Environmental Containment Property Estimation Using QSARs in an Expert System

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-10-15

economical method to estimate aqueous solubility, octanol/ water partition coefficients, vapor pressures, organic carbon, normalized soil sorption...PROPERTY ESTIMATION USING QSARs IN AN EXPERT SYSTEM William J. Doucette Mark S. Holt Doug J. Denne Joan E. McLean Utah State University Utah Water ...persistence of a chemical are aqueous solubility, octanol/ water partition coefficient, soil/ water sorption coefficient, Henry’s Law constant

Increasing Awareness of Sustainable Water Management for Future Civil Engineers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ilic, Suzana; Karleusa, Barbara; Deluka-Tibljas, Aleksandra

2010-05-01

There are more than 1.2 billion people around the world that do not have access to drinking water. While there are plans under the United Nations Millennium Development Goals to halve this number by 2015, there are a number of regions that will be exposed to water scarcity in the coming future. Providing sufficient water for future development is a great challenge for planners and designers of water supply systems. In order to design sustainable water supplies for the future, it is important to learn how people consume water and how water consumption can be reduced. The education of future civil engineers should take into account not only technical aspects of the water supply but also the accompanying social and economical issues, and appreciated the strengths and weaknesses of traditional solutions. The Faculty of Civil Engineering, at the University of Rijeka, has begun incorporating a series of activities that engage undergraduate students and the local community to develop a mutual understanding of the future needs for sustainable management. We present one of the activities, collaboration with the Lancaster Environment Centre at Lancaster University in the UK through the field course Water and environmental management in Mediterranean context. The course, which is designed for the Lancaster University geography students, features a combination of field trips and visits to provide an understanding of the socio-economic and environmental context of water management in two counties (Istra and Primorsko-Goranska). Students from Lancaster visit the Croatian water authority and a regional water company, where they learn about current management practices and problems in managing water supplies and demand through the year. They make their own observations of current management practices in the field and learn about water consumption from the end users. One day field visit to a village in the area that is still not connected to the main water supply system is organised together with civil engineering students from the University of Rijeka. The aims of this field visit are: to learn about traditional water supply from an underground storage of rain water called cisterna; and to find out from inhabitants about their current water usage habits and expectations, and how these might change when they get water from the main water supply system. This joint activity has been beneficial for both groups of students. The engineering students become aware of the importance of the social aspects in designing the water supply system, while the geography students learn about the engineering challenges entailed. Both groups learn that water consumption increases with the provision of water through pipeline systems and that this needs to be taken into account in the design of water supply and management of water resources. Importantly, they learn the benefits of traditional sustainable water supply methods, which could be implemented as primary or additional sources of water supply in other areas.In summary, both groups of students develop their professional knowledge and skills as well as generic and transferable skills, which are very important for those who will continue to a career in the design and management of water systems.

Model validation using CFD-grade experimental database for NGNP Reactor Cavity Cooling Systems with water and air

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

Manera, Annalisa; Corradini, Michael; Petrov, Victor

This project has been focused on the experimental and numerical investigations of the water-cooled and air-cooled Reactor Cavity Cooling System (RCCS) designs. At this aim, we have leveraged an existing experimental facility at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW), and we have designed and built a separate effect test facility at the University of Michigan. The experimental facility at UW has underwent several upgrades, including the installation of advanced instrumentation (i.e. wire-mesh sensors) built at the University of Michigan. These provides highresolution time-resolved measurements of the void-fraction distribution in the risers of the water-cooled RCCS facility. A phenomenological model has beenmore » developed to assess the water cooled RCCS system stability and determine the root cause behind the oscillatory behavior that occurs under normal two-phase operation. Testing under various perturbations to the water-cooled RCCS facility have resulted in changes in the stability of the integral system. In particular, the effects on stability of inlet orifices, water tank volume have and system pressure been investigated. MELCOR was used as a predictive tool when performing inlet orificing tests and was able to capture the Density Wave Oscillations (DWOs) that occurred upon reaching saturation in the risers. The experimental and numerical results have then been used to provide RCCS design recommendations. The experimental facility built at the University of Michigan was aimed at the investigation of mixing in the upper plenum of the air-cooled RCCS design. The facility has been equipped with state-of-theart high-resolution instrumentation to achieve so-called CFD grade experiments, that can be used for the validation of Computational Fluid Dynanmics (CFD) models, both RANS (Reynold-Averaged) and LES (Large Eddy Simulations). The effect of risers penetration in the upper plenum has been investigated as well.« less

Universal model for water costs of gas exchange by animals and plants

PubMed Central

Woods, H. Arthur; Smith, Jennifer N.

2010-01-01

For terrestrial animals and plants, a fundamental cost of living is water vapor lost to the atmosphere during exchange of metabolic gases. Here, by bringing together previously developed models for specific taxa, we integrate properties common to all terrestrial gas exchangers into a universal model of water loss. The model predicts that water loss scales to gas exchange with an exponent of 1 and that the amount of water lost per unit of gas exchanged depends on several factors: the surface temperature of the respiratory system near the outside of the organism, the gas consumed (oxygen or carbon dioxide), the steepness of the gradients for gas and vapor, and the transport mode (convective or diffusive). Model predictions were largely confirmed by data on 202 species in five taxa—insects, birds, bird eggs, mammals, and plants—spanning nine orders of magnitude in rate of gas exchange. Discrepancies between model predictions and data seemed to arise from biologically interesting violations of model assumptions, which emphasizes how poorly we understand gas exchange in some taxa. The universal model provides a unified conceptual framework for analyzing exchange-associated water losses across taxa with radically different metabolic and exchange systems. PMID:20404161

Universal model for water costs of gas exchange by animals and plants.

PubMed

Woods, H Arthur; Smith, Jennifer N

2010-05-04

For terrestrial animals and plants, a fundamental cost of living is water vapor lost to the atmosphere during exchange of metabolic gases. Here, by bringing together previously developed models for specific taxa, we integrate properties common to all terrestrial gas exchangers into a universal model of water loss. The model predicts that water loss scales to gas exchange with an exponent of 1 and that the amount of water lost per unit of gas exchanged depends on several factors: the surface temperature of the respiratory system near the outside of the organism, the gas consumed (oxygen or carbon dioxide), the steepness of the gradients for gas and vapor, and the transport mode (convective or diffusive). Model predictions were largely confirmed by data on 202 species in five taxa--insects, birds, bird eggs, mammals, and plants--spanning nine orders of magnitude in rate of gas exchange. Discrepancies between model predictions and data seemed to arise from biologically interesting violations of model assumptions, which emphasizes how poorly we understand gas exchange in some taxa. The universal model provides a unified conceptual framework for analyzing exchange-associated water losses across taxa with radically different metabolic and exchange systems.

Improving Sanitation and Health in Rural Alaska

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bubenheim, David L.

2013-01-01

In rural Alaskan communities personal health is threatened by energy costs and limited access to clean water, wastewater management, and adequate nutrition. Fuel-­-based energy systems are significant factors in determining local accessibility to clean water, sanitation and food. Increasing fuel costs induce a scarcity of access and impact residents' health. The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences (SNRAS), NASA's Ames Research Center, and USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have joined forces to develop high-efficiency, low­-energy consuming techniques for water treatment and food production in rural circumpolar communities. Methods intended for exploration of space and establishment of settlements on the Moon or Mars will ultimately benefit Earth's communities in the circumpolar north. The initial phase of collaboration is completed. Researchers from NASA Ames Research Center and SNRAS, funded by the USDA­-ARS, tested a simple, reliable, low-energy sewage treatment system to recycle wastewater for use in food production and other reuse options in communities. The system extracted up to 70% of the water from sewage and rejected up to 92% of ions in the sewage with no carryover of toxic effects. Biological testing showed that plant growth using recovered water in the nutrient solution was equivalent to that using high-purity distilled water. With successful demonstration that the low energy consuming wastewater treatment system can provide safe water for communities and food production, the team is ready to move forward to a full-scale production testbed. The SNRAS/NASA team (including Alaska students) will design a prototype to match water processing rates and food production to meet rural community sanitation needs and nutritional preferences. This system would be operated in Fairbanks at the University of Alaska through SNRAS. Long­-term performance will be validated and operational needs of the system determined. The testbed will be a part of the university education and operator training program. The "Forgotten Alaska" has long awaited this technology to augment the traditional

A Mission to Study Water Throughout The Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goldsmith, Paul F.

2015-08-01

A variety of recent observations have revealed important new information about the distribution of water in the universe, and dramatically expanded its role as a tracer of key stages in the formation of stars and planetary systems. These include water in planetary atmospheres, an asteroid (Ceres), and comets in the solar system by Herschel and Rosetta. Observations of the protoplanetary disk TWHydra have revealed emission from water. Herschel observations of water in a collapsing cloud core (in combination with other molecular lines) have been able to determine the velocity field. Water has also been extensively studied in diffuse interstellar clouds and has been showed to be a valuable tracer of physical conditions and chemistry in these regions. A space mission dedicated to observations of water throughout the universe is appropriate and timely. A critical unifying characteristic of all of the above is that the line widths are very narrow and so high spectral resolution is essential. This means that for the water lines throughout the submillimeter spectral region, heterodyne systems are required. For such systems, the thermal emission from the telescope is negligible so a cold telescope is not necessary. Technology advances allow focal plane array systems with 16 and possibly 64 pixels to frequencies as high as 5 GHz. There have been significant reduction in system noise, but increasing the collecting area is the main way to significantly improve the sensitivity. We have been developing a concept for a space mission that will employ a 8m-9m diameter telescope with a suite of heterodyne focal plane array receivers and broadband digital spectrometers. The collecting area will be factor >5 greater than that of Herschel, and the angular resolution improved by a factor ~2.5. The telescope can be folded to allow a relatively low cost Falcon 9 launch. The surface accuracy should allow observations up to ~2 THz frequency, including a variety of ortho- and para-H2O lines. Other key tracers of the interstellar medium such as C+ and OI can also be covered, making this an enormously exciting concept for future studies of the solar system, the Milky Way, and nearby galaxies.

Outbreak of drug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii ST219 caused by oral care using tap water from contaminated hand hygiene sinks as a reservoir.

PubMed

Umezawa, Kazuo; Asai, Satomi; Ohshima, Toshio; Iwashita, Hideo; Ohashi, Maya; Sasaki, Mika; Kaneko, Akihiro; Inokuchi, Sadaki; Miyachi, Hayato

2015-11-01

An outbreak of amikacin- and ciprofloxacin-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii ST219 in Tokai University hospital's emergency intensive care unit was caused by its colonization in water systems and subsequent spread through oral care using tap water. The outbreak was successfully controlled after replacement of the water system and implementation as of daily cleaning of water taps and oral care with a dry method. It is important to strictly manage the water system in critical care areas. Copyright © 2015 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Studies of Hydrogen Production by the Water Gas Shift Reaction and Related Chemistry

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-04-15

STUDIES OF HYDROGEN PRODUCTION BY THE WATER GAS SHIFT REACTION AND RELATED CHEMISTRY Institution: The University of Rochester Department of Chemistry...been app-’.iv -7 for public release and sale; it di.,tribution is unlimited. Abstract Many systems have been investigated for the catalysis of the water ...temperatures (80 - 100’C). In addition aqueous acidic conditions for these systems have been pursued with particular interest in adopting water gas shift

Goaf water detection using the grounded electrical source airborne transient electromagnetic system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, D.; Ji, Y.; Guan, S.; Wu, Y.; Wang, A.

2017-12-01

To detect the geoelectric characteristic of goaf water, the grounded electrical source airborne transient electromagnetic (GREATEM) system (developed by Jilin University, China) is applied to the goaf water detection since its advantages of considerable prospecting depth, lateral resolution and detection efficiency. For the test of GREATEM system in goaf water detection, an experimental survey was conducted at Qinshui coal mine (Shanxi province, China). After data acquisition, noise reduction and inversion, the resistivity profiles of survey area is presented. The results highly agree the investigation information provided by Shanxi Coal Geology Geophysical Surveying Exploration Institute (China), conforming that the GREATEM system is an effective technique for resistivity detection of goaf water.

Molecular dynamics as a foundation for flux prediction through nanoporous membranes: A vectorized, constraint-free approach to conservative simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Inman, Matthew Clay

A novel, open-cathode direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC ) has been designed and built by researchers at the University of North Florida and University of Florida. Foremost among the advances of this system over previous DMFC architectures is a passive water recovery system which allows product water to replenish that consumed at the anode. This is enabled by a specially-designed water pathway combined with a liquid barrier layer (LBL ). The LBL membrane is positioned between the cathode catalyst layer and the cathode gas diffusion layer, and must exhibit high permeability and low diffusive resistance to both oxygen and water vapor, bulk hydrophobicity to hold back the product liquid water, and must remain electrically conductive. Maintaining water balance at optimum operating temperatures is problematic with the current LBL design, forcing the system to run at lower temperatures decreasing the overall system efficiency. This research presents a novel approach to nanoporous membrane design whereby flux of a given species is determined based upon the molecular properties of said species and those of the diffusing medium, the pore geometry, and the membrane thickness. A molecular dynamics (MD ) model is developed for tracking Knudsen regime flows of a Lennard-Jones (LJ ) fluid through an atomistic pore structure, hundreds of thousands of wall collision simulations are performed on the University of Florida HiPerGator supercomputer, and the generated trajectory information is used to develop number density and axial velocity profiles for use in a rigorous approach to total flux calculation absent in previously attempted MD models. Results are compared to other published approaches and diffusion data available in the literature. The impact of this study on various applications of membrane design is discussed and additional simulations and model improvements are outlined for future consideration.

Energy-Water Microgrid Case Study at the University of Arizona's BioSphere 2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daw, J.; Macknick, J.; Kandt, A.; Giraldez, J.

2016-12-01

Microgrids can provide reliable and cost-effective energy services in a variety of conditions and locations. To date, there has been minimal effort invested in developing energy-water microgrids that demonstrate the feasibility and leverage the synergies associated with designing and operating renewable energy and water systems in a coordinated framework. Water and wastewater treatment equipment can be operated in ways to provide ancillary services to the electrical grid and renewable energy can be utilized to power water-related infrastructure, but the potential for co-managed systems has not yet been quantified or fully characterized. Co-management and optimization of energy and water resources could lead to improved reliability and economic operating conditions. Energy-water microgrids could be a promising solution to improve energy and water resource management for islands, rural communities, distributed generation, Defense operations, and many parts of the world lacking critical infrastructure.The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the University of Arizona have been jointly researching energy-water microgrid opportunities through an effort at the university's BioSphere 2 (B2) Earth systems science research facility. B2 is an ideal case study for an energy-water microgrid test site, given its size, its unique mission and operations, the existence and criticality of water and energy infrastructure, and its ability to operate connected-to or disconnected-from the local electrical grid. Moreover, the B2 is a premier facility for undertaking agricultural research, providing an excellent opportunity to evaluate connections and tradeoffs in the food-energy-water nexus. The research effort at B2 identified the technical potential and associated benefits of an energy-water microgrid through the evaluation of energy ancillary services and peak load reductions and quantified the potential for B2 water-related loads to be utilized and modified to provide grid services in the context of an optimized energy-water microgrid. The foundational work performed at B2 also serves a model that can be built upon for identifying relevant energy-water microgrid data, analytical requirements, and operational challenges associated with development of future energy-water microgrids.

What is safe and clean water in rural Bolivian communities? A preliminary investigation of heavy metal contamination in rural community water systems in the Bolivian Altiplano

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borella, M.; Guido, Z.; Borella, P.; Ketron, T.

2009-12-01

A proliferation of potable water systems utilizing groundwater is currently underway in the Lake Titicaca region of the Bolivian Altiplano. With the aid of national and international organizations, rural communities are developing groundwater sources because the region’s surface water is highly contaminated with waterborne pathogens—the primary factor contributing to high child mortality rates in developing nations. According to UNICEF, 86 percent of Bolivian families have access to “improved” water systems, which predominantly take the form of deep groundwater wells or contained natural springs. While the water systems have worked well to reduce pathogens in drinking water systems that cause illnesses such as dysentery, the water is rarely tested for heavy metal contamination, such as arsenic and lead. While bacteria analysis is essential, it is not the only component of healthy drinking water. Testing for heavy metals is especially important in the Bolivian Altiplano because abundant volcanic deposits and massive sulfide deposits suggest that in some areas it is likely that the water contains elevated concentrations of heavy metals. In this study, Terra Resource Development International, A California-based 502(c)3 nonprofit organization, partnered with Stanford University, the Technical University of Bolivia, and the Bolivian Geologic and Mining Survey to collect water samples in 36 rural community situated in four watersheds feeding into Lake Titicaca. Water was collected from shallow, hand dug wells, deep groundwater wells, springs, and small rivers in the Tiwanku, Laja, Batallas, Achacachi watersheds and were analyzed for inorganic contaminants. Samples were analyzed at Stanford’s Environmental Measurements Facility using the Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) Spectrometer for major ions and heavy metals. Results will help determine which, if any, community water systems are at risk of heavy metal contamination, where more comprehensive sampling is needed, and will inform Bolivian water managers of the potential need for heavy metal analysis.

University of Idaho Water of the West Initiative: Development of a sustainable, interdisciplinary water resources program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boll, J.; Cosens, B.; Fiedler, F.; Link, T.; Wilson, P.; Harris, C.; Tuller, M.; Johnson, G.; Kennedy, B.

2006-12-01

Recently, an interdisciplinary group of faculty from the University of Idaho was awarded a major internal grant for their project "Water of the West (WoW)" to launch an interdisciplinary Water Resources Graduate Education Program. This Water Resources program will facilitate research and education to influence both the scientific understanding of the resource and how it is managed, and advance the decision-making processes that are the means to address competing societal values. By educating students to integrate environmental sciences, socio-economic, and political issues, the WoW project advances the University's land grant mission to promote economic and social development in the state of Idaho. This will be accomplished through novel experiential interdisciplinary education activities; creation of interdisciplinary research efforts among water resources faculty; and focusing on urgent regional problems with an approach that will involve and provide information to local communities. The Water Resources Program will integrate physical and biological sciences, social science, law, policy and engineering to address problems associated with stewardship of our scarce water resources. As part of the WoW project, faculty will: (1) develop an integrative problem-solving framework; (2) develop activities to broaden WR education; (3) collaborate with the College of Law to offer a concurrent J.D. degree, (4) develop a virtual system of watersheds for teaching and research, and (5) attract graduate students for team-based education. The new program involves 50 faculty from six colleges and thirteen departments across the university. This university-wide initiative is strengthened by collaboration with the Idaho Water Resources Research Institute, and participation from off-campus Centers in Idaho Falls, Boise, Twin Falls, and Coeur d'Alene. We hope this presentation will attract university faculty, water resources professionals, and others for stimulating discussions on interdisciplinary approaches in water resources education.

Hawaii Island Groundwater Flow Model

DOE Data Explorer

Nicole Lautze

2015-01-01

Groundwater flow model for Hawaii Island. Data is from the following sources: Whittier, R.B., K. Rotzoll, S. Dhal, A.I. El-Kadi, C. Ray, G. Chen, and D. Chang. 2004. Hawaii Source Water Assessment Program Report – Volume II – Island of Hawaii Source Water Assessment Program Report. Prepared for the Hawaii Department of Health, Safe Drinking Water Branch. University of Hawaii, Water Resources Research Center. Updated 2008; and Whittier, R. and A.I. El-Kadi. 2014. Human and Environmental Risk Ranking of Onsite Sewage Disposal Systems For the Hawaiian Islands of Kauai, Molokai, Maui, and Hawaii – Final. Prepared by the University of Hawaii, Dept. of Geology and Geophysics for the State of Hawaii Dept. of Health, Safe Drinking Water Branch. September 2014.

Kauai Groundwater Flow Model

DOE Data Explorer

Nicole Lautze

2015-01-01

Groundwater flow model for Kauai. Data is from the following sources: Whittier, R. and A.I. El-Kadi. 2014. Human and Environmental Risk Ranking of Onsite Sewage Disposal Systems For the Hawaiian Islands of Kauai, Molokai, Maui, and Hawaii – Final. Prepared by the University of Hawaii, Dept. of Geology and Geophysics for the State of Hawaii Dept. of Health, Safe Drinking Water Branch. September 2014.; and Whittier, R.B., K. Rotzoll, S. Dhal, A.I. El-Kadi, C. Ray, G. Chen, and D. Chang. 2004. Hawaii Source Water Assessment Program Report – Volume IV – Island of Kauai Source Water Assessment Program Report. Prepared for the Hawaii Department of Health, Safe Drinking Water Branch. University of Hawaii, Water Resources Research Center. Updated 2015.

East Maui Groundwater Flow Model

DOE Data Explorer

Nicole Lautze

2015-01-01

Groundwater flow model for East Maui. Data is from the following sources: Whittier, R. and A.I. El-Kadi. 2014. Human and Environmental Risk Ranking of Onsite Sewage Disposal Systems For the Hawaiian Islands of Kauai, Molokai, Maui, and Hawaii – Final. Prepared by the University of Hawaii, Dept. of Geology and Geophysics for the State of Hawaii Dept. of Health, Safe Drinking Water Branch. September 2014; and Whittier, R.B., K. Rotzoll, S. Dhal, A.I. El-Kadi, C. Ray, G. Chen, and D. Chang. 2004. Hawaii Source Water Assessment Program Report – Volume V – Island of Maui Source Water Assessment Program Report. Prepared for the Hawaii Department of Health, Safe Drinking Water Branch. University of Hawaii, Water Resources Research Center. Updated 2008.

West Maui Groundwater Flow Model

DOE Data Explorer

Nicole Lautze

2015-01-01

Groundwater flow model for West Maui. Data is from the following sources: Whittier, R. and A.I. El-Kadi. 2014. Human and Environmental Risk Ranking of Onsite Sewage Disposal Systems For the Hawaiian Islands of Kauai, Molokai, Maui, and Hawaii – Final. Prepared by the University of Hawaii, Dept. of Geology and Geophysics for the State of Hawaii Dept. of Health, Safe Drinking Water Branch. September 2014; and Whittier, R.B., K. Rotzoll, S. Dhal, A.I. El-Kadi, C. Ray, G. Chen, and D. Chang. 2004. Hawaii Source Water Assessment Program Report – Volume V – Island of Maui Source Water Assessment Program Report. Prepared for the Hawaii Department of Health, Safe Drinking Water Branch. University of Hawaii, Water Resources Research Center. Updated 2008.

The effect of double-coating and times on the immediate and 6-month dentin bonding of universal adhesives.

PubMed

Pashaev, Diial; Demirci, Mustafa; Tekçe, Neslihan; Tuncer, Safa; Baydemir, Canan

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of double-application coats and times on microtensile bond strength (μTBS) and adhesive-dentin interfaces created by dentin adhesive systems after 6 months of storage in water. Two-hundred sixteen extracted non-carious human third molars were selected for the study. Single-Bond Universal (SU) and All-Bond Universal (AU), Adper Easy One (Eo) Self-Etch adhesive and Adper Single-Bond 2 (Sb) etch-and-rinse adhesive were applied to a flat dentin surface using three methods (1): dentin adhesives were applied as recommended by the manufacturers; (2): two consecutive coats of dentin adhesives were applied before photo-polymerization; and (3): a single coat of adhesive was applied but with twice the manufacturers recommended application time. Microtensile bond strength was determined either immediately or after 6 months of water storage. Data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance and Tukey's post-hoc tests. At 24 h, groups 1, 2, and 3 exhibited statistically similar results for all dentin adhesive systems. For AU-Er, group 3 showed significantly higher bond strength than all group of AU-Se after 6 months. Universal adhesives seemed more stable against water degradation than traditional two-step etch-and-rinse and all-in-one systems within the 6-month period.

The Mason Water Data Information System (MWDIS): Enabling data sharing and discovery at George Mason University

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferreira, C.; Da Silva, A. L.; Nunes, A.; Haddad, J.; Lawler, S.

2014-12-01

Enabling effective data use and re-use in scientific investigations relies heavily not only on data availability but also on efficient data sharing discovery. The CUAHSI led Hydrological Information Systems (HIS) and supporting products have paved the way to efficient data sharing and discovery in the hydrological sciences. Based on the CUAHSI-HIS framework concepts for hydrologic data sharing we developed a unique system devoted to the George Mason University scientific community to support university wide data sharing and discovery as well as real time data access for extreme events situational awareness. The internet-based system will provide an interface where the researchers will input data collected from the measurement stations and present them to the public in form of charts, tables, maps, and documents. Moreover, the system is developed in ASP.NET MVC 4 using as Database Management System, Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, and hosted by Amazon Web Services. Currently the system is supporting the Mason Watershed Project providing historical hydrological, atmospheric and water quality data for the campus watershed and real time flood conditions in the campus. The system is also a gateway for unprecedented data collection of hurricane storm surge hydrodynamics in coastal wetlands in the Chesapeake Bay providing not only access to historical data but recent storms such as Hurricane Arthur. Future research includes coupling the system to a real-time flood alert system on campus, and besides providing data on the World Wide Web, to foment and provide a venue for interdisciplinary collaboration within the water scientists in the region.

Contamination of dental unit waterlines: assessment of three continuous water disinfection systems

PubMed Central

Offner, Damien; Fioretti, Florence; Musset, Anne-Marie

2016-01-01

Objectives: To assess the efficacy of three continuous water disinfection systems for dental units under real conditions of dental care. Design and settings: A prospective study carried out from 45 days to 20 months on the water microbial quality of the dental units is benefited from three different systems: two chemical treatment systems (IGN EVO/Calbenium/IGN Cartridge and Sterispray) and one physical treatment system (BacTerminator). Studied items were six dental units of the Dental Medicine and Oral Surgery Center within the University Hospital of Strasbourg (HUS), France. Results and disucussion: The IGN EVO/Calbenium/IGN Cartridge and Sterispray systems showed an immediate and long-term efficacy on contaminated dental unit waterlines. However, the first system offers ergonomic advantages (automatic system, action on the water from the water supply network). The BacTerminator system took longer to be effective and was less effective than the other two. PMID:29607068

First Zenith Total Delay and Integrated Water Vapour Estimates from the Near Real-Time GNSS Data Processing Systems at the University of Luxembourg

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmed, F.; Teferle, F. N.; Bingley, R. M.

2012-04-01

Since September 2011 the University of Luxembourg in collaboration with the University of Nottingham has been setting up two near real-time processing systems for ground-based GNSS data for the provision of zenith total delay (ZTD) and integrated water vapour (IWV) estimates. Both systems are based on Bernese v5.0, use the double-differenced network processing strategy and operate with a 1-hour (NRT1h) and 15-minutes (NRT15m) update cycle. Furthermore, the systems follow the approach of the E-GVAP METO and IES2 systems in that the normal equations for the latest data are combined with those from the previous four updates during the estimation of the ZTDs. NRT1h currently takes the hourly data from over 130 GNSS stations in Europe whereas NRT15m is primarily using the real-time streams of EUREF-IP. Both networks include additional GNSS stations in Luxembourg, Belgium and France. The a priori station coordinates for all of these stem from a moving average computed over the last 20 to 50 days and are based on the precise point positioning processing strategy. In this study we present the first ZTD and IWV estimates obtained from the NRT1h and NRT15m systems in development at the University of Luxembourg. In a preliminary evaluation we compare their performance to the IES2 system at the University of Nottingham and find the IWV estimates to agree at the sub-millimetre level.

Feasibility study of a solar domestic hot water system for Oliver Hall, the University of Kansas

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

Shen, J.C.W.

1985-01-01

Solar water heating represents a low-temperature use of solar energy. It has been proven cost effective in residential applications with renewable energy tax credits. However, tax credits for solar application are not available for state owned buildings, which incur higher system costs and may not economically justify solar energy. The purpose of this project was to design a site assembled solar hot water heating system to reduce system costs. Oliver Hall, a dormitory building at the University of Kansas, was chosen for this research project. The optimum size of the solar system was determined via several different methods to bemore » approximately 1800 square feet. The site chosen for the location of solar arrays was a ground-mounting on the west side of the dormitory due to the adjacency to the mechanical room, ease of maintenance, and lower initial cost. System components and equipment were chosen as the product of performance, cost, maintenance and product life. After completion of the system design, the unit cost data for each component was collected and the initial system cost was estimated to be $49,244 which translates into a payback period of 16 years.« less

Protecting Surface Water Systems on Forest Sites Through Herbicide Use

Treesearch

J.L. Michael; H.L. Gibbs; J.B. Fischer; E.C. Webber

2000-01-01

Sediment, nutrients, and pesticides are universally accepted as the greatest threats to surface water quality world-wide. Sedimentation in surface waters is a natural phenomenon, but is magnified by human activities. Intensive forest management practices, particularly road building, harvesting and planting site preparation, result in the greatest increases in erosion...

78 FR 48845 - Hydrofluorosilicic Acid in Drinking Water; TSCA Section 21 Petition; Reasons for Agency Response

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-08-12

... the corrosivity of the water including: Taking further steps to optimize their corrosion control treatment (for water systems serving 50,000 people that have not fully optimized their corrosion control... Control Act (TSCA). The TSCA section 21 petition, dated May 9, 2013, was submitted by American University...

Research on Potential of Advanced Technology for Housing. A Building System Based on Filament Winding and New Developments in Water and Waste Management.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Michigan Univ., Ann Arbor.

The University of Michigan and Aerojet Corporation report their development of a new building system which will offer the consumer a higher quality product at lower cost. To achieve this goal, the University-Aerojet proposal suggested filament winding (a process derived from the aerospace program for the manufacture of reinforced plastic…

Municipal water-based heat pump heating and/or cooling systems: Findings and recommendations. Final report

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

Bloomquist, R.G.; Wegman, S.

1998-04-01

The purpose of the present work was to determine if existing heat pump systems based on municipal water systems meet existing water quality standards, to analyze water that has passed through a heat pump or heat exchanger to determine if corrosion products can be detected, to determine residual chlorine levels in municipal waters on the inlet as well as the outlet side of such installations, to analyses for bacterial contaminants and/or regrowth due to the presence of a heat pump or heat exchanger, to develop and suggest criteria for system design and construction, to provide recommendations and specifications for materialmore » and fluid selection, and to develop model rules and regulations for the installation, operation, and monitoring of new and existing systems. In addition, the Washington State University (WSU) has evaluated availability of computer models that would allow for water system mapping, water quality modeling and system operation.« less

Degradation of Multimode Adhesive System Bond Strength to Artificial Caries-Affected Dentin Due to Water Storage.

PubMed

Follak, A C; Miotti, L L; Lenzi, T L; Rocha, R O; Soares, F Z

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of water storage on bond strength of multimode adhesive systems to artificially induced caries-affected dentin. One hundred twelve sound bovine incisors were randomly assigned to 16 groups (n=7) according to the dentin condition (sound; SND, artificially induced caries-affected dentin; CAD, cariogenic challenge by pH cycling for 14 days); the adhesive system (SU, Scotchbond Universal Adhesive; AB, All-Bond Universal; PB, Prime & Bond Elect; SB, Adper Single Bond 2; and CS, Clearfil SE Bond), and the etching strategy (etch-and-rinse and self-etch). All adhesive systems were applied under manufacturer's instructions to flat dentin surfaces, and a composite block was built up on each dentin surface. After 24 hours of water storage, the specimens were sectioned into stick-shaped specimens (0.8 mm 2 ) and submitted to a microtensile test immediately (24 hours) or after six months of water storage. Bond strength data (MPa) were analyzed using three-way repeated-measures analysis of variance and post hoc Tukey test (α=5%), considering each substrate separately (SND and CAD). The etching strategy did not influence the bond strength of multimode adhesives, irrespective of the dentin condition. Water storage only reduced significantly the bond strength to CAD. The degradation of bond strength due to water storage was more pronounced in CAD, regardless of the etching strategy.

University of Minnesota Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage Field Test Facility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walton, M.; Hoyer, M. C.

1982-12-01

The University of Minnesota Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) Field Test Facility became operational. Experiments demonstrated that the Franconia-Ironton-Galesville aquifer will accept injection of 300 gpm (18.9 1 sec (-1)) at reasonable pressures with a heat buildup in the injection well of about 44 psi (31.6 m) over 8 days. Heating of the ground water caused precipitation of carbonate in the piping and injection well, but with proper water conditioning, the system will work satisfactorily at elevated temperatures.

Policy Sciences in Water Resources Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cummings, Ronald G.

1984-07-01

As the newly appointed Policy Sciences Editor for this journal, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself to WRR's readership as well as to offer a few comments concerning my views of policy sciences in water resources research. I am an economist working in the area of natural resources and environmental management. As such, I've spent a good part of my research career working with noneconomists. During 1969-1972, I worked in Mexico with hydrologists and engineers from Mexico's Water Resources Ministry in efforts to assess management/investment programs for reservoir systems and systems for interbasin water transfers. Between 1972 and 1975, while serving as Chairman of the Department of Resource Economics at the University of Rhode Island, my research involved collaborative efforts with biologists and soil scientists in studies concerning the conjunctive management of reservoirs for agricultural and lagoon systems and the control of salinity levels in soils and aquifers. Since 1975, at which time I joined the faculty at the University of New Mexico, I have worked with engineers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in developing operation/management models for hot, dry rock geothermal systems and, more recently, with legal scholars and hydrologists in analyses of water rights issues. Thus I am comfortable with and appreciative of research conducted by my colleagues in systems engineering, operations research, and hydrology, as well as those in economics, law, and other social sciences.

Optimization of scheduling system for plant watering using electric cars in agro techno park

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oktavia Adiwijaya, Nelly; Herlambang, Yudha; Slamin

2018-04-01

Agro Techno Park in University of Jember is a special area used for the development of agriculture, livestock and fishery. In this plantation, the process of watering the plants is according to the frequency of each plant needs. This research develops the optimization of plant watering scheduling system using edge coloring of graph. This research was conducted in 3 stages, namely, data collection phase, analysis phase, and system development stage. The collected data was analyzed and then converted into a graph by using bipartite adjacency matrix representation. The development phase is conducted to build a web-based watering schedule optimization system. The result of this research showed that the schedule system is optimal because it can maximize the use of all electric cars to water the plants and minimize the number of idle cars.

Space Life-Support Engineering Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seagrave, Richard C. (Principal Investigator)

1995-01-01

This report covers the seventeen months of work performed under an extended one year NASA University Grant awarded to Iowa State University to perform research on topics relating to the development of closed-loop long-term life support systems with the initial principal focus on space water management. In the first phase of the program, investigators from chemistry and chemical engineering with demonstrated expertise in systems analysis, thermodynamics, analytical chemistry and instrumentation, performed research and development in two major related areas; the development of low-cost, accurate, and durable sensors for trace chemical and biological species, and the development of unsteady-state simulation packages for use in the development and optimization of control systems for life support systems. In the second year of the program, emphasis was redirected towards concentrating on the development of dynamic simulation techniques and software and on performing a thermodynamic systems analysis, centered on availability or energy analysis, in an effort to begin optimizing the systems needed for water purification. The third year of the program, the subject of this report, was devoted to the analysis of the water balance for the interaction between humans and the life support system during space flight and exercise, to analysis of the cardiopulmonary systems of humans during space flight, and to analysis of entropy production during operation of the air recovery system during space flight.

Solar space and water heating system at Stanford University, Central Food Services Building

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1980-05-01

This active hydronic domestic hot water and space heating system was 840 sq ft of single-glazed, liquid, flat plate collectors and 1550 gal heat storage tanks. The following are discussed: energy conservation, design philosophy, operation, acceptance testing, performance data, collector selection, bidding, costs, economics, problems, and recommendations. An operation and maintenance manual and as-built drawings are included in appendices.

Green roof soil system affected by soil structural changes: A project initiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jelínková, Vladimíra; Dohnal, Michal; Šácha, Jan; Šebestová, Jana; Sněhota, Michal

2014-05-01

Anthropogenic soil systems and structures such as green roofs, permeable or grassed pavements comprise appreciable part of the urban watersheds and are considered to be beneficial regarding to numerous aspects (e.g. carbon dioxide cycle, microclimate, reducing solar absorbance and storm water). Expected performance of these systems is significantly affected by water and heat regimes that are primarily defined by technology and materials used for system construction, local climate condition, amount of precipitation, the orientation and type of the vegetation cover. The benefits and potencies of anthropogenic soil systems could be considerably threatened in case when exposed to structural changes of thin top soil layer in time. Extensive green roof together with experimental green roof segment was established and advanced automated monitoring system of micrometeorological variables was set-up at the experimental site of University Centre for Energy Efficient Buildings as an interdisciplinary research facility of the Czech Technical University in Prague. The key objectives of the project are (i) to characterize hydraulic and thermal properties of soil substrate studied, (ii) to establish seasonal dynamics of water and heat in selected soil systems from continuous monitoring of relevant variables, (iii) to detect structural changes with the use of X-ray Computed Tomography, (iv) to identify with the help of numerical modeling and acquired datasets how water and heat dynamics in anthropogenic soil systems are affected by soil structural changes. Achievements of the objectives will advance understanding of the anthropogenic soil systems behavior in conurbations with the temperate climate.

GREENPLEX -- A SUSTAINABLE URBAN FORM FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

EPA Science Inventory

Outputs include images of architecture, space usage, social design, elevators, skybridges, ETFE envelope, structures, construction process, HVAC system, and water system.  Outputs include performance metrics for the University Community Greenplex and traditional univer...

Design and Implementation of Geothermal Energy Systems at West Chester University

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

Lewis, James

West Chester University has launched a comprehensive transformation of its campus heating and cooling systems from traditional fossil fuels to geothermal. This change will significantly decrease the institution's carbon footprint and serve as a national model for green campus efforts. The institution has designed a phased series of projects to build a district geo-exchange system with shared well fields, central pumping station and distribution piping to provide the geo-exchange water to campus buildings as their internal building HVAC systems are changed to be able to use the geo-exchange water. This project addresses the US Department of Energy Office of Energymore » Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) goal to invest in clean energy technologies that strengthen the economy, protect the environment, and reduce dependence on foreign oil. In addition, this project advances EERE's efforts to establish geothermal energy as an economically competitive contributor to the US energy supply.« less

Non-PRASA Drinking Water Research on UV Disinfection in Puerto Rico

EPA Science Inventory

The U.S. EPA and InterAmerican University of San German worked with water treatment operators from Patillas, Puerto Rico on the installation, training and testing of pretreatment/UV disinfection systems in the communities of La Sofia and Apeadero. This presentation provides path...

Design of a High-Reynolds Number Recirculating Water Tunnel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daniel, Libin; Elbing, Brian

2014-11-01

An experimental fluid mechanics laboratory focused on turbulent boundary layers, drag reduction techniques, multiphase flows and fluid-structure interactions has recently been established at Oklahoma State University. This laboratory has three primary components; (1) a recirculating water tunnel, (2) a multiphase pipe flow loop, and (3) a multi-scale flow visualization system. The design of the water tunnel is the focus of this talk. The criteria used for the water tunnel design was that it had to produce a momentum-thickness based Reynolds number in excess of 104, negligible flow acceleration due to boundary layer growth, maximize optical access for use of the flow visualization system, and minimize inlet flow non-uniformity. This Reynolds number was targeted to bridge the gap between typical university/commercial water tunnels (103) and the world's largest water tunnel facilities (105) . These objectives were achieved with a 152 mm (6-inch) square test section that is 1 m long and has a maximum flow speed of 10 m/s. The flow non-uniformity was mitigated with the use of a tandem honeycomb configuration, a settling chamber and an 8.5:1 contraction. The design process that produced this final design will be presented along with its current status.

Space life support engineering program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seagrave, Richard C.

1991-01-01

This report covers the first six months of work performed under the NASA University Grant awarded to Iowa State University to perform research on two topics relating to the development of closed-loop long-term life support systems. A comprehensive study to develop software to simulate the dynamic operation of water reclamation systems in long-term closed-loop life support systems is being carried out as part of an overall program for the design of systems for a Mars voyage. This project is being done in parallel with a similar effort in the Department of Chemistry to develop durable accurate low-cost sensors for monitoring of trace chemical and biological species in recycled water supplies. Aspen-Plus software is being used on a group of high-performance workstations to develop the steady state descriptions for a number of existing technologies. Following completion, a dynamic simulation package will be developed for determining the response of such systems to changes in the metabolic needs of the crew and to upsets in system hardware performance.

Indiana State University Graduates to Advanced Plastic Cooling Towers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sullivan, Ed

2012-01-01

Perhaps more than many other industries, today's universities and colleges are beset by dramatically rising costs on every front. One of the areas where overhead can be contained or reduced is in the operation of the chilled water systems that support air conditioning throughout college campuses, specifically the cooling towers. Like many…

Is thermodynamic irreversibility a consequence of the expansion of the Universe?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Osváth, Szabolcs

2018-02-01

This paper explains thermodynamic irreversibility by applying the expansion of the Universe to thermodynamic systems. The effect of metric expansion is immeasurably small on shorter scales than intergalactic distances. Multi-particle systems, however, are chaotic, and amplify any small disturbance exponentially. Metric expansion gives rise to time-asymmetric behaviour in thermodynamic systems in a short time (few nanoseconds in air, few ten picoseconds in water). In contrast to existing publications, this paper explains without any additional assumptions the rise of thermodynamic irreversibility from the underlying reversible mechanics of particles. Calculations for the special case which assumes FLRW metric, slow motions (v ≪ c) and approximates space locally by Euclidean space show that metric expansion causes entropy increase in isolated systems. The rise of time-asymmetry, however, is not affected by these assumptions. Any influence of the expansion of the Universe on the local metric causes a coupling between local mechanics and evolution of the Universe.

A Site Density Functional Theory for Water: Application to Solvation of Amino Acid Side Chains.

PubMed

Liu, Yu; Zhao, Shuangliang; Wu, Jianzhong

2013-04-09

We report a site density functional theory (SDFT) based on the conventional atomistic models of water and the universality ansatz of the bridge functional. The excess Helmholtz energy functional is formulated in terms of a quadratic expansion with respect to the local density deviation from that of a uniform system and a universal functional for all higher-order terms approximated by that of a reference hard-sphere system. With the atomistic pair direct correlation functions of the uniform system calculated from MD simulation and an analytical expression for the bridge functional from the modified fundamental measure theory, the SDFT can be used to predict the structure and thermodynamic properties of water under inhomogeneous conditions with a computational cost negligible in comparison to that of brute-force simulations. The numerical performance of the SDFT has been demonstrated with the predictions of the solvation free energies of 15 molecular analogs of amino acid side chains in water represented by SPC/E, SPC, and TIP3P models. For theTIP3P model, a comparison of the theoretical predictions with MD simulation and experimental data shows agreement within 0.64 and 1.09 kcal/mol on average, respectively.

Potential energy functions for atomic-level simulations of water and organic and biomolecular systems.

PubMed

Jorgensen, William L; Tirado-Rives, Julian

2005-05-10

An overview is provided on the development and status of potential energy functions that are used in atomic-level statistical mechanics and molecular dynamics simulations of water and of organic and biomolecular systems. Some topics that are considered are the form of force fields, their parameterization and performance, simulations of organic liquids, computation of free energies of hydration, universal extension for organic molecules, and choice of atomic charges. The discussion of water models covers some history, performance issues, and special topics such as nuclear quantum effects.

Developing Consistent Earth System Data Records for the Global Terrestrial Water Cycle: Focus on Shortwave and Longwave Radiative Fluxes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinker, R. T.; Ma, Y.; Nussbaumer, E. A.

2012-04-01

The overall goal of the MEaSUREs activity titled: "Developing Consistent Earth System Data Records for the Global Terrestrial Water Cycle" is to develop consistent, long-term Earth System Data Records (ESDRs) for the major components of the terrestrial water cycle at a climatic time scale. The shortwave (SW) and longwave (LW) radiative fluxes at the Earth's surface determine the exchange of energy between the land and the atmosphere are the focus of this presentation. During the last two decades, significant progress has been made in assessing the Earth Radiation Balance from satellite observations. Yet, satellite based estimates differ from each other and long term satellite observations at global scale are not readily available. There is a need to utilize existing records of satellite observations and to improve currently available estimates. This paper reports on improvements introduced to an existing methodology to estimate shortwave (SW) radiative fluxes within the atmospheric system, on the development of a new inference scheme for deriving LW fluxes, the implementation of the approach with the ISCCP DX observations and improved atmospheric inputs for the period of 1983-2007, evaluation against ground observations, and comparison with independent satellite methods and numerical models. The resulting ESDRs from the entire MEaSUREs Project are intended to provide a consistent basis for estimating the mean state and variability of the land surface water cycle at a spatial scale relevant to major global river basins. MEaSUREs Project "Developing Consistent Earth System Data Records for the Global Terrestrial Water Cycle" Team Members: E. F. Wood (PI)1, T. J Bohn2, J. L Bytheway3, X. Feng4, H. Gao2, P. R.Houser4 (CO-I), C. D Kummerow3 (CO-I), D. P Lettenmaier2 (CO-I), C. Li5, Y. Ma5, R. F MacCracken4, M. Pan1, R. T Pinker5 (CO-I), A. K. Sahoo1, J. Sheffield1 1. Dept of CEE, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA. 2. Dept of CEE, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. 3. Dept of Atmospheric Science, Fort Collins, CO, USA. 4. Dept of Geography and GeoInformation Scie., George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA. 5. Dept of Meteorology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.

UV Treatment for Small Systems

EPA Science Inventory

The Center for Environmental Education, Conservation and Research (CECIA) at InterAmerican University of Puerto Rico (IAUPR) has organized the 10th CECIA-IAUPR Biennial Symposium on Potable Water Issues in Puerto Rico. This presentation on UV Treatment for Small Systems will be ...

LSU Slashes Energy Use

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Collier, Herbert I.

1978-01-01

Energy conservation programs at Louisiana State University reduced energy use 23 percent. The programs involved computer controlled power management systems, adjustment of building temperatures and lighting levels to prescribed standards, consolidation of night classes, centralization of chilled water systems, and manual monitoring of heating and…

Recharge Data for Hawaii Island

DOE Data Explorer

Nicole Lautze

2015-01-01

Recharge data for Hawaii Island in shapefile format. The data are from the following sources: Whittier, R.B and A.I. El-Kadi. 2014. Human Health and Environmental Risk Ranking of On-Site Sewage Disposal systems for the Hawaiian Islands of Kauai, Molokai, Maui, and Hawaii – Final, Prepared for Hawaii Dept. of Health, Safe Drinking Water Branch by the University of Hawaii, Dept. of Geology and Geophysics. Oki, D. S. 1999. Geohydrology and Numerical Simulation of the Ground-Water Flow System of Kona, Island of Hawaii. U.S. Water-Resources Investigation Report: 99-4073. Oki, D. S. 2002. Reassessment of Ground-water Recharge and Simulated Ground-Water Availability for the Hawi Area of North Kohala, Hawaii. U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigation report 02-4006.

Field Operations For The "Intelligent River" Observation System: A Basin-wide Water Quality Observation System In The Savannah River Basin And Platform Supporting Related Diverse Initiatives.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sutton, A.; Koons, M.; O'Brien-Gayes, P.; Moorer, R.; Hallstrom, J.; Post, C.; Gayes, P. T.

2017-12-01

The Intelligent River (IR) initiative is an NSF sponsored study developing new data management technology for a range of basin-scale applications. The technology developed by Florida Atlantic and Clemson University established a network of real-time reporting water quality sondes; from the mountains to the estuary of the Savannah River basin. Coastal Carolina University led the field operations campaign. Ancillary studies, student projects and initiatives benefitted from the associated instrumentation, infrastructure and operational support of the IR program. This provided a vehicle for students to participate in fieldwork across the watershed and pursue individual interests. Student projects included: 1) a Multibeam sonar survey investigating channel morphology in the area of an IR sensor station and 2) field tests of developing techniques for acquiring and assimilating flood velocity data into model systems associated with a separate NSF Rapid award. The multibeam survey within the lower Savannah basin exhibited a range of complexity in bathymetry, bedforms and bottom habitat in the vicinity of one of the water quality stations. The complex morphology and bottom habitat reflect complex flow patterns, localized areas of depositional and erosive tendencies providing a valuable context for considering point-source water quality time series. Micro- Lagrangian drifters developed by ISENSE at Florida Atlantic University, a sled mounted ADCP, and particle tracking from imagery collected by a photogrammetric drone were tested and used to develop methodology for establishing velocity, direction and discharge levels to validate, initialize and assimilate data into advance models systems during future flood events. The prospect of expanding wide scale observing systems can serve as a platform to integrate small and large-scale cooperative studies across disciplines as well as basic and applied research interests. Such initiatives provide opportunities for embedded education and experience for students that add to the understanding of broad integrated complex systems.

Development of a Screening Tool to Facilitate Technology Transfer of an Innovative Technology to Treat Perchlorate-Contaminated Water

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-03-01

foods such as fruits, vegetables, and beverages (U.S. FDA, 2004). If the U.S. EPA ultimately establishes a drinking water standard for perchlorate...TREAT PERCHLORATE-CONTAMINATED WATER THESIS Daniel A. Craig, Captain, USAF AFIT/GEM/ENV/08-M06 DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE AIR UNIVERSITY...OF AN INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY TO TREAT PERCHLORATE- CONTAMINATED WATER THESIS Presented to the Faculty Department of Systems and Engineering

Fog Studies for University Students and High School Teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Witiw, M.; Ladochy, S.

2010-07-01

Over the past few years, fog studies have been introduced as part of courses in Earth system science for both university students and high school teachers at Seattle Pacific University. In the undergraduate course, about three hours are devoted to the study of fog starting with a discussion on sustainable water systems. This is followed by presentations on types of fog, the role of fog in the biosphere, biogeochemical cycles and fog, human influences on fog and fog intensity, and remote sensing of fog. We end with a description of fog collection. Fog education efforts increased for students when our campus was able to obtain fog collecting equipment from Richard Jagels at the University of Maine. The equipment included active and passive fog collectors as well as infrared-beam fog detectors. Two graduating students took on fog collection as their senior project. After setting up the newly acquired equipment, the students designed a fog collection project for the University’s Whidby Island location on Puget Sound, an area that experiences frequent advection fog. They built a passive fog detector and determined where to place it on the Island. Future projects planned include implementing a water system based upon fog collection on Whidby Island. We have also implemented a new module on fog for the Earth System Science Education Alliance (ESSEA) - The Camanchaca: Fog in the Earth System (available at: http://essea.strategies.org/module.php?module_id=54). Aspects of fog in the Earth system are discussed and participants are led to see the important role fog has throughout the Earth system. This module was successfully piloted as part of an Earth system science course for teachers offered in June-July, 2009.

Muon data from a water Cherenkov detector prototype at Colorado State University

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Longo, Megan; Mostafa, Miguel

2013-04-01

The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory is a very high energy gamma-ray experiment currently under construction in Sierra Negra in the state of Puebla, Mexico, at an altitude of 4,100 m a.s.l. The HAWC Observatory will consist of 300 water Cherenkov detectors (WCDs), each instrumented with three 8'' photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) and one 10'' high efficiency (HE) PMT. The PMTs are upward facing, anchored to the bottom of a 5 m deep by 7.3 m diameter steel tank, containing a multilayer hermetic plastic bag holding 200,000 L of purified water. The only full size WCD prototype outside of the HAWC site is located at Colorado State University (CSU) in Fort Collins, CO at an altitude of 1,525 m a.s.l. This prototype is instrumented with six 8'' PMTs, one 10'' HE PMT, and the same laser calibration system, electronics, and data acquisition system as the WCDs at the HAWC site. The CSU prototype is additionally equipped with scintillator paddles both under and above the volume of water, temperature probes (in the water, outside, and in the DAQ room), and one covered PMT. Preliminary results for muon rates and their temperature dependance using data collected with the CSU prototype will be presented.

Diffuse sunlight based calibration of the water vapor channel in the upc raman lidar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muñoz-Porcar, Constantino; Comeron, Adolfo; Sicard, Michaël; Barragan, Ruben; Garcia-Vizcaino, David; Rodríguez-Gómez, Alejandro; Rocadenbosch, Francesc

2018-04-01

A method for determining the calibration factor of the water vapor channel of a Raman lidar, based on zenith measurements of diffuse sunlight and on assumptions regarding some system parameters and Raman scattering models, has been applied to the lidar system of Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC; Technical University of Catalonia, Spain). Results will be analyzed in terms of stability and comparison with typical methods relying on simultaneous radiosonde measurements.

Design and Implementation of Geothermal Energy Systems at West Chester University

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

Cuprak, Greg

West Chester University has launched a comprehensive transformation of its campus heating and cooling systems from traditional fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) to geothermal. This change will significantly decrease the institution’s carbon footprint and serve as a national model for green campus efforts. The institution has designed a phased series of projects to build a district geo-exchange system with shared well fields, central pumping station and distribution piping to provide the geo-exchange water to campus buildings as their internal building HVAC systems is changed to be able to use the geo-exchange water. This project addresses the US Departmentmore » of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) goal to invest in clean energy technologies that strengthen the economy, protect the environment, and reduce dependence on foreign oil. In addition, this project advances EERE’s efforts to establish geothermal energy as an economically competitive contributor to the US energy supply.« less

Use of decision support systems as a drought management tool

USGS Publications Warehouse

Frevert, D.; Lins, H.; ,

2005-01-01

Droughts present a unique challenge to water managers throughout the world and the current drought in the western United States is taxing facilities to the limit. Coping with this severe drought requires state of the art decision support systems including efficient and accurate hydrologic process models, detailed hydrologic data bases and effective river systems management modeling frameworks. This paper will outline a system of models developed by the Bureau of Reclamation, the US Geological Survey, the University of Colorado and a number of other governmental and university partners. The application of the technology to drought management in several key western river basins will be discussed.

Water in Solar system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vidmachenko, A. P.

2018-05-01

Water consists of two most common chemical elements in the universe: hydrogen and oxygen. At the study of the solar and other planetary systems, water was found on planets, their satellites, in cometary nuclei, in asteroids, dwarf planets such as Ceres and Pluto. Water also occurs in the giant molecular clouds at interstellar space, in the materials of protoplanetary disks, in the atmospheres of exoplanets. In addition, in liquid form, water can also be under the surface. Most of the satellites of the giant planets also contain a huge amount of water ice. Some satellites of Saturn and Jupiter even give evidence of the presence of oceans under their surface. These include, for example, Enceladus, Titan and Dione in Saturn; Europe, Ganymede and Callisto near Jupiter; Here we will also include the satellite of Neptune - Triton.

Selection of an evaluation index for water ecological civilizations of water-shortage cities based on the grey rough set

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, X. Y.; Zhu, J. W.; Xie, J. C.; Liu, J. L.; Jiang, R. G.

2017-08-01

According to the characteristics and existing problems of water ecological civilization of water-shortage cities, the evaluation index system of water ecological civilization was established using a grey rough set. From six aspects of water resources, water security, water environment, water ecology, water culture and water management, this study established the prime frame of the evaluation system, including 28 items, and used rough set theory to undertake optimal selection of the index system. Grey correlation theory then was used for weightings in order that the integrated evaluation index system for water ecology civilization of water-shortage cities could be constituted. Xi’an City was taken as an example, for which the results showed that 20 evaluation indexes could be obtained after optimal selection of the preliminary framework of evaluation index. The most influential indices were the water-resource category index and water environment category index. The leakage rate of the public water supply pipe network, as well as the disposal, treatment and usage rate of polluted water, urban water surface area ratio, the water quality of the main rivers, and so on also are important. It was demonstrated that the evaluation index could provide an objectively reflection of regional features and key points for the development of water ecology civilization for cities with scarce water resources. It is considered that the application example has universal applicability.

Multimedia Educational CD-ROM - The Living Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosen, Ralev

2002-01-01

I and the other members of the team Celestial Generation dedicate this interactive CD-ROM to our Physics, Astronomy, Biology and English teachers. The members of the team that created the project are Rosen Ralev, Nadezhda Radeva, Iliyan Darganov and Yana Radeva from Technical University of Sofia, the English High schools - Varna, Technical University of Varna and Connecticut College. The leader of the project is Mrs. Veselka Radeva - an astronomer from the Astronomical Observatory in Varna. The main idea of the project " The Living Universe" is that water is a cradle of life in the Universe. As water so abundant in the Universe, life. The project has 4 main themes, combining knowledge from the fields of Biology and Astronomy, one Gallery with our photographs and one amusing theme with interesting and curious facts about life on the Earth and in the Universe. The statistics of our project is: 152 pages and 425 pictures. Over 2/3 from the pictures are ours and we used the rest of them with the kind permission of their authors.The theme Living Water starts with a lyric poem by Petya Dubarova. In the first under-theme- "Water-the cradle of life" introduce you graphics of the structure of the water molecule and its important biological properties. The thesis continues following out the origin and development of life in the oceans on our planet. The next to the last under-theme - sensitive life in water is devoted to dolphins. The third under-theme is " Water in the Universe". Here two of the themes show results from the observations with the space telescope Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite, that found water steams in the interstellar space and around a star in the constellation Leo ( it is supposed that this is a huge comet cloud). This third theme is the most extensive one in this section- it examines the possibility of water being available on each planet in the Solar system: Mercury-most likely there is ice on the polar areas that are the coolest .On Venus it is assumed that there could be living bubble-like creatures in the clouds that are situated 55 km above the surface .A million years ago there was water on Mars. It shows the most recent pictures on which there can be seen the bottom of an ancient ocean. The theme about Mars is enormous and very interesting .The theme continues with the ice cover of Europa . In the places where that ice is broken there could be found life .What follows is the article about the icy satellite of Jupiter-Calisto that has salt oceans under the ice cover .The theme - comets-the space icebergs of the Solar system, leads to the end of the major theme about the water in the Universe. All pictures in this part were made by the group. The next main theme is "The miracle of life". This is the interesting and extensive biological part that includes many themes: it start with the origin of the Universe till the appearance of life on the Earth, the main differences between the living and the non-living; we examine the different definitions of life, the stages of origin of living organisms on our planet. The next main theme is "Habitable worlds". In the first under-theme "The unique planet" there are shown all the conditions in the Solar system that make it unique. Its uniqueness could be the reason why life had developed only in our Solar system. In the next under-theme about the Moon presents the views of the future of the Moon-where there could be situated Moon bases. The next under-theme "Europe-life in the ice breakings". It is most likely that living organisms could exist not only in the oceans under the ice, but also in huge ice breakings. The next information is about Ganymede and Calisto. What is interesting about Titan is that the spot that was seen by scientists most likely has organic composition. Life having been brought by comets is an interesting and disputed theme, but I think that comets spread life in the planet systems. The last theme is bacterial colonizing-it is known that space bacteria can exist in the interstellar. And a script about interstellar bacterial colonizing finishes that theme . Another main theme is SETI. The most interesting things here are the 7 projects for searching for extraterrestrial civilizations. For each project the group found information in 4 areas: by whom it is carried out; what are the goals of the project; what are the technical meanings and how it works. The next under-themes are "Alien forms of life" and "Are we alone?". "The wonderful Universe" is a theme, in which there are included 40 interesting and curious facts about life on the Earth, planets and stars. Here there are 6 images by NASA and the rest 34 were made by me, following the nice text. "The Gallery is my favorite part of the CD-ROM. Here you can find astrophotos made with telescopes in National Astronomical Observatory -Rozhen, space pictures and photo-collages.

Capturing & Reusing Air Handler Condensate without Digging up the Campus

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pruitt, Olen L.; Guccione, Patrick D.

2013-01-01

The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has experienced rapid growth in the last decade. In addition to educating over 17,000 students annually, UAB is a major research facility and academic healthcare center. Due to growth and expansion, UAB requires more and more water to sustain operations. The central chilled water system serves over…

Influence of Different Etching Modes on Bond Strength to Enamel using Universal Adhesive Systems.

PubMed

Diniz, Ana Cs; Bandeca, Matheus C; Pinheiro, Larissa M; Dos Santosh Almeida, Lauber J; Torres, Carlos Rg; Borges, Alvaro H; Pinto, Shelon Cs; Tonetto, Mateus R; De Jesus Tavarez, Rudys R; Firoozmand, Leily M

2016-10-01

The adhesive systems and the techniques currently used are designed to provide a more effective adhesion with reduction of the protocol application. The objective of this study was to evaluate the bond strength of universal adhesive systems on enamel in different etching modes (self-etch and total etch). The mesial and distal halves of 52 bovine incisors, healthy, freshly extracted, were used and divided into seven experimental groups (n = 13). The enamel was treated in accordance with the following experimental conditions: FUE-Universal System - Futurabond U (VOCO) with etching; FUWE - Futurabond U (VOCO) without etching; SB-Total Etch System - Single Bond 2 (3M); SBUE-Universal System - Single Bond Universal (3M ESPE) with etching; SBUWE - Single Bond Universal (3M ESPE) without etching; CLE-Self-etch System - Clearfil SE Bond (Kuraray) was applied with etching; CLWE - Clearfil SE Bond (Kuraray) without etching. The specimens were made using the composite spectrum TPH (Dentsply) and stored in distilled water (37 ± 1°C) for 1 month. The microshear test was performed using the universal testing machine EMIC DL 2000 with the crosshead speed of 0.5 mm/minute. The bond strength values were analyzed using statistical tests (Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney test) with Bonferroni correction. There was no statistically significant difference between groups (p < 0.05), where FUE (36.83 ± 4.9 MPa) showed the highest bond strength values and SBUWE (18.40 ± 2.2 MPa) showed the lowest bond strength values. The analysis of adhesive interface revealed that most failures occurred between the interface composite resin and adhesive. The universal adhesive system used in dental enamel varies according to the trademark, and the previous enamel etching for universal systems and the self-etch both induced greater bond strength values. Selective enamel etching prior to the application of a universal adhesive system is a relevant strategy for better performance bonding.

Student Outreach With Renewable Energy Technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clark, Eric B. (Technical Monitor); Buffinger, D.; Fuller, C.; Kalu, A.

2003-01-01

The Student Outreach with Renewable Energy Technology (SORET) program is a joint grant that involves a collaboration between three HBCU's (Central State University, Savannah State University, and Wilberforce University) and NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field. The overall goal of the grant is to increase the interest of minority students in the technical disciplines, to encourage participating minority students to continue their undergraduate study in these disciplines, and to promote graduate school to these students. As a part of SORET, Central State University has developed an undergraduate research associates program over the past two years. As part of this program, students are required to take special laboratory courses offered at Wilberforce University that involve the application of renewable energy systems. The course requires the students to design, construct, and install a renewable energy project. In addition to the applied renewable energy course, Central State University provided four undergraduate research associates the opportunity to participate in summer internships at Texas Southern University (Renewable Energy Environmental Protection Program) and the Cleveland African-American Museum (Renewable Energy Summer Camp for High School Students) an activity co sponsored by NASA and the Cleveland African-American Museum. Savannah State University held a high school summer program with a theme of the Direct Impact of Science on Our Every Day Lives. The purpose of the institute was to whet the interest of students in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET) by demonstrating the effectiveness of science to address real world problems. The 2001 institute involved the design and installation of a PV water pumping system at the Center for Advanced Water Technology and Energy Systems at Savannah State. Both high school students and undergraduates contributed to this project. Wilberforce University has used NASA support to provide resources for an Applied Renewable Energy Laboratory offered to both Central State and Wilberforce students. In addition, research endeavors for high school and undergraduates were funded during the summer. The research involved attempts to layer photovoltaic materials on a conducting polymer (polypyrrole) substrate. Two undergraduate students who were interested in polymer research originated this concept. Finally, the university was able to purchase a meteorological station to assist in the analysis of the solar/wind hybrid power system operating at the university.

Contribution potential of glaciers to water availability in different climate regimes

PubMed Central

Kaser, Georg; Großhauser, Martin; Marzeion, Ben

2010-01-01

Although reliable figures are often missing, considerable detrimental changes due to shrinking glaciers are universally expected for water availability in river systems under the influence of ongoing global climate change. We estimate the contribution potential of seasonally delayed glacier melt water to total water availability in large river systems. We find that the seasonally delayed glacier contribution is largest where rivers enter seasonally arid regions and negligible in the lowlands of river basins governed by monsoon climates. By comparing monthly glacier melt contributions with population densities in different altitude bands within each river basin, we demonstrate that strong human dependence on glacier melt is not collocated with highest population densities in most basins. PMID:21059938

Alternative Water Processor Test Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pickering, Karen D.; Mitchell, Julie L.; Adam, Niklas M.; Barta, Daniel; Meyer, Caitlin E.; Pensinger, Stuart; Vega, Leticia M.; Callahan, Michael R.; Flynn, Michael; Wheeler, Ray;

Alternative Water Processor Test Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pickering, Karen D.; Mitchell, Julie; Vega, Leticia; Adam, Niklas; Flynn, Michael; Wjee (er. Rau); Lunn, Griffin; Jackson, Andrew

2012-01-01

The Next Generation Life Support Project is developing an Alternative Water Processor (AWP) as a candidate water recovery system for long duration exploration missions. The AWP consists of biological water processor (BWP) integrated with a forward osmosis secondary treatment system (FOST). The basis of the BWP is a membrane aerated biological reactor (MABR), developed in concert with Texas Tech University. Bacteria located within the MABR metabolize organic material in wastewater, converting approximately 90% of the total organic carbon to carbon dioxide. In addition, bacteria convert a portion of the ammonia-nitrogen present in the wastewater to nitrogen gas, through a combination of nitrogen and denitrification. The effluent from the BWP system is low in organic contaminants, but high in total dissolved solids. The FOST system, integrated downstream of the BWP, removes dissolved solids through a combination of concentration-driven forward osmosis and pressure driven reverse osmosis. The integrated system is expected to produce water with a total organic carbon less than 50 mg/l and dissolved solids that meet potable water requirements for spaceflight. This paper describes the test definition, the design of the BWP and FOST subsystems, and plans for integrated testing.

Drinking water quality in a Mexico city university community: perception and preferences.

PubMed

Espinosa-García, Ana C; Díaz-Ávalos, Carlos; González-Villarreal, Fernando J; Val-Segura, Rafael; Malvaez-Orozco, Velvet; Mazari-Hiriart, Marisa

2015-03-01

A transversal study was conducted at the University City campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City, with the goal of estimating the university community preference for drinking either tap water or bottled water and the reasons for their selection. A representative sample of three university community subpopulations (students, workers/administrative staff, and academic personnel) were interviewed with respect to their water consumption habits. The results showed that 75% of the university community drinks only bottled water and that the consumption of tap water is low. The interviewees responded that the main reason for this preference is the organoleptic features of tap water independent of quality. In general, the participants in this study do not trust the quality of the tap water, which could be caused by the facilities that distribute bottled water encouraging a general disinterest in learning about the origin and management of the tap water that is distributed on campus.

Mars surface-based factory: Computer control of a water treatment system to support a space colony on Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brice, R.; Mosley, J.; Willis, D.; Coleman, K.; Martin, C.; Shelby, L.; Kelley, U.; Renfro, E.; Griffith, G.; Warsame, A.

1989-01-01

In a continued effort to design a surface-based factory on Mars for the production of oxygen and water, the Design Group at Prairie View A&M University made a preliminary study of the surface and atmospheric composition on Mars and determined the mass densities of the various gases in the martian atmosphere. Based on the initial studies, the design group determined oxygen and water to be the two products that could be produced economically under the martian conditions. Studies were also made on present production techniques to obtain water and oxygen. Analyses were made to evaluate the current methods of production that were adaptable to the martian conditions. The detailed report was contained in an Interim Report submitted to NASA/USRA in Aug. of 1986. Even though the initial effort was the production of oxygen and water, we found it necessary to produce some diluted gases that can be mixed with oxygen to constitute 'breathable' air. In Phase 2--Task 1A, the Prairie View A&M University team completed the conceptual design of a breathable-air manufacturing system, a means of drilling for underground water, and storage of water for future use. The design objective of the team for the 1987-1988 academic year was the conceptual design of an integrated system for the supply of quality water for biological consumption, farming, and residential and industrial use. The design has also been completed. Phase 2--Task 1C is the present task for the Prairie View Design Team. This is a continuation of the previous task, and the continuation of this effort is the investigation into the extraction of water from beneath the surface and an alternative method of extraction from ice formations on the surface of Mars if accessible. In addition to investigation of water extraction, a system for computer control of extraction and treatment was developed with emphasis on fully automated control with robotic repair and maintenance. It is expected that oxygen- and water-producing plants on Mars will be limited in the amount of human control that will be available to operate large and/or isolated plants. Therefore, it is imperative that computers be integrated into plant operation with the capability to maintain life support systems and analyze and replace defective parts or systems with no human interface.

Small and Shaping the Future Energy Eco-house System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Furukawa, Ryuzo; Takahashi, Hideyuki; Sato, Yoshinori; Sasaki, Hiroshi; Isu, Norifumi; Ohtsuka, Masuo; Tohji, Kazuyuki

2010-11-01

The objective of this research is to develop the elemental technology of the small and thin energy collection system from water, wind, and others in the house, and examine them at the eco-house which will be built at Tohoku University on March 2010. This small energy storage system will contribute to reduce 10% of greenhouse gas emission from household electricity. This project is done by three following groups. 1st group (NEC-Tokin Co. Ltd.) will develop the technologies on the accumulation of electric power pressured from low electric power in which electricity is generated and on the cooperation with AC power supply used for domestic use for this eco-house system. 2nd group (INAX Co. Ltd.) will develop the elemental technology of the slight energy collection system from tap water in the home using a small hydroelectric generator for this eco-house system. 3rd group (Shoei Co. Ltd.) will develop the technologies on existent magnetic gear device, health appliances (Exercise bike), wind power generator, for this eco-house system. Tokoku University compiles these groups. Furthermore, I develop a search of unused small energy and the use technology, and propose a new energy supply system using solar cell and Li ion secondary battery.

Does laser diode irradiation improve the degree of conversion of simplified dentin bonding systems?

PubMed

Brianezzi, Leticia Ferreira de Freitas; Maenosono, Rafael Massunari; Bim, Odair; Zabeu, Giovanna Speranza; Palma-Dibb, Regina Guenka; Ishikiriama, Sérgio Kiyoshi

2017-01-01

This study aimed to investigate the effect of laser diode irradiation on the degree of conversion (DC), water sorption (WS), and water solubility (WSB) of these bonding systems in an attempt to improve their physico-mechanical resistance. Two bonding agents were tested: a two-step total-etch system [Adper™ Single Bond 2, 3M ESPE (SB)] and a universal system [Adper™ Single Bond Universal, 3M ESPE (SU)]. Square-shaped specimens were prepared and assigned into 4 groups (n=5): SB and SU (control groups - no laser irradiation) and SB-L and SU-L [SB and SU laser (L) - irradiated groups]. DC was assessed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy with attenuated total reflectance. Additional uncured resin samples (≈3.0 µL, n=5) of each adhesive were also scanned for final DC calculation. For WS/WSB tests, similar specimens (n=10) were prepared and measured by monitoring the mass changes after dehydration/water storage cycles. For both tests, adhesive fluids were dropped into standardized Teflon molds (6.0×6.0×1.0 mm), irradiated with a 970-nm laser diode, and then polymerized with an LED-curing unit (1 W/cm2). Laser irradiation immediately before photopolymerization increased the DC (%) of the tested adhesives: SB-L>SB>SU-L>SU. For WS/WSB (μg/mm3), only the dentin bonding system (DBS) was a significant factor (p<0.05): SB>SU. Irradiation with a laser diode improved the degree of conversion of all tested simplified dentin bonding systems, with no impact on water sorption and solubility.

Remote sensing training for Corps of Engineering personnel: The university training module concept

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1982-01-01

A concept to permit Corps of Engineers personnel to obtain and maintain an appropriate level of individual proficiency in the application of remote sensing to water resource management is described. Recommendations are made for specific training courses and include structure and staffing requirements, syllabi and methods of operation, supporting materials, and procedures for integrating information systems management into the University Training Modules.

Security/Life Safety: A Need for Change.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ellsworth, Douglas

2003-01-01

In response to legislation, colleges and universities in several states must prepare to install sprinkler systems. Four basic issues an engineering study should examine include: whether the existing water service has the size, capacity, and pressure to support a sprinkler system; whether the protected facility will have to comply with more…

Development and Certification of Station Development Test Objective (SDTO) Experiment # 15012-U, "Near RealTime Water Quality Monitoring Demonstration for ISS Biocides Using Colorimetric Solid Phase Extraction (CSPE)"

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gazda, Daniel B.; Nolan, Daniel J.; Rutz, Jeffrey A.; Shcultz, John R.; Siperko, Lorraine M.; Porter, Marc D,; Lipert, Robert J.; Limardo, Jose G.; McCoy, J. Torin

2009-01-01

Scientists and engineers from the Wyle Integrated Science and Engineering Group are working with researchers at the University of Utah and Iowa State University to develop and certify an experimental water quality monitoring kit based on Colorimetric Solid Phase Extraction (CSPE). The kit will be launched as a Station Development Test Objective (SDTO) experiment and evaluated on the International Space Station (ISS) to determine the acceptability of CSPE technology for routine inflight water quality monitoring. Iodine and silver, the biocides used in the US and Russian on-orbit water systems, will serve as test analytes for the technology evaluation. This manuscript provides an overview of the CSPE SDTO experiment and details the development and certification of the experimental water quality monitoring kit. Initial results from reagent and standard solution stability testing and environmental testing performed on the kit hardware are also reported.

Community Responses to the Removal of Bottled Water on a University Campus

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mikhailovich, Katja; Fitzgerald, Robert

2014-01-01

Purpose: This paper aimed to examine the impact of the removal of bottled water on the campus community. This paper presents the findings of a survey conducted at the first Australian university to remove single-use bottled water from sale on a small regional university campus. The removal of bottled water from sale at the university formed part…

Water Purification Product

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2004-01-01

Ecomaster, an affiliate of BioServe Space Technologies, this PentaPure technology has been used to purify water for our nation's Space Shuttle missions since 1981. WTC-Ecomaster of Mirneapolis, Minnesota manufactures water purification systems under the brand name PentaPure (TM). BioServe researcher Dr. George Marchin, of Kansas State University, first demonstrated the superiority of this technology and licensed it to WTC. Marchin continues to perform microgravity research in the development of new technologies for the benefit of life on Earth.

Does laser diode irradiation improve the degree of conversion of simplified dentin bonding systems?

PubMed Central

BRIANEZZI, Leticia Ferreira de Freitas; MAENOSONO, Rafael Massunari; BIM, Odair; ZABEU, Giovanna Speranza; PALMA-DIBB, Regina Guenka; ISHIKIRIAMA, Sérgio Kiyoshi

2017-01-01

Abstract Simplified dentin-bonding systems are clinically employed for most adhesive procedures, and they are prone to hydrolytic degradation. Objective This study aimed to investigate the effect of laser diode irradiation on the degree of conversion (DC), water sorption (WS), and water solubility (WSB) of these bonding systems in an attempt to improve their physico-mechanical resistance. Material and Methods Two bonding agents were tested: a two-step total-etch system [Adper™ Single Bond 2, 3M ESPE (SB)] and a universal system [Adper™ Single Bond Universal, 3M ESPE (SU)]. Square-shaped specimens were prepared and assigned into 4 groups (n=5): SB and SU (control groups – no laser irradiation) and SB-L and SU-L [SB and SU laser (L) – irradiated groups]. DC was assessed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy with attenuated total reflectance. Additional uncured resin samples (≈3.0 µL, n=5) of each adhesive were also scanned for final DC calculation. For WS/WSB tests, similar specimens (n=10) were prepared and measured by monitoring the mass changes after dehydration/water storage cycles. For both tests, adhesive fluids were dropped into standardized Teflon molds (6.0×6.0×1.0 mm), irradiated with a 970-nm laser diode, and then polymerized with an LED-curing unit (1 W/cm2). Results Laser irradiation immediately before photopolymerization increased the DC (%) of the tested adhesives: SB-L>SB>SU-L>SU. For WS/WSB (μg/mm3), only the dentin bonding system (DBS) was a significant factor (p<0.05): SB>SU. Conclusion Irradiation with a laser diode improved the degree of conversion of all tested simplified dentin bonding systems, with no impact on water sorption and solubility. PMID:28877276

Testing of Candidate Polymeric Materials for Compatibility with Pure Alternate Pretreat as Part of the Universal Waste Management System (UWMS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wingard, C. D.

2018-01-01

The Universal Waste Management System (UWMS) is an improved Waste Collection System for astronauts living and working in low Earth orbit spacecraft. Polymeric materials used in water recovery on International Space Station are regularly exposed to phosphoric acid-treated 'pretreated' urine. Polymeric materials used in UWMS are not only exposed to pretreated urine, but also to concentrated phosphoric acid with oxidizer before dilution known as 'pure pretreat.' Samples of five different polymeric materials immersed in pure pretreat for 1 year were tested for liquid compatibility by measuring changes in storage modulus with a dynamic mechanical analyzer.

Global water cycle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Robertson, Franklin; Goodman, Steven J.; Christy, John R.; Fitzjarrald, Daniel E.; Chou, Shi-Hung; Crosson, William; Wang, Shouping; Ramirez, Jorge

1993-01-01

This research is the MSFC component of a joint MSFC/Pennsylvania State University Eos Interdisciplinary Investigation on the global water cycle extension across the earth sciences. The primary long-term objective of this investigation is to determine the scope and interactions of the global water cycle with all components of the Earth system and to understand how it stimulates and regulates change on both global and regional scales. Significant accomplishments in the past year are presented and include the following: (1) water vapor variability; (2) multi-phase water analysis; (3) global modeling; and (4) optimal precipitation and stream flow analysis and hydrologic processes.

Evaluating Options for Improving California's Drought Resilience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ray, P. A.; Schwarz, A.; Wi, S.; Correa, M.; Brown, C.

2015-12-01

Through a unique collaborative arrangement, the University of Massachusetts (UMass) and the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) have together performed a baseline climate change analysis of the California state (State Water Project) and federal (Central Valley Project) water systems. The first step in the baseline analysis was development of an improved basinwide hydrologic model covering a large area of California including all major tributaries to the state and federal water systems. The CalLite modeling system used by DWR for planning purposes allowed simulation of the system of reservoirs, rivers, control points, and deliveries which are then used to create performance metrics that quantify a wide range of system characteristics including water deliveries, water quality, and environmental/ecological factors. A baseline climate stress test was conducted to identify current vulnerabilities to climate change through the linking of the modeling chain with Decision Scaling concepts through the UMass bottom-up climate stress-testing algorithm. This procedure allowed the first comprehensive climate stress analysis of the California state and federal water systems not constrained by observed historical variability and wet-dry year sequences. A forward-looking drought vulnerability and adaptation assessment of the water systems based on this workflow is ongoing and preliminary results will be presented. Presentation of results will include discussion of the collaborative arrangement between DWR and UMass, which is instrumental to both the success of the research and the education of policy makers.

First Results of the Land Atmosphere Feedback Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wulfmeyer, V.; Turner, D. D.

2017-12-01

The Land-Atmosphere Feedback Experiment (LAFE) deployed several state-of-the-art scanning lidar and remote sensing systems to the ARM SGP site during August 2017. A novel synergy of remote sensing systems was applied for simultaneous measurements of land-surface fluxes and horizontal and vertical transport processes in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). The impact of spatial inhomogeneities of the soil-vegetation continuum on LA feedback was studied using the scanning capability of the instrumentation as well as soil, vegetation, and surface flux measurements. The synergy of remote sensing and in-situ instruments consisted of three components: 1) The SGP water-vapor and temperature Raman lidar, the SGP Doppler lidar, the University of Hohenheim (UHOH) Doppler lidar, and the NCAR water-vapor DIAL to measure mean profiles and gradients of moisture, temperature, and horizontal wind. Due to their high vertical and temporal resolutions, also profiles of higher-order turbulent moments in the water vapor and wind fields as well as of profiles of the latent heat flux, the sensible heat flux, TKE, and momentum flux were observed. 2) A novel scanning lidar system synergy consisting of the NOAA High-Resolution Doppler lidar, the UHOH water-vapor differential absorption lidar, and the UHOH temperature rotational Raman lidar. These systems performed coordinated range-height indicator (RHI) scans from just above the canopy level to the lower troposphere including the interfacial layer at the ABL top. This component was augmented by three energy balance closure towers of NOAA and one EBC station of UHOH. 3) The University of Wisconsin SPARC and the University of Oklahoma CLAMPS systems operating two vertically pointing atmospheric emitted radiance interferometers and two Doppler lidar systems scanning cross track to the central RHI for determining the surface friction velocity and the horizontal variability of temperature, moisture, and wind. NOAA ARL also provided UAS and aircraft measurements (Navajo Piper) in accordance with the surface scans. Thus, both the variability of surface fluxes and CBL dynamics and thermodynamics over the SGP site was studied for the first time. This is essential for advanced observation and understanding of LA feedback. First results are presented at the conference.

Hydrologic requirements of and consumptive ground-water use by riparian vegetation along the San Pedro River, Arizona. Chapters A-D.

USGS Publications Warehouse

Leenhouts, James M.; Stromberg, Juliet C.; Scott, Russell L.; authors include Leenhouts, James M.; Lite, Sharon J.; Dixon, Mark; Rychener, Tyler; Makings, Elizabeth; Williams, David G.; Goodrich, David C.; Cable, William L.; Levick, Lainie R.; McGuire, Roberta; Gazal, Rico M.; Yepez, Enrico A.; Ellsworth, Patrick; Huxman, Travis E.

2006-01-01

This study is a coordinated effort by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA ARS), and Arizona State University, with assistance from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the University of Wyoming, and the University of Arizona. The specific objectives of the study were: to determine the water needs of riparian vegetation through the riparian growing season and throughout the SPRNCA to ensure its long-term ecological integrity; to quantify the total water use of riparian vegetation within the SPRNCA; and to determine the source of water used by key riparian plant species within the SPRNCA. To meet these objectives, the study was divided into three elements: (1) a characterization of the status and variability of hydrologic factors within the riparian system (USGS), (2) a riparian biohydrology study to relate spatial and temporal aspects of riparian changes and condition to the hydrologic variables (Arizona State University), and (3) a water-use evapotranspiration (ET) study to quantify annual consumptive ground-water use by riparian transpiration and direct evaporation from the stream channel (USDA ARS) in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the University of Wyoming, and the University of Arizona. Twenty-six sites within the SPRNCA were selected for collection of vegetation data from three primary streamflow regimes (perennial, intermittent-wet, intermittent-dry), which include the principal vegetation communities. Detailed hydrologic-condition data were collected at a subset of 16 of these sites, called the SPRNCA biohydrology sites. Water-use and water-source data were collected at a subset of 5 of the 16 biohydrology sites. Vegetation data also were collected at supplemental sites within the SPRNCA boundary in the Upper San Pedro Basin and in the Lower San Pedro Basin. In addition to information about vegetation and geomorphic conditions, hydrologic data collected at the 16 biohydrology sites were used to delineate 14 reaches that were internally homogenous in terms of streamflow hydrology (spatial intermittence of streamflow) and geomorphology (channel sinuosity and flood-plain width). Although this overall study consisted of three elements, the elements were closely coordinated to derive integrated results. Specifically, the connection between water demand, water availability, and riparian functioning represents a synthesis of the study elements. The effects of intra- and inter-annual as well as spatial variability of hydrologic and riparian factors were observed in each of the three study elements.

Diode-laser-based water vapor differential absorption lidar (DIAL) profiler evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spuler, S.; Weckwerth, T.; Repasky, K. S.; Nehrir, A. R.; Carbone, R.

2012-12-01

We are in the process of evaluating the performance of an eye-safe, low-cost, diode-laser-based, water vapor differential absorption lidar (DIAL) profiler. This class of instrument may be capable of providing continuous water vapor and aerosol backscatter profiles at high vertical resolution in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) for periods of months to years. The technology potentially fills a national long term observing facility gap and could greatly benefit micro- and meso-meteorology, water cycle, carbon cycle and, more generally, biosphere-hydrosphere-atmosphere interaction research at both weather and climate variability time scales. For the evaluation, the Montana State University 3rd generation water vapor DIAL was modified to enable unattended operation for a period of several weeks. The performance of this V3.5 version DIAL was tested at MSU and NCAR in June and July of 2012. Further tests are currently in progress with Howard University at Beltsville, Maryland; and with the National Weather Service and Oklahoma University at Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas. The presentation will include a comparison of DIAL profiles against meteorological "truth" at the aforementioned locations including: radiosondes, Raman lidars, microwave and IR radiometers, AERONET and SUOMINET systems. Instrument reliability, uncertainty, systematic biases, detection height statistics, and environmental complications will be evaluated. Performance will be judged in the context of diverse scientific applications that range from operational weather prediction and seasonal climate variability, to more demanding climate system process studies at the land-canopy-ABL interface. Estimating the extent to which such research and operational applications can be satisfied with a low cost autonomous network of similar instruments is our principal objective.

Ground Source Geothermal District Heating and Cooling System

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

Lowe, James William

2016-10-21

Ball State University converted its campus from a coal-fired steam boiler district heating system to a ground source heat pump geothermal district system that produces simultaneously hot water for heating and chilled water for cooling. This system will include the installation of 3,600 four hundred feet deep vertical closed loop boreholes making it the largest ground source geothermal district system in the country. The boreholes will act as heat exchangers and transfer heat by virtue of the earth’s ability to maintain an average temperature of 55 degree Fahrenheit. With growing international concern for global warming and the need to reducemore » worldwide carbon dioxide loading of the atmosphere geothermal is poised to provide the means to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The shift from burning coal to utilizing ground source geothermal will increase electrical consumption but an overall decrease in energy use and reduction in carbon dioxide output will be achieved. This achievement is a result of coupling the ground source geothermal boreholes with large heat pump chiller technology. The system provides the thermodynamic means to move large amounts of energy with limited energy input. Ball State University: http://cms.bsu.edu/About/Geothermal.aspx« less

Is Water a Universal Solvent for Life?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pohorill, Andrew

2012-01-01

There are strong reasons to believe that the laws, principles and constraints of physics and chemistry are universal. It is much less clear how this universality translates into our understanding of the origins of life. Conventionally, discussions of this topic focus on chemistry that must be sufficiently rich to seed life. Although this is clearly a prerequisite for the emergence of living systems, I propose to focus instead on self-organization of matter into functional structures capable of reproduction, evolution and responding to environmental changes. In biology, most essential functions are largely mediated by noncovalent interactions (interactions that do not involve making or breaking chemical bonds). Forming chemical bonds is only a small part of what living systems do. There are specific implications of this point of view for universality. I will concentrate on one of these implications. Strength of non-covalent interactions must be properly tuned. If they were too weak, the system would exhibit undesired, uncontrolled response to natural fluctuations of physical and chemical parameters. If they were too strong kinetics of biological processes would be slow and energetics costly. This balance, however, is not a natural property of complex chemical systems. Instead, it has to be achieved with the aid of an appropriate solvent for life. In particular, potential solvents for life must be characterized by a high dielectric constant to ensure solubility of polar species and sufficient flexibility of biological structures stabilized by electrostatic interactions. Among these solvents, water exhibits a remarkable trait that it also promotes solvophobic (hydrophobic) interactions between non-polar species, typically manifested by a tendency of these species to aggregate and minimize their contacts with the aqueous solvent. Hydrophobic interactions are responsible, at least in part, for many self-organization phenomena in biological systems, such as the formation of cellular boundary structures or protein folding. Strengths of electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions are similar and can be balanced over a wide range of temperatures, which considerably increases the repertoire of interactions that can be used to modulate biological functions. Some properties of water, e.g. its chemical activity against polymerization reactions, are considered as unfavorable to life. In actuality, this might be a favorable trait because life requires a balance between constructive and destructive processes. For example, molecules synthesized in response to specific conditions must be degraded once these conditions change. Otherwise regulation of biological processes would be virtually impossible. Water might not be the only liquid with favorable properties for supporting life. It has been proposed that formamide, which might be present elsewhere in the universe in sufficient quantities to warrant interest, could be a potential alternative to water for the origin of life. However, this will remain highly hypothetical until it is demonstrated in further studies on its physical, chemical and biological properties it is capable of mediating self-organization of matter and providing proper balance between different types of non-covalent interactions.

Global Change Research Related to the Earth's Energy and Hydrologic Cycle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1998-01-01

The Institute for Global Change Research and Education (IGCRE) is a joint initiative of the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) and the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) for coordinating and facilitating research and education relevant to global environmental change. Created in 1992 with primary support from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), IGCRE fosters participation by university, private sector and government scientists who seek to develop long-term collaborative research in global change science, focusing on the role of water and energy in the Earth's atmosphere and physical climate system. IGCRE is also chartered to address educational needs of Earth system and global change science, including the preparation of future scientists and training of primary and secondary education teachers.

The First Association of a Primary Amebic Meningoencephalitis Death with Culturable Naegleria fowleri in Tap Water from a U.S. Treated Public Drinking Water System

PubMed Central

Cope, Jennifer R.; Ratard, Raoult C.; Hill, Vincent R.; Sokol, Theresa; Causey, Jonathan Jake; Yoder, Jonathan S.; Mirani, Gayatri; Mull, Bonnie; Mukerjee, Kimberly A.; Narayanan, Jothikumar; Doucet, Meggie; Qvarnstrom, Yvonne; Poole, Charla N.; Akingbola, Olugbenga A.; Ritter, Jana; Xiong, Zhenggang; da Silva, Alexandre; Roellig, Dawn; Van Dyke, Russell; Stern, Harlan; Xiao, Lihua; Beach, Michael J.

2015-01-01

Background Naegleria fowleri is a climate-sensitive, thermophilic ameba found in warm, freshwater lakes and rivers. Primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), which is almost universally fatal, occurs when N. fowleri–containing water enters the nose, typically during swimming, and N. fowleri migrates to the brain via the olfactory nerve. In August 2013, a 4-year-old child died of meningoencephalitis of unknown etiology in a Louisiana hospital. Methods Clinical and environmental testing and a case investigation were initiated to determine the cause of death and to identify potential exposures. Results Based on testing of CSF and brain specimens, the child was diagnosed with PAM. His only reported water exposure was tap water; in particular, tap water that was used to supply water to a lawn water slide on which the child had played extensively prior to becoming ill. Water samples were collected from both the home and the water distribution system that supplied the home and tested; N. fowleri were identified in water samples from both the home and the water distribution system. Conclusions This case is the first reported PAM death associated with culturable N. fowleri in tap water from a U.S. treated drinking water system. This case occurred in the context of an expanding geographic range for PAM beyond southern tier states with recent case reports from Minnesota, Kansas, and Indiana. This case also highlights the role of adequate disinfection throughout drinking water distribution systems and the importance of maintaining vigilance when operating drinking water systems using source waters with elevated temperatures. PMID:25595746

Nanotechnology: A Policy Primer

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-06-02

States of 24 million barrels of oil.3 • Universal access to clean water. Nanotechnology water desalination and filtration systems may offer...CRS Report for Congress Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Nanotechnology : A Policy Primer John F. Sargent Jr. Specialist...00-00-2010 to 00-00-2010 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Nanotechnology : A Policy Primer 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT

Nanotechnology: A Policy Primer

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-05-20

of oil.3 ! Universal access to clean water. Nanotechnology water desalination and filtration systems may offer affordable, scalable, and portable...Order Code RL34511 Nanotechnology : A Policy Primer May 20, 2008 John F. Sargent Specialist in Science and Technology Policy Resources, Science, and...REPORT DATE 20 MAY 2008 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED 00-00-2008 to 00-00-2008 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Nanotechnology : A Policy Primer 5a

North Pacific Acoustic Laboratory and Deep Water Acoustics

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-09-30

range acoustic systems, whether for acoustic surveillance, communication, or remote sensing of the ocean interior . The data from the NPAL network, and...1 DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. North Pacific Acoustic Laboratory and Deep Water... Acoustics PI James A. Mercer Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington 1013 NE 40th Street Seattle, WA 98105 phone: (206) 543-1361 fax

Lamp mapping technique for independent determination of the water vapor mixing ratio calibration factor for a Raman lidar system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Venable, Demetrius D.; Whiteman, David N.; Calhoun, Monique N.; Dirisu, Afusat O.; Connell, Rasheen M.; Landulfo, Eduardo

2011-08-01

We have investigated a technique that allows for the independent determination of the water vapor mixing ratio calibration factor for a Raman lidar system. This technique utilizes a procedure whereby a light source of known spectral characteristics is scanned across the aperture of the lidar system's telescope and the overall optical efficiency of the system is determined. Direct analysis of the temperature-dependent differential scattering cross sections for vibration and vibration-rotation transitions (convolved with narrowband filters) along with the measured efficiency of the system, leads to a theoretical determination of the water vapor mixing ratio calibration factor. A calibration factor was also obtained experimentally from lidar measurements and radiosonde data. A comparison of the theoretical and experimentally determined values agrees within 5%. We report on the sensitivity of the water vapor mixing ratio calibration factor to uncertainties in parameters that characterize the narrowband transmission filters, the temperature-dependent differential scattering cross section, and the variability of the system efficiency ratios as the lamp is scanned across the aperture of the telescope used in the Howard University Raman Lidar system.

Risks and responses to universal drinking water security.

PubMed

Hope, Robert; Rouse, Michael

2013-11-13

Risks to universal drinking water security are accelerating due to rapid demographic, climate and economic change. Policy responses are slow, uneven and largely inadequate to address the nature and scale of the global challenges. The challenges relate both to maintaining water security in increasingly fragile supply systems and to accelerating reliable access to the hundreds of millions who remain water-insecure. A conceptual framework illustrates the relationship between institutional, operational and financial risks and drinking water security outcomes. We apply the framework to nine case studies from rural and urban contexts in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Case studies are purposively selected based on established and emerging examples of political, technological or institutional reforms that address water security risks. We find broad evidence that improved information flows reduce institutional costs and promote stronger and more transparent operational performance to increase financial sustainability. However, political barriers need to be overcome in all cases through internal or external interventions that require often decadal time frames and catalytic investments. No single model exists, though there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that risks to drinking water security can be reduced even in the most difficult and challenging contexts.

Lead in ancient Rome's city waters.

PubMed

Delile, Hugo; Blichert-Toft, Janne; Goiran, Jean-Philippe; Keay, Simon; Albarède, Francis

2014-05-06

It is now universally accepted that utilization of lead for domestic purposes and water distribution presents a major health hazard. The ancient Roman world was unaware of these risks. How far the gigantic network of lead pipes used in ancient Rome compromised public health in the city is unknown. Lead isotopes in sediments from the harbor of Imperial Rome register the presence of a strong anthropogenic component during the beginning of the Common Era and the Early Middle Ages. They demonstrate that the lead pipes of the water distribution system increased Pb contents in drinking water of the capital city by up to two orders of magnitude over the natural background. The Pb isotope record shows that the discontinuities in the pollution of the Tiber by lead are intimately entwined with the major issues affecting Late Antique Rome and its water distribution system.

Water Recycling in Schools & Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meeten, Nick

2013-01-01

Consider the waste streams generated in schools and universities. So what is in the typical used water generated in schools and universities? It is typically about 99 percent water, with the remaining 1 percent mainly made up of organic compounds. Used water contains nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous. When one judges it on its quality, it…

Conceptual design of a water treatment system to support a manned Mars colony

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1988-01-01

The initial tasks addressed by the Prairie View A&M University team were the conceptual design of a breathable-air manufacturing system, a means of drilling for underground water, and a method for storing water for future use. Subsequently, the design objective of the team for the 1987-1988 academic year was the conceptual design of an integrated system for the supply of quality water for biological consumption, farming, residential and industrial use. The source of water for these applications is assumed to be artesian or subsurface. The first step of the project was to establish design criteria and major assumptions. The second step of the effort was to generate a block diagram of the expected treatment system and assign tasks to individual students. The list of processes for water purification and wastewater treatment given above suggests that there will be a need for on-site chemicals manufacturing for ion-exchange regeneration and disinfection. The third step of the project was to establish a basis for the design capacity of the system. A total need of 10,000 gal/day was assumed to be required. It was also assumed that 30,000 gallon raw-water intake volume is needed to produce the desired effluent volume.

Salivary immunoassays to investigate potential exposure to ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This presentation provides an update to an ongoing collaboration with Inter American University of Puerto Rico. The goal of this study is to investigate public health benefits that result from implementation of low cost, sustainable filtration technologies in remote, rural communities in Puerto Rico. To present an update to an ongoing collaborative project with Inter American University of Puerto Rico which investigates the health benefits that may result from installation of community level water filtration systems.

Investigation on Reservoir Operation of Agricultural Water Resources Management for Drought Mitigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, C. L.

2015-12-01

Investigation on Reservoir Operation of Agricultural Water Resources Management for Drought Mitigation Chung-Lien Cheng, Wen-Ping Tsai, Fi-John Chang* Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, Da-An District, Taipei 10617, Taiwan, ROC.Corresponding author: Fi-John Chang (changfj@ntu.edu.tw) AbstractIn Taiwan, the population growth and economic development has led to considerable and increasing demands for natural water resources in the last decades. Under such condition, water shortage problems have frequently occurred in northern Taiwan in recent years such that water is usually transferred from irrigation sectors to public sectors during drought periods. Facing the uneven spatial and temporal distribution of water resources and the problems of increasing water shortages, it is a primary and critical issue to simultaneously satisfy multiple water uses through adequate reservoir operations for sustainable water resources management. Therefore, we intend to build an intelligent reservoir operation system for the assessment of agricultural water resources management strategy in response to food security during drought periods. This study first uses the grey system to forecast the agricultural water demand during February and April for assessing future agricultural water demands. In the second part, we build an intelligent water resources system by using the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II (NSGA-II), an optimization tool, for searching the water allocation series based on different water demand scenarios created from the first part to optimize the water supply operation for different water sectors. The results can be a reference guide for adequate agricultural water resources management during drought periods. Keywords: Non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II (NSGA-II); Grey System; Optimization; Agricultural Water Resources Management.

Spatial Heterodyne Observation of Water (SHOW) from a high altitude aircraft

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bourassa, A. E.; Langille, J.; Solheim, B.; Degenstein, D. A.; Letros, D.; Lloyd, N. D.; Loewen, P.

2017-12-01

The Spatial Heterodyne Observations of Water instrument (SHOW) is limb-sounding satellite prototype that is being developed in collaboration between the University of Saskatchewan, York University, the Canadian Space Agency and ABB. The SHOW instrument combines a field-widened SHS with an imaging system to observe limb-scattered sunlight in a vibrational band of water (1363 nm - 1366 nm). Currently, the instrument has been optimized for deployment on NASA's ER-2 aircraft. Flying at an altitude of 70, 000 ft the ER-2 configuration and SHOW viewing geometry provides high spatial resolution (< 500 m) limb-measurements of water vapor in the Upper troposphere and lower stratosphere region. During an observation campaign from July 15 - July 22, the SHOW instrument performed 10 hours of observations from the ER-2. This paper describes the SHOW measurement technique and presents the preliminary analysis and results from these flights. These observations are used to validate the SHOW measurement technique and demonstrate the sampling capabilities of the instrument.

Design Status of the Capillary Brine Residual in Containment Water Recovery System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sargusingh, Miriam J.; Callahan, Michael R.; Garison, John; Houng, Benjamin; Weislogel, Mark M.

2016-01-01

One of the goals of the AES Life Support System (LSS) Project is to achieve 98% water loop closure for long duration human exploration missions beyond low Earth orbit. To meet this objective, the AES LSS Project is developing technologies to recover water from wastewater brine; highly concentrated waste products generated from a primary water recovery system. The state of the art system used aboard the International Space Station (ISS) has the potential to recover up to 85% water from unine wastewater, leaving a significant amounts of water in the waste brine, the recovery of which is critical technology gap that must be filled in order to enable long duration human exploration. Recovering water from the urine wastewater brine is complicated by the concentration of solids as water is removed from the brine, and the concentration of the corrosive, toxic chemicals used to stabilize the urine which fouls and degrades water processing hardware, and poses a hazard to operators and crew. Brine Residual in Containment (BRIC) is focused on solids management through a process of "in-place" drying - the drying of brines within the container used for final disposal. Application of in-place drying has the potential to improve the safety and reliability of the system by reducing the exposure to curew and hardware to the problematic brine residual. Through a collaboration between the NASA Johnson Space Center and Portland Status University, a novel water recovery system was developed that utilizes containment geometry to support passive capillary flow and static phase separation allowing free surface evaporation to take place in a microgravity environment. A notional design for an ISS demonstration system was developed. This paper describes the testing performed to characterize the performance of the system as well as the status of the system level design.

[Local contexts of drinking-water quality surveillance: Brazil and Colombia].

PubMed

Guzmán-Barragán, Blanca L; Días Bevilacqua, Paula; Nava-Tovar, Gerardo

2015-12-01

Objective This article aims to analyze comparatively the national surveillance systems of water quality for human consumption (DWQS) of Brazil and Colombia, seeking to understand how practices are organized in these countries, along with their limits and possibilities. Methods The National Cross Comparison methodology was used with document analysis of secondary sources, with the purpose of discussing the similarities and differences between the two systems using the WHO’s Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality. Results The legal framework on DWQS in Brazil and Colombia was defined in the 70s and 80s, coinciding with the international visibility of this issue. Thereafter, DWQS practices in Brazil have been defined and organized in a national program, which has only recently started in Colombia. The current Brazilian and Colombian legislations show progress in technical elements that guide surveillance practices, such as the incorporation of risk assessment methodologies. The Colombian legislation defines the regulation of water supply services provision, which is not contemplated in Brazilian legislation. Elements such as decentralization, intersectionality, universality and right to information are included in the legislations of both countries, although further action on DWQS is needed. Conclusions Brazil and Colombia have similarities in the implementation of DWQS, despite being at different points in the implementation timeline. Actions on drinking-water quality surveillance are necessary to guarantee human rights related to the protection of the environment, such as universal access to drinking water, contributing to the promotion of health.

Biological filters and their use in potable water filtration systems in spaceflight conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thornhill, Starla G.; Kumar, Manish

2018-05-01

Providing drinking water to space missions such as the International Space Station (ISS) is a costly requirement for human habitation. To limit the costs of water transport, wastewater is collected and purified using a variety of physical and chemical means. To date, sand-based biofilters have been designed to function against gravity, and biofilms have been shown to form in microgravity conditions. Development of a universal silver-recycling biological filter system that is able to function in both microgravity and full gravity conditions would reduce the costs incurred in removing organic contaminants from wastewater by limiting the energy and chemical inputs required. This paper aims to propose the use of a sand-substrate biofilter to replace chemical means of water purification on manned spaceflights.

Water Use Efficiency of China's Terrestrial Ecosystems and Responses to Drought

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Y.; Xiao, J.; Ju, W.; Zhou, Y.; Wang, S.; Wu, X.

2015-12-01

Yibo Liu1, 2, Jingfeng Xiao2, Weimin Ju3, Yanlian Zhou4, Shaoqiang Wang5, Xiaocui Wu31 Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Agricultural Meteorology, School of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China, 2Earth Systems Research Center, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA, 3 International Institute for Earth System Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China, 4 School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China, 5 Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China Water use efficiency (WUE) measures the trade-off between carbon gain and water loss of terrestrial ecosystems, and better understanding its dynamics and controlling factors is essential for predicting ecosystem responses to climate change. We assessed the magnitude, spatial patterns, and trends of WUE of China's terrestrial ecosystems and its responses to drought using a process-based ecosystem model. During the period from 2000 to 2011, the national average annual WUE (net primary productivity (NPP)/evapotranspiration (ET)) of China was 0.79 g C kg-1 H2O. Annual WUE decreased in the southern regions because of the decrease in NPP and increase in ET and increased in most northern regions mainly because of the increase in NPP. Droughts usually increased annual WUE in Northeast China and central Inner Mongolia but decreased annual WUE in central China. "Turning-points" were observed for southern China where moderate and extreme drought reduced annual WUE and severe drought slightly increased annual WUE. The cumulative lagged effect of drought on monthly WUE varied by region. Our findings have implications for ecosystem management and climate policy making. WUE is expected to continue to change under future climate change particularly as drought is projected to increase in both frequency and severity. Keywords: water use efficiency (WUE), drought, carbon sink, ecosystem model, China

FOREWORD: 26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Yulin; Wang, Zhengwei; Liu, Shuhong; Yuan, Shouqi; Luo, Xingqi; Wang, Fujun

2012-11-01

The 26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems, will be held in Beijing, China, 19-23 August 2012. It is jointly organized by Tsinghua University, State Key Laboratory of Hydro Science and Hydraulic Engineering, China, Jiangsu University, Xi'an University of Technology, China Agricultural University, National Engineering Research Center of Hydropower Equipment and Dongfang Electric Machinery Co., Ltd. It is the second time that China hosts such a symposium. By the end of 2011, the China electrical power system had a total of 1 050 GW installed power, out of which 220 GW was in hydropower plants. The energy produced in hydropower facilities was 662.6 TWh from a total of 4,720 TWh electrical energy production in 2011. Moreover, in 2020, new hydropower capacities are going to be developed, with a total of 180 GW installed power and an estimated 708 TWh/year energy production. And in 2011, the installed power of pumped storage stations was about 25GW. In 2020, the data will be 70GW. At the same time, the number of pumps used in China is increasing rapidly. China produces about 29,000,000 pumps with more than 220 series per year. By the end of 2011, the Chinese pumping system has a total of 950 GW installed power. The energy consumed in pumping facilities was 530 TWh in 2011. The pump energy consumption accounted for about 12% of the national electrical energy production. Therefore, there is a large market in the field of hydraulic machinery including water turbines, pump turbines and a variety of pumps in China. There are also many research projects in this field. For example, we have conducted National Key Research Projects on 1000 MW hydraulic turbine, and on the pump turbines with high head, as well as on the large capacity pumps for water supply. Tsinghua University of Beijing is proud to host the 26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems. Tsinghua University was established in 1911, after the founding of the People's Republic of China. It was molded into a polytechnic institute focusing on engineering in the nationwide restructuring of universities and colleges undertaken in 1952. At present, the university has 14 schools and 56 departments with faculties in science, engineering, humanities, law, medicine, history, philosophy, economics, management, education and art. The University now has over 25 900 students, including 13 100 undergraduates and 12 800 graduate students. As one of China's most renowned universities, Tsinghua has become an important institution for fostering talents and scientific research. The International Association of Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR) particularly promotes the advancement and exchange of knowledge through working groups, specialty symposia, congresses, and publications on water resources, river and coastal hydraulics, risk analysis, energy, environment, disaster prevention, and industrial processes. The IAHR Committee on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems deals with the advancement of technology associated with the understanding of steady and unsteady flow characteristics in hydraulic machinery and conduit systems connected to the machinery. The technology elements include the fluid behaviour within machine components, hydro-elastic behaviour of machine components, cavitation and two phase flow in turbines and pumps, hydraulic machine and plant control systems, the use of hydraulic machines to improve water quality, and even considerations to improve fish survival in their passage through hydro plants. The main emphases of the IAHR Committee on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems are to stimulate research and understanding of the technologies associated with hydraulic machinery and to promote interaction between the machine designers, machine users, the academic community, and the community as a whole. Hydraulic machinery is both cost effective and environmentally friendly. The goals of the IAHR Committee on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems are to improve the value of hydraulic machinery to the end user, to the societies, and to improve societies understanding and appreciation of that value. The series of IAHR Symposia on Hydraulic Machinery and Cavitation started with the 1st edition in Nice, France, 1960. For the past decade, all the symposia have focused on an extended portfolio of topics under the name of 'Hydraulic Machinery and Systems', such as the 20th edition in Charlotte, USA, 2000, the 21st in Lausanne, Switzerland, 2002, the 22nd in Stockholm, Sweden, 2004, the 23rd in Yokohama, Japan, 2006, the 24th in Foz do Iguassu, Brasil, 2008, and the 25th in Timisoara, Romania, 2010. The 26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems brings together more than 250 scientists and researchers from 25 countries, affiliated with universities, technology centers and industrial firms to debate topics related to advanced technologies for hydraulic machinery and systems, which will enhance the sustainable development of water resources and hydropower production. The Scientific Committee has selected 268 papers, out of 430 abstracts submitted, on the following topics: (i) Hydraulic Turbines and Pumps, (ii) Sustainable Hydropower, (iii) Hydraulic Systems, (iv) Advances in Computational and Experimental Techniques, (v) Application in Industries and in Special Conditions, to be presented at the symposium and to be included in the proceedings. All the papers, published in this Volume 15 of IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, have been peer reviewed through processes administered by the editors of the 26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems proceedings, those are Yulin Wu, Zhengwei Wang, Shuhong Liu, Shouqi Yuan, Xingqi Luo and Fujun Wang. We sincerely hope that this edition of the symposium will be a significant step forward in the worldwide efforts to address the present challenges facing the modern Hydraulic Machinery and Systems. Professor Yulin Wu Chairman of the Organizing Committee 26th IAHR Symposium on Hydraulic Machinery and Systems

Water in the Solar System: The Development of Science Education Curriculum Focused on Planetary Exploration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Edgar, L. A.; Anderson, R. B.; Gaither, T. A.; Milazzo, M. P.; Vaughan, R. G.; Rubino-Hare, L.; Clark, J.; Ryan, S.

2017-12-01

"Water in the Solar System" is an out-of-school time (OST) science education activity for middle school students that was developed as part of the Planetary Learning that Advances the Nexus of Engineering, Technology, and Science (PLANETS) project. The PLANETS project was selected in support of the NASA Science Mission Directorate's Science Education Cooperative Agreement Notice, with the goal of developing and disseminating OST curriculum and related professional development modules that integrate planetary science, technology, and engineering. "Water in the Solar System" is a science activity that addresses the abundance and availability of water in the solar system. The activity consists of three exercises based on the following guiding questions: 1) How much water is there on the Earth? 2) Where can you find water in the solar system? and 3) What properties affect whether or not water can be used by astronauts? The three exercises involve a scaling relationship demonstration about the abundance of useable water on Earth, a card game to explore where water is found in the solar system, and a hands-on exercise to investigate pH and salinity. Through these activities students learn that although there is a lot of water on Earth, most of it is not in a form that is accessible for humans to use. They also learn that most water in the solar system is actually farther from the sun, and that properties such as salinity and pH affect whether water can be used by humans. In addition to content for students, the activity includes background information for educators, and links to in-depth descriptions of the science content. "Water in the Solar System" was developed through collaboration between subject matter experts at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center, and curriculum and professional development experts in the Center for Science Teaching and Learning at Northern Arizona University. Here we describe our process of curriculum development, education objectives of "Water in the Solar System" and lessons learned.

Inland Treatment of the Brine Generated from Reverse Osmosis Advanced Membrane Wastewater Treatment Plant Using Epuvalisation System

PubMed Central

Qurie, Mohannad; Abbadi, Jehad; Scrano, Laura; Mecca, Gennaro; Bufo, Sabino A.; Khamis, Mustafa; Karaman, Rafik

2013-01-01

The reverse osmosis (RO) brine generated from the Al-Quds University wastewater treatment plant was treated using an epuvalisation system. The advanced integrated wastewater treatment plant included an activated sludge unit, two consecutive ultrafiltration (UF) membrane filters (20 kD and 100 kD cutoffs) followed by an activated carbon filter and a reverse osmosis membrane. The epuvalisation system consisted of salt tolerant plants grown in hydroponic channels under continuous water flowing in a closed loop system, and placed in a greenhouse at Al-Quds University. Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) plants were selected, and underwent two consecutive hydroponic flowing stages using different brine-concentrations: an adaptation stage, in which a 1:1 mixture of brine and fresh water was used; followed by a functioning stage, with 100% brine. A control treatment using fresh water was included as well. The experiment started in April and ended in June (2012). At the end of the experiment, analysis of the effluent brine showed a remarkable decrease of electroconductivity (EC), PO43−, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and K+ with a reduction of 60%, 74%, 70%, and 60%, respectively, as compared to the influent. The effluent of the control treatment showed 50%, 63%, 46%, and 90% reduction for the same parameters as compared to the influent. Plant growth parameters (plant height, fresh and dry weight) showed no significant difference between fresh water and brine treatments. Obtained results suggest that the epuvalisation system is a promising technique for inland brine treatment with added benefits. The increasing of channel number or closed loop time is estimated for enhancing the treatment process and increasing the nutrient uptake. Nevertheless, the epuvalisation technique is considered to be simple, efficient and low cost for inland RO brine treatment. PMID:23823802

Analysis of Water and Energy Budgets and Trends Using the NLDAS Monthly Data Sets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vollmer, Bruce E.; Rui, Hualan; Mocko, David M.; Teng, William L.; Lei, Guang-Dih

2012-01-01

The North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS) is a collaborative project between NASA GSFC, NOAA, Princeton University, and the University of Washington. NLDAS has created surface meteorological forcing data sets using the best-available observations and reanalyses. The forcing data sets are used to drive four separate land-surface models (LSMs), Mosaic, Noah, VIC, and SAC, to produce data sets of soil moisture, snow, runoff, and surface fluxes. NLDAS hourly data, accessible from the NASA GES DISC Hydrology Data Holdings Portal, http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/hydrology/data-holdings, are widely used by various user communities in modeling, research, and applications, such as drought and flood monitoring, watershed and water quality management, and case studies of extreme events. More information is available at http://ldas.gsfc.nasa.gov/. To further facilitate analysis of water and energy budgets and trends, NLDAS monthly data sets have been recently released by NASA GES DISC.

Tensile Bond Strength of So-called Universal Primers and Universal Multimode Adhesives to Zirconia and Lithium Disilicate Ceramics.

PubMed

Elsayed, Adham; Younes, Feras; Lehmann, Frank; Kern, Matthias

2017-01-01

To test the bond strength and durability after artificial aging of so-called universal primers and universal multimode adhesives to lithium disilicate or zirconia ceramics. A total of 240 ceramic plates, divided into two groups, were produced and conditioned: 120 acid-etched lithium disilicate plates (IPS e.max CAD) and 120 air-abraded zirconia plates (Zenostar T). Each group was divided into five subgroups (n = 24), and a universal restorative primer or multimode universal adhesive was used for each subgroup to bond plexiglas tubes filled with a composite resin to the ceramic plate. The specimens were stored in water at 37°C for 3 days without thermal cycling, or for 30 or 150 days with 7500 or 37,500 thermal cycles between 5°C and 55°C, respectively. All specimens then underwent tensile bond strength testing. Initially, all bonding systems exhibited high TBS, but some showed a significant reduction after 30 and 150 days of storage. After 3, 30, and 150 days, Monobond Plus, which contains silane and phosphate monomer, showed significantly higher bond strengths than the other universal primer and adhesive systems. The bond strength to lithium disilicate and zirconia ceramic is significantly affected by the bonding system used. Using a separate primer containg silane and phosphate monomer provides more durable bonding than do silanes incorporated in universal multimode adhesives. Only one of five so-called universal primers and adhesives provided durable bonding to lithium disilicate and zirconia ceramic.

Design Status of the Capillary Brine Residual in Containment Water Recovery System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Callahan, Michael R.; Sargusingh, Miriam

2016-01-01

One of the goals of the AES Life Support System (LSS) Project is to achieve 98% water loop closure for long duration human exploration missions beyond low Earth orbit. To meet this objective, the AES LSS Project is developing technologies to recover water from wastewater brine; highly concentrated waste products generated from a primary water recovery system. The state of the art system used aboard the International Space Station (ISS) has the potential to recover up to 85% water from unine wastewater, leaving a significant amounts of water in the waste brine, the recovery of which is a critical technology gap that must be filled in order to enable long duration human exploration. Recovering water from the urine wastewater brine is complicated by the concentration of solids as water is removed from the brine, and the concentration of the corrosive, toxic chemicals used to stabilize the urine which fouls and degrades water processing hardware, and poses a hazard to operators and crew. Brine Residual in Containment (BRIC) is focused on solids management through a process of "in-place" drying - the drying of brines within the container used for final disposal. Application of in-place drying has the potential to improve the safety and reliability of the system by reducing the exposure to crew and hardware to the problematic brine residual. Through a collaboration between the NASA Johnson Space Center and Portland Status University, a novel water recovery system was developed that utilizes containment geometry to support passive capillary flow and static phase separation allowing free surface evaporation to take place in a microgravity environment. A notional design for an ISS demonstration system was developed. This paper describes the concept for the system level design.

Lead in ancient Rome’s city waters

PubMed Central

Delile, Hugo; Blichert-Toft, Janne; Goiran, Jean-Philippe; Keay, Simon; Albarède, Francis

2014-01-01

It is now universally accepted that utilization of lead for domestic purposes and water distribution presents a major health hazard. The ancient Roman world was unaware of these risks. How far the gigantic network of lead pipes used in ancient Rome compromised public health in the city is unknown. Lead isotopes in sediments from the harbor of Imperial Rome register the presence of a strong anthropogenic component during the beginning of the Common Era and the Early Middle Ages. They demonstrate that the lead pipes of the water distribution system increased Pb contents in drinking water of the capital city by up to two orders of magnitude over the natural background. The Pb isotope record shows that the discontinuities in the pollution of the Tiber by lead are intimately entwined with the major issues affecting Late Antique Rome and its water distribution system. PMID:24753588

Energy efficiency of a solar domestic hot water system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zukowski, Miroslaw

2017-11-01

The solar domestic hot water (SDHW) system located on the campus of Bialystok University of Technology is the object of the research described in the current paper. The solar thermal system is composed of 35 flat plate collectors, 21 evacuated tube collectors and eight hot water tanks with the capacity of 1 m3 of each. Solar facility is equipped with hardware for automatic data collection. Additionally, the weather station located on the roof of the building provides measurements of basic parameters of ambient air and solar radiation. The main objective of Regional Operational Program was the assessment of the effectiveness of this solar energy technology in the climatic conditions of the north-eastern Poland. Energy efficiency of SDHW system was defined in this research as the ratio between the useful heat energy supplied to the domestic hot water system and solar energy incident on the surface of solar panels. Heat loss from water storage tanks, and from the pipe network to the surrounding air, as well as the electrical energy consumed by the pumps have been included in the calculations. The paper presents the detailed results and conclusions obtained from this energy analysis.

Optimization of the central automatic control of a small Dutch sewer system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kolechkina, A. G.; Hoes, O. A. C.

2012-04-01

A sewer control system was developed in the context of a subsidized project aiming at improvement of surface water quality by control of sewer systems and surface water systems. The project was coordinated by the local water board, "Waterschap Hollandse Delta". Other participants were Delft University of Technology, Deltares and the municipalities Strijen, Cromstrijen, Westmaas, Oud Beijerland and Piershil. As part of the project there were two pilot implementations where a central automatic controller was coupled to the existing SCADA system. For these two pilots the system is now operational. A Dutch urban area in the western part of the Netherlands is usually part of a polder, which is effectively an artificially drained catchment. The urban area itself is split into small subcatchments that manage runoff in different ways. In all cases a large fraction goes into the natural hydrological cycle, but, depending on the design of the local sewer system, a larger or smaller part finds its way into the sewer system. Proper control of this flow is necessary to control surface water quality and to avoid health risks from flow from the sewer into the streets. At each time step the controller switches pumps to distribute the remaining water in the system at the end of the time step over the different subcatchments. The distribution is created based on expert judgment of the relative vulnerability and subcatchment sewer system water quality. It is implemented in terms curves of total system stored volume versus subcatchment stored volume. We describe the process of the adaptation of a controller to two different sewer systems and the understanding of the artificial part of the catchment we gained during this process. In the process of adaptation the type of sewer system (combined foul water and storm water transport or separate foul water and storm water transport) played a major role.

Selected basin characteristics and water-quality data of the Minnesota River basin

USGS Publications Warehouse

Winterstein, T.A.; Payne, G.A.; Miller, R.A.; Stark, J.R.

1993-01-01

Selected basin characteristics and water-quality dam for the Minnesota River Basin are presented in this report as 71 maps, 22 graphs, and 8 tables. The data were compiled as part of a four-year study to identify non-point sources of pollution and the effect of this pollution on water quality. The maps were prepared from geographic information system data bases. Federal, State, and local agencies, and colleges and universities collected and assembled these data as part of the Minnesota River Assessment Project.

Real-Time Tracking of Implanted Markers During Radiation Treatment by Use of Simultaneous kV and MV Imaging

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-03-01

the MV–kV correlation method by sinusoidally moving a block of solid water (measuring 5 × 5× 10 cm3) containing three embedded BB metallic markers (3 mm...in diameter). A 4D motion platform (Washington University, St Louis, MO) holding the block of solid water (figure 1) was programmed to produce the...Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, CA). The SS-IMRT plans were delivered to either the moving pelvic phantom or the cube of solid water attached to the

The Importance of Water for Life

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Westall, Frances; Brack, André

2018-03-01

Liquid water is essential for life as we know it, i.e. carbon-based life. Although other compound-solvent pairs that could exist in very specific physical environments could be envisaged, the elements essential to carbon and water-based life are among the most common in the universe. Carbon molecules and liquid water have physical and chemical properties that make them optimised compound-solvent pairs. Liquid water is essential for important prebiotic reactions. But equally important for the emergence of life is the contact of carbon molecules in liquid water with hot rocks and minerals. We here review the environmental conditions of the early Earth, as soon as it had liquid water at its surface and was habitable. Basing our approach to life as a "cosmic phenomenon" (de Duve 1995), i.e. a chemical continuum, we briefly address the various hypotheses for the origin of life, noting their relevance with respect to early environmental conditions. It appears that hydrothermal environments were important in this respect. We continue with the record of early life noting that, by 3.5 Ga, when the sedimentary environment started being well-preserved, anaerobic life forms had colonised all habitable microenvironments from the sea floor to exposed beach environments and, possibly, in the photic planktonic zone of the sea. Life on Earth had also evolved to the relatively sophisticated stage of anoxygenic photosynthesis. We conclude with an evaluation of the potential for habitability and colonisation of other planets and satellites in the Solar System, noting that the most common life forms in the Solar System and probably in the Universe would be similar to terrestrial chemotrophs whose carbon source is either reduced carbon or CO2 dissolved in water and whose energy would be sourced from oxidized carbon, H2, or other transition elements.

Legionella control in the water system of antiquated hospital buildings by shock and continuous hyperchlorination: 5 years experience.

PubMed

Orsi, Giovanni Battista; Vitali, Matteo; Marinelli, Lucia; Ciorba, Veronica; Tufi, Daniela; Del Cimmuto, Angela; Ursillo, Paolo; Fabiani, Massimo; De Santis, Susi; Protano, Carmela; Marzuillo, Carolina; De Giusti, Maria

2014-07-16

To control the presence of Legionella in an old hospital water system, an integrated strategy of water disinfection-filtration was implemented in the university hospital Umberto I in Rome. Due to antiquated buildings, hospital water system design and hospital extension (38 buildings), shock hyperchlorination (sodium hypochlorite, 20-50 ppm of free chlorine at distal points for 1-2 h) followed by continuous hyperchlorination (0.5-1.0 mg/L at distal points) were adopted, and microbiological and chemical monitoring of the water supply was carried out in the university hospital (December 2006-December 2011). Overall, 1308 samples of cold <20°C (44.5%), mixed ≥20°C ≤ 45°C (37.7%) and hot >45°C (17.8%) water were collected, determining residual free chlorine (0.43 ± 0.44 mg/L), pH (7.43 ± 0.29) and trihalomethanes (8.97 ± 18.56 μg/L). Legionella was isolated in 102 (9.8%) out of 1.041 water samples without filters (L. pneumophila sg 1 17.6%, L. pneumophila sg 2-14 28.4%, L. non pneumophila 53.9%), and in none of the 267 samples with filters. Legionella was recovered in 23 buildings out of 38 and 29 samples (28.4%) exceeded 103 cfu/L. When considering the disinfection treatment Legionella was isolated: before shock hyperchlorination (21.1%), 15 days after shock hyperchlorination (7.8%), 30 days after shock hyperchlorination (3.5%), during continuous hyperchlorination (5.5%) and without continuous hyperchlorination (27.3%). Continuous hyperchlorination following the shock treatment achieved >70% reduction of positive samples, whereas no continuous hyperchlorination after shock treatment was more frequently associated to Legionella isolation (OR 6.41; 95% CI 3.10-13.26; p <0.001). Independent risk factors for Legionella isolation were: residual free chlorine <0.5 mg/L (OR 13.0; 95% CI 1.37 - 123.2; p <0.03), water T° ≥20°C ≤ 45°C (OR 12.0; 95% CI 1.28 - 111.48; p <0.03) and no continuous hyperchlorination after shock treatment (OR 10.3; 95% CI 1.06 - 100.05; p <0.05). Shock and continuous hyperchlorination achieved significant Legionella reduction, but effective chlorine levels (>0.5 < 1.0 mg/L) deteriorated water quality (organoleptic and chemical). However, shock and continuous hyperchlorination remains a valid-term option in old buildings with no water system rational design, managing problems due to hospital extension and absence of a proper hot water recirculation system.

Retrieving Ice Basal Motion Using the Hydrologically Coupled JPL/UCI Ice Sheet System Model (ISSM)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khakbaz, B.; Morlighem, M.; Seroussi, H. L.; Larour, E. Y.

2011-12-01

The study of basal sliding in ice sheets requires coupling ice-flow models with subglacial water flow. In fact, subglacial hydrology models can be used to model basal water-pressure explicitly and to generate basal sliding velocities. This study addresses the addition of a thin-film-based subglacial hydrologic module to the Ice Sheet System Model (ISSM) developed by JPL in collaboration with the University of California Irvine (UCI). The subglacial hydrology model follows the study of J. Johnson (2002) who assumed a non-arborscent distributed drainage system in the form of a thin film beneath ice sheets. The differential equation that arises from conservation of mass in the water system is solved numerically with the finite element method in order to obtain the spatial distribution of basal water over the study domain. The resulting sheet water thickness is then used to model the basal water-pressure and subsequently the basal sliding velocity. In this study, an introduction and preliminary results of the subglacial water flow and basal sliding velocity will be presented for the Pine Island Glacier west Antarctica.This work was performed at the California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion Laboratory under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Modeling, Analysis and Prediction (MAP) Program.

Model Compound Studies of Rigid Rod Aromatic Heterocyclic Polymer Systems, the X-Ray Crystal Structure of 2,6-Diphenylbenzo (1,2-d; 5,4-d’) Diimidazole Tetrahydrate, C2OH14N4. 4H2O, a Model System for the Study of Polymer-Water Interaction in Polybenzimidazoles.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-07-01

Marilyn Hunsaker and W. Wade Adams Polyimer Branch Nonmetallic Division Albert V. Fratini University of Dayton Research Institute 300 College Park...U. CONTRACT OR GRANT NUMUER(e) M. Hunsaker, and W. W. Adams , Air Force Wright I atudrcnrc Aeronautical Laboratories, Materials Laboratory F33615-81-C...Scientist. Co-authors were Marilyn Hunsaker and W. W. Adams , Materials Laboratory (AFWAL/MLHP); and Dr. Albert V. Fratini, University of Dayton Research

Solar stills for agricultural purposes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Selcuk, M. K.; Tran, V. V.

1975-01-01

Basic concepts of using desalinated water for agricultural purposes are outlined. A mathematical model describing heat and mass transfer in a system combining a solar still with a greenhouse, its solution, and test results of a small-scale unit built at the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, are discussed. The unit was employed to demonstrate the technical feasibility of the system. Further development and modifications are necessary for larger-scale operations. The basis of an optimization study which is underway at the Brace Research Institute of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, aimed at finding the best combination of design and operation parameters is also presented.

Iowa ground-water quality

USGS Publications Warehouse

Buchmiller, R.C.; Squillace, P.J.; Drustrup, R.D.

1987-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the University of Iowa Hygienic Laboratory, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and several counties in Iowa, currently (1986) is monitoring about 1,500 public and private wells for inorganic and organic constituents. The principal objective of this program, begun in 1982, is to collect water-quality data that will describe the long-term chemical quality of the surficial and major bedrock aquifer systems in Iowa (Detroy, 1985).

Effect of Woody Vegetation on Hydraulic Conductivity at Various Levee Systems Using Numerical Models

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-01

XIX International Conference on Water Resources CMWR 2012 University of Illinois at Urbana -Champaign June 17-22, 2012 1 EFFECT OF WOODY...distribution unlimited 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES Presented at the XIX International Conference on Water Resources CMWR 2012, Urbana -Champaign, IL, June...the Pocket and Burlington levees, the lower toe for the Portland levee, and the bottom of the dewatered drainage ditch for the Albuquerque levee

High throughput field plant phenotyping facility at University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the first year experience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ge, Y.; Bai, G.; Irmak, S.; Awada, T.; Stoerger, V.; Graef, G.; Scoby, D.; Schnable, J.

2017-12-01

University of Nebraska - Lincoln's high throughput field plant phenotyping facility is a cable robot based system built on a 1-ac field. The sensor platform is tethered with eight cables via four poles at the corners of the field for its precise control and positioning. The sensor modules on the platform include a 4-band RGB-NIR camera, a thermal infrared camera, a 3D LiDAR, VNIR spectrometers, and environmental sensors. These sensors are used to collect multifaceted physiological, structural and chemical properties of plants from the field plots. A subsurface drip irrigation system is established in this field which allows a controlled amount of water and fertilizers to be delivered to individual plots. An extensive soil moisture sensor network is also established to monitor soil water status, and serve as a feedback loop for irrigation scheduling. In the first year of operation, the field is planted maize and soybean. Weekly ground truth data were collected from the plots to validate image and sensor data from the phenotyping system. This presentation will provide an overview of this state-of-the-art field plant phenotyping facility, and present preliminary data from the first year operation of the system.

Remote sensing inputs to National Model Implementation Program for water resources quality improvement

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eidenshink, J. C.; Schmer, F. A.

1979-01-01

The Lake Herman watershed in southeastern South Dakota has been selected as one of seven water resources systems in the United States for involvement in the National Model Implementation Program (MIP). MIP is a pilot program initiated to illustrate the effectiveness of existing water resources quality improvement programs. The Remote Sensing Institute (RSI) at South Dakota State University has produced a computerized geographic information system for the Lake Herman watershed. All components necessary for the monitoring and evaluation process were included in the data base. The computerized data were used to produce thematic maps and tabular data for the land cover and soil classes within the watershed. These data are being utilized operationally by SCS resource personnel for planning and management purposes.

Multi-objective Optimization of Solar-driven Hollow-fiber Membrane Distillation Systems

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

Nenoff, Tina M.; Moore, Sarah E.; Mirchandani, Sera

Securing additional water sources remains a primary concern for arid regions in both the developed and developing world. Climate change is causing fluctuations in the frequency and duration of precipitation, which can be can be seen as prolonged droughts in some arid areas. Droughts decrease the reliability of surface water supplies, which forces communities to find alternate primary water sources. In many cases, ground water can supplement the use of surface supplies during periods of drought, reducing the need for above-ground storage without sacrificing reliability objectives. Unfortunately, accessible ground waters are often brackish, requiring desalination prior to use, and underdevelopedmore » infrastructure and inconsistent electrical grid access can create obstacles to groundwater desalination in developing regions. The objectives of the proposed project are to (i) mathematically simulate the operation of hollow fiber membrane distillation systems and (ii) optimize system design for off-grid treatment of brackish water. It is anticipated that methods developed here can be used to supply potable water at many off-grid locations in semi-arid regions including parts of the Navajo Reservation. This research is a collaborative project between Sandia and the University of Arizona.« less

Search for water and life's building blocks in the Universe: An Introduction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kwok, Sun

Water and organics are commonly believed to be the essential ingredients for life on Earth. The development of infrared and submillimeter observational techniques has resulted in the detection of water in circumstellar envelopes, interstellar clouds, comets, asteroids, planetary satellites and the Sun. Complex organics have also been found in stellar ejecta, diffuse and molecular clouds, meteorites, interplanetary dust particles, comets and planetary satellites. In this Focus Meeting, we will discuss the origin, distribution, and detection of water and other life's building blocks both inside and outside of the Solar System. The possibility of extraterrestrial organics and water on the origin of life on Earth will also be discussed.

A dynamic simulation based water resources education tool.

PubMed

Williams, Alison; Lansey, Kevin; Washburne, James

2009-01-01

Educational tools to assist the public in recognizing impacts of water policy in a realistic context are not generally available. This project developed systems with modeling-based educational decision support simulation tools to satisfy this need. The goal of this model is to teach undergraduate students and the general public about the implications of common water management alternatives so that they can better understand or become involved in water policy and make more knowledgeable personal or community decisions. The model is based on Powersim, a dynamic simulation software package capable of producing web-accessible, intuitive, graphic, user-friendly interfaces. Modules are included to represent residential, agricultural, industrial, and turf uses, as well as non-market values, water quality, reservoir, flow, and climate conditions. Supplementary materials emphasize important concepts and lead learners through the model, culminating in an open-ended water management project. The model is used in a University of Arizona undergraduate class and within the Arizona Master Watershed Stewards Program. Evaluation results demonstrated improved understanding of concepts and system interactions, fulfilling the project's objectives.

Integrated Modeling and Decision-Support System for Water Management in the Puget Sound Basin: Snow Caps to White Caps

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

Copping, Andrea E.; Yang, Zhaoqing; Voisin, Nathalie

2013-12-01

Final Report for the EPA-sponsored project Snow Caps to White Caps that provides data products and insight for water resource managers to support their predictions and management actions to address future changes in water resources (fresh and marine) in the Puget Sound basin. This report details the efforts of a team of scientists and engineers from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the University of Washington (UW) to examine the movement of water in the Snohomish Basin, within the watershed and the estuary, under present and future conditions, using a set of linked numerical models.

The Search for Life in the Universe

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rothschild, Lynn J.

2015-01-01

Each recent report of liquid water existing elsewhere in the solar system has reverberated through the international press and excited the imagination of humankind. We have come to realize that where there is liquid water on Earth, virtually no matter what the physical conditions, there is life. Dr. Lynn Rothschild, an evolutionary biologist known for her work on life in extreme environments and a founder of the field of astrobiology, tells us about intriguing new data. At NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, CA, she leads a program in synthetic biology and works with researchers in industry, government agencies around the world and in academia, including at Brown and Stanford University. The prevalence of potential abodes for life in our solar system and beyond, the survival of microbes in the space environment, modeling of the potential for transfer of life between celestial bodies, and advances in synthetic biology suggest that life could be more common than previously thought. Are we truly "alone"?

Extremophiles may be irrelevant to the origin of life.

PubMed

Cleaves, H James; Chalmers, John H

2004-01-01

In recent years, Bacteria and Archaea have been discovered living in practically every conceivable terrestrial environment, including some previously thought to be too extreme for survival. Exploration of our solar system has revealed a number of extraterrestrial bodies that harbor environments analogous to many of the terrestrial environments in which extremophiles flourish. The recent discovery of more than 105 extrasolar planets suggests that planetary systems are quite common. These three findings have led some to speculate that life is therefore common in the universe, as life as we know it can seemingly survive almost anywhere there is liquid water. It is suggested here that while environments capable of supporting life may be common, this does not in itself support the notion that life is common in the universe. Given that interplanetary transfer of life may be unlikely, the actual origin of life may require specific environmental and geological conditions that may be much less common than the mere existence of liquid water.

Concentrating Solar Power and Water Issues in the U.S. Southwest

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

Bracken, Nathan; Macknick, Jordan; Tovar-Hastings, Angelica

2015-03-01

Concentrating solar power (CSP) systems utilize the sun's energy to create heat that is used to generate electrical power. CSP systems in the United States are installed primarily in the Southwest, with 92% of plants that are operational, under construction, or under development located in three western states--Arizona, California, and Nevada. This report provides an overview of CSP development in these states, or the 'Southwest' for the purposes of this discussion, with a particular focus on the water supply issues associated with CSP. The Western Governors' Association (WGA) commissioned staff from the Western States Water Council (WSWC) to collaborate withmore » staff from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to prepare this report. The WGA has long supported the effective management of the West's water resources, as well as the development of a clean, diverse, reliable, and affordable energy supply consisting of traditional and renewable energy resources. This report is specifically intended to help inform these goals, especially as WGA continues to underwrite a Regional Transmission Expansion Planning project, undertaken by the WSWC and the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC), to better understand energy development within the existing and future water resource constraints of the West. This report builds upon earlier research conducted by NREL, the University of Colorado-Boulder, and Stanford University that was supported through the Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis (JISEA) and presents information gathered through extensive research and literature reviews, as well as interviews and outreach with state water administrators and energy regulators, WECC and other experts familiar with CSP development in the Southwest.« less

Development of the trickle roof cooling and heating system: Experimental plan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haves, P.; Jankovic, T.; Doderer, E.

1982-07-01

A passive system applicable both to retrofit and new construction was developed. This system (the trickle roof system) dissipates heat from a thin film of water flowing over the roof. A small scale trickle roof system dissipator was tested at Trinity University under a range of ambient conditions and operating configurations. The results suggest that trickle roof systems should have comparable performance to roof pond systems. Provided is a review of the trickle roof system concept, several possible configurations, and the benefits the systems can provide. Test module experiments And results are presented in detail. The requirements for full scale testing are discussed and a plan is outlined using the two identical residential scale passive test facility buildings at Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas. Full scale experimental results would be used to validate computer algorithms, provide system optimization, and produce a nationwide performance assessment and design guidelines. This would provide industry with the information necessary to determine the commerical potential of the trickle roof system.

Modeling water demand when households have multiple sources of water

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coulibaly, Lassina; Jakus, Paul M.; Keith, John E.

2014-07-01

A significant portion of the world's population lives in areas where public water delivery systems are unreliable and/or deliver poor quality water. In response, people have developed important alternatives to publicly supplied water. To date, most water demand research has been based on single-equation models for a single source of water, with very few studies that have examined water demand from two sources of water (where all nonpublic system water sources have been aggregated into a single demand). This modeling approach leads to two outcomes. First, the demand models do not capture the full range of alternatives, so the true economic relationship among the alternatives is obscured. Second, and more seriously, economic theory predicts that demand for a good becomes more price-elastic as the number of close substitutes increases. If researchers artificially limit the number of alternatives studied to something less than the true number, the price elasticity estimate may be biased downward. This paper examines water demand in a region with near universal access to piped water, but where system reliability and quality is such that many alternative sources of water exist. In extending the demand analysis to four sources of water, we are able to (i) demonstrate why households choose the water sources they do, (ii) provide a richer description of the demand relationships among sources, and (iii) calculate own-price elasticity estimates that are more elastic than those generally found in the literature.

Geothermal System Extensions

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

Gunnerson, Jon; Pardy, James J.

This material is based upon work supported by the Department of Energy under Award Number DE-EE0000318. The City of Boise operates and maintains the nation’s largest geothermal heating district. Today, 91 buildings are connected, providing space heating to over 5.5 million square feet, domestic water heating, laundry and pool heating, sidewalk snowmelt and other related uses. Approximately 300 million gallons of 177°F geothermal water is pumped annually to buildings and institutions located in downtown Boise. The closed loop system returns all used geothermal water back into the aquifer after heat has been removed via an Injection Well. Water injected backmore » into the aquifer has an average temperature of 115°F. This project expanded the Boise Geothermal Heating District (Geothermal System) to bring geothermal energy to the campus of Boise State University and to the Central Addition Eco-District. In addition, this project also improved the overall system’s reliability and increased the hydraulic capacity.« less

Do matrix metalloproteinase inhibitors improve the bond durability of universal dental adhesives?

PubMed

Tekçe, Neslihan; Tuncer, Safa; Demirci, Mustafa; Balci, Sibel

2016-11-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) inhibitors on the microtensile bond strength (μTBS) and the adhesive-dentin interface of two universal dentin bonding agents, Single Bond Universal and All Bond Universal, after 12 months of water storage. Seventy extracted, caries-free, human third molars were used in this study. Of these, 50 were used for μTBS testing and 20 were used for scanning electron microscopy. The two bonding agents were applied to flat dentin surfaces in five different ways: self-etch mode, etch-and-rinse mode with 37% phosphoric acid, etch-and-rinse mode with phosphoric acid containing 1% benzalkonium chloride, etch-and-rinse mode with phosphoric acid and 2% chlorhexidine, and etch-and-rinse mode with 0.5 M ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) (n = 5 for each bonding agent in each group; N = 50). Half the specimens were subjected to μTBS tests at 24 h, while half were subjected to the tests after 12 months of water storage. For each bonding agent, inhibition, storage, and their interaction effects were tested by two-way analysis of variance and Bonferroni tests. For Single Bond Universal, the benzalkonium chloride (p = 0.024) and chlorhexidine groups (p = 0.033) exhibited significantly higher μTBS values at 24 h compared with the self-etch group. For All Bond Universal, all groups displayed similar bond strengths at 24 h (p > 0.05). After 12 months of water storage, the μTBS values decreased significantly in the benzalkonium chloride group for Single Bond Universal (p = 0.001) and the self-etch (p = 0.029), chlorhexidine (p = 0.046), and EDTA (p = 0.032) groups for All Bond Universal. These results suggest that the immediate dentin bond strength increases when universal bonding systems are applied in the etch-and-rinse mode, although the durability decreases. The use of chlorhexidine and EDTA can increase the bond durability of mild adhesives such as Single Bond Universal. SCANNING 38:535-544, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Search for water and life's building blocks in the universe: A summary

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ehrenfreund, Pascale; Kwok, Sun; Bergin, Edwin

2015-08-01

Water and organic compounds are essential ingredients for life on Earth and possibly elsewhere. In gaseous form water acts as a coolant that allows interstellar gas clouds to collapse to form stars, whereas water ice covers small dust particles that agglomerate to form planetesimals and planets. The variety of organic compounds identified in interstellar and circumstellar regions reflects complex reaction schemes in the gaseous and icy/solid state. Interstellar volatiles and refractory materials were processed and radially mixed within the protostellar disk from which our solar system formed. But the dynamic solar nebula was also a source for new materials and the search for water and life’s building blocks on terrestrial planets, most of the outer-solar-system satellites as well as small solar system bodies reveals exciting new findings. The analysis of small bodies and their fragments, meteorites and interplanetary dust particles, sheds lights onto the extraterrestrial delivery process of prebiotic molecules to young planets and the pathways to life’s origin on Earth and possibly elsewhere. We summarize the results of invited and contributed papers of this Focus Meeting which will allow us to better assess the habitability of objects in our solar system and provide constraints for exoplanets.

North Polar Water Ice by Weight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2003-01-01

December 8, 2003

This map shows the percent of water by weight in near-surface materials of Mars' north polar region. It is derived from the gamma ray spectrometer component of the gamma ray spectrometer suite of instruments on NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft.

Significant concentrations of water (greater than 20 percent) are poleward of 55 degrees north latitude. The highest concentration, greater than 50 percent, is between 75 degrees north and the pole. Another area with a high concentration of water by weight is in the north polar plains between longitudes minus 105 degrees and minus 140 degrees, and between latitudes 60 degrees and 75 degrees.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for the NASA Office of Space Science in Washington. Investigators at Arizona State University in Tempe, the University of Arizona in Tucson and NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, operate the science instruments. The gamma-ray spectrometer was provided by the University of Arizona in collaboration with the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, which provided the high-energy neutron detector, and the Los Alamos National Laboratories, New Mexico, which provided the neutron spectrometer. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

2004-04-15

Ecomaster, an affiliate of BioServe Space Technologies, this PentaPure technology has been used to purify water for our nation's Space Shuttle missions since 1981. WTC-Ecomaster of Mirneapolis, Minnesota manufactures water purification systems under the brand name PentaPure (TM). BioServe researcher Dr. George Marchin, of Kansas State University, first demonstrated the superiority of this technology and licensed it to WTC. Marchin continues to perform microgravity research in the development of new technologies for the benefit of life on Earth.

Great Lakes Instructional Materials for the Changing Earth System: An Earth Systems Education Effort of the Ohio Sea Grant College Program and the Ohio State University.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Heidi, Ed.; Sheaffer, Amy, Ed.

This activity book was developed because of the importance of understanding both our water resources and the impact of global change. The materials in this set were designed to use current data and information access skills, offer productive collaboration experiences, and provide critical science decision-making opportunities. Activities are…

View of the Challenger's payload bay and the SOUP experiment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1985-01-01

The solar optical universal polarimeter (SOUP) experiment is visible among the cluster of Spacelab 2 hardware in the cargo bay of the Shuttle Challenger, backdropped against white clouds over ocean waters. Various components of the instrument positioning system (IPS) are conspicuous at the center of the frame. The remote manipulator system (RMS) arm is in its stowed position to the right of the frame.

Computer Controlled Portable Greenhouse Climate Control System for Enhanced Energy Efficiency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Datsenko, Anthony; Myer, Steve; Petties, Albert; Hustek, Ryan; Thompson, Mark

2010-04-01

This paper discusses a student project at Kettering University focusing on the design and construction of an energy efficient greenhouse climate control system. In order to maintain acceptable temperatures and stabilize temperature fluctuations in a portable plastic greenhouse economically, a computer controlled climate control system was developed to capture and store thermal energy incident on the structure during daylight periods and release the stored thermal energy during dark periods. The thermal storage mass for the greenhouse system consisted of a water filled base unit. The heat exchanger consisted of a system of PVC tubing. The control system used a programmable LabView computer interface to meet functional specifications that minimized temperature fluctuations and recorded data during operation. The greenhouse was a portable sized unit with a 5' x 5' footprint. Control input sensors were temperature, water level, and humidity sensors and output control devices were fan actuating relays and water fill solenoid valves. A Graphical User Interface was developed to monitor the system, set control parameters, and to provide programmable data recording times and intervals.

Post-Outbreak Investigation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Faucet Contamination by Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction and Environmental Factors Affecting Positivity.

PubMed

Bédard, Emilie; Laferrière, Céline; Charron, Dominique; Lalancette, Cindy; Renaud, Christian; Desmarais, Nadia; Déziel, Eric; Prévost, Michèle

2015-11-01

To perform a post-outbreak prospective study of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa contamination at the faucets (water, aerator and drain) by culture and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and to assess environmental factors influencing occurrence A 450-bed pediatric university hospital in Montreal, Canada Water, aerator swab, and drain swab samples were collected from faucets and analyzed by culture and qPCR for the post-outbreak investigation. Water microbial and physicochemical parameters were measured, and a detailed characterization of the sink environmental and design parameters was performed. The outbreak genotyping investigation identified drains and aerators as the source of infection. The implementation of corrective measures was effective, but post-outbreak sampling using qPCR revealed 50% positivity for P. aeruginosa remaining in the water compared with 7% by culture. P. aeruginosa was recovered in the water, the aerator, and the drain in 21% of sinks. Drain alignment vs the faucet and water microbial quality were significant factors associated with water positivity, whereas P. aeruginosa load in the water was an average of 2 log higher for faucets with a positive aerator. P. aeruginosa contamination in various components of sink environments was still detected several years after the resolution of an outbreak in a pediatric university hospital. Although contamination is often not detectable in water samples by culture, P. aeruginosa is present and can recover its culturability under favorable conditions. The importance of having clear maintenance protocols for water systems, including the drainage components, is highlighted.

Creating the Sustainable City: Building a Seminar (and Curriculum) through Interdisciplinary Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bryson, Michael A.; Zimring, Carl A.

2010-01-01

Using the wealth of sites available in the Chicago metropolitan area, online learning technologies, and classroom interactions, Roosevelt University's seminar "The Sustainable City" takes a multidisciplinary approach to urban ecology, waste management, green design, climate change, urban planning, parklands, water systems, environmental…

What Students Want

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schaffhauser, Dian

2010-01-01

Institutions already cater to the technology needs of students. According to the 2008 Campus Computing survey, 60 percent of colleges and universities offer pervasive or near-pervasive wireless; computers are as ubiquitous as water bottles; course management systems have become one-stop shops for class content; few classrooms lack projectors; and…

RADON REMOVAL BY POINT-OF-ENTRY GRANULAR ACTIVATED CARBON SYSTEMS: DESIGN PERFORMANCE AND COST

EPA Science Inventory

The report summarizes previous research conducted by Lowry Engineering, Inc. (LEI), the Maine Department of Human Services, Division of Health Engineering, and the University of Maine, Department of Civil Engineering, on the removal of Rn from drinking water supplies using granul...

Following the Water Cycle to Sustainability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lutz, T. M.

2012-12-01

For scientists, modeling the connections among the parts of complex, dynamic systems is crucial. Doing so lets us understand emergent phenomena such as ecosystem behavior and climate patterns that could not otherwise be predicted. Emergent phenomena can typically only be understood or appreciated when we stand "outside" the system. When scientists take such an outsiders view of earth's systems they can propose many ways that human activities modify the climate system (e.g., increasing or reducing GHG emissions). But what should we do to achieve a sustainable future? Sustainability is an emergent property that arises at the level of the planetary management system, of which the scientific establishment is just a part. We are "insiders" and it is impossible to completely envision the conditions for sustainability or to plan for it. The crises in our atmosphere, biosphere, oceans, and in the natural and energy resource sectors are based in science and do call for urgent changes in science education. But education that focuses solely on science to meet the challenges of sustainability may be as likely to harm humanity's long-term prospects as to improve them. I present activities and teaching strategies that I use in general education classes at West Chester University, a comprehensive institution of roughly 14,000 undergraduates. The overarching concept is to extend "modeling the connections" to the sustainability level and to train students to think outside the system. To make the ideas more accessible, I have the students become sensors at their particular point in the web of connections that constitute the planetary management system. I ask them to evaluate their connection in three domains proposed by John Ehrenfeld (Sustainability by Design, Yale University Press, 2008): sense of place in the natural world; sense of responsibility for our actions, and sense of what it is to be a human being. I have them analyze their sense of connection with reference to a systems learning model based on feedback and limits to perception. I focus on a part of the course that builds on connections that start in the hydrosphere and that includes some basic experiential learning about the water cycle and students' reliance on it. We measure and visualize aspects of the water cycle in nearby areas of campus (designated as an outdoor classroom and demonstration garden). The evapotranspiration flow is used to introduce notions of what can happen when flows are not sensed (e.g., invisible to us). Students use an online water footprint calculator to discover how large their water reliance is, particularly through energy generation, food consumption and food waste; and how far their water reach extends (virtual water trade). They consider the ethical implications of their water use in a world in which it is becoming a more rare resource and in some cases a valued commodity. They learn about non-utilitarian values of water based on an activity on the values of nature. They look at local, community-based efforts to improve water quality and to re-localize water dependence. A reading from Aldo Leopold puts the water cycle in a historical and cultural perspective. The water cycle is strongly interwoven with natural and human energy systems, the climate system, the carbon cycle, nutrient cycles, the rock cycle, and serves as a starting point to reach many other topics.

Universal HPLC Detector for Hydrophilic Organic Compounds by Means of Total Organic Carbon Detection.

PubMed

Ohira, Shin-Ichi; Kaneda, Kyosuke; Matsuzaki, Toru; Mori, Shuta; Mori, Masanobu; Toda, Kei

2018-06-05

Most quantifications are achieved by comparison of the signals obtained with the sample to those from a standard. Thus, the purity and stability of the standard are key in chemical analysis. Furthermore, if an analyte standard cannot be obtained, quantification cannot be achieved, even if the chemical structures are identified by a qualification method (e.g., high-resolution mass spectrometry). Herein, we describe a universal and analyte standard-free detector for aqueous-eluent-based high-performance liquid chromatography. This universal carbon detector (UCD) was developed based on total organic carbon detection. Separated analytes were oxidized in-line and converted to carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). Generated CO 2 was transferred into the gas phase and collected into ultrapure water, which was followed by conductivity detection. The system can be applied as a HPLC detector that does not use an organic solvent as an eluent. The system can be calibrated with a primary standard of sodium bicarbonate for organic compounds. The universality and quantification were evaluated with organic compounds, including organic acids, sugars, and amino acids. Furthermore, the system was successfully applied to evaluation of the purity of formaldehyde in formalin solution, and determination of sugars in juices. The results show the universal carbon detector has good universality and can quantify many kinds of organic compounds with a single standard such as sodium bicarbonate.

Effect of water storage on ultimate tensile strength and mass changes of universal adhesives.

PubMed

Bahrololumi, Nazanin; Beglou, Amirreza; Najafi-Abrandabadi, Ahmad; Sadr, Alireza; Sheikh-Al-Eslamian, Seyedeh-Mahsa; Ghasemi, Amir

2017-01-01

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the influence of water storage on micro tensile strength (µTS) and mass changes (MC) of two universal adhesives. 10 disk-shaped specimens were prepared for each adhesive; Scotchbond Universal (SCU) All-Bond Universal (ABU) and Adper Single Bond 2 (SB2). At the baseline and after 1 day and 28 days of water storage, their mass were measured and compared to estimate water sorption and solubility. For µTS test, 20 dumbbell shaped specimens were also prepared for each adhesive in two subgroups of 1 day and 28 days water storage. MC was significantly lower for SCU and ABU than SB2 ( P < 0.05) at both time intervals. In all three adhesives, the MC was significantly lower at 28 days compared to that at 1 day ( P < 0.05). Similarly, µTS was significantly higher for SCU and ABU than SB2 at both storage intervals ( P < 0.05). After 28 days, µTS increased significantly for universal adhesives ( P < 0.05). MC and µTS of adhesives were both material and time dependent when stored in water; both universal adhesives showed less water sorption and higher values of µTS than the control group. Key words: Absorption, dental adhesives, dentin-bonding agents, solubility, tensile strength.

The Consequences of the FAA not Offering Emergency Agricultural UAS Rules for Water Conservation During the 2012 Drought

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Darling, R. G.

2016-12-01

The FAA's policies for agricultural Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) is essential towards preservation and optimization of water use in the parched Western United States. Had FAA applied emergency rules putting farmers on equal-footing with hobbyists for sUAS use at the beginning of the 2012 drought, the Western US could have been able to save approximately 3 Million/AF of water through improved irrigation management. For perspective, Los Angeles city's annual current consumption is 587,000 acre-feet. This study uses various assumptions about developed water use in agriculture and urban areas to determine water use, energy consumption, monetary loss through delay in FAA regulations. If the saved water was added to the ground the energy savings could have been approximately 1.27 Terra-Watt hours, enough energy to power the entire University of California system for 5 years. It remains unclear if new FAA regulations are sufficiently permissive to allow for widespread adoption of sUAS based precision agriculture. Substantial opportunities exist for utilizing UAS traffic management software in rural areas of less crowed airspace: incorporating geofencing and a notification system to operators and air traffic control as an alternative to a difficult examination process.

The role of water content in triboelectric charging of wind-blown sand.

PubMed

Gu, Zhaolin; Wei, Wei; Su, Junwei; Yu, Chuck Wah

2013-01-01

Triboelectric charging is common in desert sandstorms and dust devils on Earth; however, it remains poorly understood. Here we show a charging mechanism of sands with the adsorbed water on micro-porous surface in wind-blown sand based on the fact that water content is universal but usually a minor component in most particle systems. The triboelectric charging could be resulted due to the different mobility of H(+)/OH(-) between the contacting sands with a temperature difference. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and discrete element method (DEM) were used to demonstrate the dynamics of the sand charging. The numerically simulated charge-to-mass ratios of sands and electric field strength established in wind tunnel agreed well with the experimental data. The charging mechanism could provide an explanation for the charging process of all identical granular systems with water content, including Martian dust devils, wind-blown snow, even powder electrification in industrial processes.

The role of water content in triboelectric charging of wind-blown sand

PubMed Central

Gu, Zhaolin; Wei, Wei; Su, Junwei; Yu, Chuck Wah

2013-01-01

Triboelectric charging is common in desert sandstorms and dust devils on Earth; however, it remains poorly understood. Here we show a charging mechanism of sands with the adsorbed water on micro-porous surface in wind-blown sand based on the fact that water content is universal but usually a minor component in most particle systems. The triboelectric charging could be resulted due to the different mobility of H+/OH− between the contacting sands with a temperature difference. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and discrete element method (DEM) were used to demonstrate the dynamics of the sand charging. The numerically simulated charge-to-mass ratios of sands and electric field strength established in wind tunnel agreed well with the experimental data. The charging mechanism could provide an explanation for the charging process of all identical granular systems with water content, including Martian dust devils, wind-blown snow, even powder electrification in industrial processes. PMID:23434920

Biological filters and their use in potable water filtration systems in spaceflight conditions.

PubMed

Thornhill, Starla G; Kumar, Manish

2018-05-01

Providing drinking water to space missions such as the International Space Station (ISS) is a costly requirement for human habitation. To limit the costs of water transport, wastewater is collected and purified using a variety of physical and chemical means. To date, sand-based biofilters have been designed to function against gravity, and biofilms have been shown to form in microgravity conditions. Development of a universal silver-recycling biological filter system that is able to function in both microgravity and full gravity conditions would reduce the costs incurred in removing organic contaminants from wastewater by limiting the energy and chemical inputs required. This paper aims to propose the use of a sand-substrate biofilter to replace chemical means of water purification on manned spaceflights. Copyright © 2018 The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR). Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

University of Oregon: GPS-based Precipitable Water Vapor (PWV)

DOE Data Explorer

Vignola, F.; Andreas, A.

2013-08-22

A partnership with the University of Oregon and U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to collect Precipitable Water Vapor (PWV) data to compliment existing resource assessment data collection by the university.

Water Hammer Test

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2008-01-01

[figure removed for brevity, see original site] Click on the image for the animation

This video shows the propulsion system on an engineering model of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander being successfully tested. Instead of fuel, water is run through the propulsion system to make sure that the spacecraft holds up to vibrations caused by pressure oscillations.

The test was performed very early in the development of the mission, in 2005, at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver. Early testing was possible because Phoenix's main structure was already in place from the 2001 Mars Surveyor program.

The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.

Diversity of Approaches to Structuring University-Based Earth System Science Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aron, J.; Ruzek, M.; Johnson, D. R.

2004-12-01

Over the past quarter century, the "Earth system science" paradigm has emerged among the interdisciplinary science community, emphasizing interactions among components hitherto considered within separate disciplines: atmosphere (air); hydrosphere (water); biosphere (life); lithosphere (land); anthroposphere (human dimension); and exosphere (solar system and beyond). How should the next generation of Earth system scientists learn to contribute to this interdisciplinary endeavor? There is no one simple answer. The Earth System Science Education program, funded by NASA, has addressed this question by supporting faculty at U.S. universities who develop new courses, curricula and degree programs in their institutional contexts. This report demonstrates the diversity of approaches to structuring university-based Earth system science education, focusing on the 18 current grantees of the Earth System Science Education Program for the 21st Century (ESSE21). One of the most fundamental characteristics is the departmental structure for teaching Earth system science. The "home" departments of the Earth system science faculty range from Earth sciences and physics to agronomy and social work. A brand-new institution created an interdisciplinary Institute for Earth Systems Science and Policy without traditional "parent" departments. Some institutions create new degree programs as majors or as minors while others work within existing degree programs to add or revise courses. A university may also offer multiple strands, such as a degree in the Science of the Earth System and a degree in the Human Dimensions of the Earth System. Defining a career path is extremely important to students considering Earth system science programs and a major institutional challenge for all programs in Earth system science education. How will graduate programs assess prospective students? How will universities and government agencies assess prospective faculty and scientists? How will government agencies allocate funds to interdisciplinary Earth system science and technology? Finally, how should the Earth system science education community evolve?

Annual Collection and Storage of Solar Energy for the Heating of Buildings, Report No. 3. Semi-Annual Progress Report, August 1977 - January 1978.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beard, J. Taylor; And Others

This report is part of a series from the Department of Energy on the use of solar energy in heating buildings. Described here is a new system for year around collection and storage of solar energy. This system has been operated at the University of Virginia for over a year. Composed of an underground hot water storage system and solar collection,…

Dual roles of infrared imaging on a university campus: serving the physical plant while enhancing a technology-based curriculum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miles, Jonathan J.

2001-03-01

The campus of a comprehensive, residential university is in many respects a small city unto itself. All the amenities and services one would expect in a typical community are readily available on a college campus, including residences, athletic and dining facilities, libraries, and stores. A large campus, therefore, requires a reliable energy plant to provide steam, hot water, chilled water, and electricity. James Madison University supports two power plants: a vintage steam plant and a modern resource recovery facility comprising two solid-waste incinerators and two gas-fired units for steam generation, three steam-driven absorption- chilling units, and a single steam-driven generator for peak electricity production. Infrared imaging, as a teaching tool, was introduced in the Program of Integrated Science and Technology at James Madison University in 1997. The Infrared Development and Thermal Testing Laboratory was established at the university later in 1997 with government and industry support, and it is presently equipped with infrared imagers and scanners, single-point detectors, and data-acquisition systems. A study was conducted between 1998 and 1999 to test the economic feasibility of implementing an IR-based predictive maintenance program in the university steam plant. This paper describes the opportunities created at James Madison University to develop IR-based predictive maintenance programs that enhance the operation of the university energy plants; to establish IR-related research and development activities that support government and industry activities; and to enhance a science- and technology-based curriculum by way of unique, IR-based laboratory experiences and demonstrations.

Drinking Water Quality in Hospitals and Other Buildings ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Drinking water quality entering large buildings is generally adequately controlled by the water utility, but localized problems may occur within building or “premise” plumbing. Particular concerns are loss of disinfectant residual and temperature variability, which may enhance pathogen activity and metallic corrosion. Disinfection systems are available to building managers and are being installed in a variety of commercial buildings (hospitals, hotels, office buildings.) Yet our understanding of such additional treatment and of how to monitor end water quality at these buildings is limited. This class lecture will discuss challenges in maintaining acceptable water quality in hospitals, schools and other buildings. To give a lecture to a class of graduate students (ENVE 6054: Physical/Chemical Processes for Water Quality Control) at the University of Cincinnati, by presenting past research projects.

Solar-driven membrane distillation demonstration in Leupp, Arizona.

PubMed

Ravisankar, Vishnu Arvind; Seaman, Robert; Mirchandani, Sera; Arnold, Robert G; Ela, Wendell P

2016-03-01

The Navajo Nation is the largest and one of the driest Native American reservations in the US. The population in the Navajo Nation is sporadically distributed over a very large area making it extremely ineffective to connect homes to a centralized water supply system. Owing to this population distribution and the multi decadal drought prevailing in the region, over 40% of the 300,000 people living on Navajo Tribal Lands lack access to running potable water. For many people the only alternative is hauling water from filling stations, resulting in economic hardship and limited supply. A solution to this problem is a de-centralized off-grid water source. The University of Arizona and US Bureau of Reclamation's Solar Membrane Distillation (SMD), stand-alone, pilot desalination system on the Navajo Reservation will provide an off-grid source of potable water; the pilot will serve as a proximal water source, ease the financial hardships caused by the drought, and provide a model for low-cost water treatment systems in arid tribal lands. Bench-scale experiments and an earlier field prototype plant showed viable operation of a solar heated, membrane distillation (MD) system, but further optimization is required. The objectives of the Navajo pilot study are to i) demonstrate integration of solar collectors and membrane distillation, ii) optimize operational parameters, iii) demonstrate and monitor technology performance during extended duration operation, and iv) facilitate independent system operation by the Navajo Water Resources Department, including hand-over of a comprehensive operations manual for implementation of subsequent SMD systems. The Navajo SMD system is designed as a perennial installation that includes remote communication of research data and full automation for remote, unmanned operation.

On a relationship between molecular polarizability and partial molar volume in water.

PubMed

Ratkova, Ekaterina L; Fedorov, Maxim V

2011-12-28

We reveal a universal relationship between molecular polarizability (a single-molecule property) and partial molar volume in water that is an ensemble property characterizing solute-solvent systems. Since both of these quantities are of the key importance to describe solvation behavior of dissolved molecular species in aqueous solutions, the obtained relationship should have a high impact in chemistry, pharmaceutical, and life sciences as well as in environments. We demonstrated that the obtained relationship between the partial molar volume in water and the molecular polarizability has in general a non-homogeneous character. We performed a detailed analysis of this relationship on a set of ~200 organic molecules from various chemical classes and revealed its fine well-organized structure. We found that this structure strongly depends on the chemical nature of the solutes and can be rationalized in terms of specific solute-solvent interactions. Efficiency and universality of the proposed approach was demonstrated on an external test set containing several dozens of polyfunctional and druglike molecules.

Educational Systems for Operators of Water Pollution Control Facilities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Austin, John H., Ed.; Kesler, John, Ed.

Several of the articles from this conference concern current activities of federal, state, and municipal governments, of universities and community colleges, and of industry in wastewater treatment plant operator training. The rest of the articles deal with instructional technology, explaining different facets of it and showing how it may be…

Water and Power Systems Co-optimization under a High Performance Computing Framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xuan, Y.; Arumugam, S.; DeCarolis, J.; Mahinthakumar, K.

2016-12-01

Water and energy systems optimizations are traditionally being treated as two separate processes, despite their intrinsic interconnections (e.g., water is used for hydropower generation, and thermoelectric cooling requires a large amount of water withdrawal). Given the challenges of urbanization, technology uncertainty and resource constraints, and the imminent threat of climate change, a cyberinfrastructure is needed to facilitate and expedite research into the complex management of these two systems. To address these issues, we developed a High Performance Computing (HPC) framework for stochastic co-optimization of water and energy resources to inform water allocation and electricity demand. The project aims to improve conjunctive management of water and power systems under climate change by incorporating improved ensemble forecast models of streamflow and power demand. First, by downscaling and spatio-temporally disaggregating multimodel climate forecasts from General Circulation Models (GCMs), temperature and precipitation forecasts are obtained and input into multi-reservoir and power systems models. Extended from Optimus (Optimization Methods for Universal Simulators), the framework drives the multi-reservoir model and power system model, Temoa (Tools for Energy Model Optimization and Analysis), and uses Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm to solve high dimensional stochastic problems. The utility of climate forecasts on the cost of water and power systems operations is assessed and quantified based on different forecast scenarios (i.e., no-forecast, multimodel forecast and perfect forecast). Analysis of risk management actions and renewable energy deployments will be investigated for the Catawba River basin, an area with adequate hydroclimate predicting skill and a critical basin with 11 reservoirs that supplies water and generates power for both North and South Carolina. Further research using this scalable decision supporting framework will provide understanding and elucidate the intricate and interdependent relationship between water and energy systems and enhance the security of these two critical public infrastructures.

Simulation of water-energy fluxes through small-scale reservoir systems under limited data availability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papoulakos, Konstantinos; Pollakis, Giorgos; Moustakis, Yiannis; Markopoulos, Apostolis; Iliopoulou, Theano; Dimitriadis, Panayiotis; Koutsoyiannis, Demetris; Efstratiadis, Andreas

2017-04-01

Small islands are regarded as promising areas for developing hybrid water-energy systems that combine multiple sources of renewable energy with pumped-storage facilities. Essential element of such systems is the water storage component (reservoir), which implements both flow and energy regulations. Apparently, the representation of the overall water-energy management problem requires the simulation of the operation of the reservoir system, which in turn requires a faithful estimation of water inflows and demands of water and energy. Yet, in small-scale reservoir systems, this task in far from straightforward, since both the availability and accuracy of associated information is generally very poor. For, in contrast to large-scale reservoir systems, for which it is quite easy to find systematic and reliable hydrological data, in the case of small systems such data may be minor or even totally missing. The stochastic approach is the unique means to account for input data uncertainties within the combined water-energy management problem. Using as example the Livadi reservoir, which is the pumped storage component of the small Aegean island of Astypalaia, Greece, we provide a simulation framework, comprising: (a) a stochastic model for generating synthetic rainfall and temperature time series; (b) a stochastic rainfall-runoff model, whose parameters cannot be inferred through calibration and, thus, they are represented as correlated random variables; (c) a stochastic model for estimating water supply and irrigation demands, based on simulated temperature and soil moisture, and (d) a daily operation model of the reservoir system, providing stochastic forecasts of water and energy outflows. Acknowledgement: This research is conducted within the frame of the undergraduate course "Stochastic Methods in Water Resources" of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). The School of Civil Engineering of NTUA provided moral support for the participation of the students in the Assembly.

Can We Drink the Water? Data Sharing Lessons From the Great Lakes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aufdenkampe, A. K.; Paige, K.; Slawecki, T. A.

2017-12-01

The Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS) is one of 11 regional associations of the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS). Over time, GLOS has built a reputation as a trusted data aggregator and resource for managers, policy makers and recreational boaters in the region. This was evidenced best when, in response to the 2014 Lake Erie harmful algal bloom event, local stakeholders including universities, state government, and municipal water managers turned to GLOS as a repository for sharing and finding data. The IOOS Certification process, required under the authority of the Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act of 2009 (ICOOS Act), further legitimizes these data assembly centers that serve as valuable coordinators of data for their regions.

Symposium on Machine Processing of Remotely Sensed Data, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., June 29-July 1, 1976, Proceedings

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1976-01-01

Papers are presented on the applicability of Landsat data to water management and control needs, IBIS, a geographic information system based on digital image processing and image raster datatype, and the Image Data Access Method (IDAM) for the Earth Resources Interactive Processing System. Attention is also given to the Prototype Classification and Mensuration System (PROCAMS) applied to agricultural data, the use of Landsat for water quality monitoring in North Carolina, and the analysis of geophysical remote sensing data using multivariate pattern recognition. The Illinois crop-acreage estimation experiment, the Pacific Northwest Resources Inventory Demonstration, and the effects of spatial misregistration on multispectral recognition are also considered. Individual items are announced in this issue.

What's Wrong with the Tap? Examining Perceptions of Tap Water and Bottled Water at Purdue University

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saylor, Amber; Prokopy, Linda Stalker; Amberg, Shannon

2011-09-01

The environmental impacts of bottled water prompted us to explore drinking water choices at Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, IN. A random sample of 2,045 Purdue University students, staff, and faculty was invited to participate in an online survey. The survey assessed current behaviors as well as perceived barriers and benefits to drinking tap water versus bottled water. 677 surveys were completed for a response rate of 33.1%. We then conducted qualitative interviews with a purposive sample of university undergraduates ( n = 21) to obtain contextual insights into the survey results and the beliefs of individuals with a variety of drinking water preferences. This study revealed that women drink disproportionately more bottled water then men while undergraduate students drink more than graduate students, staff and faculty. The study also uncovered a widespread belief that recycling eliminates the environmental impacts of bottled water. Important barriers to drinking tap water at Purdue include: perceived risks from tap water and the perceived safety of bottled water, preferring the taste of bottled water, and the convenience of drinking bottled water. The qualitative interviews revealed that drinking water choices can be influenced by several factors—especially whether individuals trust tap water to be clean—but involve varying levels of complexity. The implications of these results for social marketing strategies to promote tap water are discussed.

What's wrong with the tap? Examining perceptions of tap water and bottled water at Purdue University.

PubMed

Saylor, Amber; Prokopy, Linda Stalker; Amberg, Shannon

2011-09-01

The environmental impacts of bottled water prompted us to explore drinking water choices at Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, IN. A random sample of 2,045 Purdue University students, staff, and faculty was invited to participate in an online survey. The survey assessed current behaviors as well as perceived barriers and benefits to drinking tap water versus bottled water. 677 surveys were completed for a response rate of 33.1%. We then conducted qualitative interviews with a purposive sample of university undergraduates (n = 21) to obtain contextual insights into the survey results and the beliefs of individuals with a variety of drinking water preferences. This study revealed that women drink disproportionately more bottled water then men while undergraduate students drink more than graduate students, staff and faculty. The study also uncovered a widespread belief that recycling eliminates the environmental impacts of bottled water. Important barriers to drinking tap water at Purdue include: perceived risks from tap water and the perceived safety of bottled water, preferring the taste of bottled water, and the convenience of drinking bottled water. The qualitative interviews revealed that drinking water choices can be influenced by several factors-especially whether individuals trust tap water to be clean-but involve varying levels of complexity. The implications of these results for social marketing strategies to promote tap water are discussed.

Experimental investigation of the ecological hybrid refrigeration cycle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cyklis, Piotr; Kantor, Ryszard; Ryncarz, Tomasz; Górski, Bogusław; Duda, Roman

2014-09-01

The requirements for environmentally friendly refrigerants promote application of CO2 and water as working fluids. However there are two problems related to that, namely high temperature limit for CO2 in condenser due to the low critical temperature, and low temperature limit for water being the result of high triple point temperature. This can be avoided by application of the hybrid adsorption-compression system, where water is the working fluid in the adsorption high temperature cycle used to cool down the CO2 compression cycle condenser. The adsorption process is powered with a low temperature renewable heat source as solar collectors or other waste heat source. The refrigeration system integrating adsorption and compression system has been designed and constructed in the Laboratory of Thermodynamics and Thermal Machine Measurements of Cracow University of Technology. The heat source for adsorption system consists of 16 tube tulbular collectors. The CO2 compression low temperature cycle is based on two parallel compressors with frequency inverter. Energy efficiency and TEWI of this hybrid system is quite promising in comparison with the compression only systems.

Coordinating standards and applications for optical water quality sensor networks

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bergamaschi, B.; Pellerin, B.

2011-01-01

Joint USGS-CUAHSI Workshop: In Situ Optical Water Quality Sensor Networks; Shepherdstown, West Virginia, 8-10 June 2011; Advanced in situ optical water quality sensors and new techniques for data analysis hold enormous promise for advancing scientific understanding of aquatic systems through measurements of important biogeochemical parameters at the time scales over which they vary. High-frequency and real-time water quality data also provide the opportunity for early warning of water quality deterioration, trend detection, and science-based decision support. However, developing networks of optical sensors in freshwater systems that report reliable and comparable data across and between sites remains a challenge to the research and monitoring community. To address this, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI), convened a 3-day workshop to explore ways to coordinate development of standards and applications for optical sensors, as well as handling, storage, and analysis of the continuous data they produce.

On universality of scaling law describing roughness of triple line.

PubMed

Bormashenko, Edward; Musin, Albina; Whyman, Gene; Barkay, Zahava; Zinigrad, Michael

2015-01-01

The fine structure of the three-phase (triple) line was studied for different liquids, various topographies of micro-rough substrates and various wetting regimes. Wetting of porous and pillar-based micro-scaled polymer surfaces was investigated. The triple line was visualized with the environmental scanning electron microscope and scanning electron microscope for the "frozen" triple lines. The value of the roughness exponent ζ for water (ice)/rough polymer systems was located within 0.55-0.63. For epoxy glue/rough polymer systems somewhat lower values of the exponent, 0.42 < ζ < 0.54, were established. The obtained values of ζ were close for the Cassie and Wenzel wetting regimes, different liquids, and different substrates' topographies. Thus, the above values of the exponent are to a great extent universal. The switch of the exponent, when the roughness size approaches to the correlation length of the defects, is also universal.

Regulation of water flux through tropical forest canopy trees: do universal rules apply?

PubMed

Meinzer, F C; Goldstein, G; Andrade, J L

2001-01-01

Tropical moist forests are notable for their richness in tree species. The presence of such a diverse tree flora presents potential problems for scaling up estimates of water use from individual trees to entire stands and for drawing generalizations about physiological regulation of water use in tropical trees. We measured sapwood area or sap flow, or both, in 27 co-occurring canopy species in a Panamanian forest to determine the extent to which relationships between tree size, sapwood area and sap flow were species-specific, or whether they were constrained by universal functional relationships between tree size, conducting xylem area, and water use. For the 24 species in which active xylem area was estimated over a range of size classes, diameter at breast height (DBH) accounted for 98% of the variation in sapwood area and 67% of the variation in sapwood depth when data for all species were combined. The DBH alone also accounted for > or = 90% of the variation in both maximum and total daily sap flux density in the outermost 2 cm of sapwood for all species taken together. Maximum sap flux density measured near the base of the tree occurred at about 1,400 h in the largest trees and 1,130 h in the smallest trees studied, and DBH accounted for 93% of the variation in the time of day at which maximum sap flow occurred. The shared relationship between tree size and time of maximum sap flow at the base of the tree suggests that a common relationship between diurnal stem water storage capacity and tree size existed. These results are consistent with a recent hypothesis that allometric scaling of plant vascular systems, and therefore water use, is universal.

Solar space- and water-heating system at Stanford University. Central Food Services Building

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1980-05-01

The closed-loop drain-back system is described as offering dependability of gravity drain-back freeze protection, low maintenance, minimal costs, and simplicity. The system features an 840 square-foot collector and storage capacity of 1550 gallons. The acceptance testing and the predicted system performance data are briefly described. Solar performance calculations were performed using a computer design program (FCHART). Bidding, costs, and economics of the system are reviewed. Problems are discussed and solutions and recommendations given. An operation and maintenance manual is given.

A Landsat-based inventory procedure for agriculture in California

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wall, S. L.; Thomas, R. W.; Brown, C. E.; Bauer, E. H.

1982-01-01

Agriculture, which occupies a vital position in the economy of the State of California, depends crucially on the available water. The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) is, therefore, greatly concerned with the total water requirements for agricultural applications. In view of the limitations of an area-limited, single-date survey system, the DWR has been cooperating with NASA and the University of California in a study of the applicability of Landsat imagery and digital data as an aid in making decisions concerning the management of water resources. Attention is given to a statewide inventory of irrigated land, computer-assisted estimation and mapping of irrigated land, and a crop type analysis using Landsat digital data.

Evaluation of Drought Management Measures for Municipal and Industrial Water Supply.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-12-01

10. c -W q-W t41 4.1 ~~>o~v 0t44 04 00 00 0 0 00 0 0 ;, d 0 0 -H 44 . 0 W k E4 $4 414 00 4.4 44I 04 V. 44.010 0 0 u. 0rr.4 40 W1 . 0100 0 w 03w6 0 00...and Drainage Division, ASCE, 97(IR4):559-570. 93. Hoppel, S. K ., and W. Viessman, Jr. 1972. A Linear Analysis of an Urban Water Supply System. Water...from Small Watersheds . Idaho Water • .Resources Research Institute Technical Completion Report, Moscow: Idaho University. *110. Lampe, Les K . 1982

Estimating the effectiveness of using atmospheric deaerators for decarbonizing makeup water

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larin, B. M.; Larin, A. B.

2015-02-01

According to the water coolant quality standards, the makeup water supplied to a thermal power plant's (TPP) steam-generating systems must not have any content of free carbonic acid. As a rule, free and partially bound carbonic acid is removed from makeup water supplied to the power-generating boilers at TPPs in atmospheric deaerators. Their performance as decarbonizers can be evaluated by measuring the pH values of water supplied to the deaerator and of the deaerated water. A procedure for calculating the residual concentration of carbonic acid in deaerated water and the decarbonization effect from the change in the pH value (ΔpH) is presented together with an example of calculation carried out by specialists of the Ivanovo State Power Engineering University based on a long-term industrial experiment performed on DSA-300 atmospheric deaerators.

Case Study for the ARRA-Funded Ground Source Heat Pump Demonstration at Ball State University

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

Im, Piljae; Liu, Xiaobing; Henderson, Jr., Hugh

With funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), 26 ground-source heat pump (GSHP) projects were competitively selected in 2009 to demonstrate the benefits of GSHP systems and innovative technologies for cost reduction and/or performance improvement. One of the selected demonstration projects is a district central GSHP system installed at Ball State University (BSU) in Muncie, IN. Prior to implementing the district GSHP system, 47 major buildings in BSU were served by a central steam plant with four coal-fired and three natural-gas-fired steam boilers. Cooling was provided by five water-cooled centrifugal chillers at the District Energy Station Southmore » (DESS). The new district GSHP system replaced the existing coal-fired steam boilers and conventional water-cooled chillers. It uses ground-coupled heat recovery (HR) chillers to meet the simultaneous heating and cooling demands of the campus. The actual performance of the GSHP system was analyzed based on available measured data from August 2015 through July 2016, construction drawings, maintenance records, personal communications, and construction costs. Since Phase 1 was funded in part by the ARRA grant, it is the focus of this case study. The annual energy consumption of the GSHP system was calculated based on the available measured data and other related information. It was compared with the performance of a baseline scenario— a conventional water-cooled chiller and natural-gas-fired boiler system, both of which meet the minimum energy efficiencies allowed by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE 90.1-2013). The comparison was made to determine source energy savings, energy cost savings, and CO2 emission reductions achieved by the GSHP system. A cost analysis was performed to evaluate the simple payback of the GSHP system. The following sections summarize the results of the analysis, the lessons learned, and recommendations for improvement in the operation of this district GSHP system.« less

Creating Interdisciplinary STEM Environments at the University of Nebraska at Omaha

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shuster, R. D.; Grandgenett, N. F.

2010-12-01

Effective, integrated and interdisciplinary STEM environments depend upon strong faculty collaboration. During the past decade, the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) has put an emphasis on STEM faculty working together across departments, colleges, and the university system, as well as with local school systems. Supported by a University-wide Content and Pedagogy Committee and a new Office of STEM Education, faculty members have aggressively undertaken and evaluated various interdisciplinary STEM activities. This presentation will briefly describe three of these projects, including evaluation-related data and UNO support mechanisms. First, an interdisciplinary student research project has been developed involving our introductory geology and chemistry courses. The project includes collecting drinking water samples from around Omaha by geology students, the chemical analysis of drinking water by chemistry students, followed by water quality analysis of the chemical data by the geology students. Students learn about the scientific method, potential problems with project design, and limitations of interpretation of real data, while also applying knowledge learned in the class to this real world problem. This project reaches ~600 undergraduate students each year and requires close cooperation between faculty of the Chemistry and Geology programs. Evaluation data indicates that this project has had a positive impact on student attitude towards science in general and towards geology and chemistry in particular. The second project highlighted will be the Silicon Prairie Initiative for Robotics in Information Technology (SPIRIT). The SPIRIT project is a NSF funded collaboration between the UNO College of Education, the University of Nebraska at Lincoln College of Engineering, and local school systems. It strives to integrate the use of educational robotics and sensors in the teaching of STEM topics, particularly at the middle school and high school levels. The project has designed a flexible online curriculum that includes over 200 lessons with technical tutorials, assessments, and various resources. More than 250 teachers have been trained in extended workshops. Criterion-referenced test data of the students involved with these teachers have been encouraging. Further pilot test data also showed increases in positive STEM attitudes. The third project highlighted will be an interdisciplinary online Earth system science course for in-service teachers associated with the Earth System Science Education Alliance (ESSEA), which includes 42 universities across the U.S.. ESSEA instructional modules have been designed and shared by the participating institutions. UNO has been offering ESSEA coursework with participating faculty from Teacher Education (College of Education) and Geology (College of Arts & Sciences), writing ESSEA modules, and examining student feedback since 2004: involving more than 250 teachers, crossing a wide range of STEM-related teaching certifications. Project effectiveness has been examined by use of surveys, focus groups, and course products. By collaborating with colleagues across disciplines, colleges, and institutions, it is possible to have a positive impact on STEM education, through course offerings at UNO and through teacher professional development.

Legionella control in the water system of antiquated hospital buildings by shock and continuous hyperchlorination: 5 years experience

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background To control the presence of Legionella in an old hospital water system, an integrated strategy of water disinfection-filtration was implemented in the university hospital Umberto I in Rome. Methods Due to antiquated buildings, hospital water system design and hospital extension (38 buildings), shock hyperchlorination (sodium hypochlorite, 20–50 ppm of free chlorine at distal points for 1–2 h) followed by continuous hyperchlorination (0.5-1.0 mg/L at distal points) were adopted, and microbiological and chemical monitoring of the water supply was carried out in the university hospital (December 2006-December 2011). Results Overall, 1308 samples of cold <20°C (44.5%), mixed ≥20°C ≤ 45°C (37.7%) and hot >45°C (17.8%) water were collected, determining residual free chlorine (0.43 ± 0.44 mg/L), pH (7.43 ± 0.29) and trihalomethanes (8.97 ± 18.56 μg/L). Legionella was isolated in 102 (9.8%) out of 1.041 water samples without filters (L. pneumophila sg 1 17.6%, L. pneumophila sg 2–14 28.4%, L. non pneumophila 53.9%), and in none of the 267 samples with filters. Legionella was recovered in 23 buildings out of 38 and 29 samples (28.4%) exceeded 103 cfu/L. When considering the disinfection treatment Legionella was isolated: before shock hyperchlorination (21.1%), 15 days after shock hyperchlorination (7.8%), 30 days after shock hyperchlorination (3.5%), during continuous hyperchlorination (5.5%) and without continuous hyperchlorination (27.3%). Continuous hyperchlorination following the shock treatment achieved >70% reduction of positive samples, whereas no continuous hyperchlorination after shock treatment was more frequently associated to Legionella isolation (OR 6.41; 95% CI 3.10–13.26; p <0.001). Independent risk factors for Legionella isolation were: residual free chlorine <0.5 mg/L (OR 13.0; 95% CI 1.37 – 123.2; p <0.03), water T° ≥20°C ≤ 45°C (OR 12.0; 95% CI 1.28 – 111.48; p <0.03) and no continuous hyperchlorination after shock treatment (OR 10.3; 95% CI 1.06 – 100.05; p <0.05). Conclusions Shock and continuous hyperchlorination achieved significant Legionella reduction, but effective chlorine levels (>0.5 < 1.0 mg/L) deteriorated water quality (organoleptic and chemical). However, shock and continuous hyperchlorination remains a valid-term option in old buildings with no water system rational design, managing problems due to hospital extension and absence of a proper hot water recirculation system. PMID:25027499

CUAHSI-HIS: an Internet based system to facilitate public discovery, access, and exploration of different water science data sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arrigo, J. S.; Hooper, R. P.; Choi, Y.; Ames, D. P.; Kadlec, J.; Whiteaker, T.

2011-12-01

"Water is everywhere." This sentiment underscores the importance of instilling hydrologic and earth science literacy in educators, students, and the general public, but also presents challenges for water scientists and educators. Scientific data about water is collected and distributed by several different sources, from federal agencies to scientific investigators to citizen scientists. As competition for limited water resources increase, increasing access to and understanding of the wealth of information about the nation's and the world's water will be critical. The CUAHSI-HIS system is a web based system for sharing hydrologic data that can help address this need. HydroDesktop is a free, open source application for finding, getting, analyzing and using hydrologic data from the CUAHSI-HIS system. It works with HydroCatalog which indexes the data to find out what data exists and where it is, and then it retrieves the data from HydroServers where it is stored communicating using WaterOneFlow web services. Currently, there are over 65 services registered in HydroCatalog providing central discovery of water data from several federal and state agencies, university projects, and other sources. HydroDesktop provides a simplified GIS that allows users to incorporate spatial data, and simple analysis tools to facilitate graphing and visualization. HydroDesktop is designed to be useful for a number of different groups of users with a wide variety of needs and skill levels including university faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, K-12 students, engineering and scientific consultants, and others. This presentation will highlight some of the features of HydroDesktop and the CUAHSI-HIS system that make it particularly appropriate for use in educational and public outreach settings, and will present examples of educational use. The incorporation of "real data," localization to an area of interest, and problem-based learning are all recognized as effective strategies for learning. Many example exercises educators create around water may list several websites and data sources (e.g. EPA, USGS, etc.) an educator needs to prepare even a simple exercise. HydroDesktop can simplify this process by providing unified access to several sources. The GIS interface can be used to incorporate local spatial data to allow students to explore environmental factors, and to illustrate concepts, such as watershed delineation. Simple graphing and time series tools can be used to illustrate relationships between different types of data and important water science concepts. CUAHSI is interested in partnering with science PIs to facilitate access to their project data and creating education and outreach materials around them, as well as with educators, public policy professionals and other constituencies to explore how CUAHSI HIS services can be utilized to foster public understanding and consumption of water information.

75 FR 56597 - University of Wisconsin; University of Wisconsin Nuclear Reactor Environmental Assessment and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-16

...,000 gallons being typical. The licensee maintains a pool leak surveillance program. The pool water leak surveillance program continues to monitor the pool water evaporation rate, the pool water make-up volume, and pool water radioactivity. The pool leak surveillance program indicated that approximately 2...

Effect of water storage on ultimate tensile strength and mass changes of universal adhesives

PubMed Central

Bahrololumi, Nazanin; Najafi-Abrandabadi, Ahmad; Sadr, Alireza; Sheikh-Al-Eslamian, Seyedeh-Mahsa; Ghasemi, Amir

2017-01-01

Background The aim of the present study was to evaluate the influence of water storage on micro tensile strength (µTS) and mass changes (MC) of two universal adhesives. Material and Methods 10 disk-shaped specimens were prepared for each adhesive; Scotchbond Universal (SCU) All-Bond Universal (ABU) and Adper Single Bond 2 (SB2). At the baseline and after 1 day and 28 days of water storage, their mass were measured and compared to estimate water sorption and solubility. For µTS test, 20 dumbbell shaped specimens were also prepared for each adhesive in two subgroups of 1 day and 28 days water storage. Results MC was significantly lower for SCU and ABU than SB2 (P < 0.05) at both time intervals. In all three adhesives, the MC was significantly lower at 28 days compared to that at 1 day (P < 0.05). Similarly, µTS was significantly higher for SCU and ABU than SB2 at both storage intervals (P < 0.05). After 28 days, µTS increased significantly for universal adhesives (P < 0.05). Conclusions MC and µTS of adhesives were both material and time dependent when stored in water; both universal adhesives showed less water sorption and higher values of µTS than the control group. Key words:Absorption, dental adhesives, dentin-bonding agents, solubility, tensile strength. PMID:28149468

Wind and Water?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2005-01-01

[figure removed for brevity, see original site] Context image for PIA03284 Wind and Water?

The deposits within this crater show evidence of erosion by both wind and water. The region outside the crater is dominated by wind erosion.

Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 1.4N, Longitude 204.1E. 18 meter/pixel resolution.

Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Public Infrastructure Disparities and the Microbiological and Chemical Safety of Drinking and Surface Water Supplies in a Community Bordering a Landfill

PubMed Central

Heaney, Christopher D.; Wing, Steve; Wilson, Sacoby M.; Campbell, Robert L.; Caldwell, David; Hopkins, Barbara; O’Shea, Shannon; Yeatts, Karin

2015-01-01

The historically African-American Rogers-Eubanks community straddles unincorporated boundaries of two municipalities in Orange County, North Carolina, and predates a regional landfill sited along its border in 1972. Community members from the Rogers-Eubanks Neighborhood Association (RENA), concerned about deterioration of private wells and septic systems and a lack of public drinking water and sewer services, implemented a community-driven research partnership with university scientists and community-based organizations to investigate water and sewer infrastructure disparities and the safety of drinking and surface water supplies. RENA drafted memoranda of agreement with partners and trained community monitors to collect data (inventory households, map water and sewer infrastructure, administer household water and sewer infrastructure surveys, and collect drinking and surface water samples). Respondents to the surveys reported pervasive signs of well vulnerability (100%) and septic system failure (68%). Each 100-m increase in distance from the landfill was associated with a 600 most probable number/100 mL decrease in enterococci concentrations in surface water (95% confidence interval = −1106, −93). Pervasive private household water and sewer infrastructure failures and poor water quality were identified in this community bordering a regional landfill, providing evidence of a need for improved water and sanitation services. PMID:23858663

A numerical model characterizing the experimental performance of the Howard University Raman Lidar system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Connell, Rasheen M.

At the Howard University Atmospheric Observatory in Beltsville, MD, a Raman Lidar System was developed to provide both daytime and nighttime measurements of water vapor, aerosols, and cirrus clouds with 60 s temporal and 7.5 m spatial resolution in the lower and upper troposphere. This system analyzes signals at three wavelengths associated with Rayleigh/Mie scattering for aerosols and cirrus clouds at 354.7 nm, Raman scattering for nitrogen at 386.7 nm, and water vapor at 407.5 nm. The transmitter is a triple harmonic Nd: YAG solid state laser. The receiver is a 40 cm Cassegrain telescope. The detector system consists of a multi-channel wavelength separator unit and data acquisition system. This thesis develops a numerical model to provide a realistic representation of the system behavior. The variants of the lidar equation in the model use system parameters to solve and determine the return signals for the lidar system. This dissertation describes four case studies being investigated: clear sky, polluted, wet, and cirrus cloud atmospheric conditions. The first simulations are based on a standard atmosphere, which assumes an unpolluted (aerosol-free) dry-air atmosphere. The second and third sets of simulations are based on polluted and cirrus cloud atmospheric conditions, where aerosols and cirrus clouds are added to Case Study I. The last set of simulations is based on a wet atmosphere, where the troposphere is comprised of the same mixture of gases in Case Study II, with the addition of atmospheric water vapor. Lidar signals are simulated over the altitude range covered by our measurements (up to 14 km). Results of our simulations show that the measured and modeled signals agree within 10% over an extended period of time when the system (i.e., such as alignment, filter tuning, etc.) has not changed.

Recharge Data for the Islands of Kauai, Lanai and Molokai, Hawaii

DOE Data Explorer

Nicole Lautze

2015-01-01

Recharge data for the islands of Kauai, Lanai and Molokai in shapefile format. These data are from the following sources: Whittier, R.B and A.I. El-Kadi. 2014. Human Health and Environmental Risk Ranking of On-Site Sewage Disposal systems for the Hawaiian Islands of Kauai, Molokai, Maui, and Hawaii – Final, Prepared for Hawaii Dept. of Health, Safe Drinking Water Branch by the University of Hawaii, Dept. of Geology and Geophysics. (for Kauai, Lanai, Molokai). Shade, P.J., 1995, Water Budget for the Island of Kauai, Hawaii, USGS Water-Resources Investigations Report 95-4128, 25 p. (for Kauai). Izuka, S.K. and D.S. Oki, 2002 Numerical simulation of ground-water withdrawals in the Southern Lihue Basin, Kauai, Hawaii, U.S. Geologic Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 01-4200, 52 pgs. (for Kauai). Hardy, W.R., 1996, A Numerical Groundwater Model for the Island of Lanai, Hawaii - CWRM Report No., CWRM-1, Commission on Water Resources Management, Department of Natural Resources, State of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI. (for Lanai). Oki, D.S., 1997, Geohydrology and numerical Simulation of the Ground-Water Flow System of Molokai, Hawaii, USGS Water-Resources Investigations Report 97-4176, 62 p. (for Molokai).

Characterization of Water Vapor Fluxes by the Raman Lidar System Basil and the Univeristy of Cologne Wind Lidar in the Frame of the HD(CP)2 Observational Prototype Experiment - Hope

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Di Girolamo, Paolo; Summa, Donato; Stelitano, Dario; Cacciani, Marco; Scoccione, Andrea; Schween, Jan H.

2016-06-01

Measurements carried out by the Raman lidar system BASIL and the University of Cologne wind lidar are reported to demonstrate the capability of these instruments to characterize water vapour fluxes within the Convective Boundary Layer (CBL). In order to determine the water vapour flux vertical profiles, high resolution water vapour and vertical wind speed measurements, with a temporal resolution of 1 sec and a vertical resolution of 15-90, are considered. Measurements of water vapour flux profiles are based on the application of covariance approach to the water vapour mixing ratio and vertical wind speed time series. The algorithms are applied to a case study (IOP 11, 04 May 2013) from the HD(CP)2 Observational Prototype Experiment (HOPE), held in Central Germany in the spring 2013. For this case study, the water vapour flux profile is characterized by increasing values throughout the CBL with lager values (around 0.1 g/kg m/s) in the entrainment region. The noise errors are demonstrated to be small enough to allow the derivation of water vapour flux profiles with sufficient accuracy.

Building Community Around Hydrologic Data Models Within CUAHSI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maidment, D.

2007-12-01

The Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc (CUAHSI) has a Hydrologic Information Systems project which aims to provide better data access and capacity for data synthesis for the nation's water information, both that collected by academic investigators and that collected by water agencies. These data include observations of streamflow, water quality, groundwater levels, weather and climate and aquatic biology. Each water agency or research investigator has a unique method of formatting their data (syntactic heterogeneity) and describing their variables (semantic heterogeneity). The result is a large agglomeration of data in many formats and descriptions whose full content is hard to interpret and analyze. CUAHSI is helping to resolve syntactic heterogeneity through the development of WaterML, a standard XML markup language for communicating water observations data through web services, and a standard relational database structure for archiving data called the Observations Data Model. Variables in these data archiving and communicating systems are indexed against a controlled vocabulary of descriptive terms to provide the capacity to synthesize common data types from disparate data sources.

A Numerical Model of the Performance of the Howard University Raman Lidar System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Connell, Rasheen M.; Adam, Mariana; Venable, Demetrius

2009-07-01

At the Howard University Atmospheric Observatory in Beltsville, MD, a Raman Lidar system was developed to provide both daytime and nighttime measurements of water vapor, aerosols, and cirrus clouds with 1 min temporal and 7.5 m spatial resolution in the lower troposphere. Signals at three wavelengths associated with Rayleigh/Mie scattering for aerosols and cirrus clouds at 354.7 nm, Raman scattering for nitrogen at 386.7 nm, and water vapor at 407.5 nm are analyzed. The transmitter is a triple harmonic Nd: YAG solid state laser. The receiver is a 40 cm Cassegrain telescope. Our detector system consists of a multi-channel wavelength separator unit and data acquisition system. We are developing a numerical model to provide a realistic representation of the system behavior. The variants of the lidar equation in the model use system parameters and are solved to determine the return signals for our lidar system. In this paper, we report on two of the five case studies being investigated: clear sky and cirrus cloud covered molecular atmosphere. The first simulations are based on a standard atmosphere, which assumes an unpolluted (aerosol-free) dry air atmosphere. The second set of simulations is based on a cloudy atmosphere, where cirrus clouds are added to the conditions in case study I. Lidar signals are simulated over the altitude range covered by our measurements (up to 14 km). Results will show comparisons between the simulated and actual measurements when varying lidar and atmospheric optical parameters in the model.

77 FR 27057 - Request for Nominations of Drinking Water Contaminants for the Fourth Contaminant Candidate List

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-08

... following key steps: (a) Identification of a broad universe of ~7,500 potential drinking water contaminants (the CCL 3 Universe); (b) screening the CCL 3 Universe to a preliminary CCL (PCCL) of ~600 contaminants... Candidate List 3 Chemicals: Identifying the Universe (EPA 815-R-09-006)). These documents can be found on...

Novel Cleanup Agents Designed Exclusively for Oil Field Membrane Filtration Systems Low Cost Field Demonstrations of Cleanup Agents in Controlled Experimental Environments

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

David Burnett; Harold Vance

2007-08-31

The goal of our project is to develop innovative processes and novel cleaning agents for water treatment facilities designed to remove fouling materials and restore micro-filter and reverse osmosis (RO) membrane performance. This project is part of Texas A&M University's comprehensive study of the treatment and reuse of oilfield brine for beneficial purposes. Before waste water can be used for any beneficial purpose, it must be processed to remove contaminants, including oily wastes such as residual petroleum hydrocarbons. An effective way of removing petroleum from brines is the use of membrane filters to separate oily waste from the brine. Texasmore » A&M and its partners have developed highly efficient membrane treatment and RO desalination for waste water including oil field produced water. We have also developed novel and new cleaning agents for membrane filters utilizing environmentally friendly materials so that the water from the treatment process will meet U.S. EPA drinking water standards. Prototype micellar cleaning agents perform better and use less clean water than alternate systems. While not yet optimized, the new system restores essentially complete membrane flux and separation efficiency after cleaning. Significantly the amount of desalinated water that is required to clean the membranes is reduced by more than 75%.« less

Bridging Water Resources Policy and Environmental Engineering in the Classroom at Cornell University

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walter, M. T.; Shaw, S. B.; Seifert, S.; Schwarz, T.

2006-12-01

Current university undergraduate students in environmental sciences and engineering are the next generation of environmental protection practitioners. Recognizing this, Cornell's Biological and Environmental Engineering department has developed a popular class, Watershed Engineering (BEE 473), specifically designed to bridge the too-common gap between water resources policy and state-of-art science and technology. Weekly homework assignments are to design real-life solutions to actual water resources problems, often with the objective of applying storm water policies to local situations. Where appropriate, usually in conjunction with recent amendments to the Federal Clean Water Act, this course introduces water resource protection tools and concepts developed in the Cornell Soil and Water Lab. Here we present several examples of how we build bridges between university classrooms and the complex world of water resources policy.

Green micro-resistojet research at Delft University of Technology: new options for Cubesat propulsion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cervone, A.; Zandbergen, B.; Guerrieri, D. C.; De Athayde Costa e Silva, M.; Krusharev, I.; van Zeijl, H.

2017-03-01

The aerospace industry is recently expressing a growing interest in green, safe and non-toxic propellants for the propulsion systems of the new generation of space vehicles, which is especially true in the case of Cubesat micro-propulsion systems. Demanding requirements are associated to the future missions and challenges offered by this class of spacecraft, where the availability of a propulsion system might open new possibilities for a wide range of applications including orbital maintenance and transfer, formation flying and attitude control. To accomplish these requirements, Delft University of Technology is currently developing two different concepts of water-propelled micro-thrusters based on MEMS technologies: a free molecular micro-resistojet operating with sublimating solid water (ice) at low plenum gas pressure of less than 600 Pa, and a more conventional micro-resistojet operating with liquid water heated and vaporized by means of a custom designed silicon heating chamber. In this status review paper, the current design and future expected developments of the two micro-propulsion concepts is presented and discussed, together with an initial analysis of the expected performance and potential operational issues. Results of numerical simulations conducted to optimize the design of the heating and expansion slots, as well as a detailed description of the manufacturing steps for the conventional micro-resistojet concept, are presented. Some intended steps for future research activities, including options for thrust intensity and direction control, are briefly introduced.

Assessment of Probable Future Land Use and Habitat Conditions in Water Resources Planning.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-12-01

R. Varney, and F. C. Craighead, Jr. 1974. A population analysis of the Yellowstone grizzly bears. Montana Forest Conservation Experiment Station Bull...34The wolves of Isle Royale." University of Georgia, Contributions in Systems Ecology. No. 5. Sargent, F. 0. and P. R. Berke. 1979. Planning undeveloped

The southern plains LTAR watershed research program

Treesearch

Patrick Starks; Jean L. Steiner

2016-01-01

Water connects physical, biological, chemical, ecological, and economic forces across the landscape. While hydrologic processes and scientific investigations related to sustainable agricultural systems are based on universal principles, research to understand processes and evaluate management practices is often site-specific in order to achieve a critical mass of...

Proceedings of a Workshop on Community Impact Analysis (Lexington, Kentucky, May 24-26, 1982).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Southern Rural Development Center, Mississippi State, MS.

The Southern Rural Development Center in cooperation with the University of Kentucky sponsored a workshop which brought together extension and research personnel interested in rural economic development concerns (i.e., inadequate water supplies, sewer systems, and schools). The proceedings include "Community Growth Management: The Land-Grant…

Contaminant Monitor Laser

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1997-01-01

Under a Small Business Innovation Research contract from Langley Research Center, OPOTEK, Inc. developed a laser transmitter for remote sensing of water vapor in the upper atmosphere. As a leader in developing and using Differential Absorption Lidar, a remote sensing technique to monitor ozone and water vapor in the atmosphere, NASA was interested in upgrading the capabilities of its airborn laser systems. The laser transmitter developed for NASA was used for measuring water vapor in the infrared region. By broadening this concept to other wavelengths, OPOTEK believes a range of industrial applications can be met. In addition, the tunable laser system can be used by the Drug Enforcement Administration to discern the by-products from illegal drug manufacturing. A host of other government, university, and industrial laboratory uses for the technology are also being examined as follow-up by the company.

Microgravity

NASA Image and Video Library

2000-05-05

A test cell for Mechanics of Granular Materials (MGM) experiment is tested for long-term storage with water in the system as plarned for STS-107. This view shows the compressed sand column with the protective water jacket removed. Sand and soil grains have faces that can cause friction as they roll and slide against each other, or even cause sticking and form small voids between grains. This complex behavior can cause soil to behave like a liquid under certain conditions such as earthquakes or when powders are handled in industrial processes. Mechanics of Granular Materials (MGM) experiments aboard the Space Shuttle use the microgravity of space to simulate this behavior under conditons that cannot be achieved in laboratory tests on Earth. MGM is shedding light on the behavior of fine-grain materials under low effective stresses. Applications include earthquake engineering, granular flow technologies (such as powder feed systems for pharmaceuticals and fertilizers), and terrestrial and planetary geology. Nine MGM specimens have flown on two Space Shuttle flights. Another three are scheduled to fly on STS-107. The principal investigator is Stein Sture of the University of Colorado at Boulder. Credit: University of Colorado at Boulder

Influence of air-powder polishing on bond strength and surface-free energy of universal adhesive systems.

PubMed

Tamura, Yukie; Takamizawa, Toshiki; Shimamura, Yutaka; Akiba, Shunsuke; Yabuki, Chiaki; Imai, Arisa; Tsujimoto, Akimasa; Kurokawa, Hiroyasu; Miyazaki, Masashi

2017-11-29

The influences of air-powder polishing with glycine or sodium bicarbonate powders on shear bond strengths (SBS) and surface-free energies of universal adhesives were examined. Scotchbond Universal Adhesive (SU, 3M ESPE), G-Premio Bond (GP, GC), Adhese Universal (AU, Ivoclar Vivadent), and All-Bond Universal (AB, Bisco) were used in this study. Bovine dentin surfaces were air polished with glycine or sodium bicarbonate powders prior to the bonding procedure, and resin pastes were bonded to the dentin surface using universal adhesives. SBSs were determined after 24-h storage in distilled water at 37°C. Surface-free energy was then determined by measuring contact angles using three test liquids on dentin surfaces. Significantly lower SBSs were observed for dentin that was air-powder polished and surface-free energies were concomitantly lowered. This study indicated that air-powder polishing influences SBSs and surface-free energies. However, glycine powder produced smaller changes in these surface parameters than sodium bicarbonate.

Water movement and isoproturon behaviour in a drained heavy clay soil: 1. Preferential flow processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haria, A. H.; Johnson, A. C.; Bell, J. P.; Batchelor, C. H.

1994-12-01

The processes and mechanisms that control pesticide transport from drained heavy clay catchments are being studied at Wytham Farm (Oxford University) in southern England. In the first field season field-drain water contained high concentrations of pesticide. Soil studies demonstrated that the main mechanism for pesticide translocation was by preferential flow processes, both over the soil surface and through the soil profile via a macropore system that effectively by-passed the soil matrix. This macropore system included worm holes, shrinkage cracks and cracks resulting from ploughing. Rainfall events in early winter rapidly created a layer of saturation in the A horizon perched above a B horizon of very low hydraulic conductivity. Drain flow was initiated when the saturated layer in the A horizon extended into the upper 0.06m of the soil profile; thereafter water moved down slope via horizontal macropores possibly through a band of incorporated straw residues. These horizontal pathways for water movement connected with the fracture system of the mole drains, thus feeding the drains. Overland flow occurred infrequently during the season.

Projecting the Water and Electric Consumption of Polytechnic University of the Philippines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Urrutia, Jackie D.; Mercado, Joseph; Bautista, Lincoln A.; Baccay, Edcon B.

2017-03-01

This study investigates water and electric consumption in Polytechnic University of the Philippines - Sta. Mesa using a time series analysis. The researchers analyzed the water and electric usage separately. Electric consumption was examined in terms of pesos and kilowatt-hour, while water consumption was analyzed in pesos and cubic meter. The data are gathered from the university limited only from January 2009 to July 2015 in a monthly based record. The aim is to forecast the water and electric usage of the university for the years 2016 and 2017. There are two main statistical treatments that the researchers conducted to be able to formulate mathematical models that can estimate the water and electric consumption of the said school. Using Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (SARIMA), electric usage was forecasted in peso and kilowatt-hour, and water usage in peso and cubic meter. Moreover, the predicted values of the consumptions are compared to the actual values using Paired T-test to examine whether there is a significant difference. Forecasting accurately the water and electric consumption would be helpful to manage the budget allotted for the water and electric consumption of PUP - Sta. Mesa for the next two years.

Energy waste in a university building

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Numark, Neil J.; Bartlett, Albert A.

1982-04-01

Interesting physics problems that can be used as examples in introductory physics courses relating to the waste of thermal energy can be found in the mechanical systems of campus buildings. The design of these wasteful systems may represent the ``state of the art'' as it existed just a few years ago, so such examples are probably abundant. Our Student Recreation Center was opened in 1973. It has an ice skating rink with the associated large refrigeration system. Simple calculations using elementary thermodynamics applied to this system show that the heat rejected by the system is roughly a quarter of a megawatt, which is approximately the average thermal power needed to heat water for the showers in the building. An outcome of this student project is the recommendation that the rejected heat be used to heat (or preheat) the shower water at an estimated annual saving of 40 000 in current energy costs.

Energy waste in a university building

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

Numark, N.J.; Bartlett, A.A.

1982-04-01

Interesting physics problems that can be used as examples in introductory physics courses relating to the waste of thermal energy can be found in the mechanical systems of campus buildings. The design of these wasteful systems may represent the ''state of the art'' as it existed just a few years ago, so such examples are probably abundant. Our Student Recreation Center was opened in 1973. It has an ice skating rink with the associated large refrigeration system. Simple calculations using elementary thermodynamics applied to this system show that the heat rejected by the system is roughly a quarter of amore » megawatt, which is approximately the average thermal power needed to heat water for the showers in the building. An outcome of this student project is the recommendation that the rejected heat be used to heat (or preheat) the shower water at an estimated annual saving of $40 000 in current energy costs.« less

Design and Testing of an Educational Water Tunnel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kosaraju, Srinivas

2017-11-01

A new water tunnel is designed and tested for educational and research purposes at Northern Arizona University. The university currently owns an educational wind tunnel with a test section of 12in X 12in X 24in. However, due to limited size of test section and range of Reynolds numbers, its application is currently limited to very few experiments. In an effort to expand the educational and research capabilities, a student team is tasked to design, build and test a water tunnel as a Capstone Senior Design project. The water tunnel is designed to have a test section of 8in X 8in X 36in. and be able to test up to Re = 50E3. Multiple numerical models are used to optimize the flow field inside the test section before building the physical apparatus. The water tunnel is designed to accommodate multiple experiments for drag and lift studies. The built-in die system can deliver up to three different colors to study the streamlines and vortex shedding from the surfaces. During the first phase, a low discharge pump is used to achieve Re = 4E3 to test laminar flows. In the second phase, a high discharge pump will be used to achieve targeted Re = 50E3 to study turbulent flows.

A water management decision support system contributing to sustainability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horváth, Klaudia; van Esch, Bart; Baayen, Jorn; Pothof, Ivo; Talsma, Jan; van Heeringen, Klaas-Jan

2017-04-01

Deltares and Eindhoven University of Technology are developing a new decision support system (DSS) for regional water authorities. In order to maintain water levels in the Dutch polder system, water should be drained and pumped out from the polders to the sea. The time and amount of pumping depends on the current sea level, the water level in the polder, the weather forecast and the electricity price forecast and possibly local renewable power production. This is a multivariable optimisation problem, where the goal is to keep the water level in the polder within certain bounds. By optimizing the operation of the pumps the energy usage and costs can be reduced, hence the operation of the regional water authorities can be more sustainable, while also anticipating on increasing share of renewables in the energy mix in a cost-effective way. The decision support system, based on Delft-FEWS as operational data-integration platform, is running an optimization model built in RTC-Tools 2, which is performing real-time optimization in order to calculate the pumping strategy. It is taking into account the present and future circumstances. As being the core of the real time decision support system, RTC-Tools 2 fulfils the key requirements to a DSS: it is fast, robust and always finds the optimal solution. These properties are associated with convex optimization. In such problems the global optimum can always be found. The challenge in the development is to maintain the convex formulation of all the non-linear components in the system, i.e. open channels, hydraulic structures, and pumps. The system is introduced through 4 pilot projects, one of which is a pilot of the Dutch Water Authority Rivierenland. This is a typical Dutch polder system: several polders are drained to the main water system, the Linge. The water from the Linge can be released to the main rivers that are subject to tidal fluctuations. In case of low tide, water can be released via the gates. In case of high tide, water should be pumped. The goal of the pilot is to make the operation of the regional water authority more sustainable and cost-efficient. Sustainability can be achieved by minimizing the CO2 production trough minimizing the energy used for pumping. This work is showing the functionalities of the new decision support system, using RTC-Tools 2, through the example of a pilot project.

Methods of measuring pumpage through closed-conduit irrigation systems

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kjelstrom, L.C.

1991-01-01

Methods of measuring volumes of water withdrawn from the Snake River and its tributaries and pumped through closed-conduit irrigation systems were needed for equitable management of and resolution of conflicts over water use. On the basis of evaluations and field tests by researchers from the University of Idaho, Water Resources Research Institute, Moscow, Idaho, an impeller meter was selected to monitor pumpage through closed-conduit systems. In 1988, impeller meters were installed at 20 pumping stations along the Snake River between the Upper Salmon Falls and C.J. Strike Dams. Impeller-derived pumpage data were adjusted if they differed substantially from ultrasonic flow-meter- or current-meter-derived values. Comparisons of pumpage data obtained by ultrasonic flow-meter and current-meter measurements indicated that the ultrasonic flow meter was a reliable means to check operation of impeller meters. The equipment generally performed satisfactorily, and reliable pumpage data could be obtained using impeller meters in closed-conduit irrigation systems. Many pumping stations that divert water from the Snake River for irrigation remain unmeasured; however, regression analyses indicate that total pumpage can be reasonably estimated on the basis of electrical power consumption data, an approximation of total head at a pumping station, and a derived coefficient.

Effective Decision Maker-Scientist Engagement:Climate Change Vulnerability Analysis of California's Water System to Using Decision Scaling.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schwarz, A. M.; Ray, P.; Brown, C.; Wi, S.

2016-12-01

For nearly 2 years the California Department of Water Resources (CDWR) has been working with the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) to evaluate climate change vulnerabilities to the California State Water Project. Working cooperatively, the team has developed tools and methods to employ a decision scaling approach to CDWR's existing water system model (CalSim-II/CalLite 3.0). This presentation will discuss how and why this partnership came to be, the co-production model the team has developed to share expertise, the new understanding of the system that has been gained through the process, and current and future efforts to influence planning and investments based on the findings of the work. This cooperative decision-maker-with-scientist engagement is unique in that CDWR has not outsourced the application of the science to their systems, and instead has worked directly with UMass researchers to develop the process, produce results, and interpret findings. Further, CDWR staff has worked with UMass researchers to present results in ways that are more useable and actionable for decision-makers. As will be shown, many of these graphics allow the team to use the science differently to improve decision making.

Advanced Computational Thermal Fluid Physics (CTFP) and Its Assessment for Light Water Reactors and Supercritical Reactors

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

D.M. McEligot; K. G. Condie; G. E. McCreery

2005-10-01

Background: The ultimate goal of the study is the improvement of predictive methods for safety analyses and design of Generation IV reactor systems such as supercritical water reactors (SCWR) for higher efficiency, improved performance and operation, design simplification, enhanced safety and reduced waste and cost. The objective of this Korean / US / laboratory / university collaboration of coupled fundamental computational and experimental studies is to develop the supporting knowledge needed for improved predictive techniques for use in the technology development of Generation IV reactor concepts and their passive safety systems. The present study emphasizes SCWR concepts in the Generationmore » IV program.« less

Water and Environmental Research Institute of the Western Pacific

Science.gov Websites

UOG Pre-engineering Program © 2018 University of Guam, Water and Environmental Research Institute of Water and Environmental Research Institute of the Western Pacific - University of Guam Skip to main entered the website of the Water and Environmental Research Institute of the Western Pacific (WERI) at the

Innovative technologies for decentralised water-, wastewater and biowaste management in urban and peri-urban areas.

PubMed

Otterpohl, R; Braun, U; Oldenburg, M

2003-01-01

Avoiding the comingling of water flows coming from different sources and thus obtaining flows with a very low dilution factor is the first and major step key to technical solutions for adequate treatment of household wastewaters. Through their decentral structure and effective recovery of water, energy and fertiliser these systems can be highly cost efficient. Fresh water consumption can be reduced by up to 80% while nutrients can be recovered to a large extent. Source control is also advantageous for hygienic reasons: low volumes are far easier to sanitise. Source separation technology in municipal waste water treatment does often lead decentralised or semicentral systems. The first essential step is the separate collection and treatment of toilet waste in households, which contains almost all pathogens and nutrients. New toilet systems with very low dilution factors, ranging from vacuum- through urine sorting to dry toilets, have been introduced in several projects and proven feasible. New ideas such as the black- and greywater cycle systems are presently under research at the Technical University Hamburg Harburg. Such modular, integrated and small scale systems are only possible through recent advances in membrane technology and, due to their small scale, do have the potential to be installed in densely populated regions. These technologies are options for following the principles of ecological sanitation, to contain, to sanitise and to reuse also in urban areas (EcoSanRes, 2003).

Integrated water resource assessment for the Adelaide region, South Australia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cox, James W.; Akeroyd, Michele; Oliver, Danielle P.

2016-10-01

South Australia is the driest state in the driest inhabited country in the world, Australia. Consequently, water is one of South Australia's highest priorities. Focus on water research and sources of water in the state became more critical during the Millenium drought that occurred between 1997 and 2011. In response to increased concern about water sources the South Australian government established The Goyder Institute for Water Research - a partnership between the South Australian State Government, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Flinders University, University of Adelaide and University of South Australia. The Goyder Institute undertakes cutting-edge science to inform the development of innovative integrated water management strategies to ensure South Australia's ongoing water security and enhance the South Australian Government's capacity to develop and deliver science-based policy solutions in water management. This paper focuses on the integrated water resource assessment of the northern Adelaide region, including the key research investments in water and climate, and how this information is being utilised by decision makers in the region.

PRESTIGRIS: an operational system for water resources and droughts management on Tuscany, Central Italy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Campo, Lorenzo; Caparrini, Francesca; Castelli, Fabio

2013-04-01

In the last years the problems of water management faced by local administration due to the growing demand of the territory and to the changes in terms of availability became more and more important. Also in view of problems issued by the Climate Change, it is necessary to have the availability of information about the present and the future state of the water resources on the territory, both in terms of stress of the water bodies and of trends in the near-future. In this respect, an adequate management and planning of the water resources can make use of meteorological seasonal forecasts (one-three month) for the assessment of the primary sources of fresh water in a given region. The PRESTIGRIS project (PREvisioni STagionali Idrologiche per la Gestione della Risorsa Idrica e della Siccità - hydrologic seasonal forecasts for water resources and droughts management), implemented at the University of Florence in collaboration with Eumechanos Environmental Engineering and LaMMa (Laboratorio di Monitoraggio e Modellistica ambientale, Laboratory for Environmental Monitoring and Modeling), is aimed to provide hydrological seasonal forecasts on the territory of the Tuscany Region, Central Italy, basing on the seasonal meteorological forecasts available at different Weather Services (NOAA, IRI, etc.). The PRESTIGRIS system is based on a stochastic disaggregation of the monthly seasonal forecasts of minimum and maximum air temperature at the ground and of the total rainfall height. Through an analysis based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA) techniques, the forecasts are disaggregated in daily maps at a spatial resolution (500 m) compatible with a complete hydrological balance simulation, performed on the entire Tuscany region (about 22000 km2) by the distributed hydrological model MOBIDIC (MOdello di BIlancio Distribuito e Continuo), developed at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the University of Florence. Given a single seasonal forecast, the system performs an ensemble of 50 hydrological simulations. Basing on the results of the simulations, significant quantiles of the main variables of interest (soil saturation, discharge flows in the stream network, evapotranspiration) are mapped on the territory. The results of the simulations for the year 2003, in particular during the severe drought occurred during the summer, are shown as an example of the capabilities of the system.

Diazinon reduction and partitioning between water, sediment and vegetation in stormwater runoff mitigation through rice fields.

PubMed

Moore, Matthew T; Kröger, Robert; Cooper, Charles M; Cullum, Robert F; Smith, Sammie; Locke, Martin A

2009-11-01

Contamination of surface waters by pesticides is a concern in the United States and around the world. Innovative mitigation strategies are needed to remediate this potential environmental contaminant. One potential solution is to divert pesticide-laden drainage or surface water through agricultural rice fields. With a hydroperiod, hydrosoil and hydrophyte (rice), these systems serve essentially as a type of constructed wetland. In both summer and fall experiments, diazinon-amended water was diverted through two rice ponds at the University of Mississippi Field Station. Likewise, a non-vegetated control pond was amended with diazinon-laden water. Water, sediment and plant samples were taken spatially and temporally to determine the distribution of diazinon within systems. Outflow diazinon concentrations decreased significantly (P < 0.05) from inflow in both vegetated ponds for both preharvest and post-harvest experiments. Although sorption to rice plants was minimal in the overall mass distribution of diazinon (1-3%), temporal data indicated that diazinon concentrations reached the outflow sediment of the non-vegetated control twice as fast as in either vegetated (rice) system. In both vegetated systems, sediment diazinon concentrations decreased (77 and 100%) from inflow to outflow, while a decrease of <2% was noted in the non-vegetated control. Diversion of pesticide-contaminated water through rice fields demonstrated potential as a low-cost, environmentally efficient mitigation practice. Studies on these systems are continuing to evaluate the optimal chemical retention time for rice field mitigation, as well as diazinon transfer to rice grain seeds that may be used as a food source.

Overnight Changes Recorded by Phoenix Conductivity Probe

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2008-01-01

This graph presents simplified data from overnight measurements by the Thermal and Electrical Conductivity Probe on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander from noon of the mission's 70th Martian day, or sol, to noon the following sol (Aug. 5 to Aug. 6, 2008).

The graph shows that water disappeared from the atmosphere overnight, at the same time that electrical measurements detected changes consistent with addition of water to the soil.

Water in soil appears to increase overnight, when water in the atmosphere disappears.

The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.

Troubled Waters for the University of Minnesota

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Priesmeyer, Molly

2012-01-01

More than a year and a half after the University of Minnesota made headlines when an administrator halted the premiere of an environmental documentary, controversy and questions persist at the Twin Cities university. "Troubled Waters: A Mississippi River Story" took nearly four years to make. It explores how agricultural runoff and…

Synthesis, characterization and evaluation of a fluorinated resin monomer with low water sorption.

PubMed

Liu, Xue; Wang, Zengyao; Zhao, Chengji; Bu, Wenhuan; Zhang, Yurong; Na, Hui

2018-01-01

A fluorinated acrylate monomer (4-TF-PQEA) without BPA (bisphenol-A) structure was synthesized and mixed with triethylene glycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA) to used as dental resin system in order to achieve lower water sorption and reduce human exposure to BPA derivatives. Double bond conversion (DC) was measured using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Water sorption (WS), water solution (WL) and depth of cure (DOC) were evaluated according to ISO 4049:2009. Water contact angle (CA) was measured using contact angle analyzer. Polymerization shrinkage (PS) was evaluated according to the Archimedes' principle and ISO 17304:2013. Flexural strength (FS) and flexural modulus (FM) were measured by three-point bending test with a universal testing machine according to ISO 4049:2009. Comprehensive strength (CS) and vickers microhardness (VM) were also investigated. Thermal stability test was measure by Thermogravimetric analyzer. Cytotoxicity of three resin systems was tested through MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazoliumbromid) cytotoxicity method according to the ISO 10993-5:2009. Bisphenol-A glycidyl dimethacrylate (Bis-GMA)/ TEGDMA resin system was used as a control. The results show that 4-TF-PQEA/TEGDMA resin system had lower PS, lower WS and higher DC values than those of Bis-GMA/TEGDMA resin system except some mechanical properties, such as FS, FM and CS. Moreover, properties of other 4-TF-PQEA-containing resin systems were also comparable with those of Bis-GMA/TEGDMA resin system. In particular, the overall performance of resin system consisted of 4-TF-PQEA/Bis-GMA/TEGDMA is optimized when the mixture ratio is 30/40/30(wt/wt/wt). Therefore, the 4-TF-PQEA has potential to be used as resin monomer for dental resin composites to achieve lower water sorption. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Jordan Water Project: an interdisciplinary evaluation of freshwater vulnerability and security

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gorelick, S.; Yoon, J.; Rajsekhar, D.; Muller, M. F.; Zhang, H.; Gawel, E.; Klauer, B.; Klassert, C. J. A.; Sigel, K.; Thilmant, A.; Avisse, N.; Lachaut, T.; Harou, J. J.; Knox, S.; Selby, P. D.; Mustafa, D.; Talozi, S.; Haddad, Y.; Shamekh, M.

2016-12-01

The Jordan Water Project, part of the Belmont Forum projects, is an interdisciplinary, international research effort focused on evaluation of freshwater security in Jordan, one of the most water-vulnerable countries in the world. The team covers hydrology, water resources systems analysis, economics, policy evaluation, geography, risk and remote sensing analyses, and model platform development. The entire project team communally engaged in construction of an integrated hydroeconomic model for water supply policy evaluation. To represent water demand and allocation behavior at multiple levels of decision making,the model integrates biophysical modules that simulate natural and engineered hydrologic phenomena with human behavioral modules. Hydrologic modules include spatially-distributed groundwater and surface-water models for the major aquifers and watersheds throughout Jordan. For the human modules, we adopt a multi-agent modeling approach to represent decision-making processes. The integrated model was developed in Pynsim, a new open-source, object-oriented platform in Python for network-based water resource systems. We continue to explore the impacts of future scenarios and interventions.This project had tremendous encouragement and data support from Jordan's Ministry of Water and Irrigation. Modeling technology is being transferred through a companion NSF/USAID PEER project awarded toJordan University of Science and Technology. Individual teams have also conducted a range of studies aimed at evaluating Jordanian and transboundary surface water and groundwater systems. Surveys, interviews, and econometric analyses enabled us to better understandthe behavior of urban households, farmers, private water resellers, water use pattern of the commercial sector and irrigation water user associations. We analyzed nationwide spatial and temporal statistical trends in rainfall, developed urban and national comparative metrics to quantify water supply vulnerability, improved remote sensing methods to estimate crop-water use, and evaluated the impacts of climate change on future drought severity.

Evaluation of the ground-water resources of coastal Georgia; preliminary report on the data available as of July 1983

USGS Publications Warehouse

Krause, Richard E.; Matthews, Sharon E.; Gill, Harold E.

1984-01-01

A compilation of ground-water data that have been collected for nearly 100 years in the coastal area of Georgia as part of cooperative activities between the U.S. Geological Survey and other agencies is presented in this report. The compilation of pertinent data indicates that information is available for use in the evaluation of the ground-water resources of the 13 counties of coastal Georgia. Included in this report is a fairly complete discussion of previous and ongoing investigations and monitoring networks, and an extensive list of references. Maps at 1:24,000, 1:100,000; and 1:1000,000 scales contain well locations and identifers for all wells in the Ground Water Site Inventory (GWSI) data base of the National Water Data Storage and Retrieval System (WATSTORE). Tabular summaries of selected site information from GWSI, including well identifiers and names , latitude-longitude location, depth of well, altitude of land surface, and use of water are presented. Water-use data from the National Water Use Data System, and water use for irrigation from the University of Georgia, Department of Agriculture survey , are tabulated. Also included are pertinent information on geophysical surveys and data obtained, and proposed project activities, particularly test-monitor well drilling.

Cost Effective Instrumentation for Developing Autonomous Groundwater Monitoring Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Viti, T. M.; Garmire, D. G.

2017-12-01

Despite a relatively poor understanding of Hawaiian groundwater systems, the State of Hawaii depends almost exclusively on groundwater for its public water supply. Ike Wai, an NSF funded project (EPSCoR Program Award OIA #1557349) at the University of Hawaii, aims to develop new groundwater models for Hawaii's aquifers, including water quality and transport processes. To better understand aquifer properties such as capacity and hydraulic conductivity, we are developing well-monitoring instruments that can autonomously record water parameters such as conductivity, temperature, and hydraulic head level, with sampling frequencies on the order of minutes. We are currently exploring novel methods and materials for solving classical design problems, such as applying dielectric spectroscopy techniques for measuring salinity, and using recycled materials for producing custom cable assemblies. System components are fabricated in house using rapid prototyping (e.g. 3D printing, circuit board milling, and laser cutting), and traditional manufacturing techniques. This approach allows us to produce custom components while minimizing development cost, and maximizing flexibility in the overall system's design.

Plant Production Systems for Microgravity: Critical Issues in Water, Air, and Solute Transport Through Unsaturated Porous Media

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Steinberg, Susan L. (Editor); Ming, Doug W. (Editor); Henninger, Don (Editor)

2002-01-01

This NASA Technical Memorandum is a compilation of presentations and discussions in the form of minutes from a workshop entitled 'Plant Production Systems for Microgravity: Critical Issues in Water, Air, and Solute Transport Through Unsaturated Porous Media' held at NASA's Johnson Space Center, July 24-25, 2000. This workshop arose from the growing belief within NASA's Advanced Life Support Program that further advances and improvements in plant production systems for microgravity would benefit from additional knowledge of fundamental processes occurring in the root zone. The objective of the workshop was to bring together individuals who had expertise in various areas of fluid physics, soil physics, plant physiology, hardware development, and flight tests to identify, discuss, and prioritize critical issues of water and air flow through porous media in microgravity. Participants of the workshop included representatives from private companies involved in flight hardware development and scientists from universities and NASA Centers with expertise in plant flight tests, plant physiology, fluid physics, and soil physics.

A uniform approach for programming distributed heterogeneous computing systems.

PubMed

Grasso, Ivan; Pellegrini, Simone; Cosenza, Biagio; Fahringer, Thomas

2014-12-01

Large-scale compute clusters of heterogeneous nodes equipped with multi-core CPUs and GPUs are getting increasingly popular in the scientific community. However, such systems require a combination of different programming paradigms making application development very challenging. In this article we introduce libWater, a library-based extension of the OpenCL programming model that simplifies the development of heterogeneous distributed applications. libWater consists of a simple interface, which is a transparent abstraction of the underlying distributed architecture, offering advanced features such as inter-context and inter-node device synchronization. It provides a runtime system which tracks dependency information enforced by event synchronization to dynamically build a DAG of commands, on which we automatically apply two optimizations: collective communication pattern detection and device-host-device copy removal. We assess libWater's performance in three compute clusters available from the Vienna Scientific Cluster, the Barcelona Supercomputing Center and the University of Innsbruck, demonstrating improved performance and scaling with different test applications and configurations.

AGU hydrology publication outlets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Freeze, R. Allan

In recent months I have been approached on several occasions by members of the hydrology community who asked me which of the various AGU journals and publishing outlets would be most suitable for a particular paper or article that they have prepared.Water Resources Research (WRR) is the primary AGU outlet for research papers in hydrology. It is an interdisciplinary journal that integrates research in the social and natural sciences of water. The editors of WRR invite original contributions in the physical, chemical and biological sciences and also in the social and policy sciences, including economics, systems analysis, sociology, and law. The editor for the physical sciences side of the journal is Donald R. Nielson, LAWR Veihmeyer Hall, University of California Davis, Davis, CA 95616. The editor for the policy sciences side of the journal is Ronald G. Cummings, Department of Economics, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131

Water systems, sanitation, and public health risks in remote communities: Inuit resident perspectives from the Canadian Arctic.

PubMed

Daley, Kiley; Castleden, Heather; Jamieson, Rob; Furgal, Chris; Ell, Lorna

2015-06-01

Safe drinking water and wastewater sanitation are universally recognized as critical components of public health. It is well documented that a lack of access to these basic services results in millions of preventable deaths each year among vulnerable populations. Water and wastewater technologies and management practices are frequently tailored to local environmental conditions. Also important, but often overlooked in water management planning, are the social, cultural and economic contexts in which services are provided. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify and understand residents' perceptions of the functionality of current water and wastewater sanitation systems in one vulnerable context, that of a remote Arctic Aboriginal community (Coral Harbour, Nunavut), and to identify potential future water related health risks. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 Inuit residents and 9 key informants in 2011 and 2012. Findings indicate that the population's rapid transition from a semi-nomadic hunting and gathering lifestyle to permanent settlements with municipally provided utilities is influencing present-day water usage patterns, public health perceptions, and the level of priority decision-makers place on water and wastewater management issues. Simultaneously environmental, social and cultural conditions conducive to increased human exposure to waterborne health risks were also found to exist and may be increasing in the settlements. While water and wastewater system design decisions are often based on best practices proven suitable in similar environmental conditions, this study reinforces the argument for inclusion of social, cultural, and economic variables in such decisions, particularly in remote and economically challenged contexts in Canada or elsewhere around the world. The results also indicate that the addition of qualitative data about water and wastewater systems users' behaviours to technical knowledge of systems and operations can enhance the understanding of human-water interactions and be valuable in risk assessments and intervention development. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An outbreak of acute gastroenteritis associated with contaminated bottled water in a university - Jiangxi, China, 2012.

PubMed

Wang, Ruiping; Cheng, Huijian; Zong, Jun; Yu, Ping; Fu, Weijie; Yang, Fuqiang; Shi, Guoqing; Zeng, Guang

2012-10-01

On 23 May 2012, a university in Jiangxi, China reported a gastroenteritis outbreak. We investigated the outbreak to identify the agent, source and mode of transmission and to recommend control measures. A case was defined as any person from the university with onset of diarrhoea (≥ 3 times/24h) from 1 to 31 May 2012. Active case finding was conducted by reviewing university hospital and drug-store records and interviewing students, workers and teachers. We then conducted a case-control study in which we compared food, water and environmental exposure history. Water samples were collected and tested. We identified 417 cases - an attack rate (AR) of 4.7% (417/8781) for the university. There were 416 student cases (AR = 5.7%) distributed across all 11 colleges, five of which were more heavily affected (AR range = 5.9-14%). In the case-control study, cases had higher odds of having drunk bottled water (odds ratio [OR] = 4.1; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.7-9.9), and there was a dose-response relationship (χ(2)trend = 4.6, P < 0.05). Drinking boiled bottled water was inversely associated with being a case (OR = 0.22, 95% CI = 0.07-0.71). Eating in any of the three university canteens or drinking-water from the city water supply was not associated with being a case. Pathogenic Escherichia coli was isolated from two unopened bottled water specimens and from four student cases. This gastroenteritis outbreak was most likely caused by contaminated bottled water. The company in question has been shut down and no further cases have been reported. Increased regulation of bottled water plants and better coordination between different investigators for future outbreaks is recommended.

Water Security and Hydropolitics of the Nile River: South Sudan’s National Security in the 21st Century

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-12-16

Politics of the Nile Basin” (Master’s Thesis, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2009). 2 While the Nile Basin is the longest trans- boundary ...conflicts, there may be an area of cooperation among states that share trans- boundary international river systems.32 Other staggering statistics on the...

New Forum Addresses Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-01

methanogens. 15. SUBJECT TERMS MIC, biofilm Formation , localized corrosion, microoganisms 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: a. REPORT Unclassified b... Stainless Steels for Prestressed Concrete" Elisabeth Schwarzenbbck University of Bourgogne Third Place, Mars Fontana Category "Microelectrochemical...Campbell described a monitoring sys- tem for a Type 316L stainless steel (UNS S31603) drinking water distribution system that measured open circuit

JMU Refuses to Let Money Go down the Drain

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGuinn, Joseph P.

2012-01-01

James Madison University (JMU) in Harrisonburg, Virginia has embarked on a rational means to reduce energy costs and provides a sustainable approach to student housing. The investment to install a Drain Water Heat Recovery system (DWHR) at Wayland Hall is estimated to pay for itself in less than three years but will provide dividends for over 40.…

Second Eastern Regional Remote Sensing Applications Conference

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Imhoff, M. L. (Editor); Witt, R. G. (Editor); Kugelmann, D. (Editor)

1981-01-01

Participants from state and local governments share experiences in remote sensing applications with one another and with users in the Federal government, universities, and the private sector during technical sessions and forums covering agriculture and forestry; land cover analysis and planning; surface mining and energy; data processing; water quality and the coastal zone; geographic information systems; and user development programs.

Advanced Decentralized Water/Energy Network Design for Sustainable Infrastructure presentation at the 2012 National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) International Builders'Show

EPA Science Inventory

A university/industry panel will report on the progress and findings of a fivesteve-year project funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency. The project's end product will be a Web-based, 3D computer-simulated residential environment with a decision support system to assist...

HF Radar Sea-echo from Shallow Water.

PubMed

Lipa, Belinda; Nyden, Bruce; Barrick, Don; Kohut, Josh

2008-08-06

HF radar systems are widely and routinely used for the measurement of ocean surface currents and waves. Analysis methods presently in use are based on the assumption of infinite water depth, and may therefore be inadequate close to shore where the radar echo is strongest. In this paper, we treat the situation when the radar echo is returned from ocean waves that interact with the ocean floor. Simulations are described which demonstrate the effect of shallow water on radar sea-echo. These are used to investigate limits on the existing theory and to define water depths at which shallow-water effects become significant. The second-order spectral energy increases relative to the first-order as the water depth decreases, resulting in spectral saturation when the waveheight exceeds a limit defined by the radar transmit frequency. This effect is particularly marked for lower radar transmit frequencies. The saturation limit on waveheight is less for shallow water. Shallow water affects second-order spectra (which gives wave information) far more than first-order (which gives information on current velocities), the latter being significantly affected only for the lowest radar transmit frequencies for extremely shallow water. We describe analysis of radar echo from shallow water measured by a Rutgers University HF radar system to give ocean wave spectral estimates. Radar-derived wave height, period and direction are compared with simultaneous shallow-water in-situ measurements.

HF Radar Sea-echo from Shallow Water

PubMed Central

Lipa, Belinda; Nyden, Bruce; Barrick, Don; Kohut, Josh

2008-01-01

HF radar systems are widely and routinely used for the measurement of ocean surface currents and waves. Analysis methods presently in use are based on the assumption of infinite water depth, and may therefore be inadequate close to shore where the radar echo is strongest. In this paper, we treat the situation when the radar echo is returned from ocean waves that interact with the ocean floor. Simulations are described which demonstrate the effect of shallow water on radar sea-echo. These are used to investigate limits on the existing theory and to define water depths at which shallow-water effects become significant. The second-order spectral energy increases relative to the first-order as the water depth decreases, resulting in spectral saturation when the waveheight exceeds a limit defined by the radar transmit frequency. This effect is particularly marked for lower radar transmit frequencies. The saturation limit on waveheight is less for shallow water. Shallow water affects second-order spectra (which gives wave information) far more than first-order (which gives information on current velocities), the latter being significantly affected only for the lowest radar transmit frequencies for extremely shallow water. We describe analysis of radar echo from shallow water measured by a Rutgers University HF radar system to give ocean wave spectral estimates. Radar-derived wave height, period and direction are compared with simultaneous shallow-water in-situ measurements. PMID:27873776

Case Study for the ARRA-funded GSHP Demonstration at Furman University

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

Liu, Xiaobing; Malhotra, Mini

With funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, 26 ground source heat pump (GSHP) projects were competitively selected in 2009 to demonstrate the benefits of GSHP systems and innovative technologies for cost reduction and/or performance improvement. One of the selected demonstration projects was proposed by Furman University for ten student housing buildings—the North Village located on the campus in Greeneville, South Carolina. All ten buildings are identical in floor plan and construction. Each building is conditioned by an identical GSHP system consisting of 25 water-to-air heat pump (WAHP) units, a closed-loop vertical ground heat exchanger (GHX) installed undermore » an adjacent parking lot, and two redundant 7.5 hp variable-speed pumps to circulate water through the GHX and the WAHPs. The actual performance of the GSHP systems is analyzed with available measured data for 2014. The annual energy performance is compared with a baseline scenario in which the building is conditioned by air-source heat pumps (ASHPs) with the minimum allowed efficiencies specified in ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (SEER 13 for cooling and 7.8 HSPF for heating) and supplemental electric heaters. The comparison is made in terms of energy savings, operating cost savings, cost-effectiveness, and environmental benefits. Finally, limitations in conducting this analysis are identified and recommendations for further improving the operational efficiency of the GSHP systems are made.« less

Advanced Opto-Electronics (LIDAR and Microsensor Development)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vanderbilt, Vern C. (Technical Monitor); Spangler, Lee H.

2005-01-01

Our overall intent in this aspect of the project were to establish a collaborative effort between several departments at Montana State University for developing advanced optoelectronic technology for advancing the state-of-the-art in optical remote sensing of the environment. Our particular focus was on development of small systems that can eventually be used in a wide variety of applications that might include ground-, air-, and space deployments, possibly in sensor networks. Specific objectives were to: 1) Build a field-deployable direct-detection lidar system for use in measurements of clouds, aerosols, fish, and vegetation; 2) Develop a breadboard prototype water vapor differential absorption lidar (DIAL) system based on highly stable, tunable diode laser technology developed previously at MSU. We accomplished both primary objectives of this project, in developing a field-deployable direct-detection lidar and a breadboard prototype of a water vapor DIAL system. Paper summarizes each of these accomplishments.

Designing Albaha Internet of Farming Architecture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alahmadi, A.

2017-04-01

Up to now, most farmers in Albaha, Saudi Arabia are still practicing traditional way, which is not optimized in term of water usage, quality of product, etc. At the same time, nowadays ICT becomes a key driver for Innovation in Farming. In this project, we propose a smart Internet of farming system to assist farmers in Albaha to optimize their farm productivity by providing accurate information to the farmers the right time prediction to harvest, to fertilize, to watering and other activities related to the farming/agriculture technology. The proposed system utilizes wireless sensor cloud to capture remotely important data such as temperature, humidity, soil condition (moisture, water level), etc., and then they are sent to a storage servers at Albaha University cloud. An adaptive knowledge engine will process the captured data into knowledge and the farmers can retrieve the knowledge using their smartphones via the Internet.

Quantifying Groundwater Fluctuations in the Southern High Plains with GIS and Geostatistics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Whitehead, B.

2008-12-01

Groundwater as a dwindling non-renewable natural resource has been an important research theme in agricultural studies coupled with human-environment interaction. This research incorporated contemporary Geographic Information System (GIS) methodologies and a universal kriging interpolator (geostatistics) to develop depth to groundwater surfaces for the southern portion of the High Plains, or Ogallala, aquifer. The variations in the interpolated surfaces were used to calculate the volume of water mined from the aquifer from 1980 to 2005. The findings suggest a nearly inverse relationship to the water withdrawal scenarios derived by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) during the Regional Aquifer System Analysis (RASA) performed in the early 1980's. These results advocate further research into regional climate change, groundwater-surface water interaction, and recharge mechanisms in the region, and provide a substantial contribution to the continuing and contentious issue concerning the environmental sustainability of the High Plains.

Preliminary study of sources and processes of enrichment of manganese in water from University of Rhode Island supply wells

USGS Publications Warehouse

Silvey, William Dudley; Johnston, Herbert E.

1977-01-01

Concentrations of dissolved manganese have increased from 0.0 to as much as 3.3 mg/liter over a period of years in closely spaced University of Rhode Island supply wells. The wells tap stratified glacial deposits and derive part of their water from infiltration from a nearby river-pond system. The principal sources of the manganese seem to be coatings of oxides and other forms of manganese on granular aquifer materials and organic-rich sediments on the bottom of the pond and river. Chemical analyses of water from an observation well screened from 3 to 5 feet below the pond bottom indicate that infiltration of water through organic-rich sediments on the pond bottom is the likely cause of manganese enrichment in the well supplies. After passing through the organic layer, the water contains concentrations of manganese as high as 1.2 mg/liter. Manganese in water in concentrations that do not cause unpleasant taste is not regarded to be toxicologically significant. However, concentrations in excess of a few tenths of a milligram per liter are undesirable in public supplies and in many industrial supplies. Brown and others (21970) note that waters containing manganese in concentrations less than 0.1 mg/liter seldom prove troublesome, but that those containing more than 0.5 mg/liter may form objectionable deposits on cooked food, laundry, and plumbing fixtures. The U.S. Public health Service (1962) recommends that the concentrations of manganese in drinking and culinary water not exceed 0.05 mg/liter. (Woodard-USGS)

Effects of water storage on bond strength and dentin sealing ability promoted by adhesive systems.

PubMed

Cantanhede de Sá, Renata Bacelar; Oliveira Carvalho, Adriana; Puppin-Rontani, Regina Maria; Ambrosano, Glaúcia Maria; Nikaido, Toru; Tagami, Junji; Giannini, Marcelo

2012-12-01

To evaluate the dentin bond strength (BS) and sealing ability (SA) promoted by adhesive systems after 24 h or 6 months of water storage. The tested adhesive systems were: one three-step etch-and-rinse adhesive (Adper Scotchbond Multi-Purpose, SBMP) and three single-step self-etching systems (Adper Easy Bond, Bond Force, and G-Bond Plus). Bovine incisors were used for both evaluations, BS (n = 11) and SA (n = 5). To examine BS, the buccal surface was ground with SiC paper to expose a flat dentin surface. After adhesive application, a block of resin composite was incrementally built up over the bonded surface and sectioned into sticks. These bonded specimens were subjected to microtensile bond strength testing after 24 h and 6 months of water storage using a universal testing machine. For SA analysis, enamel was removed from the buccal surfaces. The teeth were connected to a device to measure the initial SA (10 psi), and the second measurement was taken after treating dentin with EDTA. Afterwards, the adhesive systems were applied to dentin and the SA was re-measured for each adhesive after 24 h and 6 months of water storage. The SA was expressed in terms of percentage of dentinal sealing. BS and SA data were submitted to two-way ANOVA and Tukey's test (α = 0.05). All adhesives showed a reduction of SA after 6 months of water storage. The SA promoted by self-etching adhesives was higher than that of SBMP. No adhesive system showed a reduction of the BS after 6 months. Sealing ability was affected by water storage, while no changes in microtensile bond strength were observed after 6 months of water storage. The single-step self-etching systems showed greater sealing ability than did SBMP, even after 6 months of storage in water.

Spatial Prediction and Optimized Sampling Design for Sodium Concentration in Groundwater

PubMed Central

Shabbir, Javid; M. AbdEl-Salam, Nasser; Hussain, Tajammal

2016-01-01

Sodium is an integral part of water, and its excessive amount in drinking water causes high blood pressure and hypertension. In the present paper, spatial distribution of sodium concentration in drinking water is modeled and optimized sampling designs for selecting sampling locations is calculated for three divisions in Punjab, Pakistan. Universal kriging and Bayesian universal kriging are used to predict the sodium concentrations. Spatial simulated annealing is used to generate optimized sampling designs. Different estimation methods (i.e., maximum likelihood, restricted maximum likelihood, ordinary least squares, and weighted least squares) are used to estimate the parameters of the variogram model (i.e, exponential, Gaussian, spherical and cubic). It is concluded that Bayesian universal kriging fits better than universal kriging. It is also observed that the universal kriging predictor provides minimum mean universal kriging variance for both adding and deleting locations during sampling design. PMID:27683016

Phoenix Robotic Arm

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2007-01-01

A vital instrument on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is the robotic arm, which will dig into the icy soil and bring samples back to the science deck of the spacecraft for analysis. In September 2006 at a Lockheed Martin Space Systems clean room facility near Denver, spacecraft technician Billy Jones inspects the arm during the assembly phase of the mission.

Using the robotic arm -- built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena -- the Phoenix mission will study the history of water and search for complex organic molecules in the ice-rich soil.

The Phoenix mission is led by Principal Investigator Peter H. Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson, with project management at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and development partnership with Lockheed Martin Space Systems. International contributions for Phoenix are provided by the Canadian Space Agency, the University of Neuchatel (Switzerland), the University of Copenhagen, and the Max Planck Institute in Germany. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

2003 NASA Faculty Fellowship Program at Glenn Research Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Prahl, Joseph M.; Heyward, An O.; Kankam, Mark D.

2003-01-01

The Office of Education at NASA Headquarters provides overall policy and direction for the NASA Faculty Fellowship Program (NFFP). The American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) have joined in partnership to recruit participants, accept applications from a broad range of participants, and provide overall evaluation of the NFFP. The NASA Centers, through their University Affairs Officers, develop and operate the experiential part of the program. In concert with co-directing universities and the Centers, Fellows are selected and provided the actual research experiences. This report summarizes the 2003 session conducted at the Glenn Research Center (GRC).Research topics covered a variety of areas including, but not limited to, biological sensors, modeling of biological fluid systems, electronic circuits, ceramics and coatings, unsteady probablistic analysis and aerodynamics, gas turbines, environmental monitoring systems for water quality, air quality, gaseous and particulate emissions, bearings for flywheel energy storage, shape memory alloys,photonic interrogation and nanoprocesses,carbon nanotubes, polymer synthesis for fuel cells, aviation communications, algorithm development and RESPlan Database.

Visualizing complex hydrodynamic features

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kempf, Jill L.; Marshall, Robert E.; Yen, Chieh-Cheng

1990-08-01

The Lake Erie Forecasting System is a cooperative project by university, private and governmental institutions to provide continuous forecasting of three-dimensional structure within the lake. The forecasts will include water velocity and temperature distributions throughout the body of water, as well as water level and wind-wave distributions at the lake's surface. Many hydrodynamic features can be extracted from this data, including coastal jets, large-scale thermocline motion and zones of upwelling and downwelling. A visualization system is being developed that will aid in understanding these features and their interactions. Because of the wide variety of features, they cannot all be adequately represented by a single rendering technique. Particle tracing, surface rendering, and volumetric techniques are all necessary. This visualization effortis aimed towards creating a system that will provide meaningful forecasts for those using the lake for recreational and commercial purposes. For example, the fishing industry needs to know about large-scale thermocline motion in order to find the best fishing areas and power plants need to know water intAke temperatures. The visualization system must convey this information in a manner that is easily understood by these users. Scientists must also be able to use this system to verify their hydrodynamic simulation. The focus of the system, therefore, is to provide the information to serve these diverse interests, without overwhelming any single user with unnecessary data.

Hydrology Domain Cyberinfrastructures: Successes, Challenges, and Opportunities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horsburgh, J. S.

2015-12-01

Anticipated changes to climate, human population, land use, and urban form will alter the hydrology and availability of water within the water systems on which the world's population relies. Understanding the effects of these changes will be paramount in sustainably managing water resources, as well as maintaining associated capacity to provide ecosystem services (e.g., regulating flooding, maintaining instream flow during dry periods, cycling nutrients, and maintaining water quality). It will require better information characterizing both natural and human mediated hydrologic systems and enhanced ability to generate, manage, store, analyze, and share growing volumes of observational data. Over the past several years, a number of hydrology domain cyberinfrastructures have emerged or are currently under development that are focused on providing integrated access to and analysis of data for cross-domain synthesis studies. These include the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI) Hydrologic Information System (HIS), the Critical Zone Observatory Information System (CZOData), HyroShare, the BiG CZ software system, and others. These systems have focused on sharing, integrating, and analyzing hydrologic observations data. This presentation will describe commonalities and differences in the cyberinfrastructure approaches used by these projects and will highlight successes and lessons learned in addressing the challenges of big and complex data. It will also identify new challenges and opportunities for next generation cyberinfrastructure and a next generation of cyber-savvy scientists and engineers as developers and users.

[Drinking water supply in the Russian Federation: problems and ways of their solution].

PubMed

Onishchenko, G G

2007-01-01

Russia having a fifth of the worldwide drinking water resources is faced with considerable difficulties in solving the problems associated with the safe and rational attitude towards water resources, in improving the technologies of drinking water purification and conditioning, in introducing new universal forms of supplying the population with high-quality portable water. Particular emphasis has been recently placed on the setting-up of an effective legal and normative base for the sanitary protection of water sources and the upgrading of the quality of drinking water. Regional (republican, territorial) drinking water supply programs have been worked out up to the period 2010 in 47 subjects of the Russian Federation, with the participation of sanitary-and-epidemiological surveillance systems and approved in accordance with the established procedures. The majority of administrative areas have district and town programs to implement high-priority measures for improving the water supple system. Safe drinking water supply is one of the major components of Russia's national security. Under the established conditions, even in case of the favorable financial position, this cannot be achieved by only engineering decisions (construction and modernization of water-supply networks, use of new equipment and breakthrough technologies). Water service as a type of water consumption is based on the general principles of natural resource management. Its safety should be combined with the strategic objective of water resources utilization and conservation in the catchment basins in the country as a whole.

Power Quality and Reliability Project

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Attia, John O.

2001-01-01

One area where universities and industry can link is in the area of power systems reliability and quality - key concepts in the commercial, industrial and public sector engineering environments. Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) has established a collaborative relationship with the University of'Texas at Arlington (UTA), NASA/Johnson Space Center (JSC), and EP&C Engineering and Technology Group (EP&C) a small disadvantage business that specializes in power quality and engineering services. The primary goal of this collaboration is to facilitate the development and implementation of a Strategic Integrated power/Systems Reliability and Curriculum Enhancement Program. The objectives of first phase of this work are: (a) to develop a course in power quality and reliability, (b) to use the campus of Prairie View A&M University as a laboratory for the study of systems reliability and quality issues, (c) to provide students with NASA/EPC shadowing and Internship experience. In this work, a course, titled "Reliability Analysis of Electrical Facilities" was developed and taught for two semesters. About thirty seven has benefited directly from this course. A laboratory accompanying the course was also developed. Four facilities at Prairie View A&M University were surveyed. Some tests that were performed are (i) earth-ground testing, (ii) voltage, amperage and harmonics of various panels in the buildings, (iii) checking the wire sizes to see if they were the right size for the load that they were carrying, (iv) vibration tests to test the status of the engines or chillers and water pumps, (v) infrared testing to the test arcing or misfiring of electrical or mechanical systems.

Non-discharging evapotranspiration bed system for wastewater disposal at Lincoln.

PubMed

Balley, P; Dakers, A J

1996-10-01

A non-discharging evapotranspiration bed system installed on a dairy farm at Lincoln University was studied to evaluate actual evapotranspiration rate, ET a , to develop and validate a water balance model for the system, and to assess the feasible application of the vaporative concept for wastewater disposal in the immediate geographic area. Observations, measurements, and calculations indicate that ET a was slightly higher than the meteorologically estimated Penman potential ET (ET p ) for the study period, and a ratio λ=ET a /ET p =1.21 was obtained. A water-balance equation of the system which can be used in different climatic conditions was obtained and can be written as ΔW=Q+PPTN-Et a ; where ΔW is the variation of storage water in the bed (in mm), Q is the effluent wastewater (in mm), and PPTN is the total precipitation. It was also observed that a truly non-discharging ET bed system's feasible application in the study location may be highly questionable. This is due to the fact that the precipitation rate for the location generally exceeds the ET p during critical Winter months. However, two possibilities of improving the performance of the system were found and suggested for further studies. The suggestions were (1) to design the system with its surface adequately crowned to shed large amounts of rain water falling on it, and (2) to design a winter-sheltered-non-discharging ET bed which would consist of an ET bed with a removable transparent plastic roof to shed the total amount of rain water and act as a 'green house'

Estimation water vapor content using the mixing ratio method and validated with the ANFIS PWV model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suparta, W.; Alhasa, K. M.; Singh, M. S. J.

2017-05-01

This study reported the comparison between water vapor content, the surface meteorological data (pressure, temperature, and relative humidity), and precipitable water vapor (PWV) produced by PWV from adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) for areas in the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Bangi (UKMB) station. The water vapor content value was estimated with mixing ratio method and the surface meteorological data as the parameter inputs. The accuracy of water vapor content was validated with PWV from ANFIS PWV model for the period of 20-23 December 2016. The result showed that the water vapor content has a similar trend with the PWV which produced by ANFIS PWV model (r = 0.975 at the 99% confidence level). This indicates that the water vapor content that obtained with mixing ratio agreed very well with the ANFIS PWV model. In addition, this study also found, the pattern of water vapor content and PWV have more influenced by the relative humidity.

Susquehanna River Basin Hydrologic Observing System (SRBHOS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reed, P. M.; Duffy, C. J.; Dressler, K. A.

2004-12-01

In response to the NSF-CUAHSI initiative for a national network of Hydrologic Observatories, we propose to initiate the Susquehanna River Basin Hydrologic Observing System (SRBHOS), as the northeast node. The Susquehanna has a drainage area of 71, 410 km2. From the headwaters near Cooperstown, NY, the river is formed within the glaciated Appalachian Plateau physiographic province, crossing the Valley and Ridge, then the Piedmont, before finishing its' 444 mile journey in the Coastal Plain of the Chesapeake Bay. The Susquehanna is the major source of water and nutrients to the Chesapeake. It has a rich history in resource development (logging, mining, coal, agriculture, urban and heavy industry), with an unusual resilience to environmental degradation, which continues today. The shallow Susquehanna is one of the most flood-ravaged rivers in the US with a decadal regularity of major damage from hurricane floods and rain-on-snow events. As a result of this history, it has an enormous infrastructure for climate, surface water and groundwater monitoring already in place, including the nations only regional groundwater monitoring system for drought detection. Thirty-six research institutions have formed the SRBHOS partnership to collaborate on a basin-wide network design for a new scientific observing system. Researchers at the partner universities have conducted major NSF research projects within the basin, setting the stage and showing the need for a new terrestrial hydrologic observing system. The ultimate goal of SRBHOS is to close water, energy and solute budgets from the boundary layer to the water table, extending across plot, hillslope, watershed, and river basin scales. SRBHOS is organized around an existing network of testbeds (legacy watershed sites) run by the partner universities, and research institutions. The design of the observing system, when complete, will address fundamental science questions within major physiographic regions of the basin. A nested system of observations, will intersect the important landforms, climate zones, ecology, and human activities of the basin. Characterizing how humans and climate impact the sustainability of water resources in the Susquehanna River Basin will require an evolutionary approach, involving coordination of historical information and a phased-design for the new observing system. Detecting change (past and present) requires that the atmosphere, vegetation, geochemistry, and hydrology of the Susquehanna, are all observed coherently from the headwaters to the Chesapeake, from the boundary layer to the water table. The River Basin Adaptive Monitoring and Modeling Plan (RAMP) represents the design strategy to coherently select and assess core monitoring sites as well as new sites targeted for both short-term and long term scientific campaigns. Rich in historical research and infrastructure, SRBHOS will serve as a fundamental resource for the hydrologic science community into the future, while providing a "characteristic" hydrologic node in the national network.

The Unintended Consequences of Changes in Beverage Options and the Removal of Bottled Water on a University Campus.

PubMed

Berman, Elizabeth R; Johnson, Rachel K

2015-07-01

We investigated how the removal of bottled water along with a minimum healthy beverage requirement affected the purchasing behavior, healthiness of beverage choices, and consumption of calories and added sugars of university campus consumers. With shipment data as a proxy, we estimated bottled beverage consumption over 3 consecutive semesters: baseline (spring 2012), when a 30% healthy beverage ratio was enacted (fall 2012), and when bottled water was removed (spring 2013) at the University of Vermont. We assessed changes in number and type of beverages and per capita calories, total sugars, and added sugars shipped. Per capita shipments of bottles, calories, sugars, and added sugars increased significantly when bottled water was removed. Shipments of healthy beverages declined significantly, whereas shipments of less healthy beverages increased significantly. As bottled water sales dropped to zero, sales of sugar-free beverages and sugar-sweetened beverages increased. The bottled water ban did not reduce the number of bottles entering the waste stream from the university campus, the ultimate goal of the ban. With the removal of bottled water, consumers increased their consumption of less healthy bottled beverages.

The Unintended Consequences of Changes in Beverage Options and the Removal of Bottled Water on a University Campus

PubMed Central

Berman, Elizabeth R.

2015-01-01

Objectives. We investigated how the removal of bottled water along with a minimum healthy beverage requirement affected the purchasing behavior, healthiness of beverage choices, and consumption of calories and added sugars of university campus consumers. Methods. With shipment data as a proxy, we estimated bottled beverage consumption over 3 consecutive semesters: baseline (spring 2012), when a 30% healthy beverage ratio was enacted (fall 2012), and when bottled water was removed (spring 2013) at the University of Vermont. We assessed changes in number and type of beverages and per capita calories, total sugars, and added sugars shipped. Results. Per capita shipments of bottles, calories, sugars, and added sugars increased significantly when bottled water was removed. Shipments of healthy beverages declined significantly, whereas shipments of less healthy beverages increased significantly. As bottled water sales dropped to zero, sales of sugar-free beverages and sugar-sweetened beverages increased. Conclusions. The bottled water ban did not reduce the number of bottles entering the waste stream from the university campus, the ultimate goal of the ban. With the removal of bottled water, consumers increased their consumption of less healthy bottled beverages. PMID:25973813

The Search for Life in the Universe

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rothschild, Lynn

2016-01-01

Each recent report of liquid water existing elsewhere in the solar system has reverberated through the international press and excited the imagination of humankind. We have come to realize that where there is liquid water on Earth, virtually no matter what the physical conditions, there is life. Dr. Lynn Rothschild, an evolutionary biologist known for her work on life in extreme environments and a founder of the field of astrobiology, tells us about intriguing new data. The prevalence of potential abodes for life in our solar system and beyond, the survival of microbes in the space environment, modeling of the potential for transfer of life between celestial bodies, and advances in synthetic biology suggest that life could be more common than previously thought. Are we truly "alone"?

Planetary formation and water delivery in the habitable zone around solar-type stars in different dynamical environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zain, P. S.; de Elía, G. C.; Ronco, M. P.; Guilera, O. M.

2018-01-01

Context. Observational and theoretical studies suggest that there are many and various planetary systems in the Universe. Aims: We study the formation and water delivery of planets in the habitable zone (HZ) around solar-type stars. In particular, we study different dynamical environments that are defined by the most massive body in the system. Methods: First of all, a semi-analytical model was used to define the mass of the protoplanetary disks that produce each of the five dynamical scenarios of our research. Then, we made use of the same semi-analytical model to describe the evolution of embryos and planetesimals during the gaseous phase. Finally, we carried out N-body simulations of planetary accretion in order to analyze the formation and water delivery of planets in the HZ in the different dynamical environments. Results: Water worlds are efficiently formed in the HZ in different dynamical scenarios. In systems with a giant planet analog to Jupiter or Saturn around the snow line, super-Earths tend to migrate into the HZ from outside the snow line as a result of interactions with other embryos and accrete water only during the gaseous phase. In systems without giant planets, Earths and super-Earths with high water by mass contents can either be formed in situ in the HZ or migrate into it from outer regions, and water can be accreted during the gaseous phase and in collisions with water-rich embryos and planetesimals. Conclusions: The formation of planets in the HZ with very high water by mass contents seems to be a common process around Sun-like stars. Our research suggests that such planets are still very efficiently produced in different dynamical environments. Moreover, our study indicates that the formation of planets in the HZ with masses and water contents similar to those of Earth seems to be a rare process around solar-type stars in the systems under consideration.

Performance data for a desuperheater integrated to a thermal energy storage system

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

Lee, A.H.W.; Jones, J.W.

1995-11-01

Desuperheaters are heat exchangers that recover heat from the compressor discharge gas to heat domestic hot water. The objective of this project was to conduct performance tests for a desuperheater in the cooling and heating modes of a thermal energy storage system so as to form a data base on the steady state performance of a residential desuperheater unit. The desuperheater integrated to a thermal energy storage system was installed in the Dual-Air Loop Test Facility at The Center for Energy Studies, the University of Texas at Austin. The major components of the system consist of the refrigerant compressor, domesticmore » hot water (DHW) desuperheater, thermal storage tank with evaporator/condenser coil, outdoor air coil, DHW storage tank, DHW circulating pump, space conditioning water circulation pump, and indoor heat exchanger. Although measurements were made to quantity space heating, space cooling, and domestic water heating, this paper only emphasizes the desuperheater performance of the unit. Experiments were conducted to study the effects of various outdoor temperature and entering water temperature on the performance of the desuperheater/TES system. In the cooling and heating modes, the desuperheater captured 5 to 18 percent and 8 to 17 percent, respectively, of the heat that would be normally rejected through the air coil condenser. At higher outdoor temperature, the desuperheater captured more heat. it was also noted that the heating and cooling COPs decreased with entering water temperature. The information generated in the experimental efforts could be used to form a data base on the steady state performance of a residential desuperheater unit.« less

Education Outreach Associated with Technology Transfer in a Colonia of South Texas: Green Valley Farms Science and Space Club for Middle School Aged Children in Green Valley Farms, San Benito, Texas

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Potess, Marla D.; Rainwater, Ken; Muirhead, Dean

2004-01-01

Texas colonias are unincorporated subdivisions characterized by inadequate water and wastewater infrastructure, inadequate drainage and road infrastructure, substandard housing, and poverty. Since 1989 the Texas Legislature has implemented policies to halt further development of colonias and to address water and wastewater infrastructure needs in existing and new colonias along the border with Mexico. Government programs and non-government and private organization projects aim to address these infrastructure needs. Texas Tech University's Water Resources Center demonstrated the use of alternative on-site wastewater treatment in the Green Valley Farms colonia, San Benito, Texas. The work in Green Valley Farms was a component of a NASA-funded project entitled Evaluation of NASA's Advanced Life Support Integrated Water Recovery System for Non-Optimal Conditions and Terrestrial Applications. Two households within the colonia are demonstration sites for constructed wetlands. A colonia resident and activist identified educational opportunities for colonia children as a primary goal for many colonia residents. Colonia parents view education as the door to opportunity and escape from poverty for their children. The educational outreach component of the project in Green Valley Farms was a Science and Space Club for middle-school age students. Involved parents, schoolteachers, and school administrators enthusiastically supported the monthly club meetings and activities. Each month, students participated in interactive learning experiences about water use and reuse in space and on earth. Activities increased knowledge and interest in water resource issues and in science and engineering fields. The Institute for the Development and Enrichment of Advanced Learners (IDEAL) at Texas Tech University provided full scholarships for five students from Green Valley Farms to attend the Shake Hands With Your Future camp at Texas Tech University in June 2003. The educational outreach component was evaluated in February 2004 using survey instruments for students and parents, and interviews with science teachers and counselors.

Water-budget methods

USGS Publications Warehouse

Healy, Richard W.; Scanlon, Bridget R.

2010-01-01

A water budget is an accounting of water movement into and out of, and storage change within, some control volume. Universal and adaptable are adjectives that reflect key features of water-budget methods for estimating recharge. The universal concept of mass conservation of water implies that water-budget methods are applicable over any space and time scales (Healy et al., 2007). The water budget of a soil column in a laboratory can be studied at scales of millimeters and seconds. A water-budget equation is also an integral component of atmospheric general circulation models used to predict global climates over periods of decades or more. Water-budget equations can be easily customized by adding or removing terms to accurately portray the peculiarities of any hydrologic system. The equations are generally not bound by assumptions on mechanisms by which water moves into, through, and out of the control volume of interest. So water-budget methods can be used to estimate both diffuse and focused recharge, and recharge estimates are unaffected by phenomena such as preferential flow paths within the unsaturated zone.Water-budget methods represent the largest class of techniques for estimating recharge. Most hydrologic models are derived from a water-budget equation and can therefore be classified as water-budget models. It is not feasible to address all water-budget methods in a single chapter. This chapter is limited to discussion of the “residual” water-budget approach, whereby all variables in a water-budget equation, except for recharge, are independently measured or estimated and recharge is set equal to the residual. This chapter is closely linked with Chapter 3, on modeling methods, because the equations presented here form the basis of many models and because models are often used to estimate individual components in water-budget studies. Water budgets for streams and other surface-water bodies are addressed in Chapter 4. The use of soil-water budgets and lysimeters for determining potential recharge and evapotranspiration from changes in water storage is discussed in Chapter 5. Aquifer water-budget methods based on the measurement of groundwater levels are described in Chapter 6.

Characterization of Surface Water and Groundwater Quality in the Lower Tano River Basin Using Statistical and Isotopic Approach.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Edjah, Adwoba; Stenni, Barbara; Cozzi, Giulio; Turetta, Clara; Dreossi, Giuliano; Tetteh Akiti, Thomas; Yidana, Sandow

2017-04-01

Adwoba Kua- Manza Edjaha, Barbara Stennib,c,Giuliano Dreossib, Giulio Cozzic, Clara Turetta c,T.T Akitid ,Sandow Yidanae a,eDepartment of Earth Science, University of Ghana Legon, Ghana West Africa bDepartment of Enviromental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca Foscari University of Venice, Italy cInstitute for the Dynamics of Environmental Processes, CNR, Venice, Italy dDepartment of Nuclear Application and Techniques, Graduate School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences University of Ghana Legon This research is part of a PhD research work "Hydrogeological Assessment of the Lower Tano river basin for sustainable economic usage, Ghana, West - Africa". In this study, the researcher investigated surface water and groundwater quality in the Lower Tano river basin. This assessment was based on some selected sampling sites associated with mining activities, and the development of oil and gas. Statistical approach was applied to characterize the quality of surface water and groundwater. Also, water stable isotopes, which is a natural tracer of the hydrological cycle was used to investigate the origin of groundwater recharge in the basin. The study revealed that Pb and Ni values of the surface water and groundwater samples exceeded the WHO standards for drinking water. In addition, water quality index (WQI), based on physicochemical parameters(EC, TDS, pH) and major ions(Ca2+, Na+, Mg2+, HCO3-,NO3-, CL-, SO42-, K+) exhibited good quality water for 60% of the sampled surface water and groundwater. Other statistical techniques, such as Heavy metal pollution index (HPI), degree of contamination (Cd), and heavy metal evaluation index (HEI), based on trace element parameters in the water samples, reveal that 90% of the surface water and groundwater samples belong to high level of pollution. Principal component analysis (PCA) also suggests that the water quality in the basin is likely affected by rock - water interaction and anthropogenic activities (sea water intrusion). This was confirm by further statistical analysis (cluster analysis and correlation matrix) of the water quality parameters. Spatial distribution of water quality parameters, trace elements and the results obtained from the statistical analysis was determined by geographical information system (GIS). In addition, the isotopic analysis of the sampled surface water and groundwater revealed that most of the surface water and groundwater were of meteoric origin with little or no isotopic variations. It is expected that outcomes of this research will form a baseline for making appropriate decision on water quality management by decision makers in the Lower Tano river Basin. Keywords: Water stable isotopes, Trace elements, Multivariate statistics, Evaluation indices, Lower Tano river basin.

Near-real-time Estimation and Forecast of Total Precipitable Water in Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bartholy, J.; Kern, A.; Barcza, Z.; Pongracz, R.; Ihasz, I.; Kovacs, R.; Ferencz, C.

2013-12-01

Information about the amount and spatial distribution of atmospheric water vapor (or total precipitable water) is essential for understanding weather and the environment including the greenhouse effect, the climate system with its feedbacks and the hydrological cycle. Numerical weather prediction (NWP) models need accurate estimations of water vapor content to provide realistic forecasts including representation of clouds and precipitation. In the present study we introduce our research activity for the estimation and forecast of atmospheric water vapor in Central Europe using both observations and models. The Eötvös Loránd University (Hungary) operates a polar orbiting satellite receiving station in Budapest since 2002. This station receives Earth observation data from polar orbiting satellites including MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Direct Broadcast (DB) data stream from satellites Terra and Aqua. The received DB MODIS data are automatically processed using freely distributed software packages. Using the IMAPP Level2 software total precipitable water is calculated operationally using two different methods. Quality of the TPW estimations is a crucial question for further application of the results, thus validation of the remotely sensed total precipitable water fields is presented using radiosonde data. In a current research project in Hungary we aim to compare different estimations of atmospheric water vapor content. Within the frame of the project we use a NWP model (DBCRAS; Direct Broadcast CIMSS Regional Assimilation System numerical weather prediction software developed by the University of Wisconsin, Madison) to forecast TPW. DBCRAS uses near real time Level2 products from the MODIS data processing chain. From the wide range of the derived Level2 products the MODIS TPW parameter found within the so-called mod07 results (Atmospheric Profiles Product) and the cloud top pressure and cloud effective emissivity parameters from the so-called mod06 results (Cloud Product) are assimilated twice a day (at 00 and 12 UTC) by DBCRAS. DBCRAS creates 72 hours long weather forecasts with 48 km horizontal resolution. DBCRAS is operational at the University since 2009 which means that by now sufficient data is available for the verification of the model. In the present study verification results for the DBCRAS total precipitable water forecasts are presented based on analysis data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). Numerical indices are calculated to quantify the performance of DBCRAS. During a limited time period DBCRAS was also ran without assimilating MODIS products which means that there is possibility to quantify the effect of assimilating MODIS physical products on the quality of the forecasts. For this limited time period verification indices are compared to decide whether MODIS data improves forecast quality or not.

Can soda fountains be recommended in hospitals?

PubMed

Chaberny, Iris F; Kaiser, Peter; Sonntag, Hans-Günther

2006-09-01

Mineral water (soda water) is very popular in Germany. Therefore, soda fountains were developed as alternatives to the traditional deposit bottle system. Nowadays, different systems of these devices are commercially available. For several years, soda fountains produced by different companies have been examined at the University Hospital of Heidelberg. In 1998, it was possible for the first time to observe and evaluate one of these systems over a period of 320 days in a series of microbiological examinations. The evaluation was implemented on the basis of the German drinking water regulation (Anonymous, 1990. Gesetz über Trinkwasser und Wasser für Lebensmittelbetriebe (Trinkwasserverordnung - TrinkwV) vom 12. Dezember 1990. Bundesgesetzblatt 66, 2613ff). Initially, the bacteria counts exceeded the reference values imposed by the German drinking water regulation in almost 50% of the analyses. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was also detected in almost 38% of the samples. After a re-arrangement of the disinfection procedure and the removal of the charcoal filter, Pseudomonas aeruginosa was not detectable any more. However, the bacteria counts still frequently exceeded the reference values of the German drinking water regulation. Following our long-term analysis, we would not recommend soda fountains in high-risk areas of hospitals. If these devices are to be used in hospitals, the disinfection procedures should be executed in weekly or fortnightly intervals and the water quality should be examined periodically.

Environmental science applications with Rapid Integrated Mapping and analysis System (RIMS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shiklomanov, A.; Prusevich, A.; Gordov, E.; Okladnikov, I.; Titov, A.

2016-11-01

The Rapid Integrated Mapping and analysis System (RIMS) has been developed at the University of New Hampshire as an online instrument for multidisciplinary data visualization, analysis and manipulation with a focus on hydrological applications. Recently it was enriched with data and tools to allow more sophisticated analysis of interdisciplinary data. Three different examples of specific scientific applications with RIMS are demonstrated and discussed. Analysis of historical changes in major components of the Eurasian pan-Arctic water budget is based on historical discharge data, gridded observational meteorological fields, and remote sensing data for sea ice area. Express analysis of the extremely hot and dry summer of 2010 across European Russia is performed using a combination of near-real time and historical data to evaluate the intensity and spatial distribution of this event and its socioeconomic impacts. Integrative analysis of hydrological, water management, and population data for Central Asia over the last 30 years provides an assessment of regional water security due to changes in climate, water use and demography. The presented case studies demonstrate the capabilities of RIMS as a powerful instrument for hydrological and coupled human-natural systems research.

Developing decision-relevant data and information systems for California water through listening and collaboration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bales, R. C.; Bernacchi, L.; Conklin, M. H.; Viers, J. H.; Fogg, G. E.; Fisher, A. T.; Kiparsky, M.

2017-12-01

California's historic drought of 2011-2015 provided excellent conditions for researchers to listen to water-management challenges from decision makers, particularly with regard to data and information needs for improved decision making. Through the UC Water Security and Sustainability Research Initiative (http://ucwater.org/) we began a multi-year dialog with water-resources decision makers and state agencies that provide data and technical support for water management. Near-term products of that collaboration will be both a vision for a 21st-century water data and information system, and near-term steps to meet immediate legislative deadlines in a way that is consistent with the longer-term vision. While many university-based water researchers engage with state and local agencies on both science and policy challenges, UC Water's focus was on: i) integrated system management, from headwaters through groundwater and agriculture, and on ii) improved decision making through better water information systems. This focus aligned with the recognition by water leaders that fundamental changes in the way the state manages water were overdue. UC Water is focused on three "I"s: improved water information, empowering Institutions to use and to create new information, and enabling decision makers to make smart investments in both green and grey Infrastructure. Effective communication with water decision makers has led to engagement on high-priority programs where large knowledge gaps remain, including more-widespread groundwater recharge of storm flows, restoration of mountain forests in important source-water areas, governance structures for groundwater sustainability, and filling information gaps by bringing new technology to bear on measurement and data programs. Continuing engagement of UC Water researchers in public dialog around water resources, through opinion pieces, feature articles, blogs, white papers, social media, video clips and a feature documentary film have also been key to our continuing engagement. These novel partnerships are leading to decision-relevant tools and an improved integrated praxis in on-the-ground water-resources management. Our research is becoming more embedded in policies and our network remains interconnected with decision makers at multiple levels.

A Literature Review of Processes for Gravel Deposit Identification in the Lower Mississippi River

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-07-01

deposits. ERDC/GSL SR-10-2 35 References Anstee, J. M., D . L. B. Jupp, and G. T. Byrne. 1997. The shallow benthic cover map and optical water ...Engineers. Biedenharn, D . S., L. C. Hubbard, and P . H. Hoffman. 2000. Historical analysis of dike systems on the lower Mississippi River...Systems Science and Policy. Seaside, CA: California State University, Monterey Bay. Lagasse, P . F., B. R. Winkley, and D . B. Simons. 1980. Impact of

Pilot project for rapid Legionella testing.

PubMed

Pearson, Susan

2013-08-01

Susan Pearson BSc, a freelance journalist and communications consultant specialising in medicine and the environment (see also HEJ - April 2013), reports on discussions, at a recent educational seminar, on a pilot project undertaken by the Environmental Microbiology Unit at the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals (BSUH) NHS Trust, which compared the effectiveness and accuracy of conventional 'culture' testing for Legionella in water systems, with a new, 'less labour-intensive', DNA-based testing system that can produce results 'in a matter of hours'.

WaterML: an XML Language for Communicating Water Observations Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maidment, D. R.; Zaslavsky, I.; Valentine, D.

2007-12-01

One of the great impediments to the synthesis of water information is the plethora of formats used to publish such data. Each water agency uses its own approach. XML (eXtended Markup Languages) are generalizations of Hypertext Markup Language to communicate specific kinds of information via the internet. WaterML is an XML language for water observations data - streamflow, water quality, groundwater levels, climate, precipitation and aquatic biology data, recorded at fixed, point locations as a function of time. The Hydrologic Information System project of the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc (CUAHSI) has defined WaterML and prepared a set of web service functions called WaterOneFLow that use WaterML to provide information about observation sites, the variables measured there and the values of those measurments. WaterML has been submitted to the Open GIS Consortium for harmonization with its standards for XML languages. Academic investigators at a number of testbed locations in the WATERS network are providing data in WaterML format using WaterOneFlow web services. The USGS and other federal agencies are also working with CUAHSI to similarly provide access to their data in WaterML through WaterOneFlow services.

Spatial and Temporal Self-Calibration of a Hydroeconomic Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howitt, R. E.; Hansen, K. M.

2008-12-01

Hydroeconomic modeling of water systems where risk and reliability of water supply are of critical importance must address explicitly how to model water supply uncertainty. When large fluctuations in annual precipitation and significant variation in flows by location are present, a model which solves with perfect foresight of future water conditions may be inappropriate for some policy and research questions. We construct a simulation-optimization model with limited foresight of future water conditions using positive mathematical programming and self-calibration techniques. This limited foresight netflow (LFN) model signals the value of storing water for future use and reflects a more accurate economic value of water at key locations, given that future water conditions are unknown. Failure to explicitly model this uncertainty could lead to undervaluation of storage infrastructure and contractual mechanisms for managing water supply risk. A model based on sequentially updated information is more realistic, since water managers make annual storage decisions without knowledge of yet to be realized future water conditions. The LFN model runs historical hydrological conditions through the current configuration of the California water system to determine the economically efficient allocation of water under current economic conditions and infrastructure. The model utilizes current urban and agricultural demands, storage and conveyance infrastructure, and the state's hydrological history to indicate the scarcity value of water at key locations within the state. Further, the temporal calibration penalty functions vary by year type, reflecting agricultural water users' ability to alter cropping patterns in response to water conditions. The model employs techniques from positive mathematical programming (Howitt, 1995; Howitt, 1998; Cai and Wang, 2006) to generate penalty functions that are applied to deviations from observed data. The functions are applied to monthly flows across key nodes on the network and to annual carryover storage at ground and surface water storage facilities. To our knowledge, this is the first hydroeconomic model to perform spatial and temporal calibration simultaneously. The base for the LFN model is CALVIN, a hydroeconomic optimization model of the California water system developed at the University of California, Davis (Draper, et al. 2003). The LFN model, programmed in GAMS, is nonlinear, which permits incorporation of dynamic groundwater pumping costs that reflect head elevation. Hydropower production, also nonlinear in storage levels, could be added in the future. In this paper, we describe model implementation and performance over a sequence of water years drawn from the historical hydrologic record in California. Preliminary findings indicate that calibration occurs within acceptable limits and simulations replicate base case results well. Cai, X., and Wang, D. 2006. "Calibrating Holistic Water Resources-Economic Models." Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management November-December. Draper, A.J., M.W. Jenkins, K.W. Kirby, J.R. Lund, and R.E. Howitt. 2003. "Economic-Engineering Optimization for California Water Management." Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management 129(3):155-164. Howitt, R.E. 1995. "Positive Mathematical Programming." American Journal of Agricultural Economics 77:329-342. Howitt, R.E. 1998. "Self-Calibrating Network Flow Models." Working Paper, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, Davis. October 1998. class="ab'>

Performance report for the low energy compact radiocarbon accelerator mass spectrometer at Uppsala University

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salehpour, M.; Håkansson, K.; Possnert, G.; Wacker, L.; Synal, H.-A.

2016-03-01

A range of ion beam analysis activities are ongoing at Uppsala University, including Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS). Various isotopes are used for AMS but the isotope with the widest variety of applications is radiocarbon. Up until recently, only the 5 MV Pelletron tandem accelerator had been used at our site for radiocarbon AMS, ordinarily using 12 MeV 14,13,12C3+ ions. Recently a new radiocarbon AMS system, the Green-MICADAS, developed at the ion physics group at ETH Zurich, was installed. The system has a number of outstanding features which will be described. The system operates at a terminal voltage of 175 kV and uses helium stripper gas, extracting singly charged carbon ions. The low- and high energy mass spectrometers in the system are stigmatic dipole permanent magnets (0.42 and 0.97 T) requiring no electrical power nor cooling water. The system measures both the 14C/12C and the 13C/12C ratios on-line. Performance of the system is presented for both standard mg samples as well as μg-sized samples.

Analysis of carbon dioxide emission of gas fuelled cogeneration plant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nordin, Adzuieen; Amin, M.; Majid, A.

2013-12-01

Gas turbines are widely used for power generation. In cogeneration system, the gas turbine generates electricity and the exhaust heat from the gas turbine is used to generate steam or chilled water. Besides enhancing the efficiency of the system, the process assists in reducing the emission of CO2 to the environment. This study analyzes the amount of CO2 emission by Universiti Teknologi Petronas gas fuelled cogeneration system using energy balance equations. The results indicate that the cogeneration system reduces the CO2 emission to the environment by 60%. This finding could encourage the power plant owners to install heat recovery systems to their respective plants.

Stronger at Depth: Jamming Grippers as Deep Sea Sampling Tools.

PubMed

Licht, Stephen; Collins, Everett; Mendes, Manuel Lopes; Baxter, Christopher

2017-12-01

In this work we experimentally demonstrate (a) that the holding strength of universal jamming grippers increases as a function of the jamming pressure to greater than three atmospheres, and (b) that jamming grippers can be operated in the deep sea in ambient pressures exceeding one hundred atmospheres, where such high jamming pressures can be readily achieved. Laboratory experiments in a pressurized, water-filled test cell are used to measure the holding force of a "universal" style jamming gripper as a function of the pressure difference between internal membrane pressure and ambient pressure. Experiments at sea are used to demonstrate that jamming grippers can be installed on, and operated from, remotely operated vehicles at depths in excess of 1200 m. In both experiments, the jamming gripper consists of a latex balloon filled with a mixture of fresh water and ∼200 μm glass beads, which are cheaply available in large quantities as sand blasting media. The use of a liquid, rather than a gas, as the fluid media allows operation of the gripper with a closed-loop fluid system; jamming pressure is controlled with an electrically driven water hydraulic cylinder in the laboratory and with an oil hydraulic-driven large-bore water hydraulic cylinder at sea.

Aqueous turbulence structure immediately adjacent to the air - water interface and interfacial gas exchange

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Binbin

Air-sea interaction and the interfacial exchange of gas across the air-water interface are of great importance in coupled atmospheric-oceanic environmental systems. Aqueous turbulence structure immediately adjacent to the air-water interface is the combined result of wind, surface waves, currents and other environmental forces and plays a key role in energy budgets, gas fluxes and hence the global climate system. However, the quantification of turbulence structure sufficiently close to the air-water interface is extremely difficult. The physical relationship between interfacial gas exchange and near surface turbulence remains insufficiently investigated. This dissertation aims to measure turbulence in situ in a complex environmental forcing system on Lake Michigan and to reveal the relationship between turbulent statistics and the CO2 flux across the air-water interface. The major objective of this dissertation is to investigate the physical control of the interfacial gas exchange and to provide a universal parameterization of gas transfer velocity from environmental factors, as well as to propose a mechanistic model for the global CO2 flux that can be applied in three dimensional climate-ocean models. Firstly, this dissertation presents an advanced measurement instrument, an in situ free floating Particle Image Velocimetry (FPIV) system, designed and developed to investigate the small scale turbulence structure immediately below the air-water interface. Description of hardware components, design of the system, measurement theory, data analysis procedure and estimation of measurement error were provided. Secondly, with the FPIV system, statistics of small scale turbulence immediately below the air-water interface were investigated under a variety of environmental conditions. One dimensional wave-number spectrum and structure function sufficiently close to the water surface were examined. The vertical profiles of turbulent dissipation rate were intensively studied. Comparison between the turbulence structures measured during the wind wave initiation period and those obtained during the growing period was presented. Significant wave effects on near surface turbulence were found. A universal scaling law was proposed to parameterize turbulent dissipation rate immediately below the air-water interface with friction velocity, significant wave height and wave age. Finally, the gas transfer velocity was measured with a floating chamber (FC) system, along with simultaneously FPIV measurements. Turbulent dissipation rate both at the interface and at a short distance away from the interface (~ 10 cm) were analyzed and used to examine the small scale eddy model. The model coefficient was found to be dependent on the level of turbulence, instead of being a constant. An empirical relationship between the model coefficient and turbulent dissipation rate was provided, which improved the accuracy of the gas transfer velocity estimation by more than 100% for data acquired. Other data from the literature also supported this empirical relation. Furthermore, the relationship between model coefficient and turbulent Reynolds number was also investigated. In addition to physical control of gas exchange, the disturbance on near surface hydrodynamics by the FC was also discussed. Turbulent dissipation rates are enhanced at the short distance away from the interface, while the surface dissipation rates do not change significantly.

NASA Remote Sensing Technologies for Improved Integrated Water Resources Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toll, D. L.; Doorn, B.; Searby, N. D.; Entin, J. K.; Lee, C. M.

2014-12-01

This presentation will emphasize NASA's water research, applications, and capacity building activities using satellites and models to contribute to water issues including water availability, transboundary water, flooding and droughts for improved Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). NASA's free and open exchange of Earth data observations and products helps engage and improve integrated observation networks and enables national and multi-national regional water cycle research and applications that are especially useful in data sparse regions of most developing countries. NASA satellite and modeling products provide a huge volume of valuable data extending back over 50 years across a broad range of spatial (local to global) and temporal (hourly to decadal) scales and include many products that are available in near real time (see earthdata.nasa.gov). To further accomplish these objectives NASA works to actively partner with public and private groups (e.g. federal agencies, universities, NGO's, and industry) in the U.S. and international community to ensure the broadest use of its satellites and related information and products and to collaborate with regional end users who know the regions and their needs best. Key objectives of this talk will highlight NASA's Water Resources and Capacity Building Programs with their objective to discover and demonstrate innovative uses and practical benefits of NASA's advanced system technologies for improved water management in national and international applications. The event will help demonstrate the strong partnering and the use of satellite data to provide synoptic and repetitive spatial coverage helping water managers' deal with complex issues. The presentation will also demonstrate how NASA is a major contributor to water tasks and activities in GEOSS (Global Earth Observing System of Systems) and GEO (Group on Earth Observations).

Videogame Construction by Engineering Students for Understanding Modelling Processes: The Case of Simulating Water Behaviour

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pretelín-Ricárdez, Angel; Sacristán, Ana Isabel

2015-01-01

We present some results of an ongoing research project where university engineering students were asked to construct videogames involving the use of physical systems models. The objective is to help them identify and understand the elements and concepts involved in the modelling process. That is, we use game design as a constructionist approach…

Energy Conservation and the Promotion of Legionella pneumophila Growth: The Probable Role of Heat Exchangers in a Nosocomial Outbreak.

PubMed

Bédard, Emilie; Lévesque, Simon; Martin, Philippe; Pinsonneault, Linda; Paranjape, Kiran; Lalancette, Cindy; Dolcé, Charles-Éric; Villion, Manuela; Valiquette, Louis; Faucher, Sébastien P; Prévost, Michèle

2016-12-01

OBJECTIVE To determine the source of a Legionella pneumophila serogroup 5 nosocomial outbreak and the role of the heat exchanger installed on the hot water system within the previous year. SETTING A 400-bed tertiary care university hospital in Sherbrooke, Canada. METHODS Hot water samples were collected and cultured for L. pneumophila from 25 taps (baths and sinks) within wing A and 9 taps in wing B. Biofilm (5) and 2 L water samples (3) were collected within the heat exchangers for L. pneumophila culture and detection of protists. Sequence-based typing was performed on strain DNA extracts and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis patterns were analyzed. RESULTS Following 2 cases of hospital-acquired legionellosis, the hot water system investigation revealed a large proportion of L. pneumophila serogroup 5 positive taps (22/25 in wing A and 5/9 in wing B). High positivity was also detected in the heat exchanger of wing A in water samples (3/3) and swabs from the heat exchanger (4/5). The outbreak genotyping investigation identified the hot water system as the source of infections. Genotyping results revealed that all isolated environmental strains harbored the same related pulsed-field gel electrophoresis pattern and sequence-based type. CONCLUSIONS Two cases of hospital-acquired legionellosis occurred in the year following the installation of a heat exchanger to preheat hospital hot water. No cases were reported previously, although the same L. pneumophila strain was isolated from the hot water system in 1995. The heat exchanger promoted L. pneumophila growth and may have contributed to confirmed clinical cases. Infect. Control Hosp. Epidemiol. 2016;1475-1480.

Mechanics of Granular Materials (MGM) Test Cell

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2000-01-01

A test cell for Mechanics of Granular Materials (MGM) experiment is tested for long-term storage with water in the system as plarned for STS-107. This view shows the compressed sand column with the protective water jacket removed. Sand and soil grains have faces that can cause friction as they roll and slide against each other, or even cause sticking and form small voids between grains. This complex behavior can cause soil to behave like a liquid under certain conditions such as earthquakes or when powders are handled in industrial processes. Mechanics of Granular Materials (MGM) experiments aboard the Space Shuttle use the microgravity of space to simulate this behavior under conditons that cannot be achieved in laboratory tests on Earth. MGM is shedding light on the behavior of fine-grain materials under low effective stresses. Applications include earthquake engineering, granular flow technologies (such as powder feed systems for pharmaceuticals and fertilizers), and terrestrial and planetary geology. Nine MGM specimens have flown on two Space Shuttle flights. Another three are scheduled to fly on STS-107. The principal investigator is Stein Sture of the University of Colorado at Boulder. Credit: University of Colorado at Boulder

Evaluation of ACCESS Model Cloud Properties Over the SouthernOcean Area Using Multiple-satellite ProductsSan Luo1,2 Zhian Sun2, Xiaogu Zheng1, Lawrie Rikus2 and Charmaine Franklin31 College of Global Change and Earth System Science, Beijing Normal University, China 2 Collaboration for Australian Weather and Climate Research3 CSIRO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, S.

2016-12-01

Radiation field and cloud properties over the Southern Ocean area generated by the Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator (ACCESS) are evaluated using multiple-satellite products from the Fast Longwave And Shortwave radiative Fluxes (FLASHFlux) project and NASA/GEWEX surface radiation budget (SRB) data. The cloud properties are also evaluated using the observational simulator package COSP, a synthetic brightness temperature model (SBTM) and cloud liquid-water path data (UWisc) from the University of Wisconsin satellite retrievals. All of these evaluations are focused on the Southern Ocean area in an effort to understand the reasons behind the short-wave radiation biases at the surface. It is found that the model overestimates the high-level cloud fraction and frequency of occurrence of small ice-water content and underestimates the middle and low-level cloud fraction and water content. In order to improve the modelled radiation fields over the Southern Ocean area, two main modifications have been made to the physical schemes in the ACCESS model. Firstly the autoconversion rate at which the cloud water is converted into rain and the accretion rate in the warm rain scheme have been modified, which increases the cloud liquid-water content in warm cloud layers. Secondly, the scheme which determines the fraction of supercooled liquid water in mixed-phase clouds in the parametrization of cloud optical properties has been changed to use one derived from CALIPSO data which provides larger liquid cloud fractions and thus higher optical depths than the default scheme. Sensitivity tests of these two schemes in ACCESS climate runs have shown that applying either can lead to a reduction of the solar radiation reaching the surface and reduce the short-wave radiation biases.

Forecasting of Water Consumptions Expenditure Using Holt-Winter’s and ARIMA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Razali, S. N. A. M.; Rusiman, M. S.; Zawawi, N. I.; Arbin, N.

2018-04-01

This study is carried out to forecast water consumption expenditure of Malaysian university specifically at University Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM). The proposed Holt-Winter’s and Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) models were applied to forecast the water consumption expenditure in Ringgit Malaysia from year 2006 until year 2014. The two models were compared and performance measurement of the Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) and Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD) were used. It is found that ARIMA model showed better results regarding the accuracy of forecast with lower values of MAPE and MAD. Analysis showed that ARIMA (2,1,4) model provided a reasonable forecasting tool for university campus water usage.

Estimating the environmental and resource costs of leakage in water distribution systems: A shadow price approach.

PubMed

Molinos-Senante, María; Mocholí-Arce, Manuel; Sala-Garrido, Ramon

2016-10-15

Water scarcity is one of the main problems faced by many regions in the XXIst century. In this context, the need to reduce leakages from water distribution systems has gained almost universal acceptance. The concept of sustainable economic level of leakage (SELL) has been proposed to internalize the environmental and resource costs within economic level of leakage calculations. However, because these costs are not set by the market, they have not often been calculated. In this paper, the directional-distance function was used to estimate the shadow price of leakages as a proxy of their environmental and resource costs. This is a pioneering approach to the economic valuation of leakage externalities. An empirical application was carried out for the main Chilean water companies. The estimated results indicated that for 2014, the average shadow price of leakages was approximately 32% of the price of the water delivered. Moreover, as a sensitivity analysis, the shadow prices of the leakages were calculated from the perspective of the water companies' managers and the regulator. The methodology and findings of this study are essential for supporting the decision process of reducing leakage, contributing to the improvement of economic, social and environmental efficiency and sustainability of urban water supplies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of the ground-water resources of coastal Georgia: preliminary report of the data available as of July 1983

USGS Publications Warehouse

Krause, Richard E.

1984-01-01

A compilation of ground-water data that have been collected for nearly 100 years in the coastal area of Georgia is presented in this report. The compilation of pertinent data indicates what information is available for use in the evaluation of the ground-water resources of the 13 counties of coastal Georgia. Also included in this report is a fairly complete discussion of previous and ongoing investigations and monitoring networks, and an extensive list of references. Maps at 1:24,000 and 1:1,000,000 scales contain well locations and identifiers for all wells in the Ground Water Site Inventory (GWSI) data base of the National Water Data Storage and retrieval System (WATSTORE). Tabular summaries of selected site information from GWSI, including well identifiers and names, latitude-longitude location, depth of well, altitude of land surface, and use of water are presented. Water-use data from the National Water Use Data System, and water use for irrigation from the University of Georgia, Department of Agriculture survey, also are tabulated. Also included are pertinent information on geophysical surveys and data obtained, and proposed project activities, particularly test-monitor well drilling. The data in this report were collected and compiled as part of the cooperative activities between the U.S. Geological Survey and other agencies.

Water as consumed and its impact on the consumer--do we understand the variables?

PubMed

Bates, A J

2000-01-01

Water is the most important natural resource in the world, without it life cannot exist. In 1854 a cholera outbreak in London caused 10, 000 deaths and positively linked enteric disease with bacterial contamination of drinking water by sewage pollution. Since then, adequate water hygiene standards and sewage purification have played the most significant role in disease eradication and public health improvements everywhere. Standards for drinking water have become an extensive range of microbiological and chemical parametric values. Which has not increased consumer, if the media is to be believed. Customers rightly expect that the water they drink is safe and wholesome. Standard setting is perceived as a precise science and meaningful to health. Is this justified and do scientists and regulators who derive and set the standards understand the uncertainties in the system? Water is the universal solvent, therefore it will never be pure; it will contain impurities prior to and after treatment. Knowledge of its potential to become contaminated is necessary to understand the epidemiology associated with waterborne contaminants and their effects. Water use patterns vary considerably and affect assumptions based on toxicology derived from laboratory studies under tightly controlled conditions. Consideration must be given to the model systems used to assess toxicity and translate results from the laboratory to the real world, if sensible scientifically-based water quality standards are to be set and achieved cost effectively.

Bond durability of universal adhesive to bovine enamel using self-etch mode.

PubMed

Suzuki, Soshi; Takamizawa, Toshiki; Imai, Arisa; Tsujimoto, Akimasa; Sai, Keiichi; Takimoto, Masayuki; Barkmeier, Wayne W; Latta, Mark A; Miyazaki, Masashi

2018-04-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the enamel bond durability of universal adhesives in the self-etch mode under 2-year water storage and thermal cycling conditions. Three commercially available universal adhesives and a gold standard two-step self-etch adhesive were used. Ten specimens of bovine enamel were prepared per test group, and shear bond strength (SBS) was measured to determine the bonding durability after thermal cycling (TC) or long-term water storage (WS). The bonded specimens were divided into three groups: (1) specimens subjected to TC, where the bonded specimens were stored in 37 °C distilled water for 24 h before being subjected to 3000, 10,000, 20,000 or 30,000 TC; (2) specimens stored in 37 °C distilled water for 3 months, 6 months, 1 year or 2 year; and (3) specimens stored in 37 °C distilled water for 24 h, serving as a baseline. The two-step self-etch adhesive showed significantly higher SBS than the universal adhesives tested, regardless of the type of degradation method. All universal adhesives showed no significant enamel SBS reductions in TC and WS, when compared to baseline and the other degradation conditions. Compared to the bond strengths obtained with the two-step self-etch adhesive, significantly lower bond strengths were obtained with universal adhesives. However, the enamel bond durability of universal adhesives was relatively stable under both degradation conditions tested. The present data indicate that the enamel bond durability of universal adhesives in the self-etch mode might be sufficient for clinical use.

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

Halvorsen, T.

The next generation subsea developments will be facing a number of new challenges which have to be solved to maintain a cost-efficient solution for production of oil and gas: (1) Smaller fields, i.e. cost reduction through volume will no longer be valid. (2) Freedom in configuration of subsea development. The current idea of standardization will not be directly applicable for cost reduction. (3) Various water depth. The same technology should be applicable for both guideline- and guideline less water depth. (4) Development in new areas of the world where drilling rig deployable system is a must. (5) Various types ofmore » fluid processing may be required as an integral part of a subsea production system. The next generation subsea production system should be universal and applicable to any subsea field development. Kongsberg Offshore a.s. (KOS) have gained extensive experience in supplying standardized total subsea systems. The paper presents the approach taken by KOS to develop the next generation subsea system, and discussed the challenges associated with this.« less

Accelerated Capacity Development in Water Resources Education: the experiences of the Ethiopian Institute of Water Resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alamirew, T.; Mekonnen, G.; Viglione, A.

2012-04-01

Ethiopia recently recognises that the water resources development is the major entry point in poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Water in Ethiopia plays a key role in the Water-Energy-Food-nexus. Over 98% of the electricity in the country is generated using hydropower and yet about 2000 MW has been developed. Out of the 3.5 Mha potentially irrigable land, only 0.25 Mha has been developed to date. Access to drinking water supply coverage is among the lowest in the world. One of the limiting factors in harnessing the resource base is the absence of water professionals to face the fast growing demand in education, research, development in the water sector. Recognising this, in collaboration with University of Connecticut of the United States, Addis Ababa University launched the Ethiopian Institute of Water Resources (EIWR) by enrolling 18 PhD and 24 MSc students. The program is unique in that much of the course instructors are coming from US and European Universities, but deliver courses together with Ethiopian collaborators. This is supposed to facilitate knowledge and experience transfer from the US/EU scientist to Ethiopian counterparts. The theses/dissertations are designed to focus on Ethiopia's immediate hydrological problems on selected basins, and will be coordinated by three advisors for each PhD - one from US/EU, one from Ethiopian Universities, and one water professional from the sector. We report here the lessons learned in setting up the EIWR institute and the education program.

The HUMSAT System: a CubeSat-based Constellation for In-situ and Inexpensive Environmental Measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tubío-Pardavila, R.; Vigil, S. A.; Puig-Suari, J.; Aguado Agelet, F.

2014-12-01

There is a requirement for low cost in-situ measurements of environmental parameters such as air quality, meteorological data, and water quality in remote areas. Currently available solutions for such measurements include remote sensing from satellite and aircraft platforms, and in-situ measurements from mobile and aircraft platforms. Fixed systems such as eddy covariance networks, tall towers, and the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) are providing precision greenhouse gas measurements. Within this context, the HUMSAT system designed by the University of Vigo (Spain) will complement existing high-precision measurement systems with low cost in-situ ground based sensors in remote locations using a constellation of CubeSats as a communications relay. The HUMSAT system standardizes radio communications in between deployed sensors and the CubeSats of the constellation, which act as store and forward satellites to ground stations for uploading to the internet. Current ground stations have been established at the University of Vigo (Spain) and California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly). Users of the system may deploy their own environmental sensors to meet local requirements. The sensors will be linked to a low-cost satellite data transceiver using a standard HUMSAT protocol. The transceiver is capable of receiving data from the HUMSAT constellation to remotely reconfigure sensors without the need of physically going to the sensor location. This transceiver uses a UHF channel around 437 MHz to exchange short data messages with the sensors. These data messages can contain up to 32 bytes of useful information and are transmitted at a speed around 300 bps. The protocol designed for this system handles the access to the channel by all these elements and guarantees a correct transmission of the information in such an scenario. The University of Vigo has launched the first satellite of the constellation, the HUMSAT-D CubeSat in November 2013 and has deployed sensors in Spain and Brazil. Sensors will be also deployed by Cal Poly in the near future. In the following months, the SERPENS CubeSAT Mission, a joint project of the University of Brasilia and the University of Vigo will launch the second CubeSat of the constellation.

Farming system context drives the value of deep wheat roots in semi-arid environments.

PubMed

Lilley, Julianne M; Kirkegaard, John A

2016-06-01

The capture of subsoil water by wheat roots can make a valuable contribution to grain yield on deep soils. More extensive root systems can capture more water, but leave the soil in a drier state, potentially limiting water availability to subsequent crops. To evaluate the importance of these legacy effects, a long-term simulation analysis at eight sites in the semi-arid environment of Australia compared the yield of standard wheat cultivars with cultivars that were (i) modified to have root systems which extract more water at depth and/or (ii) sown earlier to increase the duration of the vegetative period and hence rooting depth. We compared simulations with and without annual resetting of soil water to investigate the legacy effects of drier subsoils related to modified root systems. Simulated mean yield benefits from modified root systems declined from 0.1-0.6 t ha(-1) when annually reset, to 0-0.2 t ha(-1) in the continuous simulation due to a legacy of drier soils (mean 0-32mm) at subsequent crop sowing. For continuous simulations, predicted yield benefits of >0.2 t ha(-1) from more extensive root systems were rare (3-10% of years) at sites with shallow soils (<1.0 m), but occurred in 14-44% of years at sites with deeper soils (1.6-2.5 m). Earlier sowing had a larger impact than modified root systems on water uptake (14-31 vs 2-17mm) and mean yield increase (up to 0.7 vs 0-0.2 t ha(-1)) and the benefits occurred on deep and shallow soils and in more years (9-79 vs 3-44%). Increasing the proportion of crops in the sequence which dry the subsoil extensively has implications for the farming system productivity, and the crop sequence must be managed tactically to optimize overall system benefits. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology.

ICESCAPE Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-07-03

Clark University student Christie Wood lowers a water sampler into a borehole on July 4, 2010, to collect water samples from below the Arctic sea ice off the north coast of Alaska. The research is part of NASA's ICESCAPE oceanographic mission to sample the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of the ocean and sea ice. Impacts of Climate change on the Eco-Systems and Chemistry of the Arctic Pacific Environment (ICESCAPE) is a multi-year NASA shipborne project. The bulk of the research will take place in the Beaufort and Chukchi Sea’s in summer of 2010 and fall of 2011. Photo Credit: (NASA/Kathryn Hansen)

Using NASA Products of the Water Cycle for Improved Water Resources Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toll, D. L.; Doorn, B.; Engman, E. T.; Lawford, R. G.

2010-12-01

NASA Water Resources works within the Earth sciences and GEO community to leverage investments of space-based observation and modeling results including components of the hydrologic cycle into water resources management decision support tools for the goal towards the sustainable use of water. These Earth science hydrologic related observations and modeling products provide a huge volume of valuable data in both near-real-time and extended back nearly 50 years. Observations of this type enable assessment of numerous water resources management issues including water scarcity, extreme events of drought and floods, and water quality. Examples of water cycle estimates make towards the contributions to the water management community include snow cover and snowpack, soil moisture, evapotranspiration, precipitation, streamflow and ground water. The availability of water is also contingent on the quality of water and hence water quality is an important part of NASA Water Resources. Water quality activities include both nonpoint source (agriculture land use, ecosystem disturbances, impervious surfaces, etc.) and direct remote sensing ( i.e., turbidity, algae, aquatic vegetation, temperature, etc.). . The NASA Water Resources Program organizes its projects under five functional themes: 1) stream-flow and flood forecasting; 2) water consumptive use and irrigation (includes evapotranspiration); 3) drought; 4) water quality; and 5) climate impacts on water resources. Currently NASA Water Resources is supporting 21 funded projects with 11 additional projects being concluded. To maximize the use of NASA water cycle measurements end to projects are supported with strong links with decision support systems. The NASA Water Resources Program works closely with other government agencies NOAA, USDA-FAS, USGS, AFWA, USAID, universities, and non-profit, international, and private sector organizations. International water cycle applications include: 1) Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWSNET) being expanded for famine relief to many developing nations of the world using a NASA Land Data Assimilation System (LDAS); 2) Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) global hydrology mapping program that extends their global hydrology to much finer resolutions through use of an optimized LDAS; 3) 'SERVIR' a visualization and monitoring center of Earth science information in Central America and East Africa with plans for additional locations in developing countries of the world; 4) installing NASA Water Information System Platforms (WISPs) strategically located throughout the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in partnerships with USAID and the World Bank; and 5) Latin American capacity building efforts within GEO.

The decisive role of free water in determining homogenous ice nucleation behavior of aqueous solutions

PubMed Central

Wang, Qiang; Zhao, Lishan; Li, Chenxi; Cao, Zexian

2016-01-01

It is a challenging issue to quantitatively characterize how the solute and pressure affect the homogeneous ice nucleation in a supercooled solution. By measuring the glass transition behavior of solutions, a universal feature of water-content dependence of glass transition temperature is recognized, which can be used to quantify hydration water in solutions. The amount of free water can then be determined for water-rich solutions, whose mass fraction, Xf, is found to serve as a universal relevant parameter for characterizing the homogeneous ice nucleation temperature, the meting temperature of primary ice, and even the water activity of solutions of electrolytes and smaller organic molecules. Moreover, the effects of hydrated solute and pressure on ice nucleation is comparable, and the pressure, when properly scaled, can be incorporated into the universal parameter Xf. These results help establish the decisive role of free water in determining ice nucleation and other relevant properties of aqueous solutions. PMID:27225427

Chondritic Asteroids--When Did Aqueous Alteration Happen?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Doyle, P. M.

2015-06-01

Using a synthesized fayalite (Fe2SiO4) standard for improved 53Mn-53Cr radiometric age dating, Patricia Doyle (previously at the University of Hawaii and now at the University of Cape Town, South Africa) and coauthors from Hawaii, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, University of Chicago, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, analyzed aqueously formed fayalite in the ordinary chondrite Elephant Moraine 90161 (L3.05) and in the carbonaceous chondrites Asuka 881317 (CV3) and MacAlpine Hills 88107 (CO3-like) from Antarctica. The data obtained indicate that liquid water existed - and aqueous alteration started - on the chondritic parent bodies about three million years earlier than previously determined. This discovery has implications for understanding when and where the asteroids accreted. The 53Mn-53Cr chronology of chondrite aqueous alteration, combined with thermodynamic calculations and physical modeling, signifies that hydrated asteroids, at least those sampled by meteorites, accreted in the inner Solar System (2-4 AU) near the main asteroid belt 2-4 million years after the beginning of the Solar System, rather than migrating inward after forming in the Solar System's colder, outer regions beyond Jupiter's present orbit (5-15 AU).

Design of Buoys for Mounting Wind Turbines at Exposed Sites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erdoğan, Beytullah; Çelıkkol, Barbaros; Swift, Robinson

2018-04-01

In this study, two designs for a buoy capable of supporting a 10 kW wind turbine and its tower were developed to operate at the University of New Hampshire's Center of Ocean Renewable Energy testing site located off the Isles of Shoals, New Hampshire. The buoys are to be moored by a catenary chain system. To evaluate wave response, two Froude-scaled models were constructed, tested, and compared at the Ocean Engineering wave tank at the University of New Hampshire. These buoys have been implemented and compared with wave tank measurements of the spar displacement at a reference elevation 2.44 m above the mean water level.

Dynamics of water solutions of natural polysaccharides by fast field cycling nmr relaxometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prusova, Alena; Conte, Pellegrino; Kucerik, Jiri; de Pasquale, Claudio; Alonzo, Giuseppe

2010-05-01

Cryobiology studies the effect of low temperatures on living systems such as microorganisms and plants. In particular, plants growing in cold or frozen environments can survive such extreme conditions due to the cold hardening process. Hardening is a three step process during which, first, translocation of polysaccharides to the plant roots affects water structure in the cell-soil surface. For this reason, increase of cell-membrane permeability and resistance to temperatures from -5°C to -10°C is achieved. In a second step, chemical alteration of cell membrane arises and resistance to temperatures up to -20°C is obtained. The last hardening step consists in the vitrification of the plant tissues which allow plants to survive at temperatures as low as -50°C. Since polysaccharides play a very important role in the initial part of the cold hardening process, it is of paramount importance to study the effect of such natural biopolymers on water structure. Here, we present preliminary data obtained by fast field cycling NMR relaxometry on the effect of hyaluronan (an anionic, non-sulfated glycosaminoglycan) on water structure at different concentrations of the polysaccharide. Although hyaluronan is a polysaccharide found exceptionally in animal, human or bacterial bodies, in the present work it was used as a model "pilot" compound. In fact, it has an unique ability to hold water and it contains both polysaccharide and protein-like acetamido functionalities. For this reason, hyaluronan promotes the future research on other plant biopolymers such as, for instance, starch and other very specific proteins. Results revealed that different water-structure systems surround the molecule of hyaluronan in diluted and semidiluted systems. Namely, at the lowest hyaluronan concentration, three hydration shells can be recognized. The first hydration shell is made by bound water (BW) which is strongly fixed to the hyaluronan surface mainly through electrostatic interactions. A second hydration shell contains water molecules, also recognized as partly-bound (PBW), which are not directly interacting with the hyaluronan chains but with BW. Finally, water molecules, which dynamics is resembling that of the pure and undisturbed water, are indicated either as a bulk water or free water (FW). As hyaluronan concentration is increased the third FW hydration shell is lost and all water molecules are affected by the presence of hyaluronan molecules. This work showed the great potential of FFC-NMR relaxometry in revealing water nature in polysaccharide solutions and the possibility for future applications on complex biological systems. Acknowledgements A.P. gratefully acknowledges a bilateral Erasmus project between Brno University of Technology and University of Palermo which provided grant sustainment for working in Italy. Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic, project MSM 0021630501 is also acknwledged. This work was partially funded by Ce.R.T.A. s.c.r.l. (Centri Regionali per le Tecnologie Alimentari; Italy). Authors kindly acknowledge Dr. Vladimír Velebný (CPN company, Dolní Dobrouč, Czech Republic) for providing of hyaluronan sample.

Electrical interactions in the cell: Asymmetric screening in a watery antiverse.

PubMed

Doerr, T P; Yu, Yi-Kuo

2014-05-01

The problem of electrostatics in biomolecular systems presents an excellent opportunity for cross-disciplinary science and a context in which fundamental physics is called for to answer complex questions. Due to the large density in biological cells of charged biomacromolecules such as protein factors and DNA, it is challenging to understand quantitatively the electric forces in these systems. Two questions are especially puzzling. First, how is it that such a dense system of charged molecules does not simply aggregate in random and non-functional ways? Second, since some mechanism apparently prevents such aggregation, how is it that binding of biomolecules still occurs so reliably? Recognizing the role of water as a universal solvent in living systems is key to understanding these questions. We present a simplified physical model in which water is regarded as a medium of high dielectric constant that nevertheless exhibits the key features essential for answering the two questions presented. The answer to the first question lies in the strong screening ability of water, which reduces the energy scale of the electrostatic interactions. Furthermore, our model reveals the existence of asymmetric screening, a pronounced asymmetry between the screening for a system with like charges and that for a system with opposite charges, and this provides an answer to the second question.

Electrical interactions in the cell: Asymmetric screening in a watery antiverse

PubMed Central

Doerr, T. P.; Yu, Yi-Kuo

2014-01-01

The problem of electrostatics in biomolecular systems presents an excellent opportunity for cross-disciplinary science and a context in which fundamental physics is called for to answer complex questions. Due to the large density in biological cells of charged biomacromolecules such as protein factors and DNA, it is challenging to understand quantitatively the electric forces in these systems. Two questions are especially puzzling. First, how is it that such a dense system of charged molecules does not simply aggregate in random and non-functional ways? Second, since some mechanism apparently prevents such aggregation, how is it that binding of biomolecules still occurs so reliably? Recognizing the role of water as a universal solvent in living systems is key to understanding these questions. We present a simplified physical model in which water is regarded as a medium of high dielectric constant that nevertheless exhibits the key features essential for answering the two questions presented. The answer to the first question lies in the strong screening ability of water, which reduces the energy scale of the electrostatic interactions. Furthermore, our model reveals the existence of asymmetric screening, a pronounced asymmetry between the screening for a system with like charges and that for a system with opposite charges, and this provides an answer to the second question. PMID:25125701

Selective Acid Etching Improves the Bond Strength of Universal Adhesive to Sound and Demineralized Enamel of Primary Teeth.

PubMed

Antoniazzi, Bruna Feltrin; Nicoloso, Gabriel Ferreira; Lenzi, Tathiane Larissa; Soares, Fabio Zovico Maxnuck; Rocha, Rachel de Oliveira

To evaluate the influence of enamel condition and etching strategy on bond strength of a universal adhesive in primary teeth. Thirty-six primary molars were randomly assigned to six groups (n = 6) according to the enamel condition (sound [S] and demineralized [DEM]/cariogenic challenge by pH cycling prior to restorative procedures) and adhesive system (Scotchbond Universal Adhesive [SBU]) used in either etch-and-rinse (ER) or selfetching (SE) mode, with Clearfil SE Bond as the self-etching control. The adhesives were applied to flat enamel surfaces and composite cylinders (0.72 mm2) were built up. After 24-h storage in water, specimens were subjected to the microshear test. Bond strength (MPa) data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA and Tukey's post-hoc tests (α = 0.05). Significant differences were found considering the factors adhesive system (p = 0.003) and enamel condition (p = 0.001). Demineralized enamel negatively affected the bond strength, with μSBS values approximately 50% lower than those obtained for sound enamel. SBU performed better in etch-and-rinse mode, and the bond strength found for SBU applied in self-etching mode was similar to that of CSE. Enamel etching with phosphoric acid improves the bond strength of a universal adhesive system to primary enamel. Demineralized primary enamel results in lower bond strength.

ISO finds a very steamy cloud in interstellar space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1998-04-01

The discovery, which may provide an important clue to the origin of water in the Solar System, is reported in an article in Astrophysical Journal Letters, to be published on 20 April. This Information Note is distributed simultaneously with a Press Release on the same subject from Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University, the Harvard/Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and NASA's Ames Research Center. The water vapour is in the Orion Molecular Cloud, a giant interstellar mass composed primarily of hydrogen molecules. The observations were carried out in October 1997 with the Long Wavelength Spectrometer, devised by a British-led team as one of four instruments on board ISO. Looking at long infrared wavelengths, the astronomers saw the characteristic signature of emission by water vapour. "The interstellar gas cloud that we observed is being pummelled by shock waves that compress and heat the gas," says Martin Harwit of Cornell University, an ISO mission scientist and lead author on the article reporting the finding. "These shock waves are the result of the violent early stages of starbirth, in which a young star spews out gas that slams into its surroundings at high speed. The heated water vapour that we observed is the result of that collision." Harwit also suggests that shock waves are a cause of starbirth as well as a result. "In the future," he says, "they may also trigger the formation of additional stars and planets as they compress the gas cloud that we observed, but only if surplus heat can be radiated away. Even though the interstellar gas is composed primarily of hydrogen molecules, water vapour is a particularly efficient radiator at far-infrared wavelengths and plays a critical role in cooling the gas and facilitating the star formation process. Because the Earth's own wet atmosphere is completely opaque at the wavelengths of interest, the observations that we are reporting today are possible only from space with the use of the ISO satellite." A correct prediction The concentration of water vapour measured by the US team was roughly one part in 2000 by volume, far larger than any measured previously in interstellar space. But the strength of the water radiation detected from Orion was in perfect agreement with theoretical predictions in the PhD thesis of team member Michael Kaufman, a former Johns Hopkins graduate student now at NASA's Ames Research Center. "An enhanced concentration of water is precisely what we expected in this gas cloud," comments team member Gary Melnick of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. "We are looking at a region of interstellar space where shock waves have made the gas abnormally warm. For the past 25 years, astrophysicists have been predicting that whenever the temperature exceeds about 100 °C, chemical reactions will convert most of the oxygen atoms in the interstellar gas into water. And that's exactly what we've observed in Orion." The source of the water we live by The high concentration of water measured in Orion may have also had implications for the origin of water in the Solar System and on the Earth itself, according to team member David Neufeld of Johns Hopkins University. "The interstellar gas cloud that we observed in Orion seems to be a huge chemical factory," Neufeld says, "generating enough water molecules in a single day to fill the Earth's oceans sixty times over. Eventually that water vapour will cool and freeze, turning into small solid particles of ice. Similar ice particles were presumably present within the gas cloud from which the Solar System originally formed. It seems quite plausible that much of the water in the Solar System was originally produced in a giant water-vapour factory like the one we have observed in Orion." A footnote about ISO ISO was put into orbit in November 1995, by an Ariane 44PP launcher at the European space base at Kourou in French Guiana. As an unprecedented observatory for infrared astronomy, able to examine cool and hidden places in the Universe, ISO has observed more than 26,000 individual objects. A supply of liquid helium, used to cool the telescope and instruments close to the absolute zero of temperature, has lasted much longer than expected, but ran out on 8 April 1998 (see ESA Press Information Note N°11-98 of 9 April). Further information is available from: ESA Public Relations Division Tel: +33(0)1.53.69.71.55 Fax : +33(0)1.53.69.76.90 ESA ISO: Dr Martin Kessler at +34.(9)1.813.12.53 or mkessler@iso.vilspa.esa.es And from US team members: Prof. Martin Harwit at +1 202-479-6877 or mharwit@ibm.net Prof. David Neufeld at +1 410-516-8582 or neufeld@pha.jhu.edu Dr Gary Melnick at +1 617-495-7388 or gmelnick@cfa.harvard.edu Dr Michael Kaufman at +1 650-604-0320 or kaufman@warped.arc.nasa.gov ISO on the Internet For more details about ISO, and a picture gallery, visit the website: http://isowww.estec.esa.nl Panels showing two examples of measurements carried out on board the ISO, together with an image of the Orion nebula taken with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope can be seen on the World Wide Web at http://www.pha.jhu.edu/~neufeld/orionwater.html.

Replacement of tritiated water from irradiated fuel storage bay

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

Castillo, I.; Boniface, H.; Suppiah, S.

2015-03-15

Recently, AECL developed a novel method to reduce tritium emissions (to groundwater) and personnel doses at the NRU (National Research Universal) reactor irradiated fuel storage bay (also known as rod or spent fuel bay) through a water swap process. The light water in the fuel bay had built up tritium that had been transferred from the heavy water moderator through normal fuel transfers. The major advantage of the thermal stratification method was that a very effective tritium reduction could be achieved by swapping a minimal volume of bay water and warm tritiated water would be skimmed off the bay surface.more » A demonstration of the method was done that involved Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling of the swap process and a test program that showed excellent agreement with model prediction for the effective removal of almost all the tritium with a minimal water volume. Building on the successful demonstration, AECL fabricated, installed, commissioned and operated a full-scale system to perform a water swap. This full-scale water swap operation achieved a tritium removal efficiency of about 96%.« less

Secondary relaxations in supercooled and glassy sucrose-borate aqueous solutions.

PubMed

Longinotti, M Paula; Corti, Horacio R; Pablo, Juan J de

2008-10-13

The dielectric relaxation spectra of concentrated aqueous solutions of sucrose-borate mixtures have been measured in the supercooled and glassy regions in the frequency range of 40Hz to 2MHz. The secondary (beta) relaxation process was analyzed in the temperature range 183-233K at water contents between 20 and 30wt%. The relaxation times were obtained, and the activation energy of that process was calculated. In order to assess the effect of borate on the relaxation of disaccharide-water mixtures, we also studied the dielectric behavior of sucrose aqueous solutions in the same range of temperatures and water contents. Our findings support the view that, beyond a water content of approximately 20wt%, the secondary relaxation of water-sucrose and water-sucrose-borate mixtures adopts a universal character that can be explained in terms of a simple exponential function of the temperature scaled by the glass transition temperature (T(g)). The behavior observed for water-sucrose and water-sucrose-borate mixtures is compared with previous results obtained in other water-carbohydrate systems.

Design study of multi-imaging plate system for BNCT irradiation field at Kyoto university reactor.

PubMed

Tanaka, Kenichi; Sakurai, Yoshinori; Kajimoto, Tsuyoshi; Tanaka, Hiroki; Takata, Takushi; Endo, Satoru

2016-09-01

The converter configuration for a multi-imaging plate system was investigated for the application of quality assurance in the irradiation field profile for boron neutron capture therapy. This was performed by the simulation calculation using the PHITS code in the fields at the Heavy Water Neutron Irradiation Facility of Kyoto University Reactor. The converter constituents investigated were carbon for gamma rays, and polyethylene with and without LiF at varied (6)Li concentration for thermal, epithermal, and fast neutrons. Consequently, potential combinations of the converters were found for two components, gamma rays and thermal neutrons, for the standard thermal neutron mode and three components of gamma rays, epithermal neutrons, and thermal or fast neutrons, for the standard mixed or epithermal neutron modes, respectively. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Traveling 12 Time Zones.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Godfrey, George; Wildcat, Daniel

2002-01-01

Describes a science and cultural exchange between Haskell Indian Nations University and Gorno Altaisk State University in the Federation of Russia. Reports that students and faculty focused on water quality and began development of a "train-the-trainers" program for sampling drinking water. (NB)

Water Vapour Mixing Ratio Measurements in Potenza in the Frame of the International Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change - NDACC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Rosa, Benedetto; Di Girolamo, Paolo; Summa, Donato; Stelitano, Dario; Mancini, Ignazio

2016-06-01

In November 2012 the University of BASILicata Raman Lidar system (BASIL) was approved to enter the International Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC). This network includes more than 70 high-quality, remote-sensing research stations for observing and understanding the physical and chemical state of the upper troposphere and stratosphere and for assessing the impact of stratosphere changes on the underlying troposphere and on global climate. As part of this network, more than thirty groundbased Lidars deployed worldwide are routinely operated to monitor atmospheric ozone, temperature, aerosols, water vapour, and polar stratospheric clouds. In the frame of NDACC, BASIL performs measurements on a routine basis each Thursday, typically from local noon to midnight, covering a large portion of the daily cycle. Measurements from BASIL are included in the NDACC database both in terms of water vapour mixing ratio and temperature. This paper illustrates some measurement examples from BASIL, with a specific focus on water vapour measurements, with the goal to try and characterize the system performances.

Are We Alone? The Search for Life in the Universe

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rothschild, Lynn J.

2017-01-01

Each report of liquid water existing elsewhere in the solar system has reverberated through the international press and excited the imagination of humankind. We have come to realize that where there is liquid water on Earth, virtually no matter what the physical conditions, there is life. Dr. Lynn Rothschild, an evolutionary biologist known for her work on life in extreme environments and a founder of the field of astrobiology, tells us about intriguing new data. The prevalence of potential abodes for life in our solar system and beyond, the survival of microbes in the space environment, modeling of the potential for transfer of life between celestial bodies, and advances in synthetic biology suggest that life could be more common than previously thought. Are we truly alone?

Preliminary investigations on the utility of an erbium, chromium YSGG laser.

PubMed

Eversole, L R; Rizoiu, I M

1995-12-01

A variety of laser systems are under investigation as potential tools in dentistry. Most of these systems have been shown to be efficacious for soft tissue surgery of the mucous membranes; however, cutting bone and dental hard tissues has only recently been possible. In this report from the University of California at Los Angeles School of Dentistry, a review of laser applications in dentistry is discussed. The utility of a new laser system using an erbium YSGG medium with air water spray to cut soft tissues, bone, enamel and dentin is under investigation and preliminary research findings are presented.

Water Mass Map from Neutron Spectrometer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2003-01-01

December 8, 2003

This map shows the estimated lower limit of the water content of the upper meter of Martian soil. The estimates are derived from the hydrogen abundance measured by the neutron spectrometer component of the gamma ray spectrometer suite on NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft.

The highest water-mass fractions, exceeding 30 percent to well over 60 percent, are in the polar regions, beyond about 60 degrees latitude north or south. Farther from the poles, significant concentrations are in the area bound in longitude by minus 10 degrees to 50 degrees and in latitude by 30 degrees south to 40 degrees north, and in an area to the south and west of Olympus Mons (30 degrees to 0 degrees south latitude and minus 135 degrees to 110 degrees longitude).

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for the NASA Office of Space Science in Washington. Investigators at Arizona State University in Tempe, the University of Arizona in Tucson and NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, operate the science instruments. The gamma-ray spectrometer was provided by the University of Arizona in collaboration with the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, which provided the high-energy neutron detector, and the Los Alamos National Laboratories, New Mexico, which provided the neutron spectrometer. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL.

Water and sewage systems, socio-demographics, and duration of residence associated with endemic intestinal infectious diseases: A cohort study

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Studies of water-related gastrointestinal infections are usually directed at outbreaks. Few have examined endemic illness or compared rates across different water supply and sewage disposal systems. We conducted a cohort study of physician visits and hospitalizations for endemic intestinal infectious diseases in a mixed rural and urban community near Vancouver, Canada, with varied and well-characterized water and sewage systems. Methods Cohort members and their disease events were defined via universal health insurance data from 1995 through 2003. Environmental data were derived from municipal, provincial, and federal government sources. Logistic regression was used to examine associations between disease events and water and sewage systems, socio-demographic characteristics, and temporal factors. Results The cohort included 126,499 individuals and approximately 190,000,000 person-days. Crude incidence rates were 1,353 physician visits and 33.8 hospitalizations for intestinal infectious diseases per 100,000 person-years. Water supply chlorination was associated with reduced physician visit incidence (OR: 0.92, 95% CI 0.85-1.0). Two water systems with the highest proportions of surface water had increased incidence (ORs: 1.57, 95% CI 1.39-1.78; and 1.45, 95% CI 1.28-1.64). Private well water and well depth were not associated with increased risk, likely because of residents' awareness of and attention to water quality. There was increased crude incidence with increasing precipitation in the population served by surface water supplies, but this trend did not remain with adjustment for other variables. Municipal sewer systems were associated with increased risk (OR: 1.26, 95% CI 1.14-1.38). Most socio-demographic variables had predicted associations with risk: higher rates in females, in the very young and the elderly, and in residents of low income areas. Increased duration of area residence was associated with reduced risk (OR, duration ≥ 6 years: 0.69, 95% CI 0.60-0.80 vs. < 1 year: 1.16, 95% CI 1.03-1.30). Conclusions This large cohort study, with objective data on exposures and outcomes, demonstrated associations between endemic infectious intestinal diseases and factors related to water supply, sewage disposal, socio-demographics, and duration of residency. The results did not always follow prior expectations based on studies examining outbreaks and single systems, and underscore the importance of studying factors associated with endemic disease across water and sewage system types. PMID:21162734

Implementation of Kalman filter algorithm on models reduced using singular pertubation approximation method and its application to measurement of water level

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rachmawati, Vimala; Khusnul Arif, Didik; Adzkiya, Dieky

2018-03-01

The systems contained in the universe often have a large order. Thus, the mathematical model has many state variables that affect the computation time. In addition, generally not all variables are known, so estimations are needed to measure the magnitude of the system that cannot be measured directly. In this paper, we discuss the model reduction and estimation of state variables in the river system to measure the water level. The model reduction of a system is an approximation method of a system with a lower order without significant errors but has a dynamic behaviour that is similar to the original system. The Singular Perturbation Approximation method is one of the model reduction methods where all state variables of the equilibrium system are partitioned into fast and slow modes. Then, The Kalman filter algorithm is used to estimate state variables of stochastic dynamic systems where estimations are computed by predicting state variables based on system dynamics and measurement data. Kalman filters are used to estimate state variables in the original system and reduced system. Then, we compare the estimation results of the state and computational time between the original and reduced system.

Field Testing of a Prototype Filter System for the Removal of the Human Pathogen Giardia intestinales from Ground Water

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rust, C.; Schulze-Makuch, D.; Bowman, R.; Meier, D.

2005-12-01

Pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and protozoans tend to be negatively charged in the pH range of most ground waters. Thus, naturally occurring and modified materials such as surfactant-modified zeolites (SMZ), which have net positive surface charges and hydrophobic properties, are suitable as barriers to impede pathogen migration in aquifer systems. In our experiments SMZ has been used to remove E. coli and the bacteriophage MS-2 from sewage water with a high success rate ( E. coli 100%, MS-2 > 90%). Testing was conducted both in the laboratory and the field. Laboratory experiments were conducted to test the removal efficiency of SMZ for Giardia intestinales using the Giardia cysts and microsphere analogs. The SMZ was effective at removing Giardia intestinales cysts from the groundwater, but removal rates were not as high as for bacteria and viruses in the earlier experiments. The removal efficiency varied with the particular formulation of the SMZ used. The most effective SMZ formulation is being further tested at our field site using water amended with microspheres to simulate Giardia behavior. The field site is an existing multiple well site at the University of Idaho in Moscow. The wells are completed in the Lolo Basalt Formation; a highly heterogeneous and anisotropic fractured basalt aquifer system typical of the subsurface of most of eastern Washington and northeastern Oregon. The SMZ pathogen filter is installed directly in the well bore and the concentrations of microsphere-amended ground water are measured before and after filtration. Pumping over an extended period is continuing in order to test the lifetime of our prototype filter system. Our tests and results are targeted at developing a prototype filter system for removing a multitude of human pathogens in drinking water.

Enhancing Understanding Of Coupled Human-Natural Systems Through Collaborative Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santelmann, M. V.; Chan, S.; Morzillo, A.; Stebbins, A.; Wright, M.

2012-12-01

In the past decade, it has become clear that the dynamic nature of coupled human-natural systems must be better understood and incorporated into decision making. If the interactions between society and the rest of the ecosystem are poorly represented in system models, our ability to explore the potential consequences of feedbacks between the biophysical system and policy or management actions will be limited. Teams of researchers from three Oregon universities are collaborating with regional experts, water managers, and decision-makers to examine how climate change, population growth, and economic growth may alter the availability and use of water in the Willamette River Basin over the next one hundred years. A central project component is development of a version of the ENVISION modeling framework that will provide decision makers with a way to visualize the Willamette water system and evaluate the interaction of management choices with changing environmental and socioeconomic conditions. Key objectives of the project broader impacts team include: 1) assist with incorporating the human component of the system into the model, (2) fostering growth of the research team as an interdependent, interdisciplinary research community, and (3) communicating effectively with regional stakeholders. Through Learning-Action Networks we have been able to gather insightful, project-relevant knowledge on water use, management, policies and issues that impact water management in the region. We have identified the types of project outputs that managers and decision makers would find useful for anticipating water scarcity and informing integrative water systems responses. Events and processes used to accomplish our objectives began with field trips involving researchers, educators, and other stakeholders. Follow-up meetings and an all day symposium featured focus group interviews, plenary sessions on project progress, and interactive poster sessions in which participants could help identify water related policies and actions they would like to see modeled. Participants assisted in compiling an interactive table of potential policies and actions organized by water use sector and policy type (e.g., regulatory vs. incentive based). Involvement of K-12 educators and development of innovative interdisciplinary courses has enhanced the broader impacts of the project and helped us achieve multiple project objectives. We present plans to build on initial collaborative learning experiences to promote project outcomes that will advance coupled human-natural systems research and enhance the utility of model outcomes in water management.

Algorithms used in the Airborne Lidar Processing System (ALPS)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Nagle, David B.; Wright, C. Wayne

2016-05-23

The Airborne Lidar Processing System (ALPS) analyzes Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL) data—digitized laser-return waveforms, position, and attitude data—to derive point clouds of target surfaces. A full-waveform airborne lidar system, the EAARL seamlessly and simultaneously collects mixed environment data, including submerged, sub-aerial bare earth, and vegetation-covered topographies.ALPS uses three waveform target-detection algorithms to determine target positions within a given waveform: centroid analysis, leading edge detection, and bottom detection using water-column backscatter modeling. The centroid analysis algorithm detects opaque hard surfaces. The leading edge algorithm detects topography beneath vegetation and shallow, submerged topography. The bottom detection algorithm uses water-column backscatter modeling for deeper submerged topography in turbid water.The report describes slant range calculations and explains how ALPS uses laser range and orientation measurements to project measurement points into the Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system. Parameters used for coordinate transformations in ALPS are described, as are Interactive Data Language-based methods for gridding EAARL point cloud data to derive digital elevation models. Noise reduction in point clouds through use of a random consensus filter is explained, and detailed pseudocode, mathematical equations, and Yorick source code accompany the report.

Laser line scan performance prediction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahoney, Kevin L.; Schofield, Oscar; Kerfoot, John; Giddings, Tom; Shirron, Joe; Twardowski, Mike

2007-09-01

The effectiveness of sensors that use optical measurements for the laser detection and identification of subsurface mines is directly related to water clarity. The primary objective of the work presented here was to use the optical data collected by UUV (Slocum Glider) surveys of an operational areas to estimate the performance of an electro-optical identification (EOID) Laser Line Scan (LLS) system during RIMPAC 06, an international naval exercise off the coast of Hawaii. Measurements of optical backscattering and beam attenuation were made with a Wet Labs, Inc. Scattering Absorption Meter (SAM), mounted on a Rutgers University/Webb Research Slocum glider. The optical data universally indicated extremely clear water in the operational area, except very close to shore. The beam-c values from the SAM sensor were integrated to three attenuation lengths to provide an estimate of how well the LLS would perform in detecting and identifying mines in the operational areas. Additionally, the processed in situ optical data served as near-real-time input to the Electro-Optic Detection Simulator, ver. 3 (EODES-3; Metron, Inc.) model for EOID performance prediction. Both methods of predicting LLS performance suggested a high probability of detection and probability of identification. These predictions were validated by the actual performance of the LLS as the EOID system yielded imagery from which reliable mine identification could be made. Future plans include repeating this work in more optically challenging water types to demonstrate the utility of pre-mission UUV surveys of operational areas as a tactical decision aid for planning EOID missions.

Mineralizing urban net-zero water treatment: Field experience for energy-positive water management.

PubMed

Wu, Tingting; Englehardt, James D

2016-12-01

An urban net-zero water treatment system, designed for energy-positive water management, 100% recycle of comingled black/grey water to drinking water standards, and mineralization of hormones and other organics, without production of concentrate, was constructed and operated for two years, serving an occupied four-bedroom, four-bath university residence hall apartment. The system comprised septic tank, denitrifying membrane bioreactor (MBR), iron-mediated aeration (IMA) reactor, vacuum ultrafilter, and peroxone or UV/H 2 O 2 advanced oxidation, with 14% rainwater make-up and concomitant discharge of 14% of treated water (ultimately for reuse in irrigation). Chemical oxygen demand was reduced to 12.9 ± 3.7 mg/L by MBR and further decreased to below the detection limit (<0.7 mg/L) by IMA and advanced oxidation treatment. The process produced a mineral water meeting 115 of 115 Florida drinking water standards that, after 10 months of recycle operation with ∼14% rainwater make-up, had a total dissolved solids of ∼500 mg/L, pH 7.8 ± 0.4, turbidity 0.12 ± 0.06 NTU, and NO 3 -N concentration 3.0 ± 1.0 mg/L. None of 97 hormones, personal care products, and pharmaceuticals analyzed were detected in the product water. For a typical single-home system with full occupancy, sludge pumping is projected on a 12-24 month cycle. Operational aspects, including disinfection requirements, pH evolution through the process, mineral control, advanced oxidation by-products, and applicability of point-of-use filters, are discussed. A distributed, peroxone-based NZW management system is projected to save more energy than is consumed in treatment, due largely to retention of wastewater thermal energy. Recommendations regarding design and operation are offered. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Trip Report-Produced-Water Field Testing

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

Sullivan, Enid J.

2012-05-25

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) conducted field testing of a produced-water pretreatment apparatus with assistance from faculty at the Texas A&M University (TAMU) protein separation sciences laboratory located on the TAMU main campus. The following report details all of the logistics surrounding the testing. The purpose of the test was to use a new, commercially-available filter media housing containing modified zeolite (surfactant-modified zeolite or SMZ) porous medium for use in pretreatment of oil and gas produced water (PW) and frac-flowback waters. The SMZ was tested previously in October, 2010 in a lab-constructed configuration ('old multicolumn system'), and performed well formore » removal of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX) from PW. However, a less-expensive, modular configuration is needed for field use. A modular system will allow the field operator to add or subtract SMZ filters as needed to accommodate site specific conditions, and to swap out used filters easily in a multi-unit system. This test demonstrated the use of a commercial filter housing with a simple flow modification and packed with SMZ for removing BTEX from a PW source in College Station, Texas. The system will be tested in June 2012 at a field site in Pennsylvania for treating frac-flowback waters. The goals of this test are: (1) to determine sorption efficiency of BTEX in the new configuration; and (2) to observe the range of flow rates, backpressures, and total volume treated at a given flow rate.« less

Scientific Aspects of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Durability and Degradation

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

Borup, Rodney; Meyers, Jeremy; Pivovar, Bryan

Rod Borup is a Team Leader in the fuel cell program at Los Alamos National Lab in Los Alamos, New Mexico. He received his B.S.E. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Iowa in 1988 and his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1993. He has worked on fuel cell technology since 1994, working in the areas of hydrogen production and PEM fuel cell stack components. He has been awarded 12 U.S. patents, authored over 40 papers related to fuel cell technology, and presented over 50 oral papers at national meetings. His current main research area is related tomore » water transport in PEM fuel cells and PEM fuel cell durability. Recently, he was awarded the 2005 DOE Hydrogen Program R&D Award for the most significant R&D contribution of the year for his team's work in fuel cell durability and was the Principal Investigator for the 2004 Fuel Cell Seminar (San Antonio, TX, USA) Best Poster Award. Jeremy Meyers is an Assistant Professor of materials science and engineering and mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, where his research focuses on the development of electrochemical energy systems and materials. Prior to joining the faculty at Texas, Jeremy worked as manager of the advanced transportation technology group at UTC Power, where he was responsible for developing new system designs and components for automotive PEM fuel cell power plants. While at UTC Power, Jeremy led several customer development projects and a DOE-sponsored investigation into novel catalysts and membranes for PEM fuel cells. Jeremy has coauthored several papers on key mechanisms of fuel cell degradation and is a co-inventor of several patents. In 2006, Jeremy and several colleagues received the George Mead Medal, UTC's highest award for engineering achievement, and he served as the co-chair of the Gordon Research Conference on fuel cells. Jeremy received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University. Bryan Pivovar received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin in 1994. He completed his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Minnesota in 2000 under the direction of Profs. Ed Cussler and Bill Smyrl, studying transport properties in fuel cell electrolytes. He continued working in the area of polymer electrolyte fuel cells at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a post-doc (2000-2001), as a technical staff member (2001-2005), and in his current position as a team leader (2005-present). In this time, Bryan's research has expanded to include further aspects of fuel cell operation, including electrodes, subfreezing effects, alternative polymers, hydroxide conductors, fuel cell interfaces, impurities, water transport, and high-temperature membranes. Bryan has served at various levels in national and international conferences and workshops, including organizing a DOE sponsored workshop on freezing effects in fuel cells and an ARO sponsored workshop on alkaline membrane fuel cells, and he was co-chair of the 2007 Gordon Research Conference on Fuel Cells. Minoru Inaba is a Professor at the Department of Molecular Science and Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Doshisha University, Japan. He received his B.Sc. from the Faculty of Engineering, Kyoto University, in 1984 and his M.Sc. in 1986 and his Dr. Eng. in 1995 from the Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University. He has worked on electrochemical energy conversion systems including fuel cells and lithium-ion batteries at Kyoto University (1992-2002) and at Doshisha University (2002-present). His primary research interest is the durability of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs), in particular, membrane degradation, and he has been involved in NEDO R&D research projects on PEFC durability since 2001. He has authored over 140 technical papers and 30 review articles. Kenichiro Ota is a Professor of the Chemical Energy Laboratory at the Graduate School of Engineering, Yokohama National University, Japan. He received his B.S.E. in Applied Chemistry from the University of Tokyo in 1968 and his Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo in 1973. He has worked on hydrogen energy and fuel cells since 1974, working on materials science for fuel cells and water electrolysis. He has published more than 150 original papers, 70 review papers, and 50 scientific books. He is now the president of the Hydrogen Energy Systems Society of Japan, the chairman of the Fuel Cell Research Group of the Electrochemical Society of Japan, and the chairman of the National Committee for the Standardization of the Stationary Fuel Cells. ABSTRACT TRUNCATED« less

Universal approximators for multi-objective direct policy search in water reservoir management problems: a comparative analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giuliani, Matteo; Mason, Emanuele; Castelletti, Andrea; Pianosi, Francesca

2014-05-01

The optimal operation of water resources systems is a wide and challenging problem due to non-linearities in the model and the objectives, high dimensional state-control space, and strong uncertainties in the hydroclimatic regimes. The application of classical optimization techniques (e.g., SDP, Q-learning, gradient descent-based algorithms) is strongly limited by the dimensionality of the system and by the presence of multiple, conflicting objectives. This study presents a novel approach which combines Direct Policy Search (DPS) and Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithms (MOEAs) to solve high-dimensional state and control space problems involving multiple objectives. DPS, also known as parameterization-simulation-optimization in the water resources literature, is a simulation-based approach where the reservoir operating policy is first parameterized within a given family of functions and, then, the parameters optimized with respect to the objectives of the management problem. The selection of a suitable class of functions to which the operating policy belong to is a key step, as it might restrict the search for the optimal policy to a subspace of the decision space that does not include the optimal solution. In the water reservoir literature, a number of classes have been proposed. However, many of these rules are based largely on empirical or experimental successes and they were designed mostly via simulation and for single-purpose reservoirs. In a multi-objective context similar rules can not easily inferred from the experience and the use of universal function approximators is generally preferred. In this work, we comparatively analyze two among the most common universal approximators: artificial neural networks (ANN) and radial basis functions (RBF) under different problem settings to estimate their scalability and flexibility in dealing with more and more complex problems. The multi-purpose HoaBinh water reservoir in Vietnam, accounting for hydropower production and flood control, is used as a case study. Preliminary results show that the RBF policy parametrization is more effective than the ANN one. In particular, the approximated Pareto front obtained with RBF control policies successfully explores the full tradeoff space between the two conflicting objectives, while most of the ANN solutions results to be Pareto-dominated by the RBF ones.

Potential Habitats for Exotic Life Within the Life Supporting Zone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leitner, Johannes J.; Firneis, Maria G.; Hitzenberger, Regina

2010-05-01

Questions like "Are we alone in the universe?", "How unique is Earth as a planet?" or "How unique is water-based life in the universe?" still are nowhere near of being answered. In recent years, discussions on these topics are more and more influenced by questions whether water is really the only possible solvent, or which conditions are necessary for life to evolve in planetary habitats. A change in our present geocentric mindset on the existence of life is required, in order to address these new questions [see also 1]. In May 2009 a new research platform at the University of Vienna was initiated in order to contribute to the solution of these questions. One task is to find essential biomarkers relevant to the problem of the detection of exotic life. In this context exotic life means: life, which is not necessarily based on a double bond between carbon and oxygen (C=O) and not on water as the only possible solvent. At present little is known about metabolistic systems, which are not based on C=O or on metabolisms which are operative in alternative solvents and a high effort of future laboratory work is necessary to open this window for looking for exotic life. To address the whole spectrum of life the concept of a general life supporting zone is introduced in order to extend the classical habitable zone (which is based on liquid water on a planetary surface, [2]). The life supporting zone of a planetary system is composed of different single "habitable zones" for the liquid phases of specific solvents and composites between water and other solvents. Besides exoplanetary systems which seem to be the most promising place for exotic life in our present understanding, some potential places could also exist within our Solar System and habitats like the subsurface of Enceladus, liquid ethane/methane lakes on Titan or habitable niches in the Venus atmosphere will also be taken into account. A preliminary list of appropriate solvents and their abundances in the Solar System and beyond have been compiled. Dynamical investigations (related to the interior of superearths), but also heat transport regimes and potential cycles with exotic solvents as well as tidal heating processes and their influence on the thermal regime of the planets will help to define the regions of potential exotic life more precisely. Atmospheric and subsurface cycles which can take place in such habitats as well as cloud and droplet formation with and without cloud nuclei cores will further extend our knowledge on mechanisms relevant for the stability of these systems. Finally the question of suitable biomarkers, which can enable the observation of exotic habitats and their potential life forms will be considered in the research platform. In this context a special topic is also the bandwidth of photosynthesis: how is the influence of different atmospheric gases and what are the environment conditions for the chemical reactions of photosynthesis? First preliminary results for the life supporting zones of selected planetary systems will be presented. References: [1] NRC (National Research Council)(2007) The Limits of Organic Life in Planetary Systems, National Academies Press, Washington, DC 20001, ISBN 978-0-309-10484-5. [2] Kasting, J.F., Whitmore D.P. and Reynolds R.T. (1993) Icarus, 101, 109-128.

UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA CROSS-BORDER WATER TECHNOLOGY COLLABORATION

EPA Science Inventory

The outcome of Phase I of the University of Arizona Cross-border Water Technology Collaboration project was the development and testing of solar distillation designs and selection of the final design for implementation that could be built in a developing country...

Editors' Preface to Special Issue on Drinking Water Safety, Security, and Sustainability

EPA Science Inventory

Recognizing these needs, researchers from Zhejiang University (China), the US EPA and the University of Alberta (Canada) organized the “International Conference on Drinking Water Safety, Security and Sustainability” in October 2011 in Hangzhou, China. The conference was attended...

Bulk shielding facility quarterly report, October, November, and December 1976

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

Hurt, III, S. S.; Lance, E. D.; Thomas, J. R.

1977-08-01

The BSR operated at an average power level of 1,836 kw for 78.01 percent of the time during October, November, and December. Water-quality control in both the reactor primary and secondary cooling systems was satisfactory. The PCA was used in training programs and was operated on two occasions when the University of Kentucky students actively participated in training laboratories.

New Editors Appointed for Water Resources Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2009-03-01

Praveen Kumar (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), the newly appointed editor in chief of Water Resources Research (WRR), heads the new team of editors for the journal. The other editors are Tom Torgersen (University of Connecticut, Groton), who continues his editorship; Tissa Illangasekare (Colorado School of Mines, Golden); Graham Sander (Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK); and John Selker (Oregon State University, Corvallis). Hoshin Gupta (University of Arizona, Tucson) will join WRR at the end of 2009. The new editors will begin receiving submissions immediately. The incoming editorial board thanks outgoing editors Marc Parlange, Brian Berkowitz, Amilcare Porporato, and Scott Tyler, all of whom will assist during the transition.

Comparison of atmospheric water vapour content with GNSS, Radiosonde, Microwave radiometer, and Lidar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sohn, D.; Park, K.

2012-12-01

The increased amount of saturated water vapor due to the Earth's temperature rise frequently causes abnormal meteorological phenomena such as local severe rainfall in Korea. The National Institute of Meteorological Research of Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) conducted observation experiments using a variety of water-vapor measuring equipments to improve the accuracy of weather forecasts and accurately measure the precipitable water vapor in the atmosphere. Equipments used were GNSS, water vapor radiometers (WVR), radiosonde, and LiDAR. For GNSS measurements we used two receivers that can collect not only GPS but also GLONASS signals: Trimble NetR5 and Septentrio PolaRx4. The two WVR makers are Raidometrics and RPG. For radiosonde observations, KMA launched Vaisala GPSondes every 6 hours during the experiment period. The LiDAR system was made locally by Hanbat University in Daejeon. Thus, we could obtain collocation experiment results from 6 different kinds of water vapor measurement and analyze the characteristics of each device.

Occurrences and removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in drinking water and water/sewage treatment plants: A review.

PubMed

Yang, Yi; Ok, Yong Sik; Kim, Ki-Hyun; Kwon, Eilhann E; Tsang, Yiu Fai

2017-10-15

In recent years, many of micropollutants have been widely detected because of continuous input of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) into the environment and newly developed state-of-the-art analytical methods. PPCP residues are frequently detected in drinking water sources, sewage treatment plants (STPs), and water treatment plants (WTPs) due to their universal consumption, low human metabolic capability, and improper disposal. When partially metabolized PPCPs are transferred into STPs, they elicit negative effects on biological treatment processes; therefore, conventional STPs are insufficient when it comes to PPCP removal. Furthermore, the excreted metabolites may become secondary pollutants and can be further modified in receiving water bodies. Several advanced treatment systems, including membrane filtration, granular activated carbon, and advanced oxidation processes, have been used for the effective removal of individual PPCPs. This review covers the occurrence patterns of PPCPs in water environments and the techniques adopted for their treatment in STP/WTP unit processes operating in various countries. The aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive summary of the removal and fate of PPCPs in different treatment facilities as well as the optimum methods for their elimination in STP and WTP systems. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Enabling Real-time Water Decision Support Services Using Model as a Service

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, T.; Minsker, B. S.; Lee, J. S.; Salas, F. R.; Maidment, D. R.; David, C. H.

2014-12-01

Through application of computational methods and an integrated information system, data and river modeling services can help researchers and decision makers more rapidly understand river conditions under alternative scenarios. To enable this capability, workflows (i.e., analysis and model steps) are created and published as Web services delivered through an internet browser, including model inputs, a published workflow service, and visualized outputs. The RAPID model, which is a river routing model developed at University of Texas Austin for parallel computation of river discharge, has been implemented as a workflow and published as a Web application. This allows non-technical users to remotely execute the model and visualize results as a service through a simple Web interface. The model service and Web application has been prototyped in the San Antonio and Guadalupe River Basin in Texas, with input from university and agency partners. In the future, optimization model workflows will be developed to link with the RAPID model workflow to provide real-time water allocation decision support services.

A Road Map for America's Water for the Next 20 Years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lall, U.; Rising, J.; Ho, M. W.; Josset, L.; Allaire, M.; Troy, T.; Devineni, N.; Ruddell, B. L.; Pal, I.

2016-12-01

This talk will present a perspective from the America's Water Initiative team that has been discussing the past, present and future of water in America. Paleoclimate reconstructions reveal dramatic inter-annual to decadal structure in the variation in drought across America and provide a backdrop for increasing climate variability expected in the next century. At the same time our water infrastructure ranging from main pipes to dams is aging and in urgent need of renewal. Non-point source pollution from cities and agriculture continues to be a concern and poses a challenge for water supplies. At the same time, there has been progress on water use efficiency, and on the acceptability of water reuse. To assure water, energy and food security for the future, one needs significant investments in water infrastructure of all types, and the cumulative estimates for these run to nearly $3 trillion over the next 20 years. A discussion on infrastructure provision is not complete without a discussion on how use patterns (e.g., where and which crops are grown and how), economic and financial instruments (e.g., insurance associated with the failure of water supply or with flooding, water pricing and trading, capital for construction), regulatory instruments (e.g., standards and policies), technological innovation (e.g., in sensors to improve water utilization in agriculture or pervasive monitoring of drinking and environmental water quality, nanofiltration and resource extraction from waste streams), and governance of water systems. We present for discussion, a proposal for the next 5 and the next 20 years that lays out an adaptive strategy to apprach these issues, and the associated unknowns and challenges that we need to address. The America's Water initiative was launched by Columbia University in partnership with other Universities and representatives from the public and private sectors. A modeling platform that brings together climate, water, agricultural, energy and urban data from the continental USA at a county resolution, and allows the exploration of selected strategies and trade-offs has been developed, and we invite the research community to participate in the use and enhancement of this platform.

Using Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Analysis Methods to Assess Household Water Access and Sanitation Coverage in the SHINE Trial.

PubMed

Ntozini, Robert; Marks, Sara J; Mangwadu, Goldberg; Mbuya, Mduduzi N N; Gerema, Grace; Mutasa, Batsirai; Julian, Timothy R; Schwab, Kellogg J; Humphrey, Jean H; Zungu, Lindiwe I

2015-12-15

Access to water and sanitation are important determinants of behavioral responses to hygiene and sanitation interventions. We estimated cluster-specific water access and sanitation coverage to inform a constrained randomization technique in the SHINE trial. Technicians and engineers inspected all public access water sources to ascertain seasonality, function, and geospatial coordinates. Households and water sources were mapped using open-source geospatial software. The distance from each household to the nearest perennial, functional, protected water source was calculated, and for each cluster, the median distance and the proportion of households within <500 m and >1500 m of such a water source. Cluster-specific sanitation coverage was ascertained using a random sample of 13 households per cluster. These parameters were included as covariates in randomization to optimize balance in water and sanitation access across treatment arms at the start of the trial. The observed high variability between clusters in both parameters suggests that constraining on these factors was needed to reduce risk of bias. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

WetNet: Using SSM/I data interactively for global distribution of tropical rainfall and precipitable water

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zipser, Edward J.; Mcguirk, James P.

1993-01-01

The research objectives were the following: (1) to use SSM/I to categorize, measure, and parameterize effects of rainfall systems around the globe, especially mesoscale convective systems; (2) to use SSM/I to monitor key components of the global hydrologic cycle, including tropical rainfall and precipitable water, and links to increasing sea surface temperatures; and (3) to assist in the development of efficient methods of exchange of massive satellite data bases and of analysis techniques, especially their use at a university. Numerous tasks have been initiated. First and foremost has been the integration and startup of the WetNet computer system into the TAMU computer network. Scientific activity was infeasible before completion of this activity. Final hardware delivery was not completed until October 1991, after which followed a period of identification and solution of several hardware and software and software problems. Accomplishments representing approximately four months work with the WetNEt system are presented.

Development of a Split Bitter-type Magnet System for Dusty Plasma Experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bates, Evan; Romero-Talamas, Carlos A.; Birmingham, William J.; Rivera, William F.

2014-10-01

A 10 Tesla Bitter-type magnetic system is under development at the Dusty Plasma Laboratory of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). We present here an optimization technique that uses differential evolution to minimize the omhic heating produced by the coils, while constraining the magnetic field in the experimental volume. The code gives us the optimal dimensions for the coil system including: coil length, turn thickness, disks radii, resistance, and total current required for a constant magnetic field. Finite element parametric optimization is then used to establish the optimal design for water cooling holes. Placement of the cooling holes will also take into consideration the magnetic forces acting on the copper alloy disks to ensure the material strength is not compromised during operation. The proposed power and cooling water delivery subsystems for the coils are also presented. Upon completion and testing of the magnet system, planned experiments include the propagation of magnetized waves in dusty plasma crystals under various boundary conditions, and viscosity in rotational shear flow, among others.

[The scientific contributions by the Roman School of Hygiene on the microbiological quality of the surface waters of Rome and her County from 1890 to 2010. A systemic review].

PubMed

Palazzo, C; Montacutelli, R; Del Vecchio, R; Solimini, A G; Marinelli, L; Lombardi, A M; De Giusti, M; Fara, G M; Boccia, A

2011-01-01

Research on quality of surface waters has been performed also in Italy during the development of the large urban areas, and in Rome this has been the duty of the Istituto di Igiene of the Sapienza University since 1890. Using MedLine--and also traditional consultation for papers printed before 1968--we identified 100 articles printed in the period 1890-2010. Thirty of them met the inclusion criteria (to have been written by researchers belonging to the Rome universities and to contain microbiological informations about the surface waters of Rome). The majority of papers identified (46.6%) were produced during the years Sixties and Seventies of the 20th century, and 30% in the twenty years to follow (1980-1999). The most frequent microbiological descriptors were "Total coliforms" and "Streptococci". The waterbodies most investigated were the Tiber river and the coastal waters around Fiumicino, where the Tiber flows into the Tyrrhenian sea. The quality of surface waters has always been a central interest of the research performed by the Hygienists of the Roman School. The good quality of the past research and the renovated interest of International Organizations and of the European Union should encourage the public health researchers toward a strategic field of investigation which has strong interconnections with the protection of the individual and community health and also with the protection of the environment.

Design and operational parameters of a rooftop rainwater harvesting system: definition, sensitivity and verification.

PubMed

Mun, J S; Han, M Y

2012-01-01

The appropriate design and evaluation of a rainwater harvesting (RWH) system is necessary to improve system performance and the stability of the water supply. The main design parameters (DPs) of an RWH system are rainfall, catchment area, collection efficiency, tank volume and water demand. Its operational parameters (OPs) include rainwater use efficiency (RUE), water saving efficiency (WSE) and cycle number (CN). The sensitivity analysis of a rooftop RWH system's DPs to its OPs reveals that the ratio of tank volume to catchment area (V/A) for an RWH system in Seoul, South Korea is recommended between 0.03 and 0.08 in terms of rate of change in RUE. The appropriate design value of V/A is varied with D/A. The extra tank volume up to V/A of 0.15∼0.2 is also available, if necessary to secure more water. Accordingly, we should figure out suitable value or range of DPs based on the sensitivity analysis to optimize design of an RWH system or improve operation efficiency. The operational data employed in this study, which was carried out to validate the design and evaluation method of an RWH system, were obtained from the system in use at a dormitory complex at Seoul National University (SNU) in Korea. The results of these operational data are in good agreement with those used in the initial simulation. The proposed method and the results of this research will be useful in evaluating and comparing the performance of RWH systems. It is found that RUE can be increased by expanding the variety of rainwater uses, particularly in the high rainfall season. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sampling and Analysis for Lead in Water and Soil Samples on a University Campus: A Student Research Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Butala, Steven J.; Zarrabi, Kaveh

1995-01-01

Describes a student research project that determined concentrations of lead in water drawn from selected drinking fountains and in selected soil samples on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. (18 references) (DDR)

Setting Up a Special Collection on Water Pollution in a University Library

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Friedlander, Janet

1974-01-01

The establishment of a special collection within the university library, the complexities of identifying and collecting reports in the environmental area, locating agencies concerned with water pollution, and recording the location of other local collections of data are described. (Author)

An integrated approach to improving rural livelihoods: examples from India and Bangladesh

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Croke, Barry; Merritt, Wendy; Cornish, Peter; Syme, Geoffrey J.; Roth, Christian H.

2018-02-01

This paper presents an overview of work in West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and SW Bangladesh through a series of projects from 2005 to the present, considering the impact of farming systems, water shed development and/or agricultural intensification on livelihoods in selected rural areas of India and Bangladesh. The projects spanned a range of scales spanning from the village scale (˜ 1 km2) to the meso-scale (˜ 100 km2), and considered social as well as biophysical aspects. They focused mainly on the food and water part of the food-water-energy nexus. These projects were in collaboration with a range of organisations in India and Bangladesh, including NGOs, universities, and government research organisations and departments. The projects were part funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, and built on other projects that have been undertaken within the region. An element of each of these projects was to understand how the hydrological cycle could be managed sustainably to improve agricultural systems and livelihoods of marginal groups. As such, they evaluated appropriate technology that is generally not dependent on high-energy inputs (mechanisation). This includes assessing the availability of water, and identifying potential water resources that have not been developed; understanding current agricultural systems and investigating ways of improving water use efficiency; and understanding social dynamics of the affected communities including the potential opportunities and negative impacts of watershed development and agricultural development.

Implementations of Riga city water supply system founded on groundwater sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lāce, I.; Krauklis, K.; Spalviņš, A.; Laicāns, J.

2017-10-01

Drinking water for Riga city is provided by the groundwater well field complex “Baltezers, Zakumuiza, Rembergi” and by the Daugava river as a surface water source. Presently (2016), the both sources jointly supply 122 thous.metre3day-1 of drinking water. It seems reasonable to use in future only groundwater, because river water is of low quality and its treatment is expensive. The research on this possibility was done by scientists of Riga Technical university as the task drawn up by the company “Aqua-Brambis”. It was required to evaluate several scenario of the groundwater supply for Riga city. By means of hydrogeological modelling, it was found out that groundwater well fields could provide 120-122 thous.metre3day-1 of drinking water for the Riga city and it is possible further not to use water of the Daugava river. However, in order to provide more extensive use of groundwater sources, existing water distribution network shall be adapted to the change of the water sources and supply directions within the network. Safety of water supply shall be ensured. The publication may be of interest for specialists dealing with problems of water supply for large towns.

Exemplary Design Envelope Specification for Standard Modular Hydropower Technology

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

Witt, Adam M.; Smith, Brennan T.; Tsakiris, Achilleas

Hydropower is an established, affordable renewable energy generation technology supplying nearly 18% of the electricity consumed globally. A hydropower facility interacts continuously with the surrounding water resource environment, causing alterations of varying magnitude in the natural flow of water, energy, fish, sediment, and recreation upstream and downstream. A universal challenge in facility design is balancing the extraction of useful energy and power system services from a stream with the need to maintain ecosystem processes and natural environmental function. On one hand, hydroelectric power is a carbon-free, renewable, and flexible asset to the power system. On the other, the disruption ofmore » longitudinal connectivity and the artificial barrier to aquatic movement created by hydraulic structures can produce negative impacts that stress fresh water environments. The growing need for carbon-free, reliable, efficient distributed energy sources suggests there is significant potential for hydropower projects that can deploy with low installed costs, enhanced ecosystem service offerings, and minimal disruptions of the stream environment.« less

A closed recirculated sea-water system

USGS Publications Warehouse

1967-01-01

Study of a virus disease in the chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) necessitated the use of a marine environment to study the long range effects of the disease and to complete the life cycle of its etiologic agent. A closed recirculated sea-water system was designed for use under experimental laboratory conditions so that controlled studies of the disease could be made. As others may wish to do marine environment studies in the laboratory, the design and operation of our system are presented. Other systems currently in use have been described by Chin (1959), DeWitt and Salo (1960), McCrimmon and Berst (1966), and the authors of collected papers edited by Clark and Clark (1964). Preparatory to the design and construction of the system in use in this laboratory, visits were made to marine systems in use at the University of Washington's College of Fisheries, Seattle, -washington, and Friday Harbor Laboratory, San Juan Island, Washington; the Washington State Department of Fisheries' Point whitney Shellfish Laboratory, Brinnon, Washington; Humboldt State College, Arcata, California; and the Steinhart Aquarium of the California Academy of Science, San Francisco, California.

The search for extraterrestrial life: Recent developments; Proceedings of the Symposium, Boston University, MA, June 18-21, 1984

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papagiannis, M. D.

The conference presents papers on the history of the search for extraterrestrial life, the scientific rationale and methods used in the search for other planetary systems, the detection of distant planets with the Space Telescope, planetary searches using optical astrometric interferometers, and infrared spectral identification of complex organic molecules in interstellar grains. Also considered are universal protein ancestors from hydrogen cyanide and water, astronomical sources of polarized light and their role in determining molecular chirality on earth, the universal diagrams and life in the universe, the precambrian evolution of terrestrial life and a thermodynamic approach to the occurrance and appearance of galactic life forms. Papers are also presented on the Ohio Seti program, lunar reflections of terrestrial radio leakage, the multichannel spectrum analyzer, software implementation of detection algorithms for the MCSA, the Serendip II design, galactic colonization and competition in a young galactic disk, implications of ancient and future migrations, extraterrestrial intelligence, the inevitability and the possible structures of supercivilizations, planetary, interplanetary and interstellar organic matter, and universal aspects of biological evolution.

The search for extraterrestrial life: Recent developments; Proceedings of the Symposium, Boston University, MA, June 18-21, 1984

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Papagiannis, M. D. (Editor)

1985-01-01

The conference presents papers on the history of the search for extraterrestrial life, the scientific rationale and methods used in the search for other planetary systems, the detection of distant planets with the Space Telescope, planetary searches using optical astrometric interferometers, and infrared spectral identification of complex organic molecules in interstellar grains. Also considered are universal protein ancestors from hydrogen cyanide and water, astronomical sources of polarized light and their role in determining molecular chirality on earth, the universal diagrams and life in the universe, the precambrian evolution of terrestrial life and a thermodynamic approach to the occurrance and appearance of galactic life forms. Papers are also presented on the Ohio Seti program, lunar reflections of terrestrial radio leakage, the multichannel spectrum analyzer, software implementation of detection algorithms for the MCSA, the Serendip II design, galactic colonization and competition in a young galactic disk, implications of ancient and future migrations, extraterrestrial intelligence, the ineviability and the possible structures of supercivilizations, planetary, interplanetary and interstellar organic matter, and universal aspects of biological evolution.

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

Sommer, T.; Melick, T.; Morrison, D.

The objective of this DOE sponsored project was to successfully fire coal-water slurry in a fire-tube boiler that was designed for oil/gas firing and establish a data base that will be relevant to a large number of existing installations. Firing slurry in a fire-tube configuration is a very demanding application because of the extremely high heat release rates and the correspondingly low furnace volume where combustion can be completed. Recognizing that combustion efficiency is the major obstacle when firing slurry in a fire-tube boiler, the program was focused on innovative approaches for improving carbon burnout without major modifications to themore » boiler. The boiler system was successfully designed and operated to fire coal-water slurry for extended periods of time with few slurry related operational problems. The host facility was a 3.8 million Btu/hr Cleaver-Brooks fire-tube boiler located on the University of Alabama Campus. A slurry atomizer was designed that provided outstanding atomization and was not susceptible to pluggage. The boiler was operated for over 1000 hours and 12 shipments of slurry were delivered. The new equipment engineered for the coal-water slurry system consisted of the following: combustion air and slurry heaters; cyclone; baghouse; fly ash reinjection system; new control system; air compressor; CWS/gas burner and gas valve train; and storage tank and slurry handling system.« less

NRT Atmospheric Water Vapour Retrieval on the Area of Poland at IGG WUELS AC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaplon, Jan; Bosy, Jaroslaw; Sierny, Jan; Hadas, Tomasz; Rohm, Witold; Wilgan, Karina; Ryczywolski, Marcin; Oruba, Artur; Kroszczynski, Krzysztof

2013-04-01

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are designed for positioning, navigation and amongst other possible applications it can also be used to derive information about the state of the atmosphere. Continuous observations from GNSS receivers provide an excellent tool for studying the neutral atmosphere, currently in near real-time. The Near Real-Time (NRT) neutral atmosphere and water vapour distribution models are currently obtained with high resolution from Ground Base Augmentation Systems (GBAS), where reference stations are equipped with GNSS and meteorological sensors. The Poland territory is covered by dense network of GNSS stations in the frame of GBAS system called ASG-EUPOS (www.asgeupos.pl). This system was established in year 2008 by the Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography in the frame of the EUPOS project (www.eupos.org) for providing positioning services. The GNSS data are available from 130 reference stations located in Poland and neighbour countries. The ground meteorological observations in the area of Poland and neighbour countries are available from ASG-EUPOS stations included in EUREF Permanent Network (EPN) stations, airports meteorological stations (METAR messages stations), and stations managed by national Institute of Meteorology and Water Management (SYNOP messages stations). Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformatics (IGG) of Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences had created permanent NRT service of ZTD (Zenith Total Delay) estimation for the area of Poland from GPS observations called IGGHZG. The first part of the paper presents the methodology of NRT GNSS data processing for ASG-EUPOS stations for ZTD estimation and its comparison to the results coming from EPN ACs and Military University of Technology in Warsaw AC (MUT AC). Second part covers the procedure of IWV (atmospheric Integrated Water Vapour content) estimation at IGG from IGGHZG product and ZHD (Zenith Hydrostatic Delay) derived from Saastamoinen formula (1972) and meteorological observations from ASG-EUPOS stations, SYNOP (synoptic stations network) and METAR (airport meteorological stations). Paper presents comparison of IWV with the results from NWP (Numerical Weather Prediction) models HIRLAM (via EGVAPII - http://egvap.dmi.dk) and COAMPS (via MUT AC) as well.

The impact of water vapor assimilation on quantitative precipitation forecast over the Washington, DC metropolitan area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walford, Segayle Cereta

Forecasting subtle, small-scale convective cases in both winter and summer time is an ongoing challenge in weather forecasting. Recent studies have shown that better structure of moisture within the boundary layer is crucial for improving forecasting skills, particularly quantitative precipitation forecasting (QPF). Lidars, which take high temporal observations of moisture, are able to capture very detailed structures, especially within the boundary layer where convection often begins. This study first investigates the extent to which an aerosol and a water vapor lidar are able to capture key boundary layer processes necessary for the development of convection. The results of this preliminary study show that the water vapor lidar is best able to capture the small scale water vapor variability that is necessary for the development of convection. These results are then used to investigate impacts of assimilating moisture from the Howard University Raman Lidar (HURL) for one mesoscale convective case, July 27-28, 2006. The data for this case is from the Water Vapor Validation Experiment-Satellite and Sondes (WAVES) field campaign located at the Howard University Beltsville Site (HUBS) in Beltsville, MD. Specifically, lidar-based water vapor mixing ratio profiles are assimilated into the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) regional model over a 4 km grid resolution over Washington, DC. Model verification is conducted using the Meteorological Evaluation Tool (MET) and the results from the lidar run are then compared to a control (no assimilation) run. The findings indicate that quantitatively conclusions cannot be draw from this one case study. However, qualitatively, the assimilation of the lidar observations improved the equivalent potential temperature, and water vapor distribution of the region. This difference changed location, strength and spatial coverage of the convective system over the HUBS region.

Water Quality in the Great Salt Lake Basins, Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming, 1998-2001

USGS Publications Warehouse

Waddell, Kidd M.; Gerner, Steven J.; Thiros, Susan A.; Giddings, Elise M.; Baskin, Robert L.; Cederberg, Jay R.; Albano, Christine M.

2004-01-01

This report contains the major findings of a 1998-2001 assessment of water quality in the Great Salt Lake Basins. It is one of a series of reports by the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program that present major findings in 51 major river basins and aquifer systems across the Nation. In these reports, water quality is discussed in terms of local, State, and regional issues. Conditions in a particular basin or aquifer system are compared to conditions found elsewhere and to selected national benchmarks, such as those for drinking-water quality and the protection of aquatic organisms. This report is intended for individuals working with water-resource issues in Federal, State, or local agencies, universities, public interest groups, or in the private sector. The information will be useful in addressing a number of current issues, such as the effects of agricultural and urban land use on water quality, human health, drinking water, source-water protection, hypoxia and excessive growth of algae and plants, pesticide registration, and monitoring and sampling strategies. This report is also for individuals who wish to know more about the quality of streams and ground water in areas near where they live, and how that water quality compares to water quality in other areas across the Nation. The water-quality conditions in the Great Salt Lake Basins summarized in this report are discussed in detail in other reports that can be accessed at http://ut.water.usgs.gov. Detailed technical information, data and analyses, collection and analytical methodology, models, graphs, and maps that support the findings presented in this report in addition to reports in this series from other basins can be accessed at the national NAWQA Web site http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa.

Water Quality in the Cook Inlet Basin Alaska, 1998-2001

USGS Publications Warehouse

Glass, Roy L.; Brabets, Timothy P.; Frenzel, Steven A.; Whitman, Matthew S.; Ourso, Robert T.

2004-01-01

This report contains the major findings of a 1998?2001 assessment of water quality in the Cook Inlet Basin. It is one of a series of reports by the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program that present major findings in 51 major river basins and aquifer systems across the Nation. In these reports, water quality is discussed in terms of local, State, and regional issues. Conditions in a particular basin or aquifer system are compared to conditions found elsewhere and to selected national benchmarks, such as those for drinking-water quality and the protection of aquatic organisms. This report is intended for individuals working with water-resource issues in Federal, State, or local agencies; universities; public interest groups; or in the private sector. The information will be useful in addressing a number of current issues, such as the effects of agricultural and urban land use on water quality, human health, drinking water, source-water protection, hypoxia and excessive growth of algae and plants, pesticide registration, and monitoring and sampling strategies. This report is also for individuals who wish to know more about the quality of streams and ground water in areas near where they live, and how that water quality compares to the quality of water in other areas across the Nation. The water-quality conditions in the Cook Inlet Basin summarized in this report are discussed in detail in other reports that can be accessed at http://ak.water.usgs.gov. Detailed technical information, data and analyses, collection and analytical methodology, models, graphs, and maps that support the findings presented in this report, in addition to reports in this series from other basins, can be accessed from the national NAWQA Web site (http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa).

Water Quality on the Island of Oahu, Hawaii, 1999-2001

USGS Publications Warehouse

Anthony, Stephen S.; Hunt, Charles D.; Brasher, Anne M.D.; Miller, Lisa D.; Tomlinson, Michael S.

2004-01-01

This report contains the major findings of a 1999-2001 assessment of water quality on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. It is one of a series of reports by the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program that present major findings in 51 major river basins and aquifer systems across the Nation. In these reports, water quality is discussed in terms of local, State, and regional issues. Conditions in a particular basin or aquifer system are compared to conditions found elsewhere and to selected national benchmarks, such as those for drinking-water quality and the protection of aquatic organisms. This report is intended for individuals working with water-resource issues in Federal, State, or local agencies, universities, public interest groups, or in the private sector. The information will be useful in addressing a number of current issues, such as the effects of agricultural and urban land use on water quality, human health, drinking water, source-water protection, and excessive growth of algae and plants, pesticide registration, and monitoring and sampling strategies. This report is also for individuals who wish to know more about the quality of streams and ground water in areas near where they live, and how that water quality compares to the quality of water in other areas across the Nation. The water-quality conditions on Oahu summarized in this report are discussed in detail in other reports that can be accessed from (http://hi.water.usgs.gov/nawqa). Detailed technical information, data and analyses, collection and analytical methodology, models, graphs, and maps that support the findings presented in this report in addition to reports in this series from other basins can be accessed from the national NAWQA Web site (http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa).

Water Quality in the Upper Illinois River Basin Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, 1999-2001

USGS Publications Warehouse

Groschen, George E.; Arnold, Terri L.; Harris, Mitchell A.; Dupre, David H.; Fitzpatrick, Faith A.; Scudder, Barbara C.; Morrow, William S.; Terrio, Paul J.; Warner, Kelly L.; Murphy, Elizabeth A.

2004-01-01

This report contains the major findings of a 1999?2001 assessment of water quality in the upper Illinois River Basin. It is one of a series of reports by the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program that present major findings in 51 major river basins and aquifer systems across the Nation. In these reports, water quality is discussed in terms of local, State, and regional issues. Conditions in a particular basin or aquifer system are compared to conditions found elsewhere and to selected national benchmarks, such as those for drinking-water quality and the protection of aquatic organisms. This report is intended for individuals working with water-resource issues in Federal, State, or local agencies, universities, public-interest groups, or in the private sector. The information will be useful in addressing a number of current issues, such as the effects of agricultural and urban land use on water quality, human health, drinking water, source-water protection, hypoxia and excessive growth of algae and plants, pesticide registration, and monitoring and sampling strategies. This report also is for individuals who wish to know more about the quality of streams and ground water in areas near where they live, and how that water quality compares to the quality of water in other areas across the Nation. The water-quality conditions in the upper Illinois River Basin summarized in this report are discussed in detail in other reports that can be accessed from (http://il.water.usgs.gov/nawqa/uirb). Detailed technical information, data and analyses, collection and analytical methodology, models, graphs, and maps that support the findings presented in this report in addition to reports in this series from other basins can be accessed from the national NAWQA Web site at (http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa).

Water quality in the Northern Rockies Intermontane basins, Idaho, Montana, and Washington, 1999-2001

USGS Publications Warehouse

Clark, Gregory M.; Caldwell, Rodney R.; Maret, Terry R.; Bowers, Craig L.; Dutton, DeAnn M.; Becksmith, Michael A.

2003-01-01

This report contains the major findings of a 1999–2001 assessment of water quality in the Northern Rockies Intermontane Basins. It is one of a series of reports by the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program that present major findings in 51 major river basins and aquifer systems across the Nation. In these reports, water quality is discussed in terms of local, State, and regional issues. Conditions in a particular basin or aquifer system are compared to conditions found elsewhere and to selected national benchmarks, such as those for drinking-water quality and the protection of aquatic organisms. This report is intended for individuals working with water-resource issues in Federal, State, or local agencies, universities, public interest groups, or in the private sector. The information will be useful in addressing a number of current issues, such as the effects of agricultural and urban land use on water quality, human health, drinking water, source-water protection, hypoxia and excessive growth of algae and plants, pesticide registration, and monitoring and sampling strategies. This report is also for individuals who wish to know more about the quality of streams and ground water in areas near where they live, and how that water quality compares to the quality of water in other areas across the Nation. The water-quality conditions in the Northern Rockies Intermontane Basins summarized in this report are discussed in detail in other reports that can be accessed from (http://id.water.usgs.gov/nrok/index.html). Detailed technical information, data and analyses, collection and analytical methodology, models, graphs, and maps that support the findings presented in this report in addition to reports in this series from other basins can be accessed from the national NAWQA Web site (http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa).

Water quality in the Yellowstone River Basin, Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota, 1999-2001

USGS Publications Warehouse

Peterson, David A.; Bartos, Timothy T.; Clark, Melanie L.; Miller, Kirk A.; Porter, Stephen D.; Quinn, Thomas L.

2004-01-01

This report contains the major findings of a 1999?2001 assessment of water quality in the Yellowstone River Basin. It is one of a series of reports by the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program that present major findings in 51 major river basins and aquifer systems across the Nation. In these reports, water quality is discussed in terms of local, State, and regional issues. Conditions in a particular basin or aquifer system are compared to conditions found elsewhere and to selected national benchmarks, such as those for drinking-water quality and the protection of aquatic organisms. This report is intended for individuals working with water-resource issues in Federal, State, or local agencies, universities, public interest groups, or in the private sector. The information will be useful in addressing a number of current issues, such as the effects of agricultural and urban land use on water quality, human health, drinking water, source-water protection, hypoxia and excessive growth of algae and plants, pesticide registration, and monitoring and sampling strategies. This report also is for individuals who wish to know more about the quality of streams and ground water in areas near where they live, and how that water quality compares to the quality of water in other areas across the Nation. The water-quality conditions in the Yellowstone River Basin summarized in this report are discussed in detail in other reports that can be accessed from http://wy.water.usgs.gov/YELL/index.htm. Detailed technical information, data and analyses, collection and analytical methodology, models, graphs, and maps that support the findings presented in this report, in addition to reports in this series from other basins, can be accessed from the national NAWQA Web site (http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa).

Effects of solvent evaporation on water sorption/solubility and nanoleakage of adhesive systems.

PubMed

Chimeli, Talita Baumgratz Cachapuz; D'Alpino, Paulo Henrique Perlatti; Pereira, Patrícia Nóbrega; Hilgert, Leandro Augusto; Di Hipólito, Vinicius; Garcia, Fernanda Cristina Pimentel

2014-01-01

To evaluate the influence of solvent evaporation in the kinetics of water diffusion (water sorption-WS, solubility-SL, and net water uptake) and nanoleakage of adhesive systems. Disk-shaped specimens (5.0 mm in diameter x 0.8 mm in thickness) were produced (N=48) using the adhesives: Clearfil S3 Bond (CS3)/Kuraray, Clearfil SE Bond - control group (CSE)/Kuraray, Optibond Solo Plus (OS)/Kerr and Scotchbond Universal Adhesive (SBU)/3M ESPE. The solvents were either evaporated for 30 s or not evaporated (N=24/per group), and then photoactivated for 80 s (550 mW/cm2). After desiccation, the specimens were weighed and stored in distilled water (N=12) or mineral oil (N=12) to evaluate the water diffusion over a 7-day period. Net water uptake (%) was also calculated as the sum of WS and SL. Data were submitted to 3-way ANOVA/Tukey's test (α=5%). The nanoleakage expression in three additional specimens per group was also evaluated after ammoniacal silver impregnation after 7 days of water storage under SEM. Statistical analysis revealed that only the factor "adhesive" was significant (p<0.05). Solvent evaporation had no influence in the WS and SL of the adhesives. CSE (control) presented significantly lower net uptake (5.4%). The nanoleakage was enhanced by the presence of solvent in the adhesives. Although the evaporation has no effect in the kinetics of water diffusion, the nanoleakage expression of the adhesives tested increases when the solvents are not evaporated.

Lunar Water Resource Demonstration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Muscatello, Anthony C.

2008-01-01

In cooperation with the Canadian Space Agency, the Northern Centre for Advanced Technology, Inc., the Carnegie-Mellon University, JPL, and NEPTEC, NASA has undertaken the In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) project called RESOLVE. This project is a ground demonstration of a system that would be sent to explore permanently shadowed polar lunar craters, drill into the regolith, determine what volatiles are present, and quantify them in addition to recovering oxygen by hydrogen reduction. The Lunar Prospector has determined these craters contain enhanced hydrogen concentrations averaging about 0.1%. If the hydrogen is in the form of water, the water concentration would be around 1%, which would translate into billions of tons of water on the Moon, a tremendous resource. The Lunar Water Resource Demonstration (LWRD) is a part of RESOLVE designed to capture lunar water and hydrogen and quantify them as a backup to gas chromatography analysis. This presentation will briefly review the design of LWRD and some of the results of testing the subsystem. RESOLVE is to be integrated with the Scarab rover from CMIJ and the whole system demonstrated on Mauna Kea on Hawaii in November 2008. The implications of lunar water for Mars exploration are two-fold: 1) RESOLVE and LWRD could be used in a similar fashion on Mars to locate and quantify water resources, and 2) electrolysis of lunar water could provide large amounts of liquid oxygen in LEO, leading to lower costs for travel to Mars, in addition to being very useful at lunar outposts.

Breakthroughs in the biogeochemistry of Nordic aquatic systems: Lessons from Water's Journey from Rain to Stream

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bishop, Kevin

2015-04-01

A sustainable society has been said to require knowledge of the limits placed by nature. Whatever one's views on the know-ability and significance of such limits, science strives to improve our understanding of these limiting factors, of which water is recognized to be one of the most important. Despite the centrality of water, the water cycle is maddeningly difficulty to pin down with the level of detail that is desired for resolving issues about the fate of pollutants, nutrient cycling and the global carbon balance, etc. But there is hope lurking in the Swedish landscape. The simplicity of hydrology in many Fennoscandian till soils, combined with applications of the only true tracers of water (isotopes of the water molecule) that were pioneered by Uppsala University hydrologists -provide a hydrological basis for breakthroughs in the biogeochemistry of critical earth support systems. This talk will explore some recent advances in understanding both pollutants and natural cycles, with linkages back to the concepts presented in the Water's Journey from Rain to Stream by Harald Grip and Allan Rodhe. The examples will include the mercury, acidity, and biogenic carbon of relevance to the "aquatic conduit" in the global carbon cycle. The talk will finish with thoughts about where to go next with the power that a well-characterized hydrology can provide.

The Challenges of Developing a Framework for Global Water Cycle Monitoring and Prediction (Alfred Wegener Medal Lecture)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wood, Eric F.

2014-05-01

The Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) Water Strategy ("From Observations to Decisions") recognizes that "water is essential for ensuring food and energy security, for facilitating poverty reduction and health security, and for the maintenance of ecosystems and biodiversity", and that water cycle data and observations are critical for improved water management and water security - especially in less developed regions. The GEOSS Water Strategy has articulated a number of goals for improved water management, including flood and drought preparedness, that include: (i) facilitating the use of Earth Observations for water cycle observations; (ii) facilitating the acquisition, processing, and distribution of data products needed for effective management; (iii) providing expertise, information systems, and datasets to the global, regional, and national water communities. There are several challenges that must be met to advance our capability to provide near real-time water cycle monitoring, early warning of hydrological hazards (floods and droughts) and risk assessment under climate change, regionally and globally. Current approaches to monitoring and predicting hydrological hazards are limited in many parts of the world, and especially in developing countries where national capacity is limited and monitoring networks are inadequate. This presentation describes the developments at Princeton University towards a seamless monitoring and prediction framework at all time scales that allows for consistent assessment of water variability from historic to current conditions, and from seasonal and decadal predictions to climate change projections. At the center of the framework is an experimental, global water cycle monitoring and seasonal forecast system that has evolved out of regional and continental systems for the US and Africa. The system is based on land surface hydrological modeling that is driven by satellite remote sensing precipitation to predict current hydrological conditions, flood potential and the state of drought. Seasonal climate model forecasts are downscaled and bias-corrected to drive the land surface model to provide hydrological forecasts and drought products out 6-9 months. The system relies on historic reconstructions of water variability over the 20th century, which forms the background climatology to which current conditions can be assessed. Future changes in water availability and drought risk are quantified based on bias-corrected and downscaled climate model projections that are used to drive the land surface models. For regions with lack of on-the-ground data we are field-testing low-cost environmental sensors and along with new satellite products for terrestrial hydrology and vegetation, integrating these into the system for improved monitoring and prediction. At every step there are scientific challenges whose solutions are only partially being solved. In addition there are challenges in delivering such systems as "climate services", especially to societies with low technical capacity such as rural agriculturalists in sub-Saharan Africa, but whose needs for such information are great. We provide an overview of the system and some examples of real-world applications to flood and drought events, with a focus on Africa.

How Did the Universe Make People? A Brief History of the Universe from the Beginning to the End

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mather, John C.

2009-01-01

Astronomers are beginning to know the easy part: How did the Big Bang make stars and galaxies and the chemical elements? How did solar systems form and evolve? How did the Earth and the Moon form, and how did water and carbon come to the Earth? Geologists are piecing together the history of the Earth, and biologists are coming to know the history and process of life from the earliest times. But is our planet the only life-supporting place in the universe, or are there many? Astronomers are working on that too. I will tell the story of the discovery of the Big Bang by Edwin Hubble, and how the primordial heat radiation tells the details of that universal explosion. I will tell how the James Webb Space Telescope will extend the discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope to ever greater distances, will look inside dust clouds to see stars being born today, will measure planets around other stars, and examine the dwarf planets in the outer Solar System. I will show concepts for great new space telescopes to follow the JWST and how they could use future moon rockets to hunt for signs of life on planets around other stars.

Water Quality in the Santa Ana Basin, California, 1999-2001

USGS Publications Warehouse

Belitz, Kenneth; Hamlin, Scott N.; Burton, Carmen A.; Kent, Robert; Fay, Ronald G.; Johnson, Tyler D.

2004-01-01

This report contains the major findings of a 1999-2001 assessment of water quality in the Santa Ana River Basin. It is one of a series of reports by the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program that present major findings in 51 major river basins and aquifer systems across the Nation. In these reports, water quality is discussed in terms of local, State, and regional issues. Conditions in a particular basin or aquifer system are compared to conditions found elsewhere and to selected national benchmarks, such as those for drinking-water quality and the protection of aquatic organisms. This report is intended for individuals working with water-resource issues in Federal, State, or local agencies, universities, public interest groups, or in the private sector. The information will be useful in addressing a number of current issues, such as the effects of agricultural and urban land use on water quality, human health, drinking water, source-water protection, hypoxia and excessive growth of algae and plants, pesticide registration, and monitoring and sampling strategies. This report is also for individuals who wish to know more about the quality of streams and ground water in areas near where they live and how that water quality compares to other areas across the Nation. The water-quality conditions in the Santa Ana River Basin summarized in this report are discussed in detail in other reports that can be accessed from http://ca.water.usgs.gov/ sana_nawqa/. Detailed technical information, data and analyses, collection and analytical methodology, models, graphs, and maps that support the findings presented in this report in addition to other reports in this series from other basins can be accessed from the national NAWQA Web site (http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa).

Water Quality in the Delaware River Basin, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Delaware, 1998-2001

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fischer, Jeffrey M.; Riva-Murray, Karen; Hickman, R. Edward; Chichester, Douglas C.; Brightbill, Robin A.; Romanok, Kristin M.; Bilger, Michael D.

2004-01-01

This report contains the major findings of a 1998-2001 assessment of water quality in the Delaware River Basin. It is one of a series of reports by the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program that present major findings in 51 major river basins and aquifer systems across the Nation. In these reports, water quality is discussed in terms of local, State, and regional issues. Conditions in a particular basin or aquifer system are compared to conditions found elsewhere and to selected national benchmarks, such as those for drinking-water quality and the protection of aquatic organisms. This report is intended for individuals working with water-resource issues in Federal, State, or local agencies, universities, public interest groups, or in the private sector. The information will be useful in addressing a number of current issues, such as the effects of agricultural and urban land use on water quality, human health, drinking water, source-water protection, hypoxia and excessive growth of algae and plants, pesticide registration, and monitoring and sampling strategies. This report is also for individuals who wish to know more about the quality of streams and ground water in areas near where they live, and how that quality compares to the quality of water in other areas across the Nation. The water-quality conditions in the Delaware River Basin summarized in this report are discussed in detail in other reports that can be accessed from http://nj.water.usgs.gov/nawqa/delr/. Detailed technical information, data and analyses, collection and analytical methodology, models, graphs, and maps that support the findings presented in this report, in addition to reports in this series from other basins, can be accessed from the national NAWQA Web site (http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa).

Water Quality in the Acadian-Pontchartrain Drainages; Louisiana and Mississippi, 1999-2001

USGS Publications Warehouse

Demcheck, Dennis K.; Tollett, Roland W.; Mize, Scott V.; Skrobialowski, Stanley C.; Fendick, Robert B.; Swarzenski, Christopher M.; Porter, Stephen

2004-01-01

This report contains the major findings of a 1999?2001 assessment of water quality in the Acadian-Pontchartrain Drainages Study Unit. It is one of a series of reports by the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program that present major findings in 51 major river basins and aquifer systems across the Nation. In these reports, water quality is discussed in terms of local, State, and regional issues. Conditions in a particular basin or aquifer system are compared to conditions found elsewhere and to selected national benchmarks, such as those for drinking-water quality and the protection of aquatic organisms. This report is intended for individuals working with water-resource issues in Federal, State, or local agencies, universities, public interest groups, or in the private sector. The information will be useful in addressing a number of current issues, such as the effects of agricultural and urban land use on water quality, human health, drinking water, source-water protection, hypoxia and excessive growth of algae and plants, pesticide registration, and monitoring and sampling strategies. This report also is for individuals who wish to know more about the quality of streams and ground water in areas near where they live, and how that water quality compares to other areas across the Nation. The water-quality conditions in the Acadian-Pontchartrain Drainages Study Unit summarized in this report are discussed in detail in other reports that can be accessed from (http://la.water.usgs.gov/nawqa/default.htm). Detailed technical information, data and analyses, collection and analytical methodology, models, graphs, and maps that support the findings presented in this report in addition to other reports in this series from other basins can be accessed from the national NAWQA Web site (http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa).

Determination of Pyrethroids through Liquid-Liquid Extraction and GC-ECD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ding, B.

2010-12-01

Storm water samples from various locations in San Diego Creek and Newport Bay watershed, southern California, were taken to study the occurrence and fate of pyrethroids. This study focused on four commonly used pyrethroids: bifenthrin, cypermethrin, permethrin, and fenpropathrin. Since the ban of DDT, usage of pyrethroids became an effective second choice. However, pyrethroids are extremely toxic to fish and aquatic organisms. They can pass through secondary wastewater treatment system, causing the final effluent to be in lethal doses to aquatic invertebrates and some insects such as mayflies. Hence, it is necessary to monitor the amount of pyrethroid concentration in storm water. As a part of this study, I attended the RISE internship program at Stanford University in this summer. In the seven weeks, I learned liquid-liquid extraction, water-bath evaporation, nitrogen evaporation, and gas chromatography-electron capture detector techniques to extract and detect the pyrethroid residues in the water sample.

Automated Water Chemistry Control at University of Virginia Pools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krone, Dan

1997-01-01

Describes the technologically advanced aquatic and fitness center at the University of Virginia. Discusses the imprecise water chemistry control at the former facility and its intensive monitoring requirements. Details the new chemistry control standards initiated in the new center, which ensure constant chlorine and pH levels. (RJM)

Management of an undisturbed water ecosystem containing old growth hemlock, as a model system of Clear Lake Reserve, Ontario

Treesearch

A. M. Zobel; R. A. Reid; K. Cybulski; K. Glowniak; O. Loucks; J. E. Nighswander

2000-01-01

Since 1969 Trent University researchers have been investigating the chemistry and biotic part of a small undisturbed lake near Minden, Ontario. Clear Lake is surrounded by old growth hemlock stands, some 400 years old. The research was later joined by personnel of the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, and the educational program in the Frost Centre. We are going to...

The Gonzaga desulfurization flue gas process

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

Kelleher, R.L.; O'Leary, T.J.; Shirk, I.A.

1984-01-01

The Gonzaga desulfurization flue gas process removes sulfur dioxide from a flue by cold water scrubbing. Sulfur dioxide is significantly more soluable in cold water (35/sup 0/F to 60/sup 0/F) than in warm water (100/sup 0/F). Sulfur dioxide reacts in water similarly as carbon dioxide reacts in water, in that both gasses are released from the water as the temperature of the water increases. The researchers at the Gonzaga University developed this process from the observations and techniques used in studying the acid and aldehyde concentrations in flue gasses with varying of fuel to air ratios. The apparatus was fixedmore » to a stationary engine and a gas/oil fired boiler. The flue gas was cooled to the dew point temperature of the air entering the combustion chamber on the pre-air heater. The system is described in two parts: the energies required for cooling in the scrubbing section and the energies required in the treatment section. The cold flue gas is utilized in cooling the scrubber section.« less

Field trip guidebook to the hydrogeology of the Rock-Fox River basin of Southeastern Wisconsin

USGS Publications Warehouse

Holt, C. L. R.; Cotter, R.D.; Green, J.H.; Olcott, P.G.

1970-01-01

On this trip we will examine some hydrogeologic characteristics of glacial features and emphasize ground-water management within the Rock-Fox River basin. Field stops will include the hydrogeology of a classical glacial terrane--the Kettle moraine--and the management of ground-water resources for industrial, municipal, agricultural, and fish-culture purposes. Descriptions of the geology, soils, water availability and characteristics, water quality, water use, and water problems within the basin are given in the accompanying U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Atlas (HA-360). This atlas is a product of the cooperative program of University Extension--the University of Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey.

R/V Kilo Moana's New Geophysical Instrumentation, Processing Methods, and Online Data Repository

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, J. E.; Chandler, M. T.; Taylor, B.; Shor, A.; Ferguson, J. S.; Wessel, P.

2012-12-01

In 2012 several upgrades were made to the underway geophysical systems on R/V Kilo Moana, which the University of Hawaii School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) operates as part of the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) fleet. New instrumentation includes a Bell BGM-3 forced feedback-type gravimeter, a Kongsberg EM 122 12-kHz receiver array, and a high resolution 70-100 kHz EM 710 multibeam echo sounder. Multibeam acceptance trials carried out in June by the Multibeam Advisory Committee, Gates Acoustic Services and UH-SOEST found that both sonars are performing within expected levels with ~5x water depth (WD) for the EM 710 system in shallow water and ~19 km swath width at 4,700 m depth (~4x WD) for the EM 122 deep water system. UH-SOEST also took steps this year to fulfill its obligation to make Kilo Moana's geophysical data more accessible to the public. After an audit of Kilo Moana data at SOEST, Lamont's Rolling Deck to Repository (R2R) and the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC), as of July 2012 all National Science Foundation-funded Kilo Moana multibeam, gravity, magnetics, center beam depth and Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) data have been submitted to R2R and any multibeam data over 2 years old is being transferred to NGDC. Because it had previously been difficult to access some of SOEST's geophysical data, updated data processing routines have been developed for converting raw gravity, magnetics, and centerbeam depth data to NGDC's standard marine data exchange format (MGD77) for archival and dissemination by NGDC. MGD77 files are being generated and inspected using rigorous along-track analytical techniques for ~270 surveys dating from 2002 to the present and are being submitted to NGDC. We are also developing an online data portal to further facilitate access to SOEST data.

Remote Sensing of Ocean Color in the Arctic: Algorithm Development and Comparative Validation. Chapter 9

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cota, Glenn F.

2001-01-01

The overall goal of this effort is to acquire a large bio-optical database, encompassing most environmental variability in the Arctic, to develop algorithms for phytoplankton biomass and production and other optically active constituents. A large suite of bio-optical and biogeochemical observations have been collected in a variety of high latitude ecosystems at different seasons. The Ocean Research Consortium of the Arctic (ORCA) is a collaborative effort between G.F. Cota of Old Dominion University (ODU), W.G. Harrison and T. Platt of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography (BIO), S. Sathyendranath of Dalhousie University and S. Saitoh of Hokkaido University. ORCA has now conducted 12 cruises and collected over 500 in-water optical profiles plus a variety of ancillary data. Observational suites typically include apparent optical properties (AOPs), inherent optical property (IOPs), and a variety of ancillary observations including sun photometry, biogeochemical profiles, and productivity measurements. All quality-assured data have been submitted to NASA's SeaWIFS Bio-Optical Archive and Storage System (SeaBASS) data archive. Our algorithm development efforts address most of the potential bio-optical data products for the Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and GLI, and provides validation for a specific areas of concern, i.e., high latitudes and coastal waters.

Role of water source in the growth of kale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coates, M.

2017-12-01

Over the course of 2 months we watered Kale with tap water, water from turtle bayou, rain water, water from university lake, and deionized water. We found little difference between height and number of seedlings with different water treatments even though nutrient levels were different between these water sources.

An integrated water-energy-food-livelihoods approach for assessing environmental livelihood security

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biggs, E. M.; Duncan, J.; Boruff, B.; Bruce, E.; Neef, A.; McNeill, K.; van Ogtrop, F. F.; Haworth, B.; Duce, S.; Horsley, J.; Pauli, N.; Curnow, J.; Imanari, Y.

2015-12-01

Environmental livelihood security refers to the challenges of maintaining global food security and universal access to freshwater and energy to sustain livelihoods and promote inclusive economic growth, whilst sustaining key environmental systems' functionality, particularly under variable climatic regimes. Environmental security is a concept complementary to sustainable development, and considers the increased vulnerability people have to certain environmental stresses, such as climatic change. Bridging links between the core component concepts of environmental security is integral to future human security, and in an attempt to create this bridge, the nexus approach to human protection has been created, where water resource availability underpins food, water and energy security. The water-energy-food nexus has an influential role in attaining human security, yet little research has made the link between the nexus and livelihoods. In this research we provide a critical appraisal of the synergies between water-energy-food nexus framings and sustainable livelihoods approaches, both of which aim to promote sustainable development. In regions where livelihoods are dependent on environmental conditions, the concept of sustainable development is critical for ensuring future environmental and human security. Given our appraisal we go on to develop an integrated framework for assessing environmental livelihood security of multiscale and multi-level systems. This framework provides a tangible approach for assessing changes in the water-energy-food-livelihood indicators of a system. Examples of where system applications may occur are discussed for the Southeast Asia and Oceania region. Our approach will be particularly useful for policy-makers to inform evidence-based decision-making, especially in localities where climate change increases the vulnerability of impoverished communities and extenuates environmental livelihood insecurity.

Materials for suspension (semi-solid) electrodes for energy and water technologies

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

Hatzell, Kelsey B.; Boota, Muhammad; Gogotsi, Yury

2015-01-01

Suspension or semi-solid electrodes have recently gained increased attention for large-scale applications such as grid energy storage, capacitive water deionization, and wastewater treatment. A suspension electrode is a multiphase material system comprised of an active (charge storing) material suspended in ionic solution (electrolyte). Gravimetrically, the electrolyte is the majority component and aids in physical transport of the active material. For the first time, this principle enables, scalability of electrochemical energy storage devices (supercapacitors and batteries) previously limited to small and medium scale applications. This critical review describes the ongoing material challenges encompassing suspension-based systems. The research described here combines classicalmore » aspects of electrochemistry, colloidal science, material science, fluid mechanics, and rheology to describe ion and charge percolation, adsorption of ions, and redox charge storage processes in suspension electrodes. Our review summarizes the growing inventory of material systems, methods and practices used to characterize suspension electrodes, and describes universal material system properties (rheological, electrical, and electrochemical) that are pivotal in the design of high performing systems. We include a discussion of the primary challenges and future research directions.« less

Energy-Water Nexus Knowledge Discovery Framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhaduri, B. L.; Foster, I.; Chandola, V.; Chen, B.; Sanyal, J.; Allen, M.; McManamay, R.

2017-12-01

As demand for energy grows, the energy sector is experiencing increasing competition for water. With increasing population and changing environmental, socioeconomic scenarios, new technology and investment decisions must be made for optimized and sustainable energy-water resource management. This requires novel scientific insights into the complex interdependencies of energy-water infrastructures across multiple space and time scales. An integrated data driven modeling, analysis, and visualization capability is needed to understand, design, and develop efficient local and regional practices for the energy-water infrastructure components that can be guided with strategic (federal) policy decisions to ensure national energy resilience. To meet this need of the energy-water nexus (EWN) community, an Energy-Water Knowledge Discovery Framework (EWN-KDF) is being proposed to accomplish two objectives: Development of a robust data management and geovisual analytics platform that provides access to disparate and distributed physiographic, critical infrastructure, and socioeconomic data, along with emergent ad-hoc sensor data to provide a powerful toolkit of analysis algorithms and compute resources to empower user-guided data analysis and inquiries; and Demonstration of knowledge generation with selected illustrative use cases for the implications of climate variability for coupled land-water-energy systems through the application of state-of-the art data integration, analysis, and synthesis. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), in partnership with Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and researchers affiliated with the Center for International Earth Science Information Partnership (CIESIN) at Columbia University and State University of New York-Buffalo (SUNY), propose to develop this Energy-Water Knowledge Discovery Framework to generate new, critical insights regarding the complex dynamics of the EWN and its interactions with climate variability and change. An overarching objective of this project is to integrate impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability (IAV) science with emerging data science to meet the data analysis needs of the U.S. Department of Energy and partner federal agencies with respect to the EWN.

Plasma reactor waste management systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ness, Robert O., Jr.; Rindt, John R.; Ness, Sumitra R.

1992-01-01

The University of North Dakota is developing a plasma reactor system for use in closed-loop processing that includes biological, materials, manufacturing, and waste processing. Direct-current, high-frequency, or microwave discharges will be used to produce plasmas for the treatment of materials. The plasma reactors offer several advantages over other systems, including low operating temperatures, low operating pressures, mechanical simplicity, and relatively safe operation. Human fecal material, sunflowers, oats, soybeans, and plastic were oxidized in a batch plasma reactor. Over 98 percent of the organic material was converted to gaseous products. The solids were then analyzed and a large amount of water and acid-soluble materials were detected. These materials could possibly be used as nutrients for biological systems.

Legionnaire's disease: a nosocomial outbreak in Turkey.

PubMed

Ozerol, I H; Bayraktar, M; Cizmeci, Z; Durmaz, R; Akbas, E; Yildirim, Z; Yologlu, S

2006-01-01

Six nosocomial cases of Legionella pneumophila occurred over a two-week period, with one further case being diagnosed retrospectively after 30 days. Strains isolated from the hospital water system were clonally related to a single sputum isolate. A sero-epidemiological investigation into legionella exposure amongst staff and inpatients was undertaken at the eight-year-old Inonu University Medical Centre in Turkey, which has 600 beds and central air conditioning. There is no disinfection programme for the hospital water system. A total of 500 serum samples (400 hospital staff and 100 inpatients) were screened for antibody to L. pneumophila by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Seroreactive cases were confirmed by a four-fold antibody rise in ELISA, a high indirect immunofluorescent assay (IFA) antibody titre or a positive urinary antigen test. ELISA showed that 24 (6%) of the 400 hospital staff and seven (7%) of the 100 inpatients had antibody titres higher than the cut-off value. ELISA-seroreactive cases were followed for two to four weeks. Of these subjects, seven (three patients and four staff) showed a four-fold rise in antibody titre by ELISA, six (three patients and three staff) had a high IFA titre, three patients with pneumonia had a positive urinary antigen test, and one of these patients also had a positive sputum culture. In addition, 22 water distribution systems were screened for the presence of L. pneumophila by culture. L. pneumophila was isolated from 15 sites. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis typing indicated that all strains isolated from water systems were identical and clonally related to the strain isolated from sputum. Superheating and flushing of water systems were undertaken with legionella being re-isolated from four sites. Repeated superheating and flushing eliminated legionella completely. This study demonstrated that rapid detection of L. pneumophila and adequate superheating and flushing of water systems are effective for elimination and reduction of spread of this organism.

The Preliminary Design of a Universal Martian Lander

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Norman, Timothy L.; Gaskin, David; Adkins, Sean; MacDonnell, David; Ross, Enoch; Hashimoto, Kouichi; Miller, Loran; Sarick, John; Hicks, Jonathan; Parlock, Andrew;

Towards a new paradigm of Socio-Hydrology; insights from the Saskatchewan River Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wheater, H. S.; Gober, P.

2011-12-01

Effects of human-induced change on the land surface and the functioning of water systems are ubiquitous. There is a basic need to understand these human processes and to represent them appropriately in hydrological models. Some land use effects, such as urbanisation, are well understood, but not readily quantifiable at catchment scale. Agricultural intensification, on the other hand, is poorly understood, and tools for quantification often lack scientific basis. And while land surface change affects runoff and recharge, in most major river systems flows are also modified by storage, withdrawals and returns; groundwater is also often heavily influenced by management. Quantification of these effects remains a major and neglected challenge - much large-scale hydrological modelling is concerned with hypothetical 'natural' systems. At a deeper level, in an era of rapid change and profound uncertainties about both human and physical systems, water management requires an understanding of the drivers of, and responses to change. Socio-hydrology has two very specific social components: 1. Integrating humans and their activities into water science. 2. Ensuring that water decision-making incorporates a range of values and perspectives about the meaning, value and use of water. Socio-hydrology recognizes that many of the current stresses on water systems stem from social factors such as demography, the global economy, changing societal values and norms, technological innovation, laws and customs, and financial markets. It also acknowledges that the inability of many water systems to adjust to change is because of outdated governance, institutional rigidity, failure to adequately perceive threats to water security, ill-functioning markets, and undue focus on physical at the expense of social change. Increasingly, it is recognized that some of the most critical vulnerabilities in contemporary water systems lie at the intersection between human activities and physical systems, such as when governance systems are incapable of dealing with climate-induced changes in water supply. Socio-hydrology also incorporates research into the processes by translating traditional scientific information into tools for water decision making. These processes are inherently social and value-based. They depend upon the way various water stakeholders (e.g. municipalities, farmers, mining companies, environmental groups, Aboriginal Peoples) define the problem of water security and the values they place on different aspects of it. Socio-hydrology is at the forefront of efforts to establish and study participatory processes for decision making in the water sector. We illustrate these issues by reference to the inter-provincial Saskatchewan River Basin in western Canada. The University of Saskatchewan has established socio-hydrology as a priority research area. Our goal is to integrate hydro-ecological research with social science to study societal responses to water stresses like flooding, drought and nutrient pollution and investigate the potential of existing and new economic and other policy instruments to help communities make sound decisions under uncertainty.

Water Capture Device Signal Integration Board

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chamberlin, Kathryn J.; Hartnett, Andrew J.

2018-01-01

I am a junior in electrical engineering at Arizona State University, and this is my second internship at Johnson Space Center. I am an intern in the Command and Data Handling Branch of Avionics Division (EV2), my previous internship was also in EV2. During my previous internship I was assigned to the Water Capture Device payload, where I designed a prototype circuit board for the electronics system of the payload. For this internship, I have come back to the Water Capture Device project to further the work on the electronics design I completed previously. The Water Capture Device is an experimental payload to test the functionality of two different phase separators aboard the International Space Station (ISS). A phase separator sits downstream of a condensing heat exchanger (CHX) and separates the water from the air particles for environmental control on the ISS. With changing CHX technology, new phase separators are required. The goal of the project is to develop a test bed for the two phase separators to determine the best solution.

Virginia Water Resources: Utilizing NASA Earth Observations to Monitor the Extent of Harmful Algal Blooms in Virginia Rivers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lubkin, S. H.; Morgan, C.

2015-12-01

Harmful algal bloom species have had an increasing ecological impact on the Chesapeake Bay Watershed where they disrupt water chemistry, kill fish and cause human illness. In Virginia, scientists from Virginia Institute of Marine Science and Old Dominion University monitor HABs and their effect on water quality; however, these groups lack a method to monitor HABs in real time. This limits the ability to document associated water quality conditions and predict future blooms. Band reflectance values from Landsat 8 Surface Reflectance data (USGS Earth Explorer) and MODIS Chlorophyll imagery (NOAA CoastWatch) were cross calibrated to create a regression model that calculated concentrations of chlorophyll. Calculations were verified with in situ measurements from the Virginia Estuarine and Coastal Observing System. Imagery produced with the Chlorophyll-A calculation model will allow VIMS and ODU scientists to assess the timing, magnitude, duration and frequency of HABs in Virginia's Chesapeake watershed and to predict the environmental and water quality conditions that favor bloom development.

Avoiding the Water-Climate-Poverty Trap: Adaptive Risk Management for Bangladesh's Coastal Embankments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hall, J. W.

2015-12-01

Our recent research on water security (Sadoff et al., 2015, Dadson et al., 2015) has revealed the dynamic relationship between water security and human well-being. A version of this dynamic is materialising in the coastal polder areas of Khulna, Bangladesh. Repeated coastal floods increase salinity, wipe out agricultural yields for several years and increase out-migration. As a tool to help inform and target future cycles of investment in improvements to the coastal embankments, in this paper we propose a dynamical model of biophysical processes and human well-being, which downscales our previous research to the Khulna region. State variables in the model include agricultural production, population, life expectancy and child mortality. Possible infrastructure interventions include embankment improvements, groundwater wells and drainage infrastructure. Hazard factors include flooding, salinization and drinking water pollution. Our system model can be used to inform adaptation decision making by testing the dynamical response of the system to a range of possible policy interventions, under uncertain future conditions. The analysis is intended to target investment and enable adaptive resource reallocation based on learning about the system response to interventions over the seven years of our research programme. The methodology and paper will demonstrate the complex interplay of factors that determine system vulnerability to climate change. The role of climate change uncertainties (in terms of mean sea level rise and storm surge frequency) will be evaluated alongside multiple other uncertain factors that determine system response. Adaptive management in a 'learning system' will be promoted as a mechanism for coping with climate uncertainties. References:Dadson, S., Hall, J.W., Garrick, D., Sadoff, C. and Grey, D. Water security, risk and economic growth: lessons from a dynamical systems model, Global Environmental Change, in review.Sadoff, C.W., Hall, J.W., Grey, D., Aerts, J.C.J.H., Ait-Kadi, M., Brown, C., Cox, A., Dadson, S., Garrick, D., Kelman, J., McCornick, P., Ringler, C., Rosegrant, M., Whittington, D. and Wiberg, D. Securing Water, Sustaining Growth: Report of the GWP/OECD Task Force on Water Security and Sustainable Growth, University of Oxford, April 2015, 180pp.

Case Study of The ARRA-Funded GSHP Demonstration at the Natural Sources Building, Montana Tech

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

Malhotra, Mini; Liu, Xiaobing

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), 26 ground source heat pump (GSHP) projects were competitively selected in 2009 to demonstrate the benefits of GSHP systems and innovative technologies for cost reduction and/or performance improvement. One of the selected demonstration projects was proposed by Montana Tech of the University of Montana for a 56,000 sq ft, newly constructed, on-campus research facility – the Natural Resources Building (NRB) located in Butte, Montana. This demonstrated GSHP system consists of a 50 ton water-to-water heat pump and a closed-loop ground heat exchanger with two redundant 7.5 hp constant-speed pumps to use watermore » in the nearby flooded mines as a heat source or heat sink. It works in conjunction with the originally installed steam HX and an aircooled chiller to provide space heating and cooling. It is coupled with the existing hot water and chilled water piping in the building and operates in the heating or cooling mode based on the outdoor air temperature. The ground loop pumps operate in conjunction with the existing pumps in the building hot and chilled water loops for the operation of the heat pump unit. The goal of this demonstration project is to validate the technical and economic feasibility of the demonstrated commercial-scale GSHP system in the region, and illustrate the feasibility of using mine waters as the heat sink and source for GSHP systems. Should the demonstration prove satisfactory and feasible, it will encourage similar GSHP applications using mine water, thus help save energy and reduce carbon emissions. The actual performance of the system is analyzed with available measured data for January through July 2014. The annual energy performance is predicted and compared with a baseline scenario, with the heating and cooling provided by the originally designed systems. The comparison is made in terms of energy savings, operating cost savings, cost-effectiveness, and environmental benefits. Finally, limitations in conducting the analysis are identified and recommendations for improvement in the control and operation of such systems are made.« less

CUAHSI Hydrologic Information Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maidment, D.; Zaslavsky, I.; Tarboton, D.; Piasecki, M.; Goodall, J.

2006-12-01

The Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc (CUAHSI) has a Hydrologic Information System (HIS) project, which is supported by NSF to develop infrastructure and services to support the advance of hydrologic science in the United States. This paper provides an overview of the HIS project. A set of web services called WaterOneFlow is being developed to provide better access to water observations data (point measurements of streamflow, water quality, climate and groundwater levels) from government agencies and individual investigator projects. Successful partnerships have been created with the USGS National Water Information System, EPA Storet and the NCDC Climate Data Online. Observations catalogs have been created for stations in the measurement networks of each of these data systems so that they can be queried in a uniform manner through CUAHSI HIS, and data delivered from them directly to the user via web services. A CUAHSI Observations Data Model has been designed for storing individual investigator data and an equivalent set of web services created for that so that individual investigators can publish their data onto the internet in the same format CUAHSI is providing for the federal agency data. These data will be accessed through HIS Servers hosted at the national level by CUAHSI and also by research centers and academic departments for regional application of HIS. An individual user application called HIS Analyst will enable individual hydrologic scientists to access the information from the network of HIS Servers. The present focus is on water observations data but later development of this system will include weather and climate grid information, GIS data, remote sensing data and linkages between data and hydrologic simulation models.

Searching for Alien Life Having Unearthly Biochemistry

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, Harry

2003-01-01

The search for alien life in the solar system should include exploring unearth-like environments for life having an unearthly biochemistry. We expect alien life to conform to the same basic chemical and ecological constraints as terrestrial life, since inorganic chemistry and the laws of ecosystems appear to be universal. Astrobiologists usually assume alien life will use familiar terrestrial biochemistry and therefore hope to find alien life by searching near water or by supplying hydrocarbons. The assumption that alien life is likely to be based on carbon and water is traditional and plausible. It justifies high priority for missions to search for alien life on Mars and Europa, but it unduly restricts the search for alien life. Terrestrial carbon-water biochemistry is not possible on most of the bodies of our solar system, but all alien life is not necessarily based on terrestrial biochemistry. If alien life has a separate origin from Earth life, and if can survive in an environment extremely different from Earth's, then alien life may have unearthly biochemistry. There may be other solvents than water that support alien life and other elements than carbon that form complex life enabling chain molecules. Rather than making the exploration-restricting assumption that all life requires carbon, water, and terrestrial biochemistry, we should make the exploration-friendly assumption that indigenous, environmentally adapted, alien life forms might flourish using unearthly biochemistry in many places in the solar system. Alien life might be found wherever there is free energy and a physical/chemical system capable of using that energy to build living structures. Alien life may be discovered by the detection of some general non-equilibrium chemistry rather than of terrestrial biochemistry. We should explore all the potential abodes of life in the solar system, including those where life based on terrestrial biochemistry can not exist.

Institutional and socioeconomic aspects of water supply

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rauchenschwandtner, H.; Pachel, M.

2012-04-01

Institutional and socioeconomic aspects of water supply Within the project CC-WaterS the participating researchers of the Vienna University of Economics and B.A. have been responsible for the analysis of the socioeconomic aspects related to water supply and climate change, the assessment of future water demands in the City of Vienna, as well as an estimation of economic consequences of possible water shortages and possible scope for the introduction of new legal guidelines. The institutional and socioeconomic dimensions of drinking water and sanitation systems are being examined by utilisation of different prognostic scenarios in order to assess future costs of water provisioning and future demands of main water users, thus providing an information basis and recommendations for policy and decision makers in the water sector. These dimensions, for example, include EU legislation - especially the Water Framework Directive -, national legislations and strategies targeted at achieving sustainability in water usage, best practices and different forms of regulating water markets, and an analysis of the implications of demographic change. As a basis this task encompasses research of given institutional, social, and legal-political structures in the area of water supply. In this course we provide an analysis of the structural characteristics of water markets, the role of water prices, the increasing perception of water as an economic good as well as implications thereof, the public awareness in regard to climate change and water resources, as well as related legal aspects and involved actors from regional to international level; and show how water resources and the different systems of water provisioning are affected by (ideological) conflicts on various levels. Furthermore, and in order to provide a solid basis for management recommendations related to climate change and water supply, an analytical risk-assessment framework based on the concepts of new institutional economics is being developed, which provides a different analytical perspective for examining the linkages between institutions, economic processes, and societal factors.

Coping with drought: A High Resolution Drought Monitoring and Prediction System for the Pacific Northwest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiao, M.; Nijssen, B.; Shukla, S.; Lettenmaier, D. P.

2013-12-01

The Pacific Northwest (PNW) region in North America (defined here as the Columbia and Klamath River basins plus the coastal drainages) is a diverse geographic region with complex topography and a variety of climates. Agriculture (dryland and irrigated), forestry, fisheries, and hydropower provide significant economic benefit to the region and are directly dependent on the availability of sufficient water at the right time. Additional demands are made on water supplies by recreation, ecosystem services and emerging needs such as hydropower generation in support of wind energy integration. Several major droughts have occurred over the region in recent decades (notably 1977, 2001, and 2004), which have had significant consequences for the region's agricultural, hydropower production, and environment. An emerging need for the region is the coordination of existing regional climate activities, including a better awareness of the current water availability conditions across the region. The University of Washington has operated a surface water monitor for the continental United States since 2005, which provides near real-time estimates of surface water conditions at a spatial resolution of 1/2 degree in terms of soil moisture, snow water equivalent, and total moisture based on a suite of land surface models. A higher resolution Drought Monitoring and Prediction System (DMPS) for Washington State was originally implemented at 1/8 degree and later increased to 1/16 degree. This presentation describes the extension of this system to the entire PNW region at 1/16 degree. The expanded system provides daily updates of three primary drought-related indices based on near real-time station observations in the region: Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Standardized Runoff Index (SRI), and Soil Moisture Percentiles (SMP). To make the drought measures relevant to water managers, surface water conditions are not only reported on a gridded map, but watershed-level drought summary indices are reported for larger aggregates such as the Water Resource Inventory Areas (WRIAs) in Washington State and the Water Allocation Basins (WABs) within Oregon. We explore the ability of the system to reproduce historic droughts for the period since 1915 and analyze regional differences in drought dynamics within the PNW. We also evaluate the lead time that would have been provided by the system had it been available relative to official drought declarations.

ENDOCRINE MODULATING EFFECTS OF LAGOON WATER FROM CONFINED ANIMAL FEED OPERATIONS ON AMPHIBIANS

EPA Science Inventory

Endocrine Modulating Effects of Lagoon Water from Confined Animal Feed Operations on Amphibians. Weber, L.P.*1, Dumont, J.N.1, Selcer, K.W.2, Hutchins, S.R.3, and Janz, D.M.1 1Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, 2Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, 3U.S. Environmenta...

Bridging Troubled Waters: Helping Students Make the Transition from High School to University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pancer, S. Mark; Pratt, Michael; Hunsberger, Bruce; Alisat, Susan

2004-01-01

This article discusses recent programs and procedures based at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, designed to help students' transition from high school to university. Students are poorly prepared for university, and the meagre assistance they get from pre-university orientations, or even from longer-term programs such as University…

In situ optical water-quality sensor networks - Workshop summary report

USGS Publications Warehouse

Pellerin, Brian A.; Bergamaschi, Brian A.; Horsburgh, Jeffery S.

2012-01-01

Advanced in situ optical water-quality sensors and new techniques for data analysis hold enormous promise for furthering scientific understanding of aquatic systems. These sensors measure important biogeochemical parameters for long deployments, enabling the capture of data at time scales over which they vary most meaningfully. The high-frequency, real-time water-quality data they generate provide opportunities for early warning of water-quality deterioration, trend detection, and science-based decision support. However, developing networks of optical sensors in freshwater systems that report reliable and comparable data across and between sites remains a challenge to the research and monitoring community. To address this, the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc. (CUAHSI) convened a joint 3-day workshop (June 8-10, 2011) at the National Conservation Training Center in Shepardstown, West Virginia, to explore ways to coordinate development of standards and applications for optical sensors, and improve handling, storing, and analyzing the continuous data they produce. The workshop brought together more than 60 scientists, program managers, and vendors from universities, government agencies, and the private sector. Several important outcomes emerged from the presentations and breakout sessions. There was general consensus that making intercalibrated measurements requires that both manufacturers and users better characterize and calibrate the sensors under field conditions. For example, the influence of suspended particles, highly colored water, and temperature on optical sensors remains poorly understood, but consistently accounting for these factors is critical to successful deployment and for interpreting results in different settings. This, in turn, highlights the lack of appropriate standards for sensor calibrations, field checks, and characterizing interferences, as well as methods for data validation, treatment, and analysis of resulting measurements. Participants discussed a wide range of logistical considerations for successful sensor deployments, including key physical infrastructure, data loggers, and remote-communication techniques. Tools to manage, assure, and control quality, and explore large streams of continuous water-quality data are being developed by the USGS, CUAHSI, and other organizations, and will be critical to making full use of these highfrequency data for research and monitoring.

Nuclear Power - Post Fukushima

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reyes, Jose, Jr.

2011-10-01

The extreme events that led to the prolonged power outage at the Fukushima Daiicchi nuclear plant have highlighted the importance of assuring a means for stable long term cooling of the nuclear fuel and containment following a complete station blackout. Legislative bodies, regulatory agencies and industry are drawing lessons from those events and considering what changes, if any, are needed to nuclear power, post Fukushima. The enhanced safety of a new class of reactor designed by NuScale Power is drawing significant attention in light of the Fukushima events. During normal operation, each NuScale containment is fully immersed in a water-filled stainless steel lined concrete pool that resides underground. The pool, housed in a Seismic Category I building, is large enough to provided 30 days of core and containment cooling without adding water. After 30 days, the decay heat generations coupled with thermal radiation heat transfer is completely adequate to remove core decay heat for an unlimited period of time. These passive power systems can perform their function without requiring an external supply of water of power. An assessment of the NuScale passive systems is being performed through a comprehensive test program that includes the NuScale integral system test facility at Oregon State University

Preliminary design of a universal Martian lander

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Norman, Timothy L.; Gaskin, David E.; Adkins, Sean; Gunawan, Mary; Johnson, Raquel; Macdonnell, David; Parlock, Andrew; Sarick, John; Bodwell, Charles; Hashimoto, Kouichi

In the next 25 years, mankind will be undertaking yet another giant leap forward in the exploration of the solar system: a manned mission to Mars. This journey will provide important information on the composition and history of both Mars and the Solar System. A manned mission will also provide the opportunity to study how humans can adapt to long term space flight conditions and the Martian environment. As part of the NASA/USRA program, nineteen West Virginia University students conducted a preliminary design of a manned Universal Martian Lander (UML). The UML's design will provide a 'universal' platform, consisting of four modules for living and laboratory experiments and a liquid-fuel propelled Manned Ascent Return Vehicle (MARV). The distinguishing feature of the UML is the 'universal' design of the modules which can be connected to form a network of laboratories and living quarters for future missions thereby reducing development and production costs. The WVU design considers descent to Mars from polar orbit, a six month surface stay, and ascent for rendezvous. The design begins with an unmanned UML landing at Elysium Mons followed by the manned UML landing nearby. During the six month surface stay, the eight modules will be assembled to form a Martian base where scientific experiments will be performed. The mission will also incorporate hydroponic plant growth into a Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) for water recycling, food production, and to counteract psychological effects of living on Mars. In situ fuel production for the MARV will be produced from gases in the Martian atmosphere. Following surface operations, the eight member crew will use the MARV to return to the Martian Transfer Vehicle (MTV) for the journey home to Earth.

Preliminary design of a universal Martian lander

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Norman, Timothy L.; Gaskin, David E.; Adkins, Sean; Gunawan, Mary; Johnson, Raquel; Macdonnell, David; Parlock, Andrew; Sarick, John; Bodwell, Charles; Hashimoto, Kouichi

1993-01-01

In the next 25 years, mankind will be undertaking yet another giant leap forward in the exploration of the solar system: a manned mission to Mars. This journey will provide important information on the composition and history of both Mars and the Solar System. A manned mission will also provide the opportunity to study how humans can adapt to long term space flight conditions and the Martian environment. As part of the NASA/USRA program, nineteen West Virginia University students conducted a preliminary design of a manned Universal Martian Lander (UML). The UML's design will provide a 'universal' platform, consisting of four modules for living and laboratory experiments and a liquid-fuel propelled Manned Ascent Return Vehicle (MARV). The distinguishing feature of the UML is the 'universal' design of the modules which can be connected to form a network of laboratories and living quarters for future missions thereby reducing development and production costs. The WVU design considers descent to Mars from polar orbit, a six month surface stay, and ascent for rendezvous. The design begins with an unmanned UML landing at Elysium Mons followed by the manned UML landing nearby. During the six month surface stay, the eight modules will be assembled to form a Martian base where scientific experiments will be performed. The mission will also incorporate hydroponic plant growth into a Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) for water recycling, food production, and to counteract psychological effects of living on Mars. In situ fuel production for the MARV will be produced from gases in the Martian atmosphere. Following surface operations, the eight member crew will use the MARV to return to the Martian Transfer Vehicle (MTV) for the journey home to Earth.

Variational Lagrangian data assimilation in open channel networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Qingfang; Tinka, Andrew; Weekly, Kevin; Beard, Jonathan; Bayen, Alexandre M.

2015-04-01

This article presents a data assimilation method in a tidal system, where data from both Lagrangian drifters and Eulerian flow sensors were fused to estimate water velocity. The system is modeled by first-order, hyperbolic partial differential equations subject to periodic forcing. The estimation problem can then be formulated as the minimization of the difference between the observed variables and model outputs, and eventually provide the velocity and water stage of the hydrodynamic system. The governing equations are linearized and discretized using an implicit discretization scheme, resulting in linear equality constraints in the optimization program. Thus, the flow estimation can be formed as an optimization problem and efficiently solved. The effectiveness of the proposed method was substantiated by a large-scale field experiment in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in California. A fleet of 100 sensors developed at the University of California, Berkeley, were deployed in Walnut Grove, CA, to collect a set of Lagrangian data, a time series of positions as the sensors moved through the water. Measurements were also taken from Eulerian sensors in the region, provided by the United States Geological Survey. It is shown that the proposed method can effectively integrate Lagrangian and Eulerian measurement data, resulting in a suited estimation of the flow variables within the hydraulic system.

Long-term effects of hospital water network disinfection on Legionella and other waterborne bacteria in an Italian university hospital.

PubMed

Casini, Beatrice; Buzzigoli, Andrea; Cristina, Maria Luisa; Spagnolo, Anna Maria; Del Giudice, Pietro; Brusaferro, Silvio; Poscia, Andrea; Moscato, Umberto; Valentini, Paola; Baggiani, Angelo; Privitera, Gaetano

2014-03-01

Legionella control still remains a critical issue in healthcare settings where the preferred approach to health risk assessment and management is to develop a water safety plan. We report the experience of a university hospital, where a water safety plan has been applied since 2002, and the results obtained with the application of different methods for disinfecting hot water distribution systems in order to provide guidance for the management of water risk. The disinfection procedures included continuous chlorination with chlorine dioxide (0.4-0.6 mg/L in recirculation loops) reinforced by endpoint filtration in critical areas and a water treatment based on monochloramine (2-3 mg/L). Real-time polymerase chain reaction and a new immunoseparation and adenosine triphosphate bioluminescence analysis were applied in environmental monitoring. After 9 years, the integrated disinfection-filtration strategy significantly reduced positive sites by 55% and the mean count by 78% (P < .05); however, the high costs and the occurrence of a chlorine-tolerant clone belonging to Legionella pneumophila ST269 prompted us to test a new disinfectant. The shift to monochloramine allowed us to eliminate planktonic Legionella and did not require additional endpoint filtration; however, nontuberculous mycobacteria were isolated more frequently as long as the monochloramine concentration was 2 mg/L; their cultivability was never regained by increasing the concentration up to 3 mg/L. Any disinfection method needs to be adjusted/fine-tuned in individual hospitals in order to maintain satisfactory results over time, and only a locally adapted evidence-based approach allows assessment of the efficacy and disadvantages of the control measures.

Water Quality Monitoring

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

With the backing of NASA, researchers at Michigan State University, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Wisconsin have begun using satellite data to measure lake water quality and clarity of the lakes in the Upper Midwest. This false color IKONOS image displays the water clarity of the lakes in Eagan, Minnesota. Scientists measure the lake quality in satellite data by observing the ratio of blue to red light in the satellite data. When the amount of blue light reflecting off of the lake is high and the red light is low, a lake generally had high water quality. Lakes loaded with algae and sediments, on the other hand, reflect less blue light and more red light. In this image, scientists used false coloring to depict the level of clarity of the water. Clear lakes are blue, moderately clear lakes are green and yellow, and murky lakes are orange and red. Using images such as these along with data from the Landsat satellites and NASA's Terra satellite, the scientists plan to create a comprehensive water quality map for the entire Great Lakes region in the next few years. For more information, read: Testing the Waters (Image courtesy Upper Great Lakes Regional Earth Science Applications Center, based on data copyright Space Imaging)

Applicability of universal Bacteroidales genetic marker for microbial monitoring of drinking water sources in comparison to conventional indicators.

PubMed

Shahryari, A; Nikaeen, M; Khiadani Hajian, M; Nabavi, F; Hatamzadeh, M; Hassanzadeh, A

2014-11-01

Water quality monitoring is essential for the provision of safe drinking water. In this study, we compared a selection of fecal indicators with universal Bacteroidales genetic marker to identify fecal pollution of a variety of drinking water sources. A total of 60 samples were collected from water sources. The microbiological parameters included total coliforms, fecal coliforms, Escherichia coli and fecal streptococci as the fecal indicator bacteria (FIB), Clostridium perfringens and H2S bacteria as alternative indicators, universal Bacteroidales genetic marker as a promising alternative fecal indicator, and Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., and E. coli O157 as pathogenic bacteria. From 60 samples analyzed, Bacteroidales was the most frequently detected indicator followed by total coliforms. However, the Bacteroidales assay failed to detect the marker in nine samples positive for FIB and other alternative indicators. The results of our study showed that the absence of Bacteroidales is not necessarily an evidence of fecal and pathogenic bacteria absence and may be unable to ensure the safety of the water. Further research, however, is required for a better understanding of the use of a Bacteroidales genetic marker as an indicator in water quality monitoring programs.

Can terraced pond wetland systems improve urban watershed water quality?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, S.; Ho, M.; Flanagan, N. E.; Richardson, C. J.

2017-12-01

Properly built constructed wetlands are a more economic and efficient way of wastewater treatment compared with traditional methods, although their mechanisms are far from completely understood. As part of the Stream and Wetland Assessment Management Park (SWAMP), which is aimed to improve the water quality of downstream and thereby enhance watershed ecosystem services, a terraced three-pond wetland system was created near Duke University in 2014. This project is expected to promote the retention and settling of pollutants and sediment before runoffs enter downstream flow. The goal of this study is to examine: (1) whether a terraced pond wetland system improves water quality, during both baseline (low flow) and storm events (high flow), which increases pollutant inputs; and (2) how this system functions to remove pollutants, namely what components of this system (plant, soil or water) increase or decrease the level of pollutants. By analyzing a dataset consisting of more than four-year monthly samplings from Pond 1 (first pond in the system) and Pond 3 (last pond in the system), we found that the pond system has reduced total suspended solids (TSS) but only when elevated inputs occur. Dissolved oxygen (DO) is closely related to temperature and macrophytes growth; whereas acidity (pH), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP) did not show retention in the early stages of the system development. This system reaches its optimum for reducing TSS at the second pond, but the third pond has important effects on DO, pH, TN and TP. A monitoring in 2017 shows this pond system significantly reduces TSS while increasing dissolved oxygen and neutralizing pH after a storm event; although greater variations incurred within the system as time progresses after storm, overall retention function remained valid. Retention of the pollutants is primarily accomplished by the settling process, which occurs in stilled waterbody of the ponds and by the filtration of macrophytes. We expect more quantitative soil/plant uptake relations to be explored as the system ages.

Dredging and disposal of fine sediments in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

PubMed

Barbosa, M C; de Souza Soares de Almeida, M

2001-07-30

Dredging is employed quite frequently in the state of Rio de Janeiro, especially for the installation and upkeep of commercial ports and rehabilitation of the hydraulic section of silted bodies of water. Until recently, all dredged material with no economic use was destined for marine disposal or stored at the edge of the water body. Since the 1990s, however, a new approach has been adopted for dredging as a result of pressure from the environmental organisations, encouraging closer interaction in Rio de Janeiro between the local and state public authorities and the universities on issues relating to licensing of this kind of activity. The recent experiments of the Civil and Ocean Engineering Programs of COPPE-UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) described herein are included in this context. The state of Rio de Janeiro has three bays, several coastal lagoon systems and a number of small and medium sized rivers in or close to urban areas, with a gentle slope as they near the sea. This is, then, a region highly susceptible to silting processes of water bodies, and therefore, to maintenance and/or environmental rehabilitation. As discussed in the article, fine and almost always organic sediments prevail, which is a considerable obstacle to the end disposal and possibility of reuse.

Stormwater quality of spring-summer-fall effluent from three partial-infiltration permeable pavement systems and conventional asphalt pavement.

PubMed

Drake, Jennifer; Bradford, Andrea; Van Seters, Tim

2014-06-15

This study examined the spring, summer and fall water quality performance of three partial-infiltration permeable pavement (PP) systems and a conventional asphalt pavement in Ontario. The study, conducted between 2010 and 2012, compared the water quality of effluent from two Interlocking Permeable Concrete Pavements (AquaPave(®) and Eco-Optiloc(®)) and a Hydromedia(®) Pervious Concrete pavement with runoff from an Asphalt control pavement. The usage of permeable pavements can mitigate the impact of urbanization on receiving surface water systems through quantity control and stormwater treatment. The PP systems provided excellent stormwater treatment for petroleum hydrocarbons, total suspended solids, metals (copper, iron, manganese and zinc) and nutrients (total-nitrogen and total-phosphorus) by reducing event mean concentrations (EMC) as well as total pollutant loadings. The PPs significantly reduced the concentration and loading of ammonia (NH4(+)+NH3), nitrite (NO2(-)) and organic-nitrogen (Org-N) but increased the concentration and loading of nitrate (NO3(-)). The PP systems had mixed performances for the treatment of phosphate (PO4(3-)). The PP systems increased the concentration of sodium (Na) and chloride (Cl) but EMCs remained well below recommended levels for drinking water quality. Relative to the observed runoff, winter road salt was released more slowly from the PP systems resulting in elevated spring and early-summer Cl and Na concentrations in effluent. PP materials were found to introduce dissolved solids into the infiltrating stormwater. The release of these pollutants was verified by additional laboratory scale testing of the individual pavement and aggregate materials at the University of Guelph. Pollutant concentrations were greatest during the first few months after construction and declined rapidly over the course of the study. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

University of Minnesota Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) project report on the first long-term cycle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walton, M.

1991-10-01

The technical feasibility of high-temperature (greater than 100 C) aquifer thermal energy storage (IOTAS) in a deep, confined aquifer was tested in a series of experimental cycles at the University of Minnesota's St. Paul field test facility (FTF). This report describes the additions to the FTF for the long-term cycles and the details of the first long-term cycle (LT1) that was conducted from November 1984 through May 1985. Heat recovery; operational experience; and thermal, chemical, hydrologic, and geologic aspects of LT1 are reported. The permits for long-term cycles required the addition of a monitoring well 30.5 m from the storage well for monitoring near the edge of the thermally affected area and allowed the addition of a cation-exchange water softener to enable continuous operation during the injection phase. Approximately 62 percent of the 9.47 GWh of energy added to the 9.21 x 10(exp 4) cu m of ground water stored in the aquifer LT1 was recovered. Ion-exchange water softening of the heated and stored ground water prevented scaling in the system heat exchangers and the storage well and changed the major-ion chemistry of the stored water. Temperatures at the storage horizons in site monitoring wells reached as high as 108 C during the injection phase of LT1. Following heat recovery, temperatures were less than 30 C at the same locations. Less permeable horizons underwent slow temperature changes. No thermal or chemical effects were observed at the remote monitoring site.

The Role of Water Governance and Irrigation Technologies in Regional-Scale Water Use and Consumption in the US West

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lammers, R. B.; Grogan, D. S.; Frolking, S. E.; Proussevitch, A. A.; Zuidema, S.; Fowler, L.; Caccese, R. T.; Peklak, D. L.; Fisher-Vanden, K.

2017-12-01

Water management in the Western USA is challenged by the demands of an increased population, ecological needs and changing values for water use, and a broadening of variability in climate, which together have created physical limits on water availability. The management of scarce water resources in this region is strictly constrained by the current legal structure (prior appropriation water rights) on one hand, and on the other assisted by the development of new, efficient water delivery and application technologies. Therefore, critical components for a complete understanding of the hydrological landscape include the institutions governing water rights, the technologies used for the highly water consumptive agricultural sector, and the role institutions and technologies play in altering when and where water is used and consumed by humans or reserved for the environment. To explore the sensitivities of water availability within the human-physical system, we present a method to incorporate water rights allocated under the prior appropriation doctrine for the western U.S. into the University of New Hampshire macro-scale Water Balance Model to capture the essential structure of these rights and their impacts on different economic sectors in Idaho and across the US West. In addition to legal structures, new irrigation technologies also alter the efficiency and timing of water use. We assess the impacts of a variety of technologies for both the delivery of water to the agricultural fields and the application methods for bringing water to the crops on consumptive and non-consumptive agricultural water use. We explore the impacts relative to natural climate variability, investigate the role that return flows from different agricultural technologies have on regional water balance, and examine the sensitivity of the entire system to extremes such as extended drought. These methods are sufficiently generalizable to be used by other hydrological models.

Hydrology and Climatology of the Caribou-Poker Creeks Research Watershed, Alaska,

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-10-01

system the watershed falls within the Inter- dense brush of willow, alder and dwarf birch in ior Alaska Forest ( Taiga ) designation. open forests near...and C.T. Cushwina (1973) Research stream flow characteristics in the discontinuous opportunities and needs in the Taiga of Alaska. permafrost zone of...edition. taiga research watershed. Institute of Water Re- linkenson, W.M. nB. Lotspeich and lW. Mueller sources, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska

VERITAS: a Discovery-Class Venus Surface Geology and Geophysics Mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Freeman, Anthony; Smrekar, Suzanne E.; Hensley, Scott; Wallace, Mark; Sotin, Christophe; Darrach, Murray; Xaypraseuth, Peter; Helbert, Joern; Mazarico, Erwan

2016-01-01

Our understanding of solar system evolution is limited by a great unanswered question: How Earthlike is Venus? We know that these "twin" planets formed with similar bulk composition and size. Yet the evolutionary path Venus followed has diverged from Earth's, in losing its surface water and becoming hotter than Mercury. What led to this? The answer has profound implications for how terrestrial planets become habitable and the potential for life in the universe.

Effects of solvent evaporation on water sorption/solubility and nanoleakage of adhesive systems

PubMed Central

CHIMELI, Talita Baumgratz Cachapuz; D'ALPINO, Paulo Henrique Perlatti; PEREIRA, Patrícia Nóbrega; HILGERT, Leandro Augusto; DI HIPÓLITO, Vinicius; GARCIA, Fernanda Cristina Pimentel

2014-01-01

Objective To evaluate the influence of solvent evaporation in the kinetics of water diffusion (water sorption-WS, solubility-SL, and net water uptake) and nanoleakage of adhesive systems. Material and Methods Disk-shaped specimens (5.0 mm in diameter x 0.8 mm in thickness) were produced (N=48) using the adhesives: Clearfil S3 Bond (CS3)/Kuraray, Clearfil SE Bond - control group (CSE)/Kuraray, Optibond Solo Plus (OS)/Kerr and Scotchbond Universal Adhesive (SBU)/3M ESPE. The solvents were either evaporated for 30 s or not evaporated (N=24/per group), and then photoactivated for 80 s (550 mW/cm2). After desiccation, the specimens were weighed and stored in distilled water (N=12) or mineral oil (N=12) to evaluate the water diffusion over a 7-day period. Net water uptake (%) was also calculated as the sum of WS and SL. Data were submitted to 3-way ANOVA/Tukey's test (α=5%). The nanoleakage expression in three additional specimens per group was also evaluated after ammoniacal silver impregnation after 7 days of water storage under SEM. Results Statistical analysis revealed that only the factor "adhesive" was significant (p<0.05). Solvent evaporation had no influence in the WS and SL of the adhesives. CSE (control) presented significantly lower net uptake (5.4%). The nanoleakage was enhanced by the presence of solvent in the adhesives. Conclusions Although the evaporation has no effect in the kinetics of water diffusion, the nanoleakage expression of the adhesives tested increases when the solvents are not evaporated. PMID:25141201

A uniform approach for programming distributed heterogeneous computing systems

PubMed Central

Grasso, Ivan; Pellegrini, Simone; Cosenza, Biagio; Fahringer, Thomas

2014-01-01

Large-scale compute clusters of heterogeneous nodes equipped with multi-core CPUs and GPUs are getting increasingly popular in the scientific community. However, such systems require a combination of different programming paradigms making application development very challenging. In this article we introduce libWater, a library-based extension of the OpenCL programming model that simplifies the development of heterogeneous distributed applications. libWater consists of a simple interface, which is a transparent abstraction of the underlying distributed architecture, offering advanced features such as inter-context and inter-node device synchronization. It provides a runtime system which tracks dependency information enforced by event synchronization to dynamically build a DAG of commands, on which we automatically apply two optimizations: collective communication pattern detection and device-host-device copy removal. We assess libWater’s performance in three compute clusters available from the Vienna Scientific Cluster, the Barcelona Supercomputing Center and the University of Innsbruck, demonstrating improved performance and scaling with different test applications and configurations. PMID:25844015

Visualization of fluid turbulence and acoustic cavitation during phacoemulsification.

PubMed

Tognetto, Daniele; Sanguinetti, Giorgia; Sirotti, Paolo; Brezar, Edoardo; Ravalico, Giuseppe

2005-02-01

To describe a technique for visualizing fluid turbulence and cavitational energy created by ultrasonic phaco tips. University Eye Clinic of Trieste, Trieste, Italy. Generation of cavitational energy by the phaco tip was visualized using an optical test bench comprising several components. The technique uses a telescope system to expand a laser light source into a coherent, collimated beam of light with a diameter of approximately 50.0 mm. The expanded laser beam shines on the test tube containing the tip activated in a medium of water or ophthalmic viscosurgical device (OVD). Two precision optical collimators complete the optical test bench and form the system used to focus data onto a charge-coupled device television camera connected to a recorder. Images of irrigation, irrigation combined with aspiration, irrigation/aspiration, and phacosonication were obtained with the tip immersed in a tube containing water or OVD. Optical image processing enabled acoustic cavitation to be visualized during phacosonication. The system is a possible means of evaluating a single phaco apparatus power setting and comparing phaco machines and techniques.

Water laws and concepts

USGS Publications Warehouse

Thomas, H.E.

1970-01-01

Throughout human history various laws and customs have developed concerning the individual rights and rights in common to the waters of the earth. Many existing laws and concepts are clearly influenced by the environment in which they originated and reflect the relative abundance or scarcity of water. Many concepts reflect the people's original interests in the water and once established have been passed from generation to generation with little modification. Some laws and concepts have been carried by people in their migrations and colonial expansions to vastly different environments, with rather curious consequences. In many places water laws that had been well adapted to the natural environment have become less tenable because of man's activities in modifying that environment, or because of increasing use of water: Increasing consumptive use shifts the water economy toward lesser abundance or increasing deficiency; increasing nonconsumptive use results in pollution of the water resources, so that they become less suitable for other users. The water-rights systems in the United States vary from State to State: some are reasonably fitted to their environment, some have outlived their place in history, some are wasteful of water, some show favoritism to certain special interests or segments of the population. Water-use rights are universally recognized as real property, with constitutional protection against deprivation without due process of law.

[Spatial and seasonal characterization of the drinking water from various sources in a peri-urban town of Salta].

PubMed

Rodriguez-Alvarez, María S; Moraña, Liliana B; Salusso, María M; Seghezzo, Lucas

Drinking water monitoring plans are important to characterize both treated and untreated water used for drinking purposes. Access to drinking water increased in recent years as a response to the Millennium Development Goals set for 2015. The new Sustainable Development Goals aim to ensure universal access to safe drinking water by 2030. Within the framework of these global goals, it is crucial to monitor local drinking water systems. In this paper, treated and untreated water from different sources currently consumed in a specific town in Salta, northern Argentina, was thoroughly assessed. Monitoring extended along several seasons and included the physical, chemical and microbiological variables recommended by the Argentine Food Code. On the one hand, treated water mostly complies with these standards, with some non-compliances detected during the rainy season. Untreated water, on the other hand, never meets microbiological standards and is unfit for human consumption. Monitoring seems essential to detect anomalies and help guarantee a constant provision of safe drinking water. New treatment plants are urgently needed to expand the water grid to the entire population. Copyright © 2017 Asociación Argentina de Microbiología. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Developing a Multimedia Package for University Teaching and Learning--Lessons Learnt

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maheshwari, B.

2011-01-01

A team of staff at the University of Western Sydney (UWS) were involved in developing a multimedia package, called Sustainable Water Use in Agriculture (SWAG), to assist the first and second year students to learn about the use, management and conservation of water in agriculture. A range of media techniques including text, sound, diagrams,…

Predicting Chromophoric Dissolved Organic Matter Distributions in Coastal Waters

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-01-01

Predicting Chromophoric Dissolved Organic Matter Distributions in Coastal Waters Robert F. Chen Environmental , Earth and Ocean Sciences...G. Bernard Gardner Environmental , Coastal and Ocean Sciences University of Massachusetts Boston 100 Morrissey Boulevard Boston, MA 02125-3393...phone: (617)287-7451 fax: (617)287-7474 email: bernie.gardner@umb.edu Yong Tian Environmental , Coastal and Ocean Sciences University of

Predicting Chromophoric Dissolved Organic Matter Distributions in Coastal Waters

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-09-30

Predicting Chromophoric Dissolved Organic Matter Distributions in Coastal Waters Robert F. Chen Environmental , Earth and Ocean Sciences...G. Bernard Gardner Environmental , Coastal and Ocean Sciences University of Massachusetts Boston 100 Morrissey Boulevard Boston, MA 02125-3393...phone: (617)287-7451 fax: (617)287-7474 email: bernie.gardner@umb.edu Yong Tian Environmental , Coastal and Ocean Sciences University of

Colorado Water Institute

Science.gov Websites

Colorado Water Institute Colorado State University header HomeMission StatementGRAD592NewslettersPublications/ReportsCSU Water ExpertsFunding OpportunitiesScholarshipsSubscribeEmploymentAdvisory BoardStaffContact UsCommentsLinks Water Center Logo Water Resources Archive Office of Engagement Ag Water

River water quality analysis via headspace detection of volatile organic compounds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Johnny Jock Lee; Nishi, Phyllis Jacqueline; Chong, Gabriel Eng Wee; Wong, Martin Gideon; Chua, Hong Siang; Persaud, Krishna; Ng, Sing Muk

2017-03-01

Human civilization has intensified the interaction between the community and the environment. This increases the threat on the environm ent for being over exploited and contaminated with m anmade products and synthetic chemicals. Of all, clean water is one of the resources that can be easily contaminated since it is a universal solvent and of high mobility. This work reports the development and optimization of a water quality monitoring system based on metal oxide sensors. The system is intended to a ssist the detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) present in water sources online and onsite. The sampling mechanism was based on contactless mode, where headspace partial pressure of the VOCs formed above the water body in a close chamber was drawn for detection at the sensor platform. Pure toluene was used as standard to represent the broad spectrum of VOCs, and the sensor dynamic range was achieved from 1-1000 ppb. Several sensing parameters such as sampling time, headspace volume, and sensor recovery were s tudied and optimized. Besides direct detection of VOC contaminants in the water, the work has also been extended to detect VOCs produced by microbial communities and to c orrelate the size of the communities with the reading of V OCs recorded. This can serve to give b etter indication of water quality, not only on the conce ntration of VOCs c ontamination from chemicals, but also the content of microbes, which some can have severe effect on human health.

Hydrogen cyanide polymerization: a preferred cosmochemical pathway.

PubMed

Matthews, C N

1992-01-01

Current research in cosmochemistry shows that crude organic solids of high molecular weight are readily formed in planetary, interplanetary and interstellar environments. Underlying much of this ubiquitous chemistry is a low energy route leading directly to the synthesis of hydrogen cyanide and its polymers. Evidence from laboratory and extraterrestrial investigations suggests that these polymers plus water yield heteropolypeptides, a truly universal process that accounts not only for the past synthesis of protein ancestors on Earth but also for reactions proceeding elsewhere today within our solar system, on planetary bodies and satellites around other stars and in the dusty molecular clouds of spiral galaxies. The existence of this preferred pathway - hydrogen cyanide polymerization - surely increases greatly the probability that carbon-based life is widespread in the universe.

Phoenix Mars Lander with Solar Arrays Open

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2006-01-01

NASA's next Mars-bound spacecraft, the Phoenix Mars Lander, was partway through assembly and testing at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, in September 2006, progressing toward an August 2007 launch from Florida. In this photograph, spacecraft specialists work on the lander after its fan-like circular solar arrays have been spread open for testing. The arrays will be in this configuration when the spacecraft is active on the surface of Mars.

Phoenix will land in icy soils near the north polar permanent ice cap of Mars and explore the history of the water in these soils and any associated rocks, while monitoring polar climate. It will dig into the surface, test scooped-up samples for carbon-bearing compounds and serve as NASA's first exploration of a potential modern habitat on Mars.

The Phoenix mission is led by Principal Investigator Peter H. Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson, with project management at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and development partnership with Lockheed Martin Space Systems. International contributions for Phoenix are provided by the Canadian Space Agency, the University of Neuchatel (Switzerland), the University of Copenhagen, and the Max Planck Institute in Germany. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Phoenix Mars Lander in Testing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2006-01-01

NASA's next Mars-bound spacecraft, the Phoenix Mars Lander, was partway through assembly and testing at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, in September 2006, progressing toward an August 2007 launch from Florida. In this photograph, spacecraft specialists work on the lander after its fan-like circular solar arrays have been spread open for testing. The arrays will be in this configuration when the spacecraft is active on the surface of Mars.

Phoenix will land in icy soils near the north polar permanent ice cap of Mars and explore the history of the water in these soils and any associated rocks, while monitoring polar climate. It will dig into the surface, test scooped-up samples for carbon-bearing compounds and serve as NASA's first exploration of a potential modern habitat on Mars.

The century experiment: the first twenty years of UC Davis' Mediterranean agroecological experiment.

PubMed

Wolf, Kristina M; Torbert, Emma E; Bryant, Dennis; Burger, Martin; Denison, R Ford; Herrera, Israel; Hopmans, Jan; Horwath, Will; Kaffka, Stephen; Kong, Angela Y Y; Norris, R F; Six, Johan; Tomich, Thomas P; Scow, Kate M

2018-02-01

The Century Experiment at the Russell Ranch Sustainable Agriculture Facility at the University of California, Davis provides long-term agroecological data from row crop systems in California's Central Valley starting in 1993. The Century Experiment was initially designed to study the effects of a gradient of water and nitrogen availability on soil properties and crop performance in ten different cropping systems to measure tradeoffs and synergies between agricultural productivity and sustainability. Currently systems include 11 different cropping systems-consisting of four different crops and a cover crop mixture-and one native grass system. This paper describes the long-term core data from the Century Experiment from 1993-2014, including crop yields and biomass, crop elemental contents, aerial-photo-based Normalized Difference Vegetation Index data, soil properties, weather, chemical constituents in irrigation water, winter weed populations, and operational data including fertilizer and pesticide application amounts and dates, planting dates, planting quantity and crop variety, and harvest dates. This data set represents the only known long-term set of data characterizing food production and sustainability in irrigated and rainfed Mediterranean annual cropping systems. There are no copyright restrictions associated with the use of this dataset. © 2018 by the Ecological Society of America.

Using Sound to Modify Fish Behavior at Power-Production and Water-Control Facilities: A Workshop December 12-13, 1995. Phase II: Final Report.

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

Carlson, Thomas J.; Popper, Arthur N.

1997-06-01

A workshop on ``Use of Sound for Fish Protection at Power-Production and Water-Control Facilities`` was held in Portland, Oregon on December 12--13, 1995. This workshop convened a 22-member panel of international experts from universities, industry, and government to share knowledge, questions, and ideas about using sound for fish guidance. Discussions involved in a broad range of indigenous migratory and resident fish species and fish-protection issues in river systems, with particular focus on the Columbia River Basin. Because the use of sound behavioral barriers for fish is very much in its infancy, the workshop was designed to address the many questionsmore » being asked by fishery managers and researchers about the feasibility and potential benefits of using sound to augment physical barriers for fish protection in the Columbia River system.« less

A carbon CT system: how to obtain accurate stopping power ratio using a Bragg peak reduction technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Sung Hyun; Sunaguchi, Naoki; Hirano, Yoshiyuki; Kano, Yosuke; Liu, Chang; Torikoshi, Masami; Ohno, Tatsuya; Nakano, Takashi; Kanai, Tatsuaki

2018-02-01

In this study, we investigate the performance of the Gunma University Heavy Ion Medical Center’s ion computed tomography (CT) system, which measures the residual range of a carbon-ion beam using a fluoroscopy screen, a charge-coupled-device camera, and a moving wedge absorber and collects CT reconstruction images from each projection angle. Each 2D image was obtained by changing the polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) thickness, such that all images for one projection could be expressed as the depth distribution in PMMA. The residual range as a function of PMMA depth was related to the range in water through a calibration factor, which was determined by comparing the PMMA-equivalent thickness measured by the ion CT system to the water-equivalent thickness measured by a water column. Aluminium, graphite, PMMA, and five biological phantoms were placed in a sample holder, and the residual range for each was quantified simultaneously. A novel method of CT reconstruction to correct for the angular deflection of incident carbon ions in the heterogeneous region utilising the Bragg peak reduction (BPR) is also introduced in this paper, and its performance is compared with other methods present in the literature such as the decomposition and differential methods. Stopping power ratio values derived with the BPR method from carbon-ion CT images matched closely with the true water-equivalent length values obtained from the validation slab experiment.

Assessing the Geomorphic Evolution and Hydrographic Changes Induced by Winter Storms along the Louisiana Coast

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Menzel, W. Paul; Moeller, Christopher, C; Huh, Oscar K.; Roberts, Harry H.

1998-01-01

The influence that cold front passages have on Louisiana coastal environments, including land loss and land building processes, has been the primary topic of this multidisciplinary research. This research has combined meteorological, remote sensing, and coastal expertise from the University of Wisconsin (UW) and Louisiana State University (LSU). Analyzed data sets include remotely sensed radiometric data (AVHRR on NOAA-12,13,14, Multispectral Atmospheric Mapping Sensor (MAMS) and MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS) on NASA ER-2), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) water level data, water quality data from the Coastal Studies Institute (CSI) at LSU, USACE river discharge data, National Weather Service (NWS) and CSI wind in sitzi measurements, geomorphic measurements from aerial photography (NASA ER-2 and Learjet), and CSI ground based sediment burial pipes (for monitoring topographic change along the Louisiana coast) and sediment cores. The work reported here-in is a continuation of an initial investigation into coastal Louisiana landform modification by cold front systems. That initial effort demonstrated the importance of cold front winds in the Atchafalaya Bay sediment plume distribution (Moeller et al.), documented the sediment transport and deposition process of the western Louisiana coast (Huh et al.) and developed tools (e.g. water types identification, suspended solids estimation) from multispectral radiometric data for application to the current study. This study has extended that work, developing a Geomorphic Impact Index (GI(sup 2)) for relating atmospheric forcing to coastal response and new tools to measure water motion and sediment transport.

Nuclear Quantum Effects in H+ and OH- Diffusion Along Confined Water Wires from Ab Initio Path Integral Molecular Dyanmics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rossi, Mariana; Ceriotti, Michele; Manolopoulos, David

Diffusion of H+ and OH- along water wires provides an efficient mechanism for charge transport that is exploited by biological systems and shows promise in technological applications. However, what is lacking for a better control and design of these systems is a thorough theoretical understanding of the diffusion process at the atomic scale. Here we consider H+ and OH- in finite water wires using density functional theory. We employ machine learning techniques to identify the charged species, thus obtaining an agnostic definition of the charge. We employ thermostated ring polymer molecular dynamics and extract a ``universal'' diffusion coefficient from simulations with different wire sizes by considering Langevin dynamics on the potential of mean force of the charged species. In the classical case, diffusion coefficients depend significantly on the potential energy surface, in particular on how dispersion forces modulate O-O distances. NQEs, however, make the diffusion less sensitive to the underlying potential and geometry of the wire, presumably making them more robust to environment fluctuations.

Water maser emission in the Saturnian system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horiuchi, Shinji; Cimo, Giuseppe; Gurvits, Leonid; Pogrebenko, Sergei; Molera Calves, Guifré

2010-10-01

Prompted by the recent discovery of a water vapour plume of Enceladus by the Cassini spacecraft, our team started an observational programme to search for possible 22 GHz water vapour maser emission associated with different objects in the Kronian system. The observations have been conducted so far with the 32 m Medicina radio telescope (INAF-IRA, Italy) and the 14 m Metsahovi radio telescope (Aalto University, MRO, Finland). During the 2006-2008 campaigns, more than 300 hours of data have been analysed, and initial results including maser detections up to 7.0 sigma level have been presented. The detections attracted considerable interest and attempts to confirm them and investigate the phenomenon in depth. No confirmations have been published so far. In order to provide critical verification of these detections and study the details of masing conditions efficiently, we request a total of 20 hours on the Tidbinbilla 70 m telescope (DSS43) to observe Saturn and its moons during several, non-consecutive days. Due to natural changes of the planetary target positions, targets' coordinates will be provided after the antenna time is allocated.

Basic Beaches for the Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLaren, J. Philip

1986-01-01

Lists and explains the major characteristics of water. Compares water's molecular structure and its temperature-related properties with four other lightweight molecules. Discusses why water is considered the universal solvent. (ML)

SU-F-19A-02: Comparison of Absorbed Dose to Water Standards for HDR Ir-192 Brachytherapy Between the LCR, Brazil and NRC, Canada

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

Salata, C; David, M; Almeida, C de

2014-06-15

Purpose: To compare absorbed dose to water standards for HDR brachytherapy dosimetry developed by the Radiological Science Laboratory of Rio de Janeiro State University (LCR) and the National Research Council, Canada (NRC). Methods: The two institutions have separately developed absorbed dose standards based on the Fricke dosimetry system. There are important differences between the two standards, including: preparation and read-out of the Fricke solution, irradiation geometry of the Fricke holder in relation to the Ir-192 source, and determination of the G-value to be used at Ir-192 energies. All measurements for both standards were made directly at the NRC laboratory (i.e.,more » no transfer instrument was used) using a single Ir-192 source (microSelectron v2). In addition, the NRC group has established a self-consistent method to determine the G-value for Ir-192, based on an interpolation between G-values obtained at Co-60 and 250kVp X-rays, and this measurement was repeated using the LCR Fricke solution to investigate possible systematic uncertainties. Results: G-values for Co-60 and 250 kVp x-rays, obtained using the LCR Fricke system, agreed with the NRC values within 0.5 % and 1 % respectively, indicating that the general assumption of universal G-values is appropriate in this case. The standard uncertainty in the determination of G for Ir-192 is estimated to be 0.6 %. For the comparison of absorbed dose measurements at the reference point for Ir-192 (1 cm depth in water, perpendicular to the seed long-axis), the ratio Dw(NRC)/Dw(LCR) was found to be 1.011 with a combined standard uncertainty of 1.7 %, k=1. Conclusion: The agreement in the absorbed dose to water values for the LCR and NRC systems is very encouraging. Combined with the lower uncertainty in this approach compared to the present air-kerma approach, these results reaffirm the use of Fricke solution as a potential primary standard for HDR Ir-192 brachytherapy.« less

NASA Water Resources Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Toll, David L.

2011-01-01

With increasing population pressure and water usage coupled with climate variability and change, water issues are being reported by numerous groups as the most critical environmental problems facing us in the 21st century. Competitive uses and the prevalence of river basins and aquifers that extend across boundaries engender political tensions between communities, stakeholders and countries. In addition to the numerous water availability issues, water quality related problems are seriously affecting human health and our environment. The potential crises and conflicts especially arise when water is competed among multiple uses. For example, urban areas, environmental and recreational uses, agriculture, and energy production compete for scarce resources, not only in the Western U.S. but throughout much of the U.S. and also in numerous parts of the world. Mitigating these conflicts and meeting water demands and needs requires using existing water resources more efficiently. The NASA Water Resources Program Element works to use NASA products and technology to address these critical water issues. The primary goal of the Water Resources is to facilitate application of NASA Earth science products as a routine use in integrated water resources management for the sustainable use of water. This also includes the extreme events of drought and floods and the adaptation to the impacts from climate change. NASA satellite and Earth system observations of water and related data provide a huge volume of valuable data in both near-real-time and extended back nearly 50 years about the Earth's land surface conditions such as precipitation, snow, soil moisture, water levels, land cover type, vegetation type, and health. NASA Water Resources Program works closely to use NASA and Earth science data with other U.S. government agencies, universities, and non-profit and private sector organizations both domestically and internationally. The NASA Water Resources Program organizes its projects under five functional themes. I) Streamflow and Flood Forecasting 2) Water Supply and Irrigation (includes evapotranspiration) 3) Drought 4) Water Quality 5) Climate and Water Resources. To maximize this activity NASA Water Resources Program works closely with other government agencies (e.g., the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA); the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS); the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), USAID, the Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA)), universities, non-profit national and international organizations, and the private sector. The NASA Water Resources program currently is funding 21 active projects under the functional themes (http://wmp.gsfc.nasa.gov & http://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/applied-sciences/).

NASA's Impacts Towards Improving International Water Management Using Satellites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toll, D. L.; Doorn, B.; Searby, N. D.; Entin, J. K.; Lawford, R. G.; Mohr, K. I.; Lee, C. M.

2013-12-01

Key objectives of the NASA's Water Resources and Capacity Building Programs are to discover and demonstrate innovative uses and practical benefits of NASA's advanced system technologies for improved water management. This presentation will emphasize NASA's water research, applications, and capacity building activities using satellites and models to contribute to water issues including water availability, transboundary water, flooding and droughts to international partners, particularly developing countries. NASA's free and open exchange of Earth data observations and products helps engage and improve integrated observation networks and enables national and multi-national regional water cycle research and applications that are especially useful in data sparse regions of most developing countries. NASA satellite and modeling products provide a huge volume of valuable data extending back over 50 years across a broad range of spatial (local to global) and temporal (hourly to decadal) scales and include many products that are available in near real time (see earthdata.nasa.gov). To further accomplish these objectives NASA works to actively partner with public and private groups (e.g. federal agencies, universities, NGO's, and industry) in the U.S. and internationally to ensure the broadest use of its satellites and related information and products and to collaborate with regional end users who know the regions and their needs best. The event will help demonstrate the strong partnering and the use of satellite data to provide synoptic and repetitive spatial coverage helping water managers' deal with complex issues. This presentation will outline and describe NASA's international water related research, applications and capacity building programs' efforts to address developing countries critical water challenges in Asia, African and Latin America. This will specifically highlight impacts and case studies from NASA's programs in Water Resources (e.g., drought, snow-pack and agriculture projects), Capacity Building (e.g., 'SERVIR' science visualizations and environmental monitoring), and Terrestrial Hydrology (e.g., land-atmosphere feedbacks and improved stream flow estimation). The presentation will also demonstrate how NASA is a major contributor to water tasks and activities in GEOSS (Global Earth Observing System of Systems) and GEO (Group on Earth Observations).

Dosimetric characteristics of the University of Washington Clinical Neutron Therapy System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moffitt, Gregory B.; Stewart, Robert D.; Sandison, George A.; Goorley, John T.; Argento, David C.; Jevremovic, Tatjana; Emery, Robert; Wootton, Landon S.; Parvathaneni, Upendra; Laramore, George E.

2018-05-01

The University of Washington (UW) Clinical Neutron Therapy System (CNTS), which generates high linear energy transfer fast neutrons through interactions of 50.5 MeV protons incident on a Be target, has depth-dose characteristics similar to 6 MV x-rays. In contrast to the fixed beam angles and primitive blocking used in early clinical trials of neutron therapy, the CNTS has a gantry with a full 360° of rotation, internal wedges, and a multi-leaf collimator (MLC). Since October of 1984, over 3178 patients have received conformal neutron therapy treatments using the UW CNTS. In this work, the physical and dosimetric characteristics of the CNTS are documented through comparisons of measurements and Monte Carlo simulations. A high resolution computed tomography scan of the model 17 ionization chamber (IC-17) has also been used to improve the accuracy of simulations of the absolute calibration geometry. The response of the IC-17 approximates well the kinetic energy released per unit mass (KERMA) in water for neutrons and photons for energies from a few tens of keV up to about 20 MeV. Above 20 MeV, the simulated model 17 ion chamber response is 20%–30% higher than the neutron KERMA in water. For CNTS neutrons, simulated on- and off-axis output factors in water match measured values within ~2%  ±  2% for rectangular and irregularly shaped field with equivalent square areas ranging in a side dimension from 2.8 cm to 30.7 cm. Wedge factors vary by less than 1.9% of the measured dose in water for clinically relevant field sizes. Simulated tissue maximum ratios in water match measured values within 3.3% at depths up to 20 cm. Although the absorbed dose for water and adipose tissue are within 2% at a depth of 1.7 cm, the absorbed dose in muscle and bone can be as much as 12 to 40% lower than the absorbed dose in water. The reported studies are significant from a historical perspective and as additional validation of a new tool for patient quality assurance and as an aid in ongoing efforts to clinically implement advanced treatment techniques, such as intensity modulated neutron therapy, at the UW.

Capillary pressure - saturation relations for supercritical CO2 and brine: Implications for capillary/residual trapping in carbonate reservoirs during geologic carbon sequestration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, S.; Tokunaga, T. K.

2014-12-01

In geologic carbon sequestration (GCS), data on capillary pressure (Pc) - saturation (Sw) relations are routinely needed to appraise reservoir processes. Capillarity and its hysteresis have been often experimentally studied in oil-water, gas-water and three phase gas-oil-water systems, but fewer works have been reported on scCO2-water under in-situ reservoir conditions. Here, Pc-Sw relations of supercritical (sc) CO2 displacing brine, and brine rewetting the porous medium to trap scCO2 were studied to understand CO2 transport and trapping behavior in carbonate reservoirs under representative reservoir conditions. High-quality drainage and imbibition (and associated capillary pressure hysteresis) curves were measured under elevated temperature and pressure (45 ºC, 8.5 and 12 MPa) for scCO2-brine as well as at room temperature and pressure (23 ºC, 0.1 MPa) for air-brine in unconsolidated limestone and dolomite sand columns using newly developed semi-automated multistep outflow-inflow porous plate apparatus. Drainage and imbibition curves for scCO2-brine deviated from the universal scaling curves for hydrophilic interactions (with greater deviation under higher pressure) and shifted to lower Pc than predicted based on interfacial tension (IFT) changes. Augmented scaling incorporating differences in IFT and contact angle improved the scaling results but the scaled curves still did not converge onto the universal curves. Equilibrium residual trapping of the nonwetting phase was determined at Pc =0 during imbibition. The capillary-trapped amounts of scCO2 were significantly larger than for air. It is concluded that the deviations from the universal capillary scaling curves are caused by scCO2-induced wettability alteration, given the fact that pore geometry remained constant and IFT is well constrained. In-situ wettability alteration by reactive scCO2 is of critical importance and must be accounted for to achieve reliable predictions of CO2 behavior in GCS reservoirs.

NASA and the search for life in the universe.

PubMed

Dick, Steven J

2006-06-01

Almost from its beginnings in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) set up a life-science program. Because one of the priorities of the organization is to search for life beyond Earth, NASA began designing spacecraft to unravel the mysteries of Mars. The effort to search for life on Mars culminated in the landing of two Viking spacecraft on the surface of the planet in 1976. Although the biology experiments conducted as part of these missions provided some evidence for the possibility of life, the scientific consensus was that they drew a blank. In 1996, however, the 'Mars rock' rekindled interest in life in our solar system. The discovery of an ocean on the Jovian moon Europa, of organic molecules on the Saturnian moon Titan and persuasive evidence that water once flowed on Mars suggests that the solar system is still of considerable exobiological interest. In addition, since 1995 approximately 175 planets have been found beyond our solar system. Although these discoveries are gas giants, NASA spacecraft might soon detect Earth-sized planets. The search for life in the universe continues.

Plant Water Stress Affects Interactions Between an Invasive and a Naturalized Aphid Species on Cereal Crops.

PubMed

Foote, N E; Davis, T S; Crowder, D W; Bosque-Pérez, N A; Eigenbrode, S D

2017-06-01

In cereal cropping systems of the Pacific Northwestern United States (PNW), climate change is projected to increase the frequency of drought during summer months, which could increase water stress for crop plants. Yet, it remains uncertain how interactions between herbivore species are affected by drought stress. Here, interactions between two cereal aphids present in PNW cereal systems, Metopolophium festucae (Theobald) subsp. cerealium (a newly invasive species) and Rhopalosiphum padi L. (a naturalized species), were tested relative to wheat water stress. When aphids were confined in leaf cages on wheat, asymmetrical facilitation occurred; per capita fecundity of R. padi was increased by 46% when M. festucae cerealium was also present, compared to when only R. padi was present. Imposed water stress did not influence this interaction. When aphids were confined on whole wheat plants, asymmetrical competition occurred; cocolonization inhibited M. festucae cerealium population growth but did not affect R. padi population growth. Under conditions of plant water stress, however, the inhibitory effect of R. padi on M. festucae cerealium was not observed. We conclude that beneficial effects of cocolonization on R. padi are due to a localized plant response to M. festucae cerealium feeding, and that cocolonization of plants is likely to suppress M. festucae cerealium populations under ample water conditions, but not when plants are water stressed. This suggests that plant responses to water stress alter the outcome of competition between herbivore species, with implications for the structure of pest communities on wheat during periods of drought. © The Authors 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America.

Drinking Water (Environmental Health Student Portal)

MedlinePlus

... teach students about water quality and effects on human health. Give Water a Hand (University of Wisconsin) - Project ... Medicine National Institutes of Health U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

The Effects of Water Markets: Evidence from the Rio Grande.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Debaere, P.; Li, T.

2016-12-01

The Effects of Water Markets: Evidence from the Rio GrandePeter Debaere, University of Virginia Tianshu Li, University of Virginia The Rio Grande water market is one of the oldest water markets in the United States. Employing techniques from the social sciences, we present the first difference-in-difference analysis of the actual impact of water markets on production. We compare from 1954 to 2012 the crop composition in counties in the Rio Grande water market with those in their neighboring control counties before and after the water market was established in 1971. We provide evidence that water markets can facilitate a shift from crops that are on average more to ones that are less water intensive, or, alternatively, from crops that are on average less to ones that are more productive in terms of $ generated per unit of water. In addition, we find that such reallocations are especially prevalent in times of drought. Our findings supports water markets as a tool to manage water more effectively, which is one of the main challenges of an increasingly water-strapped world.

Field Studies for Key Stage 4 on Mine Water Pollution: A University and Museum Collaboration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hopwood, Jeremy D.; Berry, Stuart D.; Ambrose, Jayne L.

2013-01-01

This article describes how a university and a museum have worked together to create a "How science works" workshop entitled "What's in our water?" The workshop teaches students about the continuing pollution from a disused coal mine, how the pollution is cleaned up using a state-of-the-art treatment works and how scientists…

Five Years Later: Predicting Student Use of Journals in a New Water Resources Graduate Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wirth, Andrea A.; Mellinger, Margaret

2011-01-01

Using citation analysis, the authors examined the journals cited in theses and dissertations over the first five years of the Water Resources Graduate Program at Oregon State University. These journal titles were compared to the titles predicted as being important in the 2003 Oregon State University Libraries new program (Category I) review. A…

Developing a state water plan: Ground-water conditions in Utah, spring of 1964

USGS Publications Warehouse

Arnow, Ted; Butler, R.G.; Mower, R.W.; Gates, Joseph S.; Cordova, R.M.; Carpenter, C.H.; Bjorklund, L.J.; Feltis, R.D.; Robinson, G.B. Jr.; Sandberg, G.W.

1964-01-01

This report is the first in a series of annual reports which will describe ground-water conditions in Utah. It was prepared cooperatively by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Utah Water and Power Board and was designed to provide the data for interested parties, such as legislators, administrators, and planners to keep abreast of changing ground-water conditions in the state. Because this report is the first of the series, it necessarily includes certain background and descriptive information which gives a broad general picture of ground-water conditions. Subsequent reports will discuss only changes that have taken place during the previous year.Many of the data used in the preparation of the report were collected by the Geological Survey in cooperation with the Utah State Engineer during past and continuing programs. The well-location map and some statistical information about numbers of wells in the State were prepared by digital computer from the Utah Resources Information System, University of Utah, utilizing records which were compiled largely from the files of the Utah State Engineer. R.E. Marsell, geological consultant to the Utah Water and Power Board, first suggested that this report be prepared.

Global costs and benefits of reaching universal coverage of sanitation and drinking-water supply.

PubMed

Hutton, Guy

2013-03-01

Economic evidence on the cost and benefits of sanitation and drinking-water supply supports higher allocation of resources and selection of efficient and affordable interventions. The study aim is to estimate global and regional costs and benefits of sanitation and drinking-water supply interventions to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target in 2015, as well as to attain universal coverage. Input data on costs and benefits from reviewed literature were combined in an economic model to estimate the costs and benefits, and benefit-cost ratios (BCRs). Benefits included health and access time savings. Global BCRs (Dollar return per Dollar invested) were 5.5 for sanitation, 2.0 for water supply and 4.3 for combined sanitation and water supply. Globally, the costs of universal access amount to US$ 35 billion per year for sanitation and US$ 17.5 billion for drinking-water, over the 5-year period 2010-2015 (billion defined as 10(9) here and throughout). The regions accounting for the major share of costs and benefits are South Asia, East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Improved sanitation and drinking-water supply deliver significant economic returns to society, especially sanitation. Economic evidence should further feed into advocacy efforts to raise funding from governments, households and the private sector.

Thermal and water regime of green roof segments filled with Technosol

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jelínková, Vladimíra; Šácha, Jan; Dohnal, Michal; Skala, Vojtěch

2016-04-01

Artificial soil systems and structures comprise appreciable part of the urban areas and are considered to be perspective for number of reasons. One of the most important lies in contribution of green roofs and facades to the heat island effect mitigation, air quality improvement, storm water reduction, etc. The aim of the presented study is to evaluate thermal and water regime of the anthropogenic soil systems during the first months of the construction life cycle. Green roof test segments filled with two different anthropogenic soils were built to investigate the benefits of such systems in the temperate climate. Temperature and water balance measurements complemented with meteorological observations and knowledge of physical properties of the soil substrates provided basis for detailed analysis of thermal and hydrological regime. Water balance of green roof segments was calculated for available vegetation seasons and individual rainfall events. On the basis of an analysis of individual rainfall events rainfall-runoff dependency was found for green roof segments. The difference between measured actual evapotranspiration and calculated potential evapotranspiration was discussed on period with contrasting conditions in terms of the moisture stress. Thermal characteristics of soil substrates resulted in highly contrasting diurnal variation of soils temperatures. Green roof systems under study were able to reduce heat load of the roof construction when comparing with a concrete roof construction. Similarly, received rainfall was significantly reduced. The extent of the rainfall reduction mainly depends on soil, vegetation status and experienced weather patterns. The research was realized as a part of the University Centre for Energy Efficient Buildings supported by the EU and with financial support from the Czech Science Foundation under project number 14-10455P.

Modeling of Complex Coupled Fluid-Structure Interaction Systems in Arbitrary Water Depth

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-01-01

basin. For the particle finite- element method ( PFEM ) near-field fluid model we completed: (4) the development of a fully-coupled fluid/flexible...method ( PFEM ) based framework for the ALE-RANS solver [1]. We presented the theory of ALE-RANS with a k- turbulence closure model and several numerical...implemented by PFEM (Task (4)). In this work a universal wall function (UWF) is introduced and implemented to more accurately predict the boundary

Strontium Adsorption and Desorption Reactions in Model Drinking Water Distribution Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-02-04

PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM TO THE ABOVE ORGANIZATION. 1. REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YYYY) 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED (From - To) 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE...be enbmild lo the publications date base., in acx:ordanee with referenca (a). It is th$ opinion of the. author that the subjeet paper (is _ ) (IS...XANES INTRODUCTION Tammie L. Gerke (corresponding author) Department of Geology and Environmental Earth Science. Miami University, USA E-mail

Water quality in the Mobile River Basin, Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi, and Tennessee, 1999-2001

USGS Publications Warehouse

Atkins, J. Brian; Zappia, Humbert; Robinson, James L.; McPherson, Ann K.; Moreland, Richard S.; Harned, Douglas A.; Johnston, Brett F.; Harvill, John S.

2004-01-01

This report contains the major findings of a 1999?2001 assessment of water quality in the Mobile River Basin. It is one of a series of reports by the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program that present major findings in 51 major river basins and aquifer systems across the Nation. In these reports, water quality is discussed in terms of local, State, and regional issues. Conditions in a particular basin or aquifer system are compared to conditions found elsewhere and to selected national benchmarks, such as those for drinking-water quality and the protection of aquatic organisms. This report is intended for individuals working with water-resource issues in Federal, State, or local agencies, universities, public interest groups, or in the private sector. The information will be useful in addressing a number of current issues, such as the effects of agricultural and urban land use on water quality, human health, drinking water, source-water protection, hypoxia and excessive growth of algae and plants, pesticide registration, and monitoring and sampling strategies. This report is also for individuals who wish to know more about the quality of streams and ground water in areas near where they live, and how that water quality compares to the quality of water in other areas across the Nation. The water-quality conditions in the Mobile River Basin summarized in this report are discussed in detail in other reports that can be accessed from the Mobile River Basin Web site (http://al.water.usgs.gov/pubs/mobl/mobl.html). Detailed technical information, data and analyses, collection and analytical methodology, models, graphs, and maps that support the findings presented in this report in addition to reports in this series from other basins can be accessed from the national NAWQA Web site (http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa).

Water quality in the lower Tennessee River Basin, Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Georgia, 1999-2001

USGS Publications Warehouse

Woodside, Michael D.; Hoos, Anne B.; Kingsbury, James A.; Powell, Jeffrey R.; Knight, Rodney R.; Garrett, Jerry W.; Mitchell, Reavis L.; Robinson, John A.

2004-01-01

This report contains the major findings of a 1999?2001 assessment of water quality in the Lower Tennessee River Basin. It is one of a series of reports by the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program that present major findings in 51 major river basins and aquifer systems across the Nation. In these reports, water quality is discussed in terms of local, State, and regional issues. Conditions in a particular basin or aquifer system are compared to conditions found elsewhere and to selected national benchmarks, such as those for drinking-water quality and the protection of aquatic organisms. This report is intended for individuals working with water-resource issues in Federal, State, or local agencies, universities, public interest groups, or in the private sector. The information will be useful in addressing a number of current issues, such as the effects of agricultural and urban land use on water quality, human health, drinking water, source-water protection, hypoxia and excessive growth of algae and plants, pesticide registration, and monitoring and sampling strategies. This report is also for individuals who wish to know more about the quality of streams and ground water in areas where they live, and how that water quality compares to the quality of water in other areas across the Nation. The water-quality conditions in the Lower Tennessee River Basin summarized in this report are discussed in detail in other reports that can be accessed from the Lower Tennessee River Basin Web site (http://tn.water.usgs.gov/lten/lten.html). Detailed technical information, data and analyses, collection and analytical methodology, models, graphs, and maps that support the findings presented in this report in addition to reports in this series from other basins can be accessed from the national NAWQA Web site (http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa).

Water quality in the Great and Little Miami River Basins, Ohio and Indiana, 1999-2001

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rowe, Gary L.; Reutter, David C.; Runkle, Donna L.; Hambrook, Julie A.; Janosy, Stephanie D.; Hwang, Lee H.

2004-01-01

This report contains the major findings of a 1999?2001 assessment of water quality in the Great and Little Miami River Basins. It is one of a series of reports by the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program that present major findings in 51 major river basins and aquifer systems across the Nation. In these reports, water quality is discussed in terms of local, State, and regional issues. Conditions in a particular basin or aquifer system are compared to conditions found elsewhere and to selected national benchmarks, such as those for drinking-water quality and the protection of aquatic organisms. This report is intended for individuals working with water-resource issues in Federal, State, or local agencies, universities, public interest groups, or in the private sector. The information will be useful in addressing a number of current issues, such as the effects of agricultural and urban land use on water quality, human health, drinking water, source-water protection, hypoxia and excessive growth of algae and plants, pesticide registration, and monitoring and sampling strategies. This report is also for individuals who wish to know more about the quality of streams and ground water in areas near where they live and how that water quality compares to the quality of water in other areas across the Nation. The water-quality conditions in the Great and Little Miami River Basins summarized in this report are discussed in detail in other reports that can be accessed from (http://oh.water.usgs.gov/miam/intro.html). Detailed technical information, data and analyses, collection and analytical methodology, models, graphs, and maps that support the findings presented in this report, in addition to reports in this series from other basins, can be accessed from the national NAWQA Web site (http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa).

Water Quality in the New England Coastal Basins, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island 1999-2001

USGS Publications Warehouse

Robinson, Keith W.; Flanagan, Sarah M.; Ayotte, Joseph D.; Campo, Kimberly W.; Chalmers, Ann; Coles, James F.; Cuffney, Thomas F.

2004-01-01

This report contains the major findings of a 1999?2001 assessment of water quality in the New England Coastal Basins. It is one of a series of reports by the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program that present major findings in 51 major river basins and aquifer systems across the Nation. In these reports, water quality is discussed in terms of local, State, and regional issues. Conditions in a particular basin or aquifer system are compared to conditions found elsewhere and to selected national benchmarks, such as those for drinking-water quality and the protection of aquatic organisms. This report is intended for individuals working with water-resource issues in Federal, State, or local agencies, universities, public interest groups, or in the private sector. The information will be useful in addressing a number of current issues, such as the effects of agricultural and urban land use on water quality, human health, drinking water, source-water protection, hypoxia and excessive growth of algae and plants, pesticide registration, and monitoring and sampling strategies. This report is also for individuals who wish to know more about the quality of streams and ground water in areas near where they live and how that water quality compares to the quality of water in other areas across the Nation. The water-quality conditions in the New England Coastal Basins summarized in this report are discussed in detail in other reports that can be accessed from http://nh.water.usgs.gov/CurrentProjects/nawqa/nawqaweb.htm. Detailed technical information, data and analyses, collection and analytical methodology, models, graphs, and maps that support the findings presented in this report in addition to reports in this series from other basins can be accessed from the national NAWQA Web site (http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa).

Nevada Infrastructure for Climate Change Science, Education, and Outreach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dana, G. L.; Piechota, T. C.; Lancaster, N.; Mensing, S. A.

2009-12-01

The Nevada system of Higher Education, including the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the University of Nevada, Reno, the Desert Research Institute, and Nevada State College have begun a five year research and infrastructure building program, funded by the National Science Foundation Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NSF EPSCoR) with the vision “to create a statewide interdisciplinary program and virtual climate change center that will stimulate transformative research, education, and outreach on the effects of regional climate change on ecosystem resources (especially water) and support use of this knowledge by policy makers and stakeholders.” Six major strategies are proposed: 1) Develop a capability to model climate change and its effects at a regional and sub-regional scales to evaluate different future scenarios and strategies (Climate Modeling Component) 2) Develop data collection, modeling, and visualization infrastructure to determine and analyze effects on ecosystems and disturbance regimes (Ecological Change Component) 3) Develop data collection, modeling, and visualization infrastructure to better quantify and model changes in water balance and resources under climate change (Water Resources Component) 4) Develop data collection and modeling infrastructure to assess effects on human systems, responses to institutional and societal aspects, and enhance policy making and outreach to communities and stakeholders (Policy, Decision-Making, and Outreach Component) 5) Develop a data portal and software to support interdisciplinary research via integration of data from observational networks and modeling (Cyberinfrastructure Component) and 6) Develop educational infrastructure to train students at all levels and provide public outreach in climate change issues (Education Component). As part of the new infrastructure, two observational transects will be established across Great Basin Ranges, one in southern Nevada in the Spring Mountains, and the second to be located in the Snake Range of eastern Nevada which will reach bristlecone pine stands. Climatic, hydrologic and ecological data from these transects will be downloaded into high capacity data storage units and made available to researchers through creation of the Nevada climate change portal. Our research will aim to answer two interdisciplinary science questions: 1) How will climate change affect water resources and linked ecosystem resources and human systems? And 2) How will climate change affect disturbance regimes (e.g., wildland fires, invasive species, insect outbreaks, droughts) and linked systems?

[Current state of measures to deal with natural disasters at public universities].

PubMed

Hirouchi, Tomoko; Tanka, Mamoru; Shimada, Ikuko; Yoshimoto, Yoshinobu; Sato, Atsushi

2012-03-01

The responsibility of a university after a large-scale, natural disaster is to secure the safety of students' and local residents' lives. The present study investigated the current state of measures at public universities to deal with natural disasters in coordination with the local community. A survey was administered at 77 public universities in Japan from March 25 to May 10, 2011. The survey included questions on the existence of local disaster evacuation sites, a disaster manual, disaster equipment storage, emergency drinking water, and food storage. A total of 51% of universities had designated local evacuation sites. Based on responses for the remaining questions, universities with and without the designated disaster response solutions accounted for 42% and 57%, respectively, for disaster manuals; 55% and 33%, respectively, for disaster equipment; 32% and 13%, respectively, for disaster drinking water storage; and 26% and 7%, respectively, for emergency food storage. A majority of public universities have not created disaster manuals, regardless of whether they have a local evacuation site. The survey results also indicated that most universities have no storage of disaster equipment or emergency supplies.

Handling Qualities Flight Testing of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Glaser, Scott T.; Strovers, Brian K.

2011-01-01

Airborne infrared astronomy has a long successful history, albeit relatively unknown outside of the astronomy community. A major problem with ground based infrared astronomy is the absorption and scatter of infrared energy by water in the atmosphere. Observing the universe from above 40,000 ft puts the observation platform above 99% of the water vapor in the atmosphere, thereby addressing this problem at a fraction of the cost of space based systems. The Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) aircraft is the most ambitious foray into the field of airborne infrared astronomy in history. Using a 747SP (The Boeing Company, Chicago, Illinois) aircraft modified with a 2.5m telescope located in the aft section of the fuselage, the SOFIA endeavors to provide views of the universe never before possible and at a fraction of the cost of space based systems. The modification to the airplane includes moveable doors and aperture that expose the telescope assembly. The telescope assembly is aimed and stabilized using a multitude of on board systems. This modification has the potential to cause aerodynamic anomalies that could induce undesired forces either at the cavity itself or indirectly due to interference with the empennage, both of which could cause handling qualities issues. As a result, an extensive analysis and flight test program was conducted from December 2009 through March 2011. Several methods, including a Lower Order Equivalent Systems analysis and pilot assessment, were used to ascertain the effects of the modification. The SOFIA modification was found to cause no adverse handling qualities effects and the aircraft was cleared for operational use. This paper discusses the history and modification to the aircraft, development of test procedures and analysis, results of testing and analysis, lessons learned for future projects and justification for operational certification.

Application of Remote Sensing to Assess the Impact of Short Term Climate Variability on Coastal Sedimentation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moeller, Christopher C.; Gunshor, Mathew M.; Menzel, W. Paul; Huh, Oscar K.; Walker, Nan D.; Rouse, Lawrence J.; Frey, Herbert V. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

The University of Wisconsin and Louisiana State University have teamed to study the forcing of winter season cold frontal wind systems on sediment distribution patterns and geomorphology in the Louisiana coastal zone. Wind systems associated with cold fronts have been shown to modify coastal circulation and resuspend sediments along the microtidal Louisiana coast. The assessment includes quantifying the influence of cumulative winter season atmospheric forcing (through surface wind observations) from year to year in response to short term climate variability, such as El Nino events. A correlation between winter cyclone frequency and the strength of El Nino events has been suggested. The atmospheric forcing data are being correlated to geomorphic measurements along western Louisiana's prograding muddy coast. Remote sensing data is being used to map and track sediment distribution patterns for various wind conditions. Transferring a suspended sediment concentration (SSC) algorithm to EOS MODIS observations will enable estimates of SSC in case 2 waters over the global domain. Progress in Year 1 of this study has included data collection and analysis of wind observations for atmospheric forcing characterization, a field activity (TX-2001) to collect in situ water samples with co-incident remote sensing measurements from the NASA ER-2 based MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS) and the EOS Terra based MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments, aerial photography and of sediment burial pipe field measurements along the prograding muddy Chenier Plain coast of western Louisiana for documenting coastal change in that dynamic region, and routine collection of MODIS 250 in resolution data for monitoring coastal sediment patterns. The data sets are being used in a process to transfer an SSC estimation algorithm to the MODIS platform. Work is underway on assessing coastal transport for the winter 2000-01 season. Water level data for use in a Geomorphic Impact Index, which relates wind energy, water level conditions, and geomorphic change along the microtidal western Louisiana coastline is being assembled.

Construction of Blaze at the University of Illinois at Chicago: A Shared, High-Performance, Visual Computer for Next-Generation Cyberinfrastructure-Accelerated Scientific, Engineering, Medical and Public Policy Research

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

Brown, Maxine D.; Leigh, Jason

2014-02-17

The Blaze high-performance visual computing system serves the high-performance computing research and education needs of University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Blaze consists of a state-of-the-art, networked, computer cluster and ultra-high-resolution visualization system called CAVE2(TM) that is currently not available anywhere in Illinois. This system is connected via a high-speed 100-Gigabit network to the State of Illinois' I-WIRE optical network, as well as to national and international high speed networks, such as the Internet2, and the Global Lambda Integrated Facility. This enables Blaze to serve as an on-ramp to national cyberinfrastructure, such as the National Science Foundation’s Blue Waters petascalemore » computer at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Department of Energy’s Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF) at Argonne National Laboratory. DOE award # DE-SC005067, leveraged with NSF award #CNS-0959053 for “Development of the Next-Generation CAVE Virtual Environment (NG-CAVE),” enabled us to create a first-of-its-kind high-performance visual computing system. The UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) worked with two U.S. companies to advance their commercial products and maintain U.S. leadership in the global information technology economy. New applications are being enabled with the CAVE2/Blaze visual computing system that is advancing scientific research and education in the U.S. and globally, and help train the next-generation workforce.« less

An In vitro Comparison of Apically Extruded Debris Using Reciproc, ProTaper Universal, Neolix and Hyflex in Curved Canals.

PubMed

Labbaf, Hossein; Nazari Moghadam, Kiumars; Shahab, Shahriar; Mohammadi Bassir, Mahshid; Fahimi, Mohammad Amin

2017-01-01

As a consequence of root canal preparation, dentinal chips, irrigants and pulp remnants are extruded into preradicular space. This phenomenon may lead to post endodontic flare-ups. The purpose of this study was to compare the amount of extruded debris with four endodontic NiTi engine-driven systems. Sixty mesiobuccal roots of maxillary molars with 15-30˚ curvature were divided randomly into four groups ( n =15). Each group was instrumented up to apical size of 25 using Reciproc, ProTaper Universal, Neolix and Hyflex. Bidistilled water was used as irrigant and extruded debris was collected in pre-weighted Eppendorf tubes. Tubes were stored in incubator for drying the debris. Extruded debris were weighted in electronic microbalance with accuracy of 0.0001 g. The raw data was analyzed with one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey's HSD post hoc test. Level of significance was set at 0.05. The debris extrusion with Reciproc files was significantly higher than the other groups ( P <0.05). Hyflex significantly extruded less debris than other files ( P <0.05). There was no significant difference between ProTaper Universal and Neolix regarding the amount of extruded debris ( P =0.98). All systems extruded debris during the instrumentation. Reciproc system significantly extruded more debris. Caution should be taken when interpreting the results of this study and applying it to the real clinical situation.

Biogeosystem technique as a base of Sustainable Irrigated Agriculture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Batukaev, Abdulmalik

2016-04-01

The world water strategy is to be changed because the current imitational gravitational frontal isotropic-continual paradigm of irrigation is not sustainable. This paradigm causes excessive consumption of fresh water - global deficit - up to 4-15 times, adverse effects on soils and landscapes. Current methods of irrigation does not control the water spread throughout the soil continuum. The preferable downward fluxes of irrigation water are forming, up to 70% and more of water supply loses into vadose zone. The moisture of irrigated soil is high, soil loses structure in the process of granulometric fractions flotation decomposition, the stomatal apparatus of plant leaf is fully open, transpiration rate is maximal. We propose the Biogeosystem technique - the transcendental, uncommon and non-imitating methods for Sustainable Natural Resources Management. New paradigm of irrigation is based on the intra-soil pulse discrete method of water supply into the soil continuum by injection in small discrete portions. Individual volume of water is supplied as a vertical cylinder of soil preliminary watering. The cylinder position in soil is at depth form 10 to 30 cm. Diameter of cylinder is 1-2 cm. Within 5-10 min after injection the water spreads from the cylinder of preliminary watering into surrounding soil by capillary, film and vapor transfer. Small amount of water is transferred gravitationally to the depth of 35-40 cm. The soil watering cylinder position in soil profile is at depth of 5-50 cm, diameter of the cylinder is 2-4 cm. Lateral distance between next cylinders along the plant raw is 10-15 cm. The soil carcass which is surrounding the cylinder of non-watered soil remains relatively dry and mechanically stable. After water injection the structure of soil in cylinder restores quickly because of no compression from the stable adjoining volume of soil and soil structure memory. The mean soil thermodynamic water potential of watered zone is -0.2 MPa. At this potential the stomatal apparatus of leaf regulate the water flow through plant, transpiration rate is reduced, soil solution concentration increases, plant nutrition supply rate becomes higher than at a stage of water field capacity. The rate of plant biomass growth is highest at water thermodynamic potential of -0.2-0.4 MPa. No excessive irrigation intra-soil mass transfer, nor excessive transpiration, evaporation and seepage. New intra-soil pulse discrete paradigm of irrigation optimizes the plant organogenesis, reduces consumption of water per unit of biological product. The biological productivity increases. Fresh water saving is up to 20 times. The new sustainable world strategy of Ecosystem Maintaining Productivity is to be based on the Biogeosystem Technique, it suits well the robotic nowadays noosphere technological platform and implements the principals of Geoethics in technologies of Biosphere. Key words: Paradigm, Biogeosystem technique, intra-soil pulse discrete watering. SSS8.1 Restoration and rehabilitation of degraded lands in arid, semi-arid and Mediterranean environments Batukaev Abdulmalik A. Chechen State University, Agrotechnological Institute, Dr Sc (Agric), Professor, Director, 364907, Sheripova st., 32, Grozny, Russia, batukaevmalik@mail.ru Kalinichenko Valery P. Institute of Fertility of Soils of South Russia, Dr Sc (Biol), Professor, Director, 346493, Krivoshlikova st., 2, Persianovka, Rostov region. Russia, kalinitch@mail.ru Minkina Tatiana M., Southern Federal University, Dr Sc (Biol), Head of the Soil Science Chair, 344006, Bolshaja Sadovaja st., 105/42, Rostov-on-Don, Russia, tminkina@mail.ru Zarmaev Ali A. Agrotechnological Institute of Chechen State University, Head of the Agrotechnology Chair, Dr Sc (Agric), Professor, 364907, Sheripova st., 32, Grozny, Russia, ali5073@mail.ru Skovpen Andrey N. Don State Agrarian University, PhD, Ass. Professor of Ecology Chair, 346493, Krivoshlikova st., 2, Persianovka, Rostov region, Russia, instit03@mail.ru Zaurbek Dikaev S. Chechen State University, Agrotechnological Institute, Ass. Professor of the Agrotechnology Chair, 364907, Sheripova st., 32, Grozny, Russia, dikaev-91@mail.ru Jusupov Vaha U. Chechen State University, Agrotechnological Institute, Ass. Professor of the Agrotechnology Chair, 364907, Sheripova st., 32, Grozny, Russia. knyaz-vakha@mail.ru Rykhlik Artem E. Institute of Fertility of Soils of South Russia, Expert, 346493, Krivoshlikova st., 2, Persianovka, Rostov region. Russia, tyoma-4444@yandex.ru Bauer Tatiana V. Southern Federal University, Academy of Biology and Biotechnology, Postgraduate, 344006, Bolshaja Sadovaja st., 105/42, Rostov-on-Don, Russia, tminkina@mail.ru

Real-Time System for Water Modeling and Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, J.; Zhao, T.; David, C. H.; Minsker, B.

2012-12-01

Working closely with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin), we are developing a real-time system for water modeling and management using advanced cyberinfrastructure, data integration and geospatial visualization, and numerical modeling. The state of Texas suffered a severe drought in 2011 that cost the state $7.62 billion in agricultural losses (crops and livestock). Devastating situations such as this could potentially be avoided with better water modeling and management strategies that incorporate state of the art simulation and digital data integration. The goal of the project is to prototype a near-real-time decision support system for river modeling and management in Texas that can serve as a national and international model to promote more sustainable and resilient water systems. The system uses National Weather Service current and predicted precipitation data as input to the Noah-MP Land Surface model, which forecasts runoff, soil moisture, evapotranspiration, and water table levels given land surface features. These results are then used by a river model called RAPID, along with an error model currently under development at UT-Austin, to forecast stream flows in the rivers. Model forecasts are visualized as a Web application for TCEQ decision makers, who issue water diversion (withdrawal) permits and any needed drought restrictions; permit holders; and reservoir operation managers. Users will be able to adjust model parameters to predict the impacts of alternative curtailment scenarios or weather forecasts. A real-time optimization system under development will help TCEQ to identify optimal curtailment strategies to minimize impacts on permit holders and protect health and safety. To develop the system we have implemented RAPID as a remotely-executed modeling service using the Cyberintegrator workflow system with input data downloaded from the North American Land Data Assimilation System. The Cyberintegrator workflow system provides RESTful web services for users to provide inputs, execute workflows, and retrieve outputs. Along with REST endpoints, PAW (Publishable Active Workflows) provides the web user interface toolkit for us to develop web applications with scientific workflows. The prototype web application is built on top of workflows with PAW, so that users will have a user-friendly web environment to provide input parameters, execute the model, and visualize/retrieve the results using geospatial mapping tools. In future work the optimization model will be developed and integrated into the workflow.; Real-Time System for Water Modeling and Management

Multiple mechanisms generate a universal scaling with dissipation for the air-water gas transfer velocity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Katul, Gabriel; Liu, Heping

2017-02-01

A large corpus of field and laboratory experiments support the finding that the water side transfer velocity kL of sparingly soluble gases near air-water interfaces scales as kL˜(νɛ)1/4, where ν is the kinematic water viscosity and ɛ is the mean turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate. Originally predicted from surface renewal theory, this scaling appears to hold for marine and coastal systems and across many environmental conditions. It is shown that multiple approaches to representing the effects of turbulence on kL lead to this expression when the Kolmogorov microscale is assumed to be the most efficient transporting eddy near the interface. The approaches considered range from simplified surface renewal schemes with distinct models for renewal durations, scaling and dimensional considerations, and a new structure function approach derived using analogies between scalar and momentum transfer. The work offers a new perspective as to why the aforementioned 1/4 scaling is robust.

AgIIS, Agricultural Irrigation Imaging System, design and application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haberland, Julio Andres

Remote sensing is a tool that is increasingly used in agriculture for crop management purposes. A ground-based remote sensing data acquisition system was designed, constructed, and implemented to collect high spatial and temporal resolution data in irrigated agriculture. The system was composed of a rail that mounts on a linear move irrigation machine, and a small cart that runs back and forth on the rail. The cart was equipped with a sensors package that measured reflectance in four discrete wavelengths (550 nm, 660 nm, 720 nm, and 810 nm, all 10 nm bandwidth) and an infrared thermometer. A global positioning system and triggers on the rail indicated cart position. The data was postprocessed in order to generate vegetation maps, N and water status maps and other indices relevant for site-specific crop management. A geographic information system (GIS) was used to generate images of the field on any desired day. The system was named AgIIS (A&barbelow;gricultural I&barbelow;rrigation I&barbelow;maging S&barbelow;ystem). This ground based remote sensing acquisition system was developed at the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Department at the University of Arizona in conjunction with the U.S. Water Conservation Laboratory in Phoenix, as part of a cooperative study primarily funded by the Idaho National Environmental and Engineering Laboratory. A second phase of the study utilized data acquired with AgIIS during the 1999 cotton growing season to model petiole nitrate (PNO3 -) and total leaf N. A latin square experimental design with optimal and low water and optimal and low N was used to evaluate N status under water and no water stress conditions. Multivariable models were generated with neural networks (NN) and multilinear regression (MLR). Single variable models were generated from chlorophyll meter readings (SPAD) and from the Canopy Chlorophyll Content Index (CCCI). All models were evaluated against observed PNO3- and total leaf N levels. The NN models showed the highest correlation with PNO3- and total leaf N. AgIIS was a reliable and efficient data acquisition system for research and also showed potential for use in commercial farming systems.

Healthy Water Healthy People Water Quality Educators Guide

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Project WET Foundation, 2003

2003-01-01

This 200-page activity guide for educators of students in grades six through university level raises the awareness and understanding of water quality issues and their relationship to personal, public and environmental health. "Healthy Water Healthy People Water Quality Educators Guide" will help educators address science standards through 25…

Society and Water

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Qutub, Musa Y.

1972-01-01

At a national symposium on Societal Problems of Water Resources at Western Illinois University, scientists discussed dams, canals, water pollution control and management programs, federal-state relations in resource planning, and their effects on how we live. (BL)

Impact of Water Chemistry, Pipe Material and Stagnation on the Building Plumbing Microbiome.

PubMed

Ji, Pan; Parks, Jeffrey; Edwards, Marc A; Pruden, Amy

2015-01-01

A unique microbiome establishes in the portion of the potable water distribution system within homes and other buildings (i.e., building plumbing). To examine its composition and the factors that shape it, standardized cold water plumbing rigs were deployed at the treatment plant and in the distribution system of five water utilities across the U.S. Three pipe materials (copper with lead solder, CPVC with brass fittings or copper/lead combined pipe) were compared, with 8 hour flush cycles of 10 minutes to simulate typical daily use patterns. High throughput Illumina sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons was employed to profile and compare the resident bulk water bacteria and archaea. The utility, location of the pipe rig, pipe material and stagnation all had a significant influence on the plumbing microbiome composition, but the utility source water and treatment practices were dominant factors. Examination of 21 water chemistry parameters suggested that the total chlorine concentration, pH, P, SO42- and Mg were associated with the most of the variation in bulk water microbiome composition. Disinfectant type exerted a notably low-magnitude impact on microbiome composition. At two utilities using the same source water, slight differences in treatment approaches were associated with differences in rare taxa in samples. For genera containing opportunistic pathogens, Utility C samples (highest pH of 9-10) had the highest frequency of detection for Legionella spp. and lowest relative abundance of Mycobacterium spp. Data were examined across utilities to identify a true universal core, special core, and peripheral organisms to deepen insight into the physical and chemical factors that shape the building plumbing microbiome.

Control of the Water Transport Activity of Barley HvTIP3;1 Specifically Expressed in Seeds.

PubMed

Utsugi, Shigeko; Shibasaka, Mineo; Maekawa, Masahiko; Katsuhara, Maki

2015-09-01

Tonoplast intrinsic proteins (TIPs) are involved in the transport and storage of water, and control intracellular osmotic pressure by transporting material related to the water potential of cells. In the present study, we focused on HvTIP3;1 during the periods of seed development and desiccation in barley. HvTIP3;1 was specifically expressed in seeds. An immunochemical analysis showed that HvTIP3;1 strongly accumulated in the aleurone layers and outer layers of barley seeds. The water transport activities of HvTIP3;1 and HvTIP1;2, which also accumulated in seeds, were measured in the heterologous expression system of Xenopus oocytes. When they were expressed individually, HvTIP1;2 transported water, whereas HvTIP3;1 did not. However, HvTIP3;1 exhibited water transport activity when co-expressed with HvTIP1;2 in oocytes, and this activity was higher than when HvTIP1;2 was expressed alone. This is the first report to demonstrate that the water permeability of a TIP aquaporin was activated when co-expressed with another TIP. The split-yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) system in onion cells revealed that HvTIP3;1 interacted with HvTIP1;2 to form a heterotetramer in plants. These results suggest that HvTIP3;1 functions as an active water channel to regulate water movement through tissues during the periods of seed development and desiccation. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Impact of Water Chemistry, Pipe Material and Stagnation on the Building Plumbing Microbiome

PubMed Central

Ji, Pan; Parks, Jeffrey; Edwards, Marc A.; Pruden, Amy

2015-01-01

A unique microbiome establishes in the portion of the potable water distribution system within homes and other buildings (i.e., building plumbing). To examine its composition and the factors that shape it, standardized cold water plumbing rigs were deployed at the treatment plant and in the distribution system of five water utilities across the U.S. Three pipe materials (copper with lead solder, CPVC with brass fittings or copper/lead combined pipe) were compared, with 8 hour flush cycles of 10 minutes to simulate typical daily use patterns. High throughput Illumina sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons was employed to profile and compare the resident bulk water bacteria and archaea. The utility, location of the pipe rig, pipe material and stagnation all had a significant influence on the plumbing microbiome composition, but the utility source water and treatment practices were dominant factors. Examination of 21 water chemistry parameters suggested that the total chlorine concentration, pH, P, SO4 2- and Mg were associated with the most of the variation in bulk water microbiome composition. Disinfectant type exerted a notably low-magnitude impact on microbiome composition. At two utilities using the same source water, slight differences in treatment approaches were associated with differences in rare taxa in samples. For genera containing opportunistic pathogens, Utility C samples (highest pH of 9–10) had the highest frequency of detection for Legionella spp. and lowest relative abundance of Mycobacterium spp. Data were examined across utilities to identify a true universal core, special core, and peripheral organisms to deepen insight into the physical and chemical factors that shape the building plumbing microbiome. PMID:26495985

Development of photoacoustic water vapor and total water measuring instrument with a long term objective of becoming part of the IAGOS project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tatrai, David; Bors, Noemi; Gulyas, Gabor; Szabo, Gabor; Smit, Herman G. J.; Petzold, Andreas; Bozoki, Zoltan

2016-04-01

Airborne hygrometry is one of the key topics in atmospheric and climate research that is why airborne hygrometers are almost always included in aircraft based measurement campaigns (see e.g. MOZAIC and CARIBIC). However for its successful application an airborne hygrometer has to be able to measure humidity in a wide range (1 60000 ppmV) at various total pressures with high accuracy and short response time. In addition, an instrument capable of measuring water vapor and condensed water selectively has considerable added value as the water content of clouds seems to be a very uncertain parameter in climate models. At the University of Szeged, a dual channel, photoacoustic spectroscopy based hygrometer system had been developed, that measures water vapor concentration and total water content simultaneously from the ground level up to cruising altitude [1, 2]. An early version of this system is the core hygrometer of the CARIBIC project. In the past few years efforts were made to improve further the performance and long term reliability of the system [3] while also reducing its size and weight. Most important of the recent achievements is a new data acquisition and control system with more precise control performance [4]. Many of these results have been proved by various laboratory (AquaVIT2a-b) and in-flight (DANCHAR-IFCC, AIRTOSS I-II) measurement campaigns. Based on these results the system received invitation into the IAGOS ESFRI project to become one of its core instruments. The presented work was funded by EUFAR contract no. 227159, by the Hungarian Research and Technology Innovation Fund (OTKA), project no. NN109679 and by the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 312311. [1] Szakáll, M et.al: Infrared Physics & Technology. 2006. 48, (3) 192-201 [2] Szakáll, M. et.al: Infrared Physics & Technology, 2007. 51, (2) 113-121 [3] Tátrai, D. et.al: Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 33-42, 2015 [4] Tátrai, D. et.al: Measurement 63, 259-268, 2015

Development of a Universal Waste Management System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baccus, Shelley; Broyan, James L., Jr.

2013-01-01

A concept for a Universal Waste Management System (UWMS) has been developed based on the knowledge gained from over 50 years of space travel. It is being designed for Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) and Multi ]Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) and is based upon the Extended Duration Orbiter (EDO) commode. The UMWS was modified to enhance crew interface and reduce volume and cost. The UWMS will stow waste in fecal canisters, similar to the EDO, and urine will be stowed in bags for in orbit change out. This allows the pretreated urine to be subsequently processed and recovered as drinking water. The new design combines two fans and a rotary phase separator on a common shaft to allow operation by a single motor. This change enhances packaging by reducing the volume associated with an extra motor, associated controller, harness, and supporting structure. The separator pumps urine to either a dual bag design for COTS vehicles or directly into a water reclamation system. The commode is supported by a concentric frame, enhancing its structural integrity while further reducing the volume from the previous design. The UWMS flight concept development effort is underway and an early output of the development will be a ground based UMWS prototype for manned testing. Referred to as the Gen 3 unit, this prototype will emulate the crew interface included in the UWMS and will offer a great deal of knowledge regarding the usability of the new design, allowing the design team the opportunity to modify the UWMS flight concept based on the manned testing.

Effect of Microstructure on Spontaneous Polarization in Amorphous Solid Water (ASW) Films C. Bu[a], J. Shi[b] and R. A. Baragiola[a] [a]University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904[b]Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bu, Caixia; Shi, Jianming; Baragiola, Raul A.

2014-11-01

Introduction: Water ice is abundant on many planetary bodies within the outer solar system. We report on the spontaneous polarization and thermal relaxation of ASW films formed at 10 - 110 K and provide evidence for the essential role of porosity [1].Experiments: Experiments were performed in an ultra-high vacuum system. ASW films were deposited from a collimated vapor beam or from a diffuse background water vapor onto a liquid-He cooled, gold-coated quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). The porosity was calculated by combining the measurements obtained from the QCM and UV reflectance [2]. The surface potential was determined using a Kelvin probe.Results: We focused on observations pertaining to the porosity: 1) the surface potential experiences an abrupt change of -0.25 V relative to the substrate during deposition of the first ~5 monolayers and subsequently increases linearly with thickness; 2) the surface potential magnitude decreases with the incidence angle; 3) the surface potential decreases with temperature after a lag of ~4 K above the deposition temperature; it decreases more slowly in films with larger incidence angle; 4) for charged films with different pre-annealing temperatures, the ratios of surface potential to fluence remain roughly constant with temperature before discharged; 5) the surface potential decreases with time at a constant annealing temperature.Conclusions: These observations suggest that the polarization is governed by the relaxation of the micropore structure rather than changes in intrinsic dielectric behavior of the water network [3]. We propose that the observed surface potential results from a fraction of aligned water dipoles on the internal surface area of the pores. Depolarization occurs during the collapse of the pores, resulting in the decrease of the surface potential. References: [1] E. Mayer et al. (1986) Nature (London) 319, 298 (1986); [2] U. Raut et al. (2007) J. Chem. Phys. 127, 204713. [3] M. J. Iedema et al. (1998) J. Chem. Phys. B 102, 9203.

Regenerable Incinerator Exhaust Purification and Trace Contaminant Control System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Finn, John E.; Cho, Shelia Y.; LeVan, M. Douglas

2003-01-01

In this novel approach to air purification, contaminants removed from a process air stream by a high-capacity adsorbent are displaced periodically by a warm, high-humidity, reverse-flow air stream. Displaced contaminants flow into a closed regeneration loop, in which organic compounds are oxidized catalytically and acid gases are removed by a gas- water contactor (which also serves as the source of the water vapor). These features are expected to result in a design that has few expendables and lower energy consumption than alternative regenerable techniques. The joint project between NASA Ames Research Center and Vanderbilt University has completed its third year. Breadboard development continues at NASA Ames, while Vanderbilt has completed most of its adsorption equilibria development. Vanderbilt has completed its fixed-bed apparatus for investigation of dynamic adsorption and desorption processes for trace organic compounds and water vapor, and is continuing its development of the mathematical model describing the column dynamics.

Acceptance and Impact of Point-of-Use Water Filtration Systems in Rural Guatemala.

PubMed

Larson, Kim L; Hansen, Corrie; Ritz, Michala; Carreño, Diego

2017-01-01

Infants and children in developing countries bear the burden of diarrheal disease. Diarrheal disease is linked to unsafe drinking water and can result in serious long-term consequences, such as impaired immune function and brain growth. There is evidence that point-of-use water filtration systems reduce the prevalence of diarrhea in developing countries. In the summer of 2014, following community forums and interactive workshops, water filters were distributed to 71 households in a rural Maya community in Guatemala. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the uptake of tabletop water filtration systems to reduce diarrheal diseases. A descriptive correlational study was used that employed community partnership and empowerment strategies. One year postintervention, in the summer of 2015, a bilingual, interdisciplinary research team conducted a house-to-house survey with families who received water filters. Survey data were gathered from the head of household on family demographics, current family health, water filter usage, and type of flooring in the home. Interviews were conducted in Spanish and in partnership with a village leader. Each family received a food package of household staples for their participation. Descriptive statistics were calculated for all responses. Fisher's exact test and odds ratios were used to determine relationships between variables. Seventy-nine percent (n = 56) of the 71 households that received a water filter in 2014 participated in the study. The majority of families (71.4%; n = 40) were using the water filters and 16 families (28.6%) had broken water filters. Of the families with working water filters, 15% reported diarrhea, while 31% of families with a broken water filter reported diarrhea. Only 55.4% of the homes had concrete flooring. More households with dirt flooring and broken water filters reported a current case of diarrhea. A record review of attendees at an outreach clinic in this village noted a decrease in intestinal infections from 2014 (53%) to 2015 (32%). A trend suggests that water filter usage was both practically and clinically significant in reducing the incidence of diarrheal disease in this sample. Some homes did not have flat surfaces for water filter storage. Housing conditions should be taken into consideration for future diarrheal disease prevention initiatives. Point-of-use water filters using a community-university partnership can reduce diarrheal disease in rural regions of Guatemala. © 2016 Sigma Theta Tau International.

Supramolecular control of transition metal complexes in water by a hydrophobic cavity: a bio-inspired strategy.

PubMed

Bistri, Olivia; Reinaud, Olivia

2015-03-14

Supramolecular chemistry in water is a very challenging research area. In biology, water is the universal solvent where transition metal ions play major roles in molecular recognition and catalysis. In enzymes, it participates in substrate binding and/or activation in the heart of a pocket defined by the folded protein. The association of a hydrophobic cavity with a transition metal ion is thus a very appealing strategy for controlling the metal ion properties in the very competitive water solvent. Various systems based on intrinsically water-soluble macrocyclic structures such as cyclodextrins, cucurbituryls, and metallo-cages have been reported. Others use calixarenes and resorcinarenes functionalized with hydrophilic substituents. One approach for connecting a metal complex to these cavities is to graft a ligand for metal ion binding at their edge. Early work with cyclodextrins has shown Michaelis-Menten like catalysis displaying enhanced kinetics and substrate-selectivity. Remarkable examples of regio- and stereo-selective transformation of substrates have been reported as well. Dynamic two-phase systems for transition metal catalysis have also been developed. They rely on either water-transfer of the metal complex through ligand embedment or synergistic coordination of a metal ion and substrate hosting. Another strategy consists in using metallo-cages, which provide a well-defined hydrophobic space, to stabilize metal complexes in water. When the cages can host simultaneously a substrate and a reactive metal complex, size- and regio-selective catalysis was obtained. Finally, construction of a polydentate coordination site closely interlocked with a calixarene or resorcinarene macrocycle has been shown to be a very fruitful strategy for obtaining metal complexes with remarkable hosting properties. For each of these systems, the synergism resulting from the biomimetic association of a hydrophobic cavity and a metal ion is discussed within the objective of developing new tools for either selective molecular recognition (with analytical perspectives) or performant catalysis, in water.

Integrated Modeling System for Analysis of Watershed Water Balance: A Case Study in the Tims Branch Watershed, South Carolina

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Setegn, S. G.; Mahmoudi, M.; Lawrence, A.; Duque, N.

2015-12-01

The Applied Research Center at Florida International University (ARC-FIU) is supporting the soil and groundwater remediation efforts of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) by developing a surface water model to simulate the hydrology and the fate and transport of contaminants and sediment in the Tims Branch watershed. Hydrological models are useful tool in water and land resource development and decision-making for watershed management. Moreover, simulation of hydrological processes improves understanding of the environmental dynamics and helps to manage and protect water resources and the environment. MIKE SHE, an advanced integrated modeling system is used to simulate the hydrological processes of the Tim Branch watershed with the objective of developing an integrated modeling system to improve understanding of the physical, chemical and biological processes within the Tims Branch watershed. MIKE SHE simulates water flow in the entire land based phase of the hydrological cycle from rainfall to river flow, via various flow processes such as, overland flow, infiltration, evapotranspiration, and groundwater flow. In this study a MIKE SHE model is developed and applied to the Tim branch watershed to study the watershed response to storm events and understand the water balance of the watershed under different climatic and catchment characteristics. The preliminary result of the integrated model indicated that variation in the depth of overland flow highly depend on the amount and distribution of rainfall in the watershed. The ultimate goal of this project is to couple the MIKE SHE and MIKE 11 models to integrate the hydrological component in the land phase of hydrological cycle and stream flow process. The coupled MIKE SHE/MIKE 11 model will further be integrated with an Ecolab module to represent a range of water quality, contaminant transport, and ecological processes with respect to the stream, surface water and groundwater in the Tims Branch watershed at Savannah River Site.

Effects of moisture conditions of dental enamel surface on bond strength of brackets bonded with moisture-insensitive primer adhesive system.

PubMed

Endo, Toshiya; Ozoe, Rieko; Sanpei, Sugako; Shinkai, Koichi; Katoh, Yoshiroh; Shimooka, Shohachi

2008-07-01

The purposes of this study were to evaluate the effects of different degrees of water contamination on the shear bond strength of orthodontic brackets bonded to dental enamel with a moisture-insensitive primer (MIP) adhesive system and to compare the modes of bracket/adhesive failure. A total of 68 human premolars were divided into four groups by primers and enamel surface conditions (desiccated, blot dry, and overwet). In group I, the hydrophobic Transbond XT primer adhesive system was used under desiccated conditions for bonding the brackets; in group II, the hydrophilic Transbond MIP adhesive system was used under desiccated conditions; in group III, the hydrophilic Transbond MIP adhesive system was used under blot dry conditions; and in group IV, the hydrophilic Transbond MIP adhesive system was used under overwet conditions. Shear bond strength was measured with a universal testing machine, and the mode of bracket/adhesive failure was determined according to the adhesive remnant index. The mean shear bond strengths were not significantly different among groups I, II, and III, and were higher than the clinically required range of 6 to 8 MPa. The mean shear bond strength achieved in group IV was significantly lower than that achieved in groups I, II, and III, and also lower than the clinically required values. Bond failure occurred at the enamel-adhesive interface more frequently in group IV than in groups I and III. To achieve clinically sufficient bond strengths with the hydrophilic MIP adhesive system, excess water should be blotted from the water-contaminated enamel surface.

Contemporary changes of water resources, water and land use in Central Asia based on observations and modeling.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shiklomanov, A. I.; Prousevitch, A.; Sokolik, I. N.; Lammers, R. B.

2015-12-01

Water is a key agent in Central Asia ultimately determining human well-being, food security, and economic development. There are complex interplays among the natural and anthropogenic drivers effecting the regional hydrological processes and water availability. Analysis of the data combined from regional censuses and remote sensing shows a decline in areas of arable and irrigated lands and a significant decrease in availability of arable and irrigated lands per capita across all Central Asian countries since the middle of 1990thas the result of post-Soviet transformation processes. This change could lead to considerable deterioration in food security and human system sustainability. The change of political situation in the region has also resulted in the escalated problems of water demand between countries in international river basins. We applied the University of New Hampshire - Water Balance Model - Transport from Anthropogenic and Natural Systems (WBM-TrANS) to understand the consequences of changes in climate, water and land use on regional hydrological processes and water availability. The model accounts for sub-pixel land cover types, glacier and snow-pack accumulation/melt across sub-pixel elevation bands, anthropogenic water use (e.g. domestic and industrial consumption, and irrigation for most of existing crop types), hydro-infrastructure for inter-basin water transfer and reservoir/dam regulations. A suite of historical climate re-analysis and temporal extrapolation of MIRCA-2000 crop structure datasets has been used in WBM-TrANS for this project. A preliminary analysis of the model simulations over the last 30 years has shown significant spatial and temporal changes in hydrology and water availability for crops and human across the region due to climatic and anthropogenic causes. We found that regional water availability is mostly impacted by changes in extents and efficiency of crop filed irrigation, especially in highly arid areas of Central Asia, changes in winter snow storage, and shifts in seasonality and intensity of glacier melt waters driven by climatic changes.

Performance and economics of residential solar space heating

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zehr, F. J.; Vineyard, T. A.; Barnes, R. W.; Oneal, D. L.

1982-11-01

The performance and economics of residential solar space heating were studied for various locations in the contiguous United States. Common types of active and passive solar heating systems were analyzed with respect to an average-size, single-family house designed to meet or exceed the thermal requirements of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Minimum Property Standards (HUD-MPS). The solar systems were evaluated in seventeen cities to provide a broad range of climatic conditions. Active systems evaluated consist of air and liquid flat plate collectors with single- and double-glazing: passive systems include Trombe wall, water wall, direct gain, and sunspace systems. The active system solar heating performance was computed using the University of Wisconsin's F-CHART computer program. The Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory's Solar Load Ratio (SLR) method was employed to compute solar heating performance for the passive systems. Heating costs were computed with gas, oil, and electricity as backups and as conventional heating system fuels.

Data Science Challenges at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eftelioglu, E.; Shekhar, S.

2016-12-01

Food, energy and water (FEW) systems were traditionally analyzed and planned independently to address the challenges of population growth, climate change and urbanization. However, such piece-meal approaches (e.g., bio-fuel subsidy, fertilizers in agriculture) to solving problems in one system (e.g., energy, food) led to unanticipated harms to other systems (e.g., food price increase, water resource depletion and degradation). Thus, understanding the interdependent and interconnected nature of food, energy, and water systems (FEW nexus) is a societal priority. Data Science is crucial for understanding the problem, the interconnections, and the impacts withing FEW nexus. It is also needed for monitoring a variety of Earth resources (e.g., agriculture fields, fresh water lakes, energy needs for cooling or heating, etc.), and trends (e.g., deforestation, pollution, etc.) for timely detection and management of risks, such as impending crop failures and crop-stress anywhere in the world. It is also needed to reduce waste and to improve efficiency, e.g., amount of water and energy needed to produce food. Data Science success stories go beyond the cyber-infrastructure for simulations (e.g., GCMs, AgMIP ) to include precision agriculture and GEOGLAM. Precision agriculture uses cyber-physical systems and data science to increase yield, and reduce fertilizer and pesticide runoffs. The Global Agricultural Monitoring (GEOGLAM) , an international system, uses remotely sensed satellite imagery to monitor major crops for yield forecasts to enable timely interventions to reduce disruptions in global food supply. However, the FEW nexus presents new challenges and opportunities. For example, data science methods need to not only re-examine assumptions such as non-stationarity (e.g., climate change) but also address nexus challenges such as high cost of false positives, (social) feedback loops, and multiple spatio-temporal scale. Acknowledgements: This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation, and the University of Minnesota. The talk presents outcomes of a recent NSF workshop to explore a research agenda for next generation data science to address the challenges of FEW nexus.

Monitoring middle-atmospheric water vapor over Seoul by using a 22 GHz ground-based radiometer SWARA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ka, Soohyun; de Wachter, Evelyn; Kaempfer, Niklaus; Oh, Jung Jin

2010-10-01

Water vapor is the strongest natural greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. It is most abundant in the troposphere at low altitudes, due to evaporation at the ocean surface, with maximum values of around 6 g/kg. The amount of water vapor reaches a minimum at tropopause level and increases again in the middle atmosphere through oxidation of methane and vertical transport. Water vapor has both positive and negative effects on global warming, and we need to study how it works on climate change by monitoring water vapor concentration in the middle atmosphere. In this paper, we focus on the 22 GHz ground-based radiometer called SWARA (Seoul Water vapor Radiometer) which has been operated at Sookmyung women's university in Seoul, Korea since Oct. 2006. It is a joint project of the University of Bern, Switzerland, and the Sookmyung Women's University of Seoul, South Korea. The SWARA receives 22.235 GHz emitted from water vapor spontaneously and converts down to 1.5 GHz with +/- 0.5 GHz band width in 61 kHz resolution. To represent 22.235 GHz water vapor spectrum precisely, we need some calibration methods because the signal shows very weak intensity in ~0.1 K on the ground. For SWARA, we have used the balancing and the tipping curve methods for a calibration. To retrieve the water vapor profile, we have applied ARTS and Qpack software. In this paper, we will present the calibration methods and water vapor variation over Seoul for the last 4 years.

Complex solution of problem of all-season construction of roads and pipelines on universal composite pontoon units

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ryabkov, A. V.; Stafeeva, N. A.; Ivanov, V. A.; Zakuraev, A. F.

2018-05-01

A complex construction consisting of a universal floating pontoon road for laying pipelines in automatic mode on its body all year round and in any weather for Siberia and the Far North has been designed. A new method is proposed for the construction of pipelines on pontoon modules, which are made of composite materials. Pontoons made of composite materials for bedding pipelines with track-forming guides for automated wheeled transport, pipelayer, are designed. The proposed system eliminates the construction of a road along the route, ensures the buoyancy and smoothness of the self-propelled automated stacker in the form of a "centipede", which has a number of significant advantages in the construction and operation of the entire complex in the swamp and watered areas without overburden.

Projeto Vida no Vale: universal access to water and sanitation in the North East of Minas Gerais (Brazil)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kauark-Leite, L.; Vinçon-Leite, B.; Deroubaix, J. F.; Loireau, A.; Silveira, D.; Haddad, E.

2008-08-01

In the rural areas of the developing countries, the access to water supply and sanitation services is still largely inadequate. Poor governance of the water sector is frequently singled out as a cause and reforms are required. Studies analyzing the great diversity of restructuring efforts currently being undertaken in the water sector have not succeeded in determining the most appropriate institutional and economic framework for such reforms. Moreover they underline the lack of documentation on actual projects and call for concrete models and tools for improving water and sanitation services (WSS) and for adapting water utility practice to real conditions. In this context, the Vida no Vale (Life in the Valley) project is aimed at bringing universal access to WSS for all inhabitants of both urban and rural areas, in the north-eastern area of the Brazilian State of Minas Gerais. The project takes sustainable development as its guiding principle, and relies on the joint implementation of an innovative technical design, a governance model involving public participation and subsidiarity, and an economic structure combining financial viability and social equity. Designed at a consistent geographical and hydrological scale, it includes the creation of a regional subsidiary of the existing state water company as a keystone element. The institutional organisation also relies on the creation of a public board consisting of the 92 municipalities of the project region and of the State of Minas Gerais. This board will be in charge of the system's governance. This paper presents the first step of the project (2006), consisting of a feasibility study and the implementation of 9 pilot sub-projects. During the feasibility study, the supply, demand and capacity to pay for water services were defined, existing infrastructure appraised, the necessary amount of investment assessed and an innovative operational model and a sustainable management system, including civil society participation, defined. The main features of the Vida no Vale project have been tested in 9 pilot sub-projects, and implemented in municipalities chosen for their low Human Development Index and for the lack of WSS, in both urban and rural areas. A second phase corresponding to the project's final implementation will run from 2007 to 2011. The Vida no Vale project design resulted in a logical and extensive framework which could be used for developing similar WSS projects in other poor, rural regions, its adaptiveness being a key feature for taking into account the specific, local conditions.

Modeling phytoremediation of nitrogen-polluted water using water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mayo, Aloyce W.; Hanai, Emmanuel E.

2017-08-01

Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) has a great potential for purification of wastewater through physical, chemical and biological mechanisms. In an attempt to improve the quality of effluents discharged from waste stabilization ponds at the University of Dar es Salaam, a pilot plant was constructed to experiment the effectiveness of this plants for transformation and removal of nitrogen. Samples of wastewater were collected and examined for water quality parameters, including pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and various forms of nitrogen, which were used as input parameters in a kinetic mathematical model. A conceptual model was then developed to model various processes in the system using STELLA 6.0.1 software. The results show that total nitrogen was removed by 63.9%. Denitrification contributed 73.8% of the removed nitrogen. Other dominant nitrogen removal mechanisms are net sedimentation and uptake by water hyacinth, which contributed 16.7% and 9.5% of the removed nitrogen, respectively. The model indicated that in presence of water hyacinth biofilm about 1.26 g Nm-2day-1 of nitrogen was removed. However, in the absence of biofilm in water hyacinth pond, the permanent nitrogen removal was only 0.89 g Nm-2day-1. This suggests that in absence of water hyacinth, the efficiency of nitrogen removal would decrease by 29.4%.

Jack D. Fellows: Congressional Science Fellow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jack D. Fellows has been selected as the 1983-84 AGU Congressional Science Fellow. Last week he began his 1-year stint on Capitol Hill as AGU's seventh Congressional Science Fellow.Fellows received his Ph.D. earlier this year from the civil engineering department at the University of Maryland, College Park. For his dissertation he developed a management system using regional geographic information for hydrologic models. His work applied remote sensing data to the decision-making processes of regional planning organizations concerned with hydrology and natural resource management. The Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission has integrated Fellows' work into their programs on water resource and environmental planning; his approach also is being used for forest and water resource planning near Freiburg, Baden-Wurtemberg, West Germany.

Energy, Electron Transfer and Photocatalytic Reactions of Visible Light Absorbing Transition Metal Complexes

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

Schmehl, Russell H.

2016-03-02

This is the final technical report for a project carried out at Tulane University of New Orleans that describes the development of light induced (solar) reactions geared toward decomposing water into its component elements : hydrogen and oxygen. Much of the work involved optimizing systems for absorbing visible light and undergoing light promoted reactions to generate very strong reducing agents that are capable of reacting with water to produce hydrogen. Additional portions of the research were collaborative efforts to put the strong reducing agents to work in reaction with hydrogen generation catalysts prepared elsewhere. Time resolved laser spectroscopic methods weremore » used to evaluate the light induced reactions and characterize very reactive intermediate substances formed during the reactions.« less

Experimental investigation of gas hydrate formation, plugging and transportability in partially dispersed and water continuous systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vijayamohan, Prithvi

As oil/gas subsea fields mature, the amount of water produced increases significantly due to the production methods employed to enhance the recovery of oil. This is true especially in the case of oil reservoirs. This increase in the water hold up increases the risk of hydrate plug formation in the pipelines, thereby resulting in higher inhibition cost strategies. A major industry concern is to reduce the severe safety risks associated with hydrate plug formation, and significantly extending subsea tieback distances by providing a cost effective flow assurance management/safety tool for mature fields. Developing fundamental understanding of the key mechanistic steps towards hydrate plug formation for different multiphase flow conditions is a key challenge to the flow assurance community. Such understanding can ultimately provide new insight and hydrate management guidelines to diminish the safety risks due to hydrate formation and accumulation in deepwater flowlines and facilities. The transportability of hydrates in pipelines is a function of the operating parameters, such as temperature, pressure, fluid mixture velocity, liquid loading, and fluid system characteristics. Specifically, the hydrate formation rate and plugging onset characteristics can be significantly different for water continuous, oil continuous, and partially dispersed systems. The latter is defined as a system containing oil/gas/water, where the water is present both as a free phase and partially dispersed in the oil phase (i.e., entrained water in the oil). Since hydrate formation from oil dispersed in water systems and partially dispersed water systems is an area which is poorly understood, this thesis aims to address some key questions in these systems. Selected experiments have been performed at the University of Tulsa flowloop to study the hydrate formation and plugging characteristics for the partially dispersed water/oil/gas systems as well as systems where the oil is completely dispersed in water. These experiments indicate that the partially dispersed systems tend to be problematic and are more severe cases with respect to flow assurance when compared to systems where the water is completely dispersed in oil. We have found that the partially dispersed systems are distinct, and are not an intermediate case between water dominated, and water-in-oil emulsified systems. Instead the experiments indicate that the hydrate formation and plugging mechanism for these systems are very complex. Hydrate growth is very rapid for such systems when compared to 100% water cut systems. The plugging mechanism for these systems is a combination of various phenomena (wall growth, agglomeration, bedding/settling, etc). Three different oils with different viscosities have been used to investigate the transportability of hydrates with respect to oil properties. The experiments indicate that the transportability of hydrates increases with increase in oil viscosity. The data from the tests performed provide the basis for a mechanistic model for hydrate formation and plugging in partially dispersed systems. It is found that in systems that were in stratified flow regime before hydrate onset, the hydrates eventually settled on the pipe walls thereby decreasing the flow area for the flow of fluids. In systems that were in the slug flow regime before hydrate formation, moving beds of hydrates were the main cause for plugging. In both the flow regimes, the systems studied entered a plugging regime beyond a certain hydrate concentration. This is termed as φplugging onset and can be used as an indicator to calculate the amount of hydrates that can be transported safely without requiring any additional treatment for a given set of flow characteristics. A correlation to calculate this hydrate concentration based on easily accessible parameters is developed in terms of flow characteristics and oil properties. The work performed in this thesis has enhanced the understanding of the hydrate plug mechanism in pipelines having high amounts of water. This work has also shown the effect of hydrate formation in different flow regimes thereby shedding light on the effects of hydrates on multiphase flow and vice versa. Lessons resulting from this work could be incorporated into flow assurance models, as well as operating company production strategies to reduce or mitigate hydrate plugging risks in complex multiphase systems.

Bioassays to quantify impacts of CECs in Wastewater, Surface Water, and Drinking Water : Pathway-Based In Vitro Screening

EPA Science Inventory

I will be giving 2 invited presentations during a 2 day meeting at Marquette University. the presentations will focus on our bioassay work on wastewater, surface water, and drinking water and bioassay work on CAFOs.

Impact of remote sensing upon the planning, management and development of water resources, appendix

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Castruccio, P. A.; Loats, H. L.; Fowler, T. R.; Frech, S. L.

1975-01-01

Lists are presented of water resource agencies from the federal, state, Water Resources Research Institute, university, local, and private sectors. Information is provided on their water resource activities, computers, and models used. For Basic doc., see N75-25263.

Secrets of the Presidential Turn-Around Artist.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fields, Cheryl D.

2002-01-01

Profiles five college presidents (Henry Tisdale of Claflin University, David Carter of Eastern Connecticut State University, Jimmy Jenkins of Edward Waters College, Dorothy Yancy of Johnson C. Smith University, and Luns Richardson of Morris College) who have brought success to their once-languishing institutions. (EV)

Automation of closed environments in space for human comfort and safety

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

The results of the second year of a three year design project on the automation of the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) of the Space Station Freedom (SSF) are presented. The results are applicable to other space missions that require long duration space habitats. A description of conceptual controls which are developed for the Water Recovery and Management (WRM) Subassembly is given. Mathematical modeling of the Air Revitalization (AR) Subassembly is presented. The work done by the Kansas State University NASA/USRA interdisciplinary student design team is concluded with a discussion of the expert system which was developed for the AR Subassembly.

Computer-Aided Design Applications for the Base Civil Engineering Technical Design Section.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-09-01

4 1983.’ S DEPARTMENT OF TiHE AIR FORCE L ~j AIR UNIVERSITY * AIR FORCE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Nam Wright- Patterson Air Force Bas, Ohio d ’rI ’ 4to...I -. L I 1it it COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGN APPLICATIONS FOR THE BASE CIVIL ENGINEERING TECHNICAL DESIGN SECTION William M. Duncan, Captain, USAF LSSR 15-83...8217 .. ’ , .. - -. . ’ . , ._, - . . - .2 , _ : ’i 1 . . . . .- J.. .. . ’ _ -i l - , . analysis and design, water supply and wastewater disposal system design, and most

Installation Restoration Program. Phase I. Records Search for the 5073rd Air Base Group, Shemya AFB, Alaska.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-09-21

O’Flaherty, R.W. Greiling, and B.J. Morson. A-2 [ . . . . . . .. _ . . . . . . . . . . .. ... . . . . DAVID W. ABBOTT EDUCATION University of Puget Sound , B.S...discovery of the largest aquifer system heretofor discovered in Kitsap County and perhaps in the Puget Sound lowlands. e City of Ellensburg, Washington...is a lead author of a report ’Dr EPA Region X in which she iden- tified major water uses within designated subregions of Puget Sound which could be

A Wet Chemistry Laboratory Cell

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2008-01-01

This picture of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's Wet Chemistry Laboratory (WCL) cell is labeled with components responsible for mixing Martian soil with water from Earth, adding chemicals and measuring the solution chemistry. WCL is part of the Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA) instrument suite on board the Phoenix lander.

The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.

The Pawsey Supercomputer geothermal cooling project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Regenauer-Lieb, K.; Horowitz, F.; Western Australian Geothermal Centre Of Excellence, T.

2010-12-01

The Australian Government has funded the Pawsey supercomputer in Perth, Western Australia, providing computational infrastructure intended to support the future operations of the Australian Square Kilometre Array radiotelescope and to boost next-generation computational geosciences in Australia. Supplementary funds have been directed to the development of a geothermal exploration well to research the potential for direct heat use applications at the Pawsey Centre site. Cooling the Pawsey supercomputer may be achieved by geothermal heat exchange rather than by conventional electrical power cooling, thus reducing the carbon footprint of the Pawsey Centre and demonstrating an innovative green technology that is widely applicable in industry and urban centres across the world. The exploration well is scheduled to be completed in 2013, with drilling due to commence in the third quarter of 2011. One year is allocated to finalizing the design of the exploration, monitoring and research well. Success in the geothermal exploration and research program will result in an industrial-scale geothermal cooling facility at the Pawsey Centre, and will provide a world-class student training environment in geothermal energy systems. A similar system is partially funded and in advanced planning to provide base-load air-conditioning for the main campus of the University of Western Australia. Both systems are expected to draw ~80-95 degrees C water from aquifers lying between 2000 and 3000 meters depth from naturally permeable rocks of the Perth sedimentary basin. The geothermal water will be run through absorption chilling devices, which only require heat (as opposed to mechanical work) to power a chilled water stream adequate to meet the cooling requirements. Once the heat has been removed from the geothermal water, licensing issues require the water to be re-injected back into the aquifer system. These systems are intended to demonstrate the feasibility of powering large-scale air-conditioning systems from the direct use of geothermal power from Hot Sedimentary Aquifer (HSA) systems. HSA systems underlie many of the world's population centers, and thus have the potential to offset a significant fraction of the world's consumption of electrical power for air-conditioning.

Water Resources Research Institute | Mississippi State University

Science.gov Websites

Welcome The Mississippi Water Resources Research Institute provides a statewide center of expertise with water policy issues supports state water agencies' mission with research on problems encountered in water and associated land-use and serves as a repository of knowledge for use in education

Construction and measurements of an improved vacuum-swing-adsorption radon-mitigation system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Street, J.; Bunker, R.; Dunagan, C.; Loose, X.; Schnee, R. W.; Stark, M.; Sundarnath, K.; Tronstad, D.

2015-08-01

In order to reduce backgrounds from radon-daughter plate-out onto detector surfaces, an ultra-low-radon cleanroom is being commissioned at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. An improved vacuum-swing-adsorption radon mitigation system and cleanroom build upon a previous design implemented at Syracuse University that achieved radon levels of ˜0.2 Bq m-3. This improved system will employ a better pump and larger carbon beds feeding a redesigned cleanroom with an internal HVAC unit and aged water for humidification. With the rebuilt (original) radon mitigation system, the new low-radon cleanroom has already achieved a > 300× reduction from an input activity of 58.6 ± 0.7 Bq m-3 to a cleanroom activity of 0.13 ± 0.06 Bq m-3.

Immediate bonding properties of universal adhesives to dentine.

PubMed

Muñoz, Miguel Angel; Luque, Issis; Hass, Viviane; Reis, Alessandra; Loguercio, Alessandro Dourado; Bombarda, Nara Hellen Campanha

2013-05-01

To evaluate the dentine microtensile bond strength (μTBS), nanoleakage (NL), degree of conversion (DC) within the hybrid layer for etch-and-rinse and self-etch strategies of universal simplified adhesive systems. forty caries free extracted third molars were divided into 8 groups for μTBS (n=5), according to the adhesive and etching strategy: Clearfil SE Bond [CSE] and Adper Single Bond 2 [SB], as controls; Peak Universal Adhesive System, self-etch [PkSe] and etch-and-rinse [PkEr]; Scotchbond Universal Adhesive, self-etch [ScSe] and etch-and-rinse [ScEr]; All Bond Universal, self-etch [AlSe] and etch-and-rinse [AlEr]. After restorations were constructed, specimens were stored in water (37°C/24h) and then resin-dentine sticks were prepared (0.8mm(2)). The sticks were tested under tension at 0.5mm/min. Some sticks from each tooth group were used for DC determination by micro-Raman spectroscopy or nanoleakage evaluation (NL). The pH for each solution was evaluated using a pH metre. Data were analyzed with one-way ANOVA and Tukey's test (α=0.05). For μTBS, only PkSe and PkEr were similar to the respective control groups (p>0.05). AlSe showed the lowest μTBS mean (p<0.05). For NL, ScEr, ScSe, AlSe, and AlEr showed the lowest NL similar to control groups (p<0.05). For DC, only ScSe showed lower DC than the other materials (p<0.05). Performance of universal adhesives was shown to be material-dependent. The results indicate that this new category of universal adhesives used on dentine as either etch-and-rinse or self-etch strategies were inferior as regards at least one of the properties evaluated (μTBS, NL and DC) in comparison with the control adhesives (CSE for self-etch and SB for etch-and-rinse). Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

North-South Partnership in Water Resource Education and Research - Lessons learnt from U.S.-Ethiopia Partnership

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gebremichael, M.

2015-12-01

In 2010, Ethiopian and U.S. universities formed partnership to train critical mass of Ethiopians in modern water resources tools, techniques, skills and knowledge, and to strengthen the institutional capacity of Ethiopian universities to establish graduate-level programs in Ethiopia. The partnership established Ethiopia's first water resource research institute, two graduate-level programs (water resource engineering and management, water and health) that are currently training about 100 students at M.S. and Ph.D. levels, summer undergraduate outreach program that provided community-based research experience in water resource for undergraduate students, and short-term trainings to practitioners and policy makers. The design, implementation and impact of these programs have had limitations and successes. In this presentation, I will provide lessons learnt from this partnership, and suggestions of elements required for successful North-South partnership in higher education and research.

Deficit irrigation and sustainable water-resource strategies in agriculture for China's food security.

PubMed

Du, Taisheng; Kang, Shaozhong; Zhang, Jianhua; Davies, William J

2015-04-01

More than 70% of fresh water is used in agriculture in many parts of the world, but competition for domestic and industrial water use is intense. For future global food security, water use in agriculture must become sustainable. Agricultural water-use efficiency and water productivity can be improved at different points from the stomatal to the regional scale. A promising approach is the use of deficit irrigation, which can both save water and induce plant physiological regulations such as stomatal opening and reproductive and vegetative growth. At the scales of the irrigation district, the catchment, and the region, there can be many other components to a sustainable water-resources strategy. There is much interest in whether crop water use can be regulated as a function of understanding of physiological responses. If this is the case, then agricultural water resources can be reallocated to the benefit of the broader community. We summarize the extent of use and impact of deficit irrigation within China. A sustainable strategy for allocation of agricultural water resources for food security is proposed. Our intention is to build an integrative system to control crop water use during different cropping stages and actively regulate the plant's growth, productivity, and development based on physiological responses. This is done with a view to improving the allocation of limited agricultural water resources. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Earth System Science: Problem-based Learning Courses for Teachers Through ESSEA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Close, E.; Witiw, M. R.

2007-12-01

One method that has proven effective in the study of Earth system science is to use a problem-based and event- centered course organization. In such a course, different events that occur in the Earth system are examined and how each event influences subsequent events in each of Earth's spheres (the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and lithosphere) is studied. A course is composed of several problem-based modules, where each module is centered about a particular event or issue that is important to the Earth system. The Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) was recently awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation's Geo-Teach program to develop and implement courses for teachers in Earth system science. Through the Earth System Science Education Alliance (ESSEA), IGES subsequently made awards to a group of 24 universities. Under the ESSEA program, problem-based modules are being developed for courses for middle school and high school teachers. In a typical university schedule, each module is designed to last three weeks and includes both group work and individual assignments. In the first week ("Teacher as Problem Solver"), participants explore their own ideas concerning the event and exchange their ideas with other members of their group. In the second week ("Teacher as Scholar"), participants research the issue and become more familiar with the event and the sphere-to-sphere interactions that occur. In the last week ("Teacher as Designer"), each participant develops a lesson plan for his or her own classroom. Current ESSEA modules cover topics such as volcanoes, Brazilian deforestation, Antarctic ice sheets, coral reefs, and stratospheric ozone depletion. Many new modules are under development with topics that range from plate tectonics and tsunamis to agriculture and sustainable water systems. Seattle Pacific University, in cooperation with Seattle Public Schools, was recently awarded a three-year grant by IGES to provide Earth system science education courses to middle and high school teachers. Teachers who complete the course are eligible for Continuing Education Units or graduate credit through Seattle Pacific University. Both three-credit and five-credit courses will be offered. All tuition costs will be paid by the grant. The courses will be offered in a hybrid online-classroom format. Future plans include offering an Earth system science course for pre-service teachers. In this talk we will describe the structure and content of the ESSEA modules with examples from currently available modules. We will also outline the development and planned implementation of a five-credit ESSEA course for area high school teachers to be offered at Seattle Pacific University in spring of 2008.

Environmental Hydrological Education in Ukraine: Present State and New Challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manukalo, Viacheslav

2010-05-01

In order to protect waters from damages, improve water-environmental quality and mitigate water-related disasters need the advanced science and technology, sufficient investment and appropriate management. All of these need an effective education and training in the hydrology as the part of water - related sciences. The education in the hydrology is the part of national water-related activity in Ukraine. The needs in the quality of hydrological education will increase as the introduction of new ideas and techniques into practice of water resources planners and managers become comparative. Environmentally oriented water resources development, inherent challenges of man-made and climate change impact on waters have to be tackled worldwide by well trained engineers and scientist relying on modern technology. Ukraine has more than 70 years of experience in the training of hydrologists. At the present hydrologists of B.Sc., M. Sc. and Ph D levels are trained at the Odesa State Environmental University (on the engineering basis) and at the Faculty of Geography of the Kyiv National University (on the geographical basis). The Geographical training of hydrologists at the Kyiv National University provides deeper understanding of natural processes in rivers, lakes and reservoirs, to view them in geographical complex with other physiogeographical phenomena. For this purpose students study geology, geomorphology, biology, meteorology, soil science, physical geography etc. The graduate hydrologists work in the organizations of the State Hydrometeorological Service, the State Committee for Water Management, the Academy of Sciences, others governmental and private organizations. The requirements for hydrologists of these organizations are different in context and scope. This leads to the conclusion that a level of training of hydrologists should have a wide-scope in education. This is achieved by the university-wide fundamental and general geographic training during first and second years and orientation on special hydrological training during next years. After the completion of first and second years academic program, students undertake field practical works under a supervision of their teachers at field stations of the Kyiv National University and at organization of the State Hydrometeorological Service. New challenges in climate changes, increasing of human impact on waters as well as a rapid development of environmental oriented researches stimulate the upgrading of requirements to educational programs. In order to meet these requirements a number of measures have been undertaken by the Kyiv National University in cooperation with the State Hydrometeorological Service and the State Committee for Water Management. A number of the new courses ("Hydroinformatics", "Environmental Planning and Management", "New Technologies Using in the Hydrometeorological Service" and others) have been developed during last years. The practical training of using of new hydrological and hydrochemical equipment and methods of observation and forecasting in the State Hydometeorological Service is increased. All students have practical works at the organization of the State Hydrometeorological Service: meteorological and hydrological stations, observatories, hydrological forecasting units. The special complex program of practical hydrological training of students was development by the Administration of the State Hydrometeorological Service in 2007. One way of the development of hydrological training is increasing the flexibility of educational programs, which includes providing by the Kyiv National University and the State Hydrometeorolgical Service of on-line and short courses.

MELCOR Analysis of OSU Multi-Application Small Light Water Reactor (MASLWR) Experiment

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

Yoon, Dhongik S.; Jo, HangJin; Fu, Wen

A multi-application small light water reactor (MASLWR) conceptual design was developed by Oregon State University (OSU) with emphasis on passive safety systems. The passive containment safety system employs condensation and natural circulation to achieve the necessary heat removal from the containment in case of postulated accidents. Containment condensation experiments at the MASLWR test facility at OSU are modeled and analyzed with MELCOR, a system-level reactor accident analysis computer code. The analysis assesses its ability to predict condensation heat transfer in the presence of noncondensable gas for accidents where high-energy steam is released into the containment. This work demonstrates MELCOR’s abilitymore » to predict the pressure-temperature response of the scaled containment. Our analysis indicates that the heat removal rates are underestimated in the experiment due to the limited locations of the thermocouples and applies corrections to these measurements by conducting integral energy analyses along with CFD simulation for confirmation. Furthermore, the corrected heat removal rate measurements and the MELCOR predictions on the heat removal rate from the containment show good agreement with the experimental data.« less

Flood forecasting within urban drainage systems using NARX neural network.

PubMed

Abou Rjeily, Yves; Abbas, Oras; Sadek, Marwan; Shahrour, Isam; Hage Chehade, Fadi

2017-11-01

Urbanization activity and climate change increase the runoff volumes, and consequently the surcharge of the urban drainage systems (UDS). In addition, age and structural failures of these utilities limit their capacities, and thus generate hydraulic operation shortages, leading to flooding events. The large increase in floods within urban areas requires rapid actions from the UDS operators. The proactivity in taking the appropriate actions is a key element in applying efficient management and flood mitigation. Therefore, this work focuses on developing a flooding forecast system (FFS), able to alert in advance the UDS managers for possible flooding. For a forecasted storm event, a quick estimation of the water depth variation within critical manholes allows a reliable evaluation of the flood risk. The Nonlinear Auto Regressive with eXogenous inputs (NARX) neural network was chosen to develop the FFS as due to its calculation nature it is capable of relating water depth variation in manholes to rainfall intensities. The campus of the University of Lille is used as an experimental site to test and evaluate the FFS proposed in this paper.

MELCOR Analysis of OSU Multi-Application Small Light Water Reactor (MASLWR) Experiment

DOE PAGES

Yoon, Dhongik S.; Jo, HangJin; Fu, Wen; ...

2017-05-23

A multi-application small light water reactor (MASLWR) conceptual design was developed by Oregon State University (OSU) with emphasis on passive safety systems. The passive containment safety system employs condensation and natural circulation to achieve the necessary heat removal from the containment in case of postulated accidents. Containment condensation experiments at the MASLWR test facility at OSU are modeled and analyzed with MELCOR, a system-level reactor accident analysis computer code. The analysis assesses its ability to predict condensation heat transfer in the presence of noncondensable gas for accidents where high-energy steam is released into the containment. This work demonstrates MELCOR’s abilitymore » to predict the pressure-temperature response of the scaled containment. Our analysis indicates that the heat removal rates are underestimated in the experiment due to the limited locations of the thermocouples and applies corrections to these measurements by conducting integral energy analyses along with CFD simulation for confirmation. Furthermore, the corrected heat removal rate measurements and the MELCOR predictions on the heat removal rate from the containment show good agreement with the experimental data.« less

Detection of conduit-controlled ground-water flow in northwestern Puerto Rico using aerial photograph interpretation and geophysical methods

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rodríguez-Martínez, Jesús; Richards, Ronald T.

2000-01-01

The development potential of ground-water resources in the karst limestone of northwestern Puerto Rico, in an area extending from the Río Camuy to Aguadilla, is uncertain as a result of limited knowledge of the location of areas where a high density of cavities (interconnected fractures, conduits, and other dissolution features) might suggest the occurrence of high water yields. The presence in northwestern Puerto Rico of numerous coastal submarine springs, cavernous porosity in some of the wells, and rivers with entrenched and underground paths, indicate that it is probable that water-bearing, subterranean interconnected cavities occur in the area between the Río Camuy and Aguadilla. The number of exploratory wells needed to determine the location of these conduits or zones of enhanced secondary porosity could be substantially reduced if more information were available about the location of these subterranean features, greatly reducing the drilling costs associated with a trial-and-error exploratory process. A 3-year study was conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority, to detect the presence of cavities that might suggest the occurrence of conduit-controlled groundwater flow. Aerial photographs, geologic and topographic maps, and field reconnaissance were used to identify such linear terrain features as ridges, entrenched canyons, and fracture traces. Natural potential and gravity geophysical methods were also used. The following sites were selected for the aerial photograph interpretation and geophysical testing: Caimital Bajo uplands and former Ramey Air Force Base in Aguadilla; Quebrada de los Cedros between Aguadilla and Isabela; the University of Puerto Rico Agricultural Experiment Station, Otilio dairy farm, and Pozo Brujo in Isabela; the Monte Encantado area in Moca and Isabela; and the Rio Camuy cave system in Hatillo and Camuy. In general, the degree of success varied with site and the geophysical method used. At some sites such as Pozo Brujo, the University of Puerto Rico Agricultural Experiment Station, and Monte Encantado area, natural potential anomalies strongly suggest the existence of conduits with flowing water. At most sites, however, the results obtained did not clearly reveal the presence of subsurface cavities that might be associated with the occurrence of conduit-controlled ground-water flow. Sites such as the University of Puerto Rico Agricultural Experiment Station, Pozo Brujo, and Quebrada de los Cedros warrant a more detailed analysis, including a test well drilling phase to confirm the presence of suspected high-yield water-bearing zones.

Lighting the Way to the Stars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stutte, Gary W.

2015-01-01

NASA has long recognized the importance of biological life-support systems to remove carbon dioxide, generate oxygen, purify water, and produce food for long-duration space missions. Experiments to understand the effects of the space environment on plant development have been performed since early days of the space program. In the late 1970s, NASA sponsored a series of workshops to identify issues associated with developing a sustainable, biological life-support system for long-duration space missions. Based on findings from these workshops, NASA's Controlled Ecological Life Support Systems (CELSS) program began funding research at university and field centers to systematically conduct the research identified in those workshops. Key issues were the necessity to reduce mass, power/energy requirements, and volume of all components.

Regenerable Air Purification System for Gas-Phase Contaminant Control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Constantinescu, Ileana C.; Qi, Nan; LeVan, M. Douglas; Finn, Cory K.; Finn, John E.; Luna, Bernadette (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

A regenerable air purification system (RAPS) that uses water vapor to displace adsorbed contaminants from an. adsorbent column into a closed oxidation loop is under development through cooperative R&D between Vanderbilt University and NASA Ames Research Center. A unit based on this design can be used for removing trace gas-phase contaminants from spacecraft cabin air or from polluted process streams including incinerator exhaust. Recent work has focused on fabrication and operation of a RAPS breadboard at NASA Ames, and on measurement of adsorption isotherm data for several important organic compounds at Vanderbilt. These activities support the use and validation of RAPS modeling software also under development at Vanderbilt, which will in turn be used to construct a prototype system later in the project.

Real-time Control of sewer pumps by using ControlNEXT to smooth inflow at Waste Water Treatment Plant Garmerwolde

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Heeringen, Klaas-Jan; van Nooijen, Ronald; Kooij, Kees; Postma, Bokke

2016-04-01

The Garmerwolde waste water treatment plant (WWTP) in the Groningen area of the Netherlands, receives waste water from a large area. That waste water is collected from many sewer systems and transported to the WWTP through pressurized pipes. The supply of waste water to the WWTP is relatively low and very irregular during dry-weather conditions, resulting in a random pattern of flows. This irregularity is the effect of the local control of the pumps, where the pumps are individually operated as an on/off control based on the water levels in the connected sewer system. The influent may change from zero to high values in a few minutes. The treatment processes at the WWTP are negatively influenced by this irregularity, which ends in high costs for energy and use of chemicals. The ControlNEXT central control system is used to control the 5 largest pump stations, such that the total inflow at the WWTP becomes much smoother. This results in a reduction of operational costs of about 10%. The control algorithm determines whether the actual condition is dry or wet, based on real-time radar precipitation images and the rainfall forecast product HiRLAM. All actual data is also collected and validated, like water levels, pump operations and pump availability. This data management is done using Delft-FEWS. If the situation is identified as "wet", the sewer systems are emptied as far as possible to create maximum storage. If the situation is "dry" (and of course there is a dead band between dry and wet), the pumps are operated such that the total inflow into the WWTP is smoothed. This is done with a Greedy algorithm, developed by Delft University of Technology. The algorithm makes a plan for the next 24 hours (as the daily inflow has a typical daily pattern) and generally stores some water volume in the sewer systems during the day to be able to continue operations during the night. The pumps are controlled with a time step of 5 minutes, where ControlNEXT manages the communication of pump operation setpoints to the SCADA system. In case of failing communication, backup procedures are programmed in the PLC of the pump stations. In that case the old on/off operation based on local water levels will be used. The system has been operational since January 2016 and has been monitored since then. In addition to monitoring the positive effect on the inflow at the WWTP, an important issue is the possible sedimentation in the sewer systems. This will be monitored too.

Cost Optimization of Water Resources in Pernambuco, Brazil: Valuing Future Infrastructure and Climate Forecasts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Ipsita; Josset, Laureline; Lall, Upmanu; Cavalcanti e Silva, Erik; Cordeiro Possas, José Marcelo; Cauás Asfora, Marcelo

2017-04-01

Optimal management of water resources is paramount in semi-arid regions to limit strains on the society and economy due to limited water availability. This problem is likely to become even more recurrent as droughts are projected to intensify in the coming years, causing increasing stresses to the water supply in the concerned areas. The state of Pernambuco, in the Northeast Brazil is one such case, where one of the largest reservoir, Jucazinho, has been at approximately 1% capacity throughout 2016, making infrastructural challenges in the region very real. To ease some of the infrastructural stresses and reduce vulnerabilities of the water system, a new source of water from Rio São Francisco is currently under development. Till its development, water trucks have been regularly mandated to cover water deficits, but at a much higher cost, thus endangering the financial sustainability of the region. In this paper, we propose to evaluate the sustainability of the considered water system by formulating an optimization problem and determine the optimal operations to be conducted. We start with a comparative study of the current and future infrastructures capabilities to face various climate. We show that while the Rio Sao Francisco project mitigates the problems, both implementations do not prevent failure and require the reliance on water trucks during prolonged droughts. We also study the cost associated with the provision of water to the municipalities for several streamflow forecasts. In particular, we investigate the value of climate predictions to adapt operational decisions by comparing the results with a fixed policy derived from historical data. We show that the use of climate information permits the reduction of the water deficit and reduces overall operational costs. We conclude with a discussion on the potential of the approach to evaluate future infrastructure developments. This study is funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), and in partnership with the Pernambuco State Agency for Climate and Water (Agência Pernambucana de Águas e Clima - APAC), RTI, and Arizona State University under the title "A Water Resources Decision Support System to Reduce Drought Vulnerability and Enable Adaptation to Climate Variability and Change in Pernambuco." Laureline Josset is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF grant P2LAP2_161876).

Breathing modes of Kolumbo submarine volcano (Santorini, Greece).

PubMed

Bakalis, Evangelos; Mertzimekis, Theo J; Nomikou, Paraskevi; Zerbetto, Francesco

2017-04-13

Submarine volcanoes, such as Kolumbo (Santorini, Greece) are natural laboratories for fostering multidisciplinary studies. Their investigation requires the most innovative marine technology together with advanced data analysis. Conductivity and temperature of seawater were recorded directly above Kolumbo's hydrothermal vent system. The respective time series have been analyzed in terms of non-equilibrium techniques. The energy dissipation of the volcanic activity is monitored by the temperature variations of seawater. The venting dynamics of chemical products is monitored by water conductivity. The analysis of the time series in terms of stochastic processes delivers scaling exponents with turning points between consecutive regimes for both conductivity and temperature. Changes of conductivity are shown to behave as a universal multifractal and their variance is subdiffusive as the scaling exponents indicate. Temperature is constant over volcanic rest periods and a universal multifractal behavior describes its changes in line with a subdiffusive character otherwise. The universal multifractal description illustrates the presence of non-conservative conductivity and temperature fields showing that the system never retains a real equilibrium state. The existence of a repeated pattern of the combined effect of both seawater and volcanic activity is predicted. The findings can shed light on the dynamics of chemical products emitted from the vents and point to the presence of underlying mechanisms that govern potentially hazardous, underwater volcanic environments.

Breathing modes of Kolumbo submarine volcano (Santorini, Greece)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bakalis, Evangelos; Mertzimekis, Theo J.; Nomikou, Paraskevi; Zerbetto, Francesco

2017-04-01

Submarine volcanoes, such as Kolumbo (Santorini, Greece) are natural laboratories for fostering multidisciplinary studies. Their investigation requires the most innovative marine technology together with advanced data analysis. Conductivity and temperature of seawater were recorded directly above Kolumbo’s hydrothermal vent system. The respective time series have been analyzed in terms of non-equilibrium techniques. The energy dissipation of the volcanic activity is monitored by the temperature variations of seawater. The venting dynamics of chemical products is monitored by water conductivity. The analysis of the time series in terms of stochastic processes delivers scaling exponents with turning points between consecutive regimes for both conductivity and temperature. Changes of conductivity are shown to behave as a universal multifractal and their variance is subdiffusive as the scaling exponents indicate. Temperature is constant over volcanic rest periods and a universal multifractal behavior describes its changes in line with a subdiffusive character otherwise. The universal multifractal description illustrates the presence of non-conservative conductivity and temperature fields showing that the system never retains a real equilibrium state. The existence of a repeated pattern of the combined effect of both seawater and volcanic activity is predicted. The findings can shed light on the dynamics of chemical products emitted from the vents and point to the presence of underlying mechanisms that govern potentially hazardous, underwater volcanic environments.

Complex Behavior of Contaminant Flux and the Ecology of the Lower Mississippi River

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barton, C. C.; Manheim, F. T.; De Cola, L.; Bollinger, J. E.; Jenkins, J. A.

2001-12-01

This presentation is an overview of a collaborative NSF/USGS/Tulane funded multi-scale study of the Lower Mississippi River system. The study examines the system in three major dimensional realms: space, time, and complexity (systems and their hierarchies). Researchers at Tulane University and the U.S. Geological Survey have initiated a collaborative effort to undertake the study of interacting elements which directly or indirectly affect the water quality, ecology and physical condition of the Mississippi River. These researchers include experts in the fields of water quality chemistry, geochemistry, hydrologic modeling, bioengineering, biology, fish ecology, statistics, complexity analysis, epidemiology, and computer science. Underlying this research are large databases that permit quantitative analysis of the system over the past 40 years. Results to date show that the variation in discharge and the contaminant flux scale independently both exhibit fractal scaling, the signature geometry of nonlinear dynamical and complex systems. Public perception is that the Lower Mississippi River is a health hazard, but for the past decade, traditional water quality measurements show that contaminants are within current regulatory guidelines for human consumption. This difference between public perception and scientific reality represents a complex scientific and social issue. The connections and feedback within the ecological system and the Mississippi River are few because engineering structures isolate the lower Mississippi River from its surroundings. Investigation of the connections and feedback between human health and the ecological health of the River and the surrounding region as well as perceptions of these states of health - holds promise for explaining epidemiological patterns of human disease.