large (estimated 2,000 m long by 50 m wide) fracture systems at the summit of the volcano. Lahars with volumes up to 75 million m3 followed formation of these fissures, damaging villages downstream. Previous work suggested that water for these lahars was sourced at least in part by groundwater within the edifice that was rapidly expelled during the eruptions. The mechanisms for the rapid release of large volumes of water are unclear and cannot be uniquely constrained based on available data, leading to multiple conceptual models. We examine one conceptual model in which water discharge results primarily from gravity-driven drainage through the walls of the newly-opened fracture. The presence of a topographically low pour-point on the side of the edifice allows this leaking water to escape, forming a lahar. Steady state calculations and numerical modeling of transient-state fluid flow using the Finite Element Heat and Mass model (FEHM, https://fehm.lanl.gov) are used to estimate the resulting discharges. Our results show that a pulse of water is rapidly released through a new fracture, with discharge decreasing as the medium drains. Emitted water volumes depend on the dimensions of the crack and particularly sensitive to the height of the draining fracture wall and the magnitude of the permeability increase created during the fracturing event. Hazardous lahar events could be generated by this mechanism if large cracks form in water-bearing edifices elsewhere.

A novel nanoemulsion-based method to produce ultrasmall, water-dispersible nanoparticles from chitosan, surface modified with cell-penetrating peptide for oral delivery of proteins and peptides

PubMed Central

Barbari, Ghullam Reza; Dorkoosh, Farid Abedin; Amini, Mohsen; Sharifzadeh, Mohammad; Atyabi, Fateme; Balalaie, Saeed; Rafiee Tehrani, Niyousha; Rafiee Tehrani, Morteza

2017-01-01

A simple and reproducible water-in-oil (W/O) nanoemulsion technique for making ultrasmall (<15 nm), monodispersed and water-dispersible nanoparticles (NPs) from chitosan (CS) is reported. The nano-sized (50 nm) water pools of the W/O nanoemulsion serve as “nano-containers and nano-reactors”. The entrapped polymer chains of CS inside these “nano-reactors” are covalently cross-linked with the chains of polyethylene glycol (PEG), leading to rigidification and formation of NPs. These NPs possess excessive swelling properties in aqueous medium and preserve integrity in all pH ranges due to chemical cross-linking with PEG. A potent and newly developed cell-penetrating peptide (CPP) is further chemically conjugated to the surface of the NPs, leading to development of a novel peptide-conjugated derivative of CS with profound tight-junction opening properties. The CPP-conjugated NPs can easily be loaded with almost all kinds of proteins, peptides and nucleotides for oral delivery applications. Feasibility of this nanoparticulate system for oral delivery of a model peptide (insulin) is investigated in Caco-2 cell line. The cell culture results for translocation of insulin across the cell monolayer are very promising (15%–19% increase), and animal studies are actively under progress and will be published separately. PMID:28496323

75 FR 13454 - Special Local Regulation, Fran Schnarr Open Water Championships, Huntington Bay, NY

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-22

...-AA08 Special Local Regulation, Fran Schnarr Open Water Championships, Huntington Bay, NY AGENCY: Coast... navigable waters of Huntington Bay, New York due to the annual Fran Schnarr Open Water Championships. The..., ``Special Local Regulation, Fran Schnarr Open Water Championships, Huntington Bay, NY'' (Docket number USCG...

Newly reported lupus and rheumatoid arthritis in relation to deployment within proximity to a documented open-air burn pit in Iraq.

PubMed

Jones, Kelly A; Smith, Besa; Granado, Nisara S; Boyko, Edward J; Gackstetter, Gary D; Ryan, Margaret A K; Phillips, Christopher J; Smith, Tyler C

2012-06-01

To assess the relationship between possible exposure to smoke from documented open-air burn pits and newly reported lupus and rheumatoid arthritis among Millennium Cohort participants who have deployed in support of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Prospectively assessed self-reported lupus and rheumatoid arthritis among deployers who completed both 2004-2006 and 2007-2008 questionnaires. After exclusions, more than 18,000 participants were deployed, including more than 3000 participants deployed within a 3-mile radius of a documented burn pit. After adjustment, proximity within 3 miles of a burn pit was not significantly associated with rheumatoid arthritis or lupus in general; however, one location was associated with lupus, although few cases were at this site (n = 2). Results indicate deployers potentially exposed to documented burn pits in the combined three-camp analysis were not at an elevated risk of lupus or rheumatoid arthritis.

The effects of exposure to documented open-air burn pits on respiratory health among deployers of the Millennium Cohort Study.

PubMed

Smith, Besa; Wong, Charlene A; Boyko, Edward J; Phillips, Christopher J; Gackstetter, Gary D; Ryan, Margaret A K; Smith, Tyler C

2012-06-01

To investigate respiratory illnesses and potential open-air burn pit exposure among Millennium Cohort participants who deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. Using multivariable logistic regression, newly reported chronic bronchitis or emphysema, newly reported asthma, and self-reported respiratory symptoms and possible burn pit exposure within 2, 3, or 5 miles were examined among Army and Air Force deployers surveyed in 2004 to 2006 and 2007 to 2008 (n = 22,844). Burn pit exposure within 3 or 5 miles was not associated with respiratory outcomes after statistical adjustment. Increased symptom reporting was observed among Air Force deployers located within 2 miles of Joint Base Balad; however, this finding was marginally significant with no evidence of trend. In general, these findings do not support an elevated risk for respiratory outcomes among personnel deployed within proximity of documented burn pits in Iraq.

FORMULATION AND STABILITY EVALUATION OF BAUHINIA VARIEGATA EXTRACT TOPICAL EMULSION.

PubMed

Mohsin, Sabeeh; Akhtar, Naveed

2017-05-01

This study presents the results for the development of water in oil (W/O) emulsion containing 2 % Bauhinia variegata (BV) extract with good antioxidant potential for cosmetic application. Different ratios of surfactant, oil and water were investigated to optimize the ratio of ingredients. It was found that emulsifier and oil4ratio were important in improving the stability of emulsion. The formulation having 2.5% Abil EM90, 12% liquid paraffin, 83.5% distilled water and 2% BV extract was found to be most stable. Stability of the formulation was further evaluated by characterizing for organoleptic, sedimentation, microscopic and rheological properties at a range of storage conditions for a period of 12 weeks. Experimental findings showed stable formulation behavior with respect to color change, liquefaction and phase separation. Centrifugation test was carried out to predict the long term stability..The rheological parameters were evaluated from Power Law and the flow index value less than 1 suggested non-Newtonian behavior of the W/O emulsion. The mean droplet size of the internal phase of freshly prepared formulation was 4.06 ? 1.99 pm that did not change significantly (p > 0.05) during the storage. The newly developed formulation exhibited promising attributes over long term storage and open opportunities for the topical delivery of natural antioxidants for cosmetic and pharmaceutical objectives.

Postreplication Repair of Ultraviolet Damage in Haemophilus influenzae

PubMed Central

Leclerc, J. Eugene; Setlow, Jane K.

1972-01-01

The deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesized following ultraviolet (UV) irradiation of wild-type (Rd) and recombination-defective strains of Haemophilus influenzae has been analyzed by alkaline sucrose gradient sedimentation. Strain Rd and a UV-resistant, recombination-defective strain Rd(DB117) rec− are able to carry out postreplication repair, i.e., close the single-strand gaps in the newly synthesized DNA; in the UV-sensitive, recombination-defective strain DB117, the gaps remain open. The lack of postreplication repair in this strain may be the result of degradation of the newly synthesized DNA. PMID:4537422

A Nitrile Hydratase in the Eukaryote Monosiga brevicollis

PubMed Central

Foerstner, Konrad U.; Doerks, Tobias; Muller, Jean; Raes, Jeroen; Bork, Peer

2008-01-01

Bacterial nitrile hydratase (NHases) are important industrial catalysts and waste water remediation tools. In a global computational screening of conventional and metagenomic sequence data for NHases, we detected the two usually separated NHase subunits fused in one protein of the choanoflagellate Monosiga brevicollis, a recently sequenced unicellular model organism from the closest sister group of Metazoa. This is the first time that an NHase is found in eukaryotes and the first time it is observed as a fusion protein. The presence of an intron, subunit fusion and expressed sequence tags covering parts of the gene exclude contamination and suggest a functional gene. Phylogenetic analyses and genomic context imply a probable ancient horizontal gene transfer (HGT) from proteobacteria. The newly discovered NHase might open biotechnological routes due to its unconventional structure, its new type of host and its apparent integration into eukaryotic protein networks. PMID:19096720

The corrosion behavior of Fe-Mn-Al weld metals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aidun, Daryush K.

2001-02-01

The corrosion resistance of a newly developed iron-base, Fe-Mn-Al austenitic, and duplex weld metal has been examined in the NACE solution consisting of 5 wt.% NaCl, 0.5 wt.% acetic acid, and the balance distilled water. The electrochemical techniques such as potentiodynamic polarization, Tafel plots, linear polarization, cyclic polarization, and open-circuit potential versus time were employed. The Fe-Mn-Al weld metals did not passivate and exhibited high corrosion rates. Fe-Cr-Ni (310 and 316) weld and base metals were also examined in the NACE solution at room temperature. The 310 and 316 base metals were more resistant to corrosion than the as-welded 310 and 316 weld metals. Postweld heat treatment (PWHT) improved the corrosion performance of the Fe-Mn-Al weld metals. The corrosion resistance of Fe-Mn-Al weld metals after PWHT was still inferior to that of the 310 and 316 weld and base metals.

Trade Openness and Domestic Water Use

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dang, Qian; Konar, Megan

2018-01-01

We contribute to the debate over globalization and the environment by asking, what is the impact of trade on national water use? To address this question, we employ econometric methods to quantify the causal relationship between trade openness and water use. Specifically, we use the instrumental variables methodology to evaluate the impact of trade openness on domestic water withdrawals in agriculture and industry. We find that trade openness does not have a significant impact on total or industrial water withdrawals. However, we show that one percentage point increase in trade openness leads to a 5.21% decrease in agricultural water withdrawals. We find that trade openness reduces water use in agriculture primarily through the intensive margin effect, by leading farmers to produce more with less water, such as through the adoption of technology. We do not find evidence for extensive margin or crop mix impacts on agricultural water withdrawals. Significantly, these results demonstrate that trade openness leads to less water use in agriculture. This finding has broad scientific and policy relevance as we endeavor to untangle causal relationships in the complex global food system and develop policies to achieve water and food security.

Adrenocortical Carcinoma Treatment (PDQ®)—Health Professional Version

Cancer.gov

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC or adrenal cancer) treatment is usually radical open complete resection and may include chemotherapy and radiation. Get detailed information about the prognosis and treatment of newly diagnosed and recurrent ACC in this comprehensive summary for clinicians.

EXPLORATORY OCCURRENCE STUDY OF NEWLY EMERGING PATHOGENS IN POTABLE WATER

EPA Science Inventory

Recent attention has focused on the potential transmission via drinking water of two bacterial pathogens, Aeromonas and Helicobacter pylori, both of which are included in the current Contaminant Candidate List. Aeromonas bacteria occur naturally in surface waters and have been i...

Reconnaissance investigation of water quality, bottom sediment, and biota associated with irrigation drainage in the Dolores Project area, southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah, 1990-91

USGS Publications Warehouse

Butler, D.L.; Krueger, R.P.; Osmundson, B.C.; Jensen, E.G.

1995-01-01

Water, bottom-sediment, and biota samples were collected in 1990-91 to identify water-quality problems associated with irrigation drainage in the Dolores Project area. Concentrations of cadmium, mercury, and selenium in some water samples exceeded aquatic-life criteria. Selenium was associated with irrigaton drainage from the Dolores Project, but other trace elements may be transported into the area in the irrigation water supply. Selenium concentrations exceeded the chronic aquatic-life criterion in water samples from lower McElmo Creek and Navajo Wash, which drain the Montezuma Valley, from newly irrigated areas, and from the Mancos River. The maximum selenium con- centration in water was 88 micrograms per liter from Navajo Wash. Concentrations of herbicides in water were less than concentrations harmful to aquatic life. Selenium concentrations in four bottom-sediment samples exceeded the baseline concentrations for soils in the Western United States. The largest selenium concentrations in biota were in samples from Navajo Wash, from newly irrigated areas north of the Montezuma Valley, and from the Mancos River basin. Selenium concentrations in aquatic-invertebrate samples from the newly irrigated areas exceeded a guideline for food items consumed by fish and wildlife. Selenium concen- trations in whole-body suckers were larger in the San Juan River downstream from the Dolores Project than upstream from the project at Four Corners. Selenium concentrations in fathead minnow samples from two sites were at adverse-effect levels. Mercury concentrations in warm-water game fish in reservoirs in the study area may be of concern to human health. Some concentrations of other trace elements exceeded background concentrations, but the concentrations were not toxicologically significant or the toxicologic significance is not known.

Common and unique elements of the ABA-regulated transcriptome of Arabidopsis guard cells

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background In the presence of drought and other desiccating stresses, plants synthesize and redistribute the phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA). ABA promotes plant water conservation by acting on specialized cells in the leaf epidermis, guard cells, which border and regulate the apertures of stomatal pores through which transpirational water loss occurs. Following ABA exposure, solute uptake into guard cells is rapidly inhibited and solute loss is promoted, resulting in inhibition of stomatal opening and promotion of stomatal closure, with consequent plant water conservation. There is a wealth of information on the guard cell signaling mechanisms underlying these rapid ABA responses. To investigate ABA regulation of gene expression in guard cells in a systematic genome-wide manner, we analyzed data from global transcriptomes of guard cells generated with Affymetrix ATH1 microarrays, and compared these results to ABA regulation of gene expression in leaves and other tissues. Results The 1173 ABA-regulated genes of guard cells identified by our study share significant overlap with ABA-regulated genes of other tissues, and are associated with well-defined ABA-related promoter motifs such as ABREs and DREs. However, we also computationally identified a unique cis-acting motif, GTCGG, associated with ABA-induction of gene expression specifically in guard cells. In addition, approximately 300 genes showing ABA-regulation unique to this cell type were newly uncovered by our study. Within the ABA-regulated gene set of guard cells, we found that many of the genes known to encode ion transporters associated with stomatal opening are down-regulated by ABA, providing one mechanism for long-term maintenance of stomatal closure during drought. We also found examples of both negative and positive feedback in the transcriptional regulation by ABA of known ABA-signaling genes, particularly with regard to the PYR/PYL/RCAR class of soluble ABA receptors and their downstream targets, the type 2C protein phosphatases. Our data also provide evidence for cross-talk at the transcriptional level between ABA and another hormonal inhibitor of stomatal opening, methyl jasmonate. Conclusions Our results engender new insights into the basic cell biology of guard cells, reveal common and unique elements of ABA-regulation of gene expression in guard cells, and set the stage for targeted biotechnological manipulations to improve plant water use efficiency. PMID:21554708

Importance of regular testing of private drinking water systems in North Carolina.

PubMed

Barros, Nirmalla; Rudo, Kenneth; Shehee, Mina

2014-01-01

North Carolina state laws require that water from newly constructed private wells be tested for chemical and microbiologic contamination, but existing wells are not routinely tested. This commentary highlights the importance of regular testing of all private sources of drinking water.

EPA and USGS scientists conduct study to determine prevalence of newly-emerging contaminants in treated and untreated drinking water

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Scientists from the EPA and USGS are collaborating on a research study to determine the presence of contaminants of emerging concern in treated and untreated drinking water collected from drinking water treatment plants.

Changes in sub-soil river water quality upon its open storage-a case study.

PubMed

Mohanty, A K; Satpathy, K K; Prasad, M V R

2017-08-01

A study was carried out to investigate the changes in the physicochemical and biological properties of sub-soil river water upon its storage in a man-made reservoir. Palar sub-soil and reservoir water samples were collated fortnightly for a period of 5 years (2010-2014). The open reservoir is used as a reliable raw water source for condenser cooling systems and for the demineralizing (DM) plant input of Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR), Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS), and other laboratories at Kalpakkam, southeast coast of India. Relatively high nutrient concentration was observed in the Palar sub-soil water, and a significant reduction in average concentration (μmol l -1 ) of phosphate (Palar 1.92; open reservoir 1.54) and nitrate (Palar 9.78; open reservoir 5.67) was observed from Palar to open reservoir. Substantial increase in pH (Palar 8.05; open reservoir 8.45), dissolved oxygen (mg l -1 ) (Palar 6.07; open reservoir 8.47), and chlorophyll-a (mg m -3 ) (Palar 1.66; open reservoir 8.43) values were noticed from the Palar sub-soil water to open reservoir water. It is concluded that sub-soil water with higher nutrient concentrations when stored openly, exposing to the sun, resulted in growth of plants, planktonic, and macrophytes, which led to substantial deterioration in water quality from its utility point of view as a condenser cooling medium and raw water input for DM plant.

Low temperature barrier wellbores formed using water flushing

DOEpatents

McKinzie, II; John, Billy [Houston, TX; Keltner, Thomas Joseph [Spring, TX

2009-03-10

A method of forming an opening for a low temperature well is described. The method includes drilling an opening in a formation. Water is introduced into the opening to displace drilling fluid or indigenous gas in the formation adjacent to a portion of the opening. Water is produced from the opening. A low temperature fluid is applied to the opening.

Conflict resolution in an ant-plant interaction: Acacia constricta traits reduce ant costs to reproduction.

PubMed

Nicklen, E Fleur; Wagner, Diane

2006-05-01

Many plant species attract ants onto their foliage with food rewards or nesting space. However, ants can interfere with plant reproduction when they visit flowers. This study tests whether Acacia constricta separates visiting ant species temporally or spatially from newly opened inflorescences and pollinators. The diurnal activity patterns of ants and A. constricta pollinators peaked at different times of day, and the activity of pollinators followed the daily dehiscence of A. constricta inflorescences. In addition to being largely temporally separated, ants rarely visited open inflorescences. A floral ant repellent contributes to the spatial separation of ants and inflorescences. In a field experiment, ants of four species were given equal access to inflorescences in different developmental stages. On average, the frequency with which ants made initial, antennal contact with the floral stages did not differ, but ants significantly avoided secondary contact with newly opened inflorescences relative to buds and old inflorescences, and old inflorescences relative to buds. Ants also avoided contact with pollen alone, indicating that pollen is at least one source of the repellent. The results suggest A. constricta has effectively resolved the potential conflict between visiting ants and plant reproduction.

Scalar collapse in AdS with an OpenCL open source code

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liebling, Steven L.; Khanna, Gaurav

2017-10-01

We study the spherically symmetric collapse of a scalar field in anti-de Sitter spacetime using a newly constructed, open-source code which parallelizes over heterogeneous architectures using the open standard OpenCL. An open question for this scenario concerns how to tell, a priori, whether some form of initial data will be stable or will instead develop under the turbulent instability into a black hole in the limit of vanishing amplitude. Previous work suggested the existence of islands of stability around quasi-periodic solutions, and we use this new code to examine the stability properties of approximately quasi-periodic solutions which balance energy transfer to higher modes with energy transfer to lower modes. The evolutions provide some evidence, though not conclusively, for stability of initial data sufficiently close to quasiperiodic solutions.

Applying an Archetype-Based Approach to Electroencephalography/Event-Related Potential Experiments in the EEGBase Resource.

PubMed

Papež, Václav; Mouček, Roman

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study is to investigate the feasibility of applying openEHR (an archetype-based approach for electronic health records representation) to modeling data stored in EEGBase, a portal for experimental electroencephalography/event-related potential (EEG/ERP) data management. The study evaluates re-usage of existing openEHR archetypes and proposes a set of new archetypes together with the openEHR templates covering the domain. The main goals of the study are to (i) link existing EEGBase data/metadata and openEHR archetype structures and (ii) propose a new openEHR archetype set describing the EEG/ERP domain since this set of archetypes currently does not exist in public repositories. The main methodology is based on the determination of the concepts obtained from EEGBase experimental data and metadata that are expressible structurally by the openEHR reference model and semantically by openEHR archetypes. In addition, templates as the third openEHR resource allow us to define constraints over archetypes. Clinical Knowledge Manager (CKM), a public openEHR archetype repository, was searched for the archetypes matching the determined concepts. According to the search results, the archetypes already existing in CKM were applied and the archetypes not existing in the CKM were newly developed. openEHR archetypes support linkage to external terminologies. To increase semantic interoperability of the new archetypes, binding with the existing odML electrophysiological terminology was assured. Further, to increase structural interoperability, also other current solutions besides EEGBase were considered during the development phase. Finally, a set of templates using the selected archetypes was created to meet EEGBase requirements. A set of eleven archetypes that encompassed the domain of experimental EEG/ERP measurements were identified. Of these, six were reused without changes, one was extended, and four were newly created. All archetypes were arranged in the templates reflecting the EEGBase metadata structure. A mechanism of odML terminology referencing was proposed to assure semantic interoperability of the archetypes. The openEHR approach was found to be useful not only for clinical purposes but also for experimental data modeling.

75 FR 56133 - Savannah Coastal Refuges' Complex, GA and SC

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-15

..., open waters, forested habitats, scrub/shrub habitats, grasslands, and open lands. All ponds, levees... management programs for impoundments, beaches, wetlands, open waters, forested habitats, scrub/shrub habitats... habitat management strategy. Impoundments, beaches, wetlands, open waters, forested habitats, scrub/shrub...

Epidemiologic Observations on Diarrhea Developing in U.S. and Mexican Students Living in Guadalajara, Mexico.

PubMed

Ericsson; DuPont; Mathewson

1995-03-01

Background: A previous study suggested that U.S. students who lived in Mexico for 1 year had a risk of diarrhea intermediate between the rate for newly arrived U.S. students and Mexican students; however, the study was not controlled for changes of risky behavior over time. Methods: An analysis of acute diarrhea occurring among U.S. and Mexican student groups living in Guadalajara, Mexico was conducted to explore the association of diarrhea developing during selected 28-day periods with length of residence, season, and risk factors such as locations of food consumption, consumption of tap water, unsafe ice, alcohol, and antibiotics. Results: Compared to U.S. and Mexican student groups, newly arrived U.S. college students in July had the highest rate of diarrhea (55%), highest enteropathogen isolation rate (46%), and most consumption of alcohol and antibiotics; they also ate most frequently at restaurants and in Mexican family homes. Compared to a 34% rate of diarrhea among newly arrived U.S. medical students in August, the rate was only 6% among established medical students in January. This drop in attack rate was attended by less tap water and unsafe ice consumption by established students in January compared to the habits of newly arrived students in January or August when risky behavior was otherwise similar among these groups. The role of tap water and unsafe ice in the acquisition of wintertime diarrhea is further supported by the relatively high 29% rate of diarrhea among U.S. medical students newly arrived in January, who also consumed more tap water and ice than established students in January. Enterotoxigenic E. coli disease was observed only during the summer months; whereas, Campylobacter jejuni disease and disease associated with no detected pathogen were more common in winter. Conclusions: These data imply that wintertime diarrhea in Guadalajara is more likely than summertime diarrhea to be waterborne and to be caused by agents such as viruses or previously unrecognized enteropathogens that were not assessed in this study. Among Mexican students who had the highest frequency of tap water consumption and eating from vendors, the low rates of diarrhea in summer (3%) and winter (5%) imply that they enjoy a substantial degree of immunity. Further study will be necessary to understand the role that immunity (or its loss during summer vacation back in the United States) might play in additionally accounting for observed differences in attack rates between newly arrived students and those who had lived for a period of time in Mexico. (J Travel Med 2:6-10, 1995)

The emission potential of different land use patterns for the occurrence of coliphages in surface water.

PubMed

Franke, Christiane; Rechenburg, Andrea; Baumanns, Susanne; Willkomm, Marlene; Christoffels, Ekkehard; Exner, Martin; Kistemann, Thomas

2009-05-01

Different land use patterns were investigated for their potential as non-point sources of coliphage emissions into surface waters. Water samples were taken regularly at five locations in the upper reaches of the river Swist, Germany. Samples of surface and subsurface run-off were taken within the same catchment area after rainfall events using a newly developed device that made it possible to collect current concentrations of the effluent compounds. The water quality was examined for the occurrence of somatic coliphages and F(+)-specific RNA-bacteriophages as well as for various bacteria over the period of a hydrological year. The potential of various bacteria as indicators for the occurrence of phages was evaluated using statistical correlations. The load of coliphages varied depending on the land use type, but it did not differ as much as the bacterial parameters. River sections in intensively used areas turned out to be more contaminated than in less intensively used regions. The concentrations of phages from surface and subsurface run-off in most samples were quite low for all land use types and did not show conspicuous variations of surface and subsurface run-off within one land use type. Therefore, high concentrations of phages in river water cannot be explained only by non-point effluent from open ground. Following consideration of the statistical results, conventional indicator bacteria seem not to be reliable indicator organisms for coliphages and subsequently for human pathogen viruses. The detected concentrations of coliphages in several water samples of river sections surrounded by intensively used areas underpin an existing health risk in the use of river water for e.g. recreational activities or irrigation.

Coordination and transport of water and carbohydrates in the coupled soil-root-xylem-phloem leaf system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Katul, Gabriel; Huang, Cheng-Wei

2017-04-01

In response to varying environmental conditions, stomatal pores act as biological valves that dynamically adjust their size thereby determining the rate of CO2 assimilation and water loss (i.e., transpiration) to the atmosphere. Although the significance of this biotic control on gas exchange is rarely disputed, representing parsimoniously all the underlying mechanisms responsible for stomatal kinetics remain a subject of some debate. It has been conjectured that stomatal control in seed plants (i.e., angiosperm and gymnosperm) represents a compromise between biochemical demand for CO2 and prevention of excessive water loss. This view has been amended at the whole-plant level, where xylem hydraulics and sucrose transport efficiency in phloem appear to impose additional constraints on gas exchange. If such additional constraints impact stomatal opening and closure, then seed plants may have evolved coordinated photosynthetic-hydraulic-sugar transporting machinery that confers some competitive advantages in fluctuating environmental conditions. Thus, a stomatal optimization model that explicitly considers xylem hydraulics and maximum sucrose transport is developed to explore this coordination in the leaf-xylem-phloem system. The model is then applied to progressive drought conditions. The main findings from the model calculations are that (1) the predicted stomatal conductance from the conventional stomatal optimization theory at the leaf and the newly proposed models converge, suggesting a tight coordination in the leaf-xylem-phloem system; (2) stomatal control is mainly limited by the water supply function of the soil-xylem hydraulic system especially when the water flux through the transpiration stream is significantly larger than water exchange between xylem and phloem; (3) thus, xylem limitation imposed on the supply function can be used to differentiate species with different water use strategy across the spectrum of isohydric to anisohydric behavior.

On the dense water cascading in the Southern Adriatic Sea during 2012: Setup of a Rapid Environmental Assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Langone, Leonardo

2013-04-01

In the North Adriatic, Dense Shelf Water (DSW) forms during cold and dry winters by cooling and evaporation. DSW spreads southward along the western shelf reaching the southern Adriatic basin (1200 m deep) after 1-2 months, where sinks through cascading events. In February 2012, a large Siberian High caused blocking of the Atlantic flow and a westward flow of dry and cold air masses from eastern Russia toward Europe. The North Adriatic experienced a cold spell with large decrease of surface temperature (3° -6° C) associated to severe cold and dry Bora wind. The result was the formation of extremely dense shelf water, further made possible by the very limited discharge of the Po river in the preceding autumn. As contribution to the Italian research programme RITMARE (Italian Research for the Sea), CNR-ISMAR set up a Rapid Environmental Assessment (REA) experiment to study the occurrence, amount, timing and properties of the newly formed DSW. Setting up REA strategies is crucial for several scientific and practical reasons: (i) capturing extreme events to improve our understanding of natural systems in a global-change scenario; (ii) to evaluate their impact on marine systems and the biota; (iii) to address issues related to fluctuating fish stocks as well as (iv) C export and sequestration in the deep sea. The experiment was designed with an integrated approach, including modeling simulations, mooring deployments and quick-response oceanographic cruises. Based on numerical model ensemble, the arrival time of the DSW at the Gargano Cape was forecasted likely starting after March 15, 2012, thus moorings were deployed few days before. Five moorings were deployed in sites selected on the basis of modelling predictions and geology-driven inferences defining areas where the passage of dense shelf water is most likely to occur. Moorings were equipped with down-looking ADCPs, automatic sediment traps, temperature loggers, recorders of temperature, conductivity and turbidity, and single point current-meters. Two rapid-response cruises were carried out by RV's MinervaUno and Urania in late-March and mid-April, respectively, in order to perform CTD profiles with LADCP, XBT transects and water sampling (TSM, dissolved and particulate matter, plankton, Bacteria and Archaea, etc.). Overall, the observations matched real-time modelling simulations. The DSW veins were located in the open slope off Gargano, and impacted a 100-km slope stretch all the way to Bari canyon. Speed and direction of currents at the bottom were consistent with the bedform distribution, also in the deepest part of the basin. Cascading was recorded to occur with multiple pulses (variability at daily scale), reaching speeds of 70 cm s-1. Several open questions on the cascading process can now be addressed based on the newly acquired data. As part of the research programme RITMARE, CNR-ISMAR is now engaged in the design and prolonged deployment of moorings to study the interannual variability in timing of initiation of the cascading process, which takes place every spring, its variability in intensity and duration and the ultimate impact of the dense water on the deep sea. Through this experiment we plan to gain elements to improve our understanding of future evolution of the process and the related possible regime shifts in a likely scenario of surface-water temperature increase over the entire Mediterranean.

The newly expanded KSC Visitors Complex features a new ticket plaza, information center, exhibits an

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

At the grand opening of the newly expanded KSC Visitor Complex, Center Director Roy Bridges addresses guests and the media. The $13 million addition to the Visitor Complex includes an International Space Station-themed ticket plaza, featuring a structure of overhanging solar panels and astronauts performing assembly tasks, a new information center, films, and exhibits. The KSC Visitor Complex was inaugurated three decades ago and is now one of the top five tourist attractions in Florida. It is located on S.R. 407, east of I-95, within the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

STS-106 crew water survival training

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-03-21

JSC2000-02567 (21 March 2000) --- Astronaut Terrence W. (Terry) Wilcutt, STS-106 mission commander, empties water from his newly-deployed life raft during a simulation of an emergency bailout exercise. The water survival training routinely takes place in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) near the Johnson Space Center (JSC).

Establishing a sediment budget in the newly created "Kleine Noordwaard" wetland area in the Rhine-Meuse delta

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Christien van der Deijl, Eveline; van der Perk, Marcel; Middelkoop, Hans

2018-03-01

Many deltas are threatened by accelerated soil subsidence, sea-level rise, increasing river discharge, and sediment starvation. Effective delta restoration and effective river management require a thorough understanding of the mechanisms of sediment deposition, erosion, and their controls. Sediment dynamics has been studied at floodplains and marshes, but little is known about the sediment dynamics and budget of newly created wetlands. Here we take advantage of a recently opened tidal freshwater system to study both the mechanisms and controls of sediment deposition and erosion in newly created wetlands. We quantified both the magnitude and spatial patterns of sedimentation and erosion in a former polder area in which water and sediment have been reintroduced since 2008. Based on terrestrial and bathymetric elevation data, supplemented with field observations of the location and height of cut banks and the thickness of the newly deposited layer of sediment, we determined the sediment budget of the study area for the period 2008-2015. Deposition primarily took place in channels in the central part of the former polder area, whereas channels near the inlet and outlet of the area experienced considerable erosion. In the intertidal area, sand deposition especially takes place at low-lying locations close to the channels. Mud deposition typically occurs further away from the channels, but sediment is in general uniformly distributed over the intertidal area, due to the presence of topographic irregularities and micro-topographic flow paths. Marsh erosion does not significantly contribute to the total sediment budget, because wind wave formation is limited by the length of the fetch. Consecutive measurements of channel bathymetry show a decrease in erosion and deposition rates over time, but the overall results of this study indicate that the area functions as a sediment trap. The total contemporary sediment budget of the study area amounts to 35.7×103 m3 year-1, which corresponds to a net area-averaged deposition rate of 6.1 mm year-1. This is enough to compensate for the actual rates of sea-level rise and soil subsidence in the Netherlands.

Observations of open-ocean deep convection in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea: Seasonal and interannual variability of mixing and deep water masses for the 2007-2013 Period

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Houpert, L.; Durrieu de Madron, X.; Testor, P.; Bosse, A.; D'Ortenzio, F.; Bouin, M. N.; Dausse, D.; Le Goff, H.; Kunesch, S.; Labaste, M.; Coppola, L.; Mortier, L.; Raimbault, P.

2016-11-01

We present here a unique oceanographic and meteorological data set focus on the deep convection processes. Our results are essentially based on in situ data (mooring, research vessel, glider, and profiling float) collected from a multiplatform and integrated monitoring system (MOOSE: Mediterranean Ocean Observing System on Environment), which monitored continuously the northwestern Mediterranean Sea since 2007, and in particular high-frequency potential temperature, salinity, and current measurements from the mooring LION located within the convection region. From 2009 to 2013, the mixed layer depth reaches the seabed, at a depth of 2330m, in February. Then, the violent vertical mixing of the whole water column lasts between 9 and 12 days setting up the characteristics of the newly formed deep water. Each deep convection winter formed a new warmer and saltier "vintage" of deep water. These sudden inputs of salt and heat in the deep ocean are responsible for trends in salinity (3.3 ± 0.2 × 10-3/yr) and potential temperature (3.2 ± 0.5 × 10-3 C/yr) observed from 2009 to 2013 for the 600-2300 m layer. For the first time, the overlapping of the three "phases" of deep convection can be observed, with secondary vertical mixing events (2-4 days) after the beginning of the restratification phase, and the restratification/spreading phase still active at the beginning of the following deep convection event.

Does microblogging convey firm-specific information? Evidence from China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Dehua; Li, Xiao; Xue, Mei; Zhang, Wei

2017-09-01

This paper investigates the impact of opening microblogging account in Sina Weibo on the diffusion of firm-specific information in Chinese stock market. With the unique sample of firms opening their official accounts, the empirical results show that this newly emerged information diffusion channel, i.e., Sina Weibo, plays an important role in conveying firm-specific information to the market. Generally speaking, these empirical findings have practical implications to securities regulators who have interest in monitoring the diffused information via social media.

Implementation and application of the actuator line model by OpenFOAM for a vertical axis wind turbine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riva, L.; Giljarhus, K.-E.; Hjertager, B.; Kalvig, S. M.

2017-12-01

University of Stavanger has started The Smart Sustainable Campus & Energy Lab project, to gain knowledge and facilitate project based education in the field of renewable and sustainable energy and increase the research effort in the same area. This project includes the future installation of a vertical axis wind turbine on the campus roof. A newly developed Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model by OpenFOAM have been implemented to study the wind behavior over the building and the turbine performance. The online available wind turbine model case from Bachant, Goude and Wosnik from 2016 is used as the starting point. This is a Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations (RANS) case set up that uses the Actuator Line Model. The available test case considers a water tank with controlled external parameters. Bachant et al.’s model has been modified to study a VAWT in the atmospheric boundary layer. Various simulations have been performed trying to verify the models use and suitability. Simulation outcomes help to understand the impact of the surroundings on the turbine as well as its reaction to parameters changes. The developed model can be used for wind energy and flow simulations for both onshore and offshore applications.

Open-source meteor detection software for low-cost single-board computers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vida, D.; Zubović, D.; Šegon, D.; Gural, P.; Cupec, R.

2016-01-01

This work aims to overcome the current price threshold of meteor stations which can sometimes deter meteor enthusiasts from owning one. In recent years small card-sized computers became widely available and are used for numerous applications. To utilize such computers for meteor work, software which can run on them is needed. In this paper we present a detailed description of newly-developed open-source software for fireball and meteor detection optimized for running on low-cost single board computers. Furthermore, an update on the development of automated open-source software which will handle video capture, fireball and meteor detection, astrometry and photometry is given.

Improving Water Resources Management on Global and Region Scales - Evaluating Strategies for Water Futures with the IIASA's Community Water Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burek, P.; Kahil, T.; Satoh, Y.; Greve, P.; Byers, E.; Langan, S.; Wada, Y.

2017-12-01

Half of the planet's population is severely impacted by severe water issues including absent or unreliable water supply, sanitation, poor water quality, unmitigated floods and droughts, and degraded water environments. In recent years, global water security has been highlighted not only by the science community but also by business leaders as one of the greatest threats to sustainable human development for different generations. How can we ensure the well-being of people and ecosystems with limited water, technology and financial resources? To evaluate this, IIASA's Water Futures and Solutions Initiative (WFaS) is identifying a portfolios of robust and cost-effective options across different economic sectors including agriculture, energy, manufacturing, households, and environment and ecosystems. Options to increase water supply and accessibility are evaluated together with water demand management and water governance options. To test these solution-portfolios in order to obtain a clear picture of the opportunities but also of the risks and the trade-offs we have developed the Community Water Model (CWATM) which joins IIASA's integrated assessment modeling framework, coupling hydrology with hydro-economics (ECHO model), energy (MESSAGE model) and land use (GLOBIOM model). CWATM has been developed to work flexibly with varying spatial resolutions from global to regional levels. The model is open source and community-driven to promote our work amongst the wider water and other science community worldwide, with flexibility to link to other models and integrate newly developed modules such as water quality. In order to identify the solution portfolios, we present a global hotspots assessment of water-related risks with the ability to zoom in at regional scale using the example of the Lake Victoria basin in E. Africa. We show how socio-economic and climate change will alter spatial patterns of the hydrological cycle and have regional impacts on water availability. At the same time, we assess water needs for humans and environment to identify the population and regions that are vulnerable to changes linked to extremes such as water scarcity, droughts and floods. Different solution-portfolios to facilitate regional water management planning will be further discussed.

Cost-effectiveness of the long-term use of temozolomide for treating newly diagnosed glioblastoma in Germany.

PubMed

Waschke, Albrecht; Arefian, Habibollah; Walter, Jan; Hartmann, Michael; Maschmann, Jens; Kalff, Rolf

2018-06-01

Concomitant radiochemotherapy followed by six cycles of temozolomide (= short term) is considered as standard therapy for adults with newly diagnosed glioblastoma. In contrast, open-end administration of temozolomide until progression (= long-term) is proposed by some authors as a viable alternative. We aimed to determine the cost-effectiveness of long-term temozolomide therapy for patients newly diagnosed with glioblastoma compared to standard therapy. A Markov model was constructed to compare medical costs and clinical outcomes for both therapy types over a time horizon of 60 months. Transition probabilities for standard therapy were calculated from randomized controlled trial data by Stupp et al. The data for long-term temozolomide therapy was collected by matching a cohort treated in the Department of Neurosurgery at Jena University Hospital. Health utilities were obtained from a previous cost utility study. The cost perspective was based on health insurance. The base case analysis showed a median overall survival of 17.1 months and a median progression-free survival of 7.4 months for patients in the long-term temozolomide therapy arm. The cost-effectiveness analysis using all base case parameters in a time-dependent Markov model resulted in an incremental effectiveness of 0.022 quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs). The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was €351,909/QALY. Sensitivity analyses showed that parameters with the most influence on ICER were the health state utility of progression in both therapy arms. Although open-ended temozolomide therapy is very expensive, the ICER of this therapy is comparable to that of the standard temozolomide therapy for patients newly diagnosed with glioblastoma.

Ecotoxicological impact of Zequanox®, a novel biocide, on selected non-target Irish aquatic species.

PubMed

Meehan, Sara; Shannon, Adam; Gruber, Bridget; Rackl, Sarahann M; Lucy, Frances E

2014-09-01

Effective, species-specific zebra mussel control is needed urgently for Ireland׳s freshwater bodies, which became infested with non-native zebra mussels in the 1990s. Zequanox®, a newly commercialized product for zebra and quagga mussel control, is composed of dead Pseudomonas fluorescens CL 145A cells. This paper describes ecotoxicology tests on three representative native Irish freshwater species: Anodonta (duck mussel), Chironomus plumosus (non-biting midge), and Austropotamobius pallipes (white-clawed crayfish). The species were exposed to Zequanox in a 72-h static renewal toxicity test at concentrations of 100-750mg active ingredient per liter (mga.i./L). Water quality parameters were measured every 12-24h before and after water and product renewal. After 72h, endpoints were reported as LC10, LC50, and LC100. The LC50 values derived were (1) Anodonta: ≥500mga.i./L (2) C. plumosus: 1075mga.i./L, and (3) A. pallipes: ≥750mga.i./L. These results demonstrate that Zequanox does not negatively affect these organisms at the concentration required for >80percent zebra mussel mortality (150mg a.i/L) and the maximum allowable treatment concentration in the United Sates (200mga.i./L). They also show the overall species-specificity of Zequanox, and support its use in commercial facilities and open waters. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Shelf–ocean exchange and hydrography west of the Antarctic Peninsula: a review

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

The West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is a highly productive marine ecosystem where extended periods of change have been observed in the form of glacier retreat, reduction of sea-ice cover and shifts in marine populations, among others. The physical environment on the shelf is known to be strongly influenced by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current flowing along the shelf slope and carrying warm, nutrient-rich water, by cold waters flooding into the northern Bransfield Strait from the Weddell Sea, by an extensive network of glaciers and ice shelves, and by strong seasonal to inter-annual variability in sea-ice formation and air–sea interactions, with significant modulation by climate modes like El Niño–Southern Oscillation and the Southern Annular Mode. However, significant gaps have remained in understanding the exchange processes between the open ocean and the shelf, the pathways and fate of oceanic water intrusions, the shelf heat and salt budgets, and the long-term evolution of the shelf properties and circulation. Here, we review how recent advances in long-term monitoring programmes, process studies and newly developed numerical models have helped bridge these gaps and set future research challenges for the WAP system. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The marine system of the West Antarctic Peninsula: status and strategy for progress in a region of rapid change’. PMID:29760109

[Evaluation of a Legionella outbreak emerged in a recently opening hotel].

PubMed

Erdoğan, Haluk; Arslan, Hande

2013-04-01

Legionnaires' disease (LD) is a systemic infection caused by Legionella species especially colonized in the water systems. Hotels are common locations in which waterwork-associated sporadic or epidemic legionellosis can be detected. The aim of this study was to evaluate a small Legionella outbreak emerged in a recently opened 600-bed hotel in Alanya, a touristic county in Mediterranean part of Turkey. A 66 years old male patient who stayed in this hotel opened on May 15th, 2009, was admitted to our hospital on May 21st, 2009 with the complaints of high fever, headache and diarrhea lasting for three days. Since chest X-ray revealed non-homogenous density increase in left middle and inferior zone, the patient was diagnosed as atypical pneumoniae and LD was confirmed by positive urinary Legionella antigen test (Card test, BinaxNOW®Legionella Urinary Antigen Test; Alere Co, USA) result. Following the identification of the index case, the records of our hospital were reviewed and revealed another case being treated with the diagnosis of community acquired pneumonia who was also the guest of the same hotel. This patient was then diagnosed as LD by positive urinary antigen test. Since new cases were identified during the following days (May 22, 25 and 26) the Antalya County Health Department and hotel management were informed about a cluster of LD. In addition subsequent investigation for environmental surveillance and water sampling were conducted. The LD diagnosis and environmental inspections were performed according to the procedure described in the guideline from "Turkish Ministry of Health Travel-Associated Legionnaires' Disease Control Programme". Five definitive cases and one presumptive case of LD were identified during the outbreak period (May 20-26, 2009). All of the cases were successfully treated (intravenous ciprofloxacin or levofloxacin or clarithromycin), however one patient died due to sudden death during sleep after being discharged. Since sputum samples could not be obtained from the cases, the diagnosis were not confirmed by culture but by urinary antigen test. Besides high antibody titer in single serum sample was accepted as a diagnostic marker. Additionally 26 cases who accommodated in the same hotel and presented with high fever without pneumonia were treated in the outpatient clinics of our hospital. Urinary antigen test was performed in 11 of those patients to confirm the prediagnosis of pontiac fever, however all were found negative. Likewise convalescent phase sera for the confirmation of the diagnosis by seroconversion could not be obtained since they all were foreign tourists. Investigation of water sources of the hotel revealed that the municipal drinking water network had not been connected yet and the hotel supplied water from groundwater sources. The analysis of multiple samples from multiple sites of hotel's water system indicated that the water temperature was between 35-45°C and the iron level was beyond the acceptable limits (245 µg/L) recommended for drinking water in the regulation guides. These properties were considered as the factors that enhanced the growth and survival of Legionella species. Water samples were cultivated on BCYE-_ (Buffered Charcoal Yeast Extract a-Ketoglutarate) and GVPC (Glycine-Vancomycin-Polymyxin-Cycloheximide) agar plates and 11 out of a total 13 samples yielded Legionella spp. growth. All isolates were identified as L.pneumophila serogroup 1 by specific antisera. Legionella decontamination of hotel's water system was managed by implementation of hyperchlorination method as well as superheating (> 60°C) of water. The hotel was not closed during the outbreak and cultures of water samples obtained for one year later did not yield any Legionella spp. growth. This outbreak emphasized that hotel residents are at risk for acquiring LD in the presence of a colonized water system, even in a newly constructed building. In conclusion, effective control and decontamination programmes for the prevention of Legionella colonization should be applied even in new opening hotels.

High-resolution Land Cover Datasets, Composite Curve Numbers, and Storm Water Retention in the Tampa Bay, FL region

EPA Science Inventory

Policy makers need to understand how land cover change alters storm water regimes, yet existing methods do not fully utilize newly available datasets to quantify storm water changes at a landscape-scale. Here, we use high-resolution, remotely-sensed land cover, imperviousness, an...

Open Trial of an Acceptance-Based Behavior Therapy Intervention to Engage Newly Diagnosed HIV Patients in Care: Rationale and Evidence of Feasibility and Acceptability.

PubMed

Moitra, Ethan; Chan, Philip A; Stein, Michael D

2015-09-01

Successful linkage and retention in care of newly diagnosed individuals in the United States remains a significant gap in the HIV care continuum. This study assessed the acceptability and feasibility of an acceptance-based behavior therapy (ABBT) intervention to engage patients newly diagnosed with HIV in medical care. Nine patients were recruited over 4 months for this brief ABBT intervention, which consisted of two brief sessions, each lasting less than 20 min. The intervention was developed to promote psychological acceptance of the HIV diagnosis, thereby increasing patients' willingness to make informed disclosure of their status. Eight patients completed a 1-month follow-up assessment, and all approved of the intervention and its components. Over the 1-month period, participants showed increased acceptance, reduced perceptions of HIV stigmatization, and increased disclosure of HIV status to social supports. This pilot study provided support for the continued investigation of ABBT as an adjunctive intervention for newly diagnosed HIV patients who are at high-risk of dropping out of HIV care. © The Author(s) 2015.

Scaling Observations of Surface Waves in the Beaufort Sea

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-04-14

the treatment of wind input can be improved in partial ice cover using the ice concentration, where wave energy is a function of open water distance...drifting buoys during the 2014 open water season, are interpreted using open water distances determined from satellite ice products and wind forcing time...series measured in situ with the buoys. A significant portion of the wave observations were found to be limited by open water distance (fetch) when

Long-term dynamics of a floodplain shallow lake in the Pantanal wetland: Is it all about climate?

PubMed

Silio-Calzada, Ana; Barquín, José; Huszar, Vera L M; Mazzeo, Nestor; Méndez, Fernando; Álvarez-Martínez, Jose Manuel

2017-12-15

Hydrological variability over seasonal and multi-annual timescales strongly shapes the ecological structure and functioning of floodplain ecosystems. The current IPCC climate scenario foresees an increase in the frequency of extreme events. This, in conjunction with other anthropogenic disturbances (e.g., river regulation or land-use changes) poses a serious threat to the natural functioning of these ecosystems. In this study we aimed to i) evaluate the long-term variability of the flooded area of the third largest floodplain lake in the Brazilian Pantanal using remote sensing techniques, and ii) analyze the possible factors influencing this variability. Changes in open-water and riparian floodplain-wetland vegetation areas were mapped by applying an ad hoc-developed remote-sensing method (including a newly developed normalized water index, NWI) to 221 Landsat-Thematic Mapper (TM)/Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) images, acquired between 1984 and 2011. Added to the lake's natural swing between riparian floodplain-wetland vegetation expansion and retraction, our analyses revealed large interannual changes, grouped into three main periods within the studied time interval. Moreover, our results indicate that this floodplain-lake system is losing open-water area, paired with an increase in riparian floodplain-wetland vegetation. The system's long-term dynamics are not all climate related, but are the result of a combination of drivers. The start of the Manso dam's operation upstream of the studied system, and the subsequent river regulation because of the dam operation, coupled with climatic oscillation appear to be responsible for the observed changes. However, other factors which were not considered in this study might also be important in this process and contributing to the reduction of the system's resilience to droughts (e.g., land-use changes). This study illustrates the serious conservation risks that the Pantanal faces in the near future, given the current climate-change scenario and the accumulation of dam building projects in this region. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

43 CFR 2091.5-4 - Segregative effect and opening: Water power withdrawals.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 43 Public Lands: Interior 2 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Segregative effect and opening: Water power withdrawals. 2091.5-4 Section 2091.5-4 Public Lands: Interior Regulations Relating to Public Lands... LAWS AND RULES Segregation and Opening of Lands § 2091.5-4 Segregative effect and opening: Water power...

43 CFR 2091.5-4 - Segregative effect and opening: Water power withdrawals.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 43 Public Lands: Interior 2 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Segregative effect and opening: Water power withdrawals. 2091.5-4 Section 2091.5-4 Public Lands: Interior Regulations Relating to Public Lands... LAWS AND RULES Segregation and Opening of Lands § 2091.5-4 Segregative effect and opening: Water power...

43 CFR 2091.5-4 - Segregative effect and opening: Water power withdrawals.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 43 Public Lands: Interior 2 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Segregative effect and opening: Water power withdrawals. 2091.5-4 Section 2091.5-4 Public Lands: Interior Regulations Relating to Public Lands... LAWS AND RULES Segregation and Opening of Lands § 2091.5-4 Segregative effect and opening: Water power...

Preceptors' perceptions of the elements of a successful and an unsuccessful orientation period for newly graduated nurses.

PubMed

Lindfors, Kirsi; Meretoja, Riitta; Kaunonen, Marja; Paavilainen, Eija

2018-04-01

To identify existing orientation patterns and to find elements that may enhance or impede successful orientation of newly graduated nurses. Preceptors have first-hand information concerning orientation and their opinions should not be forgotten when organisations develop their orientation processes. An open-ended questionnaire was undertaken to collect data from preceptors (n = 172) about the current orientation patterns. Data were analysed by using deductive content analysis and by quantifying the phrases. Communal commitment to the orientation process, strong professional orientation know-how and supportive leadership were the enhancing elements of successful orientation. Complex interpersonal relationship problems during orientation, inadequate orientation resources and the organisation's structural and functional problems were the impeding elements of successful orientation. With the elements of successful orientation we ensure a supportive transition to practice for newly graduate nurses and possibilities to focus on good orientation practices for preceptors. Nurse leaders play an important part in ensuring newly graduated nurses have a safe nursing career starting point and, for preceptors, opportunities to provide orientation that is as good as possible. Supportive leadership, sufficient resources and good interpersonal relationships should be the leading principles during newly graduated nurses' orientation period. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF THE ORTHO/PARA RATIO OF NEWLY FORMED MOLECULAR HYDROGEN ON AMORPHOUS SOLID WATER

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gavilan, L.; Lemaire, J. L.; Dulieu, F.

2012-11-20

Several astronomical observations have shown that the ortho/para ratio (OPR) of H{sub 2} can differ from the expected statistical value of 3 or the local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) value at the gas or dust temperature. It is thus important to know the OPR of H{sub 2} newly formed on dust grain surfaces, in order to clarify the dependence of the observed OPR in space on the formation process. Using an experimental setup designed to mimic interstellar medium environments, we measured the OPR of H{sub 2} and D{sub 2} formed on the surface of porous amorphous water ice held at 10more » K. We report for the first time the OPR value for newly formed D{sub 2}, consistent with the expected LTE value at the high-temperature limit found by previous theoretical and experimental works on the determination of the OPR upon H{sub 2} formation on surfaces at low temperature.« less

Aerial Views of KSC

NASA Image and Video Library

2003-07-23

This aerial view, looking northwest, shows the newly opened Space Commerce Way that winds from S.R 3 on the right to its exit on S.R. 405 (near the top) in the background. The road is the new public access from Merritt Island to the KSC Visitor Complex (seen at top).

Gidzenko at ISS hatch

NASA Image and Video Library

2001-02-10

ISS01-E-5325 (10 February 2001) --- Cosmonaut Yuri P. Gidzenko, Expedition One Soyuz commander, stands near the hatch leading from the Unity node into the newly attached Destiny laboratory aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The picture was recorded with a digital still camera on the day the hatch was initially opened.

Not Watching the Fight: Examining the Dynamics of School Turnaround

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corrales, Antonio

2017-01-01

This case describes how a newly appointed superintendent implemented systematic changes across the school district to increase academic performance and keep schools open and operational. The district superintendent and leadership team were forced by the state educational system to promote rapid and drastic organizational and academic changes to…

[Assessing environmental and economical benefits of integrated sewage treatment systems].

PubMed

Li, Jin-rong; Zhang, Xiao-hong; Zhang, Hang-bin; Pan, Heng-yu; Liu, Qiang

2015-08-01

Sewage treatment, treated water treatment and sludge treatment are three basic units of an integrated sewage treatment system. This work assessed the influence of reusing or discharge of treated water and sludge landfill or compost on the sustainability of an integrated sewage treatment system using emergy analysis and newly proposed emergy indicators. This system's value included its environmental benefits and the products. Environmental benefits were the differences of the environmental service values before and after sewage treatment. Due to unavailability of data of the exchanged substance and energy in the internal system, products' values were attained by newly proposed substitution values. The results showed that the combination of sewage treatment, treated water reuse and sludge landfill had the strongest competitiveness, while the combination of sewage treatment, treated water reuse and earthworm compost was the most sustainable. Moreover, treated water reuse and earthworm compost were helpful for improving the sustainability of the integrated sewage treatment system. The quality of treated water and local conditions should be also considered when implementing the treated water reuse or discharge. The resources efficiency of earthworm compost unit needed to be further improved. Improved emergy indices were more suitable for integrated sewage treatment systems.

Using OpenMP vs. Threading Building Blocks for Medical Imaging on Multi-cores

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kegel, Philipp; Schellmann, Maraike; Gorlatch, Sergei

We compare two parallel programming approaches for multi-core systems: the well-known OpenMP and the recently introduced Threading Building Blocks (TBB) library by Intel®. The comparison is made using the parallelization of a real-world numerical algorithm for medical imaging. We develop several parallel implementations, and compare them w.r.t. programming effort, programming style and abstraction, and runtime performance. We show that TBB requires a considerable program re-design, whereas with OpenMP simple compiler directives are sufficient. While TBB appears to be less appropriate for parallelizing existing implementations, it fosters a good programming style and higher abstraction level for newly developed parallel programs. Our experimental measurements on a dual quad-core system demonstrate that OpenMP slightly outperforms TBB in our implementation.

Web-based stress management for newly diagnosed cancer patients (STREAM-1): a randomized, wait-list controlled intervention study.

PubMed

Grossert, Astrid; Urech, Corinne; Alder, Judith; Gaab, Jens; Berger, Thomas; Hess, Viviane

2016-11-03

Being diagnosed with cancer causes major psychological distress, yet the majority of newly diagnosed cancer patients lack psychological support. Internet interventions overcome many barriers for seeking face-to-face support and allow for independence in time and place. We assess efficacy and feasibility of the first web-based stress management intervention (STREAM: STREss-Aktiv-Mindern) for newly diagnosed, German-speaking cancer patients. In a prospective, wait-list controlled trial 120 newly diagnosed cancer patients will be included within 12 weeks of starting anti-cancer treatment and randomized between an immediate (intervention group) or delayed (control group) 8-week, web-based intervention. The intervention consists of eight modules with weekly written feedback by a psychologist ("minimal-contact") based on well-established stress management manuals including downloadable audio-files and exercises. The aim of this study is to evaluate efficacy in terms of improvement in quality of life (FACT-F), as well as decrease in anxiety and depression (HADS), as compared to patients in the wait-list control group. A sample size of 120 patients allows demonstrating a clinically relevant difference of nine points in the FACT score after the intervention (T2) with a two-sided alpha of 0.05 and 80 % power. As this is the first online stress management intervention for German-speaking cancer patients, more descriptive outcomes are equally important to further refine the group of patients with the largest potential for benefit who then will be targeted more specifically in future trials. These descriptive endpoints include: patients' characteristics (type of cancer, type of treatment, socio-demographic factors), dropout rate and dropout reasons, adherence and satisfaction with the program. New technologies open new opportunities: minimal-contact psychological interventions are becoming standard of care in several psychological disorders, where their efficacy is often comparable to face-to-face interventions. With our study we open this field to the population of newly diagnosed cancer patients. We will not only assess clinical efficacy but also further refine the target population who has the most potential to benefit. An internet-based minimal-contact stress management program might be an attractive, time- and cost-effective way to effectively deliver psychological support to newly diagnosed cancer patients and an opportunity to include those who currently are not reached by conventional support. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02289014 .

Effects of fluid-rock interactions on faulting within active fault zones - evidence from fault rock samples retrieved from international drilling projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Janssen, C.; Wirth, R.; Kienast, M.; Yabe, Y.; Sulem, J.; Dresen, G. H.

2015-12-01

Chemical and mechanical effects of fluids influence the fault mechanical behavior. We analyzed fresh fault rocks from several scientific drilling projects to study the effects of fluids on fault strength. For example, in drill core samples on a rupture plane of an Mw 2.2 earthquake in a deep gold mine in South Africa the main shock occurred on a preexisting plane of weakness that was formed by fluid-rock interaction (magnesiohornblende was intensively altered to chlinochlore). The plane acted as conduit for hydrothermal fluids at some time in the past. The chemical influence of fluids on mineralogical alteration and geomechanical processes in fault core samples from SAFOD (San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth) is visible in pronounced dissolution-precipitation processes (stylolites, solution seams) as well as in the formation of new phases. Detrital quartz and feldspar grains are partially dissolved and replaced by authigenic illite-smectite (I-S) mixed-layer clay minerals. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) imaging of these grains reveals that the alteration processes and healing were initiated within pores and small intra-grain fissures. Newly formed phyllosilicates growing into open pore spaces likely reduced the fluid permeability. The mechanical influence of fluids is indicated by TEM observations, which document open pores that formed in-situ in the gouge material during or after deformation. Pores were possibly filled with formation water and/or hydrothermal fluids suggesting elevated fluid pressure preventing pore collapse. Fluid-driven healing of fractures in samples from SAFOD and the DGLab Gulf of Corinth project is visible in cementation. Cathodoluminescence microscopy (CL) reveals different generations of calcite veins. Differences in CL-colors suggest repeated infiltration of fluids with different chemical composition from varying sources (formation and meteoric water).

Glacier microseismicity

USGS Publications Warehouse

West, Michael E.; Larsen, Christopher F.; Truffer, Martin; O'Neel, Shad; LeBlanc, Laura

2010-01-01

We present a framework for interpreting small glacier seismic events based on data collected near the center of Bering Glacier, Alaska, in spring 2007. We find extremely high microseismicity rates (as many as tens of events per minute) occurring largely within a few kilometers of the receivers. A high-frequency class of seismicity is distinguished by dominant frequencies of 20–35 Hz and impulsive arrivals. A low-frequency class has dominant frequencies of 6–15 Hz, emergent onsets, and longer, more monotonic codas. A bimodal distribution of 160,000 seismic events over two months demonstrates that the classes represent two distinct populations. This is further supported by the presence of hybrid waveforms that contain elements of both event types. The high-low-hybrid paradigm is well established in volcano seismology and is demonstrated by a comparison to earthquakes from Augustine Volcano. We build on these parallels to suggest that fluid-induced resonance is likely responsible for the low-frequency glacier events and that the hybrid glacier events may be caused by the rush of water into newly opening pathways.

Human waste: An underestimated source of nutrient pollution in coastal seas of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

PubMed

Amin, Md Nurul; Kroeze, Carolien; Strokal, Maryna

2017-05-15

Many people practice open defecation in south Asia. As a result, lot of human waste containing nutrients such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) enter rivers. Rivers transport these nutrients to coastal waters, resulting in marine pollution. This source of nutrient pollution is, however, ignored in many nutrient models. We quantify nutrient export by large rivers to coastal seas of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, and the associated eutrophication potential in 2000 and 2050. Our new estimates for N and P inputs from human waste are one to two orders of magnitude higher than earlier model calculations. This leads to higher river export of nutrients to coastal seas, increasing the risk of coastal eutrophication potential (ICEP). The newly calculated future ICEP, for instance, Godavori river is 3 times higher than according to earlier studies. Our modeling approach is simple and transparent and can easily be applied to other data-poor basins. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ultraflexible and tailorable all-solid-state supercapacitors using polyacrylamide-based hydrogel electrolyte with high ionic conductivity.

PubMed

Li, Huili; Lv, Tian; Li, Ning; Yao, Yao; Liu, Kai; Chen, Tao

2017-11-30

Hydrogels with high ionic conductivity consisting of a cross-linked polymer network swollen in water are very promising to be used as an electrolyte for all-solid-state supercapacitors. However, there are rather few flexible supercapacitors using ionic conducting hydrogel electrolytes reported to date. In this work, highly flexible and ionic conducting polyacrylamide hydrogels were synthesized through a simple approach. On using the ionic hydrogels as the electrolyte, the resulting supercapacitors not only exhibited a high specific capacitance but also showed a long self-discharge time (over 10 hours to the half of original open-circuit voltage) and a low leakage current. These newly-developed all-solid-state supercapacitors can be bent, knot, and kneaded for 5000 cycles without performance decay, suggesting excellent flexibility and mechanical stability. These all-solid-state supercapacitors can also be easily tailored into strip-like supercapacitors without a short circuit, which provides an efficient approach to fabricate wearable energy storage devices.

Study of the effect of bacteria on the disappearance and transformation of CO in the sealed fire zone of coal mine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhai, Xiaowei; Wu, Shibo; Deng, Jun; Yang, Yifan; Jiang, Hua; Wang, Kai

2017-01-01

When the underground coal mine gob area has been sealed due to the coal spontaneous combustion, under the low oxygen and potentially high temperature environment, the CO concentration could drop sharply and disappear quickly. But it could rise rapidly after re-opening. These indicate that the disappearance is the only index for coal burnt out. In order to find a way how let CO disappear, experiments have been conducted using the newly developed experiment setup for three samples, raw, watered and bacteria-free coal sample. The CO and CO2 concentration have been monitored and analyzed. The results show the bacteria in the coal do consume CO and increase the chance of CO transfer to CO2. These results reveal how let CO disappear in a sealed zone from a new aspect. And the accuracy was improved when used gas index to determine combustion status for coal spontaneous combustion.

Surficial geology and benthic habitat of the German Bank seabed, Scotian Shelf, Canada

USGS Publications Warehouse

Todd, Brian J.; Kostylev, Vladimir E.

2011-01-01

To provide the scientific context for management of a newly opened scallop fishing ground, surficial geology and benthic habitats were mapped on German Bank on the southern Scotian Shelf off Atlantic Canada. To provide a seamless regional dataset, multibeam sonar surveys covered 5320 sqaure kilometres of the bank in water depths of 30–250 m and provided 5 m horizontal resolution bathymetry and backscatter strength. Geoscience data included high-resolution geophysical profiles (seismic reflection and sidescan sonar) and seabed sediment samples. Geological interpretation and is overlain in places by glacial and postglacial sediment. Biological data included seafloor video transects and photographs from which 127 taxa of visible megabenthos were identified. Trawl bycatch data were obtained from government annual research surveys. Statistical analysis of revealed that bedrock is exposed at the seafloor on much of German Bankthese two datasets and a suite of oceanographic environmental variables demonstrated that significantly different fauna exist on bedrock, glacial sediment and postglacial sediment.

Offshore marine constructions as propagators of moon jellyfish dispersal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vodopivec, Martin; Peliz, Álvaro J.; Malej, Alenka

2017-08-01

We have studied the influence of offshore marine constructions on the moon jellyfish population in the Adriatic sea, where the newly set up substrates enable the formation of a new population based in the formerly unpopulated open waters. Our five-year long computer simulation uses a high resolution coupled bio-physical individual-based model to track the dispersal of the offspring from subpopulations originating from offshore and shore-based sources. According to our study, the platforms enhance connectivity between subpopulations of jellyfish polyps, help sustain existing shore-based subpopulations, contribute to jellyfish blooms in some areas, and play an important role in establishing connection with the rest of the Mediterranean, in addition to representing substantial amounts of available substrate. This is an aspect that is usually overlooked when evaluating the ecological impact of existing and future wind farms, oil and gas platforms, etc. Our approach could serve as a role model in future studies of ecological impacts of planned offshore constructions.

Crystallography Open Database (COD): an open-access collection of crystal structures and platform for world-wide collaboration

PubMed Central

Gražulis, Saulius; Daškevič, Adriana; Merkys, Andrius; Chateigner, Daniel; Lutterotti, Luca; Quirós, Miguel; Serebryanaya, Nadezhda R.; Moeck, Peter; Downs, Robert T.; Le Bail, Armel

2012-01-01

Using an open-access distribution model, the Crystallography Open Database (COD, http://www.crystallography.net) collects all known ‘small molecule / small to medium sized unit cell’ crystal structures and makes them available freely on the Internet. As of today, the COD has aggregated ∼150 000 structures, offering basic search capabilities and the possibility to download the whole database, or parts thereof using a variety of standard open communication protocols. A newly developed website provides capabilities for all registered users to deposit published and so far unpublished structures as personal communications or pre-publication depositions. Such a setup enables extension of the COD database by many users simultaneously. This increases the possibilities for growth of the COD database, and is the first step towards establishing a world wide Internet-based collaborative platform dedicated to the collection and curation of structural knowledge. PMID:22070882

Identification of a Linked Set of Genes in Serpulina hyodysenteriae (B204) Predicted To Encode Closely Related 39-Kilodalton Extracytoplasmic Proteins

PubMed Central

Gabe, Jeffrey D.; Dragon, Elizabeth; Chang, Ray-Jen; McCaman, Michael T.

1998-01-01

A tandem pair of nearly identical genes from Serpulina hyodysenteriae (B204) were cloned and sequenced. The full open reading frame of one gene and the partial open reading frame of the neighboring gene appear to encode secreted proteins which are homologous to, yet distinct from, the 39-kDa extracytoplasmic protein purified from the membrane fraction of S. hyodysenteriae. We have designated these newly identified genes vspA and vspB (for variable surface protein). PMID:9440540

Will heavy metals in the soils of newly submerged areas threaten the water quality of Danjiangkou Reservoir, China?

PubMed

Song, Zhixin; Shan, Baoqing; Tang, Wenzhong; Zhang, Chao

2017-10-01

Soil heavy metal contents were measured in newly submerged areas of the Danjiangkou Reservoir, China. We aimed to determine the heavy metal distribution in this area and the associated ecological risk. Most of these heavy metal contents (except Pb and Mn) suggest enrichment compared with the background values of soils from Henan Province, especially As and Cd with mean geo-accumulation index (I geo ) values of 0.84 and 0.54. The spatial analysis results indicated that the highest heavy metal contents were distributed in the arable soils above 160m elevation, whereas low heavy metal contents were observed under other land-use types above 160m elevation. According to I geo and EF values, Cd was the major heavy metal contaminant in the newly submerged area, Cr, Pb and Mn mainly originated from natural geochemical sources. In contrast, Ni, Cd, As, Cu, and Zn mainly originated from anthropogenic sources. Evaluation using the potential ecological risk (PER) method indicated that PER of individual elements were low in the studied soils, and the comprehensive PER index was at a moderate level, indicating heavy metals in the soils of newly submerged areas may not threaten the water quality of Danjiangkou Reservoir, especially in winter. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

EUTROPHICATION OF COASTAL WATER BODIES: RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN NUTRIENT LOADING AND ECOLOGICAL RESPONSE

EPA Science Inventory

This newly initiated research will provide environmental managers with an empirical method to develop regional nutrient input limits for East Coast estuaries/coastal water bodies. The goal will be to reduce the current uncertainty associated with nutrient load-response relationsh...

An analysis of water data systems to inform the Open Water Data Initiative

USGS Publications Warehouse

Blodgett, David L.; Read, Emily K.; Lucido, Jessica M.; Slawecki, Tad; Young, Dwane

2016-01-01

Improving access to data and fostering open exchange of water information is foundational to solving water resources issues. In this vein, the Department of the Interior's Assistant Secretary for Water and Science put forward the charge to undertake an Open Water Data Initiative (OWDI) that would prioritize and accelerate work toward better water data infrastructure. The goal of the OWDI is to build out the Open Water Web (OWW). We therefore considered the OWW in terms of four conceptual functions: water data cataloging, water data as a service, enriching water data, and community for water data. To describe the current state of the OWW and identify areas needing improvement, we conducted an analysis of existing systems using a standard model for describing distributed systems and their business requirements. Our analysis considered three OWDI-focused use cases—flooding, drought, and contaminant transport—and then examined the landscape of other existing applications that support the Open Water Web. The analysis, which includes a discussion of observed successful practices of cataloging, serving, enriching, and building community around water resources data, demonstrates that we have made significant progress toward the needed infrastructure, although challenges remain. The further development of the OWW can be greatly informed by the interpretation and findings of our analysis.

A sub-tank water-saving drinking water station

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Ting

2017-05-01

"Thousands of boiling water" problem has been affecting people's quality of life and good health, and now most of the drinking fountains cannot effectively solve this problem, at the same time, ordinary drinking water also has high energy consumption, there are problems such as yin and yang water. Our newly designed dispenser uses a two-tank heating system. Hot water after heating, into the insulation tank for insulation, when the water tank in the water tank below a certain water level, the cold water and then enter the heating tank heating. Through the water flow, tank volume and other data to calculate the time required for each out of water, so as to determine the best position of the water level control, summed up the optimal program, so that water can be continuously uninterrupted supply. Two cans are placed up and down the way, in the same capacity on the basis of the capacity of the container, the appropriate to reduce its size, and increase the bottom radius, reduce the height of its single tank to ensure that the overall height of two cans compared with the traditional single change. Double anti-dry design, to ensure the safety of the use of drinking water. Heating tank heating circuit on and off by the tank of the float switch control, so that the water heating time from the tank water level control, to avoid the "thousands of boiling water" generation. The entry of cold water is controlled by two solenoid valves in the inlet pipe, and the opening and closing of the solenoid valve is controlled by the float switch in the two tanks. That is, the entry of cold water is determined by the water level of the two tanks. By designing the control scheme cleverly, Yin and yang water generation. Our design completely put an end to the "thousands of boiling water", yin and yang water, greatly improving the drinking water quality, for people's drinking water safety provides a guarantee, in line with the concept of green and healthy development. And in the small amount of water consumption, the drinking water station is different from the ordinary drinking water station repeatedly boil, greatly saving energy, embodies the idea of energy saving.

Ligand induced change of β2 adrenergic receptor from active to inactive conformation and its implication for the closed/open state of the water channel: insight from molecular dynamics simulation, free energy calculation and Markov state model analysis.

PubMed

Bai, Qifeng; Pérez-Sánchez, Horacio; Zhang, Yang; Shao, Yonghua; Shi, Danfeng; Liu, Huanxiang; Yao, Xiaojun

2014-08-14

The reported crystal structures of β2 adrenergic receptor (β2AR) reveal that the open and closed states of the water channel are correlated with the inactive and active conformations of β2AR. However, more details about the process by which the water channel states are affected by the active to inactive conformational change of β2AR remain illusive. In this work, molecular dynamics simulations are performed to study the dynamical inactive and active conformational change of β2AR induced by inverse agonist ICI 118,551. Markov state model analysis and free energy calculation are employed to explore the open and close states of the water channel. The simulation results show that inverse agonist ICI 118,551 can induce water channel opening during the conformational transition of β2AR. Markov state model (MSM) analysis proves that the energy contour can be divided into seven states. States S1, S2 and S5, which represent the active conformation of β2AR, show that the water channel is in the closed state, while states S4 and S6, which correspond to the intermediate state conformation of β2AR, indicate the water channel opens gradually. State S7, which represents the inactive structure of β2AR, corresponds to the full open state of the water channel. The opening mechanism of the water channel is involved in the ligand-induced conformational change of β2AR. These results can provide useful information for understanding the opening mechanism of the water channel and will be useful for the rational design of potent inverse agonists of β2AR.

Bow shocks in a newly discovered maser source in IRAS 20231+3440

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ogbodo, C. S.; Burns, R. A.; Handa, T.; Omodaka, T.; Nakagawa, A.; Nagayama, T.; Honma, M.; Chibueze, J. O.; Ubachukwu, A. A.; Eze, R. N. C.

2017-08-01

From measuring the annual parallax of water masers over 1.5 yr with VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry, we present the trigonometric parallax and corresponding distance of another newly identified water maser source in the region of IRAS 20231+3440 as π = 0.611 ± 0.022 mas and D = 1.64 ± 0.06 kpc, respectively. We measured the absolute proper motions of all the newly detected maser spots (30 spots) and presented two pictures describing the possible spatial distribution of the water maser as the morphology marks out an arc of masers whose average proper motion velocity in the jet direction was 14.26 km s-1. As revealed by the ALLWISE composite image and by applying the colour-colour method of young stellar objects (YSO) identification and classification on photometric archived data, we identified the driving source of the north maser group to be a class I, young stellar object. To further probe the nature of the progenitor, we used the momentum rate maximum value (1.2 × 10-4 M⊙ yr-1 km s-1) of the outflow to satisfy that the progenitor under investigation is a low-mass young stellar object concurrently forming alongside an intermediate-mass YSO ˜60 000 au (˜37 arcsec) away from it.

Resuspension and settling of helminth eggs in water: Interactions with cohesive sediments.

PubMed

Sengupta, Mita E; Andersen, Thorbjørn J; Dalsgaard, Anders; Olsen, Annette; Thamsborg, Stig M

2012-08-01

Helminth parasite eggs in low quality water represent main food safety and health hazards and are therefore important indicators used to determine whether such water can be used for irrigation. Through sedimentation helminth eggs accumulate in the sediment, however resuspension of deposited helminth eggs will lead to increased concentration of suspended eggs in the water. Our study aimed to determine the erodibility (erosion rate and erosion threshold) and settling velocity of Ascaris and Trichuris eggs as well as cohesive sediment at different time points after incorporation into the sediment. Cohesive sediment collected from a freshwater stream was used to prepare a sediment bed onto which helminth eggs were allowed to settle. The erodibility of both sediment and helminth eggs was found to decrease over time indicating that the eggs were incorporated into the surface material of the bed and that this material was stabilized through time. This interaction between eggs and bulk sediment was further manifested in an increased settling velocity of suspended eggs when sediment was present in the suspension as compared to a situation with settling in clean water. The incorporation into the sediment bed and the aggregation with sediment particles decrease the mobility of both helminth egg types. Our findings document that helminth eggs should not be viewed as single entities in water systems when modelling the distribution of eggs since both erodibility and settling velocity of eggs are determined by mobility of the sediment present in the water stream. Recalculation of the erosion threshold for helminth eggs and sediment showed that even at relatively low current velocities i.e. 0.07-0.12ms(-1) newly deposited eggs will be mobile in open irrigation channels. These environmental factors affecting resuspension must be taken into account when developing models for sedimentation of helminth eggs in different water systems. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Laboratory-Scale Simulation and Real-Time Tracking of a Microbial Contamination Event and Subsequent Shock-Chlorination in Drinking Water

PubMed Central

Besmer, Michael D.; Sigrist, Jürg A.; Props, Ruben; Buysschaert, Benjamin; Mao, Guannan; Boon, Nico; Hammes, Frederik

2017-01-01

Rapid contamination of drinking water in distribution and storage systems can occur due to pressure drop, backflow, cross-connections, accidents, and bio-terrorism. Small volumes of a concentrated contaminant (e.g., wastewater) can contaminate large volumes of water in a very short time with potentially severe negative health impacts. The technical limitations of conventional, cultivation-based microbial detection methods neither allow for timely detection of such contaminations, nor for the real-time monitoring of subsequent emergency remediation measures (e.g., shock-chlorination). Here we applied a newly developed continuous, ultra high-frequency flow cytometry approach to track a rapid pollution event and subsequent disinfection of drinking water in an 80-min laboratory scale simulation. We quantified total (TCC) and intact (ICC) cell concentrations as well as flow cytometric fingerprints in parallel in real-time with two different staining methods. The ingress of wastewater was detectable almost immediately (i.e., after 0.6% volume change), significantly changing TCC, ICC, and the flow cytometric fingerprint. Shock chlorination was rapid and detected in real time, causing membrane damage in the vast majority of bacteria (i.e., drop of ICC from more than 380 cells μl-1 to less than 30 cells μl-1 within 4 min). Both of these effects as well as the final wash-in of fresh tap water followed calculated predictions well. Detailed and highly quantitative tracking of microbial dynamics at very short time scales and for different characteristics (e.g., concentration, membrane integrity) is feasible. This opens up multiple possibilities for targeted investigation of a myriad of bacterial short-term dynamics (e.g., disinfection, growth, detachment, operational changes) both in laboratory-scale research and full-scale system investigations in practice. PMID:29085343

Challenges of agricultural monitoring: integration of the Open Farm Management Information System into GEOSS and Digital Earth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Řezník, T.; Kepka, M.; Charvát, K.; Charvát, K., Jr.; Horáková, S.; Lukas, V.

2016-04-01

From a global perspective, agriculture is the single largest user of freshwater resources, each country using an average of 70% of all its surface water supplies. An essential proportion of agricultural water is recycled back to surface water and/or groundwater. Agriculture and water pollution is therefore the subject of (inter)national legislation, such as the Clean Water Act in the United States of America, the European Water Framework Directive, and the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution. Regular monitoring by means of sensor networks is needed in order to provide evidence of water pollution in agriculture. This paper describes the benefits of, and open issues stemming from, regular sensor monitoring provided by an Open Farm Management Information System. Emphasis is placed on descriptions of the processes and functionalities available to users, the underlying open data model, and definitions of open and lightweight application programming interfaces for the efficient management of collected (spatial) data. The presented Open Farm Management Information System has already been successfully registered under Phase 8 of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) Architecture Implementation Pilot in order to support the wide variety of demands that are primarily aimed at agriculture pollution monitoring. The final part of the paper deals with the integration of the Open Farm Management Information System into the Digital Earth framework.

The Effects of Orthophosphate in Drinking Water on the Initial Copper Corrosion Using Atomic Force Microscopy

EPA Science Inventory

Corroding of copper piping used in household drinking water plumbing may potentially impacts consumer’s health and economics. Copper corrosion studies conducted on newly corroding material with atomic force microscopy (AFM) may be particularly useful in understanding the impact ...

Bioethanol production from sodium hydroxide/hydrogen peroxide-pretreated water hyacinth via simultaneous saccharification and fermentation with a newly isolated thermotolerant Kluyveromyces marxianu strain.

PubMed

Yan, Jinping; Wei, Zhilei; Wang, Qiaoping; He, Manman; Li, Shumei; Irbis, Chagan

2015-10-01

In this study, bioethanol production from NaOH/H2O2-pretreated water hyacinth was investigated. Pretreatment of water hyacinth with 1.5% (v/v) H2O2 and 3% (w/v) NaOH at 25 °C increased the production of reducing sugars (223.53 mg/g dry) and decreased the cellulose crystallinity (12.18%), compared with 48.67 mg/g dry and 22.80% in the untreated sample, respectively. The newly isolated Kluyveromyces marxianu K213 showed greater ethanol production from glucose (0.43 g/g glucose) at 45 °C than did the control Saccharomyces cerevisiae angel yeast. The maximum ethanol concentration (7.34 g/L) achieved with K. marxianu K213 by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) from pretreated water hyacinth at 42 °C was 1.78-fold greater than that produced by angel yeast S. cerevisiae at 30 °C. The present work demonstrates that bioethanol production achieved via SSF of NaOH/H2O2-pretreated water hyacinth with K. marxianu K213 is a promising strategy to utilize water hyacinth biomass. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Climate change and the water cycle in newly irrigated areas.

PubMed

Abrahão, Raphael; García-Garizábal, Iker; Merchán, Daniel; Causapé, Jesús

2015-02-01

Climate change is affecting agriculture doubly: evapotranspiration is increasing due to increments in temperature while the availability of water resources is decreasing. Furthermore, irrigated areas are expanding worldwide. In this study, the dynamics of climate change impacts on the water cycle of a newly irrigated watershed are studied through the calculation of soil water balances. The study area was a 752-ha watershed located on the left side of the Ebro river valley, in Northeast Spain. The soil water balance procedures were carried out throughout 1827 consecutive days (5 years) of hydrological and agronomical monitoring in the study area. Daily data from two agroclimatic stations were used as well. Evaluation of the impact of climate change on the water cycle considered the creation of two future climate scenarios for comparison: 2070 decade with climate change and 2070 decade without climate change. The main indicators studied were precipitation, irrigation, reference evapotranspiration, actual evapotranspiration, drainage from the watershed, and irrigation losses. The aridity index was also applied. The results represent a baseline scenario in which adaptation measures may be included and tested to reduce the impacts of climate change in the studied area and other similar areas.

Taggiasca extra virgin olive oil colonization by yeasts during the extraction process.

PubMed

Ciafardini, G; Cioccia, G; Zullo, B A

2017-04-01

The opalescent appearance of the newly produced olive oil is due to the presence of solid particles and microdrops of vegetation water in which the microorganisms from the olives' carposphere are trapped. Present research has demonstrated that the microbiota of the fresh extracted olive oil, produced in the mills, is mainly composed of yeasts and to a lesser extent of molds. The close link between the composition of the microbiota of the olives' carposphere undergoing to processing, and that of the microbiota of the newly produced olive oil, concerns only the yeasts and molds, given that the bacterial component is by and large destroyed mainly in the kneaded paste during the malaxation process. Six physiologically homogenous yeast groups were highlighted in the wash water, kneaded paste and newly produced olive oil from the Taggiasca variety which had been collected in mills located in the Liguria region. The more predominant yeasts of each group belonged to a single species called respectively: Kluyveromyces marxianus, Candida oleophila, Candida diddensiae, Candida norvegica, Wickerhamomyces anomalus and Debaryomyces hansenii. Apart from K. marxianus, which was found only in the wash water, all the other species were found in the wash water and in the kneaded paste as well as in the newly produced olive oil, while in the six-month stored olive oil, was found only one physiologically homogeneous group of yeast represented by the W. anomalus specie. These findings in according to our previous studies carried out on other types of mono varietal olive oils, confirms that the habitat of the Taggiascas' extra virgin olive oil, had a strong selective pressure on the yeast biota, allowing only to a few member of yeast species, contaminating the fresh product, to survive and reproduce in it during storage. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

KSC-03PD-2210

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2003-01-01

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. This aerial view, looking northwest, shows the newly opened Space Commerce Way that winds from S.R 3 on the right to its exit on S.R. 405 (near the top) in the background. The road is the new public access from Merritt Island to the KSC Visitor Complex (seen at top).

Krikalev and Gidzenko at ISS hatch

NASA Image and Video Library

2001-02-10

ISS-01-E-5324 (10 February 2001) --- Cosmonauts Sergei K. Krikalev (left), Expedition One flight engineer, and Yuri P. Gidzenko, Soyuz commander, are pictured at the hatch that leads from the Unity node into the newly attached Destiny laboratory. The picture was recorded with a digital still camera on the day the hatch was initially opened.

Raise the Bar

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Dana

2004-01-01

Detroit's Benjamin Carson Academy (BCA) is believed to be the nation's first charter school for juvenile offenders. Opened in 1999, BCA is housed in the newly built Wayne County Juvenile Detention Facility, a state of the art, 89,300-square-foot building in downtown Detroit with half a dozen gymnasiums, two computer labs, a media center, mental…

78 FR 42805 - Nixon Presidential Historical Materials: Opening of Materials

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-07-17

... Library in Yorba Linda. The newly released tapes will also be available on August 21, 2013 on the Web at... Nixon Presidential Historical Materials by the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, a division... required by law, including the PRMPA. DATES: The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum intends to...

Pathway to a compact SASE FEL device

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dattoli, G.; Di Palma, E.; Petrillo, V.; Rau, Julietta V.; Sabia, E.; Spassovsky, I.; Biedron, S. G.; Einstein, J.; Milton, S. V.

2015-10-01

Newly developed high peak power lasers have opened the possibilities of driving coherent light sources operating with laser plasma accelerated beams and wave undulators. We speculate on the combination of these two concepts and show that the merging of the underlying technologies could lead to new and interesting possibilities to achieve truly compact, coherent radiator devices.

Education in the Anthropocene: Ethico-Moral Dimensions and Critical Realist Openings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olvitt, Lausanne Laura

2017-01-01

Human-induced changes in planetary bio-geo-chemical processes have tipped earth into a newly-proposed geological epoch: the Anthropocene, which places moral and ethical demands on people regarding who should take responsibility for the well-being of people and planet, how, and why. Drawing generally on critical realist ontology, and more…

3d-4f {Co(II)3Ln(OR)4} Cubanes as Bio-Inspired Water Oxidation Catalysts.

PubMed

Evangelisti, Fabio; Moré, René; Hodel, Florian; Luber, Sandra; Patzke, Greta Ricarda

2015-09-02

Although the {CaMn4O5} oxygen evolving complex (OEC) of photosystem II is a major paradigm for water oxidation catalyst (WOC) development, the comprehensive translation of its key features into active molecular WOCs remains challenging. The [Co(II)3Ln(hmp)4(OAc)5H2O] ({Co(II)3Ln(OR)4}; Ln = Ho-Yb, hmp = 2-(hydroxymethyl)pyridine) cubane WOC series is introduced as a new springboard to address crucial design parameters, ranging from nuclearity and redox-inactive promoters to operational stability and ligand exchange properties. The {Co(II)3Ln(OR)4} cubanes promote bioinspired WOC design by newly combining Ln(3+) centers as redox-inactive Ca(2+) analogues with flexible aqua-/acetate ligands into active and stable WOCs (max. TON/TOF values of 211/9 s(-1)). Furthermore, they open up the important family of 3d-4f complexes for photocatalytic applications. The stability of the {Co(II)3Ln(OR)4} WOCs under photocatalytic conditions is demonstrated with a comprehensive analytical strategy including trace metal analyses and solution-based X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) investigations. The productive influence of the Ln(3+) centers is linked to favorable ligand mobility, and the experimental trends are substantiated with Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics studies.

CRDS of 17O enriched water between 5850 and 6671 cm-1: More than 1000 energy levels of H217O and HD17O newly determined

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mikhailenko, S. N.; Leshchishina, O.; Karlovets, E. V.; Mondelain, D.; Kassi, S.; Campargue, A.

2016-07-01

The room temperature absorption spectrum of water vapor highly enriched in 17O has been recorded by Cavity Ring Down Spectroscopy (CRDS) between 5850 and 6671 cm-1. Two series of recordings were performed with pressure values of 1.0 and 12.0 Torr. The investigated spectral region corresponds to the important 1.55 μm transparency window of the atmosphere where water absorption is very weak. The high sensitivity of the recordings (αmin 5×10-11 cm-1) allows detecting lines with intensity spanning six orders of magnitude (1.4×10-30-3.6×10-24 cm/molecule at room temperature). The experimental list includes more than 10,300 lines. The assignments of water lines were performed using known experimental energy levels as well as calculated line lists based on the results of Partridge and Schwenke. More than 8500 lines were assigned to 9619 transitions of six water isotopologues (H216O, H217O, H218O, HD16O, HD17O and HD18O). All but four transitions of the 16O and 18O isotopologues were assigned using known experimental energy levels. More than half of the assigned H217O and HD17O transitions correspond to new (or corrected) upper energy levels. About 1000 new H217O transitions associated with upper states of the second triad and of the first hexad were identified. Most of the newly assigned HD17O transitions belong to the ν1+ν3 and 2ν2+ν3 bands. The assigned transitions allowed to newly determine or correct 20 highly excited rotational levels of the vibrational ground state of this isotopologue. Overall 791 and 266 energy levels are newly determined for H217O and HD17O, respectively. A few additional levels were corrected compared to literature values. The obtained experimental results are compared to the spectroscopic parameters provided by the HITRAN database and to the empirical energy levels recommended by an IUPAC task group.

Ice/water Classification of Sentinel-1 Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Korosov, Anton; Zakhvatkina, Natalia; Muckenhuber, Stefan

2015-04-01

Sea Ice monitoring and classification relies heavily on synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery. These sensors record data either only at horizontal polarization (RADARSAT-1) or vertically polarized (ERS-1 and ERS-2) or at dual polarization (Radarsat-2, Sentinel-1). Many algorithms have been developed to discriminate sea ice types and open water using single polarization images. Ice type classification, however, is still ambiguous in some cases. Sea ice classification in single polarization SAR images has been attempted using various methods since the beginning of the ERS programme. The robust classification using only SAR images that can provide useful results under varying sea ice types and open water tend to be not generally applicable in operational regime. The new generation SAR satellites have capability to deliver images in several polarizations. This gives improved possibility to develop sea ice classification algorithms. In this study we use data from Sentinel-1 at dual-polarization, i.e. HH (horizontally transmitted and horizontally received) and HV (horizontally transmitted, vertically received). This mode assembles wide SAR image from several narrower SAR beams, resulting to an image of 500 x 500 km with 50 m resolution. A non-linear scheme for classification of Sentinel-1 data has been developed. The processing allows to identify three classes: ice, calm water and rough water at 1 km spatial resolution. The raw sigma0 data in HH and HV polarization are first corrected for thermal and random noise by extracting the background thermal noise level and smoothing the image with several filters. At the next step texture characteristics are computed in a moving window using a Gray Level Co-occurence Matrix (GLCM). A neural network is applied at the last step for processing array of the most informative texture characteristics and ice/water classification. The main results are: * the most informative texture characteristics to be used for sea ice classification were revealed; * the best set of parameters including the window size, number of levels of quantization of sigma0 values and co-occurence distance was found; * a support vector machine (SVM) was trained on results of visual classification of 30 Sentinel-1 images. Despite the general high accuracy of the neural network (95% of true positive classification) problems with classification of young newly formed ice and rough water arise due to the similar average backscatter and texture. Other methods of smoothing and computation of texture characteristics (e.g. computation of GLCM from a variable size window) is assessed. The developed scheme will be utilized in NRT processing of Sentinel-1 data at NERSC within the MyOcean2 project.

SMART characterisation of New Zealand's aquifers using fast and passive methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klug, H.; Daughney, C.; Verhagen, F.; Westerhoff, R.; Ward, N. Dudley

2012-04-01

Groundwater resources account for about half of New Zealand's abstractive water needs and supplies about eighty per cent of all water used in the agricultural sector. Despite the importance of New Zealand's groundwater resources, we still lack essential information related to their basic properties such as volume, hydraulic properties, interaction with surface water, and water age. These measures are required to ensure sustainable management in order to avoid overexploitation of water resources and to circumvent water scarcity situations where humans and the economy will be stressed due to insufficient water supply. A newly established research collaboration between New Zealand and Europe aims to provide a methodological framework to characterise New Zealand's groundwater aquifers. The SMART project (www.smart-project.info) will rely on existing data sources of regional councils and research institutes and will develop novel measurement techniques that can be applied to large areas with little effort, little acquisition time, and minimal cost. The project aims to synthesise in situ measurements from sensor observation services, ambient noise seismic tomography, real-time fibre optic temperature sensing, novel age tracers, airborne geophysical surveying and satellite remote sensing techniques. Validation of direct and indirect groundwater information will be achieved through use of multiple methods in case study areas and by "ground-truthing" the new methods against existing data obtained from traditional methods (e.g. drilling, aquifer pump testing, river gauging). An important overarching part of the project is the quantification of uncertainty associated with all techniques to be employed. An online Sensor WebGIS prototype will provide the project results and other case study observations (e.g. temperature, precipitation, soil moisture) in as near real-time as possible. These datasets serve as a validation source for the satellite monitoring results and present an actual view on the status of the environment. The web portal will not only visualise near real-time (station based) point measurements but also process these datasets to spatially distributed maps on climatological parameters. The OGC compliant and open source based portal will be developed towards a 3D groundwater interface and inventory. This inventory will be tailored to stakeholder needs (e.g. open access, ease of use, and interoperability with existing systems) which have already been identified through stakeholder consultation processes. The portal prototype runs on a platform-independent web browser ensuring access and visibility to all stakeholders and decision makers at regional and national level.

Scientific Software - the role of best practices and recommendations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fritzsch, Bernadette; Bernstein, Erik; Castell, Wolfgang zu; Diesmann, Markus; Haas, Holger; Hammitzsch, Martin; Konrad, Uwe; Lähnemann, David; McHardy, Alice; Pampel, Heinz; Scheliga, Kaja; Schreiber, Andreas; Steglich, Dirk

2017-04-01

In Geosciences - like in most other communities - scientific work strongly depends on software. For big data analysis, existing (closed or open source) program packages are often mixed with newly developed codes. Different versions of software components and varying configurations can influence the result of data analysis. This often makes reproducibility of results and reuse of codes very difficult. Policies for publication and documentation of used and newly developed software, along with best practices, can help tackle this problem. Within the Helmholtz Association a Task Group "Access to and Re-use of scientific software" was implemented by the Open Science Working Group in 2016. The aim of the Task Group is to foster the discussion about scientific software in the Open Science context and to formulate recommendations for the production and publication of scientific software, ensuring open access to it. As a first step, a workshop gathered interested scientists from institutions across Germany. The workshop brought together various existing initiatives from different scientific communities to analyse current problems, share established best practices and come up with possible solutions. The subjects in the working groups covered a broad range of themes, including technical infrastructures, standards and quality assurance, citation of software and reproducibility. Initial recommendations are presented and discussed in the talk. They are the foundation for further discussions in the Helmholtz Association and the Priority Initiative "Digital Information" of the Alliance of Science Organisations in Germany. The talk aims to inform about the activities and to link with other initiatives on the national or international level.

High resolution projection X-ray microscope equipped with fluorescent X-ray analyzer and its applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Minami, K.; Saito, Y.; Kai, H.; Shirota, K.; Yada, K.

2009-09-01

We have newly developed an open type fine-focus X-ray tube "TX-510" to realize a spatial resolution of 50nm and to radiate low energy characteristic X-rays for giving high absorption contrast to images of microscopic organisms. The "TX-510" employs a ZrO/W(100) Schottky emitter and an "In-Lens Field Emission Gun". The key points of the improvements are (1) reduced spherical aberration coefficient of magnetic objective lens, (2) easy and accurate focusing, (3) newly designed astigmatism compensator, (4) segmented thin film target for interchanging the target materials by electron beam shift and (5) fluorescent X-ray analysis system.

Shale across Scales from the Depths of Sedimentary Basins to Soil and Water at Earth's Surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brantley, S. L.; Gu, X.

2017-12-01

Shale has become highly important on the world stage because it can host natural gas. In addition, shale is now targeted as a formation that can host repositories for disposal of radioactive waste. This newly recognized importance of shale has driven increased research into the nature of this unusual material. Much of this research incorporates characterization tools that probe shale at scales from nanometers to millimeters. Many of the talks in this Union session discuss these techniques and how scientists use them to understand how they impact the flow of fluids at larger scales. Another research avenue targets how material properties affect soil formation on this lithology and how water quality is affected in sedimentary basins where shale gas resources are under development. For example, minerals in shale are dominated by clays aligned along bedding. As the shales are exhumed and exposed at the surface during weathering, bedding planes open and fractures and microfractures form, allowing outfluxes or influxes of fluids. These phenomena result in specific patterns of fluid flow and, eventually, soil formation and landscape development. Specifically, in the Marcellus Formation gas play - the largest shale gas play in the U.S.A. - exposures of the shale at the surface result in deep oxidation of pyrite and organic matter, deep dissolution of carbonates, and relatively shallow alteration of clays. Micron-sized particles are also lost from all depths above the oxidation front. These characteristics result in deeply weathered and quickly eroded landscapes, and may also be related to patterns in water quality in shale gas plays. For example, across the entire Marcellus shale gas play in Pennsylvania, the single most common water quality issue is contamination by natural gas. This contamination is rare and is observed to be more prevalent in certain areas. These areas are likely related to shale material properties and geological structure. Specifically, natural gas moves along opening bedding planes as well as through faults and other larger scale geologic structures within basins. Understanding how shale acts as a material at all depths from that of fracking to that of the forest will enhance our ability to power our societal needs, dispose of our wastes, and sustain our water and soil resources.

Ergonomic design and evaluation of new surgical scissors.

PubMed

Shimomura, Yoshihiro; Shirakawa, Hironori; Sekine, Masashi; Katsuura, Tetsuo; Igarashi, Tatsuo

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study is to design a new surgical scissors handle and determine its effectiveness with various usability indices. A new scissors handle was designed that retains the professional grip but has the shapes of the eye rings modified to fit the thumb and ring finger and finger rests for the index and little finger. The newly designed scissors and traditional scissors were compared by electromyography, subjective evaluation and task performance in experiments using cutting and peeling tasks. The newly designed scissors reduced muscle load in both hand during cutting by the closing action, and reduced the muscle load in the left hand during peeling by the opening action through active use of the right hand. In evaluation by surgeons, task performance improved in addition to the decrease in muscle load. The newly designed scissors used in this study demonstrated high usability. A new scissors handle was designed that has the eye rings modified to fit the thumb and ring finger. The newly designed scissors reduced muscle load and enabled active use of the right hand. In evaluation by surgeons, task performance improved in addition to the decrease in muscle load.

NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON RETROFIT OPPORTUNITIES FOR WATER RESOURCE PROTECTION IN URBAN ENVIRONMENTS: PROCEEDINGS, CHICAGO, IL, FEBRUARY 9-12, 1998

EPA Science Inventory

Water resource managers have been successful in developing approaches for reducing nonpoint source pollution in newly developing urban areas. Issues become increasingly complex, however, when managers are faced with the challenge of reducing nonpoint source impacts within previo...

CD ROM: NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON RETROFIT OPPORTUNITIES FOR WATER RESOURCE PROTECTION IN URBAN ENVIRONMENTS: PROCEEDINGS, CHICAGO, IL, FEBRUARY 9-12, 1998

EPA Science Inventory

Water resource managers have been successful in developing approaches for reducingnonpoint source pollution in newly developing urban areas. Isssues become increasingly complex, however, when managers are faced with the challenge of reducing nonpoint source impacts within previou...

Characteristics of elite open-water swimmers.

PubMed

VanHeest, Jaci L; Mahoney, Carrie E; Herr, Larry

2004-05-01

Open-water swimming (5, 10, and 25 km) has many unique challenges that separate it from other endurance sports, like marathon running and cycling. The characteristics of a successful open-water swimmer are unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine the physical and metabolic characteristics of a group of elite-level open-water swimmers. The open-water swimmers were participating in a 1-week training camp. Anthropometric, metabolic, and blood chemistry assessments were performed on the athletes. The swimmers had a VO(2)peak of 5.51 +/- 0.96 and 5.06 +/- 0.57 ml.kg(-1).min(-1) for males and females, respectively. Their lactate threshold (LT) occurred at a pace equal to 88.75% of peak pace for males and 93.75% for females. These elite open-water swimmers were smaller and lighter than competitive pool swimmers. They possess aerobic metabolic alterations that resulted in enhanced performance in distance swimming. Trainers and coaches should develop dry-land programs that will improve the athlete's muscular endurance. Furthermore, programs should be designed to increase the LT velocity as a percentage of peak swimming velocity.

Infiltration and soil erosion modelling on Lausatian post mine sites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kunth, Franziska; Schmidt, Jürgen

2013-04-01

Land management of reclaimed lignite mine sites requires long-term and safe structuring of recultivation areas. Erosion by water leads to explicit soil losses, especially on heavily endangered water repellent and non-vegetated soil surfaces. Beyond that, weathering of pyrite-containing lignite burden dumps causes sulfuric acid-formation, and hence the acidification of groundwater, seepage water and surface waters. Pyrite containing sediment is detached by precipitation and transported into worked-out open cuts by draining runoff. In addition to ground water influence, erosion processes are therefore involved in acidification of surface waters. A model-based approach for the conservation of man-made slopes of post mining sites is the objective of this ongoing study. The study shall be completed by modeling of the effectiveness of different mine site recultivation scenarios. Erosion risks on man-made slopes in recultivation areas should be determined by applying the physical, raster- and event based computer model EROSION 2D/3D (Schmidt, 1991, 1992; v. Werner, 1995). The widely used erosion model is able to predict runoff as well as detachment, transport and deposition of sediments. Lignite burden dumps contain hydrophobic substances that cover soil particles. Consequently, these soils show strong water repellency, which influences the processes of infiltration and soil erosion on non-vegetated, coal containing dump soils. The influence of water repellency had to be implemented into EROSION 2D/3D. Required input data for soil erosion modelling (e.g. physical soil parameters, infiltration rates, calibration factors, etc.) were gained by soil sampling and rainfall experiments on non-vegetated as well as recultivated reclaimed mine sites in the Lusatia lignite mining region (southeast of Berlin, Germany). The measured infiltration rates on the non-vegetated water repellent sites were extremely low. Therefore, a newly developed water repellency-factor was applied to depict infiltration and erosion processes on water repellent dump soils. For infiltration modelling with EROSION 2D calibration factors (e.g. water repellency factor, skin-factor, etc.) were determined in different steps by calibrating computer modelled infiltration, respectively volume rate of flow to the measured data.

Sedimentation along the Eastern Chenier Plain Coast: Down Drift Impact of a Delta Complex Shift

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huh, Oscar K.; Walker, Nan D.; Moeller, Christopher

2001-01-01

The Mississippi River Chenier Plain is a shore parallel landform (down-drift from the Atchafalaya distributary of the Mississippi River) consisting of an alternating series of transgressive sand-shell ridges and regressive, progradational mudflats. The late 1940s shift of 1/3 of the flow of the Mississippi to the newly developing Atchafalaya delta complex to the west has resulted in injection of the river waters and suspended sediment into the westward flowing currents of the coastal current system. This has reactivated the dormant processes of mud accumulation along this coast. These environmental circumstances have provided the opportunity to: (1) investigate the depositional processes of the prograding, fine grained, mud flat facies of the open Chenier main coast and (2) to test the hypothesis that the impacts of the frequent cold front passages of fall, winter and spring exceed those of the occasional and more localized hurricane in shaping the coast and powering the dominant sedimentary processes. We conducted field investigations with the benefit of multi - scale, time series environmental surveillance by remote sensing systems, including airborne and satellite sensors. These systems provided invaluable new information on areal geomorphic patterns and the behavior of the coastal waters. This is a classic case of weather impacting inner shelf waters and sediments and causing the development of a new landform. It is clear that mud flats of the eastern chenier plain are prograding seaward, as well as progressively growing in a westerly direction.

Control of water erosion and sediment in open cut coal mines in tropical areas

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ueda, T.; Nugraha, C.; Matsui, K.

2005-07-01

The purpose is to reduce the environmental impacts from open cut mining in tropical areas, such as Indonesia and Vietnam. Research conducted on methods for the control of water erosion and sediment from open cut coal mines is described. Data were collected on climate and weathering in tropical areas, mechanism of water erosion and sedimentation, characteristics of rocks in coal measures under wet conditions, water management at pits and haul roads and ramps, and construction of waste dumps and water management. The results will be applied to the optimum control and management of erosion and sediments in open cut mining.more » 6 refs., 8 figs.« less

High-resolution measurements of elemental mercury in surface water for an improved quantitative understanding of the Baltic Sea as a source of atmospheric mercury

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuss, Joachim; Krüger, Siegfried; Ruickoldt, Johann; Wlost, Klaus-Peter

2018-03-01

Marginal seas are directly subjected to anthropogenic and natural influences from land in addition to receiving inputs from the atmosphere and open ocean. Together these lead to pronounced gradients and strong dynamic changes. However, in the case of mercury emissions from these seas, estimates often fail to adequately account for the spatial and temporal variability of the elemental mercury concentration in surface water (Hg0wat). In this study, a method to measure Hg0wat at high resolution was devised and subsequently validated. The better-resolved Hg0wat dataset, consisting of about one measurement per nautical mile, yielded insight into the sea's small-scale variability and thus improved the quantification of the sea's Hg0 emission. This is important because global marine Hg0 emissions constitute a major source of atmospheric mercury. Research campaigns in the Baltic Sea were carried out between 2011 and 2015 during which Hg0 both in surface water and in ambient air were measured. For the former, two types of equilibrators were used. A membrane equilibrator enabled continuous equilibration and a bottle equilibrator assured that equilibrium was reached for validation. The measurements were combined with data obtained in the Baltic Sea in 2006 from a bottle equilibrator only. The Hg0 sea-air flux was newly calculated with the combined dataset based on current knowledge of the Hg0 Schmidt number, Henry's law constant, and a widely used gas exchange transfer velocity parameterization. By using a newly developed pump-CTD with increased pumping capability in the Hg0 equilibrator measurements, Hg0wat could also be characterized in deeper water layers. A process study carried out near the Swedish island Øland in August 2015 showed that the upwelling of Hg0-depleted water contributed to Hg0 emissions of the Baltic Sea. However, a delay of a few days after contact between the upwelled water and light was apparently necessary before the biotic and abiotic transformations of ionic to volatile Hg0 produced a distinct sea-air Hg0 concentration gradient. This study clearly showed spatial, seasonal, and interannual variability in the Hg0 sea-air flux of the Baltic Sea. The average annual Hg0 emission was 0.90 ± 0.18 Mg for the Baltic proper and extrapolated to 1.73 ± 0.32 Mg for the entire Baltic Sea, which is about half the amount entrained by atmospheric deposition. A comparison of our results with the Hg0 sea-air fluxes determined in the Mediterranean Sea and in marginal seas in East Asia were to some extent similar but they partly differed in terms of the deviations in the amount and seasonality of the flux.

On the relevance of using open wireless sensor networks in environment monitoring.

PubMed

Bagula, Antoine B; Inggs, Gordon; Scott, Simon; Zennaro, Marco

2009-01-01

This paper revisits the problem of the readiness for field deployments of wireless sensor networks by assessing the relevance of using Open Hardware and Software motes for environment monitoring. We propose a new prototype wireless sensor network that fine-tunes SquidBee motes to improve the life-time and sensing performance of an environment monitoring system that measures temperature, humidity and luminosity. Building upon two outdoor sensing scenarios, we evaluate the performance of the newly proposed energy-aware prototype solution in terms of link quality when expressed by the Received Signal Strength, Packet Loss and the battery lifetime. The experimental results reveal the relevance of using the Open Hardware and Software motes when setting up outdoor wireless sensor networks.

Water inventory management in condenser pool of boiling water reactor

DOEpatents

Gluntz, Douglas M.

1996-01-01

An improved system for managing the water inventory in the condenser pool of a boiling water reactor has means for raising the level of the upper surface of the condenser pool water without adding water to the isolation pool. A tank filled with water is installed in a chamber of the condenser pool. The water-filled tank contains one or more holes or openings at its lowermost periphery and is connected via piping and a passive-type valve (e.g., squib valve) to a high-pressure gas-charged pneumatic tank of appropriate volume. The valve is normally closed, but can be opened at an appropriate time following a loss-of-coolant accident. When the valve opens, high-pressure gas inside the pneumatic tank is released to flow passively through the piping to pressurize the interior of the water-filled tank. In so doing, the initial water contents of the tank are expelled through the openings, causing the water level in the condenser pool to rise. This increases the volume of water available to be boiled off by heat conducted from the passive containment cooling heat exchangers. 4 figs.

Water inventory management in condenser pool of boiling water reactor

DOEpatents

Gluntz, D.M.

1996-03-12

An improved system for managing the water inventory in the condenser pool of a boiling water reactor has means for raising the level of the upper surface of the condenser pool water without adding water to the isolation pool. A tank filled with water is installed in a chamber of the condenser pool. The water-filled tank contains one or more holes or openings at its lowermost periphery and is connected via piping and a passive-type valve (e.g., squib valve) to a high-pressure gas-charged pneumatic tank of appropriate volume. The valve is normally closed, but can be opened at an appropriate time following a loss-of-coolant accident. When the valve opens, high-pressure gas inside the pneumatic tank is released to flow passively through the piping to pressurize the interior of the water-filled tank. In so doing, the initial water contents of the tank are expelled through the openings, causing the water level in the condenser pool to rise. This increases the volume of water available to be boiled off by heat conducted from the passive containment cooling heat exchangers. 4 figs.

Newly learned word forms are abstract and integrated immediately after acquisition

PubMed Central

Kapnoula, Efthymia C.; McMurray, Bob

2015-01-01

A hotly debated question in word learning concerns the conditions under which newly learned words compete or interfere with familiar words during spoken word recognition. This has recently been described as a key marker of the integration of a new word into the lexicon and was thought to require consolidation Dumay & Gaskell, (Psychological Science, 18, 35–39, 2007; Gaskell & Dumay, Cognition, 89, 105–132, 2003). Recently, however, Kapnoula, Packard, Gupta, and McMurray, (Cognition, 134, 85–99, 2015) showed that interference can be observed immediately after a word is first learned, implying very rapid integration of new words into the lexicon. It is an open question whether these kinds of effects derive from episodic traces of novel words or from more abstract and lexicalized representations. Here we addressed this question by testing inhibition for newly learned words using training and test stimuli presented in different talker voices. During training, participants were exposed to a set of nonwords spoken by a female speaker. Immediately after training, we assessed the ability of the novel word forms to inhibit familiar words, using a variant of the visual world paradigm. Crucially, the test items were produced by a male speaker. An analysis of fixations showed that even with a change in voice, newly learned words interfered with the recognition of similar known words. These findings show that lexical competition effects from newly learned words spread across different talker voices, which suggests that newly learned words can be sufficiently lexicalized, and abstract with respect to talker voice, without consolidation. PMID:26202702

Developing a framework for integrating turbulence measurements and modeling of ecosystem-atmosphere interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Markfort, C. D.

2017-12-01

Aquatic ecosystems are integrators of nutrient and carbon from their watersheds. The effects of climate change in many cases will enhance the rate of these inputs and change the thermodynamics within aquatic environments. It is unclear the extent these changes will have on water quality and carbon assimilation, but the drivers of these processes will be determined by the complex interactions at the land-water and air-water interfaces. For example, flow over and beneath wind-driven surface waves generate turbulence that plays an important role in aquatic ecology and biogeochemistry, exchange of gases such as oxygen and carbon dioxide, and it is important for the transfer of energy and controlling evaporation. Energy transferred from the atmosphere promotes the generation and maintenance of waves. A fraction of the energy is transferred to the surface mixed layer through the generation of turbulence. Energy is also transferred back to the atmosphere by waves. There is a need to quantify the details of the coupled boundary layers of the air-water system to better understand how turbulence plays a role in the interactions. We have developed capabilities to conduct field and laboratory experiments using eddy covariance on tall-towers and rafts, UAS platforms integrated with remote sensing, and detailed wind-wave measurements with time-resolved PIV in a new boundary layer wind-wave tunnel. We will show measurements of the detailed structure of the air and water boundary layers under varying wind and wave conditions in the newly developed IIHR Boundary-Layer Wind-Wave Tunnel. The facility combines a 30-m long recirculating water channel with an open-return boundary layer wind tunnel. A thick turbulent boundary layer is developed in the 1 m high air channel, over the water surface, allowing for the study of boundary layer turbulence interacting with a wind-driven wave field. Results will help interpret remote sensing, energy budget measurements, and turbulence transport models for sheltered lakes influenced by terrain and tall trees.

77 FR 23120 - Special Local Regulations; Lowcountry Splash Open Water Swim, Wando River and Cooper River, Mount...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-18

...-AA08 Special Local Regulations; Lowcountry Splash Open Water Swim, Wando River and Cooper River, Mount... at Patriots Point on the Cooper River. Approximately 600 swimmers will be participating in the swim... Special Local Regulations; Lowcountry Splash Open Water Swim, Wando River and Cooper River, Mount Pleasant...

75 FR 2159 - Notice of an Open Meeting of the Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI)

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-01-14

... Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI) AGENCY: United States Geological Survey. ACTION: Notice of an open meeting of the Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI). SUMMARY: Notice is hereby... national water initiatives, and the development and dissemination of water information, through reports...

Water gate array for current flow or tidal movement pneumatic harnessing system

DOEpatents

Gorlov, Alexander M.

1991-01-01

The invention, which provides a system for harnessing power from current flow or tidal movement in a body of water, comprises first and second hydro-pneumatic chambers each having ingress and egress below the water surface near the river or ocean floor and water gates operative to open or seal the ports to the passage of water. In an exemplary embodiment, the gates are sychronized by shafts so that the ingress ports of each chamber are connected to the egress ports of each other chamber. Thus, one set of gates is closed, while the other is open, thereby allowing water to flow into one chamber and build air pressure therein and allowing water to flow out of the other chamber and create a partial vacuum therein. A pipe connects the chambers, and an air turbine harnesses the air movement within the pipe. When water levels are equilibrated, the open set of gates is closed by a counterweight, and the other set is allowed to open by natural force of the water differential. The water gates may be comprised of a plurality of louvers which are ganged for simultaneous opening and closing. The system is designed to operate with air turbines or other pneumatic devices. Its design minimizes construction cost and environmental impact, yet provides a clean renewable energy source.

Collection overview: ten years of wonderful open access science.

PubMed

Roberts, Roland G; Alfred, Jane

2013-10-01

To mark our tenth Anniversary at PLOS Biology, we are launching a special, celebratory Tenth Anniversary PLOS Biology Collection which showcases 10 specially selected PLOS Biology research articles drawn from a decade of publishing excellent science. It also features newly commissioned articles, including thought-provoking pieces on the Open Access movement (past and present), on article-level metrics, and on the history of the Public Library of Science. Each research article highlighted in the collection is also accompanied by a PLOS Biologue blog post to extend the impact of these remarkable studies to the widest possible audience.

Collection Overview: Ten Years of Wonderful Open Access Science

PubMed Central

Roberts, Roland G.; Alfred, Jane

2013-01-01

To mark our tenth Anniversary at PLOS Biology, we are launching a special, celebratory Tenth Anniversary PLOS Biology Collection which showcases 10 specially selected PLOS Biology research articles drawn from a decade of publishing excellent science. It also features newly commissioned articles, including thought-provoking pieces on the Open Access movement (past and present), on article-level metrics, and on the history of the Public Library of Science. Each research article highlighted in the collection is also accompanied by a PLOS Biologue blog post to extend the impact of these remarkable studies to the widest possible audience. PMID:24167446

Stress and stressors in the clinical environment: a comparative study of fourth-year student nurses and newly qualified general nurses in Ireland.

PubMed

Suresh, Patricia; Matthews, Anne; Coyne, Imelda

2013-03-01

To measure and compare the perceived levels of job-related stress and stressors of newly qualified nurses and fourth-year student nurses in the clinical environment and to explore the participants' views on stress and stressors. Stress in the nursing workplace has significant consequences for the person, the patient and the organisation, such as psychological and physical health deterioration and impaired professional practice. To address this problem, stress and stressors need to be measured and identified. This study used a cross-sectional survey design and self-reporting questionnaires to measure and compare levels of stress in both groups. Convenience sampling involved all newly qualified nurses (n = 120) and fourth-year student nurses (n = 128) in Dublin North-East region in Ireland. The instrument used was 'The Nursing Stress Scale' (Gray-Toft & Anderson 1981, Journal of Behavioral Assessment 3, 11-23). Descriptive, qualitative analysis was conducted on an open-ended question. Data were obtained from newly qualified nurses (n = 31) and fourth-year student nurses (n = 40) in six acute hospital sites. Levels of perceived stress and stressors were high in both groups. Themes identified from the responses to the open question by both groups included excessive workload, difficult working relationships and unmet clinical learning needs. Student nurses also reported the combination of academic demands with clinical placement as a major stressor. There was no significant difference between each group. Stress continues to be a problem for nurses in the clinical setting. Excessive workload requires urgent attention by hospital managers in view of widespread retention difficulties. Themes identified could provide a framework for possible interventions for improving the clinical environment for nurses. These results can help stakeholders in nurse education and practice to develop interventions to reduce stress for both groups and to ease the transition from student to graduate nurse. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Global modeling of withdrawal, allocation and consumptive use of surface water and groundwater resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wada, Y.; Wisser, D.; Bierkens, M. F. P.

2014-01-01

To sustain growing food demand and increasing standard of living, global water withdrawal and consumptive water use have been increasing rapidly. To analyze the human perturbation on water resources consistently over large scales, a number of macro-scale hydrological models (MHMs) have been developed in recent decades. However, few models consider the interaction between terrestrial water fluxes, and human activities and associated water use, and even fewer models distinguish water use from surface water and groundwater resources. Here, we couple a global water demand model with a global hydrological model and dynamically simulate daily water withdrawal and consumptive water use over the period 1979-2010, using two re-analysis products: ERA-Interim and MERRA. We explicitly take into account the mutual feedback between supply and demand, and implement a newly developed water allocation scheme to distinguish surface water and groundwater use. Moreover, we include a new irrigation scheme, which works dynamically with a daily surface and soil water balance, and incorporate the newly available extensive Global Reservoir and Dams data set (GRanD). Simulated surface water and groundwater withdrawals generally show good agreement with reported national and subnational statistics. The results show a consistent increase in both surface water and groundwater use worldwide, with a more rapid increase in groundwater use since the 1990s. Human impacts on terrestrial water storage (TWS) signals are evident, altering the seasonal and interannual variability. This alteration is particularly large over heavily regulated basins such as the Colorado and the Columbia, and over the major irrigated basins such as the Mississippi, the Indus, and the Ganges. Including human water use and associated reservoir operations generally improves the correlation of simulated TWS anomalies with those of the GRACE observations.

Global Modeling of Withdrawal, Allocation and Consumptive Use of Surface Water and Groundwater Resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wada, Y.; Wisser, D.; Bierkens, M. F.

2014-12-01

To sustain growing food demand and increasing standard of living, global water withdrawal and consumptive water use have been increasing rapidly. To analyze the human perturbation on water resources consistently over large scales, a number of macro-scale hydrological models (MHMs) have been developed in recent decades. However, few models consider the interaction between terrestrial water fluxes, and human activities and associated water use, and even fewer models distinguish water use from surface water and groundwater resources. Here, we couple a global water demand model with a global hydrological model and dynamically simulate daily water withdrawal and consumptive water use over the period 1979-2010, using two re-analysis products: ERA-Interim and MERRA. We explicitly take into account the mutual feedback between supply and demand, and implement a newly developed water allocation scheme to distinguish surface water and groundwater use. Moreover, we include a new irrigation scheme, which works dynamically with a daily surface and soil water balance, and incorporate the newly available extensive global reservoir data set (GRanD). Simulated surface water and groundwater withdrawals generally show good agreement with reported national and sub-national statistics. The results show a consistent increase in both surface water and groundwater use worldwide, with a more rapid increase in groundwater use since the 1990s. Human impacts on terrestrial water storage (TWS) signals are evident, altering the seasonal and inter-annual variability. This alteration is particularly large over heavily regulated basins such as the Colorado and the Columbia, and over the major irrigated basins such as the Mississippi, the Indus, and the Ganges. Including human water use and associated reservoir operations generally improves the correlation of simulated TWS anomalies with those of the GRACE observations.

Higher Education: Open for Business

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilde, Christian, Ed.

2007-01-01

This book addresses a problem in higher learning, which is newly recognized in the academic spotlight: the overcommercialization of higher education. The book asks that you, the reader, think about the following: Did you go to a Coke or Pepsi school? Do your children attend a Nike or Adidas school? Is the college in your town a Dell or Gateway…

Making Science Meaningful for Young People with Diverse Needs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stead, Di

2015-01-01

In the autumn term of 2011, it was identified that a programme of support for developing science in the curriculum was required at a newly opened special school, Beacon Reach, in Lancashire, which caters to children with autism spectrum disorders. Staff wanted to provide a relevant and meaningful curriculum, accessible even to young people who…

Current Piano Education of Turkish Music Teacher Candidates: Comparisons of Instructors and Students Perceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jelen, Birsen

2015-01-01

In recent years almost every newly opened government funded university in Turkey has established a music department where future music teachers are educated and piano is compulsory for every single music teacher candidate in Turkey. The aim of this research is to compare piano teaching instructors' and their students' perceptions about the current…

Characteristics of plasmids in multi-drug-resistant enterobacteriaceae isolated during prospective surveillance of a newly opened hospital in Iraq

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Klebsiella spp. are increasingly common causes of infections in hospitals worldwide and also in the U.S. military treatment facilities. Plasmids are thought to play an important role in the dissemination of antibiotic resistance in thes...

Governance and Foreign Aid Allocation

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-07-01

the promotion of market-based principles to restructure macroeconomic policies in developing countries. The greater focus on...the effectiveness of aid in promoting development outcomes. In doing so, I use augmented neoclassical growth framework following Mankiw et al (1992...health care and basic education, macroeconomic reforms and opening markets, the main objective of western foreign aid was to stop newly independent

Genome Sequence of JangDynasty, a Newly Isolated Mycobacteriophage

PubMed Central

Jang, Casey; Kalaj, Nancy; Hwang, Brian; Hughes, Lorelei; Yang, Connie; Pak, Thomas; Kim, John; Han, Dong Yoon; Tedjakusnadi, Jason; Fernandez, Nicholas; Dean, Natasha; Muthiah, Arun; Sutter, Nathaniel B.

2018-01-01

ABSTRACT JangDynasty is a bacteriophage that infects Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2155. It has a genome length of 70,883 bp, with 124 predicted open reading frames (ORFs), 42 of which have known functions. JangDynasty belongs to cluster O, and like other cluster O phages, it is a siphovirus with a prolate capsid. PMID:29798914

Heat stroke risk for open-water swimmers during long-distance events.

PubMed

Macaluso, Filippo; Barone, Rosario; Isaacs, Ashwin W; Farina, Felicia; Morici, Giuseppe; Di Felice, Valentina

2013-12-01

Open-water swimming is a rapidly growing sport discipline worldwide, and clinical problems associated with long-distance swimming are now better recognized and managed more effectively. The most prevalent medical risk associated with an open-water swimming event is hypothermia; therefore, the Federation Internationale De Natation (FINA) has instituted 2 rules to reduce this occurrence related to the minimum water temperature and the time taken to complete the race. Another medical risk that is relevant to open-water swimmers is heat stroke, a condition that can easily go unnoticed. The purpose of this review is to shed light on this physiological phenomenon by examining the physiological response of swimmers during long-distance events, to define a maximum water temperature limit for competitions. We conclude that competing in water temperatures exceeding 33°C should be avoided. Copyright © 2013 Wilderness Medical Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Voluntary emergence and water detection in a newly recognized amphibious fish.

PubMed

Magellan, K

2015-06-01

Galaxias 'nebula', a small fish which has adaptations for air-breathing but is not known to be amphibious, voluntarily emerged from water and, in an unfamiliar environment, moved preferentially towards an alternative water source. Nebula may thus be considered one of the few truly amphibious fishes, and their ability to detect water provides a selective advantage which aids their survival in unpredictable natural environments. © 2015 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

Anomalies in, and Crystallization of Supercooled Water and Aqueous Solutions.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-03-01

and to an extent novel situations, by D. L. Fields. The first study has been on water contained in the newly developed microemulsions in which there...feature of this microemulsion is March 8, 1984 ..... ...... ....... % *~.~- * -7- * •that the only-OH groups present derive from the water component. Our...interest in this subject has been two-fold. (1) To obtain information on the structure of water in the microemulsion form, (2) attempt to use the

Community-acquired Legionnaires' Disease in a Newly Constructed Apartment Building.

PubMed

Ryu, Sukhyun; Yang, Kyungho; Chun, Byung Chul

2017-07-01

Legionnaires' disease (LD) is a severe type of pneumonia caused by inhalation of aerosols contaminated with Legionella . On September 22, 2016, a single case of LD was reported from a newly built apartment building in Gyeonggi province. This article describes an epidemiologic investigation of LD and identification of the possible source of infection. To identify the source of LD, we interviewed the patient's husband using a questionnaire based on the Legionella management guidelines from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Water samples from the site were collected and analyzed. An epidemiological investigation of the residents and visitors in the apartment building was conducted for 14 days before the index patient's symptoms first appeared to 14 days after the implementation of environmental control measures. Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 was isolated from the heated-water samples from the patient's residence and the basement of the apartment complex. Thirty-two suspected cases were reported from the apartment building during the surveillance period, yet all were confirmed negative based on urinary antigen tests. The likely source of infection was the building's potable water, particularly heated water. Further study of effective monitoring systems in heated potable water should be considered.

The Fresenius Medical Care home hemodialysis system.

PubMed

Schlaeper, Christian; Diaz-Buxo, Jose A

2004-01-01

The Fresenius Medical Care home dialysis system consists of a newly designed machine, a central monitoring system, a state-of-the-art reverse osmosis module, ultrapure water, and all the services associated with a successful implementation. The 2008K@home hemodialysis machine has the flexibility to accommodate the changing needs of the home hemodialysis patient and is well suited to deliver short daily or prolonged nocturnal dialysis using a broad range of dialysate flows and concentrates. The intuitive design, large graphic illustrations, and step-by-step tutorial make this equipment very user friendly. Patient safety is assured by the use of hydraulic systems with a long history of reliability, smart alarm algorithms, and advanced electronic monitoring. To further patient comfort with their safety at home, the 2008K@home is enabled to communicate with the newly designed iCare remote monitoring system. The Aquaboss Smart reverse osmosis (RO) system is compact, quiet, highly efficient, and offers an improved hygienic design. The RO module reduces water consumption by monitoring the water flow of the dialysis system and adjusting water production accordingly. The Diasafe Plus filter provides ultrapure water, known for its long-term benefits. This comprehensive approach includes planning, installation, technical and clinical support, and customer service.

Service life of finishes on smooth-planed and saw-textured western redcedar bevel siding

Treesearch

R. Sam Williams; William C. Feist

2007-01-01

The performance of 35 finishes (clear water-repellent Preservatives; lightly pigmented, water-repellent preservatives; semitransparent stains; solid-color stains; and paints) applied to newly planed vertical-grained; factory-planed, flat-grained; or saw-textured, vertical-grained western redcedar bevel siding was evaluated for cracking, erosion, and general appearance...

LEVELS OF SYNTHETIC MUSK COMPOUNDS IN MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER FOR ESTIMATING BIOTA EXPOSURE IN RECEIVING WATER

EPA Science Inventory

To test the ruggedness of a newly developed analytical method for synthetic musks, a 1-year monthly monitoring of synthetic musks in water and biota was conducted for Lake

Mead (near Las Vegas, Nevada) as well as for combined sewage-dedicated effluent streams feeding Lake ...

ETV, LT2 and You: How the Environmental Technology Verification Program Can Assist with the Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule

EPA Science Inventory

The Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) Drinking Water Systems (DWS) Center has verified the performance of treatment technologies that may be used by communities in meeting the newly promulgated (2006) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Long Term 2 Enhanced Sur...

Modelling of Operative Report Documents for Data Integration into an openEHR-Based Enterprise Data Warehouse.

PubMed

Haarbrandt, Birger; Wilschko, Andreas; Marschollek, Michael

2016-01-01

In order to integrate operative report documents from two operating room management systems into a data warehouse, we investigated the application of the two-level modelling approach of openEHR to create a shared data model. Based on the systems' analyses, a template consisting of 13 archetypes has been developed. Of these 13 archetypes, 3 have been obtained from the international archetype repository of the openEHR foundation. The remaining 10 archetypes have been newly created. The template was evaluated by an application system expert and through conducting a first test mapping of real-world data from one of the systems. The evaluation showed that by using the two-level modelling approach of openEHR, we succeeded to represent an integrated and shared information model for operative report documents. More research is needed to learn about the limitations of this approach in other data integration scenarios.

Velocity and size of droplets in dense region of diesel fuel spray on transient needle opening condition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ueki, Hironobu; Ishida, Masahiro; Sakaguchi, Daisaku

2005-06-01

In order to investigate the effect of transient needle opening on early stage of spray behavior, simultaneous measurements of velocity and size of droplet were conducted by a newly developed laser 2-focus velocimeter (L2F). The micro-scale probe of the L2F was consisted of two foci with a distance of 36 µm. The tested nozzle had a single hole with a diameter of 0.2 mm. The measurements of injection pressure, needle lift, and crank angle were synchronized with the spray measurement by the L2F at the position 10 mm downstream from the nozzle exit. It has been clearly shown that the velocity and size of droplet increase with needle valve opening and that the probability density distribution of droplet size can be fitted to the Nukiyama-Tanasawa distribution under the transient needle opening condition.

Hypersonic simulations using open-source CFD and DSMC solvers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Casseau, V.; Scanlon, T. J.; John, B.; Emerson, D. R.; Brown, R. E.

2016-11-01

Hypersonic hybrid hydrodynamic-molecular gas flow solvers are required to satisfy the two essential requirements of any high-speed reacting code, these being physical accuracy and computational efficiency. The James Weir Fluids Laboratory at the University of Strathclyde is currently developing an open-source hybrid code which will eventually reconcile the direct simulation Monte-Carlo method, making use of the OpenFOAM application called dsmcFoam, and the newly coded open-source two-temperature computational fluid dynamics solver named hy2Foam. In conjunction with employing the CVDV chemistry-vibration model in hy2Foam, novel use is made of the QK rates in a CFD solver. In this paper, further testing is performed, in particular with the CFD solver, to ensure its efficacy before considering more advanced test cases. The hy2Foam and dsmcFoam codes have shown to compare reasonably well, thus providing a useful basis for other codes to compare against.

Open architectures for formal reasoning and deductive technologies for software development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mccarthy, John; Manna, Zohar; Mason, Ian; Pnueli, Amir; Talcott, Carolyn; Waldinger, Richard

1994-01-01

The objective of this project is to develop an open architecture for formal reasoning systems. One goal is to provide a framework with a clear semantic basis for specification and instantiation of generic components; construction of complex systems by interconnecting components; and for making incremental improvements and tailoring to specific applications. Another goal is to develop methods for specifying component interfaces and interactions to facilitate use of existing and newly built systems as 'off the shelf' components, thus helping bridge the gap between producers and consumers of reasoning systems. In this report we summarize results in several areas: our data base of reasoning systems; a theory of binding structures; a theory of components of open systems; a framework for specifying components of open reasoning system; and an analysis of the integration of rewriting and linear arithmetic modules in Boyer-Moore using the above framework.

Recent progress in Open Data production and consumption - examples from a Governmental institute (SMHI) and a collaborative EU research project (SWITCH-ON)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arheimer, Berit; Falkenroth, Esa

2014-05-01

The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) has a long tradition both in producing and consuming open data on a national, European and global scale. It is also promoting community building among water scientists in Europe by participating in and initiating collaborative projects. This presentation will exemplify the contemporary European movement imposed by the INSPIRE directive and the Open Data Strategy, by showing the progress in openness and shift in attitudes during the last decade when handling Research Data and Public Sector Information at a national European institute. Moreover, the presentation will inform about a recently started collaborative project (EU FP7 project No 603587) coordinated by SMHI and called SWITCH-ON http://water-switch-on.eu/. The project addresses water concerns and currently untapped potential of open data for improved water management across the EU. The overall goal of the project is to make use of open data, and add value to society by repurposing and refining data from various sources. SWITCH-ON will establish new forms of water research and facilitate the development of new products and services based on principles of sharing and community building in the water society. The SWITCH-ON objectives are to use open data for implementing: 1) an innovative spatial information platform with open data tailored for direct water assessments, 2) an entirely new form of collaborative research for water-related sciences, 3) fourteen new operational products and services dedicated to appointed end-users, 4) new business and knowledge to inform individual and collective decisions in line with the Europe's smart growth and environmental objectives. The presentation will discuss challenges, progress and opportunities with the open data strategy, based on the experiences from working both at a Governmental institute and being part of the global research community.

Effect of Land Cover Type and Structure on Water Cycling Dynamics for Agricultural and Wetland Sites in the Sacramento/San Joaquin River Delta

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eichelmann, E.; Hemes, K. S.; Baldocchi, D. D.

2016-12-01

The Sacramento/San Joaquin river delta is an important source of fresh water for California. To reverse soil subsidence, which is linked to draining the natural wetlands for agriculture, parts of the Sacramento/San Joaquin river delta have been restored to managed wetlands. While these restored wetlands provide greenhouse gas benefits compared to agricultural use of the land, implications for the water balance of these ecosystems, specifically evapotranspiration, are not well known. Based on multiple years of eddy covariance measurements of water, CO2, and sensible energy fluxes we explored the water cycling dynamics for several sites under different land use covers in the Sacramento/San Joaquin river delta. We investigated four sites under agricultural use (rice, corn, and alfalfa crops and cow pasture) and three restored wetland sites of varying ages and structures to examine the influence of land cover type and structure on evapotranspiration, sensible energy flux, and water use efficiency. While the wetland and the rice sites are usually flooded for the majority of the year, the alfalfa, corn, and pasture sites have a water table that is maintained to be below ground level throughout the year. The three wetland sites also have different fractions of open water to vegetation, covering a gradient from very dense vegetation with no open water to a fairly open structure with large pools of open water. These differences in land cover (dry vs flooded and fraction of open water to vegetation) have an effect on the patterns of evapotranspiration on diurnal to annual timescales. Although the flooded sites (wetland sites and rice) tend to have larger annual evapotranspiration than the drained sites (cow pasture, alfalfa, and corn), the fraction of open water to vegetation affects the extend to which the flooded sites' evapotranspiration exceeds that of drained sites. On diurnal timescales, we found that flooded sites with a larger fraction of open water to vegetation have larger night time latent energy fluxes, especially during the first half of the night. In contrast, flooded sites with a lower open water fraction have lower night time latent energy fluxes which are comparable in magnitude to night time fluxes at drained sites.

Mouth-opening device as a treatment modality in trismus patients with head and neck cancer and oral submucous fibrosis: a prospective study.

PubMed

Li, Yu-Hsuan; Chang, Wei-Chin; Chiang, Tien-En; Lin, Chiun-Shu; Chen, Yuan-Wu

2018-04-26

This study investigated the clinical effectiveness of intervention with an open-mouth exercise device designed to facilitate maximal interincisal opening (MIO) and improve quality of life in patients with head and neck (H&N) cancer and oral submucous fibrosis (OSF). Sixty patients with H&N cancer, OSF, and trismus (MIO < 35 mm) participated in the functional rehabilitation program. An open-mouth exercise device intervention group and conventional group, each consisting of 20 patients, underwent a 12-week training and exercising program and follow-up. For the control group, an additional 20 patients were randomly selected to match the demographic characteristics of the aforementioned two groups. The patients' MIO improvements in the aforementioned three groups were 14.0, 10.5, and 1.3 mm, respectively. Results of this study confirm the significant improvement in average mouth-opening range. In addition, according to patient feedback, significant improvements in health-related quality of life and reductions in trismus symptoms occurred in the open-mouth exercise device group. This newly designed open-mouth exercise device can facilitate trismus patients with H&N cancer and OSF and improve mouth-opening range and quality of life.

Open-field behavior of house mice selectively bred for high voluntary wheel-running.

PubMed

Bronikowski, A M; Carter, P A; Swallow, J G; Girard, I A; Rhodes, J S; Garland, T

2001-05-01

Open-field behavioral assays are commonly used to test both locomotor activity and emotionality in rodents. We performed open-field tests on house mice (Mus domesticus) from four replicate lines genetically selected for high voluntary wheel-running for 22 generations and from four replicate random-bred control lines. Individual mice were recorded by video camera for 3 min in a 1-m2 open-field arena on 2 consecutive days. Mice from selected lines showed no statistical differences from control mice with respect to distance traveled, defecation, time spent in the interior, or average distance from the center of the arena during the trial. Thus, we found little evidence that open-field behavior, as traditionally defined, is genetically correlated with wheel-running behavior. This result is a useful converse test of classical studies that report no increased wheel-running in mice selected for increased open-field activity. However, mice from selected lines turned less in their travel paths than did control-line mice, and females from selected lines had slower travel times (longer latencies) to reach the wall. We discuss these results in the context of the historical open-field test and newly defined measures of open-field activity.

Enhancement of the Open National Combustion Code (OpenNCC) and Initial Simulation of Energy Efficient Engine Combustor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miki, Kenji; Moder, Jeff; Liou, Meng-Sing

2016-01-01

In this paper, we present the recent enhancement of the Open National Combustion Code (OpenNCC) and apply the OpenNCC to model a realistic combustor configuration (Energy Efficient Engine (E3)). First, we perform a series of validation tests for the newly-implemented advection upstream splitting method (AUSM) and the extended version of the AUSM-family schemes (AUSM+-up). Compared with the analytical/experimental data of the validation tests, we achieved good agreement. In the steady-state E3 cold flow results using the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes(RANS), we find a noticeable difference in the flow fields calculated by the two different numerical schemes, the standard Jameson- Schmidt-Turkel (JST) scheme and the AUSM scheme. The main differences are that the AUSM scheme is less numerical dissipative and it predicts much stronger reverse flow in the recirculation zone. This study indicates that two schemes could show different flame-holding predictions and overall flame structures.

A catchment-scale groundwater model including sewer pipe leakage in an urban system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peche, Aaron; Fuchs, Lothar; Spönemann, Peter; Graf, Thomas; Neuweiler, Insa

2016-04-01

Keywords: pipe leakage, urban hydrogeology, catchment scale, OpenGeoSys, HYSTEM-EXTRAN Wastewater leakage from subsurface sewer pipe defects leads to contamination of the surrounding soil and groundwater (Ellis, 2002; Wolf et al., 2004). Leakage rates at pipe defects have to be known in order to quantify contaminant input. Due to inaccessibility of subsurface pipe defects, direct (in-situ) measurements of leakage rates are tedious and associated with a high degree of uncertainty (Wolf, 2006). Proposed catchment-scale models simplify leakage rates by neglecting unsaturated zone flow or by reducing spatial dimensions (Karpf & Krebs, 2013, Boukhemacha et al., 2015). In the present study, we present a physically based 3-dimensional numerical model incorporating flow in the pipe network, in the saturated zone and in the unsaturated zone to quantify leakage rates on the catchment scale. The model consists of the pipe network flow model HYSTEM-EXTAN (itwh, 2002), which is coupled to the subsurface flow model OpenGeoSys (Kolditz et al., 2012). We also present the newly developed coupling scheme between the two flow models. Leakage functions specific to a pipe defect are derived from simulations of pipe leakage using spatially refined grids around pipe defects. In order to minimize computational effort, these leakage functions are built into the presented numerical model using unrefined grids around pipe defects. The resulting coupled model is capable of efficiently simulating spatially distributed pipe leakage coupled with subsurficial water flow in a 3-dimensional environment. References: Boukhemacha, M. A., Gogu, C. R., Serpescu, I., Gaitanaru, D., & Bica, I. (2015). A hydrogeological conceptual approach to study urban groundwater flow in Bucharest city, Romania. Hydrogeology Journal, 23(3), 437-450. doi:10.1007/s10040-014-1220-3. Ellis, J. B., & Revitt, D. M. (2002). Sewer losses and interactions with groundwater quality. Water Science and Technology, 45(3), 195-202. itwh (2002). Modellbeschreibung, Institut für technisch-wissenschaftliche Hydrologie GmbH, Hannover. Karpf, C. & Krebs, P. (2013). Modelling of groundwater infiltration into sewer systems. Urban Water Journal, 10:4, 221-229, DOI: 10.1080/1573062X.2012.724077. Kolditz, O., Bauer, S. et al. (2012). OpenGeoSys: an open source initiative for numerical simulation of thermo-hydro-mechanical/chemical (THM/C) processes in porous media. Env. Earth Sci. 67(2):589-599. Wolf, L., Held, I., Eiswirth, M., & Hötzl, H. (2004). Impact of leaky sewers on groundwater quality. Acta Hydrochimica et Hydrobiologica, 32(4-5), 361-373. doi:10.1002/aheh.200400538. Wolf, L. (2006). Influence of leaky sewer systems on groundwater resources beneath the city of Rastatt, Germany. Dissertation, University of Karlsruhe.

Simulations of Turbulent Momentum and Scalar Transport in Confined Swirling Coaxial Jets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shih, Tsan-Hsing; Liu, Nan-Suey; Moder, Jeffrey P.

2015-01-01

This paper presents the numerical simulations of confined three-dimensional coaxial water jets. The objectives are to validate the newly proposed nonlinear turbulence models of momentum and scalar transport, and to evaluate the newly introduced scalar APDF and DWFDF equation along with its Eulerian implementation in the National Combustion Code(NCC). Simulations conducted include the steady RANS, the unsteady RANS (URANS), and the time-filtered Navier-Stokes (TFNS); both without and with invoking the APDF or DWFDF equation.

Direct Observation of Accretion onto a Hypernova's Newly Formed Black Hole

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Milisavljevic, Dan

2017-09-01

Models of energetic core-collapse supernovae and long-duration gamma-ray bursts often invoke engine-driven scenarios associated with the formation of compact objects that input energy into the explosion. To date, only indirect evidence of black holes or magnetars formed in these events exists from observations obtained when the explosions are most luminous. Here we request a modest 15 ks Chandra pilot observation of the exceptionally important nearby hypernova SN2002ap to test models that predict X-ray emission associated with its remnant black hole to be detectable after 15 yr of ejecta expansion. Direct observation a newly formed "baby" black hole would be a landmark discovery capable of opening up new ways to investigate fundamental aspects of the core collapse process.

Water Resources Improvement Study, Buttermilk Bay Channel, Bourne, Massachusetts; Small Navigation Project, Detailed Project Report, and Environmental Assessment.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-12-01

Disposal Alternatives 31 Open Water Disposal 31 Land Disposal Alternative 32 No Action Alternative 32 ENVIRONM4ENTAL SETTING 33 General 33 Fisheries 33...involve open water disposal of dredged sand and gravel at the Buzzards Bay dump site, located 9.8 miles south of the project site, southeast of...towed 9.8 miles south to the Buzzards Bay dunip site for open water disposal. The present character of the Buzzards day dump site would not be

Wetlands Research Program. Wetland Evaluation Technique (WET). Volume 2. Methodology.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-10-01

in Zones B or C fiom wind. (b) Open water fetch is less than 100 ft (Figure 19)? 19.1B (Answer "I" if the AA/IA is mostly a riverine wetland system ...and upland .... 58 19 Examples of sheltered open water in the AA/IA .................. 59 20 Example of a wetland protected shoreline...the wetland and adjacent of the channel, as well as contiguous wetlands within open water for a distance of 300 ft. from the deep 0.5 mile. water

Spatial and Temporal Water Quality Patterns in Open-Water Lake Michigan from the 2015 CSMI

EPA Science Inventory

Water quality patterns in the Laurentian Great Lakes broadly reflect climate, surficial geography, and landuse but are also shaped by limnological and biological processes. Open-water sampling conducted as part of the 2015 Lake Michigan interagency coordinated science and monito...

The Effects of International Trade on Water Use.

PubMed

Kagohashi, Kazuki; Tsurumi, Tetsuya; Managi, Shunsuke

2015-01-01

The growing scarcity of water resources worldwide is conditioned not only by precipitation changes but also by changes to water use patterns; the latter is driven by social contexts such as capital intensity, trade openness, and income. This study explores the determinants of water use by focusing on the effect of trade openness on the degree to which water is withdrawn and consumed. Previous studies have conducted analyses on the determinants of water use but have ignored the endogeneity of trade openness. To deal with this endogeneity problem, we adopt instrumental variable estimation and clarify the determinants of water use. The determinants of water use are divided into scale, technique, and composition effects. Calculating each trade-induced effect, we examine how trade openness affects the degree of water use. Our results show that while trade has a positive effect on water withdrawal/consumption through trade-induced scale effects and direct composition effects, the trade-induced technique and the indirect composition effect, both of which exhibit a negative sign, counteract the scale effect and the direct composition effect, resulting in reduced water withdrawal/consumption. The overall effect induced by trade is calculated as being in the range of -1.00 to -1.52; this means that the overall effect of a 1% increase in the intensity of trade openness reduces the degree of water withdrawal/consumption by roughly 1.0-1.5%, on average. This result indicates that international bilateral trade would promote efficient water use through the diffusion of water-saving technologies and the reformation of industry composition.

The Effects of International Trade on Water Use

PubMed Central

Kagohashi, Kazuki; Tsurumi, Tetsuya; Managi, Shunsuke

2015-01-01

The growing scarcity of water resources worldwide is conditioned not only by precipitation changes but also by changes to water use patterns; the latter is driven by social contexts such as capital intensity, trade openness, and income. This study explores the determinants of water use by focusing on the effect of trade openness on the degree to which water is withdrawn and consumed. Previous studies have conducted analyses on the determinants of water use but have ignored the endogeneity of trade openness. To deal with this endogeneity problem, we adopt instrumental variable estimation and clarify the determinants of water use. The determinants of water use are divided into scale, technique, and composition effects. Calculating each trade-induced effect, we examine how trade openness affects the degree of water use. Our results show that while trade has a positive effect on water withdrawal/consumption through trade-induced scale effects and direct composition effects, the trade-induced technique and the indirect composition effect, both of which exhibit a negative sign, counteract the scale effect and the direct composition effect, resulting in reduced water withdrawal/consumption. The overall effect induced by trade is calculated as being in the range of –1.00 to –1.52; this means that the overall effect of a 1% increase in the intensity of trade openness reduces the degree of water withdrawal/consumption by roughly 1.0–1.5%, on average. This result indicates that international bilateral trade would promote efficient water use through the diffusion of water-saving technologies and the reformation of industry composition. PMID:26168045

Polarization of 'water-skies' above arctic open waters: how polynyas in the ice-cover can be visually detected from a distance.

PubMed

Hegedüs, Ramón; Akesson, Susanne; Horváth, Gábor

2007-01-01

The foggy sky above a white ice-cover and a dark water surface (permanent polynya or temporary lead) is white and dark gray, phenomena called the 'ice-sky' and the 'water-sky,' respectively. Captains of icebreaker ships used to search for not-directly-visible open waters remotely on the basis of the water sky. Animals depending on open waters in the Arctic region may also detect not-directly-visible waters from a distance by means of the water sky. Since the polarization of ice-skies and water-skies has not, to our knowledge, been studied before, we measured the polarization patterns of water-skies above polynyas in the arctic ice-cover during the Beringia 2005 Swedish polar research expedition to the North Pole region. We show that there are statistically significant differences in the angle of polarization between the water-sky and the ice-sky. This polarization phenomenon could help biological and man-made sensors to detect open waters not directly visible from a distance. However, the threshold of polarization-based detection would be rather low, because the degree of linear polarization of light radiated by water-skies and ice-skies is not higher than 10%.

Apollo 1 Tribute Opening

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-01-27

Guests observe the gateway of the newly opened Apollo 1 tribute at the Apollo/Saturn V Center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center opened Jan. 27, 2017. Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White II and Chaffee perished in a fire at the launch pad on Jan. 27, 1967, during training for the mission. The tribute highlights the lives and careers of the astronauts. The tribute features numerous items recalling the lives of the three astronauts. The tribute also includes the three-part hatch to the spacecraft itself, the first time any part of the Apollo 1 spacecraft has been displayed publicly. A version of the hatch after it was redesigned is also showcased as an example of improvements NASA made throughout the agency and to the Apollo spacecraft that would later carry astronauts to the moon.

Apollo 1 Tribute Opening

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-01-27

Guests observe areas of the newly opened Apollo 1 tribute at the Apollo/Saturn V Center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center opened Jan. 27, 2017. Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White II and Chaffee perished in a fire at the launch pad on Jan. 27, 1967, during training for the mission. The tribute highlights the lives and careers of the astronauts. The tribute features numerous items recalling the lives of the three astronauts. The tribute also includes the three-part hatch to the spacecraft itself, the first time any part of the Apollo 1 spacecraft has been displayed publicly. A version of the hatch after it was redesigned is also showcased as an example of improvements NASA made throughout the agency and to the Apollo spacecraft that would later carry astronauts to the moon.

Apollo 1 Tribute Opening

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-01-27

Lowell Grissom, brother of Gus Grissom, observes areas of the newly opened Apollo 1 tribute at the Apollo/Saturn V Center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center opened Jan. 27, 2017. Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White II and Chaffee perished in a fire at the launch pad on Jan. 27, 1967, during training for the mission. The tribute highlights the lives and careers of the astronauts. The tribute features numerous items recalling the lives of the three astronauts. The tribute also includes the three-part hatch to the spacecraft itself, the first time any part of the Apollo 1 spacecraft has been displayed publicly. A version of the hatch after it was redesigned is also showcased as an example of improvements NASA made throughout the agency and to the Apollo spacecraft that would later carry astronauts to the moon.

Generalizations of γ-open set in topological spaces

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bhattacharya, Baby, E-mail: babybhatt75@gmail.com; Paul, Arnab, E-mail: mrarnabpaul87@gmail.com

The main aim of this work is to study three generalized forms of γ-open set due to D. Andrijevic (D. Andrijevic, On the Topology Generated by pre-open sets, Presented at the Sixth Prague Topological Symposium, 39 (1987), 367-376)in a topological space. Out of which the dual appearance of one is the stronger form of b-locally closed set in the sense of Arafa A. Nasef (A. A Nasef,On b-locally closed sets and related topics, CHAOS SOLITONS & FRACTALS 12(2001) 1909-1915). Also, we introduce the concept of different types of continuity and study their basic properties by using these newly defined sets.more » Finally, we establish the interrelationships among themselves together with some already existing generalized forms of continuity.« less

Increasing the Reliability of the Work of Artificial Filtering Arrays for the Purification of Quarry Waste Water

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tyulenev, Maxim; Lesin, Yury; Litvin, Oleg; Maliukhina, Elena; Abay, Asmelash

2017-11-01

Features of geological structure of the Kuznetsk coal basin stipulate the application of a low-cost open technique of coal mining, which is more advantageous both from the economic standpoint, and by safety criteria of mining. However, open mining affects significantly the water resources of region. Intensive pollution of reservoirs and water courses, exhaustion of the underground water-bearing layers, violation of a hydrographic network, etc. be-long to the main disadvantages of an open technique of coal mining. Besides, the volume of the water coming into the mining producers exceeds signi-ficantly the needed quantity. According to the data of annual reports of ecology and natural resources department, 348.277 million m3 of water were ta-ken away during production of soft coal, brown coal and lignum fossil from waters of Kemerovo region in 2013 (mostly from underground water objects (96,5%) when draining of mine openings). At the same time, only 87.018 million m3 of water (25%) has been used within a year.

Effects of Lily Pads on Evaporation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cooley, Keith R.; Idso, Sherwood B.

1980-06-01

Measurements of evaporation from open water and water partially covered by lily pads have indicated that for the portion of the surface area covered by lily pads, evaporation is reduced to about 84% of that occurring from open water.

Raman imaging of fluid inclusions in garnet from UHPM rocks (Kokchetav massif, Northern Kazakhstan).

PubMed

Korsakov, Andrey V; Dieing, Thomas; Golovin, Aleksandr V; Toporski, Jan

2011-10-01

Confocal Raman imaging of fluid inclusions in garnet porphyroblasts from diamond-grade metamorphic calc-silicate rocks from the Kumdy-Kol microdiamond deposit (Kokchetav Massif, Northern Kazakhstan) reveals that these fluid inclusions consist of almost pure water with different step-daughter phases (e.g., calcite, mica and rare quartz). These fluid inclusions are characterized by negative crystal shape of the host-garnet and they exclusively occur within the core of garnet porphyroblasts. These observations are consistent with their primary origin, most likely at ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) metamorphic conditions. The euhedral newly formed garnet, different in color and composition, was found to be associated with these fluid inclusions. It is proposed that newly formed garnet and water fluid inclusions appear by reaction between the hydrous fluid and the garnet-host. These fluid inclusions provide an unequivocal record of almost pure H(2)O fluids, indicating water-saturated conditions within subducted continental crust during prograde stage and/or ultrahigh-P metamorphism. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Geochemistry of surface and subsurface waters in quartz-sandstones: significance for the geomorphic evolution of tepui table mountains (Gran Sabana, Venezuela)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mecchia, Marco; Sauro, Francesco; Piccini, Leonardo; De Waele, Jo; Sanna, Laura; Tisato, Nicola; Lira, Jesus; Vergara, Freddy

2014-04-01

In situ measurements of discharge, pH, electric conductivity (EC), temperature, and SiO2 content have been carried out during five expeditions in the last 20 years on the summit plateaus, inside caves and along the rivers of the surrounding lowlands of three tepui massifs in Venezuela (Auyan, Roraima, and Chimanta). Additionally, detailed chemical analyses were performed on waters sampled in a newly discovered extensive quartz-sandstone cave system on the Auyan Tepui. Rock samples of the quartz-sandstone bedrock from different locations have been analysed to obtain their chemical composition with a wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. These data show that the majority of silica present in surface and subsurface water comes from dissolution of quartz and only in minor amount from hydrolysis of other silicate minerals. Probably the presence of a hardened crust of iron hydroxides limits the dissolution of silica on the top surface of tepuis. Dissolution in the subsurface, instead, is more significant and causes, in the long term, the “arenisation” of the quartz-sandstone and its subsequent removal by mechanical erosion. On the other hand, waters flowing on the arkosic rock outcropping on the lowland below the tepuis obtain their high dissolved silica content mainly from hydrolysis of silicates. The morphological evolution of these table mountains appears thus to be controlled mainly by the underground weathering of the quartz-sandstone, with the opening of deep fractures (grietas) and the collapse of large underground horizontal cave systems. Scarp retreat, instead, seems to be related to the higher weathering rate of the more arkosic formations underlying the quartz-sandstones.

Ensemble streamflow assimilation with the National Water Model.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rafieeinasab, A.; McCreight, J. L.; Noh, S.; Seo, D. J.; Gochis, D.

2017-12-01

Through case studies of flooding across the US, we compare the performance of the National Water Model (NWM) data assimilation (DA) scheme to that of a newly implemented ensemble Kalman filter approach. The NOAA National Water Model (NWM) is an operational implementation of the community WRF-Hydro modeling system. As of August 2016, the NWM forecasts of distributed hydrologic states and fluxes (including soil moisture, snowpack, ET, and ponded water) over the contiguous United States have been publicly disseminated by the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) . It also provides streamflow forecasts at more than 2.7 million river reaches up to 30 days in advance. The NWM employs a nudging scheme to assimilate more than 6,000 USGS streamflow observations and provide initial conditions for its forecasts. A problem with nudging is how the forecasts relax quickly to open-loop bias in the forecast. This has been partially addressed by an experimental bias correction approach which was found to have issues with phase errors during flooding events. In this work, we present an ensemble streamflow data assimilation approach combining new channel-only capabilities of the NWM and HydroDART (a coupling of the offline WRF-Hydro model and NCAR's Data Assimilation Research Testbed; DART). Our approach focuses on the single model state of discharge and incorporates error distributions on channel-influxes (overland and groundwater) in the assimilation via an ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF). In order to avoid filter degeneracy associated with a limited number of ensemble at large scale, DART's covariance inflation (Anderson, 2009) and localization capabilities are implemented and evaluated. The current NWM data assimilation scheme is compared to preliminary results from the EnKF application for several flooding case studies across the US.

Annual regression-based estimates of evapotranspiration for the contiguous United States based on climate, remote sensing, and stream gage data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reitz, M. D.; Sanford, W. E.; Senay, G. B.; Cazenas, J.

2015-12-01

Evapotranspiration (ET) is a key quantity in the hydrologic cycle, accounting for ~70% of precipitation across the contiguous United States (CONUS). However, it is a challenge to estimate, due to difficulty in making direct measurements and gaps in our theoretical understanding. Here we present a new data-driven, ~1km2 resolution map of long-term average actual evapotranspiration rates across the CONUS. The new ET map is a function of the USGS Landsat-derived National Land Cover Database (NLCD), precipitation, temperature, and daily average temperature range (from the PRISM climate dataset), and is calibrated to long-term water balance data from 679 watersheds. It is unique from previously presented ET maps in that (1) it was co-developed with estimates of runoff and recharge; (2) the regression equation was chosen from among many tested, previously published and newly proposed functional forms for its optimal description of long-term water balance ET data; (3) it has values over open-water areas that are derived from separate mass-transfer and humidity equations; and (4) the data include additional precipitation representing amounts converted from 2005 USGS water-use census irrigation data. The regression equation is calibrated using data from 2000-2013, but can also be applied to individual years with their corresponding input datasets. Comparisons among this new map, the more detailed remote-sensing-based estimates of MOD16 and SSEBop, and AmeriFlux ET tower measurements shows encouraging consistency, and indicates that the empirical ET estimate approach presented here produces closer agreement with independent flux tower data for annual average actual ET than other more complex remote sensing approaches.

Anisotropic changes in P-wave velocity and attenuation during deformation and fluid infiltration of granite

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stanchits, S.A.; Lockner, D.A.; Ponomarev, A.V.

2003-01-01

Fluid infiltration and pore fluid pressure changes are known to have a significant effect on the occurrence of earthquakes. Yet, for most damaging earthquakes, with nucleation zones below a few kilometers depth, direct measurements of fluid pressure variations are not available. Instead, pore fluid pressures are inferred primarily from seismic-wave propagation characteristics such as Vp/Vs ratio, attenuation, and reflectivity contacts. We present laboratory measurements of changes in P-wave velocity and attenuation during the injection of water into a granite sample as it was loaded to failure. A cylindrical sample of Westerly granite was deformed at constant confining and pore pressures of 50 and 1 MPa, respectively. Axial load was increased in discrete steps by controlling axial displacement. Anisotropic P-wave velocity and attenuation fields were determined during the experiment using an array of 13 piezoelectric transducers. At the final loading steps (86% and 95% of peak stress), both spatial and temporal changes in P-wave velocity and peak-to-peak amplitudes of P and S waves were observed. P-wave velocity anisotropy reached a maximum of 26%. Transient increases in attenuation of up to 483 dB/m were also observed and were associated with diffusion of water into the sample. We show that velocity and attenuation of P waves are sensitive to the process of opening of microcracks and the subsequent resaturation of these cracks as water diffuses in from the surrounding region. Symmetry of the orientation of newly formed microcracks results in anisotropic velocity and attenuation fields that systematically evolve in response to changes in stress and influx of water. With proper scaling, these measurements provide constraints on the magnitude and duration of velocity and attenuation transients that can be expected to accompany the nucleation of earthquakes in the Earth's crust.

24 CFR 3280.602 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... access thereto, but which may require removal of an access panel or opening of a door. Air gap (water... opening from any pipe or faucet supplying water to a tank, plumbing fixture, water supplied appliances, or... manufactured home. Backflow means the flow of water or other liquids, mixtures, or substances into the...

Recovery Act: Water Heater ZigBee Open Standard Wireless Controller

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Butler, William P.; Buescher, Tom

2014-04-30

The objective of Emerson's Water Heater ZigBee Open Standard Wireless Controller is to support the DOE's AARA priority for Clean, Secure Energy by designing a water heater control that levels out residential and small business peak electricity demand through thermal energy storage in the water heater tank.

OpenDanubia - An integrated, modular simulation system to support regional water resource management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muerth, M.; Waldmann, D.; Heinzeller, C.; Hennicker, R.; Mauser, W.

2012-04-01

The already completed, multi-disciplinary research project GLOWA-Danube has developed a regional scale, integrated modeling system, which was successfully applied on the 77,000 km2 Upper Danube basin to investigate the impact of Global Change on both the natural and anthropogenic water cycle. At the end of the last project phase, the integrated modeling system was transferred into the open source project OpenDanubia, which now provides both the core system as well as all major model components to the general public. First, this will enable decision makers from government, business and management to use OpenDanubia as a tool for proactive management of water resources in the context of global change. Secondly, the model framework to support integrated simulations and all simulation models developed for OpenDanubia in the scope of GLOWA-Danube are further available for future developments and research questions. OpenDanubia allows for the investigation of water-related scenarios considering different ecological and economic aspects to support both scientists and policy makers to design policies for sustainable environmental management. OpenDanubia is designed as a framework-based, distributed system. The model system couples spatially distributed physical and socio-economic process during run-time, taking into account their mutual influence. To simulate the potential future impacts of Global Change on agriculture, industrial production, water supply, households and tourism businesses, so-called deep actor models are implemented in OpenDanubia. All important water-related fluxes and storages in the natural environment are implemented in OpenDanubia as spatially explicit, process-based modules. This includes the land surface water and energy balance, dynamic plant water uptake, ground water recharge and flow as well as river routing and reservoirs. Although the complete system is relatively demanding on data requirements and hardware requirements, the modular structure and the generic core system (Core Framework, Actor Framework) allows the application in new regions and the selection of a reduced number of modules for simulation. As part of the Open Source Initiative in GLOWA-Danube (opendanubia.glowa-danube.de) a comprehensive documentation for the system installation was created and both the program code of the framework and of all major components is licensed under the GNU General Public License. In addition, some helpful programs and scripts necessary for the operation and processing of input and result data sets are provided.

Are Clay Minerals a Climate Constraint? A Review of Prior Data and New Insights on Martian "Weathering Sequences"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ehlmann, B. L.; Dundar, M.

2016-12-01

Most clay minerals on Mars are Fe/Mg smectites or chlorites, which typically form from mafic protoliths in aqueous chemical systems that are relatively closed and thus require liquid water but not large amounts of water throughput and large-scale chemical leaching. They may thus form either in the subsurface or under select conditions at the surface. However, Al clay minerals, discovered in multiple locations on Mars (Arabia Terra, Northeast Syrtis, Libya Montes Terra Sirenum, Eridania, circum-Hellas, Valles Marineris) may provide evidence of substantial water throughput, if their protolith materials were basaltic. This is because formation of Al clays from a mafic protolith requires removal of Mg and either formation of accompanying Fe oxides or removal of Fe. Thus, the observed sequences of Al clays atop Fe/Mg clays were proposed to represent open system weathering and possibly a late climate optimum around the late Noachian/early Hesperian [1]. Later, they were comprehensively cataloged and reported to represent "weathering sequences" similar to those in terrestrial tropical environments [2]. However, key questions remain; in particular, how much water throughput over what time scale is required? The answer to this question has substantial bearing on the climate of early Mars. Recently, we employed a newly developed, non-parametric Bayesian algorithm [3,4] for semi-automatic identification of rare spectral classes on 139 CRISM images in areas with reported regional-scale occurrences of Al clays. Dozens of detections of the minerals alunite and jarosite were made with the algorithm and then verified by manual analysis. These sulfate hydroxides form only at low pHs, and thus their presence tightly constrains water chemistry. Here, we discuss the evidence for low pH surface waters associated with the weathering sequences and their implications for the cumulative duration of surface weathering. [1] Ehlmann et al., 2011, Nature | [2] Carter et al., 2015, Icarus | [3] Dundar et al., 2016, IEEE WHISPERS proceedings | [4] Ehlmann & Dundar, submitted

Transport and coordination in the coupled soil-root-xylem-phloem leaf system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, C. W.; Katul, G. G.; Pockman, W.; Litvak, M. E.; Domec, J. C.; Palmroth, S.

2016-12-01

In response to varying environmental conditions, stomatal pores act as biological valves that dynamically adjust their size thereby determining the rate of CO2 assimilation and water loss (i.e., transpiration) to the dry atmosphere. Although the significance of this biotic control on gas exchange is rarely disputed, representing parsimoniously all the underlying mechanisms responsible for stomatal kinetics remain a subject of some debate. It has been conjectured that stomatal control in seed plants (i.e., angiosperm and gymnosperm) represents a compromise between biochemical demand for CO2 and prevention of excessive water loss. This view has been amended at the whole-plant level, where xylem hydraulics and sucrose transport efficiency in phloem appear to impose additional constraints on gas exchange. If such additional constraints impact stomatal opening and closure, then seed plants may have evolved coordinated photosynthetic-hydraulic-sugar transporting machinery that confers some competitive advantages in fluctuating environmental conditions. Thus, a stomatal optimization model that explicitly considers xylem hydraulics and maximum sucrose transport is developed to explore this coordination in the leaf-xylem-phloem system. The model is then applied to progressive drought conditions. The main findings from the model calculations are that (1) the predicted stomatal conductance from the conventional stomatal optimization theory at the leaf and the newly proposed models converge, suggesting a tight coordination in the leaf-xylem-phloem system; (2) stomatal control is mainly limited by the water supply function of the soil-xylem hydraulic system especially when the water flux through the transpiration stream is significantly larger than water exchange between xylem and phloem; (3) thus, xylem limitation imposed on the supply function can be used to differentiate species with different water use strategy across the spectrum of isohydric to anisohydric behavior. Keywords: leaf-level gas exchange, stomatal control, sucrose transport in phloem, xylem hydraulics

Variation in damage from growing-season frosts among open-pollinated families of red alder.

Treesearch

Kevin C. Peeler; Dean S. DeBell

1987-01-01

Repeated growing-season frosts during late April and early May 1985 caused extensive damage to red alder (Alnus rubra Bong.) seedlings in a newly planted research trial in western Washington. About two-thirds of the seedlings were severely damaged (entire stem damaged or necrotic). Such damage varied by family, from 50 percent of seedlings in the...

Creative Exercises (CEs) in the Biochemistry Domain: An Analysis of Students' Linking of Chemical and Biochemical Concepts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warfa, Abdi-Rizak M.; Odowa, N.

2015-01-01

Creative exercises (CEs), a specific form of open-ended assessment tools, have been shown to promote students' linking of prior and newly learned concepts within a course. In this study, we examined how often students in an upper-division undergraduate biochemistry course linked prior chemical concepts to biochemical ones in response to CE…

An In-Law Comes To Stay: Examination of Interdisciplinary Conflict in a School-Based Health Center.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fast, Jonathan D.

2003-01-01

Social workers often work in settings where other professions exert a higher level of control. The organizational literature on causes of conflict and conflict resolution is briefly reviewed. A case study of a newly opened school-based health center provides an opportunity to analyze conflicts between the school and health center personnel and…

Corbell PTA's Wild Walk: Fundraiser Cultivates Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cassano, Michelle

2012-01-01

When Corbell Elementary opened its doors in 2006 in Frisco, Texas, its newly formed PTA faced the challenge of implementing a productive fundraiser to get the school off to a great start. The new board chose to focus its efforts on a single fundraiser, rather than a series of smaller ones. They wanted to avoid having the children selling any kind…

A case study of hospital operations management.

PubMed

Cheng, T C

1987-12-01

This paper discusses a study to investigate various operations management problems in a newly opened, modern regional hospital in Hong Kong. The findings of the study reveal that there exist in the hospital a number of current and potential problem areas. Recommendations for solving these problems are suggested with a view to improving the overall operational efficiency and effectiveness of the hospital.

Genome Sequence of JangDynasty, a Newly Isolated Mycobacteriophage.

PubMed

Jang, Casey; Kalaj, Nancy; Hwang, Brian; Hughes, Lorelei; Yang, Connie; Pak, Thomas; Kim, John; Han, Dong Yoon; Tedjakusnadi, Jason; Fernandez, Nicholas; Dean, Natasha; Muthiah, Arun; Sutter, Nathaniel B; Diaz, Arturo

2018-05-24

JangDynasty is a bacteriophage that infects Mycobacterium smegmatis mc 2 155. It has a genome length of 70,883 bp, with 124 predicted open reading frames (ORFs), 42 of which have known functions. JangDynasty belongs to cluster O, and like other cluster O phages, it is a siphovirus with a prolate capsid. Copyright © 2018 Jang et al.

U.S. Department of Defense Official Website - World War II Memorial

Science.gov Websites

- The newly opened World War II Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was dedicated May 29 . It honors the 16 million who served in the armed forces of the United States during World War II, the ;greatest generation." Defense Department photo illustration by Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jane Campbell World War

Education, Employment and School Religious Denomination in Scotland in the 1950s

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paterson, Lindsay; Calvin, Catherine; Deary, Ian J.

2015-01-01

Newly available survey data allow the investigation of the educational and employment opportunities open to Roman Catholics in Scotland in the mid-20th century. Previous research has shown that Catholic disadvantage in education and the labour market in the early 20th century had weakened or vanished by the end of the century, and that the main…

Professional Development that Defies the Formal Construct of Teacher Learning: A Charter School's Commencement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oliver, Rollia Mandrell

2012-01-01

In August 2006, in accordance with a recently passed charter school law, a Mid-Atlantic school district opened its first public charter schools. The charter schools' staff had opportunities to exercise autonomy over their instruction and had very little in-service training. This study examined what seven teachers at a newly created charter school…

New insight into California’s drought through open data

USGS Publications Warehouse

Read, Emily K.; Bucknell, Mary; Hines, Megan K.; Kreft, James M.; Lucido, Jessica M.; Read, Jordan S.; Schroedl, Carl; Sibley, David M.; Stephan, Shirley; Suftin, Ivan; Thongsavanh, Phethala; Van Den Hoek, Jamon; Walker, Jordan I.; Wernimont, Martin R; Winslow, Luke A.; Yan, Andrew N.

2015-01-01

Historically unprecedented drought in California has brought water issues to the forefront of the nation’s attention. Crucial investigations that concern water policy, management, and research, in turn, require extensive information about the quality and quantity of California’s water. Unfortunately, key sources of pertinent data are unevenly distributed and frequently hard to find. Thankfully, the vital importance of integrating water data across federal, state, and tribal, academic, and private entities, has recently been recognized and addressed through federal initiatives such as the Climate Data Initiative of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan and the Advisory Committee on Water Information’sOpen Water Data Initiative. Here, we demonstrate an application of integrated open water data, visualized and made available online using open source software, for the purpose of exploring the impact of the current California drought. Our collaborative approach and technical tools enabled a rapid, distributed development process. Many positive outcomes have resulted: the application received recognition within and outside of the Federal Government, inspired others to visualize open water data, spurred new collaborations for our group, and strengthened the collaborative relationships within the team of developers. In this article, we describe the technical tools and collaborative process that enabled the success of the application. 

Field scale modeling to estimate phosphorus and sediment load reductions using a newly developed graphical user interface for soil and water assessment tool

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Streams throughout the North Canadian River watershed in northwest Oklahoma, USA have elevated levels of nutrients and sediment. SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) was used to identify areas that likely contributed disproportionate amounts of phosphorus (P) and sediment to Lake Overholser, the re...

University Facilities as Real-World Foci of Multidisciplinary Science Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wojdak, Jeremy; Guinan, Judy; Wirgau, Joseph; Kugler, Charles; Hammond, Georgia; Small, Christine; Manyara, Charles; Singer, Frederick; Watts, Chester; Bodo, Bethany; Baldwin, Andrew

2010-01-01

The authors sought to better approximate the practice of "real" science in our classrooms by having students study a newly built storm-water remediation wetland on campus. The wetland was meant to gather and clean storm water running off of student parking lots--thus students had ownership in the problem and potential solution. Participating…

SURVIVAL OF STEELHEAD TROUT (SALMO GAIRDNERI) EGGS, EMBRYOS, AND FRY IN AIR-SUPERSATURATED WATER

EPA Science Inventory

Egg, embryo, fry, and swim-up stages of steelhead trout (Salmo gairdneri) were exposed to water at total gas saturation levels ranging from 130 to 115%. Eggs, embryos, and newly hatched fry were not affected at 126.7%, but at about day 16 posthatch when the fish began swimming up...

18 CFR 347.1 - Material to support request for newly established or changed property account depreciation studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Material to support... Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY... table of the proposed depreciation rates by account. (4) An explanation of the average remaining life on...

18 CFR 347.1 - Material to support request for newly established or changed property account depreciation studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Material to support... Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY... table of the proposed depreciation rates by account. (4) An explanation of the average remaining life on...

18 CFR 347.1 - Material to support request for newly established or changed property account depreciation studies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Material to support... Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY... table of the proposed depreciation rates by account. (4) An explanation of the average remaining life on...

The Galileo Teacher Training Program Global Efforts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Doran, R.; Pennypacker, C.; Ferlet, R.

2012-08-01

The Galileo Teacher Training Program (GTTP) successfully named representatives in nearly 100 nations in 2009, the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009). The challenge had just begun. The steps ahead are how to reach educators that might benefit from our program and how to help build a more fair and science literate society, a society in which good tools and resources for science education are not the privilege of a few. From 2010 on our efforts have been to strengthen the newly formed network and learn how to equally help educators and students around the globe. New partnerships with other strong programs and institutions are being formed, sponsorship schemes being outlined, new tools and resources being publicized, and on-site and video conference training conducted all over the world. Efforts to officially accredit a GTTP curriculum are on the march and a stronger certification process being outlined. New science topics are being integrated in our effort and we now seek to discuss the path ahead with experts in this field and the community of users, opening the network to all corners of our beautiful blue dot. The main aim of this article is to open the discussion regarding the urgent issue of how to reawaken student interest in science, how to solve the gender inequality in science careers, and how to reach the underprivileged students and open to them the same possibilities. Efforts are in strengthening the newly formed network and learning how to equally help educators and students around the globe.

Sharing Water-related Information to Tackle Changes in the Hydrosphere - for Operational Needs (SWITCH-ON)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arheimer, Berit

2014-05-01

A recently started EU project (FP7 project No 603587) called SWITCH-ON will establish new infrastructure for water research in Europe. The overall goal of the project is to make use of open data, and add value to society by repurposing and refining data from various sources. SWITCH-ON will establish new forms of water research and facilitate the development of new products and services based on principles of sharing and community building. The basic for this work is a virtual water-science laboratory, which consists of open data, dedicated software tools and a set of protocols, hosted at the "SWITCH-ON water information" portal at http://water-switch-on.eu/. The laboratory will seamlessly integrate the open data with harmonised modelling tools and facilities the performance of virtual experiments of comparative science. Comparative science is a new form of research, which will advance science by contrasting water related processes in different environments and help understand complex processes in a more holistic way than individual studies The SWITCH-ON objectives are to use open data for implementing: 1) an innovative spatial information platform with open data tailored for direct water assessments, 2) an entirely new form of collaborative research for water-related sciences, 3) fourteen new operational products and services dedicated to appointed end-users, 4) new business and knowledge to inform individual and collective decisions in line with the Europe's smart growth and environmental objectives. The SWITCH-ON project will be one trigger in a contemporary global movement to better address environmental and societal challenges through openness and collaboration. The poster will present the project visions and achievements so far, and invite more research groups to use the virtual water-science laboratory.

Open data for water-related operational services, the SWITCH-ON approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mazzoli, Paolo; Bagli, Stefano; Valerio, Luzzi; Broccoli, Davide; Piccinini, Francesca

2017-04-01

Recently, a collaborative project started called SWITCH-ON (EU FP7 project No 603587) coordinated by SMHI (http://water-switch-on.eu/) as part of the contemporary European movement imposed by the INSPIRE directive and the Open Data Strategy. Among It's R&D activities GECOsistema develops and expands inside SWITCH-ON a set of online services to tackle major water related issues, from reservoir and irrigation supply, to hydrological change adaptation and hydropower potential mapping. Here we present major releases of APRIL, HyCAW and High-resolution European HydroPower Atlas; all of which make intense use of open data. APRIL is a tool for seasonal run-off forecasts, that takes advantage of open datasets or low-cost data and performs forecasts through calibrated machine learning algorithms. HyCAW is a wizard that supports the assessment of adaptation options to cope with change in the temporal distribution of water availability as well as in the total water quantity. EU HPA provides all relevant information necessary to appraise the feasibility of a micro-hydropower plant at a specific site, taking into account hydrological as well as technical and economic factors. All the tools share a common vision of the project to address water concerns and currently untapped potential of open data for improved water management across the EU. Users are guided through a Web GIS interface, created using open source Web Mapping Applications, Open-Layers and Map Server, to explore available hydrological information in the area of interest, plot available data, perform analysis, and get reports and statistics.

A noble metal-free proton-exchange membrane fuel cell based on bio-inspired molecular catalysts.

PubMed

Tran, P D; Morozan, A; Archambault, S; Heidkamp, J; Chenevier, P; Dau, H; Fontecave, M; Martinent, A; Jousselme, B; Artero, V

2015-03-01

Hydrogen is a promising energy vector for storing renewable energies: obtained from water-splitting, in electrolysers or photoelectrochemical cells, it can be turned back to electricity on demand in fuel cells (FCs). Proton exchange membrane (PEM) devices with low internal resistance, high compactness and stability are an attractive technology optimized over decades, affording fast start-up times and low operating temperatures. However, they rely on the powerful catalytic properties of noble metals such as platinum, while lower cost, more abundant materials would be needed for economic viability. Replacing these noble metals at both electrodes has long proven to be a difficult task, so far incompatible with PEM technologies. Here we take advantage of newly developed bio-inspired molecular H 2 oxidation catalysts and noble metal-free O 2 -reducing materials, to fabricate a noble metal-free PEMFC, with an 0.74 V open circuit voltage and a 23 μW cm -2 output power under technologically relevant conditions. X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements confirm that the catalysts are stable and retain their structure during turnover.

76 FR 38409 - Notice of an Open Meeting of the Advisory Committee on Water Information

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-30

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Notice of an Open Meeting of the Advisory Committee on Water... Committee on Water Information (ACWI). SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of a meeting of the ACWI. This meeting is to discuss broad policy-related topics relating to national water initiatives, and the...

The Open Water Data Initiative: Water information for a thirsty nation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rea, Alan; Clark, Edward; Adams, Angela; Samuels, William B.

2015-01-01

Initial efforts of the Open Water Data Initiative have focused on three use cases covering flooding, drought, and contaminant spill response, with a goal of identifying critical water data resources and making them more accessible. Significant progress has been made in the past year, although much remains to be done.

Neotropical peatland methane emissions along a vegetation and biogeochemical gradient.

PubMed

Winton, R Scott; Flanagan, Neal; Richardson, Curtis J

2017-01-01

Tropical wetlands are thought to be the most important source of interannual variability in atmospheric methane (CH4) concentrations, yet sparse data prevents them from being incorporated into Earth system models. This problem is particularly pronounced in the neotropics where bottom-up models based on water table depth are incongruent with top-down inversion models suggesting unaccounted sinks or sources of CH4. The newly documented vast areas of peatlands in the Amazon basin may account for an important unrecognized CH4 source, but the hydrologic and biogeochemical controls of CH4 dynamics from these systems remain poorly understood. We studied three zones of a peatland in Madre de Dios, Peru, to test whether CH4 emissions and pore water concentrations varied with vegetation community, soil chemistry and proximity to groundwater sources. We found that the open-canopy herbaceous zone emitted roughly one-third as much CH4 as the Mauritia flexuosa palm-dominated areas (4.7 ± 0.9 and 14.0 ± 2.4 mg CH4 m-2 h-1, respectively). Emissions decreased with distance from groundwater discharge across the three sampling sites, and tracked changes in soil carbon chemistry, especially increased soil phenolics. Based on all available data, we calculate that neotropical peatlands contribute emissions of 43 ± 11.9 Tg CH4 y-1, however this estimate is subject to geographic bias and will need revision once additional studies are published.

Recording Fathometer Techniques for Determining Distribution and Biomass of Hydrilla verticillata Royle.

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-10-01

infestation or extent of open water was measured following the same procedures described for deter- fmination of transect percent cover. This value was...procedure where the last vegetation type ended along the transect (i.e. hydrilla, eelgrass, open water ), vegetation coverage was determined for the entire...ated open water , no measurements were made. Approximately 150 to 200 prediction stations were used per monthly sample. 61. For sparse and thick

Application of ultrafiltration and stable isotopic amendments to field studies of mercury partitioning to filterable carbon in lake water and overland runoff.

PubMed

Babiarz, Christopher L; Hurley, James P; Krabbenhoft, David P; Gilmour, Cynthia; Branfireun, Brian A

2003-03-20

Results from pilot studies on colloidal phase transport of newly deposited mercury in lake water and overland runoff demonstrate that the combination of ultrafiltration, and stable isotope amendment techniques is a viable tool for the study of mercury partitioning to filterable carbon. Ultrafiltration mass balance calculations were generally excellent, averaging 97.3, 96.1 and 99.8% for dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total mercury (Hg(T)), and methylmercury (MeHg), respectively. Sub nanogram per liter quantities of isotope were measurable, and the observed phase distribution from replicate ultrafiltration separations on lake water agreed within 20%. We believe the data presented here are the first published colloidal phase mercury data on lake water and overland runoff from uncontaminated sites. Initial results from pilot-scale lake amendment experiments indicate that the choice of matrix used to dissolve the isotope did not affect the initial phase distribution of the added mercury in the lake. In addition there was anecdotal evidence that native MeHg was either recently produced in the system, or at a minimum, that this 'old' MeHg partitions to the same subset of DOC that binds the amended mercury. Initial results from pilot-scale overland runoff experiments indicate that less than 20% of newly deposited mercury was transported in the filterable fraction (<0.7 microm). There is some indication of colloidal phase enrichment of mercury in runoff compared to the phase distribution of organic carbon, but the mechanism of this enrichment is unclear. The phase distribution of newly deposited mercury can differ from that of organic carbon and native mercury, suggesting that the quality of the carbon (available ligands), not the quantity of carbon, regulates partitioning. Further characterization of DOC is needed to clarify the underlying mechanisms.

Cholera risk factors, Papua New Guinea, 2010.

PubMed

Rosewell, Alexander; Addy, Benita; Komnapi, Lucas; Makanda, Freda; Ropa, Berry; Posanai, Enoch; Dutta, Samir; Mola, Glen; Man, W Y Nicola; Zwi, Anthony; MacIntyre, C Raina

2012-11-05

Cholera is newly emergent in Papua New Guinea but may soon become endemic. Identifying the risk factors for cholera provides evidence for targeted prevention and control measures. We conducted a hospital-based case-control study to identify cholera risk factors. Using stool culture as the standard, we evaluated a cholera point of care test in the field. 176 participants were recruited: 54 cases and 122 controls. Independent risk factors for cholera were: being over 20 years of age (aOR 2.5; 95%CI 1.1, 5.4), defecating in the open air (or river) (aOR 4.5; 95% CI 1.4, 14.4) and knowing someone who travelled to a cholera affected area (aOR 4.1; 95%CI 1.6, 10.7); while the availability of soap for handwashing at home was protective (aOR 0.41; 95%CI 0.19, 0.87). Those reporting access to a piped water distribution system in the home were twice as likely to report the availability of soap for handwashing. The sensitivity and specificity of the rapid test were 72% (95% CI 47-90) and 71% (95%CI 44-90%). Improving population access to the piped water distribution system and sanitation will likely reduce transmission by enabling enhanced hygiene and limiting the contamination of water sources. The One step V. cholerae O1/O139 Antigen Test is of limited utility for clinical decision making in a hospital setting with access to traditional laboratory methods. Settlement dwellers and mobile populations of all age groups should be targeted for interventions in Papua New Guinea.

Cholera risk factors, Papua New Guinea, 2010

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Cholera is newly emergent in Papua New Guinea but may soon become endemic. Identifying the risk factors for cholera provides evidence for targeted prevention and control measures. Methods We conducted a hospital-based case–control study to identify cholera risk factors. Using stool culture as the standard, we evaluated a cholera point of care test in the field. Results 176 participants were recruited: 54 cases and 122 controls. Independent risk factors for cholera were: being over 20 years of age (aOR 2.5; 95%CI 1.1, 5.4), defecating in the open air (or river) (aOR 4.5; 95% CI 1.4, 14.4) and knowing someone who travelled to a cholera affected area (aOR 4.1; 95%CI 1.6, 10.7); while the availability of soap for handwashing at home was protective (aOR 0.41; 95%CI 0.19, 0.87). Those reporting access to a piped water distribution system in the home were twice as likely to report the availability of soap for handwashing. The sensitivity and specificity of the rapid test were 72% (95% CI 47–90) and 71% (95%CI 44–90%). Conclusions Improving population access to the piped water distribution system and sanitation will likely reduce transmission by enabling enhanced hygiene and limiting the contamination of water sources. The One step V. cholerae O1/O139 Antigen Test is of limited utility for clinical decision making in a hospital setting with access to traditional laboratory methods. Settlement dwellers and mobile populations of all age groups should be targeted for interventions in Papua New Guinea. PMID:23126504

Sea-ice transport driving Southern Ocean salinity and its recent trends.

PubMed

Haumann, F Alexander; Gruber, Nicolas; Münnich, Matthias; Frenger, Ivy; Kern, Stefan

2016-09-01

Recent salinity changes in the Southern Ocean are among the most prominent signals of climate change in the global ocean, yet their underlying causes have not been firmly established. Here we propose that trends in the northward transport of Antarctic sea ice are a major contributor to these changes. Using satellite observations supplemented by sea-ice reconstructions, we estimate that wind-driven northward freshwater transport by sea ice increased by 20 ± 10 per cent between 1982 and 2008. The strongest and most robust increase occurred in the Pacific sector, coinciding with the largest observed salinity changes. We estimate that the additional freshwater for the entire northern sea-ice edge entails a freshening rate of -0.02 ± 0.01 grams per kilogram per decade in the surface and intermediate waters of the open ocean, similar to the observed freshening. The enhanced rejection of salt near the coast of Antarctica associated with stronger sea-ice export counteracts the freshening of both continental shelf and newly formed bottom waters due to increases in glacial meltwater. Although the data sources underlying our results have substantial uncertainties, regional analyses and independent data from an atmospheric reanalysis support our conclusions. Our finding that northward sea-ice freshwater transport is also a key determinant of the mean salinity distribution in the Southern Ocean further underpins the importance of the sea-ice-induced freshwater flux. Through its influence on the density structure of the ocean, this process has critical consequences for the global climate by affecting the exchange of heat, carbon and nutrients between the deep ocean and surface waters.

Transformation products in the water cycle and the unsolved problem of their proactive assessment: A combined in vitro/in silico approach.

PubMed

Menz, Jakob; Toolaram, Anju Priya; Rastogi, Tushar; Leder, Christoph; Olsson, Oliver; Kümmerer, Klaus; Schneider, Mandy

2017-01-01

Transformation products (TPs) emerging from incomplete degradation of micropollutants in aquatic systems can retain the biological activity of the parent compound, or may even possess new unexpected toxic properties. The chemical identities of these substances remain largely unknown, and consequently, the risks caused by their presence in the water cycle cannot be assessed thoroughly. In this study, a combined approach for the proactive identification of hazardous elements in the chemical structures of TPs, comprising analytical, bioanalytical and computational methods, was assessed by the example of the pharmaceutically active micropollutant propranolol (PPL). PPL was photo-transformed using ultraviolet (UV) irradiation and 115 newly formed TPs were monitored in the reaction mixtures by LC-MS analysis. The reaction mixtures were screened for emerging effects using a battery of in vitro bioassays and the occurrence of cytotoxic and mutagenic activities in bacteria was found to be significantly correlated with the occurrence of specific TPs during the treatment process. The follow-up analysis of structure-activity-relationships further illustrated that only small chemical transformations, such as the hydroxylation or the oxidative opening of an aromatic ring system, could substantially alter the biological effects of micropollutants in aquatic systems. In conclusion, more efforts should be made to prevent the occurrence and transformation of micropollutants in the water cycle and to identify the principal degradation pathways leading to their toxicological activation. With regard to the latter, the judicious combination of bioanalytical and computational tools represents an appealing approach that should be developed further. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The spatial-temporal dynamics of open surface water bodies in CONUS during 1984-2016

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zou, Z.; Xiao, X.; Dong, J.; Qin, Y.; Doughty, R.; Menarguez, M.; Wang, J.

2017-12-01

Open surface water bodies provided 80% of the total water withdrawals in the Contiguous United States (CONUS) in 1985-2010. The inter-annual variability and changing trends of surface water body areas have various impacts on the human society and ecosystems. This study made use of all Landsat 5, 7, and 8 surface reflectance archives ( 370,000 images) during 1984-2016 and a water index- and pixel-based approach to detect and map open surface water bodies in the cloud-based platform of Google Earth Engine. The year-long water body area and annual average water body area were calculated for each of the last 33 years and their inter-annual variations during 1984-2016 were analyzed through anomaly analysis while their changing trends were analyzed through linear regressions. The national annual average water body areas varied from 265,000 to 281,000 km2 during 1984-2016, which is 3% below to 3% above the mean value 274,000 km2. In state level, significant decreasing trends were found in both year-long and annual average water body areas in some states of dry climates in west and southwest U.S., including Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. In comparison, significant increasing trends were found in some states of wet climates in the southeast and north U.S., including Indiana, Ohio, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, North Dakota and South Dakota. Open surface water body areas in CONUS decreased in relatively dry areas but increased in relatively wet areas. The relationships between open surface water body area variability and climate factors (precipitation, temperature) and human impacts (water exploitation) were also analyzed.

33 CFR 117.11 - Unnecessary opening of the draw.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Unnecessary opening of the draw. 117.11 Section 117.11 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY BRIDGES DRAWBRIDGE OPERATION REGULATIONS General Requirements § 117.11 Unnecessary opening of the draw. No...

Employer Accommodation and Labor Supply of Disabled Workers*

PubMed Central

Hill, Matthew J.; Maestas, Nicole; Mullen, Kathleen J.

2016-01-01

We examine the factors that influence employer accommodation of newly disabled workers and how effective such accommodations are in retaining workers and discouraging disability insurance applications. Using the Health and Retirement Study, we find that only a quarter of newly disabled older workers in their 50s are accommodated by their employers in some way following onset of a disability. Importantly, we find that few employer characteristics explain which workers are accommodated; rather, employee characteristics, particularly the presence of personality traits correlated with assertiveness and open communication, are highly predictive of accommodation. We also find that if employer accommodation rates could be increased, disabled workers would be significantly more likely to delay labor force exit for up to two years. However, accommodation does not appear to reduce subsequent disability insurance claiming. PMID:27840560

75 FR 38710 - Special Local Regulation, Fran Schnarr Open Water Championships, Huntington Bay, NY

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-07-06

... Regulation on the navigable waters of Huntington Bay, New York due to the annual Fran Schnarr Open Water..., New York that excludes all unauthorized persons and vessels from approaching within 100 yards of any... Championships, Huntington Bay, New York. (a) Regulated area. All navigable waters of Huntington Bay, NY within...

Growth of Newly Planted Water Tupelo Seedlings After Flooding and Siltation

Treesearch

H. E. Kennedy

1970-01-01

In central Mississippi, outplanted water tupelo seedlings survived and grew well after shallow flooding (up to 8 cm) from late February through June 1. Submersion of the seedlings, flooding until late in the growing season, reflooding, and moderate siltation reduced growth. Flooding caused changes in certain soil properties, but these changes did not seem to be the...

Sub-canopy evapotranspiration from floating vegetation and open water in a swamp forest

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Among previous studies, there are large discrepancies in the difference between evapotranspiration from wetland vegetation and evaporation from open water. In this study, we investigate evapotranspiration differences between water and vegetation in a scenario that has otherwise not been extensively ...

24 CFR 3280.602 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... opening of a door. Air gap (water distribution system) means the unobstructed vertical distance through the free atmosphere between the lowest opening from any pipe or faucet supplying water to a tank, plumbing fixture, water supplied appliances, or other device and the flood level rim of the receptacle...

24 CFR 3280.602 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... opening of a door. Air gap (water distribution system) means the unobstructed vertical distance through the free atmosphere between the lowest opening from any pipe or faucet supplying water to a tank, plumbing fixture, water supplied appliances, or other device and the flood level rim of the receptacle...

40 CFR 230.41 - Wetlands.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal...) Where wetlands are adjacent to open water, they generally constitute the transition to upland. The margin between wetland and open water can best be established by specialists familiar with the local...

Identification and characterization of ten new water gaps in seeds and fruits with physical dormancy and classification of water-gap complexes.

PubMed

Gama-Arachchige, N S; Baskin, J M; Geneve, R L; Baskin, C C

2013-07-01

Physical dormancy (PY) occurs in seeds or fruits of 18 angiosperm families and is caused by a water-impermeable palisade cell layer(s) in seed or fruit coats. Prior to germination, the seed or fruit coat of species with PY must become permeable in order to imbibe water. Breaking of PY involves formation of a small opening(s) (water gap) in a morpho-anatomically specialized area in seeds or fruits known as the water-gap complex. Twelve different water-gap regions in seven families have previously been characterized. However, the water-gap regions had not been characterized in Cucurbitaceae; clade Cladrastis of Fabaceae; subfamilies Bombacoideae, Brownlowioideae and Bythnerioideae of Malvaceae; Nelumbonaceae; subfamily Sapindoideae of Sapindaceae; Rhamnaceae; or Surianaceae. The primary aims of this study were to identify and describe the water gaps of these taxa and to classify all the known water-gap regions based on their morpho-anatomical features. Physical dormancy in 15 species was broken by exposing seeds or fruits to wet or dry heat under laboratory conditions. Water-gap regions of fruits and seeds were identified and characterized by use of microtome sectioning, light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, dye tracking and blocking experiments. Ten new water-gap regions were identified in seven different families, and two previously hypothesized regions were confirmed. Water-gap complexes consist of (1) an opening that forms after PY is broken; (2) a specialized structure that occludes the gap; and (3) associated specialized tissues. In some species, more than one opening is involved in the initial imbibition of water. Based on morpho-anatomical features, three basic water-gap complexes (Types-I, -II and -III) were identified in species with PY in 16 families. Depending on the number of openings involved in initial imbibition, the water-gap complexes were sub-divided into simple and compound. The proposed classification system enables understanding of the relationships between the water-gap complexes of taxonomically unrelated species with PY.

Depth-dependent groundwater quality sampling at City of Tallahassee test well 32, Leon County, Florida, 2013

USGS Publications Warehouse

McBride, W. Scott; Wacker, Michael A.

2015-01-01

A test well was drilled by the City of Tallahassee to assess the suitability of the site for the installation of a new well for public water supply. The test well is in Leon County in north-central Florida. The U.S. Geological Survey delineated high-permeability zones in the Upper Floridan aquifer, using borehole-geophysical data collected from the open interval of the test well. A composite water sample was collected from the open interval during high-flow conditions, and three discrete water samples were collected from specified depth intervals within the test well during low-flow conditions. Water-quality, source tracer, and age-dating results indicate that the open interval of the test well produces water of consistently high quality throughout its length. The cavernous nature of the open interval makes it likely that the highly permeable zones are interconnected in the aquifer by secondary porosity features.

RocKeTeria restaurant

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

When StenniSphere at John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Miss., opened in May 2000, it introduced the RocKeTeria, a new 1960s-style, space-themed restaurant located in the newly expanded visitor center. The restaurant, operated by the owners of Mary's Drive Inn of Biloxi, features an extensive collection of space-related photos from that era, as well as a full menu of home-style cooking.

Bear damage to young Douglas-fir.

Treesearch

Thomas W. Childs; Norman P. Worthington

1955-01-01

Newly-formed sapwood of young conifers has probably been a food for bears since time immemorial, but damage to trees has only recently attracted the attention of foresters. In many localities, all stages of bear-caused wounds can be found, from fresh ones to those covered with callus, On a 3-acre clear-cut, made in 1950 in a rather open part of the 110-year-old stand...

When Pandora's Box Is Opened: A Qualitative Study of the Intended and Unintended Impacts of Wyoming's New Standardized Tests on Local Educators' Everyday Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cho, Jeasik; Eberhard, Brian

2013-01-01

In the context of a newly adopted statewide assessment system, PAWS (Proficiency Assessment for Wyoming Students), this paper describes intended instructional changes and unintended outcomes in classrooms and schools as a result of an assessment policy involving an innovative online portion of the test. An elementary school was selected and…

Unifying Faculty, Staff, Students, and Community by Establishing and Implementing a Unique Vision for a New Elementary School.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Currie, John R.

The principal of a newly opened elementary school implemented a practicum study designed to unify faculty, parents, staff, and children; add direction to the program; develop a sense of purpose; and increase participation. It was expected that a vision statement would be developed in the school's first year of operation, and that parents and staff…

Apollo 1 Tribute Opening

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-01-27

Lowell Grissom, brother of Gus Grissom, and Carly Sparks, granddaughter of Grissom, look at areas of the newly opened Apollo 1 tribute at the Apollo/Saturn V Center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center opened Jan. 27, 2017. Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White II and Chaffee perished in a fire at the launch pad on Jan. 27, 1967, during training for the mission. The tribute highlights the lives and careers of the astronauts. The tribute features numerous items recalling the lives of the three astronauts. The tribute also includes the three-part hatch to the spacecraft itself, the first time any part of the Apollo 1 spacecraft has been displayed publicly. A version of the hatch after it was redesigned is also showcased as an example of improvements NASA made throughout the agency and to the Apollo spacecraft that would later carry astronauts to the moon.

Apollo 1 Tribute Opening

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-01-27

Martha Chaffee and Sheryl Chaffee, widow and daughter of astronaut Roger Chaffee, respectively, look at areas of the newly opened Apollo 1 tribute at the Apollo/Saturn V Center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center opened Jan. 27, 2017. Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White II and Chaffee perished in a fire at the launch pad on Jan. 27, 1967, during training for the mission. The tribute highlights the lives and careers of the astronauts. The tribute features numerous items recalling the lives of the three astronauts. The tribute also includes the three-part hatch to the spacecraft itself, the first time any part of the Apollo 1 spacecraft has been displayed publicly. A version of the hatch after it was redesigned is also showcased as an example of improvements NASA made throughout the agency and to the Apollo spacecraft that would later carry astronauts to the moon.

Mapping the future expansion of Arctic open water

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barnhart, Katherine R.; Miller, Christopher R.; Overeem, Irina; Kay, Jennifer E.

2016-03-01

Sea ice impacts most of the Arctic environment, from ocean circulation and marine ecosystems to animal migration and marine transportation. Sea ice has thinned and decreased in age over the observational record. Ice extent has decreased. Reduced ice cover has warmed the surface ocean, accelerated coastal erosion and impacted biological productivity. Declines in Arctic sea-ice extent cannot be explained by internal climate variability alone and can be attributed to anthropogenic effects. However, extent is a poor measure of ice decline at specific locations as it integrates over the entire Arctic basin and thus contains no spatial information. The open water season, in contrast, is a metric that represents the duration of open water over a year at an individual location. Here we present maps of the open water season over the period 1920-2100 using daily output from a 30-member initial-condition ensemble of business-as-usual climate simulations that characterize the expansion of Arctic open water, determine when the open water season will move away from pre-industrial conditions (`shift’ time) and identify when human forcing will take the Arctic sea-ice system outside its normal bounds (`emergence’ time). The majority of the Arctic nearshore regions began shifting in 1990 and will begin leaving the range of internal variability in 2040. Models suggest that ice will cover coastal regions for only half of the year by 2070.

Numerical study of the effects of lamp configuration and reactor wall roughness in an open channel water disinfection UV reactor.

PubMed

Sultan, Tipu

2016-07-01

This article describes the assessment of a numerical procedure used to determine the UV lamp configuration and surface roughness effects on an open channel water disinfection UV reactor. The performance of the open channel water disinfection UV reactor was numerically analyzed on the basis of the performance indictor reduction equivalent dose (RED). The RED values were calculated as a function of the Reynolds number to monitor the performance. The flow through the open channel UV reactor was modelled using a k-ε model with scalable wall function, a discrete ordinate (DO) model for fluence rate calculation, a volume of fluid (VOF) model to locate the unknown free surface, a discrete phase model (DPM) to track the pathogen transport, and a modified law of the wall to incorporate the reactor wall roughness effects. The performance analysis was carried out using commercial CFD software (ANSYS Fluent 15.0). Four case studies were analyzed based on open channel UV reactor type (horizontal and vertical) and lamp configuration (parallel and staggered). The results show that lamp configuration can play an important role in the performance of an open channel water disinfection UV reactor. The effects of the reactor wall roughness were Reynolds number dependent. The proposed methodology is useful for performance optimization of an open channel water disinfection UV reactor. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A neural network method to correct bidirectional effects in water-leaving radiance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Yongzhen; Li, Wei; Voss, Kenneth J.; Gatebe, Charles K.; Stamnes, Knut

2017-02-01

The standard method to convert the measured water-leaving radiances from the observation direction to the nadir direction developed by Morel and coworkers requires knowledge of the chlorophyll concentration (CHL). Also, the standard method was developed for open ocean water, which makes it unsuitable for turbid coastal waters. We introduce a neural network method to convert the water-leaving radiance (or the corresponding remote sensing reflectance) from the observation direction to the nadir direction. This method does not require any prior knowledge of the water constituents or the inherent optical properties (IOPs). This method is fast, accurate and can be easily adapted to different remote sensing instruments. Validation using NuRADS measurements in different types of water shows that this method is suitable for both open ocean and coastal waters. In open ocean or chlorophyll-dominated waters, our neural network method produces corrections similar to those of the standard method. In turbid coastal waters, especially sediment-dominated waters, a significant improvement was obtained compared to the standard method.

Interocular asymmetry of the visual field defects in newly diagnosed normal-tension glaucoma, primary open-angle glaucoma, and chronic angle-closure glaucoma.

PubMed

Huang, Ping; Shi, Yan; Wang, Xin; Liu, Mugen; Zhang, Chun

2014-09-01

To compare the interocular asymmetry of visual field loss in newly diagnosed normal-tension glaucoma (NTG), primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), and chronic angle-closure glaucoma (CACG) patients. Visual field results of 117 newly diagnosed, treatment-naive glaucoma patients (42 NTG, 38 POAG, and 37 CACG) were studied retrospectively. The following 3 visual field defect parameters were used to evaluate the interocular asymmetry: (1) global indices; (2) local mean deviations (MDs) of 6 predefined visual field areas; and (3) stage designated by glaucoma staging system 2. The differences of the above parameters between the trial eye (the eye with greater MDs) and the fellow eye in each subject were defined as interocular asymmetry scores. Interocular asymmetry of visual field loss was presented in all the 3 groups (all P<0.05). CACG group had greater total MD interocular asymmetry score compared with the NTG and POAG groups (among groups, P=0.008; NTG vs. CACG, P=0.005; POAG vs. CACG, P=0.009). CACG also presented with significantly higher local MD interocular asymmetry scores at central, inferior, and temporal areas compared with those of the POAG group and at inferior area compared with that of NTG group. No significant difference in either total or local MDs was detected between NTG and POAG (all P>0.05). Interocular asymmetry scores of glaucoma staging system 2 had no significant difference among the 3 groups (P=0.068). All CACG, POAG, and NTG groups presented with interocular asymmetric visual field loss at the time of diagnosis. CACG had greater interocular asymmetry compared with NTG and POAG. No significant interocular asymmetry difference was observed between NTG and POAG.

Visual disability in newly diagnosed primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) patients in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria.

PubMed

Awoyesuku, E A; Ejimadu, C S

2012-01-01

Glaucoma remains the second leading cause of blindness worldwide and the highes cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. In N Glaucoma accounts for 16% of blindness and primary open angle glaucoma is the most prevalent clinical type. The aim of this study is to assess the visual disability resulting from glaucoma in newly diagnosed POAG patients in University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital. This is a retrospective study of newly diagnosed glaucoma patients referred from the general ophthalmology clinic to the glaucoma clinic over a 12 month period (January-December 2010). All patients had a glaucoma workup includin Snellen distant visual acuity, slit lamp examination, Goldman applanation tonometry, gonioscopy, dilated fundoscopy with +78 diopter lens as well as perimetry. All examinations were carried out by both authors. Patients with other co-morbidities such as cataract and retinal/macular pathologies were excluded from the study. A total of 98 patients were reviewed. The were 34 males and 27 females, giving a male to female ratio of 1.3:1. The average age was 54.2 years and most patients (>80%) were in the 40-59 year age group. Of the 98 patients reviewed, 62.2% had POAG. 30 patients were-blind by distant visual acuity criteria while 45 patients were blind by central visual field criteria. POAG is the most prevalent clinical subtype of glaucoma in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa Paucity of symptoms in early stages of the disease at late presentation is a characteristic finding in our clinic environment. Our study showed that POAG in our environment is associated with marked visual disability at the time of presentation.

40 CFR 146.22 - Construction requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... such a fashion that they inject into a formation which is separated from any USDW by a confining zone... drinking water. The casing and cement used in the construction of each newly drilled well shall be designed...

Staged depressurization system

DOEpatents

Schulz, T.L.

1993-11-02

A nuclear reactor having a reactor vessel disposed in a containment shell is depressurized in stages using depressurizer valves coupled in fluid communication with the coolant circuit. At least one sparger submerged in the in-containment refueling water storage tank which can be drained into the containment sump communicates between one or more of the valves and an inside of the containment shell. The depressurizer valves are opened in stages, preferably at progressively lower coolant levels and for opening progressively larger flowpaths to effect depressurization through a number of the valves in parallel. The valves can be associated with a pressurizer tank in the containment shell, coupled to a coolant outlet of the reactor. At least one depressurization valve stage openable at a lowest pressure is coupled directly between the coolant circuit and the containment shell. The reactor is disposed in the open sump in the containment shell, and a further valve couples the open sump to a conduit coupling the refueling water storage tank to the coolant circuit for adding water to the coolant circuit, whereby water in the containment shell can be added to the reactor from the open sump. 4 figures.

Staged depressurization system

DOEpatents

Schulz, Terry L.

1993-01-01

A nuclear reactor having a reactor vessel disposed in a containment shell is depressurized in stages using depressurizer valves coupled in fluid communication with the coolant circuit. At least one sparger submerged in the in-containment refueling water storage tank which can be drained into the containment sump communicates between one or more of the valves and an inside of the containment shell. The depressurizer valves are opened in stages, preferably at progressively lower coolant levels and for opening progressively larger flowpaths to effect depressurization through a number of the valves in parallel. The valves can be associated with a pressurizer tank in the containment shell, coupled to a coolant outlet of the reactor. At least one depressurization valve stage openable at a lowest pressure is coupled directly between the coolant circuit and the containment shell. The reactor is disposed in the open sump in the containment shell, and a further valve couples the open sump to a conduit coupling the refueling water storage tank to the coolant circuit for adding water to the coolant circuit, whereby water in the containment shell can be added to the reactor from the open sump.

Mapping inter-annual dynamics of open surface water bodies in Oklahoma from Landsat images in 1984 to 2015 at 30-m spatial resolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zou, Z.; Xiao, X.; Menarguez, M.; Dong, J.; Qin, Y.

2016-12-01

Open surface water bodies are important water resource for public supply, irrigation, livestock, and wildlife in Oklahoma. The inter-annual variation of Oklahoma water bodies directly affect the water availability for public supply, irrigation and cattle industry. In this study, tens of thousands of Landsat TM/ETM+ images from 1984 to 2015 were used to track the dynamics of open surface water bodies. Both water-related spectral indices and vegetation indices were used to map water bodies for individual images. The resultant maps show that Oklahoma year-long open surface water bodies varied significantly over the last 32 years, with an average annual water body area equals to 2300 km2, accounting for 1.27 % of the Oklahoma state area (181,037 km2). 4.3 million year-long water body pixels were detected in the 32-year accumulated water frequency map, corresponding to 3100 km2. Only 45% ( 1400 km2) of the those pixels had water throughout the 32 years, while the rest 55% pixels had a dry-up period. The smaller water bodies have a higher risk to dry up and a lower probability to have water throughout the years. Drought years could significantly decrease the number of small water bodies and shrink the area of large water bodies, while pluvial years could create large number of small seasonal water bodies. The significant influencing factors of current year water bodies include the precipitation and temperature of current year and the water body condition of the previous year. This water body dynamics study could be used to support water resource management, crop and livestock production, and biodiversity conservation in Oklahoma.

Numerical and experimental analysis of a ducted propeller designed by a fully automated optimization process under open water condition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Long; Druckenbrod, Markus; Greve, Martin; Wang, Ke-qi; Abdel-Maksoud, Moustafa

2015-10-01

A fully automated optimization process is provided for the design of ducted propellers under open water conditions, including 3D geometry modeling, meshing, optimization algorithm and CFD analysis techniques. The developed process allows the direct integration of a RANSE solver in the design stage. A practical ducted propeller design case study is carried out for validation. Numerical simulations and open water tests are fulfilled and proved that the optimum ducted propeller improves hydrodynamic performance as predicted.

Universal cell frame for high-pressure water electrolyzer and electrolyzer including the same

DOEpatents

Schmitt, Edwin W.; Norman, Timothy J.

2013-01-08

Universal cell frame generic for use as an anode frame and as a cathode frame in a water electrolyzer. According to one embodiment, the universal cell frame includes a unitary annular member having a central opening. Four trios of transverse openings are provided in the annular member, each trio being spaced apart by about 90 degrees. A plurality of internal radial passageways fluidly interconnect the central opening and each of the transverse openings of two diametrically-opposed trios of openings, the other two trios of openings lacking corresponding radial passageways. Sealing ribs are provided on the top and bottom surfaces of the annular member. The present invention is also directed at a water electrolyzer that includes two such cell frames, one being used as the anode frame and the other being used as the cathode frame, the cathode frame being rotated 90 degrees relative to the anode frame.

Geochemical Trends and Natural Attenuation of RDX, Nitrate, and Perchlorate in the Hazardous Test Area Fractured-Granite Aquifer, White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, 1996-2006

USGS Publications Warehouse

Langman, Jeff B.; Robertson, Andrew J.; Bynum, Jamar; Gebhardt, Fredrick E.

2008-01-01

A fractured-granite aquifer at White Sands Missile Range is contaminated with the explosive compound RDX, nitrate, and perchlorate (oxidizer associated with rocket propellant) from the previous use of the Open Burn/Open Detonation site at the Hazardous Test Area. RDX, nitrate, and perchlorate ground-water concentrations were analyzed to examine source characteristics, spatial and temporal variability, and the influence of the natural attenuation processes of dilution and degradation in the Hazardous Test Area fractured-granite aquifer. Two transects of ground-water wells from the existing monitoring-site network - one perpendicular to ground-water flow (transect A-A') and another parallel to ground-water flow (transect B-B') - were selected to examine source characteristics and the spatial and temporal variability of the contaminant concentrations. Ground-water samples collected in 2005 from a larger sampling of monitoring sites than the two transects were analyzed for various tracers including major ions, trace elements, RDX degradates, dissolved gases, water isotopes, nitrate isotopes, and sulfate isotopes to examine the natural attenuation processes of dilution and degradation. Recharge entrains contaminants at the site and transports them downgradient towards the Tularosa Basin floor through a poorly connected fracture system(s). From 1996 to 2006, RDX, nitrate, and perchlorate concentrations in ground water downgradient from the Open Burn/Open Detonation site have been relatively stable. RDX, nitrate, and perchlorate in ground water from wells near the site indicate dispersed contaminant sources in and near the Open Burn/Open Detonation pits. The sources of RDX and nitrate in the pit area have shifted with time, and the shift correlates with the regrading of the south and east berms of each pit in 2002 and 2003 following closure of the site. The largest RDX concentrations were in ground water about 0.1 mile downgradient from the pits, the largest perchlorate concentrations were in ground water about 0.15 mile downgradient from the pits, and the largest nitrate concentrations were in ground water about 0.25 mile down-gradient from the pits. Strong and moderate correlation of water level and the contaminant concentrations near the source areas and low correlation outside and downgradient from the source areas indicates a diminishing of the water level/contaminant relation with downgradient flow. Ground water was not progressively older at all locations downgradient from the Open Burn/Open Detonation site indicating multiple recharge areas. Major ion and strontium concentrations and d2H and d18O values identified similar sources of recharge waters comprising the aquifer except along the basin periphery where recharge water may be influenced by dissolution of mineral assemblages associated with ore deposits that are present along the basin margins. Ground-water ages, dissolved-solids concentrations, and calcium-strontium concentrations indicate limited or partial connectivity between fractures and contributions of uncontaminated recharge water downgradient from the site that dilutes contaminant concentrations. Changes in RDX and nitrate concentration patterns, the presence of methane, changes in carbon dioxide concentrations and d15N and d34S values, and variable reduction-oxidation conditions suggest degradation of contaminants in the downgradient direction. Estimated values of electron potential were assigned to ground water collected in October 2005 from all monitoring sites at the Hazardous Test Area. Moderate to strong reducing conditions were present upgradient from the Open Burn/Open Detonation site, at the site, and at various locations downgradient from the site, but the aquifer contained well-oxygenated water between many of the reducing areas. The spatial variability of reduction-oxidation conditions in the aquifer exemplifies the partial connectivity of the fracture system(s). Dilution of the contaminants i

Organ-coordinated response of early post-germination mahogany seedlings to drought.

PubMed

Horta, Lívia P; Braga, Márcia R; Lemos-Filho, José P; Modolo, Luzia V

2014-04-01

Water deficit tolerance during post-germination stages is critical for seedling recruitment. In this work, we studied the effect of water deficit on morphological and biochemical responses in different organs of newly germinated mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla King) seedlings, a woody species that occurs in the Amazon rainforest. The root : shoot ratio increased under water deficit. The leaf number and water potential were not altered, although reductions in leaf area and stomatal conductance were observed. Osmotic potential became more negative in leaves of seedlings under severe stress. Water deficit increased fructose, glucose, sucrose and myo-inositol levels in leaves. Stems accumulated fructose, glucose and l-proline. Nitric oxide (NO) levels increased in the vascular cylinder of roots under severe stress while superoxide anion levels decreased due to augmented superoxide dismutase activity in this organ. Water deficit induced glutathione reductase activity in both roots and stems. Upon moderate or severe stress, catalase activity decreased in leaves and remained unaffected in the other seedling organs, allowing for an increase of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) levels in leaves. Overall, the increase of signaling molecules in distinct organs-NO in roots, l-proline in stems and H2O2 and myo-inositol in leaves-contributed to the response of mahogany seedlings to water deficit by triggering biochemical processes that resulted in the attenuation of oxidative stress and the establishment of osmotic adjustment. Therefore, this body of evidence reveals that the development of newly germinated mahogany seedlings may occur in both natural habitats and crop fields even when water availability is greatly limited.

Sharing Water-related Information to Tackle Changes in the Hydrosphere - for Operational Needs (SWITCH-ON)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arheimer, Berit

2015-04-01

Recently, a collaborative EU project started called SWITCH-ON (EU FP7 project No 603587) coordinated by SMHI to support the INSPIRE directive and the Open Data Strategy. The overall goal of the project is to establish a "one-stop-shop" web portal for easy access to European water information. The project will use open data, provide infrastructure for sharing and collaboration, and add value to society and research by repurposing and refining data from various sources. The SWITCH-ON project http://www.water-switch-on.eu/ will establish new forms of water research and facilitate the development of new products and services based on principles of sharing and community building in the water society. The SWITCH-ON objectives are to use open data for implementing: 1) an innovative spatial information platform (SIP) to find, bind, transform and publish data, 2) entirely new forms of collaborative research organised in a Virtual Water-Science Laboratory, open for any research group, 3) fourteen new operational products for water management and awareness, 4) outreach facilities for new water business and knowledge in line with the Europe's smart growth and environmental objectives. This poster will describe the overall project goals and especially the recent progress on developing a Virtual Water-Science Laboratory. Contact: waterswitchon@gmail.com

Martian oceans, valleys and climate

USGS Publications Warehouse

Carr, M.H.

2000-01-01

The new Mars Global Surveyor altimetry shows that the heavily cratered southern hemisphere of Mars is 5 km higher that the sparely cratered plains of the northern hemisphere. Previous suggestions that oceans formerly occupied that northern plains as evidenced by shorelines are partly supported by the new data. A previously identified outer boundary has a wide range of elevations and is unlikely to be a shoreline but an inner contact with a narrow range of elevations is a more likely candidate. No shorelines are visible in the newly acquired, 2.5 metre/pixel imaging. Newly imaged valleys provide strong support for sustained or episodic flow of water across the Martian surface. A major surprise, however, is the near absence of valleys less than 100 m across. Martian valleys seemingly do not divide into ever smaller valleys as terrestrial valleys commonly do. This could be due to lack of precipitation or lack of surface runoff because of high infiltration rates. High erosion rates and supports warm climates and presence of large bodies of water during heavy bombardment. The climate history and fate of the water after heavy bombardment remain cotroversial.

Environmental Impact Statement Space Shuttle Program, Vandenberg AFB, California. Supplement.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-07-01

area, will induce significant population growth and aggravate current housing and water availability problems . Six appendices offer more detailed...impacts have been reevaluated in light of recent changes in the p-ogram, research studies in problem areas, and newly- acquired knowledge of the...aggravate short-term problems concerning housing, and the quality and quantity of available water. x 7. PERMITS AND OTHER ENTITLEMENTS Air quality

Evaluation of the results of simultaneous open rhinoplasty and Abbe flap for the reconstruction of the secondary bilateral cleft and nasal deformity.

PubMed

Eski, Muhitdin; Aykan, Andac; Alhan, Dogan; Zor, Fatih; Isik, Selcuk

2015-06-01

We aimed to evaluate the results of simultaneous rhinoplasty and Abbe flap for the reconstruction of the secondary bilateral cleft and nasal deformity by means of a newly developed software-based method. A total of 16 patients with the bilateral cleft lip nasal deformity received Abbe flap and simultaneous open rhinoplasty between 2004 and 2010. The mean age of the patients was 21 years, and the average follow-up time was 2.4 years. After the open rhinoplasty procedure, the upper lip was reconstructed with the Abbe flap. Preoperative and postoperative photographs that had been taken laterally were evaluated by using Adobe Photoshop(®) CS4 and Adobe InDesign(®) software. The length of the columella and the relative changes of the most anterior point of the upper lip to the vertical plane tangent to the most anterior point of the lower lip were measured in pixels on standardized preoperative and postoperative images. The differences were calculated and compared as a percentage (%). There was no flap loss and associated problems. The measurements of columellar length revealed an average increase of 51.8 ± 11.3%, while the relative change of the most anterior point of the upper lip revealed an average increase of 68.6 ± 11.2%. The results of the treatment modality were successfully evaluated by a newly developed software-based method. Copyright © 2015 British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Meridional circulation across the Antarctic Circumpolar Current serves as a double 231Pa and 230Th trap

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rutgers van der Loeff, Michiel; Venchiarutti, Celia; Stimac, Ingrid; van Ooijen, Jan; Huhn, Oliver; Rohardt, Gerd; Strass, Volker

2016-12-01

Upwelling of Circumpolar Deep Water in the Weddell Gyre and low scavenging rates south of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) cause an accumulation of particle reactive nuclides in the Weddell Gyre. A ventilation/reversible scavenging model that successfully described the accumulation of 230Th in this area was tested with other particle reactive nuclides and failed to adequately describe the depth-distributions of 231Pa and 210Pb. We present here a modified model that includes a nutrient-like accumulation south of the Antarctic Polar Front in an upper meridional circulation cell, as well as transport to a deep circulation cell in the Weddell Gyre by scavenging and subsequent release at depth. The model also explains depletion of 231Pa and 230Th in Weddell Sea Bottom Water (WSBW) by ventilation of newly formed deep water on a timescale of 10 years, but this water mass is too dense to leave the Weddell Gyre. In order to quantify the processes responsible for the 231Pa- and 230Th-composition of newly formed Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) we present a mass balance of 231Pa and 230Th in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean based on new data from the GEOTRACES program. The ACC receives 6.0 ± 1.5 ×106 dpms-1 of 230Th from the Weddell Sea, similar in magnitude to the net input of 4.2 ± 3.0 ×106 dpms-1 from the north. For 231Pa, the relative contribution from the Weddell Sea is much smaller, only 0.3 ± 0.1 ×106, compared to 2.7 ± 1.4 ×106 dpms-1 from the north. Weddell Sea Deep Water (WSDW) leaving the Weddell Gyre northward to form AABW is exposed in the ACC to resuspended opal-rich sediments that act as efficient scavengers with a Th/Pa fractionation factor F ≤ 1. Hydrothermal inputs may provide additional removal with low F. Scavenging in the full meridional circulation across the opal-rich ACC thus acts as a double 231Pa and 230Th trap that preconditions newly formed AABW.

33 CFR 100.1304 - Annual Seattle Yacht Club's “Opening Day” Marine Parade.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Annual Seattle Yacht Club's âOpening Dayâ Marine Parade. 100.1304 Section 100.1304 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD... Annual Seattle Yacht Club's “Opening Day” Marine Parade. (a) Regulated area. All of Portage Bay, with the...

43 CFR 2091.5-4 - Segregative effect and opening: Water power withdrawals.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 43 Public Lands: Interior 2 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Segregative effect and opening: Water power withdrawals. 2091.5-4 Section 2091.5-4 Public Lands: Interior Regulations Relating to Public Lands (Continued) BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR LAND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (2000) SPECIAL LAWS AND RULES Segregation and Opening of...

EMERGING WATERBORNE PATHOGENS

EPA Science Inventory

Water treatment and wastewater disposal practices have reduced the death rate from waterborne illness. However, the number of individuals made ill, and the number of outbreaks of waterborne disease still fluctuates greatly. This is partly due to newly recognized disease agents,...

Cosmonaut Krikalev takes photos in U.S. Laboratory /Destiny module

NASA Image and Video Library

2001-02-11

STS98-E-5138 (11 February 2001) --- Cosmonaut Sergei K. Krikalev, Expedition One flight engineer, takes still photographs onboard the newly opened Destiny laboratory on the International Space Station (ISS). After astronaut William M. (Bill) Shepherd, Expedition One commander, opened the Destiny hatch, he and astronaut Kenneth D. Cockrell (out of frame) ventured inside at 8:38 a.m. (CST), February 11, 2001. As depicted in subsequent digital images in this series, members of both crews went to work quickly inside the new module, activating air systems, fire extinguishers, alarm systems, computers and internal communications. The crew also took some photos and continued equipment transfers from the shuttle to the station.

Estrellas variables en campos de cúmulos abiertos galácticos detectadas en el relevamiento VVV

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Palma, T.; Dékany, I.; Clariá, J. J.; Minniti, D.; Alonso-García, J. A.; Ramírez Alegría, S.; Bonatto, C.

2016-08-01

The present project constitutes a massive search for variable stars in the field of open clusters projected on highly reddened regions of the galactic disk and bulge. This search is being performed using -, - and -band observations of the near-infrared variability Survey Vista variables in the Via Lactea. We present the first results obtained in four open clusters projected on the Galactic bulge. The new variables discovered in the current work, 182 in total, are classified on the basis of their light curves and their locations in the corresponding color-magnitude diagrams. Among the newly discovered variable stars, Cepheids, RR Lyrae, Scuti, eclipsing binaries and other types have been found.

MS Jones in U.S. Laboratory / Destiny module

NASA Image and Video Library

2001-02-11

STS98-E-5137 (11 February 2001) --- Astronauts Thomas D. Jones (foreground), STS-98 mission specialist, and William M. Shepherd, Expedition One mission commander, participate in an impromptu photo shoot onboard the newly opened Destiny laboratory on the International Space Station (ISS). After Shepherd opened the Destiny hatch, he and astronaut Kenneth D. Cockrell (out of frame) ventured inside at 8:38 a.m. (CST), February 11, 2001. As depicted in subsequent digital images in this series, members of both crews went to work quickly inside the new module, activating air systems, fire extinguishers, alarm systems, computers and internal communications. The crew also took some photos and continued equipment transfers from the shuttle to the station.

Strangeness Photoproduction at the BGO-OD Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jude, T. C.; Alef, S.; Bayadilov, D.; Beck, R.; Becker, M.; Bella, A.; Bielefeldt, P.; Boese, S.; Braghieri, A.; Brinkmann, K.; Cole, P.; Curciarello, F.; De Leo, V.; Di Salvo, R.; Dutz, H.; Elsner, D.; Fantini, A.; Freyermuth, O.; Friedrich, S.; Frommberger, F.; Ganenko, V.; Gervino, G.; Ghio, F.; Giardina, G.; Goertz, S.; Gridnev, A.; Gutz, E.; Hammann, D.; Hannappel, J.; Hartmann, P.; Hillert, W.; Ignatov, A.; Jahn, R.; Joosten, R.; Klein, F.; Koop, K.; Krusche, B.; Lapik, A.; Levi Sandri, P.; Lopatin, I. V.; Mandaglio, G.; Messi, F.; Messi, R.; Metag, V.; Moricciani, D.; Mushkarenkov, A.; Nanova, M.; Nedorezov, V.; Novinskiy, D.; Pedroni, P.; Reitz, B.; Romaniuk, M.; Rostomyan, T.; Rudnev, N.; Scheluchin, G.; Schmieden, H.; Stugelev, A.; Sumachev, V.; Tarakanov, V.; Vegna, V.; Walther, D.; Watts, D.; Zaunick, H.; Zimmermann, T.

BGO-OD is a newly commissioned experiment to investigate the internal structure of the nucleon, using an energy tagged bremsstrahlung photon beam at the ELSA electron facility. The setup consists of a highly segmented BGO calorimeter surrounding the target, with a particle tracking magnetic spectrometer at forward angles. BGO-OD is ideal for investigating meson photoproduction. The extensive physics programme for open strangeness photoproduction is introduced, and preliminary analysis presented.

Exposure to culturally sensitive sexual health information and impact on health literacy: a qualitative study among newly arrived refugee women in Sweden.

PubMed

Svensson, Pia; Carlzén, Katarina; Agardh, Anette

2017-07-01

In Sweden, migrants have poorer sexual and reproductive health compared to the general population. Health literacy, in the form of the cognitive and social skills enabling access to health promoting activities, is often poorer among migrants, partly due to language and cultural barriers. Culturally sensitive health education provides a strategy for enhancing health literacy. Since 2012, specially trained civic and health communicators have provided sexual and reproductive health and rights information to newly arrived refugees in Skåne, Sweden. The aim of this study was to explore how information on sexual and reproductive health and rights was perceived by female recipients and whether being exposed to such information contributed to enhanced sexual and reproductive health and rights literacy. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with nine women and analysed using qualitative content analysis. Two themes emerged: (1) opening the doors to new understandings of sexual and reproductive health and rights and (2) planting the seed for engagement in sexual and reproductive health and rights issues, illustrating how cultural norms influenced perceptions, but also how information opened up opportunities for challenging these norms. Gender-separate groups may facilitate information uptake, while discussion concerning sexual health norms may benefit from taking place in mixed groups.

Using Participatory Approach to Improve Availability of Spatial Data for Local Government

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kliment, T.; Cetl, V.; Tomič, H.; Lisiak, J.; Kliment, M.

2016-09-01

Nowadays, the availability of authoritative geospatial features of various data themes is becoming wider on global, regional and national levels. The reason is existence of legislative frameworks for public sector information and related spatial data infrastructure implementations, emergence of support for initiatives as open data, big data ensuring that online geospatial information are made available to digital single market, entrepreneurs and public bodies on both national and local level. However, the availability of authoritative reference spatial data linking the geographic representation of the properties and their owners are still missing in an appropriate quantity and quality level, even though this data represent fundamental input for local governments regarding the register of buildings used for property tax calculations, identification of illegal buildings, etc. We propose a methodology to improve this situation by applying the principles of participatory GIS and VGI used to collect observations, update authoritative datasets and verify the newly developed datasets of areas of buildings used to calculate property tax rates issued to their owners. The case study was performed within the district of the City of Požega in eastern Croatia in the summer 2015 and resulted in a total number of 16072 updated and newly identified objects made available online for quality verification by citizens using open source geospatial technologies.

Long-term efficacy and safety of lamotrigine monotherapy in Japanese and South Korean pediatric patients with newly diagnosed typical absence seizures: An open-label extension study.

PubMed

Yasumoto, Sawa; Ohtsuka, Yoko; Sato, Katsuaki; Kurata, Atsuyo; Numachi, Yotaro; Shimizu, Masahiro

2018-05-31

To investigate the efficacy and safety of long-term lamotrigine (LTG) monotherapy in Japanese and South Korean pediatric patients with newly diagnosed typical absence seizures. Six Japanese patients and one South Korean patient were enrolled in the extension phase of the study after completing the 12-week maintenance phase of an open-label clinical study of LTG monotherapy. During the extension phase, patients underwent efficacy and safety evaluation every 12 weeks. Of the seven patients, six patients completed the extension phase. The seizure-free rate confirmed by hyperventilation (HV)-electroencephalography ranged from 71.4% to 100.0% at each visit up to Week 168 of the extension phase. Similar effects were confirmed by HV-clinical signs and seizure diaries. Although no unexpected adverse events were observed, one Japanese patient was withdrawn from the extension phase due to mild drug-related rash developed 842 days after the start of LTG. Although the number of patients is limited, long-term LTG monotherapy appeared to be effective and generally well tolerated in Japanese and South Korean pediatric patients with typical absence seizures. Copyright © 2018 The Japanese Society of Child Neurology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

RELATIONS BETWEEN BACTERIAL NITROGEN METABOLISM AND GROWTH EFFICIENCY IN AN ESTUARINE AND AN OPEN-WATER ECOSYSTEM

EPA Science Inventory

Bacterial uptake or release of dissolved nitrogen compounds (amino nitrogen, urea, ammonium and nitrate) were examined in 0.8 |m filtered water from an estuary (Santa Rosa Sound [SRS], northwestern Florida) and an open-water location in the Gulf of Mexico [GM]. The bacterial nutr...

Sub-seasonal predictability of water scarcity at global and local scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wanders, N.; Wada, Y.; Wood, E. F.

2016-12-01

Forecasting the water demand and availability for agriculture and energy production has been neglected in previous research, partly due to the fact that most large-scale hydrological models lack the skill to forecast human water demands at sub-seasonal time scale. We study the potential of a sub-seasonal water scarcity forecasting system for improved water management decision making and improved estimates of water demand and availability. We have generated 32 years of global sub-seasonal multi-model water availability, demand and scarcity forecasts. The quality of the forecasts is compared to a reference forecast derived from resampling historic weather observations. The newly developed system has been evaluated for both the global scale and in a real-time local application in the Sacramento valley for the Trinity, Shasta and Oroville reservoirs, where the water demand for agriculture and hydropower is high. On the global scale we find that the reference forecast shows high initial forecast skill (up to 8 months) for water scarcity in the eastern US, Central Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Adding dynamical sub-seasonal forecasts results in a clear improvement for most regions in the world, increasing the forecasts' lead time by 2 or more months on average. The strongest improvements are found in the US, Brazil, Central Asia and Australia. For the Sacramento valley we can accurately predict anomalies in the reservoir inflow, hydropower potential and the downstream irrigation water demand 6 months in advance. This allow us to forecast potential water scarcity in the Sacramento valley and adjust the reservoir management to prevent deficits in energy or irrigation water availability. The newly developed forecast system shows that it is possible to reduce the vulnerability to upcoming water scarcity events and allows optimization of the distribution of the available water between the agricultural and energy sector half a year in advance.

Water reclamation from emulsified oily wastewater via effective forward osmosis hollow fiber membranes under the PRO mode.

PubMed

Han, Gang; de Wit, Jos S; Chung, Tai-Shung

2015-09-15

By using a novel hydrophilic cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) as the membrane material for the hollow fiber substrate and modifying its outer surface by polydopamine (PDA) coating and inner surface by interfacial polymerization, we have demonstrated that the thin-film composite (TFC) membranes can be effectively used for sustainable water reclamation from emulsified oil/water streams via forward osmosis (FO) under the pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) mode. The newly developed TFC-FO hollow fiber membrane shows characteristics of high water flux, outstanding salt and oil rejection, and low fouling propensity. Under the PRO mode, the newly developed TFC-FO membrane exhibits a water flux of 37.1 L m(-2) h(-1) with an oil rejection of 99.9% using a 2000 ppm soybean oil/water emulsion as the feed and 1 M NaCl as the draw solution. Remarkable anti-fouling behaviors have also been observed. Under the PRO mode, the water flux decline is only 10% of the initial value even after a 12 h test for oil/water separation. The water flux of the fouled membrane can be effectively restored to 97% of the original value by water rinses on the fiber outer surface without using any chemicals. Furthermore, the flux declines are only 25% and 52% when the water recovery of a 2000 ppm soybean oil/water emulsion and a 2000 ppm petroleum oil/water emulsion containing 0.04 M NaCl reaches 82%, respectively. This study may not only provide insightful guidelines for the fabrication of effective TFC-FO membranes with high performance and low fouling behaviors for oily wastewater under the PRO mode but also add an alternative perspective to the design of new materials for water purification purposes. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Numerical and in-situ investigations of water hammer effects in Drava river Kaplan turbine hydropower plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bergant, A.; Gregorc, B.; Gale, J.

2012-11-01

This paper deals with critical flow regimes that may induce unacceptable water hammer in Kaplan turbine hydropower plants. Water hammer analysis should be performed for normal, emergency and catastrophic operating conditions. Hydropower plants with Kaplan turbines are usually comprised of relatively short inlet and outlet conduits. The rigid water hammer theory can be used for this case. For hydropower plants with long penstocks the elastic water hammer should be used. Some Kaplan turbine units are installed in systems with long open channels. In this case, water level oscillations in the channels should be carefully investigated. Computational results are compared with results of measurements in recently rehabilitated seven Drava river hydroelectric power plants in Slovenia. Water hammer in the six power plants is controlled by appropriate adjustment of the wicket gates and runner blades closing/opening manoeuvres. Due to very long inflow and outflow open channels in Zlatoličje HPP a special vaned pressure regulating device attenuates extreme pressures in Kaplan turbine flow-passage system and controls unsteady flow in both open channels. Comparisons of results include normal operating regimes. The agreement between computed and measured results is reasonable.

Numerical study on the influence of boss cap fins on efficiency of controllable-pitch propeller

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiong, Ying; Wang, Zhanzhi; Qi, Wanjiang

2013-03-01

Numerical simulation is investigated to disclose how propeller boss cap fins (PBCF) operate utilizing Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) method. In addition, exploration of the influencing mechanism of PBCF on the open water efficiency of one controllable-pitch propeller is analyzed through the open water characteristic curves, blade surface pressure distribution and hub streamline distribution. On this basis, the influence of parameters including airfoil profile, diameter, axial position of installation and circumferential installation angle on the open water efficiency of the controllable-pitch propeller is investigated. Numerical results show: for the controllable-pitch propeller, the thrust generated is at the optimum when the radius of boss cap fins is 1.5 times of propeller hub with an optimal installation position in the axial direction, and its optimal circumferential installation position is the midpoint of the extension line of the front and back ends of two adjacent propeller roots in the front of fin root. Under these optimal parameters, the gain of open water efficiency of the controllable-pitch propeller with different advance velocity coefficients is greater than 0.01, which accounts for approximately an increase of 1%-5% of open water efficiency.

Bacterial communities associated with production facilities of two newly drilled thermogenic natural gas wells in the Barnett Shale (Texas, USA).

PubMed

Davis, James P; Struchtemeyer, Christopher G; Elshahed, Mostafa S

2012-11-01

We monitored the bacterial communities in the gas-water separator and water storage tank of two newly drilled natural gas wells in the Barnett Shale in north central Texas, using a 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing approach over a period of 6 months. Overall, the communities were composed mainly of moderately halophilic and halotolerant members of the phyla Firmicutes and Proteobacteria (classes Βeta-, Gamma-, and Epsilonproteobacteria) in both wells at all sampling times and locations. Many of the observed lineages were encountered in prior investigations of microbial communities from various fossil fluid formations and production facilities. In all of the samples, multiple H(2)S-producing lineages were encountered; belonging to the sulfate- and sulfur-reducing class Deltaproteobacteria, order Clostridiales, and phylum Synergistetes, as well as the thiosulfate-reducing order Halanaerobiales. The bacterial communities from the separator and tank samples bore little resemblance to the bacterial communities in the drilling mud and hydraulic-fracture waters that were used to drill these wells, suggesting the in situ development of the unique bacterial communities in such well components was in response to the prevalent geochemical conditions present. Conversely, comparison of the bacterial communities on temporal and spatial scales suggested the establishment of a core microbial community in each sampled location. The results provide the first overview of bacterial dynamics and colonization patterns in newly drilled, thermogenic natural gas wells and highlights patterns of spatial and temporal variability observed in bacterial communities in natural gas production facilities.

The newly expanded KSC Visitors Complex features a new ticket plaza, information center, exhibits an

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

At the grand opening of the newly expanded KSC Visitor Complex, Center Director Roy Bridges presents Deep Space Nine star Avery Brooks with a plaque, NASA jacket and hat. Brooks narrates the new film Quest for Life at the Visitor Center. Brooks was recognized for his contribution to advancing the public's understanding of NASA and the search for life elsewhere in the universe. The Complex now includes an International Space Station-themed ticket plaza, featuring a structure of overhanging solar panels and astronauts performing assembly tasks, a new foyer, films, and exhibits. The KSC Visitor Complex was inaugurated three decades ago and is now one of the top five tourist attractions in Florida. It is located on S.R. 407, east of I-95, within the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

The newly expanded KSC Visitors Complex features a new ticket plaza, information center, exhibits an

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1999-01-01

At the grand opening of the newly expanded KSC Visitor Complex, Center Director Roy Bridges presents Deep Space Nine star Avery Brooks with a plaque, recognizing his contribution to advancing the public's understanding of NASA and the search for life elsewhere in the universe. Brooks narrates the new film Quest for Life at the Visitor Center. The $ 13 million addition to the Visitor Complex now includes an International Space Station- themed ticket plaza, featuring a structure of overhanging solar panels and astronauts performing assembly tasks, a new information center, films, and exhibits. The KSC Visitor Complex was inaugurated three decades ago and is now one of the top five tourist attractions in Florida. It is located on S.R. 407, east of I-95, within the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Correlation electron cyclotron emission diagnostic and improved calculation of turbulent temperature fluctuation levels on ASDEX Upgrade

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Creely, A. J.; Freethy, S. J.; Burke, W. M.; Conway, G. D.; Leccacorvi, R.; Parkin, W. C.; Terry, D. R.; White, A. E.

2018-05-01

A newly upgraded correlation electron cyclotron emission (CECE) diagnostic has been installed on the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak and has begun to perform experimental measurements of electron temperature fluctuations. CECE diagnostics measure small amplitude electron temperature fluctuations by correlating closely spaced heterodyne radiometer channels. This upgrade expanded the system from six channels to thirty, allowing simultaneous measurement of fluctuation level radial profiles without repeat discharges, as well as opening up the possibility of measuring radial turbulent correlation lengths. Newly refined statistical techniques have been developed in order to accurately analyze the fluctuation data collected from the CECE system. This paper presents the hardware upgrades for this system and the analysis techniques used to interpret the raw data, as well as measurements of fluctuation spectra and fluctuation level radial profiles.

Water intake in domestic rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) from open dishes and nipple drinkers under different water and feeding regimes.

PubMed

Tschudin, A; Clauss, M; Codron, D; Liesegang, A; Hatt, J-M

2011-08-01

Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) are often presented suffering from urolithiasis. A high water intake is important in the prophylaxis of uroliths. We investigated the influence factors for water intake using 12 rabbits subjected to different feed and water regimes with practical relevance: Hay, fresh parsley, a seed mix and two different pelleted feed were offered in diverse combinations. Water was provided either by open dish or nipple drinker. Water was accessible ad libitum except for four treatments with 6 h or 12 h water access. Under the different feeding regimes, the drinker had no influence on water intake, but faecal dry matter content was significantly higher with nipple drinkers [60.0 ± 2.1 vs. 57.2 ± 2.1% of wet weight (mean ± 95% confidence interval), p = 0.003]. Dry food led to a higher drinking water intake but total water intake was still lower than with addition of 'fresh' food. With restricted water access, rabbits exhibited a significantly higher water intake with open dishes compared with nipple drinkers (54.9 ± 9.8 vs. 48.1 ± 8.2 g/kg(0.75) /day (mean ± 95% confidence interval), p = 0.04). High proportions of fresh parsley or hay in the diet enhanced total water intake and urine output, and led to lower urinary dry matter content and lower urinary calcium concentrations. Restricted access to drinkers led to a decreased total daily water intake and increased dry matter content of urine and faeces. For optimal water provision and urolith prophylaxis, we recommend a diet with a high 'fresh food' proportion as well as additionally hay ad libitum with free water access, offered in an open bowl. © 2010 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Uranyl mediated photofootprinting reveals strong E. coli RNA polymerase--DNA backbone contacts in the +10 region of the DeoP1 promoter open complex.

PubMed Central

Jeppesen, C; Nielsen, P E

1989-01-01

Employing a newly developed uranyl photofootprinting technique (Nielsen et al. (1988) FEBS Lett. 235, 122), we have analyzed the structure of the E. coli RNA polymerase deoP1 promoter open complex. The results show strong polymerase DNA backbone contacts in the -40, -10, and most notably in the +10 region. These results suggest that unwinding of the -12 to +3 region of the promoter in the open complex is mediated through polymerase DNA backbone contacts on both sides of this region. The pattern of bases that are hyperreactive towards KMnO4 or uranyl within the -12 to +3 region furthermore argues against a model in which this region is simply unwound and/or single stranded. The results indicate specific protein contacts and/or a fixed DNA conformation within the -12 to +3 region. Images PMID:2503811

Full open-framework batteries for stationary energy storage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pasta, Mauro; Wessells, Colin D.; Liu, Nian; Nelson, Johanna; McDowell, Matthew T.; Huggins, Robert A.; Toney, Michael F.; Cui, Yi

2014-01-01

New types of energy storage are needed in conjunction with the deployment of renewable energy sources and their integration with the electrical grid. We have recently introduced a family of cathodes involving the reversible insertion of cations into materials with the Prussian Blue open-framework crystal structure. Here we report a newly developed manganese hexacyanomanganate open-framework anode that has the same crystal structure. By combining it with the previously reported copper hexacyanoferrate cathode we demonstrate a safe, fast, inexpensive, long-cycle life aqueous electrolyte battery, which involves the insertion of sodium ions. This high rate, high efficiency cell shows a 96.7% round trip energy efficiency when cycled at a 5C rate and an 84.2% energy efficiency at a 50C rate. There is no measurable capacity loss after 1,000 deep-discharge cycles. Bulk quantities of the electrode materials can be produced by a room temperature chemical synthesis from earth-abundant precursors.

Efficient Sample Tracking With OpenLabFramework

PubMed Central

List, Markus; Schmidt, Steffen; Trojnar, Jakub; Thomas, Jochen; Thomassen, Mads; Kruse, Torben A.; Tan, Qihua; Baumbach, Jan; Mollenhauer, Jan

2014-01-01

The advance of new technologies in biomedical research has led to a dramatic growth in experimental throughput. Projects therefore steadily grow in size and involve a larger number of researchers. Spreadsheets traditionally used are thus no longer suitable for keeping track of the vast amounts of samples created and need to be replaced with state-of-the-art laboratory information management systems. Such systems have been developed in large numbers, but they are often limited to specific research domains and types of data. One domain so far neglected is the management of libraries of vector clones and genetically engineered cell lines. OpenLabFramework is a newly developed web-application for sample tracking, particularly laid out to fill this gap, but with an open architecture allowing it to be extended for other biological materials and functional data. Its sample tracking mechanism is fully customizable and aids productivity further through support for mobile devices and barcoded labels. PMID:24589879

Construction of Gallium Point at NMIJ

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Widiatmo, J. V.; Saito, I.; Yamazawa, K.

2017-03-01

Two open-type gallium point cells were fabricated using ingots whose nominal purities are 7N. Measurement systems for the realization of the melting point of gallium using these cells were built. The melting point of gallium is repeatedly realized by means of the measurement systems for evaluating the repeatability. Measurements for evaluating the effect of hydrostatic pressure coming from the molten gallium existing during the melting process and the effect of gas pressure that fills the cell were also performed. Direct cell comparisons between those cells were conducted. This comparison was aimed to evaluate the consistency of each cell, especially related to the nominal purity. Direct cell comparison between the open-type and the sealed-type gallium point cell was also conducted. Chemical analysis was conducted using samples extracted from ingots used in both the newly built open-type gallium point cells, from which the effect of impurities in the ingot was evaluated.

Full open-framework batteries for stationary energy storage.

PubMed

Pasta, Mauro; Wessells, Colin D; Liu, Nian; Nelson, Johanna; McDowell, Matthew T; Huggins, Robert A; Toney, Michael F; Cui, Yi

2014-01-01

New types of energy storage are needed in conjunction with the deployment of renewable energy sources and their integration with the electrical grid. We have recently introduced a family of cathodes involving the reversible insertion of cations into materials with the Prussian Blue open-framework crystal structure. Here we report a newly developed manganese hexacyanomanganate open-framework anode that has the same crystal structure. By combining it with the previously reported copper hexacyanoferrate cathode we demonstrate a safe, fast, inexpensive, long-cycle life aqueous electrolyte battery, which involves the insertion of sodium ions. This high rate, high efficiency cell shows a 96.7% round trip energy efficiency when cycled at a 5C rate and an 84.2% energy efficiency at a 50C rate. There is no measurable capacity loss after 1,000 deep-discharge cycles. Bulk quantities of the electrode materials can be produced by a room temperature chemical synthesis from earth-abundant precursors.

Precise oxygen and hydrogen isotope determination in nanoliter quantities of speleothem inclusion water by cavity ring-down spectroscopic techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uemura, Ryu; Nakamoto, Masashi; Asami, Ryuji; Mishima, Satoru; Gibo, Masakazu; Masaka, Kosuke; Jin-Ping, Chen; Wu, Chung-Che; Chang, Yu-Wei; Shen, Chuan-Chou

2016-01-01

Speleothem inclusion-water isotope compositions are a promising new climatic proxy, but their applicability is limited by their low content in water and by analytical challenges. We have developed a precise and accurate isotopic technique that is based on cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS). This method features a newly developed crushing apparatus, a refined sample extraction line, careful evaluation of the water/carbonate adsorption effect. After crushing chipped speleothem in a newly-developed crushing device, released inclusion water is purified and mixed with a limited amount of nitrogen gas in the extraction line for CRDS measurement. We have measured 50-260 nL of inclusion water from 77 to 286 mg of stalagmite deposits sampled from Gyokusen Cave, Okinawa Island, Japan. The small sample size requirement demonstrates that our analytical technique can offer high-resolution inclusion water-based paleoclimate reconstructions. The 1σ reproducibility for different stalagmites ranges from ±0.05 to 0.61‰ for δ18O and ±0.0 to 2.9‰ for δD. The δD vs. δ18O plot for inclusion water from modern stalagmites is consistent with the local meteoric water line. The 1000 ln α values based on calcite and fluid inclusion measurements from decades-old stalagmites are in agreement with the data from present-day farmed calcite experiment. Combination of coeval carbonate and fluid inclusion data suggests that past temperatures at 9-10 thousand years ago (ka) and 26 ka were 3.4 ± 0.7 °C and 8.2 ± 2.4 °C colder than at present, respectively.

Accurate mass screening and identification of emerging contaminants in environmental samples by liquid chromatography-hybrid linear ion trap Orbitrap mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Hogenboom, A C; van Leerdam, J A; de Voogt, P

2009-01-16

The European Reach legislation will possibly drive producers to develop newly designed chemicals that will be less persistent, bioaccumulative or toxic. If this innovation leads to an increased use of more hydrophilic chemicals it may result in higher mobilities of chemicals in the aqueous environment. As a result, the drinking water companies may face stronger demands on removal processes as the hydrophilic compounds inherently are more difficult to remove. Monitoring efforts will also experience a shift in focus to more water-soluble compounds. Screening source waters on the presence of (emerging) contaminants is an essential step in the control of the water cycle from source to tap water. In this article, some of our experiences are presented with the hybrid linear ion trap (LTQ) FT Orbitrap mass spectrometer, in the area of chemical water analysis. A two-pronged strategy in mass spectrometric research was employed: (i) exploring effluent, surface, ground- and drinking-water samples searching for accurate masses corresponding to target compounds (and their product ions) known from, e.g. priority lists or the scientific literature and (ii) full-scan screening of water samples in search of 'unknown' or unexpected masses, followed by MS(n) experiments to elucidate the structure of the unknowns. Applications of both approaches to emerging water contaminants are presented and discussed. Results are presented for target analysis search for pharmaceuticals, benzotriazoles, illicit drugs and for the identification of unknown compounds in a groundwater sample and in a polar extract of a landfill soil sample (a toxicity identification evaluation bioassay sample). The applications of accurate mass screening and identification described in this article demonstrate that the LC-LTQ FT Orbitrap MS is well equipped to meet the challenges posed by newly emerging polar contaminants.

Identification and characterization of ten new water gaps in seeds and fruits with physical dormancy and classification of water-gap complexes

PubMed Central

Gama-Arachchige, N. S.; Baskin, J. M.; Geneve, R. L.; Baskin, C. C.

2013-01-01

Background and Aims Physical dormancy (PY) occurs in seeds or fruits of 18 angiosperm families and is caused by a water-impermeable palisade cell layer(s) in seed or fruit coats. Prior to germination, the seed or fruit coat of species with PY must become permeable in order to imbibe water. Breaking of PY involves formation of a small opening(s) (water gap) in a morpho-anatomically specialized area in seeds or fruits known as the water-gap complex. Twelve different water-gap regions in seven families have previously been characterized. However, the water-gap regions had not been characterized in Cucurbitaceae; clade Cladrastis of Fabaceae; subfamilies Bombacoideae, Brownlowioideae and Bythnerioideae of Malvaceae; Nelumbonaceae; subfamily Sapindoideae of Sapindaceae; Rhamnaceae; or Surianaceae. The primary aims of this study were to identify and describe the water gaps of these taxa and to classify all the known water-gap regions based on their morpho-anatomical features. Methods Physical dormancy in 15 species was broken by exposing seeds or fruits to wet or dry heat under laboratory conditions. Water-gap regions of fruits and seeds were identified and characterized by use of microtome sectioning, light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, dye tracking and blocking experiments. Key Results Ten new water-gap regions were identified in seven different families, and two previously hypothesized regions were confirmed. Water-gap complexes consist of (1) an opening that forms after PY is broken; (2) a specialized structure that occludes the gap; and (3) associated specialized tissues. In some species, more than one opening is involved in the initial imbibition of water. Conclusions Based on morpho-anatomical features, three basic water-gap complexes (Types-I, -II and -III) were identified in species with PY in 16 families. Depending on the number of openings involved in initial imbibition, the water-gap complexes were sub-divided into simple and compound. The proposed classification system enables understanding of the relationships between the water-gap complexes of taxonomically unrelated species with PY. PMID:23649182

Quartz crystal microbalance sensor using ionophore for ammonium ion detection.

PubMed

Kosaki, Yasuhiro; Takano, Kosuke; Citterio, Daniel; Suzuki, Koji; Shiratori, Seimei

2012-01-01

Ionophore-based quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) ammonium ion sensors with a detection limit for ammonium ion concentrations as low as 2.2 microM were fabricated. Ionophores are molecules, which selectively bind a particular ion. In this study, one of the known ionophores for ammonium, nonactin, was used to detect ammonium ions for environmental in-situ monitoring of aquarium water for the first time. To fabricate the sensing films, poly(vinyl chloride) was used as the matrix for the immobilization of nonactin. Furthermore, the anionic additive, tetrakis (4-chlorophenyl) borate potassium salt and the plasticizer dioctyl sebacate were used to enhance the sensor properties. The sensor allowed detecting ammonium ions not only in static solution, but also in flowing water. The sensor showed a nearly linear response with the increase of the ammonium ion concentration. The QCM resonance frequency increased with the increase of ammonium ion concentration, suggesting a decreasing weight of the sensing film. The detailed response mechanism could not be verified yet. However, from the results obtained when using a different plasticizer, nitrophenyl octyl ether, it is considered that this effect is caused by the release of water molecules. Consequently, the newly fabricated sensor detects ammonium ions by discharge of water. It shows high selectivity over potassium and sodium ions. We conclude that the newly fabricated sensor can be applied for detecting ammonium ions in aquarium water, since it allows measuring low ammonium ion concentrations. This sensor will be usable for water quality monitoring and controlling.

Differently Aged Terrain

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-07-09

NASA Cassini spacecraft examines old and new terrain on Saturn fascinating Enceladus, a moon where jets of water ice particles and vapor spew from the south pole. Newly created terrain is at the bottom, in the center and on the left of this view.

Maintenance costs of serotiny in a variably serotinous pine: The role of water supply.

PubMed

Martín-Sanz, Ruth C; Callejas-Díaz, Marta; Tonnabel, Jeanne; Climent, José M

2017-01-01

Serotiny is an important adaptation for plants in fire-prone environments. However, different mechanisms also induce the opening of serotinous cones in the absence of fire in variably serotinous species. Xeriscence -cone opening driven by dry and hot conditions- is considered to be mediated only by the external environment, but endogenous factors could also play a significant role. Using the variably serotinous Pinus halepensis as our model species, we determined the effects of cone age and scales density in cone opening, and using in-situ and ex-situ manipulative experiments we investigated the role of water availability in the opening of serotinous cones. We hypothesized that loss of connection between the cones and the branch through the peduncles or the absence of water supply could induce a faster cone opening. Results showed that older cones lost more water and opened at lower temperatures, with no influence of scales density. Both field and chamber manipulative experiments (using paired cones of the same whorl) confirmed that water intake through the peduncles affected significantly the pace of cone opening, such that lack of water supply speeded up cone dehiscence. However, this was true for weakly serotinous provenances-more common in this species-, while highly serotinous provenances were indifferent to this effect in the field test. All our results support that cone serotiny in P. halepensis involves the allocation of water to the cones, which is highly consistent with the previously observed environmental effects. Importantly, the existence of maintenance costs of serotinous cones has strong implications on the effects of climate change in the resilience of natural populations, via modifications of the canopy seed banks and recruitment after stand-replacing fires. Moreover, evolutionary models for serotiny in P. halepensis must take into account the significant contribution of maintenance costs to the complex interaction between genotype and the environment.

Irrigation solutions in open fractures of the lower extremities: evaluation of isotonic saline and distilled water.

PubMed

Olufemi, Olukemi Temiloluwa; Adeyeye, Adeolu Ikechukwu

2017-01-01

Open fractures are widely considered as orthopaedic emergencies requiring immediate intervention. The initial management of these injuries usually affects the ultimate outcome because open fractures may be associated with significant morbidity. Wound irrigation forms one of the pivotal principles in the treatment of open fractures. The choice of irrigation fluid has since been a source of debate. This study aimed to evaluate and compare the effects of isotonic saline and distilled water as irrigation solutions in the management of open fractures of the lower extremities. Wound infection and wound healing rates using both solutions were evaluated. This was a prospective hospital-based study of 109 patients who presented to the Accident and Emergency department with open lower limb fractures. Approval was sought and obtained from the Ethics Committee of the Hospital. Patients were randomized into either the isotonic saline (NS) or the distilled water (DW) group using a simple ballot technique. Twelve patients were lost to follow-up, while 97 patients were available until conclusion of the study. There were 50 patients in the isotonic saline group and 47 patients in the distilled water group. Forty-one (42.3%) of the patients were in the young and economically productive strata of the population. There was a male preponderance with a 1.7:1 male-to-female ratio. The wound infection rate was 34% in the distilled water group and 44% in the isotonic saline group (p = 0.315). The mean time ± SD to wound healing was 2.7 ± 1.5 weeks in the distilled water group and 3.1 ± 1.8 weeks in the isotonic saline group (p = 0.389). It was concluded from this study that the use of distilled water compares favourably with isotonic saline as an irrigation solution in open fractures of the lower extremities. © The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2017.

Microbial cycling of mercury in contaminated pelagic and wetland sediments of San Pablo Bay, California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Marvin-DiPasquale, M. C.; Agee, J.L.; Bouse, R.M.; Jaffe, B.E.

2003-01-01

San Pablo Bay is an estuary, within northern San Francisco Bay, containing elevated sediment mercury (Hg) levels because of historic loading of hydraulic mining debris during the California gold-rush of the late 1800s. A preliminary investigation of benthic microbial Hg cycling was conducted in surface sediment (0-4 cm) collected from one salt-marsh and three open-water sites. A deeper profile (0-26 cm) was evaluated at one of the open-water locations. Radiolabeled model Hg-compounds were used to measure rates of both methylmercury (MeHg) production and degradation by bacteria. While all sites and depths had similar total-Hg concentrations (0.3-0.6 ppm), and geochemical signatures of mining debris (as eNd, range: -3.08 to -4.37), in-situ MeHg was highest in the marsh (5.4??3.5 ppb) and ??? 0.7 ppb in all open-water sites. Microbial MeHg production (potential rate) in 0-4 surface sediments was also highest in the marsh (3.1 ng g-1 wet sediment day-1) and below detection (<0.06 ng g-1 wet sediment day-1) in open-water locations. The marsh exhibited a methylation/demethylation (M/D) ratio more than 25x that of all open-water locations. Only below the surface 0-4-cm horizon was significant MeHg production potential evident in the open-water sediment profile (0.2-1.1 ng g-1 wet sediment day-1). In-situ Hg methylation rates, calculated from radiotracer rate constants, and in-situ inorganic Hg(II) concentrations compared well with potential rates. However, similarly calculated in-situ rates of MeHg degradation were much lower than potential rates. These preliminary data indicate that wetlands surrounding San Pablo Bay represent important zones of MeHg production, more so than similarly Hg-contaminated adjacent open-water areas. This has significant implications for this and other Hg-impacted systems, where wetland expansion is currently planned.

Catalogue of Icelandic Volcanoes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ilyinskaya, Evgenia; Larsen, Gudrun; Gudmundsson, Magnus T.; Vogfjord, Kristin; Pagneux, Emmanuel; Oddsson, Bjorn; Barsotti, Sara; Karlsdottir, Sigrun

2016-04-01

The Catalogue of Icelandic Volcanoes is a newly developed open-access web resource in English intended to serve as an official source of information about active volcanoes in Iceland and their characteristics. The Catalogue forms a part of an integrated volcanic risk assessment project in Iceland GOSVÁ (commenced in 2012), as well as being part of the effort of FUTUREVOLC (2012-2016) on establishing an Icelandic volcano supersite. Volcanic activity in Iceland occurs on volcanic systems that usually comprise a central volcano and fissure swarm. Over 30 systems have been active during the Holocene (the time since the end of the last glaciation - approximately the last 11,500 years). In the last 50 years, over 20 eruptions have occurred in Iceland displaying very varied activity in terms of eruption styles, eruptive environments, eruptive products and the distribution lava and tephra. Although basaltic eruptions are most common, the majority of eruptions are explosive, not the least due to magma-water interaction in ice-covered volcanoes. Extensive research has taken place on Icelandic volcanism, and the results reported in numerous scientific papers and other publications. In 2010, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) funded a 3 year project to collate the current state of knowledge and create a comprehensive catalogue readily available to decision makers, stakeholders and the general public. The work on the Catalogue began in 2011, and was then further supported by the Icelandic government and the EU through the FP7 project FUTUREVOLC. The Catalogue of Icelandic Volcanoes is a collaboration of the Icelandic Meteorological Office (the state volcano observatory), the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland, and the Civil Protection Department of the National Commissioner of the Iceland Police, with contributions from a large number of specialists in Iceland and elsewhere. The Catalogue is built up of chapters with texts and various mapped information for each of the 32 volcanic systems. The contributions can be classified into three types: 1. Text and other material (including maps and tephra grain size data) on geological aspects and eruption history. This constitutes the bulk of the information presented in the catalogue. 2. Sub-chapters on current alert level and activity status for each volcanic system, updated automatically with information from the IMO monitoring network. 3. Sub-chapters on eruption scenarios, based on the eruption history. We will showcase the newly opened Catalogue web resource at EGU 2016.

Planetary-scale surface water detection from space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Donchyts, G.; Baart, F.; Winsemius, H.; Gorelick, N.

2017-12-01

Accurate, efficient and high-resolution methods of surface water detection are needed for a better water management. Datasets on surface water extent and dynamics are crucial for a better understanding of natural and human-made processes, and as an input data for hydrological and hydraulic models. In spite of considerable progress in the harmonization of freely available satellite data, producing accurate and efficient higher-level surface water data products remains very challenging. This presentation will provide an overview of existing methods for surface water extent and change detection from multitemporal and multi-sensor satellite imagery. An algorithm to detect surface water changes from multi-temporal satellite imagery will be demonstrated as well as its open-source implementation (http://aqua-monitor.deltares.nl). This algorithm was used to estimate global surface water changes at high spatial resolution. These changes include climate change, land reclamation, reservoir construction/decommissioning, erosion/accretion, and many other. This presentation will demonstrate how open satellite data and open platforms such as Google Earth Engine have helped with this research.

The effect of aggregation on visibility in open water

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Aggregation is a common life-history trait in open-water taxa. Qualitative understanding of how aggregation by prey influences their encounter rates with predators is critical for understanding pelagic predator–prey interactions and trophic webs. We extend a recently developed theory on underwater visibility to predict the consequences of grouping in open-water species in terms of increased visual detection of groups by predators. Our model suggests that enhanced visibility will be relatively modest, with maximum detection distance typically only doubling for a 100-fold increase in the number of prey in a group. This result suggests that although larger groups are more easily detected, this cost to aggregation will in many cases be dominated by benefits, especially through risk dilution in situations where predators cannot consume all members of a discovered group. This, in turn, helps to explain the ubiquity of grouping across a great variety of open-water taxa. PMID:27655767

The Paleoceanography of the Bering Sea During the Last Glacial Cycle

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-02-01

Stabeno, 1998). Water from the Bering (1995) inferred that the oxygen minimum zone Sea is relatively low salinity and rich in nutrients, (OMZ...fresher, warmer, and enriched in nutrients, particu- planktonic species Neogloboquadrina pachyderma larly silicate, which dissolves from opal- rich seafloor...2- rich 33 North Pacific intermediate water (NPIW), (2) decrease in the [02] of newly-formed NPIW without a change in ventilation rate (Crusius et al

[Predicting the probability of development and progression of primary open angle glaucoma by regression modeling].

PubMed

Likhvantseva, V G; Sokolov, V A; Levanova, O N; Kovelenova, I V

2018-01-01

Prediction of the clinical course of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) is one of the main directions in solving the problem of vision loss prevention and stabilization of the pathological process. Simple statistical methods of correlation analysis show the extent of each risk factor's impact, but do not indicate the total impact of these factors in personalized combinations. The relationships between the risk factors is subject to correlation and regression analysis. The regression equation represents the dependence of the mathematical expectation of the resulting sign on the combination of factor signs. To develop a technique for predicting the probability of development and progression of primary open-angle glaucoma based on a personalized combination of risk factors by linear multivariate regression analysis. The study included 66 patients (23 female and 43 male; 132 eyes) with newly diagnosed primary open-angle glaucoma. The control group consisted of 14 patients (8 male and 6 female). Standard ophthalmic examination was supplemented with biochemical study of lacrimal fluid. Concentration of matrix metalloproteinase MMP-2 and MMP-9 in tear fluid in both eyes was determined using 'sandwich' enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. The study resulted in the development of regression equations and step-by-step multivariate logistic models that can help calculate the risk of development and progression of POAG. Those models are based on expert evaluation of clinical and instrumental indicators of hydrodynamic disturbances (coefficient of outflow ease - C, volume of intraocular fluid secretion - F, fluctuation of intraocular pressure), as well as personalized morphometric parameters of the retina (central retinal thickness in the macular area) and concentration of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in the tear film. The newly developed regression equations are highly informative and can be a reliable tool for studying of the influence vector and assessment of pathogenic potential of the independent risk factors in specific personalized combinations.

Addressing Open Water Data Challenges in the Bureau of Reclamation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brekke, L. D.; Danner, A.; Nagode, J.; Rocha, J.; Poulton, S.; Anderson, A.

2017-12-01

The Bureau of Reclamation is largest wholesaler of water in the United States. Located in the 17 western states, Reclamation serves water to 31 million people, provides irrigated water to 20 percent of Western farmers, and is the second largest producer of hydroelectric power in the United States. Through these activities, Reclamation generates large amounts of water and water-related data, describing reservoirs and river system conditions, hydropower, environmental compliance activities, infrastructure assets, and other aspects of Reclamation's mission activities. Reclamation aims to make water and water-related data sets more easily found, accessed, and used in decision-making activities in order to benefit the public, private sector, and research communities. Historically, there has not been an integrated, bureau-wide system to store data in machine-readable formats; nor a system to permit centralized browsing, open access, and web-services. Reclamation began addressing these limitations by developing the Reclamation Water Information System (RWIS), released in Spring 2017 (https://water.usbr.gov/). A bureau-wide team contributed to RWIS development, including water data stewards, database administrators, and information technology (IT) specialists. The first RWIS release publishes reservoir time series data from Reclamation's five regions and includes a map interface for sites identification, a query interface for data discovery and access, and web-services for automated retrieval. As RWIS enhancement continues, the development team is developing a companion system - the Reclamation Information Sharing Environment (RISE) - to provide access to the other data subjects and types (geospatial, documents). While RWIS and RISE are promising starts, Reclamation continues to face challenges in addressing open water data goals: making data consolidation and open publishing a value-added activity for programs that publish data locally, going beyond providing open access to also providing decision-support, and scaling up IT solutions for future success - where Reclamation programs increasingly elect to more and more data through RWIS/RISE, thereby creating a big data challenge. This presentation will highlight activities status, lessons learned, and future directions.

The Eugen Seibold coral mounds offshore western Morocco: oceanographic and bathymetric steering of a newly discovered cold-water coral province

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glogowski, Silke; Dullo, Christian; Flögel, Sascha; Feldens, Peter; Hühnerbach, Veit; von Reumont, Jonas; Krastel, Sebastian; Wynn, Russ B.; Liebetrau, Volker

2015-04-01

This study presents new seafloor bathymetric and sidescan sonar data identifying a previously unknown cold-water coral (CWC) province on the Atlantic margin off western Morocco (ca. 31° N). Applying the concept of seawater density as a predictive tool for living CWC reef occurrence during research cruise 32 aboard RV Maria S. Merian in October 2013 CTD casts revealed potential sites. Direct sampling retrieved living coral patches within an extensive field of carbonate mounds, covering an area of ~410 km2 on the upper slope ~40 nautical miles north of Agadir Canyon. Individual mounds are up to 12 m high and are mainly composed of dead cold-water corals Lophelia pertusa thickets at present-day water depths of 678-863 m. Living CWCs represent only a thin veneer and were sampled by box coring in the shallower parts of the mound field between 678 and 719 m. CTD measurements in these shallower areas revealed that the occurrence of these living CWC reefs coincides with the deeper part of the North Atlantic Central Water (NACW) mass exhibiting conservative temperatures Φ of 9.78-9.94° C, absolute salinity SA of 35.632 g/kg, and a sea water density σΦ of 27.31-27.33 kg/m3). This is in good agreement with observations from the Renard Ridge (35° N, Gulf of Cadiz) to the north and sites off Mauretania (17° N-18° N) to the south, 'with the exception of sparse live corals in the latter region, the CWC reefs of both regions consist of a dead fabric in the deeper layer of the NACW slightly above the Mediterranean Outflow Water. The bathymetric and oceanographic settings of this newly discovered CWC site, with its thin veneer of living corals and much larger accumulations of coral rubble, are consistent with published evidence that, over the past three glacial-interglacial cycles, active CWC reef growth south of 50° N was more favourable during glacial times (possibly up to the very early Holocene) in this sector of the northeast Atlantic Ocean. The newly discovered province is here named the Eugen Seibold coral mounds in honour of the pioneering marine geologist Eugen Seibold (1918-2013).

33 CFR 100.1304 - Annual Seattle Yacht Club's “Opening Day” Marine Parade.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Annual Seattle Yacht Club's âOpening Dayâ Marine Parade. 100.1304 Section 100.1304 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY REGATTAS AND MARINE PARADES SAFETY OF LIFE ON NAVIGABLE WATERS § 100.1304...

Wintertime dynamics in the coastal northeastern Adriatic Sea: the NAdEx 2015 experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vilibić, Ivica; Mihanović, Hrvoje; Janeković, Ivica; Denamiel, Cléa; Poulain, Pierre-Marie; Orlić, Mirko; Dunić, Natalija; Dadić, Vlado; Pasarić, Mira; Muslim, Stipe; Gerin, Riccardo; Matić, Frano; Šepić, Jadranka; Mauri, Elena; Kokkini, Zoi; Tudor, Martina; Kovač, Žarko; Džoić, Tomislav

2018-03-01

The paper investigates the wintertime dynamics of the coastal northeastern Adriatic Sea and is based on numerical modelling and in situ data collected through field campaigns executed during the winter and spring of 2015. The data were collected with a variety of instruments and platforms (acoustic Doppler current profilers, conductivity-temperature-depth probes, glider, profiling float) and are accompanied by the atmosphere-ocean ALADIN/ROMS modelling system. The research focused on the dense-water formation (DWF), thermal changes, circulation, and water exchange between the coastal and open Adriatic. According to both observations and modelling results, dense waters are formed in the northeastern coastal Adriatic during cold bora outbreaks. However, the dense water formed in this coastal region has lower densities than the dense water formed in the open Adriatic due to lower salinities. Since the coastal area is deeper than the open Adriatic, the observations indicate (i) balanced inward-outward exchange at the deep connecting channels of denser waters coming from the open Adriatic DWF site and less-dense waters coming from the coastal region and (ii) outward flow of less-dense waters dominating in the intermediate and surface layers. The latter phenomenon was confirmed by the model, even if it significantly underestimates the currents and transports in the connecting channels. The median residence time of the coastal area is estimated to be approximately 20 days, indicating that the coastal area may be renewed relatively quickly by the open Adriatic waters. The data that were obtained represent a comprehensive marine dataset that can be used to calibrate atmospheric and oceanic numerical models and point to several interesting phenomena to be investigated in the future.

Interference effect as resonance killer of newly observed charmoniumlike states Y(4320) and Y(4390)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Dian-Yong; Liu, Xiang; Matsuki, Takayuki

2018-02-01

In this letter, we decode the newly observed charmoniumlike states, Y(4320) and Y(4390), by introducing interference effect between ψ (4160) and ψ (4415), which plays a role of resonance killer for Y(4320) and Y(4390). It means that two newly reported charmoniumlike states are not genuine resonances, according to which we can naturally explain why two well-established charmonia ψ (4160) and ψ (4415) are missing in the cross sections of e^+e^- → π ^+ π ^- J/ψ and π ^+ π ^- h_c simultaneously. To well describe the detailed data of these cross sections around √{s}=4.2 GeV, our study further illustrates that a charmoniumlike structure Y(4220) must be introduced. As a charmonium, Y(4220) should dominantly decay into its open-charm channel e^+e^- → D^0 π ^+ D^{*-}, which provides an extra support to ψ (4S) assignment to Y(4220). In fact, this interference effect introduced to explain Y(4320) and Y(4390) gives a typical example of non-resonant explanations to the observed XYZ states, which should be paid more attention especially before identifying the observed XYZ states as genuine resonances.

Combination of forward osmosis (FO) process with coagulation/flocculation (CF) for potential treatment of textile wastewater.

PubMed

Han, Gang; Liang, Can-Zeng; Chung, Tai-Shung; Weber, Martin; Staudt, Claudia; Maletzko, Christian

2016-03-15

A novel combination of forward osmosis (FO) process with coagulation/flocculation (CF) (FO-CF) has been experimentally conceived for the treatment and reuse of textile wastewater. FO is employed to spontaneously recover water from the wastewater via osmosis and thus effectively reduces its volume with a dramatically enhanced dye concentration. CF is then applied to precipitate and remove dyes from the FO concentrated stream with much improved efficiency and reduced chemical dosage. The FO-CF hybrid system exhibits unique advantages of high water flux and recovery rate, well controlled membrane fouling, high efficiency, and minimal environmental impact. Using a lab-made thin-film composite (TFC) FO membrane, an initial water flux (Jw) of 36.0 L m(-2) h(-1) with a dye rejection of 99.9% has been demonstrated by using 2 M NaCl as the draw solution and synthetic textile wastewater containing multiple textile dyes, inorganic salts and organic additives as the feed under the FO mode. The Jw could be maintained at a high value of 12.0 L m(-2) h(-1) even when the recovery rate of the wastewater reaches 90%. Remarkable reverse fouling behavior has also been observed where the Jw of the fouled membrane can be almost fully restored to the initial value by physical flushing without using any chemicals. Due to the great dye concentration in the FO concentrated wastewater stream, the CF process could achieve more than 95% dye removal with a small dosage of coagulants and flocculants at 500-1000 ppm. The newly developed FO-CF hybrid process may open up new exploration of alternative technologies for the effective treatment and reuse of textile effluents. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The water-filled versus air-filled status of vessels cut open in air: the 'Scholander assumption' revisited

Treesearch

M.T. Tyree; H. Cochard; P. Cruziat

2003-01-01

When petioles of transpiring leaves are cut in the air, according to the 'Scholander assumption', the vessels cut open should fill with air as the water is drained away by continued transpiration, The distribution of air-filled vessels versus distance from the cut surface should match the distribution of lengths of 'open vessels', i.e. vessels cut...

18 CFR 1301.65 - Derivative classification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... classification. 1301.65 Section 1301.65 Conservation of Power and Water Resources TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY PROCEDURES Protection of National Security Classified Information § 1301.65 Derivative classification. (a) In... classified, and the marking of newly developed material consistent with the classification markings that...

18 CFR 1301.65 - Derivative classification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... classification. 1301.65 Section 1301.65 Conservation of Power and Water Resources TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY PROCEDURES Protection of National Security Classified Information § 1301.65 Derivative classification. (a) In... classified, and the marking of newly developed material consistent with the classification markings that...

18 CFR 1301.65 - Derivative classification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... classification. 1301.65 Section 1301.65 Conservation of Power and Water Resources TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY PROCEDURES Protection of National Security Classified Information § 1301.65 Derivative classification. (a) In... classified, and the marking of newly developed material consistent with the classification markings that...

Neotropical peatland methane emissions along a vegetation and biogeochemical gradient

PubMed Central

Flanagan, Neal; Richardson, Curtis J.

2017-01-01

Tropical wetlands are thought to be the most important source of interannual variability in atmospheric methane (CH4) concentrations, yet sparse data prevents them from being incorporated into Earth system models. This problem is particularly pronounced in the neotropics where bottom-up models based on water table depth are incongruent with top-down inversion models suggesting unaccounted sinks or sources of CH4. The newly documented vast areas of peatlands in the Amazon basin may account for an important unrecognized CH4 source, but the hydrologic and biogeochemical controls of CH4 dynamics from these systems remain poorly understood. We studied three zones of a peatland in Madre de Dios, Peru, to test whether CH4 emissions and pore water concentrations varied with vegetation community, soil chemistry and proximity to groundwater sources. We found that the open-canopy herbaceous zone emitted roughly one-third as much CH4 as the Mauritia flexuosa palm-dominated areas (4.7 ± 0.9 and 14.0 ± 2.4 mg CH4 m-2 h-1, respectively). Emissions decreased with distance from groundwater discharge across the three sampling sites, and tracked changes in soil carbon chemistry, especially increased soil phenolics. Based on all available data, we calculate that neotropical peatlands contribute emissions of 43 ± 11.9 Tg CH4 y-1, however this estimate is subject to geographic bias and will need revision once additional studies are published. PMID:29053738

Hydroxyl functionalized polytriazole-co-polyoxadiazole as substrates for forward osmosis membranes.

PubMed

Duong, Phuoc H H; Chisca, Stefan; Hong, Pei-Ying; Cheng, Hong; Nunes, Suzana P; Chung, Tai-Shung

2015-02-25

Hydroxyl functionalized polytriazole-co-polyoxadiazole (PTA-POD) copolymers have been synthesized and cast as promising highly thermally stable, chemically resistant, and antiorganic/biological fouling porous substrates for the fabrication of thin-film composite (TFC) forward osmosis (FO) membranes. The roles of PTA/POD ratios in the membrane substrates, TFC layers, and FO membrane performance have been investigated. This study demonstrates that the substrate fabricated from the copolymer containing 40 mol % PTA is optimal for the TFC membranes. Compared to the POD-TFC membrane, the 40 mol % PTA-TFC membrane exhibits a remarkable decrease in structural parameter (S) of more than 3.3 times. In addition, the 40 mol % PTA-TFC membrane is characterized by high water fluxes of 24.9 LMH and 47.2 LMH using 1 M NaCl as the draw solution and DI water as the feed under FO and pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) modes, respectively. Compared to a polysulfone (PSU) supported TFC-FO membrane under similar fabrication conditions, the 40% mol PTA-TFC membrane shows better FO performance and enhanced antifouling properties on the support (lower protein binding propensity and improved bacterial inhibition). Moreover, the performance of the 40 mol % PTA supported TFC-FO membrane can be improved to 37.5 LMH (FO mode)/78.4 LMH (PRO mode) and potentially higher by optimizing the support morphology, the TFC formation, and the post-treatment process. Hence, the use of newly developed hydroxyl functionalized polytriazole-co-polyoxadiazole copolymers may open up a new class of material for FO processes.

Bacterial Standing Stock, Activity, and Carbon Production during Formation and Growth of Sea Ice in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica.

PubMed

Grossmann, S; Dieckmann, G S

1994-08-01

Bacterial response to formation and growth of sea ice was investigated during autumn in the northeastern Weddell Sea. Changes in standing stock, activity, and carbon production of bacteria were determined in successive stages of ice development. During initial ice formation, concentrations of bacterial cells, in the order of 1 x 10 to 3 x 10 liter, were not enhanced within the ice matrix. This suggests that physical enrichment of bacteria by ice crystals is not effective. Due to low concentrations of phytoplankton in the water column during freezing, incorporation of bacteria into newly formed ice via attachment to algal cells or aggregates was not recorded in this study. As soon as the ice had formed, the general metabolic activity of bacterial populations was strongly suppressed. Furthermore, the ratio of [H]leucine incorporation into proteins to [H]thymidine incorporation into DNA changed during ice growth. In thick pack ice, bacterial activity recovered and growth rates up to 0.6 day indicated actively dividing populations. However, biomass-specific utilization of organic compounds remained lower than in open water. Bacterial concentrations of up to 2.8 x 10 cells liter along with considerably enlarged cell volumes accumulated within thick pack ice, suggesting reduced mortality rates of bacteria within the small brine pores. In the course of ice development, bacterial carbon production increased from about 0.01 to 0.4 mug of C liter h. In thick ice, bacterial secondary production exceeded primary production of microalgae.

JPRS Report China

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-02-12

military support for the Nicaraguan antigovernment (Contra) forces, generating hope that the " fast knot" in U.S.-Nicaraguan relations can be untied...outpaced the public portion. There is no need to worry no matter how much faster it is growing. What we must be concerned with is not how fast it is...nonferrous metals were smaller. Some that only had a few days of production capacity worked intermittently . Some of the larger, newly opened enterprises

Adaptive and maladaptive responses in skin: mild heat exposure protects against UVB-induced photoaging in mice.

PubMed

Haarmann-Stemmann, Thomas; Boege, Fritz; Krutmann, Jean

2013-04-01

In this issue, Matsuda et al. demonstrate the protective effect of mild heat preconditioning on UVB-induced photoaging in SKH-1 hairless mice. Mild heat exposure stimulates the upregulation of HSP70 chaperones, which inhibit the activities of matrix-degenerating enzymes, thereby avoiding wrinkle formation. This newly identified heat-mediated process of adaptation to UVB radiation exposure opens new opportunities to slow extrinsic skin aging.

Solar Water Splitting Utilizing a SiC Photocathode, a BiVO4 Photoanode, and a Perovskite Solar Cell.

PubMed

Iwase, Akihide; Kudo, Akihiko; Numata, Youhei; Ikegami, Masashi; Miyasaka, Tsutomu; Ichikawa, Naoto; Kato, Masashi; Hashimoto, Hideki; Inoue, Haruo; Ishitani, Osamu; Tamiaki, Hitoshi

2017-11-23

We have successfully demonstrated solar water splitting using a newly fabricated photoelectrochemical system with a Pt-loaded SiC photocathode, a CoO x -loaded BiVO 4 photoanode, and a perovskite solar cell. Detection of the evolved H 2 and O 2 with a 100 % Faradaic efficiency indicates that the observed photocurrent was used for water splitting. The solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiency was 0.55 % under no additional bias conditions. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Method and Excel VBA Algorithm for Modeling Master Recession Curve Using Trigonometry Approach.

PubMed

Posavec, Kristijan; Giacopetti, Marco; Materazzi, Marco; Birk, Steffen

2017-11-01

A new method was developed and implemented into an Excel Visual Basic for Applications (VBAs) algorithm utilizing trigonometry laws in an innovative way to overlap recession segments of time series and create master recession curves (MRCs). Based on a trigonometry approach, the algorithm horizontally translates succeeding recession segments of time series, placing their vertex, that is, the highest recorded value of each recession segment, directly onto the appropriate connection line defined by measurement points of a preceding recession segment. The new method and algorithm continues the development of methods and algorithms for the generation of MRC, where the first published method was based on a multiple linear/nonlinear regression model approach (Posavec et al. 2006). The newly developed trigonometry-based method was tested on real case study examples and compared with the previously published multiple linear/nonlinear regression model-based method. The results show that in some cases, that is, for some time series, the trigonometry-based method creates narrower overlaps of the recession segments, resulting in higher coefficients of determination R 2 , while in other cases the multiple linear/nonlinear regression model-based method remains superior. The Excel VBA algorithm for modeling MRC using the trigonometry approach is implemented into a spreadsheet tool (MRCTools v3.0 written by and available from Kristijan Posavec, Zagreb, Croatia) containing the previously published VBA algorithms for MRC generation and separation. All algorithms within the MRCTools v3.0 are open access and available free of charge, supporting the idea of running science on available, open, and free of charge software. © 2017, National Ground Water Association.

Vegetation and the importance of insecticide-treated target siting for control of Glossina fuscipes fuscipes.

PubMed

Esterhuizen, Johan; Njiru, Basilio; Vale, Glyn A; Lehane, Michael J; Torr, Stephen J

2011-09-01

Control of tsetse flies using insecticide-treated targets is often hampered by vegetation re-growth and encroachment which obscures a target and renders it less effective. Potentially this is of particular concern for the newly developed small targets (0.25 high × 0.5 m wide) which show promise for cost-efficient control of Palpalis group tsetse flies. Consequently the performance of a small target was investigated for Glossina fuscipes fuscipes in Kenya, when the target was obscured following the placement of vegetation to simulate various degrees of natural bush encroachment. Catches decreased significantly only when the target was obscured by more than 80%. Even if a small target is underneath a very low overhanging bush (0.5 m above ground), the numbers of G. f. fuscipes decreased by only about 30% compared to a target in the open. We show that the efficiency of the small targets, even in small (1 m diameter) clearings, is largely uncompromised by vegetation re-growth because G. f. fuscipes readily enter between and under vegetation. The essential characteristic is that there should be some openings between vegetation. This implies that for this important vector of HAT, and possibly other Palpalis group flies, a smaller initial clearance zone around targets can be made and longer interval between site maintenance visits is possible both of which will result in cost savings for large scale operations. We also investigated and discuss other site features e.g. large solid objects and position in relation to the water's edge in terms of the efficacy of the small targets.

Baobab trees (Adansonia) in Madagascar use stored water to flush new leaves but not to support stomatal opening before the rainy season.

PubMed

Chapotin, Saharah Moon; Razanameharizaka, Juvet H; Holbrook, N Michele

2006-01-01

Baobab trees (Adansonia, Bombacaceae) are widely thought to store water in their stems for use when water availability is low. We tested this hypothesis by assessing the role of stored water during the dry season in three baobab species in Madagascar. In the dry season, leaves are present only during and after leaf flush. We quantified the relative contributions of stem and soil water during this period through measures of stem water content, sap flow and stomatal conductance. Rates of sap flow at the base of the trunk were near zero, indicating that leaf flushing was almost entirely dependent on stem water. Stem water content declined by up to 12% during this period, yet stomatal conductance and branch sap flow rates remained very low. Stem water reserves were used to support new leaf growth and cuticular transpiration, but not to support stomatal opening before the rainy season. Stomatal opening coincided with the onset of sap flow at the base of the trunk and occurred only after significant rainfall.

Tensions between opening up and closing down moments in transdisciplinary water research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krueger, Tobias; Maynard, Carly; Carr, Gemma; Bruns, Antje; Mueller, Eva; Lane, Stuart

2016-04-01

Research on water is carried out by many disciplines that do not really talk to each other much, despite critical interactions of multiple social and biophysical processes in shaping how much and what kind of water is where, at what time and for whom. What is more, water has meaning to more than those who are scientists. And scientists are not so removed from the things they study as one might commonly believe. All these observations call for a transdisciplinary research agenda that brings together different scientific disciplines with the knowledge that other groups in society hold and that tries to be aware of its own limitations. The transdisciplinary perspective is especially pertinent to the scientific decade 2013-2022 of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) on change in hydrology and society, 'Panta Rhei,' for a balanced conceptualization and study of human-water relations. Transdisciplinarity is inherently about opening up traditional modes of knowledge production; in terms of framing the research problem, the methodology and the knowledge that is considered permissible. This should open up the range of options for management intervention, too. While decisions on how to intervene will inevitably close down the issue periodically, the point here is to leave alternative routes of action open long enough, or reopen them again, so as to counter unsustainable and inequitable path-dependencies and lock-ins. However, opening up efforts are frequently in conflict with factors that work to close down knowledge production. Among those are framings, path-dependencies, vested interests, researchers' positionalities, power, and scale. In this presentation, based on Krueger et al. (2016), we will reflect on the tensions between opening up and closing down moments in transdisciplinary water research and draw important practical lessons. References Krueger, T., Maynard, C.M., Carr, G., Bruns, A., Mueller, E.N. and Lane, S.N. (forthcoming in 2016) A transdisciplinary account of water research. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water.

Preference for tap, bottled, and recycled water: Relations to PTC taste sensitivity and personality.

PubMed

Harmon, Daniel; Gauvain, Mary; Z Reisz; Arthur, Isaac; Story, S Drew

2018-02-01

This study investigated people's preferences for different water sources and factors that predict such preferences using a blind taste test. Water preferences of 143 participants for one name-brand bottled water, one groundwater-sourced tap water, and one indirect potable reuse (IDR) water were assessed. For predictors of water preference, we measured each participant's PTC taste sensitivity and assessed two personality traits (Neuroticism, Openness to Experience). We also explored participants' descriptions of each water source. Results indicate a preference for water treated with Reverse Osmosis (RO) (bottled and IDR water) over groundwater-sourced water, which had higher pH levels and lower concentrations of Ca and HCO 3 - . PTC taste sensitivity did not predict preferences, while Openness to Experience and Neuroticism predicted preference for IDR water. Positive relations between Openness to Experience and preferences for bottled and IDR water were moderated by gender and were stronger among females. Participants described water primarily by its taste and texture. Findings suggest that (1) tap water treated by RO is equally preferable to some bottled water, (2) personality traits may affect water preferences, and (3) prior findings of gender differences in preferences for bottled water may reflect personality characteristics. Efforts to increase acceptance for sustainable water alternatives, such as IDR, may be more successful by assuring consumers about taste and addressing personality traits that encourage or inhibit use. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Employment programs and professionals with a disability.

PubMed

Donelly, Michelle; Given, Fiona

2010-01-01

It is unclear whether or not open (competitive) employment programs are meeting the needs of the growing numbers of people with a disability seeking professional employment. To understand and describe the experience of a newly graduated professional (Michael) who was seeking open employment support and to analyze those experiences in relation to principles of effective open employment support. Michael a recently graduated accountant who also has a physical disability. A review of the literature was undertaken to identify recommended principles and practices for the conduct of effective open employment and career development programs. A case study was used to describe Michael's experiences as he sought professional employment. Michael's experiences were analysed in relation to recommended principles and practice. The analysis confirmed that the concerns Michael experienced about the supported employment program compromised the effectiveness of the support he received. Employment services based on models of independent living, disability service standards and remediation are likely to focus on the 'pathology' or performance 'deficits' of the person with a disability. Successful open employment models are more likely to place pre-eminence on the perspective of the person with a disability and effective practices for securing employment.

Web Mapping Architectures Based on Open Specifications and Free and Open Source Software in the Water Domain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arias Muñoz, C.; Brovelli, M. A.; Kilsedar, C. E.; Moreno-Sanchez, R.; Oxoli, D.

2017-09-01

The availability of water-related data and information across different geographical and jurisdictional scales is of critical importance for the conservation and management of water resources in the 21st century. Today information assets are often found fragmented across multiple agencies that use incompatible data formats and procedures for data collection, storage, maintenance, analysis, and distribution. The growing adoption of Web mapping systems in the water domain is reducing the gap between data availability and its practical use and accessibility. Nevertheless, more attention must be given to the design and development of these systems to achieve high levels of interoperability and usability while fulfilling different end user informational needs. This paper first presents a brief overview of technologies used in the water domain, and then presents three examples of Web mapping architectures based on free and open source software (FOSS) and the use of open specifications (OS) that address different users' needs for data sharing, visualization, manipulation, scenario simulations, and map production. The purpose of the paper is to illustrate how the latest developments in OS for geospatial and water-related data collection, storage, and sharing, combined with the use of mature FOSS projects facilitate the creation of sophisticated interoperable Web-based information systems in the water domain.

The first Neanderthal remains from an open-air Middle Palaeolithic site in the Levant.

PubMed

Been, Ella; Hovers, Erella; Ekshtain, Ravid; Malinski-Buller, Ariel; Agha, Nuha; Barash, Alon; Mayer, Daniella E Bar-Yosef; Benazzi, Stefano; Hublin, Jean-Jacques; Levin, Lihi; Greenbaum, Noam; Mitki, Netta; Oxilia, Gregorio; Porat, Naomi; Roskin, Joel; Soudack, Michalle; Yeshurun, Reuven; Shahack-Gross, Ruth; Nir, Nadav; Stahlschmidt, Mareike C; Rak, Yoel; Barzilai, Omry

2017-06-07

The late Middle Palaeolithic (MP) settlement patterns in the Levant included the repeated use of caves and open landscape sites. The fossil record shows that two types of hominins occupied the region during this period-Neandertals and Homo sapiens. Until recently, diagnostic fossil remains were found only at cave sites. Because the two populations in this region left similar material cultural remains, it was impossible to attribute any open-air site to either species. In this study, we present newly discovered fossil remains from intact archaeological layers of the open-air site 'Ein Qashish, in northern Israel. The hominin remains represent three individuals: EQH1, a nondiagnostic skull fragment; EQH2, an upper right third molar (RM 3 ); and EQH3, lower limb bones of a young Neandertal male. EQH2 and EQH3 constitute the first diagnostic anatomical remains of Neandertals at an open-air site in the Levant. The optically stimulated luminescence ages suggest that Neandertals repeatedly visited 'Ein Qashish between 70 and 60 ka. The discovery of Neandertals at open-air sites during the late MP reinforces the view that Neandertals were a resilient population in the Levant shortly before Upper Palaeolithic Homo sapiens populated the region.

Towards environmental management of water turbidity within open coastal waters of the Great Barrier Reef.

PubMed

Macdonald, Rachael K; Ridd, Peter V; Whinney, James C; Larcombe, Piers; Neil, David T

2013-09-15

Water turbidity and suspended sediment concentration (SSC) are commonly used as part of marine monitoring and water quality plans. Current management plans utilise threshold SSC values derived from mean-annual turbidity concentrations. Little published work documents typical ranges of turbidity for reefs within open coastal waters. Here, time-series turbidity measurements from 61 sites in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and Moreton Bay, Australia, are presented as turbidity exceedance curves and derivatives. This contributes to the understanding of turbidity and SSC in the context of environmental management in open-coastal reef environments. Exceedance results indicate strong spatial and temporal variability in water turbidity across inter/intraregional scales. The highest turbidity across 61 sites, at 50% exceedance (T50) is 15.3 NTU and at 90% exceedance (T90) 4.1 NTU. Mean/median turbidity comparisons show strong differences between the two, consistent with a strongly skewed turbidity regime. Results may contribute towards promoting refinement of water quality management protocols. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A 4-year assessment of a new water-fluoridation scheme in New South Wales, Australia.

PubMed

Blinkhorn, Anthony S; Byun, Roy; Mehta, Pathik; Kay, Meredith

2015-06-01

To monitor the changes in dental caries prevalence of 5- to 7-year-old children living in a fluoridated area, a newly fluoridated area and in an area without water fluoridation, in NSW, Australia. Dental caries prevalence was recorded for 5- to 7-year-old children, living in the three study locations, by six trained and calibrated examiners in 2008, 2010 and 2012. A questionnaire recorded demographic data, toothbrushing behaviour and sugary drink consumption. Caries experience was measured using the decayed, missing, and filled teeth (dmft) index for primary teeth, the percentage of children who were caries free and the significant caries index. Univariate analysis was undertaken to determine independent predictors of caries. The caries prevalence changed over time. In 2008, the mean dmft index was 1.40 for the fluoridated area, 2.02 for the area about to fluoridate and 2.09 for the unfluoridated control. By 2012, these mean dmft scores were 0.69, 0.72 and 1.21, respectively. In the two areas where children received fluoridated water, the significant caries index was 2.30 for the fluoridated area and 2.40 for the newly fluoridated area. The significant caries score for children in the unfluoridated location was 3.93. Multivariate analysis showed that over time the differences in dental caries prevalence between the established fluoride area and the newly fluoridated area diminished. However, children in the unfluoridated control area continued to demonstrate significant differences in the mean number of decayed teeth compared with children in the fluoridated comparator sites, and the proportions of children free from decay were significantly higher in the fluoridated areas than in the unfluoridated area. Fluoridation of public water supplies in Gosford and Wyong offers young children better dental health than those children who do not have access to this public health measure. © 2015 FDI World Dental Federation.

Application of ultrafiltration and stable isotopic amendments to field studies of mercury partitioning to filterable carbon in lake water and overland runoff

USGS Publications Warehouse

Babiarz, Christopher L.; Hurley, J.P.; Krabbenhoft, D.P.; Gilmour, C.; Branfireun, B.A.

2003-01-01

Results from pilot studies on colloidal phase transport of newly deposited mercury in lake water and overland runoff demonstrate that the combination of ultrafiltration, and stable isotope amendment techniques is a viable tool for the study of mercury partitioning to filterable carbon. Ultrafiltration mass balance calculations were generally excellent, averaging 97.3, 96.1 and 99.8% for dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total mercury (HgT), and methylmercury (MeHg), respectively. Sub nanogram per liter quantities of isotope were measurable, and the observed phase distribution from replicate ultrafiltration separations on lake water agreed within 20%. We believe the data presented here are the first published colloidal phase mercury data on lake water and overland runoff from uncontaminated sites. Initial results from pilot-scale lake amendment experiments indicate that the choice of matrix used to dissolve the isotope did not affect the initial phase distribution of the added mercury in the lake. In addition there was anecdotal evidence that native MeHg was either recently produced in the system, or at a minimum, that this 'old' MeHg partitions to the same subset of DOC that binds the amended mercury. Initial results from pilot-scale overland runoff experiments indicate that less than 20% of newly deposited mercury was transported in the filterable fraction (<0.7 ??m). There is some indication of colloidal phase enrichment of mercury in runoff compared to the phase distribution of organic carbon, but the mechanism of this enrichment is unclear. The phase distribution of newly deposited mercury can differ from that of organic carbon and native mercury, suggesting that the quality of the carbon (available ligands), not the quantity of carbon, regulates partitioning. Further characterization of DOC is needed to clarify the underlying mechanisms. ?? 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Open Data, Open Specifications and Free and Open Source Software: A powerful mix to create distributed Web-based water information systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arias, Carolina; Brovelli, Maria Antonia; Moreno, Rafael

2015-04-01

We are in an age when water resources are increasingly scarce and the impacts of human activities on them are ubiquitous. These problems don't respect administrative or political boundaries and they must be addressed integrating information from multiple sources at multiple spatial and temporal scales. Communication, coordination and data sharing are critical for addressing the water conservation and management issues of the 21st century. However, different countries, provinces, local authorities and agencies dealing with water resources have diverse organizational, socio-cultural, economic, environmental and information technology (IT) contexts that raise challenges to the creation of information systems capable of integrating and distributing information across their areas of responsibility in an efficient and timely manner. Tight and disparate financial resources, and dissimilar IT infrastructures (data, hardware, software and personnel expertise) further complicate the creation of these systems. There is a pressing need for distributed interoperable water information systems that are user friendly, easily accessible and capable of managing and sharing large volumes of spatial and non-spatial data. In a distributed system, data and processes are created and maintained in different locations each with competitive advantages to carry out specific activities. Open Data (data that can be freely distributed) is available in the water domain, and it should be further promoted across countries and organizations. Compliance with Open Specifications for data collection, storage and distribution is the first step toward the creation of systems that are capable of interacting and exchanging data in a seamlessly (interoperable) way. The features of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) offer low access cost that facilitate scalability and long-term viability of information systems. The World Wide Web (the Web) will be the platform of choice to deploy and access these systems. Geospatial capabilities for mapping, visualization, and spatial analysis will be important components of these new generation of Web-based interoperable information systems in the water domain. The purpose of this presentation is to increase the awareness of scientists, IT personnel and agency managers about the advantages offered by the combined use of Open Data, Open Specifications for geospatial and water-related data collection, storage and sharing, as well as mature FOSS projects for the creation of interoperable Web-based information systems in the water domain. A case study is used to illustrate how these principles and technologies can be integrated to create a system with the previously mentioned characteristics for managing and responding to flood events.

Comparison of repaglinide and metformin monotherapy as an initial therapy in Chinese patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus.

PubMed

Fang, Fu-Sheng; Gong, Yan-Ping; Li, Chun-Lin; Li, Jian; Tian, Hui; Huang, Wei; Wang, Liang-Chen; Li, Lin

2014-06-01

We aimed to compare the effect of repaglinide and metformin monotherapy as an initial therapy in Chinese patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). In this 15-week, open-labelled, parallel-controlled, randomised study, 60 Chinese drug-naive patients with newly diagnosed T2DM were randomised (2:1) to receive repaglinide or metformin monotherapy. Primary endpoint was change in HbA1c from baseline to the end of the trial. Secondary endpoints included changes in glycaemic variability, insulin sensitivity and β-cell function. Patients in both repaglinide and metformin groups achieved significant reductions in HbA1c (-1.8 ± 1.5 vs -1.6 ± 1.5%), FPG (fasting blood glucose) (-1.7 ± 1.7 vs -2.1 ± 1.7  mmol/l) and 2-h PPG (post-prandial glucose) (-3.8 ± 3.1 vs -3.8 ± 3.6  mmol/l), with no statistical differences between the groups. Glycaemic variability, glucose infusion rate and β-cell function were all significantly improved from baseline in the two groups (all P<0.05), without any statistical differences in the improvement between the groups. Repaglinide and metformin achieved comparable efficacy in improving glycaemic control, reducing glycaemic variability, enhancing insulin sensitivity and ameliorating β-cell function. Therefore, repaglinide is an optional agent for initial therapy in Chinese patients with newly diagnosed T2DM. © 2014 European Society of Endocrinology.

MS Ivins and Astronaut Shepherd at work in Destiny module

NASA Image and Video Library

2001-02-11

STS98-E-5143 (11 February 2001) --- Astronauts Marsha S. Ivins (from the left), STS-98 mission specialist, Kenneth D. Cockrell, STS-98 mission commander; and William M. Shepherd, Expedition One mission commander, discuss the organizational "game plan" onboard the newly opened Destiny laboratory on the International Space Station (ISS). After Shepherd opened the Destiny hatch, he and Cockrell ventured inside at 8:38 a.m. (CST), February 11, 2001. As depicted in subsequent digital images in this series, members of both crews went to work quickly inside the new module, activating air systems, fire extinguishers, alarm systems, computers and internal communications. The crew also took some photos and continued equipment transfers from the shuttle to the station.

STS-98 and Expedition One crew prepare to open U.S. Lab hatch

NASA Image and Video Library

2001-02-11

STS098-352-0025 (11 February 2001) --- STS-98 mission commander Kenneth D. Cockrell (left) assists as Expedition One commander William M. (Bill) Shepherd opens the hatch to the newly attached Destiny laboratory. The crews of Atlantis and the International Space Station entered the laboratory shortly after this photo was made on February 11; and the astronauts and cosmonauts spent the first full day of what are planned to be years of work ahead inside the orbiting science and command center. Members of both crews went to work quickly inside the new module, activating air systems, fire extinguishers, alarm systems, computers and internal communications. The crew also continued equipment transfers from the shuttle to the station.

Expedition 53-54 Crew Docks to the Space Station

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-09-13

After launching in their Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Expedition 53-54 Soyuz Commander Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos and flight engineers Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba of NASA arrived at the International Space Station Sept. 13. Following their six-hour journey, they docked their Soyuz to the Poisk module on the Russian segment of the complex. Misurkin, Vande Hei and Acaba opened hatches and were greeted by station Commander Randy Bresnik of NASA and flight engineers Sergey Ryazanskiy of Roscosmos and Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency. As the hatches were opened, the families of the newly arrived crew members and American and Russian space officials viewed the activities from a conference facility in Baikonur.

Ocean acidification causes structural deformities in juvenile coral skeletons.

PubMed

Foster, Taryn; Falter, James L; McCulloch, Malcolm T; Clode, Peta L

2016-02-01

Rising atmospheric CO2 is causing the oceans to both warm and acidify, which could reduce the calcification rates of corals globally. Successful coral recruitment and high rates of juvenile calcification are critical to the replenishment and ultimate viability of coral reef ecosystems. Although elevated Pco2 (partial pressure of CO2) has been shown to reduce the skeletal weight of coral recruits, the structural changes caused by acidification during initial skeletal deposition are unknown. We show, using high-resolution three-dimensional x-ray microscopy, that ocean acidification (Pco2 ~900 μatm, pH ~7.7) not only causes reduced overall mineral deposition but also a deformed and porous skeletal structure in newly settled coral recruits. In contrast, elevated temperature (+3°C) had little effect on skeletal formation except to partially mitigate the effects of elevated Pco2. The striking structural deformities we observed show that new recruits are at significant risk, being unable to effectively build their skeletons in the Pco2 conditions predicted to occur for open ocean surface waters under a "business-as-usual" emissions scenario [RCP (representative concentration pathway) 8.5] by the year 2100.

A noble metal-free proton-exchange membrane fuel cell based on bio-inspired molecular catalysts† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c4sc03774j Click here for additional data file.

PubMed Central

Tran, P. D.; Morozan, A.; Archambault, S.; Heidkamp, J.; Chenevier, P.; Dau, H.; Fontecave, M.

2015-01-01

Hydrogen is a promising energy vector for storing renewable energies: obtained from water-splitting, in electrolysers or photoelectrochemical cells, it can be turned back to electricity on demand in fuel cells (FCs). Proton exchange membrane (PEM) devices with low internal resistance, high compactness and stability are an attractive technology optimized over decades, affording fast start-up times and low operating temperatures. However, they rely on the powerful catalytic properties of noble metals such as platinum, while lower cost, more abundant materials would be needed for economic viability. Replacing these noble metals at both electrodes has long proven to be a difficult task, so far incompatible with PEM technologies. Here we take advantage of newly developed bio-inspired molecular H2 oxidation catalysts and noble metal-free O2-reducing materials, to fabricate a noble metal-free PEMFC, with an 0.74 V open circuit voltage and a 23 μW cm–2 output power under technologically relevant conditions. X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements confirm that the catalysts are stable and retain their structure during turnover. PMID:29142673

Ocean acidification causes structural deformities in juvenile coral skeletons

PubMed Central

Foster, Taryn; Falter, James L.; McCulloch, Malcolm T.; Clode, Peta L.

2016-01-01

Rising atmospheric CO2 is causing the oceans to both warm and acidify, which could reduce the calcification rates of corals globally. Successful coral recruitment and high rates of juvenile calcification are critical to the replenishment and ultimate viability of coral reef ecosystems. Although elevated Pco2 (partial pressure of CO2) has been shown to reduce the skeletal weight of coral recruits, the structural changes caused by acidification during initial skeletal deposition are unknown. We show, using high-resolution three-dimensional x-ray microscopy, that ocean acidification (Pco2 ~900 μatm, pH ~7.7) not only causes reduced overall mineral deposition but also a deformed and porous skeletal structure in newly settled coral recruits. In contrast, elevated temperature (+3°C) had little effect on skeletal formation except to partially mitigate the effects of elevated Pco2. The striking structural deformities we observed show that new recruits are at significant risk, being unable to effectively build their skeletons in the Pco2 conditions predicted to occur for open ocean surface waters under a “business-as-usual” emissions scenario [RCP (representative concentration pathway) 8.5] by the year 2100. PMID:26989776

Evaporation from Lake Mead, Arizona and Nevada, 1997-99

USGS Publications Warehouse

Westenburg, Craig L.; DeMeo, Guy A.; Tanko, Daron J.

2006-01-01

Lake Mead is one of a series of large Colorado River reservoirs operated and maintained by the Bureau of Reclamation. The Colorado River system of reservoirs and diversions is an important source of water for millions of people in seven Western States and Mexico. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation, conducted a study from 1997 to 1999 to estimate evaporation from Lake Mead. For this study, micrometeorological and hydrologic data were collected continually from instrumented platforms deployed at four locations on the lake, open-water areas of Boulder Basin, Virgin Basin, and Overton Arm and a protected cove in Boulder Basin. Data collected at the platforms were used to estimate Lake Mead evaporation by solving an energy-budget equation. The average annual evaporation rate at open-water stations from January 1998 to December 1999 was 7.5 feet. Because the spatial variation of monthly and annual evaporation rates was minimal for the open-water stations, a single open-water station in Boulder Basin would provide data that are adequate to estimate evaporation from Lake Mead.

34. (Credit JTL) Front (north side) of three water tube ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

34. (Credit JTL) Front (north side) of three water tube boilers built by the Heine Safety Boiler Co. of St. Louis, Missouri in 1917; rebuilt in 1938. Front doors opened on center boiler to show water header and inspection plugs for water tubes. Smaller doors beneath open into firebox; boilers presently equipped for gas firing. Operating pressure approx. 150 psi (saturated steam). - McNeil Street Pumping Station, McNeil Street & Cross Bayou, Shreveport, Caddo Parish, LA

ESTCP Cost and Performance Report (ER-200742) Open Burn/Open Detonation (OBOD) Area Management Using Lime for Explosives Transformation and Metals Immobilization

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-10-01

vertical transport of water on the APG OD area. ............................................................... 33  Table 5. Runoff water and leachate ...untreated control soil (study average). There was an insignificant change in leachate pH from Day 1 to Day 9 showing that, while the increase was...explosives from OB/OD area soils have occurred through horizontal transport in surface water and vertical leachate water transport. These pathways

Cenozoic pre-glacial tectonostratigraphy and erosion estimates for the northwestern Barents Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lasabuda, Amando; Sverre Laberg, Jan; Knutsen, Stig-Morten

2017-04-01

The northwestern Barents Sea continental margin is located between Bjørnøya and Svalbard. It is a structurally complex area characterized by a series of highs and basins influenced by: 1) the formation of the Spitsbergen fold-and-thrust belt towards the north and the pull-apart basin, the Vestbakken Volcanic Province, to the south, and 2) the rifting and opening of the Fram Strait, the deep-water gateway connecting the Norwegian - Greenland Sea and the Arctic Ocean. This study incorporate newly available 2D seismic data as well as magnetic data, and aim to improve the understanding of the Cenozoic evolution of this area, including better constrain of the timing of the main sedimentation events of the Cenozoic basins and estimates of the volume of sediments involved and the corresponding rates of erosion of the drainage area. The Cenozoic development of this area is strongly related to the rifting and opening of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea. During the Paleocene-Eocene, the northwestern Barents Sea margin were subjected to compression/transpression when Greenland drifted towards Svalbard that led to uplift and the development of fold-and-thrust belt on Svalbard. Subsequently, from the Oligocene, a tectonic plate reorganization occurred, leading to crustal extension, sea floor spreading and opening of the Fram Strait west of Svalbard. The seismic data shows a pronounced sequence of Early - Mid Cenozoic, pre-glacial sediments overlying the oceanic crust west of Svalbard while to the east, the Svalbard platform and the Stappen High were subjected to erosion and probably acted as the main sediment source for the northwestern Barents Sea margin. The amount of erosion will be estimated from the study of the deposited sediment volumes and their inferred source area. We will then compare the sedimentation and erosion rates to rates from other parts of the Norwegian - Barents Sea - Svalbard margin as well as relevant modern systems. Furthermore, the Cenozoic paleo-geography will be reconstructed.

Influence of salinity on the early development and biochemical dynamics of a marine fish, Inimicus japonicus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gong, Xu; Huang, Xuxiong; Wen, Wen

2018-03-01

Fertilised eggs of the devil stringer ( Inimicus japonicus) were incubated at different salinity levels (21, 25, 29, 33, and 37), and then the hatching performances, morphological parameters, and biochemical composition (protein, lipid and carbohydrate) of the larvae were assayed to determine the influence of salinity on the early development of I. japonicus. The tested salinity levels did not affect the times of hatching or mouth opening for yolk-sac larvae. However, the salinity significantly influenced the hatching and survival rates of open-mouthed larvae, as well as the morphology of yolk-sac larvae. The data indicated that 30.5 to 37.3 and 24.4 to 29.8 were suitable salinity ranges for the survival of embryos and larvae of I. japonicus, respectively. Larvae incubated at a salinity level of 29 had the greatest full lengths, and decreasing yolk volume was positively correlated with the environmental salinity. With increasing salinity, the individual dry weights of newly hatched larvae or open-mouthed larvae decreased significantly. Newly hatched larvae incubated at a salinity level of 29 had the greatest metabolic substrate contents and gross energy levels, while the openmouthed larvae's greatest values occurred at a salinity level of 25. Larvae incubated in the salinity range of 33 to 37 had the lowest nutritional reserves and energy values. Thus, the I. japonicus yolk-sac larvae acclimated more readily to the lower salinity level than the embryos, and higher salinity levels negatively influenced larval growth and development. In conclusion, the environmental salinity level should be maintained at 29-33 during embryogenesis and at 25-29 during early larval development for this species. Our results can be used to provide optimum aquaculture conditions for the early larval development of I. japonicus.

Influence of salinity on the early development and biochemical dynamics of a marine fish, Inimicus japonicus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gong, Xu; Huang, Xuxiong; Wen, Wen

2017-05-01

Fertilised eggs of the devil stringer (Inimicus japonicus) were incubated at different salinity levels (21, 25, 29, 33, and 37), and then the hatching performances, morphological parameters, and biochemical composition (protein, lipid and carbohydrate) of the larvae were assayed to determine the influence of salinity on the early development of I. japonicus. The tested salinity levels did not affect the times of hatching or mouth opening for yolk-sac larvae. However, the salinity significantly influenced the hatching and survival rates of open-mouthed larvae, as well as the morphology of yolk-sac larvae. The data indicated that 30.5 to 37.3 and 24.4 to 29.8 were suitable salinity ranges for the survival of embryos and larvae of I. japonicus, respectively. Larvae incubated at a salinity level of 29 had the greatest full lengths, and decreasing yolk volume was positively correlated with the environmental salinity. With increasing salinity, the individual dry weights of newly hatched larvae or open-mouthed larvae decreased significantly. Newly hatched larvae incubated at a salinity level of 29 had the greatest metabolic substrate contents and gross energy levels, while the openmouthed larvae's greatest values occurred at a salinity level of 25. Larvae incubated in the salinity range of 33 to 37 had the lowest nutritional reserves and energy values. Thus, the I. japonicus yolk-sac larvae acclimated more readily to the lower salinity level than the embryos, and higher salinity levels negatively influenced larval growth and development. In conclusion, the environmental salinity level should be maintained at 29-33 during embryogenesis and at 25-29 during early larval development for this species. Our results can be used to provide optimum aquaculture conditions for the early larval development of I. japonicus.

Coupling the Solar-Wind/IMF to the Ionosphere through the High Latitude Cusps

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maynard, Nelson C.

2003-01-01

Magnetic merging is a primary means for coupling energy from the solar wind into the magnetosphere-ionosphere system. The location and nature of the process remain as open questions. By correlating measurements form diverse locations and using large-scale MHD models to put the measurements in context, it is possible to constrain out interpretations of the global and meso-scale dynamics of magnetic merging. Recent evidence demonstrates that merging often occurs at high latitudes in the vicinity of the cusps. The location is in part controlled by the clock angle in the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) Y-Z plane. In fact, B(sub Y) bifurcated the cusp relative to source regions. The newly opened field lines may couple to the ionosphere at MLT locations of as much as 3 hr away from local noon. On the other side of noon the cusp may be connected to merging sites in the opposite hemisphere. In face, the small convection cell is generally driven by opposite hemisphere merging. B(sub X) controls the timing of the interaction and merging sites in each hemisphere, which may respond to planar features in the IMF at different times. Correlation times are variable and are controlled by the dynamics of the tilt of the interplanetary electric field phase plane. The orientation of the phase plane may change significantly on time scales of tens of minutes. Merging is temporally variable and may be occurring at multiple sites simultaneously. Accelerated electrons from the merging process excite optical signatures at the foot of the newly opened field lines. All-sky photometer observations of 557.7 nm emissions in the cusp region provide a "television picture" of the merging process and may be used to infer the temporal and spatial variability of merging, tied to variations in the IMF.

Robotic and open radical prostatectomy in the public health sector: cost comparison.

PubMed

Hall, Rohan Matthew; Linklater, Nicholas; Coughlin, Geoff

2014-06-01

During 2008, the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital became the first public hospital in Australia to have a da Vinci Surgical Robot purchased by government funding. The cost of performing robotic surgery in the public sector is a contentious issue. This study is a single centre, cost analysis comparing open radical prostatectomy (RRP) and robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy (RALP) based on the newly introduced pure case-mix funding model. A retrospective chart review was performed for the first 100 RALPs and the previous 100 RRPs. Estimates of tangible costing and funding were generated for each admission and readmission, using the Royal Brisbane Hospital Transition II database, based on pure case-mix funding. The average cost for admission for RRP was A$13 605, compared to A$17 582 for the RALP. The average funding received for a RRP was A$11 781 compared to A$5496 for a RALP based on the newly introduced case-mix model. The average length of stay for RRP was 4.4 days (2-14) and for RALP, 1.2 days (1-4). The total cost of readmissions for RRP patients was A$70 487, compared to that of the RALP patients, A$7160. These were funded at A$55 639 and A$7624, respectively. RALP has shown a significant advantage with respect to length of stay and readmission rate. Based on the case-mix funding model RALP is poorly funded compared to its open equivalent. Queensland Health needs to plan on how robotic surgery is implemented and assess whether this technology is truly affordable in the public sector. © 2013 The Authors. ANZ Journal of Surgery © 2013 Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Draft Genome Sequence of Thalassotalea sp. Strain ND16A Isolated from Eastern Mediterranean Sea Water Collected from a Depth of 1,055 Meters

DOE PAGES

Stelling, Savannah C.; Techtmann, Stephen M.; Utturkar, Sagar M.; ...

2014-11-26

Thalassotalea sp. strain ND16A belongs to the family Colwelliaceae and was isolated from eastern Mediterranean Sea water at a depth of 1,055 m. Members of Colwelliaceae are ubiquitous marine heterotrophs. Lastly, here we report the draft genome sequence of Thalassotalea sp. strain ND16A, a member of the newly described genus Thalassotalea.

Opening the Landsat Archive

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

2008-01-01

The USGS Landsat archive holds an unequaled 36-year record of the Earth's surface that is invaluable to climate change studies, forest and resource management activities, and emergency response operations. An aggressive effort is taking place to provide all Landsat imagery [scenes currently held in the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center archive, as well as newly acquired scenes daily] free of charge to users with electronic access via the Web by the end of December 2008. The entire Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) archive acquired since 1999 and any newly acquired Landsat 7 ETM+ images that have less than 40 percent cloud cover are currently available for download. When this endeavor is complete all Landsat 1-5 data will also be available for download. This includes Landsat 1-5 Multispectral Scanner (MSS) scenes, as well as Landsat 4 and 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) scenes.

Decoding sORF translation - from small proteins to gene regulation.

PubMed

Cabrera-Quio, Luis Enrique; Herberg, Sarah; Pauli, Andrea

2016-11-01

Translation is best known as the fundamental mechanism by which the ribosome converts a sequence of nucleotides into a string of amino acids. Extensive research over many years has elucidated the key principles of translation, and the majority of translated regions were thought to be known. The recent discovery of wide-spread translation outside of annotated protein-coding open reading frames (ORFs) came therefore as a surprise, raising the intriguing possibility that these newly discovered translated regions might have unrecognized protein-coding or gene-regulatory functions. Here, we highlight recent findings that provide evidence that some of these newly discovered translated short ORFs (sORFs) encode functional, previously missed small proteins, while others have regulatory roles. Based on known examples we will also speculate about putative additional roles and the potentially much wider impact that these translated regions might have on cellular homeostasis and gene regulation.

Charge and Spin Currents in Open-Shell Molecules:  A Unified Description of NMR and EPR Observables.

PubMed

Soncini, Alessandro

2007-11-01

The theory of EPR hyperfine coupling tensors and NMR nuclear magnetic shielding tensors of open-shell molecules in the limit of vanishing spin-orbit coupling (e.g., for organic radicals) is analyzed in terms of spin and charge current density vector fields. The ab initio calculation of the spin and charge current density response has been implemented at the Restricted Open-Shell Hartree-Fock, Unrestricted Hartree-Fock, and unrestricted GGA-DFT level of theory. On the basis of this formalism, we introduce the definition of nuclear hyperfine coupling density, a scalar function of position providing a partition of the EPR observable over the molecular domain. Ab initio maps of spin and charge current density and hyperfine coupling density for small radicals are presented and discussed in order to illustrate the interpretative advantages of the newly introduced approach. Recent NMR experiments providing evidence for the existence of diatropic ring currents in the open-shell singlet pancake-bonded dimer of the neutral phenalenyl radical are directly assessed via the visualization of the induced current density.

Heavy metal-binding proteins from metal-stimulated bacteria as a novel adsorbent for metal removal technology.

PubMed

Sano, D; Myojo, K; Omura, T

2006-01-01

Water pollution with toxic heavy metals is of growing concern because heavy metals could bring about serious problems for not only ecosystems in the water environment but also human health. Some metal removal technologies have been in practical use, but much energy and troublesome treatments for chemical wastes are required to operate these conventional technologies. In this study, heavy metal-binding proteins (HMBPs) were obtained from metal-stimulated activated sludge culture with affinity chromatography using copper ion as a ligand. Two-dimensional electrophoresis revealed that a number of proteins in activated sludge culture were recovered as HMBPs for copper ion. N-termini of five HMBPs were determined, and two of them were found to be newly discovered proteins for which no amino acid sequences in protein databases were retrieved at more than 80% identities. Metal-coordinating amino acids occupied 38% of residues in one of the N-terminal sequences of the newly discovered HMBPs. Since these HMBPs were expected to be stable under conditions of water and wastewater treatments, it would be possible to utilize HMBPs as novel adsorbents for heavy metal removal if mass volume of HMBPs can be obtained with protein cloning techniques.

Privatization of tubewells in North China: Determinants and impacts on irrigated area, productivity and the water table

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jinxia; Huang, Jikun; Huang, Qiuqiong; Rozelle, Scott

2006-03-01

Despite the rise in importance of the private sector in the expansion of the use of groundwater in China and the potential implications this might have for production and poverty, little has been written about the effect of these phenomena on northern China’s economy. In examining determinants of tubewell privatization and its impact on producers in northern China, data were collected using a community leader survey, carried out in 448 villages in six provinces in northern China. The results show that since 1990 collective ownership of tubewells has largely been replaced by private ownership. Increasing water scarcity, government grants and bank loans for tubewell investment and the declining investment capacity of China’s local communities have led to the observed change in tubewell ownership patterns. By far, the most important positive effect on income appears to be due to the expansion of newly irrigated area that has been fueled by the rise of private tubewells. Many newly private tubewells also have begun to replace irrigation from surface water sources. While helping increase income and productivity, the rise of private tubewells also has contributed to the fall in groundwater levels.

GIS embedded hydrological modeling: the SID&GRID project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borsi, I.; Rossetto, R.; Schifani, C.

2012-04-01

The SID&GRID research project, started April 2010 and funded by Regione Toscana (Italy) under the POR FSE 2007-2013, aims to develop a Decision Support System (DSS) for water resource management and planning based on open source and public domain solutions. In order to quantitatively assess water availability in space and time and to support the planning decision processes, the SID&GRID solution consists of hydrological models (coupling 3D existing and newly developed surface- and ground-water and unsaturated zone modeling codes) embedded in a GIS interface, applications and library, where all the input and output data are managed by means of DataBase Management System (DBMS). A graphical user interface (GUI) to manage, analyze and run the SID&GRID hydrological models based on open source gvSIG GIS framework (Asociación gvSIG, 2011) and a Spatial Data Infrastructure to share and interoperate with distributed geographical data is being developed. Such a GUI is thought as a "master control panel" able to guide the user from pre-processing spatial and temporal data, running the hydrological models, and analyzing the outputs. To achieve the above-mentioned goals, the following codes have been selected and are being integrated: 1. Postgresql/PostGIS (PostGIS, 2011) for the Geo Data base Management System; 2. gvSIG with Sextante (Olaya, 2011) geo-algorithm library capabilities and Grass tools (GRASS Development Team, 2011) for the desktop GIS; 3. Geoserver and Geonetwork to share and discover spatial data on the web according to Open Geospatial Consortium; 4. new tools based on the Sextante GeoAlgorithm framework; 5. MODFLOW-2005 (Harbaugh, 2005) groundwater modeling code; 6. MODFLOW-LGR (Mehl and Hill 2005) for local grid refinement; 7. VSF (Thoms et al., 2006) for the variable saturated flow component; 8. new developed routines for overland flow; 9. new algorithms in Jython integrated in gvSIG to compute the net rainfall rate reaching the soil surface, as input for the unsaturated/saturated flow model. At this stage of the research (which will end April 2013), two primary components of the master control panel are being developed: i. a SID&GRID toolbar integrated into gvSIG map context; ii. a new Sextante set of geo-algorithm to pre- and post-process the spatial data to run the hydrological models. The groundwater part of the code has been fully integrated and tested and 3D visualization tools are being developed. The LGR capability has been extended to the 3D solution of the Richards' equation in order to solve in detail the unsaturated zone where required. To be updated about the project, please follow us at the website: http://ut11.isti.cnr.it/SIDGRID/

Continuous automated sensing of streamflow density as a surrogate for suspended-sediment concentration sampling

USGS Publications Warehouse

Larsen, Matthew C.; Figueroa Alamo, Carlos; Gray, John R.; Fletcher, William

2001-01-01

A newly refined technique for continuously and automatically sensing the density of a water-sediment mixture is being tested at a U.S. Geological Survey streamflow-gaging station in Puerto Rico. Originally developed to measure crude oil density, the double bubbler instrument measures fluid density by means of pressure transducers at two elevations in a vertical water column. By subtracting the density of water from the value measured for the density of the water-sediment mixture, the concentration of suspended sediment can be estimated. Preliminary tests of the double bubbler instrument show promise but are not yet conclusive.

Gastrointestinal upsets associated with ingestion of copper-contaminated water.

PubMed Central

Knobeloch, L; Ziarnik, M; Howard, J; Theis, B; Farmer, D; Anderson, H; Proctor, M

1994-01-01

During 1992 and 1993 the Wisconsin Division of Health investigated five cases in which copper-contaminated drinking water was suspected of causing gastrointestinal upsets. Each of these case studies was conducted after our office was notified of high copper levels in drinking water or notified of unexplained illnesses. Our findings suggest that drinking water that contains copper at levels above the federal action limit of 1.3 mg/l may be a relatively common cause of diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and nausea. These symptoms occurred most frequently in infants and young children and among resident of newly constructed or renovated homes. Images p958-a PMID:9738210

An integrated model for the assessment of global water resources - Part 2: Anthropogenic activities modules and assessments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hanasaki, N.; Kanae, S.; Oki, T.; Shirakawa, N.

2007-10-01

To assess global water resources from the perspective of subannual variation in water resources and water use, an integrated water resources model was developed. In a companion report, we presented the global meteorological forcing input used to drive the model and two natural hydrological cycle modules, namely, the land surface hydrology module and the river routing module. Here, we present the remaining four modules, which represent anthropogenic activities: a crop growth module, a reservoir operation module, an environmental flow requirement module, and an anthropogenic withdrawal module. In addition, we discuss the results of a global water resources assessment using the integrated model. The crop growth module is a relatively simple model based on heat unit theory and potential biomass and harvest index concepts. The performance of the crop growth module was examined extensively because agricultural water comprises approximately 70% of total water withdrawal in the world. The estimated crop calendar showed good agreement with earlier reports for wheat, maize, and rice in major countries of production. The estimated irrigation water withdrawal also showed fair agreement with country statistics, but tended to underestimate countries in the Asian monsoon region. In the reservoir operation module, 452 major reservoirs with more than 1 km³ each of storage capacity store and release water according to their own rules of operation. Operating rules were determined for each reservoir using an algorithm that used currently available global data such as reservoir storage capacity, intended purposes, simulated inflow, and water demand in the lower reaches. The environmental flow requirement module was newly developed based on case studies from around the world. The integrated model closes both energy and water balances on land surfaces. Global water resources were assessed on a subannual basis using a newly devised index that locates water-stressed regions that were undetected in earlier studies. These regions, which are indicated by a gap in the subannual distribution of water resources and water use, include the Sahel, the Asian monsoon region, and southern Africa. The integrated model is applicable to assess various global environmental projections such as climate change.

Fertility and content of cadmium in pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) following cadmium intake in drinking water.

PubMed

Toman, R; Massányi, P; Lukác, N; Ducsay, L; Golian, J

2005-09-01

In this study, the effects of cadmium applied per os on fertility, live weight of newly hatched chicks, and cadmium concentrations in some organs of young and adult pheasants were investigated. The metal was applied at the concentration of 1.5 mg Cd(2+)/L during 3 months. After the egg laying, the numbers of eggs laid, cracked, and unfertilized were determined and the live weights of newly hatched chicks were measured. The cadmium concentrations in liver, kidney, and muscle (m. pectoralis) of young and adult pheasants were analyzed. We found that cadmium exposure of the adults did not affect the number of eggs laid but resulted in more eggs being damaged. Hatchlings were significantly heavier in the cadmium-treated group (21.36 +/- 2.28 g) compared to the control group (20.91 +/- 1.97 g) 4 weeks after the cadmium intake. Higher cadmium concentrations were observed in the muscle and kidney tissue of newly hatched pheasants after 4 weeks compared to the cadmium-exposed groups after 8 and 12 weeks. The cadmium concentrations in kidneys and liver increased significantly in adult pheasants. The metal had accumulated especially in kidneys of the adult pheasants and reached levels up to 9.64 mg/kg wet weight 3 months after the daily cadmium intake in drinking water. The concentration in liver of the adults was 3.53 mg/kg wet weight.

Building Quantitative Hydrologic Storylines from Process-based Models for Managing Water Resources in the U.S. Under Climate-changed Futures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arnold, J.; Gutmann, E. D.; Clark, M. P.; Nijssen, B.; Vano, J. A.; Addor, N.; Wood, A.; Newman, A. J.; Mizukami, N.; Brekke, L. D.; Rasmussen, R.; Mendoza, P. A.

2016-12-01

Climate change narratives for water-resource applications must represent the change signals contextualized by hydroclimatic process variability and uncertainty at multiple scales. Building narratives of plausible change includes assessing uncertainties across GCM structure, internal climate variability, climate downscaling methods, and hydrologic models. Work with this linked modeling chain has dealt mostly with GCM sampling directed separately to either model fidelity (does the model correctly reproduce the physical processes in the world?) or sensitivity (of different model responses to CO2 forcings) or diversity (of model type, structure, and complexity). This leaves unaddressed any interactions among those measures and with other components in the modeling chain used to identify water-resource vulnerabilities to specific climate threats. However, time-sensitive, real-world vulnerability studies typically cannot accommodate a full uncertainty ensemble across the whole modeling chain, so a gap has opened between current scientific knowledge and most routine applications for climate-changed hydrology. To close that gap, the US Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research are working on techniques to subsample uncertainties objectively across modeling chain components and to integrate results into quantitative hydrologic storylines of climate-changed futures. Importantly, these quantitative storylines are not drawn from a small sample of models or components. Rather, they stem from the more comprehensive characterization of the full uncertainty space for each component. Equally important from the perspective of water-resource practitioners, these quantitative hydrologic storylines are anchored in actual design and operations decisions potentially affected by climate change. This talk will describe part of our work characterizing variability and uncertainty across modeling chain components and their interactions using newly developed observational data, models and model outputs, and post-processing tools for making the resulting quantitative storylines most useful in practical hydrology applications.

New Extra-Solar Planet - thermal state and structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valencia, D.; O'Connell, R. J.; Sasselov, D.

2005-12-01

For the last decade astronomers have found more than 160 planets orbiting stars other than our sun. All but three of them are gaseous planets. The variety of characteristics of these newly discovered planets opens a new field with questions about planetary formation, structure and evolution, as well as the possibility of existence of life beyond our solar system. Planetary formation models suggested the existence of terrestrial extra-solar planets with masses up to 10 times the mass of the Earth. In June of 2005 the first Super-Earth was discovered orbiting a star 15 light years away with a mass that is about 7.5 times the mass of the Earth and a period of 1.94 days. The composition of this planet is unknown but probably has an Earth-like composition. Astronomers believe the surface temperature ranges between ~500 K and ~700 K. Liquid water can exist at temperatures above T=400K at high pressures (above 10 MPa) allowing for the possibility of a water layer on top of a rocky core. Our work focuses on determining scaling relationships with mass, internal structure parameters and thermal state. We explore the effects of a water/icy layer above a rocky core as well as other types of compositions in determining the internal structure. This water layer may convect causing the planet to have two layer convection. We explore the effects of a layer convection mode versus whole mantle convection for a Super-Earth. Due to the closeness of this planet to its parent star we can expect substantial tidal heating that can affect the thermal state of this planet. We explore the effects of tidal heating in the internal structure of a planet. Differences in composition have much larger effects in the mass-radius relationship than the uncertainties in thermodynamic parameters of the minerals composing the planet.

Oxygen Saturation Surrounding Deep Water Formation Events in the Labrador Sea From Argo-O2 Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wolf, Mitchell K.; Hamme, Roberta C.; Gilbert, Denis; Yashayaev, Igor; Thierry, Virginie

2018-04-01

Deep water formation supplies oxygen-rich water to the deep sea, spreading throughout the ocean by means of the global thermohaline circulation. Models suggest that dissolved gases in newly formed deep water do not come to equilibrium with the atmosphere. However, direct measurements during wintertime convection are scarce, and the controls over the extent of these disequilibria are poorly quantified. Here we show that, when convection reached deeper than 800 m, oxygen in the Labrador Sea was consistently undersaturated at -6.1% to -7.6% at the end of convection. Deeper convection resulted in greater undersaturation, while convection ending later in the year resulted in values closer to equilibrium, from which we produce a predictive relationship. We use dissolved oxygen data from six profiling Argo floats in the Labrador Sea between 2003 and 2016, allowing direct observations of wintertime convection. Three of the six optode oxygen sensors displayed substantial average in situ drift of -3.03 μmol O2 kg-1 yr-1 (-0.94% O2 yr-1), which we corrected to stable deepwater oxygen values from repeat ship surveys. Observations of low oxygen intrusions during restratification and a simple mixing calculation demonstrate that lateral processes act to lower the oxygen inventory of the central Labrador Sea. This suggests that the Labrador Sea is a net sink for atmospheric oxygen, but uncertainties in parameterizing gas exchange limit our ability to quantify the net uptake. Our results constrain the oxygen concentration of newly formed Labrador Sea Water and allow more precise estimates of oxygen utilization and nutrient regeneration in this water mass.

Peatland Open-water Pool Biogeochemistry: The Influence of Hydrology and Vegetation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arsenault, J.; Talbot, J.; Moore, T. R.

2017-12-01

Peatland open-water pools are net sources of carbon to the atmosphere. However, their interaction with the surrounding peat remains poorly known. In a previous study, we showed that shallow pools are richer in nutrients than deep pools. While depth was the main driver of biogeochemistry variations across time and space, analyses also showed that pool's adjacent vegetation may have an influence on water chemistry. Our goal is to understand the relationship between the biogeochemistry of open-water pools and their surroundings in a subboreal ombrotrophic peatland of southern Quebec (Canada). To assess the influence of vegetation on pool water chemistry, we compare two areas covered with different types of vegetation: a forested zone dominated by spruce trees and an open area mostly covered by Sphagnum spp. To evaluate the direction of water (in or out of the pools), we installed capacitance water level probes in transects linking pools in the two zones. Wells were also installed next to each probe to collect peat pore water samples. Samples were taken every month during summer 2017 and analyzed for dissolved organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, pH and specific UV absorbance. Preliminary results show differences in peat water chemistry depending on the dominant vegetation. In both zones, water levels fluctuations are disconnected between peat and the pools, suggesting poor horizontal water movement. Pool water chemistry may be mostly influenced by the immediate surrounding vegetation than by the local vegetation pattern. Climate and land-use change may affect the vegetation structure of peatlands, thus affecting pool biogeochemistry. Considering the impact of pools on the overall peatland capacity to accumulate carbon, our results show that more focus must be placed on pools to better understand peatland stability over time.

Chapter A6. Field Measurements

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wilde, Franceska D.; Radtke, Dean B.

1998-01-01

The National Field Manual for the Collection of Water-Quality Data (National Field Manual) provides guidelines and standard procedures for U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) personnel who collect data used to assess the quality of the Nation's surface-water and ground-water resources. Chapter A6 presents procedures and guidelines for the collection of data on air and water temperature, and on dissolved-oxygen concentrations, specific electrical conductance, pH, reduction-oxidation potential, alkalinity, and turbidity in water. Each chapter of the National Field Manual is published separately and revised periodically. Newly published and revised chapters are posted on the World Wide Web on the USGS page 'National Field Manual for the Collection of Water-Quality Data.' The URL for this page is http://pubs.water.usgs.gov/twri9A (accessed August 6, 2005).

Phylogeny and ecology of the ubiquitous saprobe Cladosporium sphaerospermum, with descriptions of seven new species from hypersaline environments

PubMed Central

Zalar, P.; de Hoog, G.S.; Schroers, H.-J.; Crous, P.W.; Groenewald, J.Z.; Gunde-Cimerman, N.

2007-01-01

Saprobic Cladosporium isolates morphologically similar to C. sphaerospermum are phylogenetically analysed on the basis of DNA sequences of the ribosomal RNA gene cluster, including the internal transcribed spacer regions ITS1 and ITS2, the 5.8S rDNA (ITS) and the small subunit (SSU) rDNA as well as β-tubulin and actin gene introns and exons. Most of the C. sphaerospermum-like species show halotolerance as a recurrent feature. Cladosporium sphaerospermum, which is characterised by almost globose conidia, is redefined on the basis of its ex-neotype culture. Cladosporium dominicanum, C. psychrotolerans, C. velox, C. spinulosum and C. halotolerans, all with globoid conidia, are newly described on the basis of phylogenetic analyses and cryptic morphological and physiological characters. Cladosporium halotolerans was isolated from hypersaline water and bathrooms and detected once on dolphin skin. Cladosporium dominicanum and C. velox were isolated from plant material and hypersaline water. Cladosporium psychrotolerans, which grows well at 4 °C but not at 30 °C, and C. spinulosum, having conspicuously ornamented conidia with long digitate projections, are currently only known from hypersaline water. We also newly describe C. salinae from hypersaline water and C. fusiforme from hypersaline water and animal feed. Both species have ovoid to ellipsoid conidia and are therefore reminiscent of C. herbarum. Cladosporium langeronii (= Hormodendrum langeronii) previously described as a pathogen on human skin, is halotolerant but has not yet been recorded from hypersaline environments. PMID:18490999

Biodegradation of Medium Chain Hydrocarbons by Acinetobacter venetianus 2AW Immobilized to Hair-Based Adsorbent Mats (Postprint)

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-09-01

open - water oil spills or treatment of large contaminated volumes such as ballast water or holding ponds. The practi- cal application of the mat is...approach, the immobilized cells are also protected from weathering and the elements that may wash away the microbes in open water applica- tions. The...SS, Al-Hasan RH, Salamah S, Al-Dabbous A. Biore- mediation of oily sea water by bacteria immobilized in biofilms coating macroalgae . Int Biodeter

Open inlet conversion: Water quality benefits of two designs

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Open surface inlets that connect to subsurface tile drainage systems provide a direct pathway for movement of sediment, nutrients, and agrochemicals to surface waters. This study was conducted to determine the reduction in drainage effluent total suspended sediment (TSS) and phosphorus (P) concentr...

Development of a web application for water resources based on open source software

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Delipetrev, Blagoj; Jonoski, Andreja; Solomatine, Dimitri P.

2014-01-01

This article presents research and development of a prototype web application for water resources using latest advancements in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), open source software and web GIS. The web application has three web services for: (1) managing, presenting and storing of geospatial data, (2) support of water resources modeling and (3) water resources optimization. The web application is developed using several programming languages (PhP, Ajax, JavaScript, Java), libraries (OpenLayers, JQuery) and open source software components (GeoServer, PostgreSQL, PostGIS). The presented web application has several main advantages: it is available all the time, it is accessible from everywhere, it creates a real time multi-user collaboration platform, the programing languages code and components are interoperable and designed to work in a distributed computer environment, it is flexible for adding additional components and services and, it is scalable depending on the workload. The application was successfully tested on a case study with concurrent multi-users access.

Using Support Vector Machines to Automatically Extract Open Water Signatures from POLDER Multi-Angle Data Over Boreal Regions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pierce, J.; Diaz-Barrios, M.; Pinzon, J.; Ustin, S. L.; Shih, P.; Tournois, S.; Zarco-Tejada, P. J.; Vanderbilt, V. C.; Perry, G. L.; Brass, James A. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

This study used Support Vector Machines to classify multiangle POLDER data. Boreal wetland ecosystems cover an estimated 90 x 10(exp 6) ha, about 36% of global wetlands, and are a major source of trace gases emissions to the atmosphere. Four to 20 percent of the global emission of methane to the atmosphere comes from wetlands north of 4 degrees N latitude. Large uncertainties in emissions exist because of large spatial and temporal variation in the production and consumption of methane. Accurate knowledge of the areal extent of open water and inundated vegetation is critical to estimating magnitudes of trace gas emissions. Improvements in land cover mapping have been sought using physical-modeling approaches, neural networks, and active microwave, examples that demonstrate the difficulties of separating open water, inundated vegetation and dry upland vegetation. Here we examine the feasibility of using a support vector machine to classify POLDER data representing open water, inundated vegetation and dry upland vegetation.

Formative Assessment Probes: Representing Microscopic Life

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keeley, Page

2011-01-01

This column focuses on promoting learning through assessment. The author discusses the formative assessment probe "Pond Water," which reveals how elementary children will often apply what they know about animal structures to newly discovered microscopic organisms, connecting their knowledge of the familiar to the unfamiliar through…

Insights into streamflow generation mechanisms using high-frequency analysis of isotopes and water quality in streamflow and precipitation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

von Freyberg, Jana; Kirchner, James W.

2017-04-01

In the pre-Alpine Alptal catchment in central Switzerland, snowmelt and rainfall events cause rapid changes not only in hydrological conditions, but also in water quality. A flood forecasting model for such a mountainous catchment thus requires process understanding that is informed by high-frequency monitoring of hydrological and hydrochemical parameters. Therefore, we installed a high-frequency sampling and analysis system near the outlet of the 0.7 km2 Erlenbach catchment, a headwater tributary of the Alp river. We measured stable water isotopes (δ18O, δ2H) in precipitation and streamwater using Picarro, Inc.'s (Santa Clara, CA, USA) newly developed Continuous Water Sampler Module (CWS) coupled to their L2130-i Cavity Ring-Down Spectrometer, at 30 min temporal resolution. Water quality was monitored with a dual-channel ion chomatograph (Metrohm AG, Herisau, Switzerland) for analysis of major cations and anions, as well as with a UV-Vis spectroscopy system and electrochemical probes (s::can Messtechnik GmbH, Vienna, Austria) for characterization of nutrients and basic water quality parameters. For quantification of trace elements and metals, we collected additional water samples for subsequent ICP-MS analysis in the laboratory. To illustrate the applicability of our newly developed automated analysis and sampling system under field conditions, we will present initial results from the 2016 fall and winter seasons at the Erlenbach catchment. During this period, river discharge was mainly fed by groundwater, as well as intermittent snowmelt and rain-on-snow events. Our high-frequency data set, along with spatially distributed sampling of snowmelt, enables a detailed analysis of source areas, flow pathways and biogeochemical processes that control chemical dynamics in streamflow and the discharge regime.

The irrationality of continued fire suppression: A partial analysis of the costs and benefits of restoration-based fuel reduction treatments vs. no treatment

Treesearch

G. B. Snider; P. J. Daugherty

2008-01-01

(Please note, this is an abstract only) In 1905, the Bureau of Forestry became the U.S. Forest Service and was given responsibility for protecting newly designated forest reserves. A critical part of its charge was the prevention and control of fires. In 1908 Congress set up a unique system, like an open checkbook, that assured payment for fire suppression as needed....

"You Have to Knock at the Door for the Door Get Open": Alternative Literacy Narratives and the Development of Textual Agency in Writing by Newly Literate Adults

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosenberg, Lauren

2008-01-01

This article is part of a project that involves case studies of four adults who attend an informal literacy center. I examine people's motivations to write when their main purpose is not to gain a degree or other credentials. Here I focus on one study member and how she uses writing to gain textual agency. By composing narratives that investigate…

Large-Scale Conformational Changes of Trypanosoma cruzi Proline Racemase Predicted by Accelerated Molecular Dynamics Simulation

PubMed Central

McCammon, J. Andrew

2011-01-01

Chagas' disease, caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi), is a life-threatening illness affecting 11–18 million people. Currently available treatments are limited, with unacceptable efficacy and safety profiles. Recent studies have revealed an essential T. cruzi proline racemase enzyme (TcPR) as an attractive candidate for improved chemotherapeutic intervention. Conformational changes associated with substrate binding to TcPR are believed to expose critical residues that elicit a host mitogenic B-cell response, a process contributing to parasite persistence and immune system evasion. Characterization of the conformational states of TcPR requires access to long-time-scale motions that are currently inaccessible by standard molecular dynamics simulations. Here we describe advanced accelerated molecular dynamics that extend the effective simulation time and capture large-scale motions of functional relevance. Conservation and fragment mapping analyses identified potential conformational epitopes located in the vicinity of newly identified transient binding pockets. The newly identified open TcPR conformations revealed by this study along with knowledge of the closed to open interconversion mechanism advances our understanding of TcPR function. The results and the strategy adopted in this work constitute an important step toward the rationalization of the molecular basis behind the mitogenic B-cell response of TcPR and provide new insights for future structure-based drug discovery. PMID:22022240

Large-scale conformational changes of Trypanosoma cruzi proline racemase predicted by accelerated molecular dynamics simulation.

PubMed

de Oliveira, César Augusto F; Grant, Barry J; Zhou, Michelle; McCammon, J Andrew

2011-10-01

Chagas' disease, caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi), is a life-threatening illness affecting 11-18 million people. Currently available treatments are limited, with unacceptable efficacy and safety profiles. Recent studies have revealed an essential T. cruzi proline racemase enzyme (TcPR) as an attractive candidate for improved chemotherapeutic intervention. Conformational changes associated with substrate binding to TcPR are believed to expose critical residues that elicit a host mitogenic B-cell response, a process contributing to parasite persistence and immune system evasion. Characterization of the conformational states of TcPR requires access to long-time-scale motions that are currently inaccessible by standard molecular dynamics simulations. Here we describe advanced accelerated molecular dynamics that extend the effective simulation time and capture large-scale motions of functional relevance. Conservation and fragment mapping analyses identified potential conformational epitopes located in the vicinity of newly identified transient binding pockets. The newly identified open TcPR conformations revealed by this study along with knowledge of the closed to open interconversion mechanism advances our understanding of TcPR function. The results and the strategy adopted in this work constitute an important step toward the rationalization of the molecular basis behind the mitogenic B-cell response of TcPR and provide new insights for future structure-based drug discovery.

Reversible and irreversible drought-induced changes in the anther proteome of rice (Oryza sativa L.) genotypes IR64 and Moroberekan.

PubMed

Liu, Jian-Xiang; Bennett, John

2011-01-01

Crop yield is most sensitive to water deficit during the reproductive stage. For rice, the most sensitive yield component is spikelet fertility and the most sensitive stage is immediately before heading. Here, we examined the effect of drought on the anther proteome of two rice genotypes: Moroberekan and IR64. Water was withheld for 3 d before heading (3DBH) in well watered controls for 5 d until the flag leaf relative water content (RWC) had declined to 45-50%. Plants were then re-watered and heading occurred 2-3 d later, representing a delay of 4-5 d relative to controls. The anther proteins were separated at 3 DBH, at the end of the stress period, and at heading in stressed/re-watered plants and controls by two-dimensional (2-D) gel electrophoresis, and 93 protein spots were affected reproducibly in abundance by drought during the experiment across two rice genotypes. After drought stress, upon re-watering, expressions of 24 protein spots were irreversible in both genotypes, 60 protein spots were irreversible in IR64 but reversible in Moroberekan, only nine protein spots were irreversible in Moroberekan while reversible in IR64. Among them, there were 14 newly drought-induced protein spots in IR64; none of them was reversible on re-watering. However, there were 13 newly drought-induced protein spots in Moroberekan, 10 of them were reversible on re-watering, including six drought-induced protein spots that were not reversed in IR64. Taken together, our proteomics data reveal that drought-tolerant genotype Moroberekan possessed better recovery capability following drought and re-watering at the anther proteome level than the drought-sensitive genotype IR64. The disruptions of drought to rice anther development and pollen cell functions are also discussed in the paper.

18 CFR 157.36 - Open seasons for expansions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Open seasons for... GAS ACT Open Seasons for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects § 157.36 Open seasons for expansions. Any open season for capacity exceeding the initial capacity of an Alaska natural gas...

18 CFR 157.33 - Requirement for open season.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Requirement for open... GAS ACT Open Seasons for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects § 157.33 Requirement for open... applicant has conducted an open season for capacity on its proposed project, in accordance with the...

18 CFR 157.34 - Notice of open season.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Notice of open season... ACT Open Seasons for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects § 157.34 Notice of open season. (a) Notice. A prospective applicant must provide reasonable public notice of an open season through methods...

18 CFR 157.34 - Notice of open season.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Notice of open season... ACT Open Seasons for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects § 157.34 Notice of open season. (a) Notice. A prospective applicant must provide reasonable public notice of an open season through methods...

18 CFR 157.36 - Open seasons for expansions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Open seasons for... GAS ACT Open Seasons for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects § 157.36 Open seasons for expansions. Any open season for capacity exceeding the initial capacity of an Alaska natural gas...

18 CFR 157.36 - Open seasons for expansions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Open seasons for... GAS ACT Open Seasons for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects § 157.36 Open seasons for expansions. Any open season for capacity exceeding the initial capacity of an Alaska natural gas...

18 CFR 157.36 - Open seasons for expansions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Open seasons for... GAS ACT Open Seasons for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects § 157.36 Open seasons for expansions. Any open season for capacity exceeding the initial capacity of an Alaska natural gas...

18 CFR 157.33 - Requirement for open season.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Requirement for open... GAS ACT Open Seasons for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects § 157.33 Requirement for open... applicant has conducted an open season for capacity on its proposed project, in accordance with the...

18 CFR 157.33 - Requirement for open season.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Requirement for open... GAS ACT Open Seasons for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects § 157.33 Requirement for open... applicant has conducted an open season for capacity on its proposed project, in accordance with the...

18 CFR 157.36 - Open seasons for expansions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Open seasons for... GAS ACT Open Seasons for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects § 157.36 Open seasons for expansions. Any open season for capacity exceeding the initial capacity of an Alaska natural gas...

18 CFR 157.33 - Requirement for open season.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Requirement for open... GAS ACT Open Seasons for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects § 157.33 Requirement for open... applicant has conducted an open season for capacity on its proposed project, in accordance with the...

18 CFR 157.34 - Notice of open season.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Notice of open season... ACT Open Seasons for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects § 157.34 Notice of open season. (a) Notice. A prospective applicant must provide reasonable public notice of an open season through methods...

18 CFR 157.33 - Requirement for open season.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Requirement for open... GAS ACT Open Seasons for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects § 157.33 Requirement for open... applicant has conducted an open season for capacity on its proposed project, in accordance with the...

The open sea as the main source of methylmercury in the water column of the Gulf of Lions (Northwestern Mediterranean margin)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cossa, Daniel; Durrieu de Madron, Xavier; Schäfer, Jörg; Lanceleur, Laurent; Guédron, Stéphane; Buscail, Roselyne; Thomas, Bastien; Castelle, Sabine; Naudin, Jean-Jacques

2017-02-01

Despite the ecologic and economical importance of coastal areas, the neurotoxic bioaccumulable monomethylmercury (MMHg) fluxes within the ocean margins and exchanges with the open sea remain unassessed. The aim of this paper is to address the questions of the abundance, distribution, production and exchanges of methylated mercury species (MeHgT), including MMHg and dimethylmercury (DMHg), in the waters, atmosphere and sediments of the Northwestern Mediterranean margin including the Rhône River delta, the continental shelf and its slope (Gulf of Lions) and the adjacent open sea (North Gyre). Concentrations of MeHgT ranged from <0.02 to 0.48 pmol L-1 with highest values associated with the oxygen-deficient zone of the open sea. The methylated mercury to total mercury proportion (MeHgT/HgT) increased from 2% to 4% in the Rhône River to up to 30% (averaging 18%) in the North Gyre waters, whereas, within the shelf waters, MeHgT/HgT proportions were the lowest (1-3%). We calculate that the open sea is the major source of MeHgT for the shelf waters, with an annual flux estimated at 0.68 ± 0.12 kmol a-1 (i.e., equivalent to 12% of the HgT flux). This MeHgT influx is more than 80 times the direct atmospheric deposition or the in situ net production, more than 40 times the estimated "maximum potential" annual efflux from shelf sediment, and more than 7 times that of the continental sources. In the open sea, ratios of MMHg/DMHg in waters were always <1 and minimum in the oxygen deficient zones of the water column, where MeHg concentrations are maximum. This observation supports the idea that MMHg could be a degradation product of DMHg produced from inorganic divalent Hg.

Open Defaecation and Its Effects on the Bacteriological Quality of Drinking Water Sources in Isiolo County, Kenya.

PubMed

Okullo, Joab Odhiambo; Moturi, Wilkister Nyaora; Ogendi, George Morara

2017-01-01

The post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals for sanitation call for universal access to adequate and equitable sanitation and an end to open defaecation by 2030. In Isiolo County, a semi-arid region lying in the northern part of Kenya, poor sanitation and water shortage remain a major problem facing the rural communities. The overall aim of the study was to assess the relationship between sanitation practices and the bacteriological quality of drinking water sources. The study also assessed the risk factors contributing to open defaecation in the rural environments of the study area. A cross-sectional study of 150 households was conducted to assess the faecal disposal practices in open defaecation free (ODF) and open defaecation not free (ODNF) areas. Sanitary surveys and bacteriological analyses were conducted for selected community water sources to identify faecal pollution sources, contamination pathways, and contributory factors. Analysis of data was performed using SPSS (descriptive and inferential statistics at α = .05 level of significance). Open defaecation habit was reported in 51% of the study households in ODNF villages and in 17% households in ODF villages. Higher mean colony counts were recorded for water samples from ODNF areas 2.0, 7.8, 5.3, and 7.0 (×10 3 ) colony-forming units (CFUs)/100 mL compared with those of ODF 1.8, 6.4, 3.5, and 6.1 (×10 3 ) areas for Escherichia coli , faecal streptococci, Salmonella typhi , and total coliform, respectively. Correlation tests revealed a significant relationship between sanitary surveys and contamination of water sources ( P  = .002). The water sources exhibited high levels of contamination with microbial pathogens attributed to poor sanitation. Practising safe faecal disposal in particular is recommended as this will considerably reverse the situation and thus lead to improved human health.

Open Defaecation and Its Effects on the Bacteriological Quality of Drinking Water Sources in Isiolo County, Kenya

PubMed Central

Okullo, Joab Odhiambo; Moturi, Wilkister Nyaora; Ogendi, George Morara

2017-01-01

Background information: The post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals for sanitation call for universal access to adequate and equitable sanitation and an end to open defaecation by 2030. In Isiolo County, a semi-arid region lying in the northern part of Kenya, poor sanitation and water shortage remain a major problem facing the rural communities. Objective: The overall aim of the study was to assess the relationship between sanitation practices and the bacteriological quality of drinking water sources. The study also assessed the risk factors contributing to open defaecation in the rural environments of the study area. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 150 households was conducted to assess the faecal disposal practices in open defaecation free (ODF) and open defaecation not free (ODNF) areas. Sanitary surveys and bacteriological analyses were conducted for selected community water sources to identify faecal pollution sources, contamination pathways, and contributory factors. Analysis of data was performed using SPSS (descriptive and inferential statistics at α = .05 level of significance). Results: Open defaecation habit was reported in 51% of the study households in ODNF villages and in 17% households in ODF villages. Higher mean colony counts were recorded for water samples from ODNF areas 2.0, 7.8, 5.3, and 7.0 (×103) colony-forming units (CFUs)/100 mL compared with those of ODF 1.8, 6.4, 3.5, and 6.1 (×103) areas for Escherichia coli, faecal streptococci, Salmonella typhi, and total coliform, respectively. Correlation tests revealed a significant relationship between sanitary surveys and contamination of water sources (P = .002). Conclusions: The water sources exhibited high levels of contamination with microbial pathogens attributed to poor sanitation. Practising safe faecal disposal in particular is recommended as this will considerably reverse the situation and thus lead to improved human health. PMID:29051705

Acarbose compared with metformin as initial therapy in patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes: an open-label, non-inferiority randomised trial.

PubMed

Yang, Wenying; Liu, Jie; Shan, Zhongyan; Tian, Haoming; Zhou, Zhiguang; Ji, Qiuhe; Weng, Jianping; Jia, Weiping; Lu, Juming; Liu, Jing; Xu, Yuan; Yang, Zhaojun; Chen, Wei

2014-01-01

Metformin is the only first-line oral hypoglycaemic drug for type 2 diabetes recommended by international guidelines with proven efficacy, safety, and cost-effectiveness. However, little information exists about its use in Asian populations. We aimed to ascertain the effectiveness of the α-glucosidase inhibitor acarbose, extensively adopted in China, compared with metformin as the alternative initial therapy for newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes. In this 48-week, randomised, open-label, non-inferiority trial, patients who were newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, with a mean HbA1c of 7·5%, were enrolled from 11 sites in China. After a 4-week lifestyle modification run-in, patients were assigned to 24 weeks of monotherapy with metformin or acarbose as the initial treatment, followed by a 24-week therapy phase during which add-on therapy was used if prespecified glucose targets were not achieved. Primary endpoints were to establish whether acarbose was non-inferior to metformin in HbA1c reduction at week 24 and week 48 timepoints. The non-inferiority margin was 0·3%, with an expected null difference in the change from baseline to week 48 in HbA1c. Analysis was done on a modified intention-to-treat population. This study was registered with Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, number ChiCTR-TRC-08000231. Of the 788 patients randomly assigned to treatment groups, 784 patients started the intended study drug. HbA1c reduction at week 24 was -1·17% in the acarbose group and -1·19% in the metformin group. At week 48, the HbA1c reduction was -1·11% (acarbose) and -1·12% (metformin) with difference 0·01% (95% CI -0·12 to 0·14, p=0·8999). Six (2%) patients in the acarbose group and seven (2%) patients in the metformin group had serious adverse events, and two (1%) and four (1%) had hypoglycaemic episodes. This study provides evidence that acarbose is similar to metformin in efficacy, and is therefore a viable choice for initial therapy in Chinese patients newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Bayer Healthcare (China) and Double Crane Phama. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Database of historically documented springs and spring flow measurements in Texas

USGS Publications Warehouse

Heitmuller, Franklin T.; Reece, Brian D.

2003-01-01

Springs are naturally occurring features that convey excess ground water to the land surface; they represent a transition from ground water to surface water. Water issues through one opening, multiple openings, or numerous seeps in the rock or soil. The database of this report provides information about springs and spring flow in Texas including spring names, identification numbers, location, and, if available, water source and use. This database does not include every spring in Texas, but is limited to an aggregation of selected digital and hard-copy data of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB), and Capitol Environmental Services.

Offset-Free Model Predictive Control of Open Water Channel Based on Moving Horizon Estimation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ekin Aydin, Boran; Rutten, Martine

2016-04-01

Model predictive control (MPC) is a powerful control option which is increasingly used by operational water managers for managing water systems. The explicit consideration of constraints and multi-objective management are important features of MPC. However, due to the water loss in open water systems by seepage, leakage and evaporation a mismatch between the model and the real system will be created. These mismatch affects the performance of MPC and creates an offset from the reference set point of the water level. We present model predictive control based on moving horizon estimation (MHE-MPC) to achieve offset free control of water level for open water canals. MHE-MPC uses the past predictions of the model and the past measurements of the system to estimate unknown disturbances and the offset in the controlled water level is systematically removed. We numerically tested MHE-MPC on an accurate hydro-dynamic model of the laboratory canal UPC-PAC located in Barcelona. In addition, we also used well known disturbance modeling offset free control scheme for the same test case. Simulation experiments on a single canal reach show that MHE-MPC outperforms disturbance modeling offset free control scheme.

Quality testing of autoclaved rodent drinking water during short-term and long-term storage.

PubMed

Peveler, Jessica L; Crisler, Robin; Hickman, Deb

2015-06-01

All animals need clean water to drink. At the authors' animal facility, drinking water for immunocompromised rodents is filtered by reverse osmosis, acidified during bottling and sterilized in an autoclave. Autoclaved water bottles can be stored in unopened autoclave bags for 7 d or in opened bags for 2 d; if not used during that time, they are emptied, cleaned, refilled and sterilized again. The authors wished to determine whether the storage period of 2-7 d was adequate and necessary to ensure the quality of drinking water. They tested water bottles for pH levels and for the presence of adenosine triphosphate as a measure of organic contamination during short-term and long-term storage. The pH of autoclaved drinking water generally remained stable during storage. Furthermore, no instances of organic contamination were detected in autoclaved water bottles stored for up to 22 d in unopened bags and only one instance was detected in bottles stored for up to 119 d in opened bags in a room with individually ventilated cages. On the basis of these findings, the acceptable storage period for autoclaved water bottles in opened bags at the authors' facility was extended to 21 d.

Portable platforms for setting rocket nets in open-water areas

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cox, R.R.; Afton, A.D.

1994-01-01

Rocket-netting of aquatic birds is generally done from permanent sites that are free of vegetation and debris to allow visibility and unobstructed projection of nets. We developed a technique for setting rocket nets on portable platforms to capture waterfowl in open-water habitats.

A comparison of radiation budgets in the Fram Strait marginal ice zone

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Francis, Jennifer A.; Katsaros, Kristina B.; Ackerman, Thomas P.; Lind, Richard J.; Davidson, Kenneth L.

1991-01-01

Results are presented from calculations of radiation budgets for the sea-ice and the open-water regimes in the marginal ice zone (MIZ) of the Fram Strait, from measurements of surface irradiances and meteorological conditions made during the 1984 Marginal Ice Zone Experiment. Simultaneous measurements on either side of the ice edge allowed a comparison of the open-water and the sea-ice environments. The results show significant differences between the radiation budgets of the two regimes in the MIZ. The open water absorbed twice as much radiation as did the ice, and the mean cooling rate of the atmosphere over water was approximately 15 percent larger than that over ice. Calculated fluxes and atmospheric cooling rates were found to compare well with available literature data.

Quality of life in newly diagnosed glaucoma patients : The Collaborative Initial Glaucoma Treatment Study.

PubMed

Janz, N K; Wren, P A; Lichter, P R; Musch, D C; Gillespie, B W; Guire, K E

2001-05-01

The Collaborative Initial Glaucoma Treatment Study (CIGTS) was designed to determine whether patients with newly diagnosed open-angle glaucoma are better treated initially by medicine or immediate filtering surgery. This paper describes the quality-of-life (QOL) measurement approach, instruments included, and the CIGTS participants' QOL findings at the time of diagnosis. Baseline results from a randomized, controlled clinical trial. Six hundred seven patients from 14 clinical centers were enrolled. Patients randomized to initial medication received a stepped medical regimen (n = 307). Those randomized to initial surgery underwent a trabeculectomy (n = 300). The baseline interview was conducted before treatment initiation. All baseline and posttreatment QOL assessments were conducted by telephone from a centralized interviewing center. The primary outcome measure described in this paper was QOL. The QOL instrument is multidimensional and incorporates both disease-specific and generic measures, including the Visual Activities Questionnaire, Sickness Impact Profile, and a Symptom and Health Problem CHECKLIST: The correlations between QOL measures and clinical outcomes were in the expected direction, but relatively weak. At initial diagnosis, difficulty with bright lights and with light and dark adaptation were the most frequently reported symptoms related to visual function, whereas visual distortion was the most bothersome. Approximately half of the patients reported at least some worry or concern about the possibility of blindness. Within the Visual Activities Questionnaire, higher scores on the Peripheral Vision subscale were associated with more field loss (P < 0.01). In regression analyses controlling for sociodemographics and nonocular comorbidities, increased visual field loss was significantly associated with higher dysfunction among five disease-specific QOL measures (P < 0.05). Newly diagnosed glaucoma patients reported experiencing some visual function symptoms at the time of diagnosis that would not be intuitively expected based on clinical testing. Some discussion about the association between clinical presentation and worry about blindness may reduce unnecessary concern. These results provide the basis for long-term comparisons of the QOL effects of initial medical and surgical treatment for open-angle glaucoma.

Contrasting sea-ice and open-water boundary layers during melt and freeze-up seasons: Some result from the Arctic Clouds in Summer Experiment.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tjernström, Michael; Sotiropoulou, Georgia; Sedlar, Joseph; Achtert, Peggy; Brooks, Barbara; Brooks, Ian; Persson, Ola; Prytherch, John; Salsbury, Dominic; Shupe, Matthew; Johnston, Paul; Wolfe, Dan

2016-04-01

With more open water present in the Arctic summer, an understanding of atmospheric processes over open-water and sea-ice surfaces as summer turns into autumn and ice starts forming becomes increasingly important. The Arctic Clouds in Summer Experiment (ACSE) was conducted in a mix of open water and sea ice in the eastern Arctic along the Siberian shelf during late summer and early autumn 2014, providing detailed observations of the seasonal transition, from melt to freeze. Measurements were taken over both ice-free and ice-covered surfaces, offering an insight to the role of the surface state in shaping the lower troposphere and the boundary-layer conditions as summer turned into autumn. During summer, strong surface inversions persisted over sea ice, while well-mixed boundary layers capped by elevated inversions were frequent over open-water. The former were often associated with advection of warm air from adjacent open-water or land surfaces, whereas the latter were due to a positive buoyancy flux from the warm ocean surface. Fog and stratus clouds often persisted over the ice, whereas low-level liquid-water clouds developed over open water. These differences largely disappeared in autumn, when mixed-phase clouds capped by elevated inversions dominated in both ice-free and ice-covered conditions. Low-level-jets occurred ~20-25% of the time in both seasons. The observations indicate that these jets were typically initiated at air-mass boundaries or along the ice edge in autumn, while in summer they appeared to be inertial oscillations initiated by partial frictional decoupling as warm air was advected in over the sea ice. The start of the autumn season was related to an abrupt change in atmospheric conditions, rather than to the gradual change in solar radiation. The autumn onset appeared as a rapid cooling of the whole atmosphere and the freeze up followed as the warm surface lost heat to the atmosphere. While the surface type had a pronounced impact on boundary-layer structure in summer, the surface was often warmer than the atmosphere in autumn, regardless of surface type. Hence the autumn boundary-layer structure was more dependent on synoptic scale meteorology.

Hydrologic Geospatial Fabric as Community Cyberinfrastructure: International standardization best practices and the U.S. Open Water Data Initiative implementation.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blodgett, D. L.

2016-12-01

Recent prolonged droughts, catastrophic flooding, and the need to protect and restore aquatic ecosystems, has increased the emphasis on information sharing in the water resources science and engineering domains. Internationally the joint World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Hydrology Domain Working Group (HDWG) has been working toward a comprehensive system of standards and best practices for the Hydrology Domain. In the U.S. the multi-agency led and open to all U.S. Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI) was tasked to implement an Open Water Data Initiative (OWDI), "that will integrate currently fragmented water information into a connected, national water data framework"[1]. The status of both will be presented with focus on a community hydrologic geospatial fabric. Hydrology observations data standardization was the emphasis of the first 5 years of the HDWG. This work included WaterML 2.0 parts 1 - timeseries and part 2 - ratings and gagings. In 2016, the first of two new hydrographic feature models, GroundwaterML2, was completed and the second, for surface water features, was in active development. The WMO Commission for Hydrology is considering adoption of all these standards and their adoption is central to the U.S. OWDI. OWDI participants have produced a special collection in the Journal of American Water Resources Association and several initiative working groups have concluded their activities. One early deliverable from the OWDI was a new easier to use structure for the NHDPlus dataset. Building on this, a project to create a national Network Linked Data Index (NLDI) is being undertaken as an open-source community endeavor. The NLDI centralizes river network data, network navigation tools, crawlers that index data to the network, and utilities to register or remove data from the network. Research that informed the design of the NLDI will be presented along with recent development and findings of the project. This specific activity will be put in the context of the methods for and status of international standards and best practices development intended to help realize such national and international goals. [1] http://acwi.gov/spatial/open_water_data_charge_to_fgdc_june23_2014.pdf

Effectiveness Using Circular Fibre Steel Flap Gate As a Control Structure Towards the Hydraulic Characteristics in Open Channel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adib, M. R. M.; Amirza, A. R. M.; Wardah, T.; Junaidah, A.

2016-07-01

Hydraulic control gate structure plays an important role in regulating the flow of water in river, canal or water reservoir. One of the most appropriate structures in term of resolving the problem of flood occured is the construction of circular fibre steel flap gate. Therefore, an experiment has been conducted by using an open channel model at laboratory. In this case, hydraulic jump and backwater were the method to determined the hydraulic characteristics of circular fibre steel flap gate in an open channel model. From the experiment, the opening angle of flap gate can receive discharges with the highest flow rate of 0.035 m3/s with opening angle was 47°. The type of jump that occurs at the slope of 1/200 for a distance of 5.0 m is a standing jump or undulating wave. The height of the backwater can be identified based on the differences of specific force which is specific force before jump, F1 and specific force after jump, F2 from the formation of backwater. Based on the research conducted, the tendency of incident backwater wave occurred was high in every distance of water control location from water inlet is flap slope and the slope of 1/300 which is 0.84 m/s and 0.75 m/s of celerity in open channel model.

Satellite altimetry in sea ice regions - detecting open water for estimating sea surface heights

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Müller, Felix L.; Dettmering, Denise; Bosch, Wolfgang

2017-04-01

The Greenland Sea and the Farm Strait are transporting sea ice from the central Arctic ocean southwards. They are covered by a dynamic changing sea ice layer with significant influences on the Earth climate system. Between the sea ice there exist various sized open water areas known as leads, straight lined open water areas, and polynyas exhibiting a circular shape. Identifying these leads by satellite altimetry enables the extraction of sea surface height information. Analyzing the radar echoes, also called waveforms, provides information on the surface backscatter characteristics. For example waveforms reflected by calm water have a very narrow and single-peaked shape. Waveforms reflected by sea ice show more variability due to diffuse scattering. Here we analyze altimeter waveforms from different conventional pulse-limited satellite altimeters to separate open water and sea ice waveforms. An unsupervised classification approach employing partitional clustering algorithms such as K-medoids and memory-based classification methods such as K-nearest neighbor is used. The classification is based on six parameters derived from the waveform's shape, for example the maximum power or the peak's width. The open-water detection is quantitatively compared to SAR images processed while accounting for sea ice motion. The classification results are used to derive information about the temporal evolution of sea ice extent and sea surface heights. They allow to provide evidence on climate change relevant influences as for example Arctic sea level rise due to enhanced melting rates of Greenland's glaciers and an increasing fresh water influx into the Arctic ocean. Additionally, the sea ice cover extent analyzed over a long-time period provides an important indicator for a globally changing climate system.

Rhodium-Catalyzed Asymmetric 1,4-Additions, in Water at Room Temperature, with In-Flask Catalyst Recycling

PubMed Central

Lipshutz, Bruce H.; Isley, Nicholas A.; Moser, Ralph; Ghorai, Subir; Leuser, Helena; Taft, Benjamin R.

2013-01-01

Using the newly introduced designer surfactant polyethyleneglycol ubiquinol sebacate (PQS), as the platform for micellar catalysis, nonracemic BINAP has been covalently attached and rhodium(I) inserted to form PQS-BINAP-Rh. This species, the first example of a nonracemically-ligated transition metal catalyst-tethered amphiphile, can be utilized for Rh-catalyzed asymmetric conjugate addition reactions of arylboronic acids to acyclic and cyclic enones. These are performed in water at room temperature, while the catalyst can be recycled without its removal from water in the reaction vessel. PMID:24659941

Performance evaluation of a newly developed variable rate sprayer for nursery liner applications

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

An experimental variable-rate sprayer designed for liner applications was tested by comparing its spray deposit, coverage, and droplet density inside canopies of six nursery liner varieties with constant-rate applications. Spray samplers, including water sensitive papers (WSP) and nylon screens, wer...

NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON RETROFIT OPPORTUNITIES ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Water resource managers have been successful in developing approaches for reducing nonpoint source pollution in newly developing urban areas. Issues become increasingly complex, however, when managers are faced with the challenge of reducing nonpoint source impacts within previously developed urban environments. A diverse assortment of resource management tools, or

EPA Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Centers for Water Research on National Priorities Related to a Systems View of Nutrient Management

EPA Science Inventory

This poster describes the missions and objectives of four newly-awarded Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Centers. There is also a description of how the projects fit together to meet solicitation research questions.

Bacteria transport simulation using apex model in the toenepi watershed, New Zealand

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The Agricultural Policy/Environmental eXtender (APEX) model is a distributed, continuous, daily-timestep small watershed-scale hydrologic and water quality model. In this study, the newly developed fecal-derived bacteria fate and transport subroutine was applied and validated using APEX model. The ...

RESTORATION OF MUNICIPAL DRINKING WATER SUPPLY WELLS IMPACTED BY NATURALLY OCCURRING ARSENIC

EPA Science Inventory

Studies have indicated that arsenic concentrations greater than the newly proposed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 10 micrograms per liter (ug/L) occur in specific parts of numerous aquifers around the United States. One such aquifer...

R package CityWaterBalance | Science Inventory | US EPA

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

CityWaterBalance provides a reproducible workflow for studying an urban water system. The network of urban water flows and storages can be modeled and visualized. Any city may be modeled with preassembled data, but data for US cities can be gathered via web services using this package and dependencies, geoknife and dataRetrieval. Urban water flows are difficult to comprehensively quantify. Although many important data sources are openly available, they are published by a variety of agencies in different formats, units, spatial and temporal resolutions. Increasingly, open data are made available via web services, which allow for automated, current retrievals. Integrating data streams and estimating the values of unmeasured urban water flows, however, remains needlessly time-consuming. In order to streamline a reproducible analysis, we have developed the CityWaterBalance package for the open source R language. The CityWaterBalance package for R is based on a simple model of the network of urban water flows and storages. The model may be run with data that has been pre-assembled by the user, or data can be retrieved by functions in CityWaterBalance and dependencies. CityWaterBalance can be used to quickly assemble a quantitative portrait of any urban water system. The systemic effects of water management decisions can be readily explored. Much of the data acquisition process for US cities can already be automated, while the package serves as a place-hold

Assessment of the urban water system with an open ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Urban water systems convey complex environmental and man-made flows. The relationships among water flows and networked storages remains difficult to comprehensively evaluate. Such evaluation is important, however, as interventions are designed (e.g, conservation measures, green infrastructure) to modify specific flows of urban water (e.g. drinking water, stormwater) that may have systemic effects. We have developed a general model that specifies the relationships among urban water system components, and a set of tools for evaluating the model for any city as the R package CityWaterBalance. CityWaterBalance provides a reproducible workflow for assessing urban water system(s) by facilitating the retrieval of open data, largely via web services, and analysis of these data using open-source R functions. It allows the user to 1) quickly assemble a quantitative, unified picture of flows thorough an urban area, and 2) easily change the spatial and temporal boundaries of analysis to match scales relevant to local decision-making. We used CityWaterBalance to evaluate the water system in the Chicago metropolitan area on a monthly basis for water years 2001-2010. Results, including the relative magnitudes and temporal variability of major water flows in greater Chicago, are used to consider 1) trade-offs associated with management alternatives for stormwater and combined sewer overflows and 2) the significance of future changes in precipitation, which is the largest

18 CFR 35.28 - Non-discriminatory open access transmission tariff.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Non-discriminatory open access transmission tariff. 35.28 Section 35.28 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY REGULATIONS UNDER THE FEDERAL POWER ACT FILING OF RATE SCHEDULES...

18 CFR 375.203 - Open meetings.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Open meetings. 375.203 Section 375.203 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT... photographing of Commission meetings by still or movie camera, or by video taping without lighting aids, is...

18 CFR 375.203 - Open meetings.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Open meetings. 375.203 Section 375.203 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT... photographing of Commission meetings by still or movie camera, or by video taping without lighting aids, is...

18 CFR 375.203 - Open meetings.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Open meetings. 375.203 Section 375.203 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT... photographing of Commission meetings by still or movie camera, or by video taping without lighting aids, is...

18 CFR 375.203 - Open meetings.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Open meetings. 375.203 Section 375.203 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT... photographing of Commission meetings by still or movie camera, or by video taping without lighting aids, is...

18 CFR 375.203 - Open meetings.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Open meetings. 375.203 Section 375.203 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT... photographing of Commission meetings by still or movie camera, or by video taping without lighting aids, is...

The Effects of Freezing, Melting and Partial Ice Cover on Gas Transport in Laboratory Seawater Experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Loose, B.; McGillis, W.; Schlosser, P.; Perovich, D.; Takahashi, T.

2008-12-01

Sea ice physico-chemical processes affect gas dynamics, which may be relevant to polar ocean budgets of climatically-active gases. We used SF6 and O2 as inert gas tracers in a tank experiment to observe the transport of gases between water, ice and air during freezing/melting and partial ice cover. The results show that during ice growth, the rejection of O2 and SF6 was greater than the rejection of salt per unit of ambient concentration in seawater. Unconsolidated ice crystal growth produced an increase in dissolved O2 concentration, indicating that the water-air gradient may favor gas evasion during the early stages of sea-ice formation. Measurements of the gas transfer velocity (k), using SF6 and O2 during conditions of partial ice cover exceed the proportionality between the fraction of open water and k determined between 0% and 100% open water conditions. At 15% open water, k equals 35% of k during ice-free conditions, indicating the importance of under-ice turbulence for gas exchange. In our experiments most of this turbulence was produced by pumps installed for circulation of the water in the tank to avoid density stratification. Varying the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) delivered to the water by these pumps produced a correspondent variation in k. Measurements of TKE using particle velocimetry suggest that turbulence in the ice-water boundary layer dominated the convection driven by heat loss through the open water, and the magnitude of net TKE production was similar to that measured beneath drifting ice in the field.

Prevalence of Giardia lamblia in Different Water Sources of District Nowshehra, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

khan, Shaukat Ali; Ayaz, Sultan; Khan, Sanaullah; Anees, Muhammad; Khan, Amir Muhammad; Khan, Imran

2012-12-01

Giardia lamblia is a cosmopolitan parasite that occurs worldwide and generally effects gastrointestinal tract. Water played a media for transmission of Giardia to different hosts. A total of 300 water samples were examined from different water sources, i.e. tap, open well, bore well and drain waters and DNA was extracted by trizol method through prescribed protocol. DNA was amplified through PCR. The overall prevalence of G. lamblia was 27.66% (83/300). Among these 2.5% (1/40) in bore well water, 29% (29/100) open well, 18.83% (11/60) tap water and 42% (42/100) drain water. It is concluded from the study that Giardia is frequently found in all water sources and is the main cause of ill health.

Long term structural effects in water: autothixotropy of water and its hysteresis.

PubMed

Vybíral, Bohumil; Vorácek, Pavel

2007-07-01

We discovered a previously unknown phenomenon in liquid water, which develops over time when water is left to stand undisturbed, and which made precise gravimetric measurement impossible. We term this property autothixotropy (weak gel-like behaviour developing spontaneously over time) and propose a possible explanation. The results of quantitative measurements, performed by two different methods, are presented. We also report the newly discovered phenomenon of autothixotropy-hysteresis and describe the dependence of autothixotropy on the degree of molecular translative freedom. A very important conclusion is that the presence of very low concentration of salt ions, these phenomena do not occur in deionized water. Salt ions may be the determinative condition for the occurrence of the phenomena.

HLA-F and MHC-I Open Conformers Cooperate in a MHC-I Antigen Cross-Presentation Pathway

PubMed Central

Goodridge, Jodie P.; Lee, Ni; Burian, Aura; Pyo, Chul-Woo; Tykodi, Scott S.; Warren, Edus H.; Yee, Cassian; Riddell, Stanley R.

2013-01-01

Peptides that are presented by MHC class I (MHC-I) are processed from two potential sources, as follows: newly synthesized endogenous proteins for direct presentation on the surface of most nucleated cells and exogenous proteins for cross-presentation typically by professional APCs. In this study, we present data that implicate the nonclassical HLA-F and open conformers of MHC-I expressed on activated cells in a pathway for the presentation of exogenous proteins by MHC-I. This pathway is distinguished from the conventional endogenous pathway by its independence from TAP and tapasin and its sensitivity to inhibitors of lysosomal enzymes, and further distinguished by its dependence on MHC-I allotype-specific epitope recognition for Ag uptake. Thus, our data from in vitro experiments collectively support a previously unrecognized model of Ag cross-presentation mediated by HLA-F and MHC-I open conformers on activated lymphocytes and monocytes, which may significantly contribute to the regulation of immune system functions and the immune defense. PMID:23851683

Cosmonaut Krikalev with IMAX camera prior to hatch opening

NASA Image and Video Library

2001-02-11

STS98-E-5124 (11 February 2001) --- Cosmonaut Sergei K. Krikalev, Expedition One flight engineer representing the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, films activity in the Unity node, just outside the newly attached Destiny laboratory. The crews of Atlantis and the International Space Station on February 11 opened the Destiny laboratory and spent the first full day of what are planned to be years of work ahead inside the orbiting science and command center. Astronaut William M. (Bill) Shepherd (just out of frame here) opened the Destiny hatch, and he and Shuttle commander Kenneth D. Cockrell ventured inside at 8:38 a.m. (CST). Members of both crews went to work quickly inside the new module, activating air systems, fire extinguishers, alarm systems, computers and internal communications. The crew also continued equipment transfers from the shuttle to the station and filmed several scenes onboard the station using the IMAX camera. This scene was recorded with a digital still camera.

Astronauts Cockrell, Shepherd and Polansky prior to opening hatch

NASA Image and Video Library

2001-02-11

STS98-E-5123 (11 February 2001) --- This digital still camera shot shows STS-98 mission commander Kenneth D. Cockrell (from left), Expedition One commander William M. (Bill) Shepherd and STS-98 pilot Mark L. Polansky pausing at Unity's closed hatch to the newly attached Destiny laboratory. The crews of Atlantis and the International Space Station opened the laboratory shortly after this photo was made on Feb. 11; and the astronauts and cosmonauts spent the first full day of what are planned to be years of work ahead inside the orbiting science and command center. Shepherd opened the Destiny hatch, and he and shuttle commander Cockrell ventured inside at 8:38 a.m. (CST), Feb. 11. As depicted in subsequent digital images in this series, members of both crews went to work quickly inside the new module, activating air systems, fire extinguishers, alarm systems, computers and internal communications. The crew also continued equipment transfers from the shuttle to the station.

Easy to open? Exploring the 'openability' of hospital food and beverage packaging by older adults.

PubMed

Bell, Alison F; Walton, Karen L; Tapsell, Linda C

2016-03-01

Food is increasingly a packaged commodity, both in the community and in institutionalised settings such as hospitals, where many older people are malnourished. Previous research with patients aged over 65 years in NSW public hospitals identified difficulties opening milk, water, juices, cereal and tetra packs. The aim of this paper was to assess the ability of well older people living in the community to open food and beverage items routinely used in NSW hospitals in order to gain further insights into the older person/pack interaction and the role of hand and finger strength in pack opening. A sample of 40 older people in good health aged over 65 years from 3 community settings participated in the study. The attempts at pack opening were observed, the time taken to open the pack was measured and the correlation between grip and pinch strengths with opening times was determined. Tetra packs, water bottles, cereal, fruit cups, desserts, biscuits and cheese portions appeared to be the most difficult food products to open. Ten percent of the sample could not open the water bottles and 39% could not open cheese portions. The results were consistent with the previous research involving hospitalised older adults, adding emphasis to the conclusion that food and beverage packaging can be a potential barrier to adequate nutrition when particular types of packaged products are used in hospitals or the community. The ageing population is rapidly becoming a larger and more important group to consider in the provision of goods and services. Designers, manufacturers and providers of food and beverage products need to consider the needs and abilities of these older consumers to ensure good 'openability' and promote adequate nutritional intakes. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Lid dynamics of porcine pancreatic lipase in non-aqueous solvents.

PubMed

Haque, Neshatul; Prabhu, N Prakash

2016-10-01

Understanding the dynamics of enzymes in organic solvents has wider implications on their industrial applications. Pancreatic lipases, which show activity in their lid open-state, demonstrate enhanced activity in organic solvents at higher temperatures. However, the lid dynamics of pancreatic lipases in non-aqueous environment is yet to be clearly understood. Dynamics of porcine pancreatic lipase (PPL) in open and closed conformations was followed in ethanol, toluene, and octanol using molecular simulation methods. In silico double mutant D250V and E254L of PPL (PPLmut-Cl) was created and its lid opening dynamics in water and in octanol was analyzed. PPL showed increase in solvent accessible surface area and decrease in packing density as the polarity of the surrounded solvent decreased. Breaking the interactions between D250-Y115, and D250-E254 in PPLmut-Cl directed the lid to attain open-state conformation. Major energy barriers during the lid movement in water and in octanol were identified. Also, the trajectories of lid movement were found to be different in these solvents. Only the double mutant at higher temperature showed lid opening movement suggesting the essential role of the three residues in holding the lid in closed conformation. The lid opening dynamics was faster in octanol than water suggesting that non-polar solvents favor open conformation of the lid. This study identifies important interactions between the lid and the residues in domain 1 which possibly keeps the lid in closed conformation. Also, it explains the rearrangements of residue-residue interactions during lid opening movement in water and in octanol. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Interior of the U.S. Laboratory / Destiny module

NASA Image and Video Library

2001-02-11

STS98-E-5113 (11 February 2001) --- This wide shot, photographed with a digital still camera, shows the interior of the newly attached Destiny laboratory. The crews of Atlantis and the International Space Station opened the laboratory on Feb. 11 and spent the first full day of what are planned to be years of work ahead inside the orbiting science and command center. Station commander William M. (Bill) Shepherd opened the Destiny hatch, and he and shuttle commander Kenneth D. Cockrell ventured inside at 8:38 a.m. (CST), Feb. 11. As depicted in subsequent digital images in this series, members of both crews went to work quickly inside the new module, activating air systems, fire extinguishers, alarm systems, computers and internal communications. The crew also continued equipment transfers from the shuttle to the station.

LLNL Small-Scale Friction sensitivity (BAM) Test

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Simpson, L.R.; Foltz, M.F.

1996-06-01

Small-scale safety testing of explosives, propellants and other energetic materials, is done to determine their sensitivity to various stimuli including friction, static spark, and impact. Testing is done to discover potential handling problems for either newly synthesized materials of unknown behavior, or materials that have been stored for long periods of time. This report describes the existing {open_quotes}BAM{close_quotes} Small-Scale Friction Test, and the methods used to determine the friction sensitivity pertinent to handling energetic materials. The accumulated data for the materials tested is not listed here - that information is in a database. Included is, however, a short list ofmore » (1) materials that had an unusual response, and (2), a few {open_quotes}standard{close_quotes} materials representing the range of typical responses usually seen.« less

Newly defined aberrant crypt foci as a marker for dysplasia in the rat colon

PubMed Central

Ochiai, Masako; Hippo, Yoshitaka; Izumiya, Masashi; Watanabe, Masatoshi; Nakagama, Hitoshi

2014-01-01

Dysplasia represents a preneoplastic status in multistep colon carcinogenesis. Whereas laborious preparation of thin sections is required for its diagnosis, we here show that newly defined aberrant crypt foci (ACF) simply mark the majority of the dysplasia on the whole colon. Specifically, decoloring of the azoxymethane-treated rat colon after scoring classical ACF (cACF) resulted in visualization of a subset of aberrant crypts that remained densely stained. They were morphologically classified into three subtypes, of which two with compressed luminal openings proved highly correlated with dysplasia. Accordingly, we designated those foci harboring either of the two crypt subtypes as dysplasia-associated ACF (dACF). By serially applying different detection methods for known preneoplastic lesions to the same colon, we showed that most dACF had already been identified as cACF, and a few newly identified dACF contained an entire population of more advanced lesions, such as flat ACF and mucin-depleted foci. Consequently, integrative scoring of cACF and dACF enabled capture of all early lesions of the colon. Furthermore, 94% of the dACF showed dysplasia and 90% of the dysplastic lesions proved to be dACF. Thus, dACF is a promising marker for dysplasia, likely facilitating precise identification of the early stages of colon carcinogenesis. PMID:24827115

Physical and emotional well-being and support in newly diagnosed head and neck cancer patient-caregiver dyads.

PubMed

Sterba, Katherine R; Zapka, Jane; Armeson, Kent E; Shirai, Keisuke; Buchanan, Amy; Day, Terry A; Alberg, Anthony J

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the physical and emotional well-being and social support in newly diagnosed head and neck cancer (HNC) patients and caregivers and identify sociodemographic, clinical, and behavioral risk factors associated with compromised well-being in patients and caregivers. Newly diagnosed HNC patients and their primary caregivers (N = 72 dyads) completed questionnaires before treatment assessing physical and mental well-being, depression, cancer worry, and open-ended support questions. Patients reported worse physical well-being than caregivers (p < 0.05) but similar levels of mental well-being. Caregivers reported providing emotional and instrumental support most frequently with an emphasis on nutrition and assistance with speech, appearance, and addictions. Both patients and their caregivers reported suboptimal mental well-being and depression. Smoking was associated with compromised well-being in patients, caregivers, and dyads. Compromised well-being in patients and their caregivers was more likely when patients were younger, had worse symptoms, and smoked/consumed alcohol (p < 0.05). While patients face more physical strain than caregivers, both equally confront emotional challenges. Results highlight risk factors for compromised well-being in both patients and their caregivers that should be assessed at diagnosis to guide identification of needed dyadic-focused supportive care resources.

[Spatiotemporal characteristics of nitrogen and phosphorus in a mountainous urban lake].

PubMed

Bao, Jing-Yue; Bao, Jian-Guo; Li, Li-Qing

2014-10-01

Longjing Lake in Chongqing Expo Garden is a typical representative of mountainous urban lake. Based on water quality monitoring of Longjing Lake, spatiotemporal characteristics of nitrogen and phosphorus and their relations were analyzed, combined with natural and human factors considered. The results indicated that annual average concentrations of TN and TP in overall lake were (1.42 ± 0.46) mg · L(-1) and (0.09 ± 0.03) mg · L(-1), nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations fluctuated seasonally which were lower during the flooding season than those during the dry season. Nitrogen and phosphorus concentration in main water area, open water areas and bay areas of Longjing Lake were distributed with temporal and spatial heterogeneity by different regional influencing factors. The seasonal variation of the main water area was basically consistent with overall lake. Two open water areas respectively connected the main water area with the upstream region, bay areas. TN and TP concentrations were gradually reduced along the flow direction. Upstream water quality and surrounding park functional layout impacted nitrogen and phosphorus nutrient concentrations of open water areas. Nutrient concentrations of typical bay areas were higher than those of main water area and open water areas. The mean mass fraction of PN/TN and PP/TP accounted for a large proportion (51.7% and 72.8%) during the flooding season, while NO(3-)-N/TN and SRP/TP accounted for more (42.0% and 59.4%) during the dry season. The mass fraction of ammonia nitrogen and dissolved organic nitrogen in total nitrogen were relatively stable. The annual mean of N/P ratio was 18.429 ± 7.883; the period of nitrogen limitation was 5.3% while was 21.2% for phosphorus limitation.

Open Burn/Open Detonation (OBOD) Area Management Using Lime for Explosives Transformation and Metals Immobilization

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-10-01

33  Table 5. Runoff water and leachate estimations as calculated by the HELP model for...was an insignificant change in leachate pH from Day 1 to Day 9 showing that, while the increase was stable, the lime transport, as indicated by pH...horizontal transport in surface water and vertical leachate water transport. These pathways provide a means by which limitations to OB/OD

Brine evolution and mineral deposition in hydrologically open evaporite basins

USGS Publications Warehouse

Sanford, W.E.; Wood, W.W.

1991-01-01

A lumped-parameter, solute mass-balance model is developed to define the role of water outflow from a well-mixed basin. A mass-balance model is analyzed with a geochemical model designed for waters with high ionic strengths. Two typical waters, seawater and a Na-HCO3 ground water, are analyzed to illustrate the control that the leakage ratio (or hydrologic openness of the basin) has on brine evolution and the suite and thicknesses of evaporite minerals deposited. The analysis suggests that brines evolve differently under different leakage conditions. -from Authors

Solute transport and storage mechanisms in wetlands of the Everglades, south Florida

USGS Publications Warehouse

Harvey, Judson W.; Saiers, James E.; Newlin, Jessica T.

2005-01-01

Solute transport and storage processes in wetlands play an important role in biogeochemical cycling and in wetland water quality functions. In the wetlands of the Everglades, there are few data or guidelines to characterize transport through the heterogeneous flow environment. Our goal was to conduct a tracer study to help quantify solute exchange between the relatively fast flowing water in the open part of the water column and much more slowly moving water in thick floating vegetation and in the pore water of the underlying peat. We performed a tracer experiment that consisted of a constant‐rate injection of a sodium bromide (NaBr) solution for 22 hours into a 3 m wide, open‐ended flume channel in Everglades National Park. Arrival of the bromide tracer was monitored at an array of surface water and subsurface samplers for 48 hours at a distance of 6.8 m downstream of the injection. A one‐dimensional transport model was used in combination with an optimization code to identify the values of transport parameters that best explained the tracer observations. Parameters included dimensions and mass transfer coefficients describing exchange with both short (hours) and longer (tens of hours) storage zones as well as the average rates of advection and longitudinal dispersion in the open part of the water column (referred to as the “main flow zone”). Comparison with a more detailed set of tracer measurements tested how well the model's storage zones approximated the average characteristics of tracer movement into and out of the layer of thick floating vegetation and the pore water in the underlying peat. The rate at which the relatively fast moving water in the open water column was exchanged with slowly moving water in the layer of floating vegetation and in sediment pore water amounted to 50 and 3% h−1, respectively. Storage processes decreased the depth‐averaged velocity of surface water by 50% relative to the water velocity in the open part of the water column. As a result, flow measurements made with other methods that only work in the open part of the water column (e.g., acoustic Doppler) would have overestimated the true depth‐averaged velocity by a factor of 2. We hypothesize that solute exchange and storage in zones of floating vegetation and peat pore water increase contact time of solutes with biogeochemically active surfaces in this heterogeneous wetland environment.

Streamgaging in Pennsylvania: 1883-2009

USGS Publications Warehouse

Durlin, Randall R.

2009-01-01

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania contains 83,602 miles of streams within its borders. These streams are natural resources that influence the lives and economy of Pennsylvania residents daily. The water resources are used on a daily basis for recreation, power generation, drinking water, agriculture, industry, and many other uses, emphasizing the importance of this valuable resource. The effects of too much or too little water can be devastating to communities throughout the Commonwealth. The amount of water (flow) in a stream has been a critical piece of information since before the founding of Pennsylvania. In 1612, John Smith navigated the 'Sasquesahanough' River while exploring the newly discovered territory. In 1630, Dutch pioneers traveled up the Delaware River to settle in Bucks County.

The Experience of Implementation of Innovative Technology of Quarry Waste Water Purifying in Kuzbass Open Pit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lesin, Yu V.; Hellmer, M. C.

2016-08-01

Among all industries in Kuzbass (Western Siberia, Russia) the coal industry provides the most environmental threat. However, the construction of new and maintenance of existing open pit mines do not often correspond to the tasks of improving the environmental safety of surface mining. So the article describes the use of innovative quarry waste water purifying technology implemented in Kuzbass open pit mine «Shestaki». This technology is based on using artificial filter arrays made of overburden rock.

A systematic review and meta-analysis on the safety of newly adjuvanted vaccines among children.

PubMed

Stassijns, Jorgen; Bollaerts, Kaatje; Baay, Marc; Verstraeten, Thomas

2016-02-03

New adjuvants such as the AS- or the MF59-adjuvants improve vaccine efficacy and facilitate dose-sparing. Their use in influenza and malaria vaccines has resulted in a large body of evidence on their clinical safety in children. We carried out a systematic search for safety data from published clinical trials on newly adjuvanted vaccines in children ≤10 years of age. Serious adverse events (SAEs), solicited AEs, unsolicited AEs and AEs of special interest were evaluated for four new adjuvants: the immuno-stimulants containing adjuvant systems AS01 and AS02, and the squalene containing oil-in-water emulsions AS03 and MF59. Relative risks (RR) were calculated, comparing children receiving newly adjuvanted vaccines to children receiving other vaccines with a variety of antigens, both adjuvanted and unadjuvanted. Twenty-nine trials were included in the meta-analysis, encompassing 25,056 children who received at least one dose of the newly adjuvanted vaccines. SAEs did not occur more frequently in adjuvanted groups (RR 0.85, 95%CI 0.75-0.96). Our meta-analyses showed higher reactogenicity following administration of newly adjuvanted vaccines, however, no consistent pattern of solicited AEs was observed across adjuvant systems. Pain was the most prevalent AE, but often mild and of short duration. No increased risks were found for unsolicited AEs, febrile convulsions, potential immune mediated diseases and new onset of chronic diseases. Our meta-analysis did not show any safety concerns in clinical trials of the newly adjuvanted vaccines in children ≤10 years of age. An unexplained increase of meningitis in one Phase III AS01-adjuvanted malaria trial and the link between narcolepsy and the AS03-adjuvanted pandemic vaccine illustrate that continued safety monitoring is warranted. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Depth-Variable Settlement Patterns and Predation Influence on Newly Settled Reef Fishes (Haemulon spp., Haemulidae)

PubMed Central

Jordan, Lance K. B.; Lindeman, Kenyon C.; Spieler, Richard E.

2012-01-01

During early demersal ontogeny, many marine fishes display complex habitat-use patterns. Grunts of the speciose genus Haemulon are among the most abundant fishes on western North Atlantic coral reefs, with most species settling to shallow habitats (≤12 m). To gain understanding into cross-shelf distributional patterns exhibited by newly settled stages of grunts (<2 cm total length), we examined: 1) depth-specific distributions of congeners at settlement among sites at 8 m, 12 m, and 21 m, and 2) depth-variable predation pressure on newly settled individuals (species pooled). Of the six species identified from collections of newly settled specimens (n = 2125), Haemulon aurolineatum (tomtate), H. flavolineatum (French grunt), and H. striatum (striped grunt) comprised 98% of the total abundance; with the first two species present at all sites. Prevalence of H. aurolineatum and H. flavolineatum decreased substantially from the 8-m site to the two deeper sites. In contrast, H. striatum was absent from the 8-m site and exhibited its highest frequency at the 21-m site. Comparison of newly settled grunt delta density for all species on caged (predator exclusion) and control artificial reefs at the shallowest site (8-m) revealed no difference, while the 12-m and 21-m sites exhibited significantly greater delta densities on the caged treatment. This result, along with significantly higher abundances of co-occurring piscivorous fishes at the deeper sites, indicated lower predation pressure at the 8-m site. This study suggests habitat-use patterns of newly settled stages of some coral reef fishes that undergo ontogenetic shifts are a function of depth-variable predation pressure while, for at least one deeper-water species, proximity to adult habitat appears to be an important factor affecting settlement distribution. PMID:23272077

Migration und Flucht als Forschungsthemen der Geographie. Eine Standortbestimmung

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pott, Andreas; Schmiz, Antonie

2018-04-01

The contribution at hand argues that migration, especially of refugees, has received growing recognition in public and academic debates in the past few years. It traces the reciprocal references to a highly dynamic research subject within migration scholarship, public discourse, and politics. It thereby highlights the value and risks of a space-related perspective. In addition to an outline of established and newly emerging research fields within geographic migration research, the contribution opens the debate on practical implications of the addressed topical challenges within the field.

MS Ivins floats through U.S. Laboratory / Destiny module

NASA Image and Video Library

2001-02-11

STS98-E-5161 (11 February 2001) --- Astronaut Marsha S. Ivins, STS-98 mission specialist, floats into the newly attached Destiny laboratory onboard the International Space Station (ISS). After the Destiny hatch was opened early in the day, members of both crews went to work quickly inside the new module, activating air systems, fire extinguishers, alarm systems, computers and internal communications. The crews also took some photos and continued equipment transfers from the shuttle to the station. The scene was taken with a digital still camera.

CELL-SELEX: Novel Perspectives of Aptamer-Based Therapeutics

PubMed Central

Guo, Ke-Tai; Paul, Angela; Schichor, Christian; Ziemer, Gerhard; Wendel, Hans P.

2008-01-01

Aptamers, single stranded DNA or RNA molecules, generated by a method called SELEX (systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment) have been widely used in various biomedical applications. The newly developed Cell-SELEX (cell based-SELEX) targeting whole living cells has raised great expectations for cancer biology, -therapy and regenerative medicine. Combining nanobiotechnology with aptamers, this technology opens the way to more sophisticated applications in molecular diagnosis. This paper gives a review of recent developments in SELEX technologies and new applications of aptamers. PMID:19325777

Migration und Flucht als Forschungsthemen der Geographie - Eine Standortbestimmung

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pott, Andreas; Schmiz, Antonie

2018-03-01

The contribution at hand argues that migration, especially of refugees, has received growing recognition in public and academic debates in the past few years. It traces the reciprocal references to a highly dynamic research subject within migration scholarship, public discourse, and politics. It thereby highlights the value and risks of a space-related perspective. In addition to an outline of established and newly emerging research fields within geographic migration research, the contribution opens the debate on practical implications of the addressed topical challenges within the field.

Translations on Eastern Europe, Scientific Affairs, Number 531

DTIC Science & Technology

1976-12-20

half now music therapy has been one of the meth- ods of treatment that we employ in the newly opened psychotherapy room of our hospital. The choice...of music from the preclassics was made by spe- cialists. In the course of music therapy we select a group of six pa- tients suffering from neuroses...decision was made to introduce music therapy as a mass method of treatment in hospitals. But for the present this decision remains in the minutes of

Dasatinib in Pediatric Patients With Chronic Myeloid Leukemia in Chronic Phase: Results From a Phase II Trial.

PubMed

Gore, Lia; Kearns, Pamela R; de Martino, Maria Lucia; Lee; De Souza, Carmino Antonio; Bertrand, Yves; Hijiya, Nobuko; Stork, Linda C; Chung, Nack-Gyun; Cardos, Rocio Cardenas; Saikia, Tapan; Fagioli, Franca; Seo, Jong Jin; Landman-Parker, Judith; Lancaster, Donna; Place, Andrew E; Rabin, Karen R; Sacchi, Mariana; Swanink, Rene; Zwaan, C Michel

2018-05-01

Purpose Safe, effective treatments are needed for pediatric patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase (CML-CP). Dasatinib is approved for treatment of adults and children with CML-CP. A phase I study determined suitable dosing for children with Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph+) leukemias. Methods CA180-226/NCT00777036 is a phase II, open-label, nonrandomized prospective trial of patients < 18 years of age receiving dasatinib. There are three cohorts: (1) imatinib-resistant/intolerant CML-CP, (2) imatinib-resistant/intolerant CML in accelerated/blast phase or Ph+ acute lymphoblastic leukemia (n = 17), and (3) newly diagnosed CML-CP treated with tablets or powder for oral suspension. Major cytogenetic response > 30% for imatinib-resistant/intolerant patients and complete cytogenetic response (CCyR) > 55% for newly diagnosed patients were of clinical interest. Results Of 113 patients with CML-CP, 14 (48%) who were imatinib-resistant/intolerant and 61 (73%) who were newly diagnosed remained on treatment at time of analysis. Major cytogenetic response > 30% was reached by 3 months in the imatinib-resistant/intolerant group and CCyR > 55% was reached by 6 months in the newly diagnosed CML-CP group. CCyR and major molecular response by 12 months, respectively, were 76% and 41% in the imatinib-resistant/intolerant group and 92% and 52% in newly diagnosed CML-CP group. Progression-free survival by 48 months was 78% and 93% in the imatinib-resistant/intolerant and newly diagnosed CML-CP groups, respectively. No dasatinib-related pleural or pericardial effusion, pulmonary edema, or pulmonary arterial hypertension were reported. Bone growth and development events were reported in 4% of patients. Conclusion In the largest prospective trial to date in children with CML-CP, we demonstrate that dasatinib is a safe, effective treatment of pediatric CML-CP. Target responses to first- or second-line dasatinib were met early, and deep molecular responses were observed. Safety of dasatinib in pediatric patients was similar to that observed in adults; however, no cases of pleural or pericardial effusion or pulmonary arterial hypertension were reported.

[Water provisions for Muscovy ducks--behaviour at duck showers and modified plasson drinkers].

PubMed

Briese, Andreas; Hänsch, Friederike; Hartung, Jörg

2009-01-01

Feather pecking and cannibalism are serious problems in keeping Moscovy ducks. Prevention of feather pecking by regularly applied beak and claw trimming are increasingly criticised by the public. The recommendation of the Council of Europe (COE) for the keeping of Muscovy ducks in farming systems calls for environmental enrichment including water for preening and bathing after December 31,2010. A total of 126 female Muscovy ducks (not beak nor claw trimmed) from commercial breeding lines were kept for 63 resp. 70 days in four compartments with 15-16 ducks each during two production cycles. Two pens where equipped either with duck showers or open water facility (modified Plasson drinker). Water provisions were made available for the ducks four hours daily at working days from their fifth week of life until slaughter. Behaviour at the water provision was registered and analysed for the number of ducks being engaged with water (944 hours recordings over 59 days from four pens analysed in five-minute-intervals (11,540 observations). Additionally 858 feather preening bouts (five a day for each compartment) were analysed for the duration of feather preening behaviour at the water provision. From the fifth to the tenth week of life the mean percentage of animals of a pen was significantly higher at the open trough (trough: 8,3% (+/-5,37); shower: 4.9% (+/-6.1), Mann-Whitney p <0,01) and feather preening took significantly longer (trough: 134.4 sec (+/-154.8); shower: 111.2 sec (+/-152.0), Mann-Whitney p <0.01) than at the showers. Bout duration and percentage of animals observed at both water provisions increased with age. Nonetheless only ten percent of the feather preening behaviour exceeded five minutes. Most animals made use of water in the first hour of the time period when water was provided. In the first weeks of water provision open water troughs were used more often and preening behaviour was longer. When given the choice, younger ducks preferred open drinkers to showers while older ducks showed a higher preference for the duck showers. In future it may be useful to elaborate whether a combination of open water troughs in the first few weeks of the fattening period followed by the provision of showers when the birds have completed their feather coverage can help to reduce the frequency of feather pecking and cannibalism.

Impact of a Casino Opening on Gambling Behaviors of People Engaged in Methadone Maintenance.

PubMed

Palmer-Bacon, Jessica; Miles-McLean, Haley; Welsh, Christopher; Rugle, Loreen; Medoff, Deborah; Potts, Wendy; Himelhoch, Seth

2017-06-01

This study examined gambling behavior in the context of a newly opening casino, comparing disordered gamblers to non-disordered gamblers, in a population of individuals involved in methadone maintenance treatment. Disordered gamblers (N = 50) and non-disordered gamblers (N = 50) were surveyed before and after the opening of a new casino on gambling behaviors, substance use, and psychological symptoms. No statistically significant changes in gambling behaviors were observed for disordered gamblers or non-disordered gamblers across time points; however, non-disordered gamblers demonstrated non-significant increases in horse and dog race betting, electronic games, and casino table games. As expected, disordered gamblers were found to spend significantly more money on electronic games and casino table games (p < 0.05) and demonstrated higher rates of drug use and impulsivity than non-disordered gamblers. The introduction of a new casino did not appear to have a major impact on gambling behaviors of individuals attending methadone maintenance treatment, though the non-significant increases in gambling among non-disordered gamblers may indicate that this population is preferentially impacted by the opening of a new casino. Future investigation into the longer term effects of opening a new casino on this population may be warranted.

Integrity of local ecosystems and storm water management in residential areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Lin; Wang, Weida; Gong, Zhaoguo

2006-10-01

The authors designed an ecological storm water system in a residential area to replace the conventional underground channels for the collection of storm water so as to reduce the nutrients and sediments discharged. This system contains natural sub-creeks as drainage channels discharging overflow to nearby creeks, an open green trench, a storage pond, and natural sub-creeks. The sub-creeks were designed to be integrated into community landscape, which not only increases the efficiency of water usage, but also improves the aesthetic qualities of the community residence area as required by Agenda 21. This research proved the feasibility of an open storm water collection and utilization system for the design of a community water system.

Solid state engine with alternating motion

DOEpatents

Golestaneh, Ahmad A.

1982-01-01

Heat energy is converted to mechanical motion utilizing apparatus including a cylinder, a piston having openings therein reciprocable in the cylinder, inlet and outlet ports for warm water at one end of the cylinder, inlet and outlet ports for cool water at the other end of the cylinder, gates movable with the piston and slidably engaging the cylinder wall to alternately open and close the warm and cool water ports, a spring bearing against the warm water side of the piston and a double helix of a thermal shape memory material attached to the cool end of the cylinder and to the piston. The piston is caused to reciprocate by alternately admitting cool water and warm water to the cylinder.

Solid state engine with alternating motion

DOEpatents

Golestaneh, A.A.

1980-01-21

Heat energy is converted to mechanical motion utilizing apparatus including a cylinder, a piston having openings therein reciprocable in the cylinder, inlet and outlet ports for warm water at one end of the cylinder, inlet and outlet ports for cool water at the other end of the cylinder, gates movable with the piston and slidably engaging the cylinder wall to alternately open and close the warm and cool water ports, a spring bearing against the warm water side of the piston and a double helix of a thermal shape memory material attached to the cool end of the cylinder and to the piston. The piston is caused to reciprocate by alternately admitting cool water and warm water to the cylinder.

GENE EXPRESSION AND GENETIC DAMAGE INDICATORS IN FISH EXPOSED TO VARYING STREAM CONDITIONS IN A MIDWESTERN WATERSHED

EPA Science Inventory

Newly developed molecular diagnostic exposure indicators were evaluated as part of a riparian zone assessment for environmental stressors. Water and fish samples collected from 12 headwater tributaries in the Little Miami River Basin were evaluated for the presence of estrogenic...

Bacteria transport simulation using APEX model in the Toenepi watershed, New Zealand

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The Agricultural Policy/Environmental eXtender (APEX) model is a distributed, continuous, daily-time step small watershed-scale hydrologic and water quality model. In this study, the newly developed fecal-derived bacteria fate and transport subroutine was applied and evalated using APEX model. The e...

Environment and the Law. Legal Almanac Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sloan, Irving J.

This survey is designed to provide the general reader with some basic background on the legal aspects of the effort to achieve environmental quality. The first chapter discusses the structure of federal environmental control in terms of newly established agencies and recently enacted legislation. Other chapters deal individually with air, water,…

Influence of travel speed on spray deposition uniformity from an air-assisted variable-rate sprayer

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

A newly developed LiDAR-guided air-assisted variable-rate sprayer for nursery and orchard applications was tested at various travel speeds to compare its spray deposition and coverage uniformity with constant-rate applications. Spray samplers, including nylon screens and water-sensitive papers (WSP)...

Antimicrobial activity of seed extracts and bondenolide from Caesalpinia bonduc (L.) Roxb.

PubMed

Simin, K; Khaliq-Uz-Zaman, S M; Ahmad, V U

2001-08-01

The antibacterial and antifungal activities, along with a phytotoxicity test of the newly isolated diterpene bondenolide (1), of a methanol extract, ethylacetate fraction and water soluble part of the methanol extract of Caesalpinia bonduc (L.) Roxb. were assayed. Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Instrumenting free-swimming dolphins echolocating in open water.

PubMed

Martin, Stephen W; Phillips, Michael; Bauer, Eric J; Moore, Patrick W; Houser, Dorian S

2005-04-01

Dolphins within the Navy Marine Mammal Program use echolocation to effectively locate underwater mines. They currently outperform manmade systems at similar tasks, particularly in cluttered environments and on buried targets. In hopes of improving manmade mine-hunting sonar systems, two instrumentation packages were developed to monitor free-swimming dolphin motion and echolocation during open-water target detection tasks. The biosonar measurement tool (BMT) is carried by a dolphin and monitors underwater position and attitude while simultaneously recording echolocation clicks and returning echoes through high-gain binaural receivers. The instrumented mine simulator (IMS) is a modified bottom target that monitors echolocation signals arriving at the target during ensonification. Dolphin subjects were trained to carry the BMT in open-bay bottom-object target searches in which the IMS could serve as a bottom object. The instrumentation provides detailed data that reveal hereto-unavailable information on the search strategies of free-swimming dolphins conducting open-water, bottom-object search tasks with echolocation.

Instrumenting free-swimming dolphins echolocating in open water

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martin, Stephen W.; Phillips, Michael; Bauer, Eric J.; Moore, Patrick W.; Houser, Dorian S.

2005-04-01

Dolphins within the Navy Marine Mammal Program use echolocation to effectively locate underwater mines. They currently outperform manmade systems at similar tasks, particularly in cluttered environments and on buried targets. In hopes of improving manmade mine-hunting sonar systems, two instrumentation packages were developed to monitor free-swimming dolphin motion and echolocation during open-water target detection tasks. The biosonar measurement tool (BMT) is carried by a dolphin and monitors underwater position and attitude while simultaneously recording echolocation clicks and returning echoes through high-gain binaural receivers. The instrumented mine simulator (IMS) is a modified bottom target that monitors echolocation signals arriving at the target during ensonification. Dolphin subjects were trained to carry the BMT in open-bay bottom-object target searches in which the IMS could serve as a bottom object. The instrumentation provides detailed data that reveal hereto-unavailable information on the search strategies of free-swimming dolphins conducting open-water, bottom-object search tasks with echolocation. .

Three dimensional display of underground water-supplying network by combining VTK with SiCAD/open GIS system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Shaobin; Zhang, Xubo; Wang, Wenyuan; Zhou, Chengping; Ding, Mingyue

2007-11-01

Nowadays many Geographic Information System (GIS) have been widely used in many municipal corporations. Water-supplying corporations in many cities developed GIS application system based on SiCAD/Open GIS platform several years ago for their daily management and engineering construction. With the increasing of commercial business, many corporations now need to add the functionality of three dimensional to display to their GIS System without too much financial cost. Because of the expensiveness of updating SiCAD/Open GIS system to the up-to-date version, the introduction of a third-part 3D display technology is considered. In our solution, Visualization Toolkit (VTK) is used to achieve three dimensional display of underground water-supplying network on the basis of an existing SiCAD/Open GIS system. This paper addresses on the system architecture and key implementation technologies of this solution.

Synthesis-Free Phase-Selective Gelator for Oil-Spill Remediation.

PubMed

Cui, Yaowen; Li, Mei-Chun; Wu, Qinglin; Pojman, John A; Kuroda, Daniel G

2017-10-04

A new deep eutectic solvent (DES) was developed as a phase-selective gelator for oil-spill remediation. The newly designed nonionic DES is based on a combination of an amide (N-methylacetamide) and a long chain carboxylic acid (lauric acid) and does not require any synthetic procedure besides mixing. Our studies show that the DES works as gelator by forming a gel between lauric acid and the hydrocarbon, whereas the amide serves to form the DES and dissolves in water during the gelation process. In addition, the DES material has gelation properties comparable to those considered as state-of-the-art. Overall, the newly developed material shows a promising future in oil recovery methodologies.

Revised shallow and deep water-level and storage-volume changes in the Equus Beds Aquifer near Wichita, Kansas, predevelopment to 1993

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hansen, Cristi V.; Lanning-Rush, Jennifer L.; Ziegler, Andrew C.

2013-01-01

Beginning in the 1940s, the Wichita well field was developed in the Equus Beds aquifer in southwestern Harvey County and northwestern Sedgwick County to supply water to the city of Wichita. The decline of water levels in the aquifer was noted soon after the development of the Wichita well field began. Development of irrigation wells began in the 1960s. City and agricultural withdrawals led to substantial water-level declines. Water-level declines enhanced movement of brines from past oil and gas activities near Burrton, Kansas and enhanced movement of natural saline water from the Arkansas River into the well field area. Large chloride concentrations may limit use or require the treatment of water from the well field for irrigation or public supply. In 1993, the city of Wichita adopted the Integrated Local Water Supply Program (ILWSP) to ensure an adequate water supply for the city through 2050 and as part of its effort to effectively manage the part of the Equus Beds aquifer it uses. ILWSP uses several strategies to do this including the Equus Beds Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) project. The purpose of the ASR project is to store water in the aquifer for later recovery and to help protect the aquifer from encroachment of a known oilfield brine plume near Burrton and saline water from the Arkansas River. As part of Wichita’s ASR permits, Wichita is prohibited from artificially recharging water into the aquifer in a Basin Storage area (BSA) grid cell if water levels in that cell are above the January 1940 water levels or are less than 10 feet below land surface. The map previously used for this purpose did not provide an accurate representation of the shallow water table. The revised predevelopment water-level altitude map of the shallow part of the aquifer is presented in this report. The city of Wichita’s ASR permits specify that the January 1993 water-level altitudes will be used as a lower baseline for regulating the withdrawal of artificial rechage credits from the Equus Beds aquifer by the city of Wichita. The 1993 water levels correspond to the lowest recorded levels and largest storage declines since 1940. Revised and new water-level maps of shallow and deep layers were developed to better represent the general condition of the aquifer. Only static water levels were used to better represent the general condition of the aquifer and comply with Wichita’s ASR permits. To ensure adequate data density, the January 1993 period was expanded to October 1992 through February 1993. Static 1993 water levels from the deep aquifer layer of the Equus Beds aquifer possibly could be used as the lower baseline for regulatory purposes. Previously, maps of water-level changes used to estimate the storage-volume changes included a combination of static (unaffected by pumping or nearby pumping) and stressed (affected by pumping or nearby pumping) water levels from wells. Some of these wells were open to the shallow aquifer layer and some were open to the deep aquifer layer of the Equus Beds aquifer. In this report, only static water levels in the shallow aquifer layer were used to determine storage-volume changes. The effects on average water-level and storage-volume change from the use of mixed, stressed water levels and a specific yield of 0.20 were compared to the use of static water levels in the shallow aquifer and a specific yield of 0.15. This comparison indicates that the change in specific yield causes storage-volume changes to decrease about 25 percent, whereas the use of static water levels in the shallow aquifer layer causes an increase of less than 4 percent. Use of a specific yield of 0.15 will result in substantial decreases in the amount of storage-volume change compared to those reported previously that were calculated using a specific yield of 0.20. Based on these revised water-level maps and computations, the overall decline and change in storage from predevelopment to 1993 represented a loss in storage of about 6 percent (-202,000 acre-feet) of the overall storage volume within the newly defined study area.

One-dimensional flow model of the river-hyporheic zone system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pokrajac, D.

2016-12-01

The hyporheic zone is a shallow layer beneath natural streams that is characterized by intense exchange of water, nutrients, pollutants and thermal energy. Understanding these exchange processes is crucial for successful modelling of the river hydrodynamics and morphodynamics at various scales from the river corridor up to the river network scale (Cardenas, 2015). Existing simulation models of hyporheic exchange processes are either idealized models of the tracer movement through the river-hyporheic zone system (e.g. TSM, Bencala and Walters, 1983) or detailed models of turbulent flow in a stream, coupled with a conventional 2D Darcian groundwater model (e.g. Cardenas and Wilson, 2007). This paper presents an alternative approach which involves a simple 1-D simulation model of the hyporheic zone system based on the classical SWE equations coupled with the newly developed porous media analogue. This allows incorporating the effects of flow unsteadiness and non-Darcian parameterization od the drag term in the hyporheic zone model. The conceptual model of the stream-hyporheic zone system consists of a 1D model of the open channel flow in the river, coupled with a 1D model of the flow in the hyporheic zone via volume flux due to the difference in the water level in the river and the hyporheic zone. The interaction with the underlying groundwater aquifer is neglected, but coupling the present model with any conventional groundwater model is straightforward. The paper presents the derivation of the 1D flow equations for flow in the hyporheic zone, the details of the numerical scheme used for solving them and the model validation by comparison with published experimental data. References Bencala, K. E., and R. A. Walters (1983) "Simulation of solute transport in a mountain pool-and-riffle stream- a transient storage model", Water Resources Reseach 19(3): 718-724. Cardenas, M. B. (2015) "Hyporheic zone hydrologic science: A historical account of its emergence and a prospectus", Water Resources Research 51: 3601-3616 Cardenas, M. B., and J. L. Wilson (2007) "Dunes, turbulent eddies, and interfacial exchange with permeable sediments", Water Resour. Res. 43:W08412

Forecasting Frost Damage: Follow the Water

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rempel, A. W.

2015-12-01

Frost damage takes place when the pressure exerted against pore walls exceeds the cohesive strength of water-infiltrated rock and causes cracks to extend. Elegant theoretical treatments supported by meticulous field and laboratory observations have combined to unravel the basic mechanical and thermodynamic controls in idealized systems. Frost damage is most vigorous when conditions are cold enough that the net pressure exerted against the pore walls can cause crack extension, yet warm enough to enable the flow that supplies further ice growth in the newly opened space. This insight is applied here to develop practical geomorphic process laws for the effects of frost damage at the larger scales that are relevant for describing the evolution of landscapes. To this end, a direct connection is made between the intensity of frost damage and the porosity increase that results from gradients in water flux under conditions that are cold enough for ice-rock interactions to propagate cracks. This implies that the annual temperature variation at the ground surface can be combined with considerations of heat and mass transport to derive rigorous forecasts of the potential for frost damage that are tied to the increases in water mass that accompany solidification in porous rock. As an example, the image shows the depth-integrated porosity change λ promoted by crack growth at temperatures colder than -ΔTc over an annual cycle for different choices of mean annual temperature MAT and surface amplitude A (assuming a thermal diffusivity of 1 mm2/s and a power-law relationship between permeability and undercooling with exponent α=4, such that a base value of 10-14m2 is reached at a reference undercooling of 0.1 ºC). The abrupt onset in cracking once MAT decreases below a threshold is produced by the requirement that undercooling surpass ΔTc in order to generate sufficient pressures to propagate cracks. The eventual reduction and gradual tail in λ at colder MAT is produced by the clogging of the permeable pathways needed to supply additional water to propmote crack growth.

18 CFR 35.28 - Non-discriminatory open access transmission tariff.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Non-discriminatory open... AND TARIFFS Other Filing Requirements § 35.28 Non-discriminatory open access transmission tariff. (a... concerns regarding unnecessary market inefficiencies. (c) Non-discriminatory open access transmission...

18 CFR 35.28 - Non-discriminatory open access transmission tariff.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Non-discriminatory open access transmission tariff. 35.28 Section 35.28 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY.... (4) Demand response means a reduction in the consumption of electric energy by customers from their...

18 CFR 35.28 - Non-discriminatory open access transmission tariff.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 18 Conservation of Power and Water Resources 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Non-discriminatory open access transmission tariff. 35.28 Section 35.28 Conservation of Power and Water Resources FEDERAL ENERGY.... (4) Demand response means a reduction in the consumption of electric energy by customers from their...

Water quality: a factor in Arkansas River development

USGS Publications Warehouse

Dover, T.B.

1957-01-01

One of the first requisites for intelligent planning of the utilization and control of water and for the administration of laws relating to its use, is data on the quantity, quality, and mode of occurence of water supplies. The collections, evaluation, interpretation, and publication of such data constitute the primary function of the Water Resources Division of the United States Geological Survey. Since 1895 the Congress has made appropriations to this agency for investigations of the water resources of the Nation. In 1929 the Congress adopted the policy of dollar-for-dollar cooperation with State and local governmental agencies for water-resources investigations. The Geological Survey's Federal-State cooperative program of quality-of-water investigations in Oklahoma was started in 1944 in cooperation with the Oklahoma Planning and Resources Board. Since July of this year the program has been carried on cooperatively with the newly created Oklahoma Water Resources Board.

Looking For a Needle in the Haystack: Deciphering Indigenous 1.79 km Deep Subsurface Microbial Communities from Drilling Mud Contaminants Using 454 Pyrotag Sequencing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dong, Y.; Cann, I.; Mackie, R.; Price, N.; Flynn, T. M.; Sanford, R.; Miller, P.; Chia, N.; Kumar, C. G.; Kim, P.; Sivaguru, M.; Fouke, B. W.

2010-12-01

Knowledge of the composition, structure and activity of microbial communities that live in deeply buried sedimentary rocks is fundamental to the future of subsurface biosphere stewardship as it relates to hydrocarbon exploration and extraction, carbon sequestration, gas storage and groundwater management. However, the study of indigenous subsurface microorganisms has been limited by the technical challenges of collecting deep formation water samples that have not been heavily contaminated by the mud used to drill the wells. To address this issue, a “clean-sampling method” deploying the newly developed Schlumberger Quicksilver MDT probe was used to collect a subsurface sample at a depth of 1.79 km (5872 ft) from an exploratory well within Cambrian-age sandstones in the Illinois Basin. This yielded a formation water sample that was determined to have less than 4% drilling mud contamination based on tracking changes in the aqueous geochemistry of the formation water during ~3 hours of pumping at depth prior to sample collection. A suite of microscopy and culture-independent molecular analyses were completed using the DNA extracted from microbial cells in the formation water, which included 454 amplicon pyrosequencing that targeted the V1-V3 hypervariable region of bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequences. Results demonstrated an extremely low diversity microbial community living in formation water at 1.79 km-depth. More than 95 % of the total V1-V3 pyrosequencing reads (n=11574) obtained from the formation water were affiliated with a halophilic γ-proteobacterium and most closely related to the genus Halomonas. In contrast, about 3 % of the V1-V3 sequences in the drilling mud library (n=13044) were classified as genus Halomonas but were distinctly different and distantly related to the formation water Halomonas detected at 1.79 km-depth. These results were consistent with those obtained using a suite of other molecular screens (e.g., Terminal-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (T-RFLP) and the initial full length 16S rRNA amplicon libraries) and bioinformatic analyses (e.g., 16S rRNA and Open Reading Frame (ORF) calls established from the 454 metagenomic community analyses). Functional pathway modeling is underway to evaluate the adaptation of this indigenous microbial community to the hydrologic and geologic history of the deep subsurface environment of the Illinois Basin.

Phosphorus retention in a newly constructed wetland receiving agricultural tile drainage water.

PubMed

Kynkäänniemi, Pia; Ulén, Barbro; Torstensson, Gunnar; Tonderski, Karin S

2013-01-01

One measure used in Sweden to mitigate eutrophication of waters is the construction of small wetlands (free water surface wetland for phosphorus retention [P wetlands]) to trap particulate phosphorus (PP) transported in ditches and streams. This study evaluated P retention dynamics in a newly constructed P wetland serving a 26-ha agricultural catchment with clay soil. Flow-proportional composite water samples were collected at the wetland inlet and outlet over 2 yr (2010-2011) and analyzed for total P (TP), dissolved P (DP), particulate P (PP), and total suspended solids (TSS). Both winters had unusually long periods of snow accumulation, and additional time-proportional water samples were frequently collected during snowmelt. Inflow TP and DP concentrations varied greatly (0.02-1.09 mg L) during the sampling period. During snowmelt in 2010, there was a daily oscillation in P concentration and water flow in line with air temperature variations. Outflow P concentrations were generally lower than inflow concentrations, with net P losses observed only in August and December 2010. On an annual basis, the wetland acted as a net P sink, with mean specific retention of 69 kg TP, 17 kg DP, and 30 t TSS ha yr, corresponding to a reduction in losses of 0.22 kg TP ha yr from the agricultural catchment. Relative retention was high (36% TP, 9% DP, and 36% TSS), indicating that small constructed wetlands (0.3% of catchment area) can substantially reduce P loads from agricultural clay soils with moderately undulating topography. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

Detection and genetic analysis of human sapoviruses in river water in Japan.

PubMed

Kitajima, Masaaki; Oka, Tomoichiro; Haramoto, Eiji; Katayama, Hiroyuki; Takeda, Naokazu; Katayama, Kazuhiko; Ohgaki, Shinichiro

2010-04-01

We investigated the prevalence of sapoviruses (SaVs) in the Tamagawa River in Japan from April 2003 to March 2004 and performed genetic analysis of the SaV genes identified in river water. A total of 60 river water samples were collected from five sites along the river, and 500 ml was concentrated using the cation-coated filter method. By use of a real-time reverse transcription (RT)-PCR assay, 12 (20%) of the 60 samples were positive for SaV. SaV sequences were obtained from 15 (25%) samples, and a total of 30 SaV strains were identified using six RT-PCR assays followed by cloning and sequence analysis. A newly developed nested RT-PCR assay utilizing a broadly reactive forward primer showed the highest detection efficiency and amplified more diverse SaV genomes in the samples. SaV sequences were frequently detected from November to March, whereas none were obtained in April, July, September, or October. No SaV sequences were detected in the upstream portion of the river, whereas the midstream portion showed high positive rates. Based on phylogenetic analysis, SaV strains identified in the river water samples were classified into nine genotypes, namely, GI/1, GI/2, GI/3, GI/5, GI/untyped, GII/1, GII/2, GII/3, and GV/1. To our knowledge, this is the first study describing seasonal and spatial distributions and genetic diversity of SaVs in river water. A combination of real-time RT-PCR assay and newly developed nested RT-PCR assay is useful for identifying and characterizing SaV strains in a water environment.

Determination of 4-nonylphenol in water samples using 4-(2,6-dimethylhept-3-yl)phenol as new internal standard.

PubMed

Fischer, Axel R; Lan, Nham Thi Phuong; Wiedemann, Cornelia; Heide, Petra; Werner, Peter; Schmidt, Arndt W; Theumer, Gabriele; Knölker, Hans-Joachim

2010-04-23

A new method for determining the endocrine disrupting substance 4-nonylphenol (technical grade=mixture of isomers, 4-NP) from water samples has been developed by using 4-(2,6-dimethylhept-3-yl)phenol (4-sec-NP) as model compound. This branched monoalkylphenol is shown to serve as internal standard (IS) for the determination of technical 4-nonylphenol. To the best of our knowledge, 4-(2,6-dimethylhept-3-yl)phenol (racemic mixture) is a newly synthesized 4-nonylphenol isomer and has not been described elsewhere. Recoveries have been determined by analyzing spiked water samples from distilled water, river water and wastewater. Following acetylation, the compounds were enriched via solid phase extraction (SPE). Analyses of the compounds were performed by capillary column gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), operating in selected ion-monitoring (SIM) mode. The recovery of technical 4-NP using either the newly prepared 4-sec-NP or 4-n-nonylphenol (4-n-NP) as IS have been compared. 4-sec-NP showed slightly better results. However, in the first series of experiments using wastewater, the yields for the derivatization of the two standard compounds were remarkably different. The yield for derivatization of 4-n-NP was approximately 20%, probably due to the difficult matrix of the wastewater. In contrast, the yield for the derivatization of 4-sec-NP was considerably higher (approximately 63%). This problem can be solved by increasing the concentration of the reagent used for derivatization. For better control of the clean-up process, we recommend application of 4-sec-NP as internal standard, at least in water samples with complex matrices (e.g., high content of hydroxylated compounds). Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Resonance tube phonation in water: High-speed imaging, electroglottographic and oral pressure observations of vocal fold vibrations--a pilot study.

PubMed

Granqvist, Svante; Simberg, Susanna; Hertegård, Stellan; Holmqvist, Sofia; Larsson, Hans; Lindestad, Per-Åke; Södersten, Maria; Hammarberg, Britta

2015-10-01

Phonation into glass tubes ('resonance tubes'), keeping the free end of the tube in water, has been a frequently used voice therapy method in Finland and more recently also in other countries. The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate what effects tube phonation with and without water has on the larynx. Two participants were included in the study. The methods used were high-speed imaging, electroglottographic observations of vocal fold vibrations, and measurements of oral pressure during tube phonation. Results showed that the fluctuation in the back pressure during tube phonation in water altered the vocal fold vibrations. In the high-speed imaging, effects were found in the open quotient and amplitude variation of the glottal opening. The open quotient increased with increasing water depth (from 2 cm to 6 cm). A modulation effect by the water bubbles on the vocal fold vibrations was seen both in the high-speed glottal area tracings and in the electroglottography signal. A second experiment revealed that the increased average oral pressure was largely determined by the water depth. The increased open quotient can possibly be explained by an increased abduction of the vocal folds and/or a reduced transglottal pressure. The back pressure of the bubbles also modulates glottal vibrations with a possible 'massage' effect on the vocal folds. This effect and the well-defined average pressure increase due to the known water depth are different from those of other methods using a semi-occluded vocal tract.

Floral humidity as a reliable sensory cue for profitability assessment by nectar-foraging hawkmoths.

PubMed

von Arx, Martin; Goyret, Joaquín; Davidowitz, Goggy; Raguso, Robert A

2012-06-12

Most research on plant-pollinator communication has focused on sensory and behavioral responses to relatively static cues. Floral rewards such as nectar, however, are dynamic, and foraging animals will increase their energetic profit if they can make use of floral cues that more accurately indicate nectar availability. Here we document such a cue--transient humidity gradients--using the night blooming flowers of Oenothera cespitosa (Onagraceae). The headspace of newly opened flowers reaches levels of about 4% above ambient relative humidity due to additive evapotranspirational water loss through petals and water-saturated air from the nectar tube. Floral humidity plumes differ from ambient levels only during the first 30 min after anthesis (before nectar is depleted in wild populations), whereas other floral traits (scent, shape, and color) persist for 12-24 h. Manipulative experiments indicated that floral humidity gradients are mechanistically linked to nectar volume and therefore contain information about energy rewards to floral visitors. Behavioral assays with Hyles lineata (Sphingidae) and artificial flowers with appropriate humidity gradients suggest that these hawkmoth pollinators distinguish between subtle differences in relative humidity when other floral cues are held constant. Moths consistently approached and probed flowers with elevated humidity over those with ambient humidity levels. Because floral humidity gradients are largely produced by the evaporation of nectar itself, they represent condition-informative cues that facilitate remote sensing of floral profitability by discriminating foragers. In a xeric environment, this level of honest communication should be adaptive when plant reproductive success is pollinator limited, due to intense competition for the attention of a specialized pollinator.

Floral humidity as a reliable sensory cue for profitability assessment by nectar-foraging hawkmoths

PubMed Central

von Arx, Martin; Goyret, Joaquín; Davidowitz, Goggy; Raguso, Robert A.

2012-01-01

Most research on plant–pollinator communication has focused on sensory and behavioral responses to relatively static cues. Floral rewards such as nectar, however, are dynamic, and foraging animals will increase their energetic profit if they can make use of floral cues that more accurately indicate nectar availability. Here we document such a cue—transient humidity gradients—using the night blooming flowers of Oenothera cespitosa (Onagraceae). The headspace of newly opened flowers reaches levels of about 4% above ambient relative humidity due to additive evapotranspirational water loss through petals and water-saturated air from the nectar tube. Floral humidity plumes differ from ambient levels only during the first 30 min after anthesis (before nectar is depleted in wild populations), whereas other floral traits (scent, shape, and color) persist for 12–24 h. Manipulative experiments indicated that floral humidity gradients are mechanistically linked to nectar volume and therefore contain information about energy rewards to floral visitors. Behavioral assays with Hyles lineata (Sphingidae) and artificial flowers with appropriate humidity gradients suggest that these hawkmoth pollinators distinguish between subtle differences in relative humidity when other floral cues are held constant. Moths consistently approached and probed flowers with elevated humidity over those with ambient humidity levels. Because floral humidity gradients are largely produced by the evaporation of nectar itself, they represent condition-informative cues that facilitate remote sensing of floral profitability by discriminating foragers. In a xeric environment, this level of honest communication should be adaptive when plant reproductive success is pollinator limited, due to intense competition for the attention of a specialized pollinator. PMID:22645365

Biological and chemical analysis of the toxic potency of pesticides in rainwater.

PubMed

Hamers, T; Smit, M G; Murk, A J; Koeman, J H

2001-11-01

A newly developed method for measuring the integrated esterase inhibiting potency of rainwater samples was applied in practice, and the results are compared to the toxic potency calculated from concentrations of 31 organophosphate (OP) and carbamate pesticides, out of a total of 66 chemically analyzed pesticides. In addition, the general toxic potency of the rainwater samples was evaluated in a microtiter luminescence assay with Vibrio fischeri bacteria. Rainwater samples were collected over four consecutive 14-day periods in both open and wet-only samplers. The esterase inhibiting potency of the open rainwater samples (expressed as ng dichlorvos-equivalents/l) corresponded well with the chemical analyses of the rainwater samples collected by both types of samplers (r = 0.83-0.86). By far, the highest esterase inhibiting potency was found in a sample collected in an area with intense horticultural activities in June, and was attributed to high concentrations of dichlorvos, mevinphos, pirimiphos-methyl and methiocarb. The esterase inhibiting potency of this sample was equivalent to a dichlorvos concentration of 1380 ng/l in the rainwater, which is almost 2000 times higher than the maximum permissible concentration (MPC) of dichlorvos set for surface water in Netherlands. Maximum individual concentrations of dichlorvos and pirimiphos-methyl even exceeded the EC50 for Daphnia, suggesting that pesticides in rainwater pose a risk for aquatic organisms. Not all responses of the luminescence-assay for general toxicity could be explained by the analyzed pesticide concentrations. The bio-assays enable a direct assessment the toxic potency of all individual compounds present in the complex mixture of rainwater pollutants, even if they are unknown or present at concentrations below the detection limit. Therefore, they are valuable tools for prescreening and hazard characterization purposes.

33 CFR 183.518 - Fuel tank openings.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Fuel tank openings. 183.518...) BOATING SAFETY BOATS AND ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT Fuel Systems Equipment Standards § 183.518 Fuel tank openings. Each opening into the fuel tank must be at or above the topmost surface of the tank. ...

33 CFR 117.21 - Signalling for an opened drawbridge.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Signalling for an opened... SECURITY BRIDGES DRAWBRIDGE OPERATION REGULATIONS General Requirements § 117.21 Signalling for an opened... the opening signal. If no acknowledgment is received within 30 seconds, the vessel may proceed, with...