15 CFR 950.2 - Environmental Data and Information Service (EDIS).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

..., archives, analyzes, and disseminates worldwide environmental (atmospheric, marine, solar, and solid Earth... environmental fluctuations on food production, energy production and consumption, environmental quality, and...

Application of Remote Sensing for the Analysis of Environmental Changes in Albania

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frasheri, N.; Beqiraj, G.; Bushati, S.; Frasheri, A.

2016-08-01

In the paper there is presented a review of remote sensing studies carried out for investigation of environmental changes in Albania. Using, often simple methodologies and general purpose image processing software, and exploiting free Internet archives of satellite imagery, significant results were obtained for hot areas of environmental changes. Such areas include sea coasts experiencing sea transgression, temporal variations of vegetation and aerosols, lakes, landslides and regional tectonics. Internet archives of European Space Agency ESA and USA Geological Service USGS are used.

NOAA's Big Data Partnership at the National Centers for Environmental Information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kearns, E. J.

2015-12-01

In April of 2015, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced NOAA's Big Data Partnership (BDP) with Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, IBM, Microsoft Corp., and the Open Cloud Consortium through Cooperative Research and Development Agreements. Recent progress on the activities with these Partners at the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) will be presented. These activities include the transfer of over 350 TB of NOAA's archived data from NCEI's tape-based archive system to BDP cloud providers; new opportunities for data mining and investigation; application of NOAA's data maturity and stewardship concepts to the BDP; and integration of both archived and near-realtime data streams into a synchronized, distributed data system. Both lessons learned and future opportunities for the environmental data community will be presented.

The Element of Surprise: Preparing for the Possibility of Hazardous Materials within Archival Collections

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wiener, Judith A.

2007-01-01

Unprocessed archival collections can contain unknown and potentially hazardous materials that can be harmful to other collections and staff. Archival literature largely focuses on collection and personnel dangers posed by environmental hazards such as mold and insect infestation but not on pharmaceutical and chemical hazards. In this article, the…

Life cycle assessment of biohydrogen and biomethane production and utilisation as a vehicle fuel.

PubMed

Patterson, Tim; Esteves, Sandra; Dinsdale, Richard; Guwy, Alan; Maddy, Jon

2013-03-01

Environmental burdens for the production and utilisation of biomethane vehicle fuel or a biohydrogen/biomethane blend produced from food waste or wheat feed, based on data from two different laboratory experiments, have been compared. For food waste treated by batch processes the two stage system gave high hydrogen yields (84.2l H2kg(-1) VS added) but a lower overall energy output than the single stage system. Reduction in environmental burdens compared with diesel was achieved, supported by the diversion of waste from landfill. For wheat feed, the semi continuously fed two stage process gave low hydrogen yields (7.5l H2kg(-1) VS added) but higher overall energy output. The process delivers reduction in fossil fuel burdens, and improvements in process efficiencies will lead to reduction in CO2 burdens compared with diesel. The study highlights the importance of understanding and optimising biofuel production parameters according to the feedstock utilised. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Seabird tissue archival and monitoring project: Protocol for collecting and banking seabird eggs

USGS Publications Warehouse

Weston-York, Geoff; Porter, Barbara J.; Pugh, Rebecca S.; Roseneau, David G.; Simac, Kristin S.; Becker, Paul R.; Thorsteinson, Lyman K.; Wise, Stephen A.

2001-01-01

Archiving biological and environmental samples for retrospective analysis is a major component of systematic environmental monitoring. The long-term storage of carefully selected, representative samples in an environmental specimen bank is an important complement to the real-time monitoring of the environment. These archived samples permit:The use of subsequently developed innovative analytical technology that was not available at the time the samples were archived, for clear state-of-art identification an~ quantification of analytes of interest,The identification and quantification of analytes that are of subsequent interest but that were not of interest at the time the samples were archived, andThe comparison of present and past analytical techniques and values, providing continued credibility of past analytical values, and allowing flexibility in environmental monitoring programs.Seabirds, including albatrosses, pelicans, cormorants, terns, kittiwakes, murres, guillemots, and puffins spend most of their lives at sea and have special adaptations for feeding in the marine environment, including the ability to excrete the excess salt obtained from ingesting seawater. Many species nest in dense groups (colonies) on steep, precipitous sea-cliffs and headlands.Seabirds are long-lived and slow to mature. They occupy high positions in the marine food web and are considered sensitive indicators for the marine environment (prey includes krill, small fish, and squid). Breeding success, timing of nesting, diets, and survival rates may provide early indications of changing environmental conditions (e.g., see Hatch et aI., 1993). Chemical analysis of seabird tissues, including egg contents, can be particularly useful in determining whether contaminants (and potential biological effects) associated with human industrial activities, such as offshore petroleum and mineral exploration and development, are accumulating in marine environments. The collection and archival of seabird tissues over a period of several years will be a resource for future analyses, providing samples that can be used to determine historical baseline contaminant levels.

Health Care Utilisation and Attitudes towards Health Care in Subjects Reporting Environmental Annoyance from Electricity and Chemicals

PubMed Central

Eek, Frida; Merlo, Juan; Gerdtham, Ulf; Lithman, Thor

2009-01-01

Environmentally intolerant persons report decreased self-rated health and daily functioning. However, it remains unclear whether this condition also results in increased health care costs. The aim of this study was to describe the health care consumption and attitudes towards health care in subjects presenting subjective environmental annoyance in relation to the general population, as well as to a group with a well-known disorder as treated hypertension (HT). Methods. Postal questionnaire (n = 13 604) and record linkage with population-based register on health care costs. Results. Despite significantly lower subjective well being and health than both the general population and HT group, the environmentally annoyed subjects had lower health care costs than the hypertension group. In contrast to the hypertension group, the environmentally annoyed subjects expressed more negative attitudes toward the health care than the general population. Conclusions. Despite their impaired subjective health and functional capacity, health care utilisation costs were not much increased for the environmentally annoyed group. This may partly depend on negative attitudes towards the health care in this group. PMID:19936124

National Centers for Environmental Prediction

Science.gov Websites

/NDAS Output Fields (contents, format, grid specs, output frequency, archive): The NWP model The horizontal output grid The vertical grid Access to fields Anonymous FTP Access Permanent Tape Archive

Unravelling environmental conditions during the Holocene in the Dead Sea region using multiple archives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rambeau, Claire; van Leeuwen, Jacqueline; van der Knaap, Pim; Gobet, Erika

2016-04-01

For the most arid parts of the Southern Levant (roughly corresponding to modern Jordan, Israel and Palestine), environmental reconstructions are impeded by the limited number of archives, and the frequent contradictions between individual palaeoenvironmental records. The Southern Levant is characterised by steep climate gradients; local conditions presently range from arid to dry Mediterranean, with limits that may have fluctuated during the Holocene. This further complicates the determination of site-specific past environmental conditions. Understanding past climate and environmental evolution through time, at a local level, is however crucial to compare these with societal evolution during the Holocene, which features major cultural developments such as cereal cultivation, animal domestication, water management, as well as times of preferential settlement growth or site abandonment. This contribution proposes to examine the different archives available for the Dead Sea region, paying special attention to the most recent pollen data obtained from the area. It will particularly critically compare local to regional-scale information, and try to decipher the main evolutions of environmental conditions during the Holocene in arid and semi-arid Southern Levant.

Environmental assessment of incinerator residue utilisation.

PubMed

Toller, S; Kärrman, E; Gustafsson, J P; Magnusson, Y

2009-07-01

Incineration ashes may be treated either as a waste to be dumped in landfill, or as a resource that is suitable for re-use. In order to choose the best management scenario, knowledge is needed on the potential environmental impact that may be expected, including not only local, but also regional and global impact. In this study, A life cycle assessment (LCA) based approach was outlined for environmental assessment of incinerator residue utilisation, in which leaching of trace elements as well as other emissions to air and water and the use of resources were regarded as constituting the potential environmental impact from the system studied. Case studies were performed for two selected ash types, bottom ash from municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) and wood fly ash. The MSWI bottom ash was assumed to be suitable for road construction or as drainage material in landfill, whereas the wood fly ash was assumed to be suitable for road construction or as a nutrient resource to be recycled on forest land after biofuel harvesting. Different types of potential environmental impact predominated in the activities of the system and the use of natural resources and the trace element leaching were identified as being relatively important for the scenarios compared. The scenarios differed in use of resources and energy, whereas there is a potential for trace element leaching regardless of how the material is managed. Utilising MSWI bottom ash in road construction and recycling of wood ash on forest land saved more natural resources and energy than when these materials were managed according to the other scenarios investigated, including dumping in landfill.

Online resources for news about toxicology and other environmental topics.

PubMed

South, J C

2001-01-12

Technology has revolutionized researchers' ability to find and retrieve news stories and press releases. Thanks to electronic library systems and telecommunications--notably the Internet--computer users in seconds can sift through millions of articles to locate mainstream articles about toxicology and other environmental topics. But that does not mean it is easy to find what one is looking for. There is a confusing array of databases and services that archive news articles and press releases: (1) some are free; others cost thousands of dollars a year to access, (2) some include hundreds of newspaper and magazine titles; others cover only one publication, (3) some contain archives going back decades; others have just the latest news, (4) some offer only journalistically balanced reports from mainstream news sources; others mix news with opinions and advocacy and include reports from obscure or biased sources. This article explores ways to find news online - particularly news about toxicology, hazardous chemicals, environmental health and the environment in general. The article covers web sites devoted to environmental news; sites and search engines for general-interest news; newspaper archives; commercial information services; press release distribution services and archives; and other resources and strategies for finding articles in the popular press about toxicology and the environment.

Microsatellites within the feline androgen receptor are suitable for X chromosome-linked clonality testing in archival material.

PubMed

Farwick, Nadine M; Klopfleisch, Robert; Gruber, Achim D; Weiss, Alexander Th A

2017-04-01

Objectives A hallmark of neoplasms is their origin from a single cell; that is, clonality. Many techniques have been developed in human medicine to utilise this feature of tumours for diagnostic purposes. One approach is X chromosome-linked clonality testing using polymorphisms of genes encoded by genes on the X chromosome. The aim of this study was to determine if the feline androgen receptor gene was suitable for X chromosome-linked clonality testing. Methods The feline androgen receptor gene was characterised and used to test clonality of feline lymphomas by PCR and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, using archival formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded material. Results Clonality of the feline lymphomas under study was confirmed and the gene locus was shown to represent a suitable target in clonality testing. Conclusions and relevance Because there are some pitfalls of using X chromosome-linked clonality testing, further studies are necessary to establish this technique in the cat.

VO2 thermochromic smart window for energy savings and generation

PubMed Central

Zhou, Jiadong; Gao, Yanfeng; Zhang, Zongtao; Luo, Hongjie; Cao, Chuanxiang; Chen, Zhang; Dai, Lei; Liu, Xinling

2013-01-01

The ability to achieve energy saving in architectures and optimal solar energy utilisation affects the sustainable development of the human race. Traditional smart windows and solar cells cannot be combined into one device for energy saving and electricity generation. A VO2 film can respond to the environmental temperature to intelligently regulate infrared transmittance while maintaining visible transparency, and can be applied as a thermochromic smart window. Herein, we report for the first time a novel VO2-based smart window that partially utilises light scattering to solar cells around the glass panel for electricity generation. This smart window combines energy-saving and generation in one device, and offers potential to intelligently regulate and utilise solar radiation in an efficient manner. PMID:24157625

VO₂ thermochromic smart window for energy savings and generation.

PubMed

Zhou, Jiadong; Gao, Yanfeng; Zhang, Zongtao; Luo, Hongjie; Cao, Chuanxiang; Chen, Zhang; Dai, Lei; Liu, Xinling

2013-10-24

The ability to achieve energy saving in architectures and optimal solar energy utilisation affects the sustainable development of the human race. Traditional smart windows and solar cells cannot be combined into one device for energy saving and electricity generation. A VO2 film can respond to the environmental temperature to intelligently regulate infrared transmittance while maintaining visible transparency, and can be applied as a thermochromic smart window. Herein, we report for the first time a novel VO2-based smart window that partially utilises light scattering to solar cells around the glass panel for electricity generation. This smart window combines energy-saving and generation in one device, and offers potential to intelligently regulate and utilise solar radiation in an efficient manner.

Multiple immunofluorescence labelling of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue

PubMed Central

Robertson, David; Savage, Kay; Reis-Filho, Jorge S; Isacke, Clare M

2008-01-01

Background Investigating the expression of candidate genes in tissue samples usually involves either immunohistochemical labelling of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) sections or immunofluorescence labelling of cryosections. Although both of these methods provide essential data, both have important limitations as research tools. Consequently, there is a demand in the research community to be able to perform routine, high quality immunofluorescence labelling of FFPE tissues. Results We present here a robust optimised method for high resolution immunofluorescence labelling of FFPE tissues, which involves the combination of antigen retrieval, indirect immunofluorescence and confocal laser scanning microscopy. We demonstrate the utility of this method with examples of immunofluorescence labelling of human kidney, human breast and a tissue microarray of invasive human breast cancers. Finally, we demonstrate that stained slides can be stored in the short term at 4°C or in the longer term at -20°C prior to images being collected. This approach has the potential to unlock a large in vivo database for immunofluorescence investigations and has the major advantages over immunohistochemistry in that it provides higher resolution imaging of antigen localization and the ability to label multiple antigens simultaneously. Conclusion This method provides a link between the cell biology and pathology communities. For the cell biologist, it will enable them to utilise the vast archive of pathology specimens to advance their in vitro data into in vivo samples, in particular archival material and tissue microarrays. For the pathologist, it will enable them to utilise multiple antibodies on a single section to characterise particular cell populations or to test multiple biomarkers in limited samples and define with greater accuracy cellular heterogeneity in tissue samples. PMID:18366689

Challenges for Data Archival Centers in Evolving Environmental Sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Y.; Cook, R. B.; Gu, L.; Santhana Vannan, S. K.; Beaty, T.

2015-12-01

Environmental science has entered into a big data era as enormous data about the Earth environment are continuously collected through field and airborne missions, remote sensing observations, model simulations, sensor networks, etc. An open-access and open-management data infrastructure for data-intensive science is a major grand challenge in global environmental research (BERAC, 2010). Such an infrastructure, as exemplified in EOSDIS, GEOSS, and NSF EarthCube, will provide a complete lifecycle of environmental data and ensures that data will smoothly flow among different phases of collection, preservation, integration, and analysis. Data archival centers, as the data integration units closest to data providers, serve as the source power to compile and integrate heterogeneous environmental data into this global infrastructure. This presentation discusses the interoperability challenges and practices of geosciences from the aspect of data archival centers, based on the operational experiences of the NASA-sponsored Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center (ORNL DAAC) and related environmental data management activities. Specifically, we will discuss the challenges to 1) encourage and help scientists to more actively share data with the broader scientific community, so that valuable environmental data, especially those dark data collected by individual scientists in small independent projects, can be shared and integrated into the infrastructure to tackle big science questions; 2) curate heterogeneous multi-disciplinary data, focusing on the key aspects of identification, format, metadata, data quality, and semantics to make them ready to be plugged into a global data infrastructure. We will highlight data curation practices at the ORNL DAAC for global campaigns such as BOREAS, LBA, SAFARI 2000; and 3) enhance the capabilities to more effectively and efficiently expose and deliver "big" environmental data to broad range of users and systems. Experiences and challenges with integrating large data sets via the ORNL DAAC's data discovery and delivery Web services will be discussed.

Treasures in Archived Histopathology Collections: Preserving the Past for Future Understanding.(SETAC)

EPA Science Inventory

Extensive collections of histopathology materials from studies of marine and freshwater mollusks, crustaceans, echinoderms, and other organisms are archived in the Registry of Tumors in Lower Animals (RTLA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, NOAA’s National Marine Fisheri...

Treasures in Archived Histopathology Collections: Preserving the Past for Future Understanding (NACSETAC)

EPA Science Inventory

Extensive collections of histopathology materials from studies of marine and freshwater mollusks, crustaceans, echinoderms, and other organisms are archived in the Registry of Tumors in Lower Animals (RTLA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, NOAA’s National Marine Fishe...

Treasures in Archived Histolopathology Collections: Preserving the Past for Future Understanding

EPA Science Inventory

Extensive collections of histopathology materials from studies of marine and freshwater mollusks, crustaceans, echinoderms, and other organisms are archived in the Registry of Tumors in Lower Animals (RTLA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, NOAA’s National Marine Fishe...

Dynamic Data Management Based on Archival Process Integration at the Centre for Environmental Data Archival

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Conway, Esther; Waterfall, Alison; Pepler, Sam; Newey, Charles

2015-04-01

In this paper we decribe a business process modelling approach to the integration of exisiting archival activities. We provide a high level overview of existing practice and discuss how procedures can be extended and supported through the description of preservation state. The aim of which is to faciliate the dynamic controlled management of scientific data through its lifecycle. The main types of archival processes considered are: • Management processes that govern the operation of an archive. These management processes include archival governance (preservation state management, selection of archival candidates and strategic management) . • Operational processes that constitute the core activities of the archive which maintain the value of research assets. These operational processes are the acquisition, ingestion, deletion, generation of metadata and preservation actvities, • Supporting processes, which include planning, risk analysis and monitoring of the community/preservation environment. We then proceed by describing the feasability testing of extended risk management and planning procedures which integrate current practices. This was done through the CEDA Archival Format Audit which inspected British Atmospherics Data Centre and National Earth Observation Data Centre Archival holdings. These holdings are extensive, comprising of around 2PB of data and 137 million individual files which were analysed and characterised in terms of format based risk. We are then able to present an overview of the risk burden faced by a large scale archive attempting to maintain the usability of heterogeneous environmental data sets. We conclude by presenting a dynamic data management information model that is capable of describing the preservation state of archival holdings throughout the data lifecycle. We provide discussion of the following core model entities and their relationships: • Aspirational entities, which include Data Entity definitions and their associated Preservation Objectives. • Risk entities, which act as drivers for change within the data lifecycle. These include Acquisitional Risks, Technical Risks, Strategic Risks and External Risks • Plan entities, which detail the actions to bring about change within an archive. These include Acquisition Plans, Preservation Plans and Monitoring plans • The Result entities describe the successful outcomes of the executed plans. These include Acquisitions, Mitigations and Accepted Risks.

Particular geoscientific perspectives on stable isotope analysis in the arboreal system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Helle, Gerhard; Balting, Daniel; Pauly, Maren; Slotta, Franziska

2017-04-01

In geosciences stable isotopes of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen from the tree ring archive have been used for several decades to trace the course of past environmental and climatological fluctuations. In contrast to ice cores, the tree ring archive is of biological nature (like many other terrestrial archives), but provides the opportunity to establish site networks with very high resolution in space and time. Many of the basic physical mechanisms of isotope shifts are known, but biologically mediated processes may lead to isotope effects that are poorly understood. This implies that the many processes within the arboreal system leading to archived isotope ratios in wood material are governed by a multitude of environmental variables that are not only tied to the isotopic composition of atmospheric source values (precipitation, CO2), but also to seasonally changing metabolic flux rates and pool sizes of photosynthates within the trees. Consequently, the extraction of climate and environmental information is particularly challenging and reconstructions are still of rather qualitative nature. Over the last 10 years or so, monitoring studies have been implemented to investigate stable isotope, climate and environmental signal transfer within the arboreal system to develop transfer or response functions that can translate the relevant isotope values extracted from tree rings into climate or other environmental variables. To what extent have these efforts lead to a better understanding that helps improving the meaningfulness of tree ring isotope signals? For example, do monitoring studies help deciphering the causes for age-related trends in tree ring stable isotope sequences that are published in a growing number of papers. Are existing monitoring studies going into detail enough or is it already too much effort for the outcome? Based on what we know already particularly in mesic habitats, tree ring stable isotopes are much better climate proxies than other tree ring parameters. However, millennial or multi-millennial high quality reconstructions from tree ring isotopes are still rare. This is because of i) methodological constraints related to mass spectrometric analyses and ii) the nature of tree-ring chronologies that are put together by many trees of various individual ages. In view of this: What is the state-of-the-art in high throughput tree ring stable isotope analyses? Is it necessary to advance existing methodologies further to conserve the annual time resolution provided by the tree-ring archive? Other terrestrial archives, like lake sediments and speleothems rarely provide annually resolved stable isotope data. Furthermore, certain tree species from tropical or sub-tropical regions cannot be dated properly by dendrochronology and hence demand specific stable isotope measuring strategies, etc.. Although the points raised here do specifically apply for the tree ring archive, some of them are important for all proxy archives of organic origin.

An Analysis of Social Capital and Environmental Management of Higher Education Institutions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Evangelinos, Konstantinos I.; Jones, Nikoleta

2009-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the importance of the theory of social capital for the challenges presented during environmental management initiatives in higher education institutions (HEIs). In particular, the paper utilises the fundamental components of social capital theory and assesses a hypothesis that higher stocks of…

40 CFR 58.16 - Data submittal and archiving requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 5 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Data submittal and archiving requirements. 58.16 Section 58.16 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) AMBIENT AIR QUALITY SURVEILLANCE Monitoring Network § 58.16 Data submittal and...

15 CFR 960.9 - License term.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... licensee to: (1) Provide data to the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive for the basic data set; (2) Make data available to the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive that the... AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE GENERAL REGULATIONS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL DATA...

15 CFR 960.9 - License term.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... licensee to: (1) Provide data to the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive for the basic data set; (2) Make data available to the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive that the... AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE GENERAL REGULATIONS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL DATA...

15 CFR 960.9 - License term.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... licensee to: (1) Provide data to the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive for the basic data set; (2) Make data available to the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive that the... AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE GENERAL REGULATIONS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL DATA...

15 CFR 960.9 - License term.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... licensee to: (1) Provide data to the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive for the basic data set; (2) Make data available to the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive that the... AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE GENERAL REGULATIONS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL DATA...

Treasures in Archived Histopathology Collections: Preserving the Past for Future Understanding (Histologic)

EPA Science Inventory

Extensive collections of histopathology materials from studies of marine and freshwater fish, mollusks, crustaceans, echinoderms, and other organisms are archived at the Registry of Tumors in Lower Animals (RTLA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), NOAA’s National Ma...

Treasures in Archived Histopathology Collections: Preserving the Past for Future Understanding (ISAAH-6)

EPA Science Inventory

Extensive collections of histopathology materials from studies of marine and freshwater fish, mollusks, crustaceans, echinoderms, and other organisms are archived in the Registry of Tumors in Lower Animals (RTLA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, NOAA’s National Marine F...

Treasures in Archived Histopathology Collections: Preserving the Past for Future Understanding (IMCC09)

EPA Science Inventory

Extensive collections of histopathology materials from studies of marine and freshwater fish, mollusks, crustaceans, echinoderms, and other organisms are archived in the Registry of Tumors in Lower Animals (RTLA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, NOAA’s National Marine...

Life cycle assessment of construction and demolition waste management

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

Butera, Stefania, E-mail: stbu@teknologisk.dk; Christensen, Thomas H.; Astrup, Thomas F.

Highlights: • LCA of C&DW utilisation in road vs. C&DW landfilling. • C&DW utilisation in road better than landfilling for most categories. • Transportation is the most important process in non-toxic impact categories. • Leaching of oxyanions is the critical process in toxic impact categories. • Modelling of Cr fate in the subsoil is highly influential to the results. - Abstract: Life cycle assessment (LCA) modelling of construction and demolition waste (C&DW) management was carried out. The functional unit was management of 1 Mg mineral, source separated C&DW, which is either utilised in road construction as a substitute for naturalmore » aggregates, or landfilled. The assessed environmental impacts included both non-toxic and toxic impact categories. The scenarios comprised all stages of the end-of-life management of C&DW, until final disposal of all residues. Leaching of inorganic contaminants was included, as was the production of natural aggregates, which was avoided because of the use of C&DW. Typical uncertainties related to contaminant leaching were addressed. For most impact categories, utilisation of C&DW in road construction was preferable to landfilling; however, for most categories, utilisation resulted in net environmental burdens. Transportation represented the most important contribution for most nontoxic impacts, accounting for 60–95 per cent of these impacts. Capital goods contributed with negligible impacts. Leaching played a critical role for the toxic categories, where landfilling had lower impacts than utilisation because of the lower levels of leachate per ton of C&DW reaching the groundwater over a 100-year perspective. Leaching of oxyanions (As, V and Sb) was critical with respect to leaching. Typical experimental uncertainties in leaching data did not have a pivotal influence on the results; however, accounting for Cr immobilisation in soils as part of the impact assessment was critical for modelling the leaching impacts. Compared with the overall life cycle of building and construction materials, leaching emissions were shown to be potentially significant for toxicity impacts, compared with contributions from production of the same materials, showing that end-of-life impacts and leaching should not be disregarded when assessing environmental impacts from construction products and materials. CO{sub 2} uptake in the C&DW corresponding to 15 per cent carbonation could out-balance global warming impacts from transportation; however, carbonation would also likely result in increased toxicity impacts due to higher leaching of oxyanions.« less

15 CFR 950.2 - Environmental Data and Information Service (EDIS).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

..., archives, analyzes, and disseminates worldwide environmental (atmospheric, marine, solar, and solid Earth... other economic systems; and manages or provides functional guidance for NOAA's scientific and technical...

15 CFR 950.2 - Environmental Data and Information Service (EDIS).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

..., archives, analyzes, and disseminates worldwide environmental (atmospheric, marine, solar, and solid Earth... other economic systems; and manages or provides functional guidance for NOAA's scientific and technical...

Senilia senilis (Linnaeus, 1758), a biogenic archive of environmental conditions on the Banc d'Arguin (Mauritania)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lavaud, Romain; Thébault, Julien; Lorrain, Anne; van der Geest, Matthijs; Chauvaud, Laurent

2013-02-01

Environmental archives are useful tools for describing past and current climate variations and they provide an opportunity to assess the anthropogenic contribution in coastal ecological changes. Along the West African coast, few studies have focused on such archives in coastal ecosystems. The bloody cockle Senilia senilis, an intertidal bivalve mollusk species, is widely distributed from Western Sahara to Angola, and has been harvested by humans over thousands of years. Therefore, this species appears to be a good candidate for assessing past variations of key environmental parameters such as temperature, primary production, and Saharan dust advection within West African coastal ecosystems. In the present paper, we focused (i) on the identification of growth rhythms of S. senilis shells in Mauritania (Banc d'Arguin), and (ii) on the potential of these shells as (paleo-)environmental archives. The method we used combined environmental survey, sclerochronology, and geochemical analyses of aragonite samples. We showed that microgrowth line formation was controlled by a tidal forcing, leading to the formation of two lines per lunar day. Brightness and thickness of these microgrowth lines progressively decreased from spring to neap tides (fortnightly cycle). Lunar daily growth rates displayed strong seasonal variations, with highest values (> 300 μm per lunar day) recorded in summer. The oxygen isotope composition of S. senilis shells (δ18Oaragonite) accurately tracked seawater temperature seasonal variations, with a precision of 0.8 °C. Finally, we discussed the opportunity to use Ba:Ca ratio in shells as a proxy for primary production or for Saharan dust transport. We also hypothesized that either Canary Currentvariations or, more probably, massive aerosol transfers from Sahara to the Atlantic Ocean could control uranium availability in coastal waters and explain the occurrence of U:Ca peaks within S. senilis shells.

Environmental assessment of farm-scaled anaerobic co-digestion for bioenergy production

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

Lijó, Lucía, E-mail: lucia.lijo@usc.es; González-García, Sara; Bacenetti, Jacopo

Highlights: • Anaerobic monodigestion and codigestion were compared. • The environmental advantages of suitable waste management were proved. • The use of cereal crops as feedstock improves biogas yield. • Cultivation step implies the most important environmental hotspot. • Digestate management options were evaluated. - Abstract: The aim of this study was to assess the environmental profile of a bioenergy system based on a co-digestion plant using maize silage and pig slurry as substrates. All the processes involved in the production of bioenergy as well as the avoided processes accrued from the biogas production system were evaluated. The results evidencedmore » the environmental importance of the cultivation step and the environmental credits associated to the avoided processes. In addition, this plant was compared with two different plants that digest both substrates separately. The results revealed the environmental benefits of the utilisation of pig slurry due to the absence of environmental burdens associated with its production as well as credits provided when avoiding its conventional management. The results also presented the environmental drawbacks of the utilisation of maize silage due to the environmental burdens related with its production. Accordingly, the anaerobic mono-digestion of maize silage achieved the worst results. The co-digestion of both substrates was ranked in an intermediate position. Additionally, three possible digestate management options were assessed. The results showed the beneficial effect of digestate application as an organic fertiliser, principally on account of environmental credits due to avoided mineral fertilisation. However, digestate application involves important acidifying and eutrophicating emissions.« less

A feasibility study of municipal solid waste incineration fly ash utilisation in Estonia.

PubMed

Berber, Hakan; Frey, Ruedi; Voronova, Viktoria; Koroljova, Arina

2017-09-01

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the alternative environmental management options for the utilisation of municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration fly ash (FA), which is generated at Iru Power Plant where MSW is incinerated in Estonia. To determine sustainable and economically feasible environmental management options for MSW incineration FA in Estonia, CO 2 sequestration with a further carbonation process was examined. A partial Cost & Benefit Analysis has been conducted to compare the carbonation process to the current situation. Two carbonation options were developed. Option 1 is to use carbonated FA in any other processes based on the waste-to-product principle. Option 2 is to send carbonated FA to the non-hazardous landfill in Tallinn, Estonia. Important parameters, such as Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR) and Break Even Point (BEP), have been calculated for carbonation options and the current case. In addition, a sensitivity analysis has been conducted to examine its robustness. The results showed that the best option is carbonation Option 1 with NPV of 9,209,662 EUR, IRR of 43%, BCR of 2.63 and BEP between 2018 and 2019. Both Options 1 and 2 constitute more sustainable and environmentally friendly management options compared to the current situation. It can be concluded that this preliminary feasibility study showed that running a carbonation plant may be profitable and sustainable for Estonia. Currently, there is no treatment technology for MSW incineration FA in Estonia and FA is sent to a neighbouring country for further utilisation. This is the first study to demonstrate FA management options with economic and environmental benefits.

Environmental System Science Data Infrastructure for a Virtual Ecosystem (ESS-DIVE) - A New U.S. DOE Data Archive

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agarwal, D.; Varadharajan, C.; Cholia, S.; Snavely, C.; Hendrix, V.; Gunter, D.; Riley, W. J.; Jones, M.; Budden, A. E.; Vieglais, D.

2017-12-01

The ESS-DIVE archive is a new U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) data archive designed to provide long-term stewardship and use of data from observational, experimental, and modeling activities in the earth and environmental sciences. The ESS-DIVE infrastructure is constructed with the long-term vision of enabling broad access to and usage of the DOE sponsored data stored in the archive. It is designed as a scalable framework that incentivizes data providers to contribute well-structured, high-quality data to the archive and that enables the user community to easily build data processing, synthesis, and analysis capabilities using those data. The key innovations in our design include: (1) application of user-experience research methods to understand the needs of users and data contributors; (2) support for early data archiving during project data QA/QC and before public release; (3) focus on implementation of data standards in collaboration with the community; (4) support for community built tools for data search, interpretation, analysis, and visualization tools; (5) data fusion database to support search of the data extracted from packages submitted and data available in partner data systems such as the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF) and DataONE; and (6) support for archiving of data packages that are not to be released to the public. ESS-DIVE data contributors will be able to archive and version their data and metadata, obtain data DOIs, search for and access ESS data and metadata via web and programmatic portals, and provide data and metadata in standardized forms. The ESS-DIVE archive and catalog will be federated with other existing catalogs, allowing cross-catalog metadata search and data exchange with existing systems, including DataONE's Metacat search. ESS-DIVE is operated by a multidisciplinary team from Berkeley Lab, the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), and DataONE. The primarily data copies are hosted at DOE's NERSC supercomputing facility with replicas at DataONE nodes.

Development, Implementation, and Analysis of an Environmental Simulation Information Reference Library and Archive (ESIRLA)

DTIC Science & Technology

1997-12-01

of the DoD environmental science community to identify cloud modeling and other environmental capabilities that support or could potentially support...benefit of the DoD environmental science community. STC determined the detailed requirements for weather effects products and decision aids for specific Air Force operational electro-optical systems.

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

Apyan, A.; Badillo, J.; Cruz, J. Diaz

The CMS experiment at the LHC relies on 7 Tier-1 centres of the WLCG to perform the majority of its bulk processing activity, and to archive its data. During the first run of the LHC, these two functions were tightly coupled as each Tier-1 was constrained to process only the data archived on its hierarchical storage. This lack of flexibility in the assignment of processing workflows occasionally resulted in uneven resource utilisation and in an increased latency in the delivery of the results to the physics community.The long shutdown of the LHC in 2013-2014 was an opportunity to revisit thismore » mode of operations, disentangling the processing and archive functionalities of the Tier-1 centres. The storage services at the Tier-1s were redeployed breaking the traditional hierarchical model: each site now provides a large disk storage to host input and output data for processing, and an independent tape storage used exclusively for archiving. Movement of data between the tape and disk endpoints is not automated, but triggered externally through the WLCG transfer management systems.With this new setup, CMS operations actively controls at any time which data is available on disk for processing and which data should be sent to archive. Thanks to the high-bandwidth connectivity guaranteed by the LHCOPN, input data can be freely transferred between disk endpoints as needed to take advantage of free CPU, turning the Tier-1s into a large pool of shared resources. The output data can be validated before archiving them permanently, and temporary data formats can be produced without wasting valuable tape resources. Lastly, the data hosted on disk at Tier-1s can now be made available also for user analysis since there is no risk any longer of triggering chaotic staging from tape.In this contribution, we describe the technical solutions adopted for the new disk and tape endpoints at the sites, and we report on the commissioning and scale testing of the service. We detail the procedures implemented by CMS computing operations to actively manage data on disk at Tier-1 sites, and we give examples of the benefits brought to CMS workflows by the additional flexibility of the new system.« less

GENESIS: GPS Environmental and Earth Science Information System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hajj, George

1999-01-01

This presentation reviews the GPS ENvironmental and Earth Science Information System (GENESIS). The objectives of GENESIS are outlined (1) Data Archiving, searching and distribution for science data products derived from Space borne TurboRogue Space Receivers for GPS science and other ground based GPS receivers, (2) Data browsing using integrated visualization tools, (3) Interactive web/java-based data search and retrieval, (4) Data subscription service, (5) Data migration from existing GPS archived data, (6) On-line help and documentation, and (7) participation in the WP-ESIP federation. The presentation reviews the products and services of Genesis, and the technology behind the system.

Feasibility study for an innovative industrial red mud utilisation method.

PubMed

Kounalakis, Petros; Aravossis, Konstantinos; Karayianni, ChS

2016-02-01

Red mud is a high volume industrial waste, and its management poses a unique challenge. For the utilisation of red mud, an economical, energy saving, environmental friendly and widely applicable method has been found. The proposed novel method is purely chemical, and achieves the recovery of all the oxides contained in red mud totally and transforms them into high value added products. The present work shows that an investment in an industrial plant, treating red mud and turning a toxic industrial waste in commercial products, is safe and viable. © The Author(s) 2015.

Superfund Public Information System (SPIS), January 1999

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

NONE

1999-01-01

The Superfund Public Information System (SPIS) on CD-ROM contains Superfund data for the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The Superfund data is a collection of three databases: Records of Decision (RODS); Comprehensive Environmental, Response, Compensation, and Liability Information System (CERCLIS); and Archive (NFRAP). Descriptions of these databases and CD contents are listed below. Data content: The CD contains the complete text of the official ROD documents signed and issued by EPA from fiscal years 1982--1996; 147 RODs for fiscal year 1997; and seven RODs for fiscal year 1998. The CD also contains 89 Explanation of Significant Difference (ESD) documents, asmore » well as 48 ROD Amendments. CERCLIS and Archive (NFRAP) data is through January 19, 1999. RODS is the Records Of Decision System. RODS is used to track site clean-ups under the Superfund program to justify the type of treatment chosen at each site. RODS contains information on technology justification, site history, community participation, enforcement activities, site characteristics, scope and role of response action, and remedy. Explanation of Significant Differences (ESDs) are also available on the CD. CERCLIS is the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Information System. It is the official repository for all Superfund site and incident data. It contains comprehensive information on hazardous waste sites, site inspections, preliminary assessments, and remedial status. The system is sponsored by the EPA`s Office of Emergency and Remedial Response, Information Management Center. Archive (NFRAP) consists of hazardous waste sites that have no further remedial action planned; only basic identifying information is provided for archive sites. The sites found in the Archive database were originally in the CERCLIS database, but were removed beginning in the fall of 1995.« less

U.S. Geological Survey archived data recovery in Texas, 2008-11

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wehmeyer, Loren L.; Reece, Brian D.

2011-01-01

The 2008–11 data rescue and recovery efforts by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Texas Water Science Center resulted in an efficient workflow process, database, and Web user interface for scientists and citizens to access archived environmental information with practical applications. Much of this information is unique and has never been readily available to the public. The methods developed and lessons learned during this effort are now being applied to facilitate recovering archived information requested by USGS scientists, cooperators, and the general public.

Independent Listing of Products and Reports from the Environmental Laboratory Advisory Board

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Environmental Laboratory Advisory Board's (ELAB) Products and Reports include the information, advice and recommendations made to the Agency. The most recent products are provided below with prior decisions found in the EPA Archives.

Collaborative Preservation of At-Risk Data at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Casey, K. S.; Collins, D.; Cooper, J. M.; Ritchey, N. A.

2017-12-01

The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) serves as the official long term archive of NOAA's environmental data. Adhering to the principles and responsibilities of the Open Archival Information System (OAIS, ISO 14721), and backed by both agency policies and formal legislation, NCEI ensures that these irreplaceable environmental data are preserved and made available for current users and future generations. These goals are achieved through regional, national, and international collaborative efforts like the ICSU World Data System, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission's International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) program, NSF's DataOne, and through specific data preservation projects with partners such as the NOAA Cooperative Institutes, ESIP, and even retired federal employees. Through efforts like these, at-risk data with poor documentation, on aging media, and of unknown format and content are being rescued and made available to the public for widespread reuse.

Life cycle assessment and residue leaching: the importance of parameter, scenario and leaching data selection.

PubMed

Allegrini, E; Butera, S; Kosson, D S; Van Zomeren, A; Van der Sloot, H A; Astrup, T F

2015-04-01

Residues from industrial processes and waste management systems (WMSs) have been increasingly reutilised, leading to landfilling rate reductions and the optimisation of mineral resource utilisation in society. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a holistic methodology allowing for the analysis of systems and products and can be applied to waste management systems to identify environmental benefits and critical aspects thereof. From an LCA perspective, residue utilisation provides benefits such as avoiding the production and depletion of primary materials, but it can lead to environmental burdens, due to the potential leaching of toxic substances. In waste LCA studies where residue utilisation is included, leaching has generally been neglected. In this study, municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash (MSWI BA) was used as a case study into three LCA scenarios having different system boundaries. The importance of data quality and parameter selection in the overall LCA results was evaluated, and an innovative method to assess metal transport into the environment was applied, in order to determine emissions to the soil and water compartments for use in an LCA. It was found that toxic impacts as a result of leaching were dominant in systems including only MSWI BA utilisation, while leaching appeared negligible in larger scenarios including the entire waste system. However, leaching could not be disregarded a priori, due to large uncertainties characterising other activities in the scenario (e.g. electricity production). Based on the analysis of relevant parameters relative to leaching, and on general results of the study, recommendations are provided regarding the use of leaching data in LCA studies. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Operational environmental satellite archives in the 21st Century

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barkstrom, Bruce R.; Bates, John J.; Privette, Jeff; Vizbulis, Rick

2007-09-01

NASA, NOAA, and USGS collections of Earth science data are large, federated, and have active user communities and collections. Our experience raises five categories of issues for long-term archival: *Organization of the data in the collections is not well-described by text-based categorization principles *Metadata organization for these data is not well-described by Dublin Core and needs attention to data access and data use patterns *Long-term archival requires risk management approaches to dealing with the unique threats to knowledge preservation specific to digital information *Long-term archival requires careful attention to archival cost management *Professional data stewards for these collections may require special training. This paper suggests three mechanisms for improving the quality of long-term archival: *Using a maturity model to assess the readiness of data for accession, for preservation, and for future data usefulness *Developing a risk management strategy for systematically dealing with threats of data loss *Developing a life-cycle cost model for continuously evolving the collections and the data centers that house them.

Linkages Between Upwelling and Shell Characteristics of Mytilus californianus: Morphology and Stable Isotope (δ13C, δ18O) Signatures of a Carbonate Archive from the California Current

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hosfelt, J. D.; Hill, T. M.; Russell, A. D.; Bean, J. R.; Sanford, E.; Gaylord, B.

2014-12-01

Many calcareous organisms are known to record the ambient environmental conditions in which they grow, and their calcium carbonate skeletons are often valuable archives of climate records. Mytilus californianus, a widely distributed species of intertidal mussel, experiences a spatial mosaic of oceanographic conditions as it grows within the California Current System. Periodic episodes of upwelling bring high-CO2 waters to the surface, during which California coastal waters are similar to projected conditions and act as a natural analogue to future ocean acidification. To examine the link between upwelling and shell characteristics of M. californianus, we analyzed the morphology and stable isotope (δ13C, δ18O) signatures of mussel specimens collected live from seven study sites within the California Current System. Morphometric analyses utilized a combination of elliptic Fourier analysis and shell thickness measurements to determine the influence of low pH waters on the growth morphology and ecological fitness of M. californianus. These geochemical and morphological analyses were compared with concurrent high-resolution environmental (T, S, pH, TA, DIC) records from these seven study sites from 2010-2013. With appropriate calibration, new archives from modern M. californianus shells could provide a valuable tool to enable environmental reconstructions within the California Current System. These archives could in turn be used to predict the future consequences of continuing ocean acidification, as well as reconstruct past (archeological) conditions.

Life cycle assessment of construction and demolition waste management.

PubMed

Butera, Stefania; Christensen, Thomas H; Astrup, Thomas F

2015-10-01

Life cycle assessment (LCA) modelling of construction and demolition waste (C&DW) management was carried out. The functional unit was management of 1 Mg mineral, source separated C&DW, which is either utilised in road construction as a substitute for natural aggregates, or landfilled. The assessed environmental impacts included both non-toxic and toxic impact categories. The scenarios comprised all stages of the end-of-life management of C&DW, until final disposal of all residues. Leaching of inorganic contaminants was included, as was the production of natural aggregates, which was avoided because of the use of C&DW. Typical uncertainties related to contaminant leaching were addressed. For most impact categories, utilisation of C&DW in road construction was preferable to landfilling; however, for most categories, utilisation resulted in net environmental burdens. Transportation represented the most important contribution for most nontoxic impacts, accounting for 60-95 per cent of these impacts. Capital goods contributed with negligible impacts. Leaching played a critical role for the toxic categories, where landfilling had lower impacts than utilisation because of the lower levels of leachate per ton of C&DW reaching the groundwater over a 100-year perspective. Leaching of oxyanions (As, V and Sb) was critical with respect to leaching. Typical experimental uncertainties in leaching data did not have a pivotal influence on the results; however, accounting for Cr immobilisation in soils as part of the impact assessment was critical for modelling the leaching impacts. Compared with the overall life cycle of building and construction materials, leaching emissions were shown to be potentially significant for toxicity impacts, compared with contributions from production of the same materials, showing that end-of-life impacts and leaching should not be disregarded when assessing environmental impacts from construction products and materials. CO2 uptake in the C&DW corresponding to 15 per cent carbonation could out-balance global warming impacts from transportation; however, carbonation would also likely result in increased toxicity impacts due to higher leaching of oxyanions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Adaptability in the Development of Data Archiving Services at Johns Hopkins University

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petters, J.; DiLauro, T.; Fearon, D.; Pralle, B.

2015-12-01

Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Data Management Services provides archiving services for institutional researchers through the JHU Data Archive, thereby increasing the access to and use of their research data. From its inception our unit's archiving service has evolved considerably. While some of these changes have been internally driven so that our unit can archive quality data collections more efficiently, we have also developed archiving policies and procedures on the fly in response to researcher needs. Providing our archiving services for JHU research groups from a variety of research disciplines have surfaced different sets of expectations and needs. We have used each interaction to help us refine our services and quickly satisfy the researchers we serve (following the first agile principle). Here we discuss the development of our newest archiving service model, its implementation over the past several months, and the processes by which we have continued to refine and improve our archiving services since its implementation. Through this discussion we will illustrate the benefits of planning, structure and flexibility in development of archiving services that maximize the potential value of research data. We will describe interactions with research groups, including those from environmental engineering and international health, and how we were able to rapidly modify and develop our archiving services to meet their needs (e.g. in an 'agile' way). For example, our interactions with both of these research groups led first to discussion in regular standing meetings and eventually development of new archiving policies and procedures. These policies and procedures centered on limiting access to archived research data while associated manuscripts progress through peer-review and publication.

Exploring the Potential of a Global Emerging Contaminant Early Warning Network through the Use of Retrospective Suspect Screening with High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry.

PubMed

Alygizakis, Nikiforos A; Samanipour, Saer; Hollender, Juliane; Ibáñez, María; Kaserzon, Sarit; Kokkali, Varvara; van Leerdam, Jan A; Mueller, Jochen F; Pijnappels, Martijn; Reid, Malcolm J; Schymanski, Emma L; Slobodnik, Jaroslav; Thomaidis, Nikolaos S; Thomas, Kevin V

2018-05-01

A key challenge in the environmental and exposure sciences is to establish experimental evidence of the role of chemical exposure in human and environmental systems. High resolution and accurate tandem mass spectrometry (HRMS) is increasingly being used for the analysis of environmental samples. One lauded benefit of HRMS is the possibility to retrospectively process data for (previously omitted) compounds that has led to the archiving of HRMS data. Archived HRMS data affords the possibility of exploiting historical data to rapidly and effectively establish the temporal and spatial occurrence of newly identified contaminants through retrospective suspect screening. We propose to establish a global emerging contaminant early warning network to rapidly assess the spatial and temporal distribution of contaminants of emerging concern in environmental samples through performing retrospective analysis on HRMS data. The effectiveness of such a network is demonstrated through a pilot study, where eight reference laboratories with available archived HRMS data retrospectively screened data acquired from aqueous environmental samples collected in 14 countries on 3 different continents. The widespread spatial occurrence of several surfactants (e.g., polyethylene glycols ( PEGs ) and C12AEO-PEGs ), transformation products of selected drugs (e.g., gabapentin-lactam, metoprolol-acid, carbamazepine-10-hydroxy, omeprazole-4-hydroxy-sulfide, and 2-benzothiazole-sulfonic-acid), and industrial chemicals (3-nitrobenzenesulfonate and bisphenol-S) was revealed. Obtaining identifications of increased reliability through retrospective suspect screening is challenging, and recommendations for dealing with issues such as broad chromatographic peaks, data acquisition, and sensitivity are provided.

Pooling the resources of the CMS Tier-1 sites

DOE PAGES

Apyan, A.; Badillo, J.; Cruz, J. Diaz; ...

2015-12-23

The CMS experiment at the LHC relies on 7 Tier-1 centres of the WLCG to perform the majority of its bulk processing activity, and to archive its data. During the first run of the LHC, these two functions were tightly coupled as each Tier-1 was constrained to process only the data archived on its hierarchical storage. This lack of flexibility in the assignment of processing workflows occasionally resulted in uneven resource utilisation and in an increased latency in the delivery of the results to the physics community.The long shutdown of the LHC in 2013-2014 was an opportunity to revisit thismore » mode of operations, disentangling the processing and archive functionalities of the Tier-1 centres. The storage services at the Tier-1s were redeployed breaking the traditional hierarchical model: each site now provides a large disk storage to host input and output data for processing, and an independent tape storage used exclusively for archiving. Movement of data between the tape and disk endpoints is not automated, but triggered externally through the WLCG transfer management systems.With this new setup, CMS operations actively controls at any time which data is available on disk for processing and which data should be sent to archive. Thanks to the high-bandwidth connectivity guaranteed by the LHCOPN, input data can be freely transferred between disk endpoints as needed to take advantage of free CPU, turning the Tier-1s into a large pool of shared resources. The output data can be validated before archiving them permanently, and temporary data formats can be produced without wasting valuable tape resources. Lastly, the data hosted on disk at Tier-1s can now be made available also for user analysis since there is no risk any longer of triggering chaotic staging from tape.In this contribution, we describe the technical solutions adopted for the new disk and tape endpoints at the sites, and we report on the commissioning and scale testing of the service. We detail the procedures implemented by CMS computing operations to actively manage data on disk at Tier-1 sites, and we give examples of the benefits brought to CMS workflows by the additional flexibility of the new system.« less

Pooling the resources of the CMS Tier-1 sites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Apyan, A.; Badillo, J.; Diaz Cruz, J.; Gadrat, S.; Gutsche, O.; Holzman, B.; Lahiff, A.; Magini, N.; Mason, D.; Perez, A.; Stober, F.; Taneja, S.; Taze, M.; Wissing, C.

2015-12-01

The CMS experiment at the LHC relies on 7 Tier-1 centres of the WLCG to perform the majority of its bulk processing activity, and to archive its data. During the first run of the LHC, these two functions were tightly coupled as each Tier-1 was constrained to process only the data archived on its hierarchical storage. This lack of flexibility in the assignment of processing workflows occasionally resulted in uneven resource utilisation and in an increased latency in the delivery of the results to the physics community. The long shutdown of the LHC in 2013-2014 was an opportunity to revisit this mode of operations, disentangling the processing and archive functionalities of the Tier-1 centres. The storage services at the Tier-1s were redeployed breaking the traditional hierarchical model: each site now provides a large disk storage to host input and output data for processing, and an independent tape storage used exclusively for archiving. Movement of data between the tape and disk endpoints is not automated, but triggered externally through the WLCG transfer management systems. With this new setup, CMS operations actively controls at any time which data is available on disk for processing and which data should be sent to archive. Thanks to the high-bandwidth connectivity guaranteed by the LHCOPN, input data can be freely transferred between disk endpoints as needed to take advantage of free CPU, turning the Tier-1s into a large pool of shared resources. The output data can be validated before archiving them permanently, and temporary data formats can be produced without wasting valuable tape resources. Finally, the data hosted on disk at Tier-1s can now be made available also for user analysis since there is no risk any longer of triggering chaotic staging from tape. In this contribution, we describe the technical solutions adopted for the new disk and tape endpoints at the sites, and we report on the commissioning and scale testing of the service. We detail the procedures implemented by CMS computing operations to actively manage data on disk at Tier-1 sites, and we give examples of the benefits brought to CMS workflows by the additional flexibility of the new system.

36 CFR 1237.18 - What are the environmental standards for audiovisual records storage?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... standards for audiovisual records storage? 1237.18 Section 1237.18 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION RECORDS MANAGEMENT AUDIOVISUAL, CARTOGRAPHIC, AND RELATED RECORDS MANAGEMENT § 1237.18 What are the environmental standards for audiovisual records storage? (a...

Polyester-Based (Bio)degradable Polymers as Environmentally Friendly Materials for Sustainable Development

PubMed Central

Rydz, Joanna; Sikorska, Wanda; Kyulavska, Mariya; Christova, Darinka

2014-01-01

This review focuses on the polyesters such as polylactide and polyhydroxyalkonoates, as well as polyamides produced from renewable resources, which are currently among the most promising (bio)degradable polymers. Synthetic pathways, favourable properties and utilisation (most important applications) of these attractive polymer families are outlined. Environmental impact and in particular (bio)degradation of aliphatic polyesters, polyamides and related copolymer structures are described in view of the potential applications in various fields. PMID:25551604

Sustainable management and utilisation of concrete slurry waste: A case study in Hong Kong.

PubMed

Hossain, Md Uzzal; Xuan, Dongxing; Poon, Chi Sun

2017-03-01

With the promotion of environmental protection in the construction industry, the mission to achieve more sustainable use of resources during the production process of concrete is also becoming important. This study was conducted to assess the environmental sustainability of concrete slurry waste (CSW) management by life cycle assessment (LCA) techniques, with the aim of identifying a resource-efficient solution for utilisation of CSW in the production of partition wall blocks. CSW is the dewatered solid residues deposited in the sedimentation tank after washing out over-ordered/rejected fresh concrete and concrete trucks in concrete batching plants. The reuse of CSW as recycled aggregates or a cementitious binder for producing partition wall blocks, and the life cycle environmental impact of the blocks were assessed and compared with the conventional one designed with natural materials. The LCA results showed that the partition wall blocks prepared with fresh CSW and recycled concrete aggregates achieved higher sustainability as it consumed 59% lower energy, emitted 66% lower greenhouse gases, and produced lesser amount of other environmental impacts than that of the conventional one. When the mineral carbonation technology was further adopted for blocks curing using CO 2 , the global warming potential of the corresponding blocks production process was negligible, and hence the carbonated blocks may be considered as carbon neutral eco-product. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Macro and Microenvironments at the British Library.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shenton, Helen

This paper describes the storage of the 12 million items that have just been moved into the new British Library building. The specifications for the storage and environmental conditions for different types of library and archive material are explained. The varying environmental parameters for storage areas and public areas, including reading rooms…

Environmental Identity Formation in Nonformal Environmental Education Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Corrie Colvin; Chawla, Louise

2016-01-01

This paper explores experiences that remained salient in the memories of former participants in three nature-based programs in Colorado, five to forty years after childhood involvement. Interviews with program founders and staff, archival research, and observations of current activities provided an understanding of each program's history, mission…

Research Productivity and Social Capital in Australian Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salaran, Mohammad

2010-01-01

This study investigates the role of social capital in raising research productivity in academic institutions. Social capital as a strategic resource embedded in social relationships can be utilised towards decreasing pressures from external environmental conditions, such as the global financial crisis. A survey was sent to academic staff in five…

Access and utilisation of maternity care for disabled women who experience domestic abuse: a systematic review

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Although disabled women are significantly more likely to experience domestic abuse during pregnancy than non-disabled women, very little is known about how maternity care access and utilisation is affected by the co-existence of disability and domestic abuse. This systematic review of the literature explored how domestic abuse impacts upon disabled women’s access to maternity services. Methods Eleven articles were identified through a search of six electronic databases and data were analysed to identify: the factors that facilitate or compromise access to care; the consequences of inadequate care for pregnant women’s health and wellbeing; and the effectiveness of existing strategies for improvement. Results Findings indicate that a mental health diagnosis, poor relationships with health professionals and environmental barriers can compromise women’s utilisation of maternity services. Domestic abuse can both compromise, and catalyse, access to services and social support is a positive factor when accessing care. Delayed and inadequate care has adverse effects on women’s physical and psychological health, however further research is required to fully explore the nature and extent of these consequences. Only one study identified strategies currently being used to improve access to services for disabled women experiencing abuse. Conclusions Based upon the barriers and facilitators identified within the review, we suggest that future strategies for improvement should focus on: understanding women’s reasons for accessing care; fostering positive relationships; being women-centred; promoting environmental accessibility; and improving the strength of the evidence base. PMID:25029907

Internet based ECG medical information system.

PubMed

James, D A; Rowlands, D; Mahnovetski, R; Channells, J; Cutmore, T

2003-03-01

Physiological monitoring of humans for medical applications is well established and ready to be adapted to the Internet. This paper describes the implementation of a Medical Information System (MIS-ECG system) incorporating an Internet based ECG acquisition device. Traditionally clinical monitoring of ECG is largely a labour intensive process with data being typically stored on paper. Until recently, ECG monitoring applications have also been constrained somewhat by the size of the equipment required. Today's technology enables large and fixed hospital monitoring systems to be replaced by small portable devices. With an increasing emphasis on health management a truly integrated information system for the acquisition, analysis, patient particulars and archiving is now a realistic possibility. This paper describes recent Internet and technological advances and presents the design and testing of the MIS-ECG system that utilises those advances.

Life cycle assessment and residue leaching: The importance of parameter, scenario and leaching data selection

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

Allegrini, E., E-mail: elia@env.dtu.dk; Butera, S.; Kosson, D.S.

Highlights: • Relevance of metal leaching in waste management system LCAs was assessed. • Toxic impacts from leaching could not be disregarded. • Uncertainty of toxicity, due to background activities, determines LCA outcomes. • Parameters such as pH and L/S affect LCA results. • Data modelling consistency and coverage within an LCA are crucial. - Abstract: Residues from industrial processes and waste management systems (WMSs) have been increasingly reutilised, leading to landfilling rate reductions and the optimisation of mineral resource utilisation in society. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a holistic methodology allowing for the analysis of systems and products andmore » can be applied to waste management systems to identify environmental benefits and critical aspects thereof. From an LCA perspective, residue utilisation provides benefits such as avoiding the production and depletion of primary materials, but it can lead to environmental burdens, due to the potential leaching of toxic substances. In waste LCA studies where residue utilisation is included, leaching has generally been neglected. In this study, municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash (MSWI BA) was used as a case study into three LCA scenarios having different system boundaries. The importance of data quality and parameter selection in the overall LCA results was evaluated, and an innovative method to assess metal transport into the environment was applied, in order to determine emissions to the soil and water compartments for use in an LCA. It was found that toxic impacts as a result of leaching were dominant in systems including only MSWI BA utilisation, while leaching appeared negligible in larger scenarios including the entire waste system. However, leaching could not be disregarded a priori, due to large uncertainties characterising other activities in the scenario (e.g. electricity production). Based on the analysis of relevant parameters relative to leaching, and on general results of the study, recommendations are provided regarding the use of leaching data in LCA studies.« less

The Alaska Arctic Vegetation Archive (AVA-AK)

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

Walker, Donald; Breen, Amy; Druckenmiller, Lisa

The Alaska Arctic Vegetation Archive (AVA-AK, GIVD-ID: NA-US-014) is a free, publically available database archive of vegetation-plot data from the Arctic tundra region of northern Alaska. The archive currently contains 24 datasets with 3,026 non-overlapping plots. Of these, 74% have geolocation data with 25-m or better precision. Species cover data and header data are stored in a Turboveg database. A standardized Pan Arctic Species List provides a consistent nomenclature for vascular plants, bryophytes, and lichens in the archive. A web-based online Alaska Arctic Geoecological Atlas (AGA-AK) allows viewing and downloading the species data in a variety of formats, and providesmore » access to a wide variety of ancillary data. We conducted a preliminary cluster analysis of the first 16 datasets (1,613 plots) to examine how the spectrum of derived clusters is related to the suite of datasets, habitat types, and environmental gradients. Here, we present the contents of the archive, assess its strengths and weaknesses, and provide three supplementary files that include the data dictionary, a list of habitat types, an overview of the datasets, and details of the cluster analysis.« less

The Alaska Arctic Vegetation Archive (AVA-AK)

DOE PAGES

Walker, Donald; Breen, Amy; Druckenmiller, Lisa; ...

2016-05-17

The Alaska Arctic Vegetation Archive (AVA-AK, GIVD-ID: NA-US-014) is a free, publically available database archive of vegetation-plot data from the Arctic tundra region of northern Alaska. The archive currently contains 24 datasets with 3,026 non-overlapping plots. Of these, 74% have geolocation data with 25-m or better precision. Species cover data and header data are stored in a Turboveg database. A standardized Pan Arctic Species List provides a consistent nomenclature for vascular plants, bryophytes, and lichens in the archive. A web-based online Alaska Arctic Geoecological Atlas (AGA-AK) allows viewing and downloading the species data in a variety of formats, and providesmore » access to a wide variety of ancillary data. We conducted a preliminary cluster analysis of the first 16 datasets (1,613 plots) to examine how the spectrum of derived clusters is related to the suite of datasets, habitat types, and environmental gradients. Here, we present the contents of the archive, assess its strengths and weaknesses, and provide three supplementary files that include the data dictionary, a list of habitat types, an overview of the datasets, and details of the cluster analysis.« less

2006 Environmental Scan. ACAATO Archive Document

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Colleges Ontario, 2006

2006-01-01

The Association of Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology of Ontario (ACAATO) is pleased to present this report. The 2006 Environmental Scan provides an aggregate synopsis of the key trends which will impact on Ontario's Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology in the future and will assist colleges in their advocacy and strategic planning…

2005 Environmental Scan. ACAATO Archive Document

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Colleges Ontario, 2005

2005-01-01

The Association of Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology of Ontario (ACAATO) is pleased to present this report. The 2005 Environmental Scan provides an aggregate synopsis of the key trends which will impact on Ontario's Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology in the future and will assist colleges in their advocacy and strategic planning…

Cumulative metal leaching from utilisation of secondary building materials in river engineering.

PubMed

Leuven, R S E W; Willems, F H G

2004-01-01

The present paper estimates the utilisation of bulky wastes (minestone, steel slag, phosphorus slag and demolition waste) in hydraulic engineering structures in Dutch parts of the rivers Rhine, Meuse and Scheldt over the period 1980-2025. Although they offer several economic, technical and environmental benefits, these secondary building materials contain various metals that may leach into river water. A leaching model was used to predict annual emissions of arsenic, cadmium, copper, chromium, lead, mercury, nickel and zinc. Under the current utilisation and model assumptions, the contribution of secondary building materials to metal pollution in Dutch surface waters is expected to be relatively low compared to other sources (less than 0.1% and 0.2% in the years 2000 and 2025, respectively). However, continued and widespread large-scale applications of secondary building materials will increase pollutant leaching and may require further cuts to be made in emissions from other sources to meet emission reduction targets and water quality standards. It is recommended to validate available leaching models under various field conditions. Complete registration of secondary building materials will be required to improve input data for leaching models.

Applications of bauxite residue: A mini-review.

PubMed

Verma, Ajay S; Suri, Narendra M; Kant, Suman

2017-10-01

Bauxite residue is the waste generated during alumina production by Bayer's process. The amount of bauxite residue (40-50 wt%) generated depends on the quality of bauxite ore used for the processing. High alkalinity and high caustic content in bauxite residue causes environmental risk for fertile soil and ground water contamination. The caustic (NaOH) content in bauxite residue leads to human health risks, like dermal problems and irritation to eyes. Moreover, disposal of bauxite residue requires a large area; such problems can only be minimised by utilising bauxite residue effectively. For two decades, bauxite residue has been used as a binder in cement industries and filler/reinforcement for composite materials in the automobile industry. Valuable metals and oxides, like alumina (Al 2 O 3 ), titanium oxide (TiO 2 ) and iron oxide Fe 2 O 3 , were extracted from bauxite residue to reduce waste. Bauxite residue was utilised in construction and structure industries to make geopolymers. It was also used in the making of glass-ceramics and a coating material. Recently bauxite residue has been utilised to extract rare earth elements like scandium (Sc), yttrium (Y), lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), neodymium (Nd) and dysprosium (Dy). In this review article, the mineralogical characteristics of bauxite residue are summarised and current progresses on utilisation of bauxite residue in different fields of science and engineering are presented in detail.

Ocean Color Data at the Goddard Earth Sciences (GES) DAAC: CZCS, SeaWiFS, OCTS, MODIS-Terra, MODIS-Aqua

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

The Goddard Earth Sciences Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) is the designated archive for all of the ocean color data produced by NASA satellite missions. The DAAC is a long-term, high volume, secure repository for many different kinds of environmental data. With respect to ocean color, the Goddard DAAC holds all the data obtained during the eight-year mission of the Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS). The DAAC is currently receiving data from the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS), and the MODIS-Terra instrument. The DAAC recently received reformatted data from the Ocean Color and Temperature Scanner (OCTS) and will also archive MODIS-Aqua Ocean products. In addition to its archive and distribution services, the Goddard DAAC strives to improve data access, ease-of-use, and data applicability for a broad spectrum of customers. The DAAC's data support teams practice dual roles, both insuring the integrity of the DAAC data archive and serving the user community with answers to user inquiries, online and print documentation, and customized data services.

The evolutionary time machine: forecasting how populations can adapt to changing environments using dormant propagules

PubMed Central

Orsini, Luisa; Schwenk, Klaus; De Meester, Luc; Colbourne, John K.; Pfrender, Michael E.; Weider, Lawrence J.

2013-01-01

Evolutionary changes are determined by a complex assortment of ecological, demographic and adaptive histories. Predicting how evolution will shape the genetic structures of populations coping with current (and future) environmental challenges has principally relied on investigations through space, in lieu of time, because long-term phenotypic and molecular data are scarce. Yet, dormant propagules in sediments, soils and permafrost are convenient natural archives of population-histories from which to trace adaptive trajectories along extended time periods. DNA sequence data obtained from these natural archives, combined with pioneering methods for analyzing both ecological and population genomic time-series data, are likely to provide predictive models to forecast evolutionary responses of natural populations to environmental changes resulting from natural and anthropogenic stressors, including climate change. PMID:23395434

Sand ramps as palaeoenvironmental archives: Integrating general principles and regional contexts through reanalysis of the Klipkraal Sands, South Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rowell, Alexandra L. K.; Thomas, David S. G.; Bailey, Richard M.; Holmes, Peter J.

2018-06-01

Sand ramps occur on a continuum of topographically-controlled landforms, ranging from purely aeolian features (climbing/falling dunes) to talus cones and alluvial fans. Sand ramps have been identified as potentially important palaeoenvironmental archives in dryland regions that possess relatively few Quaternary proxy records. Their utility however requires not only good age control of depositional phases but clear identification of process regimes, determined through morphological and sedimentological analyses, with several recent studies indicating the complexities of palaeoenvironmental interpretations and the controls of ramp development (Bateman et al., 2012; Rowell et al., 2018). Klipkraal Sands is a sand ramp on the north-eastern margin of the semi-arid Karoo that has been important for inferences of the extent of southern African Late Quaternary aeolian activity (Thomas et al., 2002). We reanalyse this feature, in the light of both its significance and other recent studies that have inferred extensive southern African LGM aeolian activity (Telfer et al., 2012, 2014). New sedimentological data and twelve OSL dates indicate the Klipkraal Sands formed episodically between 100-0.14 ka, rather than accumulating rapidly, while sedimentological data question the aeolian affinities of the bulk of the feature. Therefore, Klipkraal is reinterpreted as showing no particular affinity to the LGM, with sediments locally sourced with a significant colluvial component. Only the upper historical sediments can be clearly interpreted as aeolian deposits. A complex interplay of processes is suggested, for which a meaningful palaeoenvironmental interpretation cannot be easily defined. This implies that the local geomorphic processes and controls operating on sand ramps need to be established before they can be fully utilised as palaeoenvironmental archives, with implications for their interpretation worldwide.

Loess as an environmental archive of atmospheric trace element deposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blazina, T.; Winkel, L. H.

2013-12-01

Environmental archives such as ice cores, lake sediment cores, and peat cores have been used extensively to reconstruct past atmospheric deposition of trace elements. These records have provided information about how anthropogenic activities such as mining and fossil fuel combustion have disturbed the natural cycles of various atmospherically transported trace elements (e.g. Pb, Hg and Se). While these records are invaluable for tracing human impacts on such trace elements, they often provide limited information about the long term natural cycles of these elements. An assumption of these records is that the observed variations in trace element input, prior to any assumed anthropogenic perturbations, represent the full range of natural variations. However, records such as those mentioned above which extend back to a maximum of ~400kyr may not capture the potentially large variations of trace element input occurring over millions of years. Windblown loess sediments, often representing atmospheric deposition over time scales >1Ma, are the most widely distributed terrestrial sediments on Earth. These deposits have been used extensively to reconstruct continental climate variability throughout the Quaternary and late Neogene periods. In addition to being a valuable record of continental climate change, loess deposits may represent a long term environmental archive of atmospheric trace element deposition and may be combined with paleoclimate records to elucidate how fluctuations in climate have impacted the natural cycle of such elements. Our research uses the loess-paleosol deposits on the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) to quantify how atmospheric deposition of trace elements has fluctuated in central China over the past 6.8Ma. The CLP has been used extensively to reconstruct past changes of East Asian monsoon system (EAM). We present a suite of trace element concentration records (e.g. Pb, Hg, and Se) from the CLP which exemplifies how loess deposits can be used as an environmental archive to reconstruct long term natural variations in atmospheric trace element input. By comparing paleomonsoon proxy data with geochemical data we can directly correlate variations in atmospheric trace element input to fluctuations in the EAM. For example we are able to link Se input into the CLP to EAM derived precipitation. In interglacial climatic periods from 2.3-1.56Ma and 1.50-1.29Ma, we find very strong positive correlations between Se concentration and the summer monsoon index, a proxy for effective precipitation. In later interglacial periods from 1.26-0.83Ma and 0.78-0.16Ma, we find dust input plays a greater role. Our findings demonstrate that the CLP is a valuable environmental archive of atmospheric trace element deposition and suggest that other loess deposits worldwide may serve as useful records for investigating long term natural variations in atmospheric trace element cycling.

THE EPA REMOTE SENSING ARCHIVE: A VALUABLE WINDOW INTO THE PAST FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS TODAY

EPA Science Inventory

Often environmental issues need to have a historical perspective, to look back into the past. Remotely sensed imagery is one way to see the land and what happened in a previous time. The EPA is often responsible to look into the past to facilitate a better future for the environm...

(Q)SARs to predict environmental toxicities: current status and future needs.

PubMed

Cronin, Mark T D

2017-03-22

The current state of the art of (Quantitative) Structure-Activity Relationships ((Q)SARs) to predict environmental toxicity is assessed along with recommendations to develop these models further. The acute toxicity of compounds acting by the non-polar narcotic mechanism of action can be well predicted, however other approaches, including read-across, may be required for compounds acting by specific mechanisms of action. The chronic toxicity of compounds to environmental species is more difficult to predict from (Q)SARs, with robust data sets and more mechanistic information required. In addition, the toxicity of mixtures is little addressed by (Q)SAR approaches. Developments in environmental toxicology including Adverse Outcome Pathways (AOPs) and omics responses should be utilised to develop better, more mechanistically relevant, (Q)SAR models.

The environmental impact of future coal production and use in the EEC

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

Not Available

1983-01-01

The aims of this study are to assess the expected increased levels of coal consumption in the European Community up to the year 2000; to estimate to what extent consumer demand is likely to be met by EEC production; to determine the level of polluting emissions which are likely to derive from changes in coal consumption and production; and finally, to compare the environmental impact of alternative, existing or developing means of coal utilisation. Contents: Conclusions; Future coal supply and demand in the EEC; Environmental consequences of coal production and use; Coal extraction; Transport and storage; Coal combustion: air pollution;more » Coal combustion: water pollution; Pollution from solid wastes; Coal conversion process; Environmental control technology; Bibliography.« less

Status of the Landsat thematic mapper and multispectral scanner archive conversion system

USGS Publications Warehouse

Werner, Darla J.

1993-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey's EROS Data Center (EDC) manages the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive. This archive includes Landsat thematic mapper (TM) multispectral scanner (MSS) data acquired since 1972. The Landsat archive is an important resource to global change research. To ensure long-term availability of Landsat data from the archive, the EDC specified requirements for a Thematic Mapper and Multispectral Scanner Archive Conversion System (TMACS) that would preserve the data by transcribing it to a more durable medium. In addition to media conversion, hardware and software was installed at EDC in July 1992. In December 1992, the EDC began converting Landsat MSS data from high-density, open reel instrumentation tapes to digital cassette tapes. Almost 320,000 MSS images acquired since 1979 and more than 200,000 TM images acquired since 1982 will be converted to the new medium during the next 3 years. During the media conversion process, several high-density tapes have exhibited severe binder degradation. Even though these tapes have been stored in environmentally controlled conditions, hydrolysis has occurred, resulting in "sticky oxide shed". Using a thermostatically controlled oven built at EDC, tape "baking" has been 100 percent successful and actually improves the quality of some images.

Ecological Modernisation and Discourses on Rural Non-Wood Bioenergy Production in Finland from 1980 to 2005

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huttunen, Suvi

2009-01-01

Rural bioenergy production is currently a much debated question worldwide. It is closely connected to questions of environmental protection and rural development in both developing and industrial world. In Finland, rural bioenergy production has traditionally meant the production of wood fuels for heating purposes. The utilisation of forest…

No Longer Have to Choose

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brown, H.; Ritchey, N. A.

2017-12-01

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) once was three separate data centers (NGDC, NODC, and NCDC). In 2015 the three centers merged into NCEI. NCEI has refined the art of long term preservation and stewardship practices throughout the life-cycle of various types of data. NCEI can help you navigate and make the complicated world of preserving your data user-friendly. Using tools at NCEI, data providers can request data to be archived, submit data for archival and create complete International Organization for Standardization (ISO) metadata records with ease. To ensure traceability, Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) are minted for published data sets. The services offered at NCEI follow standards and NOAA directives such as the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) - Reference Model (ISO 14721) to ensure consistent long-term preservation for the Nation's resource of global environmental data for a broad spectrum of users. The implementation of these standards supports the data to be accessible, independently understandable and reproducible in an easy to understand format for all types of users. Insights from combined knowledge of 100+years of various domain and data management and preservation and the tools supporting these functions will be shared.

Essential Nursing References.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nursing and Health Care Perspectives, 2000

2000-01-01

This partially annotated bibliography contains these categories: abstract sources, archives, audiovisuals, bibliographies, databases, dictionaries, directories, drugs/toxicology/environmental health, grant resources, histories, indexes, Internet resources, reviews, statistical sources, and writers' manuals and guides. A supplement lists Canadian…

15 CFR 960.8 - Notification of foreign agreements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... THE ENVIRONMENTAL DATA SERVICE LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS Licenses § 960.8... Remote Sensing Data Archive; and (3) The obligations of the licensee to convey to the foreign party the...

Determination of indoor air quality in archives and biodeterioration of the documentary heritage.

PubMed

Borrego, Sofía; Lavin, Paola; Perdomo, Ivette; Gómez de Saravia, Sandra; Guiamet, Patricia

2012-01-01

Documentary heritage is permanently subject to suffering from physical, chemical, and/or biological alterations. Biological deterioration by microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) causes undesirable changes on material properties. Microorganisms affect different organic, natural or synthetic substrates (cellulose, polycarbonates), metals, and compounds of optical and magnetic devices (CD, VHS). Paper made by vegetal fibers, functional additives (glue, optical polishers, consolidating agents), and inks with organic bindings are used as sources of nutrients. The environmental microorganisms that form the microbial charge of indoor air at repositories (archives, libraries) storing cultural heritage can deteriorate the different supports of heritage importance and affect human health as allergies and skin affections. The aims of this research were to study microbial contamination of the environment and its influence on biodeterioration by the biofilm formation and to analyze the relationship between environment microbiota and biofilm formation in materials stored at three archives in Argentina and in two repositories of the National Archive of the Republic of Cuba.

The NGEE Arctic Data Archive -- Portal for Archiving and Distributing Data and Documentation

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

Boden, Thomas A; Palanisamy, Giri; Devarakonda, Ranjeet

2014-01-01

The Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments (NGEE Arctic) project is committed to implementing a rigorous and high-quality data management program. The goal is to implement innovative and cost-effective guidelines and tools for collecting, archiving, and sharing data within the project, the larger scientific community, and the public. The NGEE Arctic web site is the framework for implementing these data management and data sharing tools. The open sharing of NGEE Arctic data among project researchers, the broader scientific community, and the public is critical to meeting the scientific goals and objectives of the NGEE Arctic project and critical to advancing the mission ofmore » the Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Biological and Environmental (BER) Terrestrial Ecosystem Science (TES) program.« less

Studies of Global Solar Magnetic Field Patterns Using a Newly Digitized Archive

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hewins, I.; Webb, D. F.; Gibson, S. E.; McFadden, R.; Emery, B. A.; Malanushenko, A. V.

2017-12-01

The McIntosh Archive consists of a set of hand-drawn solar Carrington maps created by Patrick McIntosh from 1964 to 2009. McIntosh used mainly Ha, He 10830Å and photospheric magnetic measurements from both ground-based and NASA satellite observations. With these he traced polarity inversion lines (PILs), filaments, sunspots and plage and, later, coronal holes, yielding a unique 45-year record of features associated with the large-scale organization of the solar magnetic field. We discuss our efforts to preserve and digitize this archive; the original hand-drawn maps have been scanned, a method for processing these scans into digital, searchable format has been developed, and a website and an archival repository at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) has been created. The archive is complete for SC 23 and partially complete for SCs 21 and 22. In this paper we show examples of how the data base can be utilized for scientific applications. We compare the evolution of the areas and boundaries of CHs with other recent results, and we use the maps to track the global, SC-evolution of filaments, large-scale positive and negative polarity regions, PILs and sunspots.

Tobacco Harm to Kids

MedlinePlus

... media (an acute or chronic inflammation of the middle ear) that result in office visits each year. 14 ... Bischoff, CE & Sauve, RS, “Environmental Tobacco Smoke and Middle Ear Disease in Preschool-Age Children,” Archives of Pediatric ...

Making an Effort to Feel Positive: Insecure Attachment in Infancy Predicts the Neural Underpinnings of Emotion Regulation in Adulthood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moutsiana, Christina; Fearon, Pasco; Murray, Lynne; Cooper, Peter; Goodyer, Ian; Johnstone, Tom; Halligan, Sarah

2014-01-01

Background: Animal research indicates that the neural substrates of emotion regulation may be persistently altered by early environmental exposures. If similar processes operate in human development then this is significant, as the capacity to regulate emotional states is fundamental to human adaptation. Methods: We utilised a 22-year longitudinal…

Factors Influencing the Selection of Speech Pathology as a Career: A Qualitative Analysis Utilising the Systems Theory Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Byrne, Nicole

2007-01-01

Factors identified by 16 participants during in-depth interviews as influencing selection of speech pathology as a career were described using the Systems Theory Framework (STF, Patton & McMahon, 2006). Participants were highly likely to identify factors from the individual and social systems, but not the environmental-societal system, of the STF…

Propesticides and their use as agrochemicals.

PubMed

Jeschke, Peter

2016-02-01

The synthesis of propesticides is an important concept in design of modern agrochemicals with optimal efficacy, environmental safety, user friendliness and economic variability. Based on increasing knowledge of the biochemistry and genetics of major pest insects, weeds and agricultural pathogens, the search for selectivity has become an ever more important part of pesticide development and can be achieved by appropriate structural modifications of the active ingredient. Propesticides affect the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion parameters, which can lead to biological superiority of these modified active ingredients over their non-derivatised analogues. Various selected commercial propesticides testify to the successful utilisation of this concept in the design of agrochemicals. This review describes comprehensively the successful utilisation of propesticides and their role in syntheses of modern agrochemicals, exemplified by selected commercial products coming from different agrochemical areas. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.

Developing tools for the safety specification in risk management plans: lessons learned from a pilot project.

PubMed

Cooper, Andrew J P; Lettis, Sally; Chapman, Charlotte L; Evans, Stephen J W; Waller, Patrick C; Shakir, Saad; Payvandi, Nassrin; Murray, Alison B

2008-05-01

Following the adoption of the ICH E2E guideline, risk management plans (RMP) defining the cumulative safety experience and identifying limitations in safety information are now required for marketing authorisation applications (MAA). A collaborative research project was conducted to gain experience with tools for presenting and evaluating data in the safety specification. This paper presents those tools found to be useful and the lessons learned from their use. Archive data from a successful MAA were utilised. Methods were assessed for demonstrating the extent of clinical safety experience, evaluating the sensitivity of the clinical trial data to detect treatment differences and identifying safety signals from adverse event and laboratory data to define the extent of safety knowledge with the drug. The extent of clinical safety experience was demonstrated by plots of patient exposure over time. Adverse event data were presented using dot plots, which display the percentages of patients with the events of interest, the odds ratio, and 95% confidence interval. Power and confidence interval plots were utilised for evaluating the sensitivity of the clinical database to detect treatment differences. Box and whisker plots were used to display laboratory data. This project enabled us to identify new evidence-based methods for presenting and evaluating clinical safety data. These methods represent an advance in the way safety data from clinical trials can be analysed and presented. This project emphasises the importance of early and comprehensive planning of the safety package, including evaluation of the use of epidemiology data.

The Sharing Experimental Animal Resources, Coordinating Holdings (SEARCH) Framework: Encouraging Reduction, Replacement, and Refinement in Animal Research.

PubMed

Morrissey, Bethny; Blyth, Karen; Carter, Phil; Chelala, Claude; Jones, Louise; Holen, Ingunn; Speirs, Valerie

2017-01-01

While significant medical breakthroughs have been achieved through using animal models, our experience shows that often there is surplus material remaining that is frequently never revisited but could be put to good use by other scientists. Recognising that most scientists are willing to share this material on a collaborative basis, it makes economic, ethical, and academic sense to explore the option to utilise this precious resource before generating new/additional animal models and associated samples. To bring together those requiring animal tissue and those holding this type of archival material, we have devised a framework called Sharing Experimental Animal Resources, Coordinating Holdings (SEARCH) with the aim of making remaining material derived from animal studies in biomedical research more visible and accessible to the scientific community. We encourage journals, funding bodies, and scientists to unite in promoting a new way of approaching animal research by adopting the SEARCH framework.

The Sharing Experimental Animal Resources, Coordinating Holdings (SEARCH) Framework: Encouraging Reduction, Replacement, and Refinement in Animal Research

PubMed Central

Morrissey, Bethny; Blyth, Karen; Carter, Phil; Chelala, Claude; Jones, Louise; Holen, Ingunn; Speirs, Valerie

2017-01-01

While significant medical breakthroughs have been achieved through using animal models, our experience shows that often there is surplus material remaining that is frequently never revisited but could be put to good use by other scientists. Recognising that most scientists are willing to share this material on a collaborative basis, it makes economic, ethical, and academic sense to explore the option to utilise this precious resource before generating new/additional animal models and associated samples. To bring together those requiring animal tissue and those holding this type of archival material, we have devised a framework called Sharing Experimental Animal Resources, Coordinating Holdings (SEARCH) with the aim of making remaining material derived from animal studies in biomedical research more visible and accessible to the scientific community. We encourage journals, funding bodies, and scientists to unite in promoting a new way of approaching animal research by adopting the SEARCH framework. PMID:28081116

Improvement of the knowledge in the historical coastal hazards in Brittany by combining archives and geoindicators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hénaff, A.; Van Vliet-Lanoë, B.; Le Cornec, E.

2012-04-01

Improvement of the knowledge in the historical coastal hazards in Brittany by combining archives and geoindicators. The management of risks of erosion and flood at the coast requires the acquisition of good knowledge of these hazards. The knowledge of the present and past conditions of occurrence and their favourite location at the coast is of major importance. However, this knowledge is often reduced to the inventory of the most-recent events for which direct observations and measurements are available. To improve the historical knowledge of these hazards in Brittany, two sets of data are collected: all indirect indicators susceptible to record over the historic period the meteorological and sea-surface conditions. The first one consists in a regional inventory of the coastal damages generated by storms since the beginning of the XXth century. This inventory is based on the local record in newspapers, university documents and data of archives; it allows the founding of a geo-referenced database. It permits to follow at a regional scale the evolution in space and time of the distribution of the impacts of storms. The second database consists in a record of the historical evolution of trailing spits, a natural geo-indicator of the mean orientation of waves along the coastline. This evolution is followed in time on satellite images, air photos, historical maps and geological sections. Both databases allow at the regional scale a better insight of the coastal hazards and their natural forcing. L'amélioration de la connaissance des aléas côtiers historiques en Bretagne par l'utilisation conjointe des archives et des géo-indicateurs. La gestion des risques côtiers d'érosion et de submersion nécessite de s'appuyer sur une bonne connaissance des aléas. En particulier, la connaissance des conditions actuelles et passées de leur survenue et de leur localisation préférentielle sur les territoires côtiers est déterminante. Pour autant, elle se limite souvent à l'inventaire des événements les plus récents pour lesquels on dispose d'observations directes et de mesures. Afin d'améliorer la connaissance historique des aléas littoraux sur les rivages de la Bretagne, deux types de données sont collectés. Il s'agit d'indicateurs indirects susceptibles de rendre compte des évolutions spatiales et temporelles des conditions météo-marines sur la période historique. Le premier type consiste en un inventaire des dommages générés par les tempêtes sur les littoraux bretons depuis le début du XXe siècle. Cet inventaire construit à partir du dépouillement des journaux locaux, des documents universitaires et des données d'archives ; il a permis de constituer une base de données géoréférencées. Il permet de suivre les évolutions de la distribution spatiale et temporelle des impacts des tempêtes. Le second type consiste en l'enregistrement par des géo-indicateurs naturels que constituent les accumulations littorales en queues de comète dont l'orientation est déterminée par les directions moyennes des houles parvenant sur les rivages. L'évolution de leurs orientations dans le temps et de, manière indirecte, celle de l'orientations des houles est suivi à l'aide des photographies aériennes ainsi que des cartes actuelles et anciennes. L'utilisation conjointe de ces deux types de données permet d'améliorer les connaissances des aléas et des forçages naturels affectant les littoraux à l'échelle régionale.

Towards the Interoperability of Web, Database, and Mass Storage Technologies for Petabyte Archives

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moore, Reagan; Marciano, Richard; Wan, Michael; Sherwin, Tom; Frost, Richard

1996-01-01

At the San Diego Supercomputer Center, a massive data analysis system (MDAS) is being developed to support data-intensive applications that manipulate terabyte sized data sets. The objective is to support scientific application access to data whether it is located at a Web site, stored as an object in a database, and/or storage in an archival storage system. We are developing a suite of demonstration programs which illustrate how Web, database (DBMS), and archival storage (mass storage) technologies can be integrated. An application presentation interface is being designed that integrates data access to all of these sources. We have developed a data movement interface between the Illustra object-relational database and the NSL UniTree archival storage system running in a production mode at the San Diego Supercomputer Center. With this interface, an Illustra client can transparently access data on UniTree under the control of the Illustr DBMS server. The current implementation is based on the creation of a new DBMS storage manager class, and a set of library functions that allow the manipulation and migration of data stored as Illustra 'large objects'. We have extended this interface to allow a Web client application to control data movement between its local disk, the Web server, the DBMS Illustra server, and the UniTree mass storage environment. This paper describes some of the current approaches successfully integrating these technologies. This framework is measured against a representative sample of environmental data extracted from the San Diego Ba Environmental Data Repository. Practical lessons are drawn and critical research areas are highlighted.

Building a Trustworthy Environmental Science Data Repository: Lessons Learned from the ORNL DAAC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wei, Y.; Santhana Vannan, S. K.; Boyer, A.; Beaty, T.; Deb, D.; Hook, L.

2017-12-01

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center (ORNL DAAC, https://daac.ornl.gov) for biogeochemical dynamics is one of NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) data centers. The mission of the ORNL DAAC is to assemble, distribute, and provide data services for a comprehensive archive of terrestrial biogeochemistry and ecological dynamics observations and models to facilitate research, education, and decision-making in support of NASA's Earth Science. Since its establishment in 1994, ORNL DAAC has been continuously building itself into a trustworthy environmental science data repository by not only ensuring the quality and usability of its data holdings, but also optimizing its data publication and management process. This paper describes the lessons learned from ORNL DAAC's effort toward this goal. ORNL DAAC has been proactively implementing international community standards throughout its data management life cycle, including data publication, preservation, discovery, visualization, and distribution. Data files in standard formats, detailed documentation, and metadata following standard models are prepared to improve the usability and longevity of data products. Assignment of a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) ensures the identifiability and accessibility of every data product, including the different versions and revisions of its life cycle. ORNL DAAC's data citation policy assures data producers receive appropriate recognition of use of their products. Web service standards, such as OpenSearch and Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), promotes the discovery, visualization, distribution, and integration of ORNL DAAC's data holdings. Recently, ORNL DAAC began efforts to optimize and standardize its data archival and data publication workflows, to improve the efficiency and transparency of its data archival and management processes.

Miniaturized GPS Tags Identify Non-breeding Territories of a Small Breeding Migratory Songbird.

PubMed

Hallworth, Michael T; Marra, Peter P

2015-06-09

For the first time, we use a small archival global positioning system (GPS) tag to identify and characterize non-breeding territories, quantify migratory connectivity, and identify population boundaries of Ovenbirds (Seiurus aurocapilla), a small migratory songbird, captured at two widely separated breeding locations. We recovered 15 (31%) GPS tags with data and located the non-breeding territories of breeding Ovenbirds from Maryland and New Hampshire, USA (0.50 ± 0.15 ha, mean ± SE). All non-breeding territories had similar environmental attributes despite being distributed across parts of Florida, Cuba and Hispaniola. New Hampshire and Maryland breeding populations had non-overlapping non-breeding population boundaries that encompassed 114,803 and 169,233 km(2), respectively. Archival GPS tags provided unprecedented pinpoint locations and associated environmental information of tropical non-breeding territories. This technology is an important step forward in understanding seasonal interactions and ultimately population dynamics of populations throughout the annual cycle.

Lessons Learned While Exploring Cloud-Native Architectures for NASA EOSDIS Applications and Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pilone, Dan; Mclaughlin, Brett; Plofchan, Peter

2017-01-01

NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) is a coordinated series of satellites for long term global observations. NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) is a multi-petabyte-scale archive of environmental data that supports global climate change research by providing end-to-end services from EOS instrument data collection to science data processing to full access to EOS and other earth science data. On a daily basis, the EOSDIS ingests, processes, archives and distributes over 3 terabytes of data from NASA's Earth Science missions representing over 6000 data products ranging from various types of science disciplines. EOSDIS has continually evolved to improve the discoverability, accessibility, and usability of high-impact NASA data spanning the multi-petabyte-scale archive of Earth science data products. Reviewed and approved by Chris Lynnes.

VERCE, Virtual Earthquake and Seismology Research Community in Europe, a new ESFRI initiative integrating data infrastructure, Grid and HPC infrastructures for data integration, data analysis and data modeling in seismology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Hemert, Jano; Vilotte, Jean-Pierre

2010-05-01

Research in earthquake and seismology addresses fundamental problems in understanding Earth's internal wave sources and structures, and augment applications to societal concerns about natural hazards, energy resources and environmental change. This community is central to the European Plate Observing System (EPOS)—the ESFRI initiative in solid Earth Sciences. Global and regional seismology monitoring systems are continuously operated and are transmitting a growing wealth of data from Europe and from around the world. These tremendous volumes of seismograms, i.e., records of ground motions as a function of time, have a definite multi-use attribute, which puts a great premium on open-access data infrastructures that are integrated globally. In Europe, the earthquake and seismology community is part of the European Integrated Data Archives (EIDA) infrastructure and is structured as "horizontal" data services. On top of this distributed data archive system, the community has developed recently within the EC project NERIES advanced SOA-based web services and a unified portal system. Enabling advanced analysis of these data by utilising a data-aware distributed computing environment is instrumental to fully exploit the cornucopia of data and to guarantee optimal operation of the high-cost monitoring facilities. The strategy of VERCE is driven by the needs of data-intensive applications in data mining and modelling and will be illustrated through a set of applications. It aims to provide a comprehensive architecture and framework adapted to the scale and the diversity of these applications, and to integrate the community data infrastructure with Grid and HPC infrastructures. A first novel aspect is a service-oriented architecture that provides well-equipped integrated workbenches, with an efficient communication layer between data and Grid infrastructures, augmented with bridges to the HPC facilities. A second novel aspect is the coupling between Grid data analysis and HPC data modelling applications through workflow and data sharing mechanisms. VERCE will develop important interactions with the European infrastructure initiatives in Grid and HPC computing. The VERCE team: CNRS-France (IPG Paris, LGIT Grenoble), UEDIN (UK), KNMI-ORFEUS (Holland), EMSC, INGV (Italy), LMU (Germany), ULIV (UK), BADW-LRZ (Germany), SCAI (Germany), CINECA (Italy)

Peat Bog Archives: from human history, vegetation change and Holocene climate, to atmospheric dusts and trace elements of natural and anthropogenic origin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shotyk, William

2010-05-01

For at least two centuries, peat has been recognized as an excellent archive of environmental change. William Rennie (1807), for example, interpreted stratigraphic changes in Scottish bogs not only in terms of natural changes in paleoclimate, but was also able to identify environmental changes induced by humans, namely deforestation and the hydrological impacts which result from such activities. The use of bogs as archives of climate change in the early 20th century was accelerated by studies of fossil plant remains such as those by Lewis in Scotland, and by systematic investigations of pollen grains pioneered by von Post in Sweden. In Denmark, Glob outlined the remarkably well-preserved remains of bog bodies and associated artefacts (of cloth, wood, ceramic and metal) in Danish bogs. In Britain, Godwin provided an introduction to the use of bogs as archives of human history, vegetation change, and Holocene climate, with a more recent survey provided by Charman. Recent decades have provided many mineralogical studies of peat and there is growing evidence that many silicate minerals, whether derived from the surrounding watershed or the atmosphere (soil-derived dusts and particles emitted from volcanoes), also are well preserved in anoxic peatland waters. Similarly, geochemical studies have shown that a long list of trace metals, of both natural and anthropogenic origin, also are remarkably well preserved in peat bogs. Thus, there is growing evidence that ombrotrophic (ie 'rain-fed') peat bogs are reliable archives of atmospheric deposition of a wide range of trace elements, including conservative, lithogenic metals such as Al, Sc, Ti, Y, Zr, Hf and the REE, but also the potentially toxic Class B, or 'heavy metals' such as Cu, Ag, Hg, Pb, Sb and Tl. When high quality measurements of these elements is combined with accurate radiometric age dating, it becomes possible to create high resolution reconstructions of atmospheric soil dust fluxes, ancient and modern metal pollution, and Holocene climate change.

The preservation of LANDSAT data by the National Land Remote Sensing Archive

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boyd, John E.

1992-01-01

Digital data, acquired by the National Landsat Remote Sensing Program, document nearly two decades of global agricultural, environmental, and sociological change. The data were widely applied and continue to be essential to a variety of geologic, hydrologic, agronomic, and strategic programs and studies by governmental, academic, and commercial researchers. Landsat data were acquired by five observatories that use primarily two digital sensor systems. The Multispectral Scanner (MSS) was onboard all five Landsats, which have orbited over 19 years; the higher resolution Thematic Mapper (TM) sensor acquired data for the last 9 years on Landsats 4 and 5 only. The National Land Remote Sensing Archive preserves the 800,000 scenes, which total more than 60 terabytes of data, on master tapes that are steadily deteriorating. Data are stored at two terabytes of data, on master tapes that are steadily deteriorating. Data are stored at two locations (Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Landover, Maryland), in three archive formats. The U.S. Geological Survey's EROS Data Center has initiated a project to consolidate and convert, over the next 4 years, two of the archive formats from antiquated instrumentation tape to rotary-recorded cassette magnetic tape. The third archive format, consisting of 300,000 scenes of MSS data acquired from 1972 through 1978, will not be converted because of budgetary constraints. This data preservation project augments EDC's experience in data archiving and information management, expertise that is critical to EDC's role as a Distributed Active Archive Center for the Earth Observing System, a new and much larger national earth science program.

Specimen banking of marine organisms in the United States: Current status and long-term prospective

USGS Publications Warehouse

Becker, P.R.; Wise, S.A.; Thorsteinson, L.; Koster, B.J.; Rowles, T.

1997-01-01

A major part of the activities conducted over the last decade by the National Biomonitoring Specimen Bank (NBSB) has involved the archival of marine specimens collected by ongoing environmental monitoring programs. These archived specimens include bivalves, marine sediments, and fish tissues collected by the National Status and Trends and the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Damage Assessment programs, and marine mammal tissues collected by the Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program and the Alaska Marine Mammal Tissue Archival Project. In addition to supporting these programs, the specimens have been used to investigate circumpolar patterns of chlorinated hydrocarbon concentrations, genetic separation of marine animal stocks, baseline levels of essential and nonessential elements in marine mammals, and the potential risk to human consumers in the Arctic from anthropogenic contaminants found in local subsistence foods. The NBSB specimens represent a resource that has the potential for addressing future issues of marine environmental quality and ecosystem changes through retrospective analysis; however, an ecosystem-based food web approach would maximize this potential. The current status of the NBSB activities related to the banking of marine organisms is presented and discussed, the long-term prospective of these activities is presented, and the importance of an ecosystem-based food web monitoring approach to the value of specimen banking is discussed.

Emissions & Generation Resource Integrated Database (eGRID), eGRID2012

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Emissions & Generation Resource Integrated Database (eGRID) is a comprehensive source of data on the environmental characteristics of almost all electric power generated in the United States. These environmental characteristics include air emissions for nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide; emissions rates; net generation; resource mix; and many other attributes. eGRID2012 Version 1.0 is the eighth edition of eGRID, which contains the complete release of year 2009 data, as well as year 2007, 2005, and 2004 data. For year 2009 data, all the data are contained in a single Microsoft Excel workbook, which contains boiler, generator, plant, state, power control area, eGRID subregion, NERC region, U.S. total and grid gross loss factor tabs. Full documentation, summary data, eGRID subregion and NERC region representational maps, and GHG emission factors are also released in this edition. The fourth edition of eGRID, eGRID2002 Version 2.01, containing year 1996 through 2000 data is located on the eGRID Archive page (http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-resources/egrid/archive.html). The current edition of eGRID and the archived edition of eGRID contain the following years of data: 1996 - 2000, 2004, 2005, and 2007. eGRID has no other years of data.

Evaluation of a Gas Chromatograph-Differential Mobility Spectrometer for Potential Water Monitoring on the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wallace, William T.; Limero, Thomas F.; Gazda, Daniel B.; Macatangay, Ariel V.; Dwivedi, Prabha; Fernandez, Facundo M.

2015-01-01

Environmental monitoring for manned spaceflight has long depended on archival sampling, which was sufficient for short missions. However, the longer mission durations aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have shown that enhanced, real-time monitoring capabilities are necessary in order to protect both the crewmembers and the spacecraft systems. Over the past several years, a number of real-time environmental monitors have been deployed on the ISS. Currently, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the station air are monitored by the Air Quality Monitor (AQM), a small, lightweight gas chromatograph-differential mobility spectrometer. For water monitoring, real-time monitors are used for total organic carbon (TOC) and biocide analysis. No information on the actual makeup of the TOC is provided presently, however. An improvement to the current state of environmental monitoring could be realized by modifying a single instrument to analyze both air and water. As the AQM currently provides quantitative, compound-specific information for VOCs in air samples, this instrument provides a logical starting point to evaluate the feasibility of this approach. The major hurdle for this effort lies in the liberation of the target analytes from the water matrix. In this presentation, we will discuss our recent studies, in which an electro-thermal vaporization unit has been interfaced with the AQM to analyze target VOCs at the concentrations at which they are routinely detected in archival water samples from the ISS. We will compare the results of these studies with those obtained from the instrumentation routinely used to analyze archival water samples.

Looking back - Looking forward: A novel multi-time slice weight-of-evidence approach for defining reference conditions to assess the impact of human activities on lake systems.

PubMed

Hollert, Henner; Crawford, Sarah E; Brack, Werner; Brinkmann, Markus; Fischer, Elske; Hartmann, Kai; Keiter, Steffen; Ottermanns, Richard; Ouellet, Jacob D; Rinke, Karsten; Rösch, Manfred; Roß-Nickoll, Martina; Schäffer, Andreas; Schüth, Christoph; Schulze, Tobias; Schwarz, Anja; Seiler, Thomas-Benjamin; Wessels, Martin; Hinderer, Matthias; Schwalb, Antje

2018-06-01

Lake ecosystems are sensitive recorders of environmental changes that provide continuous archives at annual to decadal resolution over thousands of years. The systematic investigation of land use changes and emission of pollutants archived in Holocene lake sediments as well as the reconstruction of contamination, background conditions, and sensitivity of lake systems offer an ideal opportunity to study environmental dynamics and consequences of anthropogenic impact that increasingly pose risks to human well-being. This paper discusses the use of sediment and other lines of evidence in providing a record of historical and current contamination in lake ecosystems. We present a novel approach to investigate impacts from human activities using chemical-analytical, bioanalytical, ecological, paleolimnological, paleoecotoxicological, archeological as well as modeling techniques. This multi-time slice weight-of-evidence (WOE) approach will generate knowledge on conditions prior to anthropogenic influence and provide knowledge to (i) create a better understanding of the effects of anthropogenic disturbances on biodiversity, (ii) assess water quality by using quantitative data on historical pollution and persistence of pollutants archived over thousands of years in sediments, and (iii) define environmental threshold values using modeling methods. This technique may be applied in order to gain insights into reference conditions of surface and ground waters in catchments with a long history of land use and human impact, which is still a major need that is currently not yet addressed within the context of the European Water Framework Directive. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An Overview of Ecological Footprinting and Other Tools and Their Application to the Development of Sustainability Process: Audit and Methodology at Holme Lacy College, UK

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dawe, Gerald F. M.; Vetter, Arnie; Martin, Stephen

2004-01-01

A sustainability audit of Holme Lacy College is described. The approach adopted a "triple bottom line" assessment, comprising a number of key steps: a scoping review utilising a revised Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors project appraisal tool; an environmental impact assessment based on ecological footprinting and a social and…

Biocatalysis engineering: the big picture.

PubMed

Sheldon, Roger A; Pereira, Pedro C

2017-05-22

In this tutorial review we describe a holistic approach to the invention, development and optimisation of biotransformations utilising isolated enzymes. Increasing attention to applied biocatalysis is motivated by its numerous economic and environmental benefits. Biocatalysis engineering concerns the development of enzymatic systems as a whole, which entails engineering its different components: substrate engineering, medium engineering, protein (enzyme) engineering, biocatalyst (formulation) engineering, biocatalytic cascade engineering and reactor engineering.

A catalog of social surveys of residents' reactions to environmental noise, 1943 - 1980

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fields, J. M.

1981-01-01

Two hundred social surveys of people's responses to environmental noise in residential areas are briefly described. The surveys are indexed by country, noise source and date of survey. The publications and reports about each survey are listed in a bibliography. Recent English translations of 14 publications are listed separately. Nineteen surveys are listed which are available for secondary analysis from a data archive.

The McIntosh Archive: A solar feature database spanning four solar cycles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gibson, S. E.; Malanushenko, A. V.; Hewins, I.; McFadden, R.; Emery, B.; Webb, D. F.; Denig, W. F.

2016-12-01

The McIntosh Archive consists of a set of hand-drawn solar Carrington maps created by Patrick McIntosh from 1964 to 2009. McIntosh used mainly H-alpha, He-1 10830 and photospheric magnetic measurements from both ground-based and NASA satellite observations. With these he traced coronal holes, polarity inversion lines, filaments, sunspots and plage, yielding a unique 45-year record of the features associated with the large-scale solar magnetic field. We will present the results of recent efforts to preserve and digitize this archive. Most of the original hand-drawn maps have been scanned, a method for processing these scans into digital, searchable format has been developed and streamlined, and an archival repository at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) has been created. We will demonstrate how Solar Cycle 23 data may now be accessed and how it may be utilized for scientific applications. In addition, we will discuss how this database of human-recognized features, which overlaps with the onset of high-resolution, continuous modern solar data, may act as a training set for computer feature recognition algorithms.

NASDA's earth observation satellite data archive policy for the earth observation data and information system (EOIS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sobue, Shin-ichi; Yoshida, Fumiyoshi; Ochiai, Osamu

1996-01-01

NASDA's new Advanced Earth Observing Satellite (ADEOS) is scheduled for launch in August, 1996. ADEOS carries 8 sensors to observe earth environmental phenomena and sends their data to NASDA, NASA, and other foreign ground stations around the world. The downlink data bit rate for ADEOS is 126 MB/s and the total volume of data is about 100 GB per day. To archive and manage such a large quantity of data with high reliability and easy accessibility it was necessary to develop a new mass storage system with a catalogue information database using advanced database management technology. The data will be archived and maintained in the Master Data Storage Subsystem (MDSS) which is one subsystem in NASDA's new Earth Observation data and Information System (EOIS). The MDSS is based on a SONY ID1 digital tape robotics system. This paper provides an overview of the EOIS system, with a focus on the Master Data Storage Subsystem and the NASDA Earth Observation Center (EOC) archive policy for earth observation satellite data.

A program to support the full utilization of data from existing social surveys of environmental noise

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fields, J. M.

1980-01-01

A brief review is presented of a three-part project (partially supported by NASA), which promotes greater utilization of social survey data for gaining new information about human response to environmental noise. The goal is accomplished by (1) publishing a catalog of existing social surveys on environmental noise, (2) establishing a data archive for noise survey data sets, and (3) reanalyzing selected surveys to address substantial and methodological issues. A finding about annoyance scales illustrates the use of a comparative analysis.

THE NEVADA GEOSPATIAL DATA BROWSER

EPA Science Inventory

The Landscape Ecology Branch of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Las Vegas, NV) has developed the Nevada Geospatial Data Browser, a spatial data archive to centralize and distribute the geospatial data used to create the land cover, vertebrate habitat models, and land o...

46 CFR 147.7 - Incorporation by reference.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) DANGEROUS CARGOES HAZARDOUS SHIPS' STORES... approved material is available for inspection at the Coast Guard, Office of Operating and Environmental... sources listed below. It is also available for inspection at the National Archives and Records...

Asthma-Like Symptoms in Homeless Children in the Greater Paris Area in 2013: Prevalence, Associated Factors and Utilization of Healthcare Services in the ENFAMS Survey.

PubMed

Lefeuvre, Delphine; Delmas, Marie-Christine; Marguet, Christophe; Chauvin, Pierre; Vandentorren, Stéphanie

2016-01-01

Asthma remains poorly studied in homeless children. We sought to estimate the prevalence of asthma-like symptoms (ALS) and to identify the factors associated with ALS and healthcare service utilisation. A cross-sectional survey of a random sample of sheltered homeless families was conducted by interviewing 801 parents of children (0-12 years) in 17 languages. ALS were defined as wheezing or night cough without fever during the previous year. Poisson regression models with robust error variance were used to compute prevalence ratios (PR) for factors associated with ALS and healthcare service utilisation for ALS. The prevalence of ALS among the children was 19.9%. Poor housing sanitation was significantly associated with ALS, as being born in the European Union. Most of the children with ALS had used healthcare services (85.4%). The main barriers to accessing such services were having lived in France for less than 49 months, having difficulties in French and living in poor housing conditions. ALS prevalence seemed lower than in the general child population, possibly because of the children's origins. Environmental factors associated with ALS point to the need to improve the indoor environment of family shelters. The relatively high rate of healthcare service utilisation should not overshadow existing barriers.

Recent Advances in Developing Insect Natural Products as Potential Modern Day Medicines

PubMed Central

Ratcliffe, Norman; Azambuja, Patricia; Mello, Cicero Brasileiro

2014-01-01

Except for honey as food, and silk for clothing and pollination of plants, people give little thought to the benefits of insects in their lives. This overview briefly describes significant recent advances in developing insect natural products as potential new medicinal drugs. This is an exciting and rapidly expanding new field since insects are hugely variable and have utilised an enormous range of natural products to survive environmental perturbations for 100s of millions of years. There is thus a treasure chest of untapped resources waiting to be discovered. Insects products, such as silk and honey, have already been utilised for thousands of years, and extracts of insects have been produced for use in Folk Medicine around the world, but only with the development of modern molecular and biochemical techniques has it become feasible to manipulate and bioengineer insect natural products into modern medicines. Utilising knowledge gleaned from Insect Folk Medicines, this review describes modern research into bioengineering honey and venom from bees, silk, cantharidin, antimicrobial peptides, and maggot secretions and anticoagulants from blood-sucking insects into medicines. Problems and solutions encountered in these endeavours are described and indicate that the future is bright for new insect derived pharmaceuticals treatments and medicines. PMID:24883072

Interrogating trees as archives of sulphur deposition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wynn, P. M.; Loader, N. J.; Fairchild, I. J.

2012-04-01

A principal driver of climatic variability over the past 1,000 years and essential forcing mechanism for climate, are the changes in atmospheric composition resulting from sulphur aerosols. Natural and anthropogenic aerosols released into the atmosphere disrupt the radiative balance through backscattering and absorption of incoming solar radiation and increase cloud albedo by acting as condensation nuclei. Understanding the impact of sulphur emissions upon climate beyond the last few hundred years however is not straightforward and natural archives of environmental information must be explored. Tree-rings represent one such archive as they are widely distributed and preserve environmental information within a precisely dateable, annually resolved timescale. Until recently the sulphur contained within tree-rings has largely remained beyond the reach of environmental scientists and climate modelers owing to difficulties associated with the extraction of a robust signal and uncertainties regarding post-depositional mobility. Our recent work using synchrotron radiation has established that the majority of non-labile sulphur in two conifer species is preserved within the cellular structure of the woody tissue after uptake and demonstrates an increasing trend in sulphur concentration during the 20th century and during known volcanic events. Due to the clear isotopic distinction between marine (+21), geological (+10 to +30), atmospheric pollution (-3 to +9 ) and volcanic sources of sulphur (0 to +5), isotopic ratios provide a diagnostic tool with which changes in the source of atmospheric sulphur can be detected in a more reliable fashion than concentration alone. Sulphur isotopes should thereby provide a fingerprint of short lived events including volcanic activity when extracted at high resolution and in conjunction with high resolution S concentrations defining the event. Here we present methodologies associated with extracting the sulphur isotopic signal from tree-rings using both elemental analyser isotope ratio mass spectrometry and ion probe technology. Preliminary data indicate success at extracting the sulphur isotopic signal from woody tissues at 2-3 year resolution. In conjunction with analytical developments in ion probe technology, high resolution records of localised sulphur forcing from tree-ring archives, including volcanic activity, no longer seem too far beyond the reach of climate scientists.

KC-46 team wins DOD environmental award > U.S. Air Force > Article Display

Science.gov Websites

Speeches Archive Former AF Top 3 Viewpoints and Speeches Air Force Warrior Games 2017 Events 2018 Air Force Strategic Documents Desert Storm 25th Anniversary Observances DoD Warrior Games Portraits in Courage

DEVELOPMENT OF A DNA ARCHIVE FOR GENETIC MONITORING OF FISH POPULATIONS

EPA Science Inventory

Analysis of intraspecific genetic diversity provides a potentially powerful tool to estimate the impacts of environmental stressors on populations. Genetic responses of populations to novel stressors include dramatic shifts in genotype frequencies at loci under selection (i.e. ad...

On the hunt for the gene of perspective taking: pitfalls in methodology.

PubMed

Miklósi, Adám; Topál, József

2011-12-01

In this commentary, we evaluate the methodology of Udell, Dorey, and Wynne's (Learning & Behavior, in press) experiment in controlling for environmental factors and argue that their conclusion is not supported. In particular, we emphasise that comparative studies on dogs and wolves need to ensure that both species enjoyed the same rearing history, are comparable in age, and have the same experience with the testing conditions. We also argue that the utilisation of shelter dogs does not control for genetic effects on social behaviour. Finally, we propose a synergetic model to account for both genetic and environmental effects on interspecific social behaviour in dogs and wolves.

Optimisation in the Design of Environmental Sensor Networks with Robustness Consideration

PubMed Central

Budi, Setia; de Souza, Paulo; Timms, Greg; Malhotra, Vishv; Turner, Paul

2015-01-01

This work proposes the design of Environmental Sensor Networks (ESN) through balancing robustness and redundancy. An Evolutionary Algorithm (EA) is employed to find the optimal placement of sensor nodes in the Region of Interest (RoI). Data quality issues are introduced to simulate their impact on the performance of the ESN. Spatial Regression Test (SRT) is also utilised to promote robustness in data quality of the designed ESN. The proposed method provides high network representativeness (fit for purpose) with minimum sensor redundancy (cost), and ensures robustness by enabling the network to continue to achieve its objectives when some sensors fail. PMID:26633392

Life cycle assessment of pig slurry treatment technologies for nutrient redistribution in Denmark.

PubMed

ten Hoeve, Marieke; Hutchings, Nicholas J; Peters, Gregory M; Svanström, Magdalena; Jensen, Lars S; Bruun, Sander

2014-01-01

Animal slurry management is associated with a range of impacts on fossil resource use and the environment. The impacts are greatest when large amounts of nutrient-rich slurry from livestock production cannot be adequately utilised on adjacent land. To facilitate nutrient redistribution, a range of different technologies are available. This study comprised a life cycle assessment of the environmental impacts from handling 1000 kg of pig slurry ex-animal. Application of untreated pig slurry onto adjacent land was compared with using four different treatment technologies to enable nutrient redistribution before land application: (a) separation by mechanical screw press, (b) screw press separation with composting of the solid fraction, (c) separation by decanter centrifuge, and (d) decanter centrifuge separation with ammonia stripping of the liquid fraction. Emissions were determined based on a combination of values derived from the literature and simulations with the Farm-N model for Danish agricultural and climatic conditions. The environmental impact categories assessed were climate change, freshwater eutrophication, marine eutrophication, terrestrial acidification, natural resource use, and soil carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus storage. In all separation scenarios, the liquid fraction was applied to land on the pig-producing (donor) farm and the solid fraction transported to a recipient farm and utilised for crop production. Separation, especially by centrifuge, was found to result in a lower environmental impact potential than application of untreated slurry to adjacent land. Composting and ammonia stripping either slightly increased or slightly decreased the environmental impact potential, depending on the impact category considered. The relative ranking of scenarios did not change after a sensitivity analysis in which coefficients for field emissions of nitrous oxide, ammonia and phosphorus were varied within the range cited in the literature. Therefore, the best technology to implement in a given situation depends on the environmental problem in question, local policy, cost and practicality. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ancient limpet shells as paleo-environmental and ethno-archaeological archives: the case of Beniguet Island's shell middens (Iroise Sea)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cudennec, Jean-François; Stephan, Pierre; Dupont, Catherine; Pailler, Yvan; Thébault, Julien; Schöne, Bernd; Paulet, Yves-Marie

2017-04-01

During the winter 2013-2014, severe storm events caused a coastal erosion in the southern part of the Beniguet Island (Brittany, France). The associated shoreline retreat had uncovered three layers of shell middens interbedded into an aeolian sand dune deposit. From several radiocarbon dating crossed with the study of ceramic and lithic contents, the shell middens were dated to the Final Neolithic (2400 BC), the Early Bronze Age (2000 BC) and the Early Middle Age (800 AD) respectively. This site offers a unique opportunity to collect two types of information: palaeo-environmental (palaeo-temperature of sea water) and archaeological (determination of harvest season). In this study, we focus on gastropod of the genus Patella which represent 90% of the remains found in this midden. This organism is potentially a highly valuable archive for these environments because they are intertidal and relatively sedentary. We studied the growth rings in the outer calcitic layer of individual limpet shells from the Neolithic, Early Bronze Age and Present Day populations. We report here the results of δ18O analyses. We found a similarity between the reconstructed palaeo-temperature in the Neolithic and the Present periods (between 13 and 14°C in summer and about 8 - 9°C in winter). However, palaeo-temperatures of the Early Bronze Age shells are significantly lower in winter (5 - 6 °C). Moreover, the initial results of the δ18O analyses at the margin of these shells showed that they were harvested during a specific season (end of spring or early summer). Additional work will be done to address questions about shell growth dynamics of these species. These results confirm the interest of using ancient limpet shells as palaeo-environmental and archaeological archives.

How to Get Data from NOAA Environmental Satellites: An Overview of Operations, Products, Access and Archive

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Donoho, N.; Graumann, A.; McNamara, D. P.

2015-12-01

In this presentation we will highlight access and availability of NOAA satellite data for near real time (NRT) and retrospective product users. The presentation includes an overview of the current fleet of NOAA satellites and methods of data distribution and access to hundreds of imagery and products offered by the Environmental Satellite Processing Center (ESPC) and the Comprehensive Large Array-data Stewardship System (CLASS). In particular, emphasis on the various levels of services for current and past observations will be presented. The National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) is dedicated to providing timely access to global environmental data from satellites and other sources. In special cases, users are authorized direct access to NESDIS data distribution systems for environmental satellite data and products. Other means of access include publicly available distribution services such as the Global Telecommunication System (GTS), NOAA satellite direct broadcast services and various NOAA websites and ftp servers, including CLASS. CLASS is NOAA's information technology system designed to support long-term, secure preservation and standards-based access to environmental data collections and information. The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) is responsible for the ingest, quality control, stewardship, archival and access to data and science information. This work will also show the latest technology improvements, enterprise approach and future plans for distribution of exponentially increasing data volumes from future NOAA missions. A primer on access to NOAA operational satellite products and services is available at http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/Organization/About/access.html. Access to post-operational satellite data and assorted products is available at http://www.class.noaa.gov

The Story Behind the Numbers: Lessons Learned from the Integration of Monitoring Resources in Addressing an ISS Water Quality Anomaly

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McCoy, Torin; Flint, Stephanie; Straub, John, II; Gazda, Dan; Schultz, John

2011-01-01

Beginning in June of 2010 an environmental mystery was unfolding on the International Space Station (ISS). The U.S. Water Processor Assembly (WPA) began to produce water with increasing levels of total organic carbon (TOC). A surprisingly consistent upward TOC trend was observed through weekly in-flight total organic carbon analyzer (TOCA) monitoring. As TOC is a general organics indicator, return of water archive samples was needed to make better-informed crew health decisions and to aid in WPA troubleshooting. TOCA-measured TOC was more than halfway to its health-based screening limit before archive samples could be returned on Soyuz 22 and analyzed. Although TOC was confirmed to be elevated, somewhat surprisingly, none of the typical target compounds were the source. After some solid detective work, it was confirmed that the TOC was associated with a compound known as dimethylsilanediol (DMSD). DMSD is believed to be a breakdown product of silicon-containing compounds present on ISS. A toxicological limit was set for DMSD and a forward plan developed for operations given this new understanding of the source of the TOC. This required extensive coordination with ISS stakeholders and innovative use of available in-flight and archive monitoring resources. Behind the numbers and scientific detail surrounding this anomaly, there exists a compelling story of multi-disciplinary awareness, teamwork, and important environmental lessons learned.

Monitoring floods and fires during the summer of 2011--The value of the Landsat satellite 40-year archives

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jonescheit, Linda

2012-01-01

The summer of 2011 proved to be a season of extreme events. Heavy snowfall in the western mountains and excessive spring rains caused flooding along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers; whereas extended dry conditions enabled fires to rage out of control from Alaska and Canada, south to Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Georgia, and Mexico. The Landsat archive holds nearly 40 years of continuous global earth observation data. Landsat data are used by emergency responders to monitor change and damage caused by natural and man-made disasters. Decision makers rely on Landsat as they create plans for future environmental concerns.

Obliquity-paced climate change recorded in Antarctic debris-covered glaciers

PubMed Central

Mackay, Sean L.; Marchant, David R.

2017-01-01

The degree to which debris-covered glaciers record past environmental conditions is debated. Here we describe a novel palaeoclimate archive derived from the surface morphology and internal debris within cold-based debris-covered glaciers in Antarctica. Results show that subtle changes in mass balance impart major changes in the concentration of englacial debris and corresponding surface topography, and that over the past ∼220 ka, at least, the changes are related to obliquity-paced solar radiation, manifest as variations in total summer energy. Our findings emphasize solar radiation as a significant driver of mass balance changes in high-latitude mountain systems, and demonstrate that debris-covered glaciers are among the most sensitive recorders of obliquity-paced climate variability in interior Antarctica, in contrast to most other Antarctic archives that favour eccentricity-paced forcing over the same time period. Furthermore, our results open the possibility that similar-appearing debris-covered glaciers on Mars may likewise hold clues to environmental change. PMID:28186094

An updated catalog of 318 social surveys of residents' reactions to environmental noise (1943-1989)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fields, James M.

1991-01-01

All social surveys of residents' reactions to environmental noise in residential areas which were described in English language publications from 1943 to 1989 are identified. A total of 318 surveys are described. The surveys are indexed by country, noise source, and data of survey. The publications and reports from each survey are listed in a bibliography. Twenty-four surveys are listed which are available for secondary analysis from a data archive.

Linking two thousand years of European historical records with environmental change recorded in a high Alpine ice core

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bohleber, Pascal; Spaulding, Nicole; Mayewski, Paul; Kurbatov, Andrei; Hoffmann, Helene; Erhardt, Tobias; Fischer, Hubertus; More, Alexander; Loveluck, Christopher; Luongo, Matthew; Kabala, Jakub; McCormick, Michael

2016-04-01

Its extraordinary network of historical and archaeological records makes Europe exceptionally promising for investigating environmental change and human response over the last two thousand years. Among natural proxy archives, ice core records offer a wide range of environmental reconstructions including natural and human source histories of the chemistry of the atmosphere. To link these robust environmental records with historical evidence of past civilizations remains a great challenge, however. In central Europe the unique target for a comparison for environmental change recorded in ice cores and human activity is the small firn saddle of Colle Gnifetti (4550 m above sea level on the Italian-Swiss border). Its exceptionally low net accumulation make Colle Gnifetti (CG) the only feasible site in the Alps for retrieving a long-term ice core record beyond the last century. However, at CG rapid annual layer thinning eventually limits conventional cm-resolution analysis to multi-annual signals and hampers dating by annual layer counting beyond a few hundred years. Thereby, a crucial gap is introduced to the sub-seasonal time scale of events typically recorded in written archives. In our ongoing project we pioneer correlating the CG environmental ice core archive with a unique compilation of European historical records provided through the Harvard Initiative for the Science of the Human Past and the Digital Atlas of Roman and Medieval Civilization. For this purpose, state-of-the-art glacio-chemical analysis was performed on a newly recovered CG ice core, including continuous flow analysis chemistry and stable isotopes. A crucial contribution comes from the application of LA-ICP-MS (laser ablation ion coupled plasma mass spectrometry) to meter long sections of frozen ice samples, developed and operated by the University of Maine's Climate Change Institute, offering glacio-chemical records up to 100 μm in resolution. The new methods significantly improves sampling resolution and allows detection of annual layers even in highly compressed old sections of CG ice cores: A breakthrough not only for extending the ice core dating over the last two millennia but also for bridging the gap in time scales to historical records. Here we present first results from our ongoing efforts in bringing together ice core time series with historical evidence, focusing on the time period from 1 to 1400 C.E. Based on a thorough consideration of the glaciological constraints at CG we explore various ice core proxy signals for their significance to correlate with events recorded in human writing, such as dust storms, volcanic events, climate-induced crop failures and starvation as well as metal production levels. Distinct dust layers are frequently found in CG ice cores, representative for meteorological conditions that transported sand from the Sahara to Europe. At the same time, Saharan dust events were also frequently recorded by ancient and medieval observers as "blood rain". Ultimately we work towards using past extreme climate events from medieval Europe recorded as written evidence to constrain the ice core age scale and, vice versa, to investigate the response of human societies to environmental change recorded in the CG glacier archive.

The challenges of archiving networked-based multimedia performances (Performance cryogenics)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cohen, Elizabeth; Cooperstock, Jeremy; Kyriakakis, Chris

2002-11-01

Music archives and libraries have cultural preservation at the core of their charters. New forms of art often race ahead of the preservation infrastructure. The ability to stream multiple synchronized ultra-low latency streams of audio and video across a continent for a distributed interactive performance such as music and dance with high-definition video and multichannel audio raises a series of challenges for the architects of digital libraries and those responsible for cultural preservation. The archiving of such performances presents numerous challenges that go beyond simply recording each stream. Case studies of storage and subsequent retrieval issues for Internet2 collaborative performances are discussed. The development of shared reality and immersive environments generate issues about, What constitutes an archived performance that occurs across a network (in multiple spaces over time)? What are the families of necessary metadata to reconstruct this virtual world in another venue or era? For example, if the network exhibited changes in latency the performers most likely adapted. In a future recreation, the latency will most likely be completely different. We discuss the parameters of immersive environment acquisition and rendering, network architectures, software architecture, musical/choreographic scores, and environmental acoustics that must be considered to address this problem.

Rnomads: An R Interface with the NOAA Operational Model Archive and Distribution System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bowman, D. C.; Lees, J. M.

2014-12-01

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Operational Model Archive and Distribution System (NOMADS) facilitates rapid delivery of real time and archived environmental data sets from multiple agencies. These data are distributed free to the scientific community, industry, and the public. The rNOMADS package provides an interface between NOMADS and the R programming language. Like R itself, rNOMADS is open source and cross platform. It utilizes server-side functionality on the NOMADS system to subset model outputs for delivery to client R users. There are currently 57 real time and 10 archived models available through rNOMADS. Atmospheric models include the Global Forecast System and North American Mesoscale. Oceanic models include WAVEWATCH III and U. S. Navy Operational Global Ocean Model. rNOMADS has been downloaded 1700 times in the year since it was released. At the time of writing, it is being used for wind and solar power modeling, climate monitoring related to food security concerns, and storm surge/inundation calculations, among others. We introduce this new package and show how it can be used to extract data for infrasonic waveform modeling in the atmosphere.

Comparison of a Fixed-Wing and Multi-Rotor Uav for Environmental Mapping Applications: a Case Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boon, M. A.; Drijfhout, A. P.; Tesfamichael, S.

2017-08-01

The advent and evolution of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and photogrammetric techniques has provided the possibility for on-demand high-resolution environmental mapping. Orthoimages and three dimensional products such as Digital Surface Models (DSMs) are derived from the UAV imagery which is amongst the most important spatial information tools for environmental planning. The two main types of UAVs in the commercial market are fixed-wing and multi-rotor. Both have their advantages and disadvantages including their suitability for certain applications. Fixed-wing UAVs normally have longer flight endurance capabilities while multi-rotors can provide for stable image capturing and easy vertical take-off and landing. Therefore, the objective of this study is to assess the performance of a fixed-wing versus a multi-rotor UAV for environmental mapping applications by conducting a specific case study. The aerial mapping of the Cors-Air model aircraft field which includes a wetland ecosystem was undertaken on the same day with a Skywalker fixed-wing UAV and a Raven X8 multi-rotor UAV equipped with similar sensor specifications (digital RGB camera) under the same weather conditions. We compared the derived datasets by applying the DTMs for basic environmental mapping purposes such as slope and contour mapping including utilising the orthoimages for identification of anthropogenic disturbances. The ground spatial resolution obtained was slightly higher for the multi-rotor probably due to a slower flight speed and more images. The results in terms of the overall precision of the data was noticeably less accurate for the fixed-wing. In contrast, orthoimages derived from the two systems showed small variations. The multi-rotor imagery provided better representation of vegetation although the fixed-wing data was sufficient for the identification of environmental factors such as anthropogenic disturbances. Differences were observed utilising the respective DTMs for the mapping of the wetland slope and contour mapping including the representation of hydrological features within the wetland. Factors such as cost, maintenance and flight time is in favour of the Skywalker fixed-wing. The multi-rotor on the other hand is more favourable in terms of data accuracy including for precision environmental planning purposes although the quality of the data of the fixed-wing is satisfactory for most environmental mapping applications.

Building an archive of Arctic-Boreal animal movements and links to remote sensing data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bohrer, G.; Handler, M.; Davidson, S. C.; Boelman, N.

2017-12-01

Climate is changing in the Arctic and Boreal regions of North America more quickly than anywhere else on the planet. The impact of climate changes on wildlife in the region is difficult to assess, as they occur over decades, while wildlife monitoring programs have been in place for relatively short periods, have used a variety of data collection methods, and are not integrated across studies and governmental agencies. Further, linking wildlife movements to measures of weather and climate is impeded by the challenge of accessing environmental data products and differences in spatiotemporal scale. To analyze the impact of long-term changes in weather and habitat conditions on wildlife movements, we built an archive of avian, predator and ungulate movements throughout the Arctic-Boreal region. The archive is compiled and hosted in Movebank, a free, web-based service for managing animal movement data. Using Movebank allows us to securely manage data within a single database while supporting project-specific terms of use and access rights. By importing the data to the Movebank database, they are converted to a standard data format, reviewed for quality and completeness, and made easily accessible for analysis through the R package 'move'. In addition, the Env-DATA System in Movebank allows easy annotation of these and related time-location records with hundreds of environmental variables provided by global remote sensing and weather data products, including MODIS Land, Snow and Ice products, the ECMWF and NARR weather reanalyses, and others. The ABoVE Animal Movement Archive includes 6.6 million locations of over 3,000 animals collected by 50 programs and studies, contributed by over 25 collaborating institutions, with data extending from 1988 to the present. Organizing the data on Movebank has enabled collaboration and metaanalysis and has also improved their quality and completeness. The ABoVE Animal Movement Archive provides a platform actively used by data contributors and analysts from the ABoVE science team, and offers contributing institutions support in managing newer data and tools for data sharing and analysis beyond the completion of the project, providing significant resources for researchers and wildlife managers in the region.

The Impact of the Built Environment on Young People’s Physical Activity Patterns: A Suburban-Rural Comparison Using GPS

PubMed Central

Collins, Peter; Al-Nakeeb, Yahya; Nevill, Alan; Lyons, Mark

2012-01-01

The built environment in which young people live has a significant influence on their physical activity (PA). However, little is known regarding how youth from suburban and rural settings utilise their surrounding environments to participate in free-living PA. 50 adolescents aged 13–14 years old (22 rural; 28 suburban) wore an integrated GPS and heart rate device during non-school hours and completed a daily PA diary over 7 days. Descriptive statistics and analyses of variance were used to explore differences in the amount and location of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) between genders and youth from different geographical settings. Suburban youth participated in significantly (p = 0.004) more daily PA (52.14 minutes MVPA) and were more extensive in their utilisation of their surroundings, compared to rural youth (26.61 minutes MVPA). Suburban youth visited more public recreational facilities and spent significantly more time outdoors and on local streets (109.71 minutes and 44.62 minutes, respectively) compared to rural youth (55.98 minutes and 17.15 minutes, respectively) during weekdays. Rural youth on average spent significantly more time within the home (350.69 minutes) during weekends compared to suburban youth (214.82 minutes). Rural females were the least active group of adolescents, participating in the least amount of daily PA (20.14 minutes MVPA) and spending the least amount of time outdoors (31.37 minutes) during weekdays. Time spent outdoors was positively associated with PA. The findings highlight the disparity in PA levels and the utilisation of the surrounding built environment between youth from two different geographical settings and possible environmental causes are discussed. The study supports the use of GPS (combined with other methods) in investigating geographical differences in young people’s PA and movement patterns. This method provides a wealth of information that may assist future policies and interventions in identifying environmental characteristics that promote PA in youth from different geographical settings. PMID:23202669

The impact of the built environment on young people's physical activity patterns: a suburban-rural comparison using GPS.

PubMed

Collins, Peter; Al-Nakeeb, Yahya; Nevill, Alan; Lyons, Mark

2012-08-24

The built environment in which young people live has a significant influence on their physical activity (PA). However, little is known regarding how youth from suburban and rural settings utilise their surrounding environments to participate in free-living PA. 50 adolescents aged 13-14 years old (22 rural; 28 suburban) wore an integrated GPS and heart rate device during non-school hours and completed a daily PA diary over 7 days. Descriptive statistics and analyses of variance were used to explore differences in the amount and location of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) between genders and youth from different geographical settings. Suburban youth participated in significantly (p = 0.004) more daily PA (52.14 minutes MVPA) and were more extensive in their utilisation of their surroundings, compared to rural youth (26.61 minutes MVPA). Suburban youth visited more public recreational facilities and spent significantly more time outdoors and on local streets (109.71 minutes and 44.62 minutes, respectively) compared to rural youth (55.98 minutes and 17.15 minutes, respectively) during weekdays. Rural youth on average spent significantly more time within the home (350.69 minutes) during weekends compared to suburban youth (214.82 minutes). Rural females were the least active group of adolescents, participating in the least amount of daily PA (20.14 minutes MVPA) and spending the least amount of time outdoors (31.37 minutes) during weekdays. Time spent outdoors was positively associated with PA. The findings highlight the disparity in PA levels and the utilisation of the surrounding built environment between youth from two different geographical settings and possible environmental causes are discussed. The study supports the use of GPS (combined with other methods) in investigating geographical differences in young people's PA and movement patterns. This method provides a wealth of information that may assist future policies and interventions in identifying environmental characteristics that promote PA in youth from different geographical settings.

Glossary | STORET Legacy Data Center | US EPA

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

2014-06-06

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains two data management systems containing water quality information for the nation's waters: the Legacy Data Center (LDC), and STORET. The LDC is a static, archived database and STORET is an operational system actively being populated with water quality data.

THE SAN PEDRO RIVER SPATIAL DATA ARCHIVE, A DATABASE BROWSER FOR COMMUNITY-BASED ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

EPA Science Inventory

It is currently possible to measure landscape change over large areas and determine trends in ecological and hydrological condition using advanced space-based technologies accompanied by geospatial data. Specifically, this process is being tested in a community-based watershed in...

THE SAN PEDRO SPATIAL DATA ARCHIVE, A DATABASE BROWSER FOR COMMUNITY-BASED ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

EPA Science Inventory

It is currently possible to measure landscape change over large areas and determine trends in ecological and hydrological condition using advanced space-based technologies accompanied by geospatial data. Specifically, this process is being tested in a community-based watershed in...

Living History: Elsworth R. Buskirk

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tipton, Charles M.

2009-01-01

In 2005, the American Physiological Society (APS) initiated the Living History of Physiology Archival Program to recognize senior members who have made significant contributions during their career to the advancement of the discipline and the profession of physiology. Subsequently, the leadership of the APS Section of Environmental and Exercise…

Changes in stable isotope composition in Lake Michigan trout - a 40 year perspective

EPA Science Inventory

Researchers have frequently sought to use environmental archives of sediment, peat and glacial ice to try and assess historical trends in atmospheric mercury (Hg) deposition to aquatic ecosystems. While this information is valuable in the context of identifying temporal source tr...

Organizations - I | STORET Legacy Data Center | US EPA

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

2007-05-16

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains two data management systems containing water quality information for the nation's waters: the Legacy Data Center (LDC), and STORET. The LDC is a static, archived database and STORET is an operational system actively being populated with water quality data.

15 CFR 960.11 - Conditions for operation.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... ENVIRONMENTAL DATA SERVICE LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS Licenses § 960.11 Conditions for... all facilities which comprise the remote sensing space system for the purpose of conducting license... possession, the licensee shall offer such data to the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive at...

Glossary | STORET Legacy Data Center | US EPA

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

2011-02-14

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains two data management systems containing water quality information for the nation's waters: the Legacy Data Center (LDC), and STORET. The LDC is a static, archived database and STORET is an operational system actively being populated with water quality data.

Contacts | STORET Legacy Data Center | US EPA

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

2007-05-16

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains two data management systems containing water quality information for the nation's waters: the Legacy Data Center (LDC), and STORET. The LDC is a static, archived database and STORET is an operational system actively being populated with water quality data.

A qualitative study of the role of dental therapy in New Zealand.

PubMed

Tane, Helen R

2009-09-01

To investigate the role of the dental therapy profession in New Zealand, identifying the foundation of the profession, and the influences that have shaped its role. Qualitative study incorporating transcripts from oral archives, national questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews with key people of influence among the oral health professions. A selection of data was ordered into a written sequence and presented, to demonstrate key influencing factors in the introduction, training and work of New Zealand's dental nurses. Education for the dental therapy profession was preceded by the school dental nurse vocation and, despite the intention for the dental nurse's role to be one of 'forestalling disease' and 'prevention', the eventual role was very different. The study provides evidence of the valuable role of Dental Therapy in New Zealand's public health sector, but whether the role has been utilised most effectively is questionable, particularly when considering the original objectives that were given when the School Dental Nurse concept was first introduced.

The definitive analysis of the Bendandi's methodology performed with a specific software

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ballabene, Adriano; Pescerelli Lagorio, Paola; Georgiadis, Teodoro

2015-04-01

The presentation aims to clarify the "Method Bendandi" supposed, in the past, to be able to forecast earthquakes and never let expressly resolved by the geophysicist from Faenza to posterity. The geoethics implications of the Bendandi's forecasts, and those that arise around the speculation of possible earthquakes inferred from suppositories "Bendandiane" methodologies, rose up in previous years caused by social alarms during supposed occurrences of earthquakes which never happened but where widely spread by media following some 'well informed' non conventional scientists. The analysis was conducted through an extensive literature search of the archive 'Raffaele Bendandi' at Geophy sical Observatory of Faenza and the forecasts analyzed utilising a specially developed software, called "Bendandiano Dashboard", that can reproduce the planetary configurations reported in the graphs made by Italian geophysicist. This analysis should serve to clarify 'definitively' what are the basis of the Bendandi's calculations as well as to prevent future unwarranted warnings issued on the basis of supposed prophecies and illusory legacy documents.

High-resolution satellite imagery for mesoscale meteorological studies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, David B.; Flament, Pierre; Bernstein, Robert L.

1994-01-01

In this article high-resolution satellite imagery from a variety of meteorological and environmental satellites is compared. Digital datasets from Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), Landsat, and Satellite Pour l'Observation de la Terre (SPOT) satellites were archived as part of the 1990 Hawaiian Rainband Project (HaRP) and form the basis of the comparisons. During HaRP, GOES geostationary satellite coverage was marginal, so the main emphasis is on the polar-orbiting satellites.

Warfighter Physiological and Environmental Monitoring: A Study for the U.S. Army Research Institute in Environmental Medicine and the Soldier Systems Center

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-11-01

peripheral devices , such as a heart- rate monitor, oximeter, etc., over a wireless link. Interfacing to peripheral sensors requires installation of... devices are powered from wall outlets. However, for networks comprising mobile devices , and in particular for a PAN comprising body-worn sensors ...SpO2) cost in excess of $25K per system 2. Size, weight, and power – Excluding the sensors , the mobile components (comm link and data archiving

Utilisation of rheumatology care services in Germany: the case of physical therapy and self-help groups.

PubMed

Thieme, Holm; Borgetto, Bernhard

2012-01-01

Physical Therapy (PT) and self-help groups (SHG) are important components of health care in rheumatic diseases. The utilisation of PT and SHG by patients with rheumatic diseases may be influenced by several factors. The aim of this study is to summarize the evidence on PT and SHG utilisation of patients with rheumatic diseases in Germany. We systematically searched the MEDLINE-database for studies that evaluated the utilisation and factors that possibly influence the utilisation of PT and SHG. Eight studies were found for PT-utilisation and one for SHG-utilisation. Between 25 and 59 percent of patients with rheumatic diseases received PT services. Several individual and contextual factors that may influence the utilisation could be identified. In conclusion, evidence exists for wide variations in the utilisation of PT services and an underuse of such services among patients with rheumatic diseases in Germany. By contrast, little evidence exists on the utilisation of SHG.

40 CFR 1068.35 - What symbols, acronyms, and abbreviations does this part use?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 32 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false What symbols, acronyms, and abbreviations does this part use? 1068.35 Section 1068.35 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION... per cylinder. NARANational Archives and Records Administration. NOXOxides of nitrogen. SAESociety of...

15 CFR 960.8 - Notification of foreign agreements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... THE ENVIRONMENTAL DATA SERVICE LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS Licenses § 960.8... Secretary; (2) The obligations of the licensee to provide access to data for the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive; and (3) The obligations of the licensee to convey to the foreign party the...

15 CFR 960.8 - Notification of foreign agreements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... THE ENVIRONMENTAL DATA SERVICE LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS Licenses § 960.8... Secretary; (2) The obligations of the licensee to provide access to data for the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive; and (3) The obligations of the licensee to convey to the foreign party the...

15 CFR 960.8 - Notification of foreign agreements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... THE ENVIRONMENTAL DATA SERVICE LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS Licenses § 960.8... Secretary; (2) The obligations of the licensee to provide access to data for the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive; and (3) The obligations of the licensee to convey to the foreign party the...

15 CFR 960.8 - Notification of foreign agreements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... THE ENVIRONMENTAL DATA SERVICE LICENSING OF PRIVATE REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS Licenses § 960.8... Secretary; (2) The obligations of the licensee to provide access to data for the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive; and (3) The obligations of the licensee to convey to the foreign party the...

A Crew Exposure Study. Volume I. Offshore.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-03-15

in Percutaneous Penetra- tion in Man - Pesticides ," Archives of Environmental Health, Vol. 23, pp 208-211, 1971. 20. Bartek, M. J., et al., "Skin...OTO FI RCABNEISOS UT iA- 0 - . . -- • G. DISCHARGING OF HAZARDOUS WASTES FROM PLATFORMS 1. Middleditch, Brian S., Basile , Brenda, and Chang, Evelyn S

NATIONAL HEALTH & ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS RESEARCH LABORATORY BEGINS IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ELECTRONIC SCIENTIFIC DATA MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

EPA Science Inventory

Data and records management have changed greatly as a result of progress in computer technology, but many organizations, including the US EPA's National Records Management Program (NRMP) and the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), still struggle to escape th...

Legacy STORET Level 5 | STORET Legacy Data Center | US ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

2007-05-16

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains two data management systems containing water quality information for the nation's waters: the Legacy Data Center (LDC), and STORET. The LDC is a static, archived database and STORET is an operational system actively being populated with water quality data.

40 CFR 160.190 - Storage and retrieval of records and data.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... retained. (b) There shall be archives for orderly storage and expedient retrieval of all raw data... 40 Protection of Environment 24 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Storage and retrieval of records and data. 160.190 Section 160.190 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED...

40 CFR 160.190 - Storage and retrieval of records and data.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... retained. (b) There shall be archives for orderly storage and expedient retrieval of all raw data... 40 Protection of Environment 25 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Storage and retrieval of records and data. 160.190 Section 160.190 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED...

40 CFR 160.190 - Storage and retrieval of records and data.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... retained. (b) There shall be archives for orderly storage and expedient retrieval of all raw data... 40 Protection of Environment 25 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Storage and retrieval of records and data. 160.190 Section 160.190 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED...

40 CFR 160.190 - Storage and retrieval of records and data.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... retained. (b) There shall be archives for orderly storage and expedient retrieval of all raw data... 40 Protection of Environment 24 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Storage and retrieval of records and data. 160.190 Section 160.190 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED...

PRECISION OF ATMOSPHERIC DRY DEPOSITION DATA FROM THE CLEAN AIR STATUS AND TRENDS NETWORK (CASTNET)

EPA Science Inventory

A collocated, dry deposition sampling program was begun in January 1987 by the US Environmental Protection Agency to provide ongoing estimates of the overall precision of dry deposition and supporting data entering the Clean Air Status and Trends Network (CASTNet) archives Duplic...

Spain's greatest and most recent mine disaster.

PubMed

Guerrero, Flor Ma; Lozano, Macarena; Rueda-Cantuche, José M

2008-03-01

On 25 April 1998, the mineral waste retaining wall at the Swedish-owned pyrite mine at Aznalcóllar (Seville, Spain) burst, causing the most harmful environmental and socio-economic disaster in the history of the River Guadiamar basin. The damage was so great that the regional government decided in May 1998 to finance a comprehensive, multidisciplinary research initiative with the objective of eradicating or at least minimising all of the negative social, economic and environmental impacts. This paper utilises a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis to identify eight strategic measures aimed at providing policymakers with key guidelines on implementing a sustainable development model, in a broad sense. Empirical evidence, though, reveals that, to date, major efforts to tackle the negative impacts have centred on environmental concerns and that the socio-economic consequences have not been completely mitigated.

BIOME: A scientific data archive search-and-order system using browser-aware, dynamic pages.

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

Jennings, S.V.; Yow, T.G.; Ng, V.W.

1997-08-01

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory`s (ORNL) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) is a data archive and distribution center for the National Air and Space Administration`s (NASA) Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS). Both the Earth Observing System (EOS) and EOSDIS are components of NASA`s contribution to the US Global Change Research Program through its Mission to Planet Earth Program. The ORNL DAAC provides access to data used in ecological and environmental research such as global change, global warming, and terrestrial ecology. Because of its large and diverse data holdings, the challenge for the ORNL DAAC is to helpmore » users find data of interest from the hundreds of thousands of files available at the DAAC without overwhelming them. Therefore, the ORNL DAAC has developed the Biogeochemical Information Ordering Management Environment (BIOME), a customized search and order system for the World Wide Web (WWW). BIOME is a public system located at http://www-eosdis.ornl.gov/BIOME/biome.html.« less

BIOME: A scientific data archive search-and-order system using browser-aware, dynamic pages

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jennings, S. V.; Yow, T. G.; Ng, V. W.

1997-01-01

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory's (ORNL) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) is a data archive and distribution center for the National Air and Space Administration's (NASA) Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS). Both the Earth Observing System (EOS) and EOSDIS are components of NASA's contribution to the US Global Change Research Program through its Mission to Planet Earth Program. The ORNL DAAC provides access to data used in ecological and environmental research such as global change, global warming, and terrestrial ecology. Because of its large and diverse data holdings, the challenge for the ORNL DAAC is to help users find data of interest from the hundreds of thousands of files available at the DAAC without overwhelming them. Therefore, the ORNL DAAC has developed the Biogeochemical Information Ordering Management Environment (BIOME), a customized search and order system for the World Wide Web (WWW). BIOME is a public system located at http://www-eosdis. ornl.gov/BIOME/biome.html.

Towards zero industrial waste: Utilisation of brick dust waste in sustainable construction.

PubMed

Kinuthia, J M; Nidzam, R M

2011-08-01

Laboratory investigations were carried out to establish the potential utilisation of brick dust (BD) in construction. The dust is a waste material from the cutting of fired clay bricks. Currently, the disposal of the dust is a problem to the brick fabrication company, and hence an environmental pollution concern. The dust was stabilised either used on its own or in combination with Pulverised Fuel Ash (PFA), a by-product material from coal combustion. The traditional stabilisers of lime and/or Portland Cement (PC) were used as controls. The main aim was to use a sustainable stabiliser material, where these stabilisers were partially replaced with Ground Granulated Blastfurnace Slag (GGBS), a by-product material from steel manufacture. Compacted cylinder test specimens were made at typical stabiliser contents and moist cured for up to 56 days prior to testing for compressive and California Bearing Ratio (CBR) strength tests, and to linear expansion during moist curing and subsequent soaking in water. The results obtained showed that partial substitution of the dust with PFA resulted in stronger material compared to using it on its own. The blended stabilisers achieved better performance. These results suggest technological, economic as well as environmental advantages of using the brick dust and similar industrial by-products to achieve sustainable infrastructure development with near zero industrial waste. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Evaluation of Methicillin Resistance in Staphylococcus aboard the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ott, C. M.; Bassinger, V. J.; Fontenot, S. L.; Castro, V. A.; Pierson, D. L.

2005-01-01

The International Space Station (ISS) represents a semi-closed environment with a high level of crewmember interaction. As community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has emerged as a health concern in environments with susceptible hosts in close proximity, an evaluation of isolates of clinical and environmental Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase negative Staphylococcus was performed to determine if this trend was also present in astronauts aboard ISS or the space station itself. Rep-PCR fingerprinting analysis of archived ISS isolates confirmed our earlier studies indicating a transfer of S. aureus between crewmembers. In addition, this fingerprinting also indicated a transfer between crewmembers and their environment. While a variety of S. aureus were identified from both the crewmembers and the environment, phenotypic evaluations indicated minimal methicillin resistance. However, positive results for the Penicillin Binding Protein, indicative of the presence of the mecA gene, were detected in multiple isolates of archived Staphylococcus epidermidis and Staphylococcus haemolyticus. Phenotypic analysis of these isolates confirmed their resistance to methicillin. While MRSA has not been isolated aboard ISS, the potential exists for the transfer of the gene, mecA, from coagulase negative environmental Staphylococcus to S. aureus creating MRSA strains. This study suggests the need to expand environmental monitoring aboard long duration exploration spacecraft to include antibiotic resistance profiling.

Spot detection and image segmentation in DNA microarray data.

PubMed

Qin, Li; Rueda, Luis; Ali, Adnan; Ngom, Alioune

2005-01-01

Following the invention of microarrays in 1994, the development and applications of this technology have grown exponentially. The numerous applications of microarray technology include clinical diagnosis and treatment, drug design and discovery, tumour detection, and environmental health research. One of the key issues in the experimental approaches utilising microarrays is to extract quantitative information from the spots, which represent genes in a given experiment. For this process, the initial stages are important and they influence future steps in the analysis. Identifying the spots and separating the background from the foreground is a fundamental problem in DNA microarray data analysis. In this review, we present an overview of state-of-the-art methods for microarray image segmentation. We discuss the foundations of the circle-shaped approach, adaptive shape segmentation, histogram-based methods and the recently introduced clustering-based techniques. We analytically show that clustering-based techniques are equivalent to the one-dimensional, standard k-means clustering algorithm that utilises the Euclidean distance.

Implication of changing loading conditions on structural health monitoring utilising guided waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohabuth, Munawwar; Kotousov, Andrei; Ng, Ching-Tai; Rose, L. R. Francis

2018-02-01

Structural health monitoring systems based on guided waves typically utilise a network of embedded or permanently attached sensors, allowing for the continuous detection of damage remote from a sensor location. The presence of damage is often diagnosed by analysing the residual signals from the structure after subtracting damage-free reference data. However, variations in environmental and operational conditions such as temperature, humidity, applied or thermally-induced stresses affect the measured residuals. A previously developed acoustoelastic formulation is here extended and employed as the basis for a simplified analytical model to estimate the effect of applied or thermally-induced stresses on the propagation characteristics of the fundamental Lamb wave modes. It is noted that there are special combinations of frequency, biaxial stress ratio and direction of wave propagation for which there is no change in the phase velocity of the fundamental anti-symmetric mode. The implication of these results in devising effective strategies to mitigate the effect of stress induced variations in guided-wave damage diagnostics is briefly discussed.

A mineralogical record of ocean change: Decadal and centennial patterns in the California mussel.

PubMed

McCoy, Sophie J; Kamenos, Nicholas A; Chung, Peter; Wootton, Timothy J; Pfister, Catherine A

2018-06-01

Ocean acidification, a product of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide, may already have affected calcified organisms in the coastal zone, such as bivalves and other shellfish. Understanding species' responses to climate change requires the context of long-term dynamics. This can be particularly difficult given the longevity of many important species in contrast with the relatively rapid onset of environmental changes. Here, we present a unique archival dataset of mussel shells from a locale with recent environmental monitoring and historical climate reconstructions. We compare shell structure and composition in modern mussels, mussels from the 1970s, and mussel shells dating back to 1000-2420 years BP. Shell mineralogy has changed dramatically over the past 15 years, despite evidence for consistent mineral structure in the California mussel, Mytilus californianus, over the prior 2500 years. We present evidence for increased disorder in the calcium carbonate shells of mussels and greater variability between individuals. These changes in the last decade contrast markedly from a background of consistent shell mineralogy for centuries. Our results use an archival record of natural specimens to provide centennial-scale context for altered minerology and variability in shell features as a response to acidification stress and illustrate the utility of long-term studies and archival records in global change ecology. Increased variability between individuals is an emerging pattern in climate change responses, which may equally expose the vulnerability of organisms and the potential of populations for resilience. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Software tools and e-infrastructure services to support the long term preservation of earth science data - new functionality from the SCIDIP-ES project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riddick, Andrew; Glaves, Helen; Crompton, Shirley; Giaretta, David; Ritchie, Brian; Pepler, Sam; De Smet, Wim; Marelli, Fulvio; Mantovani, Pier-Luca

2014-05-01

The ability to preserve earth science data for the long-term is a key requirement to support on-going research and collaboration within and between earth science disciplines. A number of critically important current research initiatives (e.g. understanding climate change or ensuring sustainability of natural resources) typically rely on the continuous availability of data collected over several decades in a form which can be easily accessed and used by scientists. In many earth science disciplines the capture of key observational data may be difficult or even impossible to repeat. For example, a specific geological exposure or subsurface borehole may be only temporarily available, and earth observation data derived from a particular satellite mission is often unique. Another key driver for long-term data preservation is that the grand challenges of the kind described above frequently involve cross-disciplinary research utilising raw and interpreted data from a number of related earth science disciplines. Adopting effective data preservation strategies supports this requirement for interoperability as well as ensuring long term usability of earth science data, and has the added potential for stimulating innovative earth science research. The EU-funded SCIDIP-ES project seeks to address these challenges by developing a Europe-wide e-infrastructure for long-term data preservation by providing appropriate software tools and infrastructure services to enable and promote long-term preservation of earth science data. This poster will describe the current status of this e-infrastructure and outline the integration of the prototype SCIDIP-ES software components into the existing systems used by earth science archives and data providers. These prototypes utilise a system architecture which stores preservation information in a standardised OAIS-compliant way, and connects and adds value to existing earth science archives. A SCIDIP-ES test-bed has been implemented by the National Geoscience Data Centre (NGDC) and the British Atmospheric Data Centre (BADC) in the UK, which allows datasets to be more easily integrated and preserved for future use. Many of the data preservation requirements of these two key Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) data centres are common to other earth science data providers and are therefore more widely applicable. The capability for interoperability between datasets stored in different formats is a common requirement for the long-term preservation of data, and the way in which this is supported by the SCIDIP-ES tools and services will be explained.

The CAnadian Surface Prediction ARchive (CaSPAr): A Platform to Enhance Environmental Modelling in Canada and Globally

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tolson, B.; Mai, J.; Kornelsen, K. C.; Coulibaly, P. D.; Anctil, F.; Fortin, V.; Leahy, M.; Hall, B.

2017-12-01

Environmental models are tools for the modern society for a wide range of applications such as flood and drought monitoring, carbon storage and release estimates, predictions of power generation amounts, or reservoir management amongst others. Environmental models differ in the types of processes they incorporate, where land surface models focus on the energy, water, and carbon cycle of the land and hydrological models concentrate mainly on the water cycle. All these models, however, have in common that they rely on environmental input data from ground observations such as temperature, precipitation and/or radiation to force the model. If the same model is run in forecast mode, numerical weather predictions (NWPs) are needed to replace these ground observations. Therefore, it is critical that NWP data be available to develop models and validate forecast performance. These data are provided by the Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) on a daily basis. MSC provides multiple products ranging from large scale global models ( 33km/grid cell) to high resolution pan-Canadian models ( 2.5km/grid cell). Operational products providing forecasts in real-time are made publicly available only at the time of issue through various means with new forecasts issued 2-4 times per day. Unfortunately, long term storage of these data are offline and relatively inaccessible to the research and operational communities. The new Canadian Surface Prediction Archive (CaSPAr) platform is an accessible rolling archive of 10 of MSC's NWP products. The 500TB platform will allow users to extract specific time periods, regions of interest and variables of interest in an easy to access NetCDF format. CaSPAr and community contributed post-processing scripts and tools are being developed such that the users, for example, can interpolate the data due to their needs or auto-generate model forcing files. We will present the CaSPAr platform and provide some insights in the current development of the web-based user interface (frontend) and implementations used to retrieve MSC's data and provide the data to the user in the inquired shape (backend).

Environmental controls for the precipitation of different fibrous calcite cement fabrics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ritter, Ann-Christine; Wiethoff, Felix; Neuser, Rolf D.; Richter, Detlev K.; Immenhauser, Adrian

2016-04-01

Abiogenic calcite cements are widely used as climate archives. They can yield information on environmental change and climate dynamics at the time when the sediment was lithified in a (marine) diagenetic environment. Radiaxial-fibrous (RFC) and fascicular-optic fibrous (FOFC) calcite cements are two very common and similar pore-filling cement fabrics in Palaeozoic and Mesozoic carbonate rocks (Richter et al., 2011) and in Holocene Mg-calcitic speleothems (Richter et al., 2015). Both fabrics are characterised by distinct crystallographic properties. Current research has shown that these fabrics are often underexplored and that a careful combination of conservative and innovative proxies allows for a better applicability of these carbonate archives to paleoenvironmental reconstructions (Ritter et al., 2015). A main uncertainty in this context is that it is still poorly understood which parameters lead to the formation of either RFC or FOFC and if differential crystallographic parameters affect proxy data from these fabrics. This study aims at a better understanding of the environmental factors that may control either RFC or FOFC precipitation. Therefore, suitable samples (a stalagmite and a Triassic marine cement succession), each with clearly differentiable layers of RFC and FOFC, were identified and analysed in high detail using a multi-proxy approach. Detailed thin section and cathodoluminescence analysis of the samples allowed for a precise identification of layers consisting solely of either RFC or FOFC. Isotopic (δ13C, δ18O) as well as trace elemental compositions have been determined and the comparison of data obtained from these different carbonate archives sheds light on changes in environmental parameters during RFC or FOFC precipitation. References: Richter, D.K., et al., 2011. Radiaxial-fibrous calcites: A new look at an old problem. Sedimentary Geology, 239, 26-36 Richter, D.K., et al., 2015. Radiaxial-fibrous and fascicular-optic Mg-calcitic cave cements: a characterization usig electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD). International Journal of Speleology, 44, 91-98 Ritter, A.-C., et al., 2015. Application of redox sensitive proxies and carbonate clumped isotopes to Mesozoic and Palaeozoic radiaxial fibrous calcite cements. Chemical Geology, 417, 306-321

Integrating the Holocene tephrostratigraphy for East Asia using a high-resolution cryptotephra study from Lake Suigetsu (SG14 core), central Japan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McLean, Danielle; Albert, Paul G.; Nakagawa, Takeshi; Suzuki, Takehiko; Staff, Richard A.; Yamada, Keitaro; Kitaba, Ikuko; Haraguchi, Tsuyoshi; Kitagawa, Junko; Smith, Victoria C.; SG14 Project Members

2018-03-01

Tephra (volcanic ash) layers have the potential to synchronise disparate palaeoenvironmental archives on regional to hemispheric scales. Highly productive arc regions, like those in East Asia, offer a considerable number of widespread isochrons, but before records can be confidently correlated using these layers, a refined and integrated framework of these eruptive events is required. Here we present the first high-resolution Holocene cryptotephra study in East Asia, using the Lake Suigetsu sedimentary archive in central Japan. The Holocene tephrostratigraphy has been extended from four to twenty ash layers using cryptotephra extraction techniques, which integrates the deposits from explosive eruptions from North Korea/China, South Korea and along the Japanese arc. This Lake Suigetsu tephrostratigraphy is now the most comprehensive record of East Asian volcanism, and the linchpin site for correlating sequences across this region. Major element glass geochemical compositions are presented for the tephra layers in the sequence, which have been compared to proximal datasets to correlate them to their volcanic source and specific eruptions. This study has significantly extended the ash dispersal of many key Holocene marker layers, and has identified the first distal occurrence of isochrons from Ulleungdo and Changbaishan volcanoes. Utilising the high-precision Lake Suigetsu chronology, we are able to provide constrained eruption ages for the tephra layers, which can be transferred into other site-specific age models containing these markers. This new framework indicates that several isochrons stratigraphically bracket abrupt climate intervals in Japan, and could be used to precisely assess the regional and hemispheric synchronicity of these events.

Semi-automated Data Set Submission Work Flow for Archival with the ORNL DAAC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wright, D.; Beaty, T.; Cook, R. B.; Devarakonda, R.; Eby, P.; Heinz, S. L.; Hook, L. A.; McMurry, B. F.; Shanafield, H. A.; Sill, D.; Santhana Vannan, S.; Wei, Y.

2013-12-01

The ORNL DAAC archives and publishes, free of charge, data and information relevant to biogeochemical, ecological, and environmental processes. The ORNL DAAC primarily archives data produced by NASA's Terrestrial Ecology Program; however, any data that are pertinent to the biogeochemical and ecological community are of interest. The data set submission process to the ORNL DAAC has been recently updated and semi-automated to provide a consistent data provider experience and to create a uniform data product. The data archived at the ORNL DAAC must be well formatted, self-descriptive, and documented, as well as referenced in a peer-reviewed publication. If the ORNL DAAC is the appropriate archive for a data set, the data provider will be sent an email with several URL links to guide them through the submission process. The data provider will be asked to fill out a short online form to help the ORNL DAAC staff better understand the data set. These questions cover information about the data set, a description of the data set, temporal and spatial characteristics of the data set, and how the data were prepared and delivered. The questionnaire is generic and has been designed to gather input on the various diverse data sets the ORNL DAAC archives. A data upload module and metadata editor further guide the data provider through the submission process. For submission purposes, a complete data set includes data files, document(s) describing data, supplemental files, metadata record(s), and an online form. There are five major functions the ORNL DAAC performs during the process of archiving data: 1) Ingestion is the ORNL DAAC side of submission; data are checked, metadata records are compiled, and files are converted to archival formats. 2) Metadata records and data set documentation made searchable and the data set is given a permanent URL. 3) The data set is published, assigned a DOI, and advertised. 4) The data set is provided long-term post-project support. 5) Stewardship of data ensures the data are stored on state of the art computer systems with reliable backups.

GeoMedStat: an integrated spatial surveillance system to track air pollution and associated healthcare events.

PubMed

Faruque, Fazlay S; Li, Hui; Williams, Worth B; Waller, Lance A; Brackin, Bruce T; Zhang, Lei; Grimes, Kim A; Finley, Richard W

2014-12-01

Air pollutants, such as particulate matter with a diameter ≤2.5 microns (PM2.5) and ozone (O3), are known to exacerbate asthma and other respiratory diseases. An integrated surveillance system that tracks such air pollutants and associated disease incidence can assist in risk assessment, healthcare preparedness and public awareness. However, the implementation of such an integrated environmental health surveillance system is a challenge due to the disparate sources of many types of data and the implementation becomes even more complicated for a spatial and real-time system due to lack of standardised technological components and data incompatibility. In addition, accessing and utilising health data that are considered as Protected Health Information (PHI) require maintaining stringent protocols, which have to be supported by the system. This paper aims to illustrate the development of a spatial surveillance system (GeoMedStat) that is capable of tracking daily environmental pollutants along with both daily and historical patient encounter data. It utilises satellite data and the groundmonitor data from the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the US Environemental Protection Agenecy (EPA), rspectively as inputs estimating air pollutants and is linked to hospital information systems for accessing chief complaints and disease classification codes. The components, developmental methods, functionality of GeoMedStat and its use as a real-time environmental health surveillance system for asthma and other respiratory syndromes in connection with with PM2.5 and ozone are described. It is expected that the framework presented will serve as an example to others developing real-time spatial surveillance systems for pollutants and hospital visits.

Drivers and Dynamics of Global Environmental Change in Southern Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jewitt, Graham; Munishi, Subira; Kunz, Richard; Viola, Paula

2010-05-01

Africa's potential to provide food, fuel, fibre and fodder for future global food and energy security has made it a target for a myriad investors from developed and developing countries alike. In many places, land grants and purchases have led to the establishment of huge monoculture production areas for food, fuel, fibre (maize, sugar cane, jatropha, plantation forestry etc) often preceded by deforestation and large scale utilisation and modification of available water resources. This coupled with the likelihood of rapid urbanisation in Africa over the next forty years and associated impacts linked to the high concentrations of inhabitants utilising and ultimately degrading available natural resources (e.g. wood for charcoal; water quality) have made Africa's ecosystems and people amongst the most vulnerable to global environmental change. Key questions that arise are how available scientific knowledge can best be utilized to reduce this vulnerability, where key gaps in knowledge in understanding the inter-linkages between societal needs and Food- Fibre-Energy-Water supply exist and how to best address the necessary complexity of considering these at different spatial and temporal scales. Drawing on the Ecosystem Goods and Services approach, we present key messages from ongoing research activities in South Africa, Swaziland, Mozambique and Tanzania and report on progress in applying management tools and systems to support decision making in these areas where development needs are critical. We also highlight lessons drawn from situations where unintended consequences have resulted from well meaning or politically expedient initiatives linked to large donor or foreign investment schemes, such as "outgrower" programmes, and where major environmental damage and ultimately the permanent loss of productivity of some landscapes has occurred.

Stability of mercury concentration measurements in archived soil and peat samples

USGS Publications Warehouse

Navrátil, Tomáš; Burns, Douglas; Nováková, Tereza; Kaňa, Jiří; Rohovec, Jan; Roll, Michal; Ettler, Vojtěch

2018-01-01

Archived soil samples can provide important information on the history of environmental contamination and by comparison with recently collected samples, temporal trends can be inferred. Little previous work has addressed whether mercury (Hg) concentrations in soil samples are stable with long-term storage under standard laboratory conditions. In this study, we have re-analyzed using cold vapor atomic adsorption spectroscopy a set of archived soil samples that ranged from relatively pristine mountainous sites to a polluted site near a non-ferrous metal smelter with a wide range of Hg concentrations (6 - 6485 µg kg-1). Samples included organic and mineral soils and peats with a carbon content that ranged from 0.2 to 47.7%. Soil samples were stored in polyethylene bags or bottles and held in laboratory rooms where temperature was not kept to a constant value. Mercury concentrations in four subsets of samples were originally measured in 2000, 2005, 2006 and 2007, and re-analyzed in 2017, i.e. after 17, 12, 11 and 10 years of storage. Statistical analyses of either separated or lumped data yielded no significant differences between the original and current Hg concentrations. Based on these analyses, we show that archived soil and peat samples can be used to evaluate historical soil mercury contamination.

Superfund Public Information System (SPIS), June 1998 (on CD-ROM). Data file

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

NONE

1998-06-01

The Superfund Public Information System (SPIS) on CD-ROM contains Superfund data for the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The Superfund data is a collection of four databases, CERCLIS, Archive (NFRAP), RODS, and NPL Sites. Descriptions of these databases and CD contents are listed below. The FolioViews browse and retrieval engine is used as a graphical interface to the data. Users can access simple queries and can do complex searching on key words or fields. In addition, context sensitive help, a Superfund process overview, and an integrated data dictionary are available. RODS is the Records Of Decision System. RODS is usedmore » to track site clean-ups under the Superfund program to justify the type of treatment chosen at each site. RODS contains information on technology justification, site history, community participation, enforcement activities, site characteristics, scope and role of response action, and remedy. Explanation of Significant Differences (ESDs) are also available on the CD. CERCLIS is the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Information System. It is the official repository for all Superfund site and incident data. It contains comprehensive information on hazardous waste sites, site inspections, preliminary assessments, and remedial status. The system is sponsored by the EPA`s Office of Emergency and Remedial Response, Information Management Center. Archive (NFRAP) consists of hazardous waste sites that have no further remedial action planned; only basic identifying information is provided for archive sites. The sites found in the Archive database were originally in the CERCLIS database, but were removed beginning in the fall of 1995. NPL sites (available online) are fact sheets that describe the location and history of Superfund sites. Included are descriptions of the most recent activities and past actions at the sites that have contributed to the contamination. Population estimates, land usages, and nearby resources give background on the local setting surrounding a site.« less

The Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project - Phase 2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haywood, Alan; Dowsett, Harry; Dolan, Aisling; Rowley, David; Abe-Ouchi, Ayako; Otto-Bliesner, Bette; Chandler, Mark; Hunter, Stephen; Lunt, Daniel; Pound, Matthew; Salzmann, Ulrich

2016-04-01

The Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project (PlioMIP) is a co-ordinated international climate modelling initiative to study and understand climate and environments of the Late Pliocene, and their potential relevance in the context of future climate change. PlioMIP examines the consistency of model predictions in simulating Pliocene climate, and their ability to reproduce climate signals preserved by geological climate archives. Here we provide a description of the aim and objectives of the next phase of the model intercomparison project (PlioMIP Phase 2), and we present the experimental design and boundary conditions that will be utilised for climate model experiments in Phase 2. Following on from PlioMIP Phase 1, Phase 2 will continue to be a mechanism for sampling structural uncertainty within climate models. However, Phase 1 demonstrated the requirement to better understand boundary condition uncertainties as well as uncertainty in the methodologies used for data-model comparison. Therefore, our strategy for Phase 2 is to utilise state-of-the-art boundary conditions that have emerged over the last 5 years. These include a new palaeogeographic reconstruction, detailing ocean bathymetry and land/ice surface topography. The ice surface topography is built upon the lessons learned from offline ice sheet modelling studies. Land surface cover has been enhanced by recent additions of Pliocene soils and lakes. Atmospheric reconstructions of palaeo-CO2 are emerging on orbital timescales and these are also incorporated into PlioMIP Phase 2. New records of surface and sea surface temperature change are being produced that will be more temporally consistent with the boundary conditions and forcings used within models. Finally we have designed a suite of prioritized experiments that tackle issues surrounding the basic understanding of the Pliocene and its relevance in the context of future climate change in a discrete way.

A study on the causal effect of urban population growth and international trade on environmental pollution: evidence from China.

PubMed

Boamah, Kofi Baah; Du, Jianguo; Boamah, Angela Jacinta; Appiah, Kingsley

2018-02-01

This study seeks to contribute to the recent literature by empirically investigating the causal effect of urban population growth and international trade on environmental pollution of China, for the period 1980-2014. The Johansen cointegration confirmed a long-run cointegration association among the utilised variables for the case of China. The direction of causality among the variables was, consequently, investigated using the recent bootstrapped Granger causality test. This bootstrapped Granger causality approach is preferred as it provides robust and accurate critical values for statistical inferences. The findings from the causality analysis revealed the existence of a bi-directional causality between import and urban population. The three most paramount variables that explain the environmental pollution in China, according to the impulse response function, are imports, urbanisation and energy consumption. Our study further established the presence of an N-shaped environmental Kuznets curve relationship between economic growth and environmental pollution of China. Hence, our study recommends that China should adhere to stricter environmental regulations in international trade, as well as enforce policies that promote energy efficiency in the urban residential and commercial sector, in the quest to mitigate environmental pollution issues as the economy advances.

Long-term data archiving

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

Moore, David Steven

2009-01-01

Long term data archiving has much value for chemists, not only to retain access to research and product development records, but also to enable new developments and new discoveries. There are some recent regulatory requirements (e.g., FDA 21 CFR Part 11), but good science and good business both benefit regardless. A particular example of the benefits of and need for long term data archiving is the management of data from spectroscopic laboratory instruments. The sheer amount of spectroscopic data is increasing at a scary rate, and the pressures to archive come from the expense to create the data (or recreatemore » it if it is lost) as well as its high information content. The goal of long-term data archiving is to save and organize instrument data files as well as any needed meta data (such as sample ID, LIMS information, operator, date, time, instrument conditions, sample type, excitation details, environmental parameters, etc.). This editorial explores the issues involved in long-term data archiving using the example of Raman spectral databases. There are at present several such databases, including common data format libraries and proprietary libraries. However, such databases and libraries should ultimately satisfy stringent criteria for long term data archiving, including readability for long times into the future, robustness to changes in computer hardware and operating systems, and use of public domain data formats. The latter criterion implies the data format should be platform independent and the tools to create the data format should be easily and publicly obtainable or developable. Several examples of attempts at spectral libraries exist, such as the ASTM ANDI format, and the JCAMP-DX format. On the other hand, proprietary library spectra can be exchanged and manipulated using proprietary tools. As the above examples have deficiencies according to the three long term data archiving criteria, Extensible Markup Language (XML; a product of the World Wide Web Consortium, an independent standards body) as a new data interchange tool is being investigated and implemented. In order to facilitate data archiving, Raman data needs calibration as well as some other kinds of data treatment. Figure 1 illustrates schematically the present situation for Raman data calibration in the world-wide Raman spectroscopy community, and presents some of the terminology used.« less

75 FR 80855 - Dominion Energy Kewaunee, Inc.; Kewaunee Power Station; Environmental Assessment and Finding of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-23

... joint NRC-DEK ITS conversion Web page, hosted by EXCEL Services Corporation (EXCEL) can be found in... http://www.excelservices.com . Persons who visit the EXCEL Web site and are unable to locate Kewaunee ITS Conversion information should contact EXCEL directly to acquire archived content. As an...

Globe, student inquiry, and learning communities

Treesearch

C.L. Henzel

2000-01-01

The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) database is a web-based archive of environmental data gathered by K through 12 students in over 85 countries. The data are gathered under protocols developed by research scientists specializing in various fields of earth science. Students gather information, then enter and visualize the data via...

THE EPA REMOTE SENING ARCHIVE: A UNIQUE AGENCY RESOURCE

EPA Science Inventory

Often environmental issues need to have a historical perspective, to look back into the past.
Remotely sensed imagery is one way to see the land and what happened in a previous time. The EPA is often responsible to look into the past to facilitate a better future for the envi...

THE EPA REMOTE SENSING ARCHIVE: A UNIQUE AGENCY RESOURCE

EPA Science Inventory

Often environmental issues need to have a historical perspective, to look back into the past.
Remotely sensed imagery is one way to see the land and what happened in a previous time. The EP A is often responsible to look into the past to facilitate a better future for the env...

Assessing the Link between Environmental Concerns and Consumers' Decisions to Use Clean-Air Vehicles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Plax, Timothy G.; Kearney, Patricia; Ross, Ted J.; Jolly, J. Christopher

2008-01-01

A consulting contract with the California Air Resources Board led to a project examining how California drivers' and fleet managers' perceptions, attitudes, and consumer behavior regarding Clean Vehicle Technologies influenced their own energy choices when it came to purchasing vehicles. The consultants examined archival research, conducted focus…

Project Atlas Field Definitions | NOAA Gulf Spill Restoration

Science.gov Websites

Archive Home Project Atlas Field Definitions Project Atlas Field Definitions Field Definition Project Title The Project Title as listed in the Final Early Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment (FERP /EA). General Information: Project Description Narrative description of the project. General

A database of archived drilling records of the drill cuttings piles at the North West Hutton oil platform.

PubMed

Marsh, Roy

2003-05-01

Drill cuttings piles are found underneath several hundred oil platforms in the North Sea, and are contaminated with hydrocarbons and chemical products. This study characterised the environmental risk posed by the cuttings pile at the North West Hutton (NWH) oil platform. Data on the drilling fluids and chemical products used over the platform's drilling history were transferred from archived well reports into a custom database, to which were added toxicological and safety data. Although the database contained many gaps, it established that only seven chemical products used at NWH were not in the lowest category of the Offshore Chemicals Notification Scheme, and were used in only small quantities. The study therefore supports the view that the main environmental risk posed by cuttings piles comes from hydrocarbon contamination. The (dated) well records could help future core sampling to be targeted at specific locations in the cuttings piles. Data from many platforms could also be pooled to determine generic 'discharge profiles.' Future study would benefit from the existence, in the public domain, of a standardised, 'legacy' database of chemical products.

An archival examination of environment and disease in eastern Africa in recent history

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larsen, L.

2012-04-01

In order to better understand present interactions between climate and infectious disease incidence it is important to examine the history of disease outbreaks and burdens, and their likely links with the environment. This paper will present research that is currently being undertaken on the identification and mapping of historic incidences of malaria, schistosomiasis and Rift Valley fever (RVF) in eastern Africa in relation to possible environmental, social, economic and political contributing factors. The research covers the past one hundred years or so and primarily draws on a range of archival documentary sources located in the region and the former imperial centres. The paper will discuss the methodologies employed in the building of a comprehensive historical database. The research is part of a larger EU FP7-funded project which aims to map, examine and anticipate the future risks of the three diseases in eastern Africa in response to environmental change. The paper will outline how the construction of such a historic database allows the contextualization of current climate-disease relationships and can thus contribute to discussions on the effects of changing climate on future disease trends.

Utilisation of antihyperglycaemic drugs in ten European countries: different developments and different levels.

PubMed

Melander, A; Folino-Gallo, P; Walley, T; Schwabe, U; Groop, P-H; Klaukka, T; Vallano, A; Laporte, J-R; Gallego, M R; Schiappa, M; Røder, M; Kampmann, J P; de Swaef, A; Aberg, M; Månsson, N-O; Lindblad, U

2006-09-01

The aim of this study was to compare developments in the utilisation of antihyperglycaemic drugs (AHGDs) in ten European countries. Data on the yearly utilisation of insulin and oral AHGDs were collected from public registers in Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, England, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain, and were expressed as defined daily doses per 1,000 inhabitants per day. Total AGHD utilisation increased everywhere, but at different rates and levels. Insulin utilisation doubled in England and Germany, but hardly changed in Belgium, Portugal or Italy. Sulfonylurea utilisation doubled in Spain, England and Denmark but was reduced in Germany and Sweden. Metformin utilisation increased greatly everywhere. There were two- to three-fold differences in AHGD utilisation even between neighbouring countries. In Finland, there were more users of both insulin (+120%) and oral AHGDs (+80%) than in Denmark, and the daily oral AHGD doses were higher. In Denmark and Sweden, AHGD utilisation was equal in subjects aged <45 years, but in those >or=45 years of age, both insulin and oral AHGD utilisation were twice as high in Sweden. The ubiquitous increase in AHGD utilisation, particularly metformin, seems logical, considering the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes and the results of the UK Prospective Diabetes Study. However, the large differences even between neighbouring countries are more difficult to explain, and suggest different habits and attitudes in terms of screening and management of type 2 diabetes.

Space Station Freedom Environmental Health Care Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Richard, Elizabeth E.; Russo, Dane M.

1992-01-01

The paper discusses the environmental planning and monitoring aspects of the Space Station Freedom (SSF) Environmental Health Care Program, which encompasses all phases of the SSF assembly and operation from the first element entry at MB-6 through the Permanent Manned Capability and beyond. Environmental planning involves the definition of acceptability limits and monitoring requirements for the radiation dose barothermal parameters and potential contaminants in the SSF air and water and on internal surfaces. Inflight monitoring will be implemented through the Environmental Health System, which consists of five subsystems: Microbiology, Toxicology, Water Quality, Radiation, and Barothermal Physiology. In addition to the environmental data interpretation and analysis conducted after each mission, the new data will be compared to archived data for statistical and long-term trend analysis and determination of risk exposures. Results of these analyses will be used to modify the acceptability limits and monitoring requirements for the future.

Implications of (reworked) aeolian sediments and paleosols for Holocene environmental change in Western Mongolia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klinge, Michael; Lehmkuhl, Frank; Schulte, Philipp; Hülle, Daniela; Nottebaum, Veit

2017-09-01

In the semi-arid to semi-humid regions of western Mongolia four different geomorphological aeolian and fluvial archives were investigated in order to gain environmental information of landscape evolution during the late glacial and the Holocene. These archives, which contain aeolian deposits, fluvial sediments, and paleosols, are situated upon glacial moraines, fluvial terraces, floodplains, or mountain slopes. While radiometric dating provides information about the age of the sediment and paleosols, grain size and element distribution provide information about the sediment source and soil development. Extensive aeolian sediment transport occurred from 17 to 10 ka during the late glacial when climate was cold and dry. Since that period the developing steppe and alpine meadow vegetation served as a dust trap. During the warm and wet early to mid-Holocene sediment transport was reduced under a dense vegetation cover. All paleosols of the investigated archives show late Holocene ages which point to an environmental turning point around 3 ka. Since then, the Neoglacial period started with cooler climate conditions and periglacial processes intensified again. Recognizable glacier advances occurred during the Little Ice Age several centuries ago. Since then, global climate change leads to warmer and more arid conditions. During the late Holocene, a new period of strong geomorphological activity started and huge quantities of aeolian, colluvial and fluvial sediment accumulated. These intensified soil relocation processes cannot be explained exclusively by climate change because there are no explicit indications found in the palynological and lacustrine records of Mongolia. This discrepancy suggests that the additional factor of human impact has to be considered, which amplified the climate signal on the landscape. Simultaneously, when the enhanced geomorphological processes occurred, the prehistoric people changed from hunting and gathering to livestock husbandry. A first extensive population growth of the Scythian nomadic tribes is documented for the beginning of the Bronze Age in Central Asia. This temporal concurrence supports the finding of a first extensive human impact on landscape development.

Performance Evaluation of the Operational Air Quality Monitor for Water Testing Aboard the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wallace, William T.; Limero, Thomas F.; Gazda, Daniel B.; Macatangay, Ariel V.; Dwivedi, Prabha; Fernandez, Facundo M.

2014-01-01

In the history of manned spaceflight, environmental monitoring has relied heavily on archival sampling. For short missions, this type of sample collection was sufficient; returned samples provided a snapshot of the presence of chemical and biological contaminants in the spacecraft air and water. However, with the construction of the International Space Station (ISS) and the subsequent extension of mission durations, soon to be up to one year, the need for enhanced, real-time environmental monitoring became more pressing. The past several years have seen the implementation of several real-time monitors aboard the ISS, complemented with reduced archival sampling. The station air is currently monitored for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) using gas chromatography-differential mobility spectrometry (Air Quality Monitor [AQM]). The water on ISS is analyzed to measure total organic carbon and biocide concentrations using the Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) and the Colorimetric Water Quality Monitoring Kit (CWQMK), respectively. The current air and water monitors provide important data, but the number and size of the different instruments makes them impractical for future exploration missions. It is apparent that there is still a need for improvements in environmental monitoring capabilities. One such improvement could be realized by modifying a single instrument to analyze both air and water. As the AQM currently provides quantitative, compound-specific information for target compounds present in air samples, and many of the compounds are also targets for water quality monitoring, this instrument provides a logical starting point to evaluate the feasibility of this approach. In this presentation, we will discuss our recent studies aimed at determining an appropriate method for introducing VOCs from water samples into the gas phase and our current work, in which an electro-thermal vaporization unit has been interfaced with the AQM to analyze target analytes at the relevant concentrations at which they are routinely detected in archival water samples from the ISS.

NOAA's Scientific Data Stewardship Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bates, J. J.

2004-12-01

The NOAA mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment and conserve and manage coastal and marine resources to meet the Nation's economic, social and environmental needs. NOAA has responsibility for long-term archiving of the United States environmental data and has recently integrated several data management functions into a concept called Scientific Data Stewardship. Scientific Data Stewardship a new paradigm in data management consisting of an integrated suite of functions to preserve and exploit the full scientific value of NOAA's, and the world's, environmental data These functions include careful monitoring of observing system performance for long-term applications, the generation of authoritative long-term climate records from multiple observing platforms, and the proper archival of and timely access to data and metadata. NOAA has developed a conceptual framework to implement the functions of scientific data stewardship. This framework has five objectives: 1) develop real-time monitoring of all satellite observing systems for climate applications, 2) process large volumes of satellite data extending up to decades in length to account for systematic errors and to eliminate artifacts in the raw data (referred to as fundamental climate data records, FCDRs), 3) generate retrieved geophysical parameters from the FCDRs (referred to as thematic climate data records TCDRs) including combining observations from all sources, 4) conduct monitoring and research by analyzing data sets to uncover climate trends and to provide evaluation and feedback for steps 2) and 3), and 5) provide archives of metadata, FCDRs, and TCDRs, and facilitate distribution of these data to the user community. The term `climate data record' and related terms, such as climate data set, have been used for some time, but the climate community has yet to settle on a concensus definition. A recent United States National Academy of Sciences report recommends using the following definition: a climate data record (CDR) is a time series of measurements of sufficient length, consistency, and continuity to determine climate variability and change.

Potential of chicken by-products as sources of useful biological resources

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

Lasekan, Adeseye; Abu Bakar, Fatimah, E-mail: fatim@putra.upm.edu.my; Halal Products Research Institute, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor

By-products from different animal sources are currently being utilised for beneficial purposes. Chicken processing plants all over the world generate large amount of solid by-products in form of heads, legs, bones, viscera and feather. These wastes are often processed into livestock feed, fertilizers and pet foods or totally discarded. Inappropriate disposal of these wastes causes environmental pollution, diseases and loss of useful biological resources like protein, enzymes and lipids. Utilisation methods that make use of these biological components for producing value added products rather than the direct use of the actual waste material might be another viable option for dealingmore » with these wastes. This line of thought has consequently led to researches on these wastes as sources of protein hydrolysates, enzymes and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Due to the multi-applications of protein hydrolysates in various branches of science and industry, and the large body of literature reporting the conversion of animal wastes to hydrolysates, a large section of this review was devoted to this subject. Thus, this review reports the known functional and bioactive properties of hydrolysates derived from chicken by-products as well their utilisation as source of peptone in microbiological media. Methods of producing these hydrolysates including their microbiological safety are discussed. Based on the few references available in the literature, the potential of some chicken by-product as sources of proteases and polyunsaturated fatty acids are pointed out along with some other future applications.« less

Detecting oscillatory patterns and time lags from proxy records with non-uniform sampling: Some pitfalls and possible solutions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Donner, Reik

2013-04-01

Time series analysis offers a rich toolbox for deciphering information from high-resolution geological and geomorphological archives and linking the thus obtained results to distinct climate and environmental processes. Specifically, on various time-scales from inter-annual to multi-millenial, underlying driving forces exhibit more or less periodic oscillations, the detection of which in proxy records often allows linking them to specific mechanisms by which the corresponding drivers may have affected the archive under study. A persistent problem in geomorphology is that available records do not present a clear signal of the variability of environmental conditions, but exhibit considerable uncertainties of both the measured proxy variables and the associated age model. Particularly, time-scale uncertainty as well as the heterogeneity of sampling in the time domain are source of severe conceptual problems that may lead to false conclusions about the presence or absence of oscillatory patterns and their mutual phasing in different archives. In my presentation, I will discuss how one can cope with non-uniformly sampled proxy records to detect and quantify oscillatory patterns in one or more data sets. For this purpose, correlation analysis is reformulated using kernel estimates which are found superior to classical estimators based on interpolation or Fourier transform techniques. In order to characterize non-stationary or noisy periodicities and their relative phasing between different records, an extension of continuous wavelet transform is utilized. The performance of both methods is illustrated for different case studies. An extension to explicitly considering time-scale uncertainties by means of Bayesian techniques is briefly outlined.

European roe deer antlers as an environmental archive for fallout (236)U and (239)Pu.

PubMed

Froehlich, M B; Steier, P; Wallner, G; Fifield, L K

2016-01-01

Anthropogenic (236)U and (239)Pu were measured in European roe deer antlers hunted between 1955 and 1977 which covers and extends beyond the period of intensive nuclear weapons testing (1954-1962). The antlers were hunting trophies, and hence the hunting area, the year of shooting and the approximate age of each animal is given. Uranium and plutonium are known to deposit in skeletal tissue. Since antler histology is similar to bone, both elements were expected in antlers. Furthermore, roe deer shed their antlers annually, and hence antlers may provide a time-resolved environmental archive for fallout radionuclides. The radiochemical procedure is based on a Pu separation step by anion exchange (Dowex 1 × 8) and a subsequent U purification by extraction chromatography using UTEVA(®). The samples were measured by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry at the VERA facility (University of Vienna). In addition to the (236)U and (239)Pu concentrations, the (240)Pu/(239)Pu isotopic ratios were determined with a mean value of 0.172 ± 0.023 which is in agreement with the ratio of global fallout (∼0.18). Rather high (236)U/(238)U ratios of the order of 10(-6) were observed. These measured ratios, where the (236)U arises only from global fallout, have implications for the use of the (236)U/(238)U ratio as a fingerprint for nuclear accidents or releases from nuclear facilities. Our investigations have shown the potential to use antlers as a temporally resolved archive for the uptake of actinides from the environment. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

77 FR 40406 - Environmental Impact Statements: National Summary of Rescinded Notices of Intent

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-09

... downloaded by accessing the Federal Register's home page at: http://www.archives.gov and the Government... 31676 (June 1, 2011). As always, FHWA encourages State DOTs to work with their FHWA Division Office to..., New York, will be divided into separate projects, and new NOIs will be issued as needed. Finally, one...

Archives of Environmental Health, Volume 18 Number 4. Ninth AMA Air Pollution Medical Research Conference, Denver, July 22-24, 1968.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barton, Frank

Papers read before the Ninth American Medical Association (AMA) Air Pollution Medical Research Conference, Denver, Colorado, July 22-24, 1968, are presented in this document. Topics deal with the relationship and effects of atmospheric pollution to respiratory diseases, epidemiology, human physiological reactions, urban morbidity, health of school…

Measuring fire spread rates from repeat pass airborne thermal infrared imagery

Treesearch

Douglas A. Stow; Philip J. Riggan; Emanual A. Storey; Lloyd L. Coulter

2014-01-01

The objective is to evaluate procedures for direct measurement of fire spread rates (FSRs) based on archived repeat pass airborne thermal infrared (ATIR) imagery and to identify requirements for more refined measurements of FSR and environmental factors that influence FSR. Flaming front positions are delineated on sequential FireMapper ATIR images captured at...

Gender and the utilisation of health services in the Ashanti Region, Ghana.

PubMed

Buor, Daniel

2004-09-01

The survey seeks to structure a model for gender-based health services utilisation for the Ashanti Region of Ghana, and in addition, recommend intervention measures to ensure gender equity in the utilisation of health services. A sample size of 650 covered over 3108 houses, and the main research instruments were the questionnaire and formal interview. A multiple regression model is used for the analysis of the relationship between the complex independent variables and utilisation by gender. Results show that although females have a greater need for health services than males, they do not utilise health services as much. Secondly, whereas quality of service, health status, service cost and education have greater effect on male utilisation than females, distance and income have higher impact on female utilisation. It is recommended that, to ensure equity in health care utilisation, females be empowered through increased access to formal education and sustainable income opportunities. The introduction of a national health insurance scheme is also recommended to ensure adequate access by both sexes.

Bridging the gap between data, publications, and images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ritchey, N. A.; Collins, D.; Sprain, M.

2017-12-01

NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) manages the most comprehensive, accessible, and trusted source of environmental data and information in the US. It archives data from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun and from million-year-old sediment records to near real-time satellite observations. NCEI has a wealth of knowledge and experience in long-term data preservation with the goal of supporting today's scientists as well as future generations. In order to reduce fragmentation of data, publications, images, and documentation, and to improve preservation, curation, and stewardship of data, NCEI continues to partner with the NOAA Central Library (NCL). NCEI and NCL have long-established linkages between data metadata, published reports, and data or archival information packages (AIP). We also have analog AIPs that are stored and maintained in the NCL collection and discoverable in both NCEI and NCL collections via the AIP identifier. We are currently working with NCL to establish a workflow for submitting reports to their Institutional Repository and linking the data and report via digital object identifiers. We hope to establish linkages between images of physical samples and the NCL Photo Collection management infrastructure in the future. This presentation will detail how NCEI engages with the NCL in order to fully integrate documentation, images, publications, and data in preservation practices and improve the discovery and usability of NOAA's billion dollar investment in environmental data and information.

Coordination of physiological and structural traits in Amazon forest trees

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patiño, S.; Fyllas, N. M.; Baker, T. R.; Paiva, R.; Quesada, C. A.; Santos, A. J. B.; Schwarz, M.; Ter Steege, H.; Phillips, O. L.; Lloyd, J.

2011-05-01

Many plant traits covary in a non-random manner reflecting interdependencies associated with "ecological strategy" dimensions. To understand how plants modulate their structural investments to best maintain and utilise their physiological capabilities, data on leaf and leaflet size and the ratio of leaf area to sapwood area (ΦLS) obtained for 1040 tree species located in 53 tropical forest plots across the Amazon Basin were incorporated into an analysis utilising existing data on species maximum height (Hmax), seed size, leaf mass per unit area (MA), foliar nutrients and δ13C and branch xylem density (ρx). Utilising a common principal components approach allowing eigenvalues to vary between two soil fertility dependent species groups, five genetically controlled trait dimensions were identified. The first involves primarily cations, foliar carbon and MA and is associated with differences in foliar construction costs. The second relates to the classic "leaf economic spectrum", but with increased individual leaf areas and a higher ΦLS newly identified components. The third relates primarily to increasing Hmax and hence variations in light acquisition strategy involving greater MA, reductions in ΦLS and less negative δ13C. Although these first three dimensions were more important for species from high fertility sites the final two dimensions were more important for low fertility species and were associated with variations linked to reproductive and shade tolerance strategies. Environmental conditions also influenced structural traits with ρx decreasing with increased soil fertility and decreasing with increased temperatures. This soil fertility response appears to be synchronised with increases in foliar nutrient concentrations and reductions in foliar [C]. Leaf and leaflet area and ΦLS were less responsive to the environment than ρx. Thus although genetically determined foliar traits such as those associated with leaf construction costs coordinate independently of structural characteristics, others tend to covary with leaf size, ΦLS, S tolerance strategies. Several traits such as MA and [C] are important components of more than one dimension with their ambiguous nature reflecting different underlying causes of variation. Environmental effects on structural and physiological characteristics are also coordinated but in a different way to the gamut of linkages associated with genotypic differences.

An analysis of partial efficiencies of energy utilisation of different macronutrients by barramundi (Lates calcarifer) shows that starch restricts protein utilisation in carnivorous fish.

PubMed

Glencross, Brett D; Blyth, David; Bourne, Nicholas; Cheers, Susan; Irvin, Simon; Wade, Nicholas M

2017-02-01

This study examined the effect of including different dietary proportions of starch, protein and lipid, in diets balanced for digestible energy, on the utilisation efficiencies of dietary energy by barramundi (Lates calcarifer). Each diet was fed at one of three ration levels (satiety, 80 % of initial satiety and 60 % of initial satiety) for a 42-d period. Fish performance measures (weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio) were all affected by dietary energy source. The efficiency of energy utilisation was significantly reduced in fish fed the starch diet relative to the other diets, but there were no significant effects between the other macronutrients. This reduction in efficiency of utilisation was derived from a multifactorial change in both protein and lipid utilisation. The rate of protein utilisation deteriorated as the amount of starch included in the diet increased. Lipid utilisation was most dramatically affected by inclusion levels of lipid in the diet, with diets low in lipid producing component lipid utilisation rates well above 1·3, which indicates substantial lipid synthesis from other energy sources. However, the energetic cost of lipid gain was as low as 0·65 kJ per kJ of lipid deposited, indicating that barramundi very efficiently store energy in the form of lipid, particularly from dietary starch energy. This study defines how the utilisation efficiency of dietary digestible energy by barramundi is influenced by the macronutrient source providing that energy, and that the inclusion of starch causes problems with protein utilisation in this species.

Monitoring temporal and spatial trends of legacy and emerging contaminants in marine environment: results from the environmental specimen bank (es-BANK) of Ehime University, Japan.

PubMed

Tanabe, Shinsuke; Ramu, Karri

2012-07-01

The Environmental Specimen Bank (es-BANK) for Global Monitoring at the Center for Marine Environmental Studies, Ehime University, Japan has more than four decades of practical experience in specimen banking. Over the years, es-BANK has archived specimens representing a wide range of environmental matrices, i.e. fishes, reptiles, birds, aquatic mammals, terrestrial mammals, human, soils, and sediments. The samples have been collected as part of the various monitoring programs conducted worldwide. The current review is a summary of selected studies conducted at the Center for Marine Environmental Studies, on temporal and spatial trends of legacy and emerging contaminants in the marine environment. One of the major conclusions drawn from the studies is that environmental problems are no more regional issues and, thus, environmental specimen banking should not be limited to national boundaries, but should have a global outlook. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

New Developments in NOAA's Comprehensive Large Array-Data Stewardship System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ritchey, N. A.; Morris, J. S.; Carter, D. J.

2012-12-01

The Comprehensive Large Array-data Stewardship System (CLASS) is part of the NOAA strategic goal of Climate Adaptation and Mitigation that gives focus to the building and sustaining of key observational assets and data archives critical to maintaining the global climate record. Since 2002, CLASS has been NOAA's enterprise solution for ingesting, storing and providing access to a host of near real-time remote sensing streams such as the Polar and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (POES and GOES) and the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). Since October, 2011 CLASS has also been the dedicated Archive Data Segment (ADS) of the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP). As the ADS, CLASS receives raw and processed S-NPP records for archival and distribution to the broad user community. Moving beyond just remote sensing and model data, NOAA has endorsed a plan to migrate all archive holdings from NOAA's National Data Centers into CLASS while retiring various disparate legacy data storage systems residing at the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) and the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC). In parallel to this data migration, CLASS is evolving to a service-oriented architecture utilizing cloud technologies for dissemination in addition to clearly defined interfaces that allow better collaboration with partners. This evolution will require implementation of standard access protocols and metadata which will lead to cost effective data and information preservation.

Tolerance of pentose utilising yeast to hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress.

PubMed

Spencer, Jennifer; Phister, Trevor G; Smart, Katherine A; Greetham, Darren

2014-03-17

Bioethanol fermentations follow traditional beverage fermentations where the yeast is exposed to adverse conditions such as oxidative stress. Lignocellulosic bioethanol fermentations involve the conversion of pentose and hexose sugars into ethanol. Environmental stress conditions such as osmotic stress and ethanol stress may affect the fermentation performance; however, oxidative stress as a consequence of metabolic output can also occur. However, the effect of oxidative stress on yeast with pentose utilising capabilities has yet to be investigated. Assaying for the effect of hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress on Candida, Pichia and Scheffersomyces spp. has demonstrated that these yeast tolerate hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress in a manner consistent with that demonstrated by Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Pichia guillermondii appears to be more tolerant to hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress when compared to Candida shehatae, Candida succiphila or Scheffersomyces stipitis. Sensitivity to hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress increased in the presence of minimal media; however, addition of amino acids and nucleobases was observed to increase tolerance. In particular adenine increased tolerance and methionine reduced tolerance to hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress.

Tolerance of pentose utilising yeast to hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Bioethanol fermentations follow traditional beverage fermentations where the yeast is exposed to adverse conditions such as oxidative stress. Lignocellulosic bioethanol fermentations involve the conversion of pentose and hexose sugars into ethanol. Environmental stress conditions such as osmotic stress and ethanol stress may affect the fermentation performance; however, oxidative stress as a consequence of metabolic output can also occur. However, the effect of oxidative stress on yeast with pentose utilising capabilities has yet to be investigated. Results Assaying for the effect of hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress on Candida, Pichia and Scheffersomyces spp. has demonstrated that these yeast tolerate hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress in a manner consistent with that demonstrated by Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Pichia guillermondii appears to be more tolerant to hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress when compared to Candida shehatae, Candida succiphila or Scheffersomyces stipitis. Conclusions Sensitivity to hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress increased in the presence of minimal media; however, addition of amino acids and nucleobases was observed to increase tolerance. In particular adenine increased tolerance and methionine reduced tolerance to hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress. PMID:24636079

The effect of an isoflavonid-rich liquorice extract on fermentation, methanogenesis and the microbiome in the rumen simulation technique.

PubMed

Ramos-Morales, E; Rossi, G; Cattin, M; Jones, E; Braganca, R; Newbold, C J

2018-03-01

Due to the antimicrobial activity of flavonoids, it has been suggested that they may provide a possible alternative to antibiotics to stimulate productivity and reduce the environmental load of ruminant agriculture. We hypothesised that an extract of liquorice, rich in prenylated isoflavonoids and particularly glabridin, might potentially improve the efficiency of nitrogen utilisation and reduce methane production in the rumen. When added to a long-term rumen simulating fermentor (RUSITEC), liquorice extract at 1 g L-1 decreased ammonia production (-51%; P < 0.001) without affecting the overall fermentation process. When added at 2 g L-1, decreases in not only ammonia production (-77%; P < 0.001), but also methane (-27%; P = 0.039) and total VFA production (-15%; P = 0.003) were observed. These effects in fermentation were probably related to a decrease in protozoa numbers, a less diverse bacteria population as well as changes in the structure of both the bacterial and archaeal communities. The inclusion of an isoflavonoid-rich extract from liquorice in the diet may potentially improve the efficiency of the feed utilisation by ruminants.

Analysis of environmental sounds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Keansub

Environmental sound archives - casual recordings of people's daily life - are easily collected by MPS players or camcorders with low cost and high reliability, and shared in the web-sites. There are two kinds of user generated recordings we would like to be able to handle in this thesis: Continuous long-duration personal audio and Soundtracks of short consumer video clips. These environmental recordings contain a lot of useful information (semantic concepts) related with activity, location, occasion and content. As a consequence, the environment archives present many new opportunities for the automatic extraction of information that can be used in intelligent browsing systems. This thesis proposes systems for detecting these interesting concepts on a collection of these real-world recordings. The first system is to segment and label personal audio archives - continuous recordings of an individual's everyday experiences - into 'episodes' (relatively consistent acoustic situations lasting a few minutes or more) using the Bayesian Information Criterion and spectral clustering. The second system is for identifying regions of speech or music in the kinds of energetic and highly-variable noise present in this real-world sound. Motivated by psychoacoustic evidence that pitch is crucial in the perception and organization of sound, we develop a noise-robust pitch detection algorithm to locate speech or music-like regions. To avoid false alarms resulting from background noise with strong periodic components (such as air-conditioning), a new scheme is added in order to suppress these noises in the domain of autocorrelogram. In addition, the third system is to automatically detect a large set of interesting semantic concepts; which we chose for being both informative and useful to users, as well as being technically feasible. These 25 concepts are associated with people's activities, locations, occasions, objects, scenes and sounds, and are based on a large collection of consumer videos in conjunction with user studies. We model the soundtrack of each video, regardless of its original duration, as a fixed-sized clip-level summary feature. For each concept, an SVM-based classifier is trained according to three distance measures (Kullback-Leibler, Bhattacharyya, and Mahalanobis distance). Detecting the time of occurrence of a local object (for instance, a cheering sound) embedded in a longer soundtrack is useful and important for applications such as search and retrieval in consumer video archives. We finally present a Markov-model based clustering algorithm able to identify and segment consistent sets of temporal frames into regions associated with different ground-truth labels, and at the same time to exclude a set of uninformative frames shared in common from all clips. The labels are provided at the clip level, so this refinement of the time axis represents a variant of Multiple-Instance Learning (MIL). Quantitative evaluation shows that the performance of our proposed approaches tested on the 60h personal audio archives or 1900 YouTube video clips is significantly better than existing algorithms for detecting these useful concepts in real-world personal audio recordings.

Between Oais and Agile a Dynamic Data Management Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bennett, V. L.; Conway, E. A.; Waterfall, A. M.; Pepler, S.

2015-12-01

In this paper we decribe an approach to the integration of existing archival activities which lies between compliance with the more rigid OAIS/TRAC standards and a more flexible "Agile" approach to the curation and preservation of Earth Observation data. We provide a high level overview of existing practice and discuss how these procedures can be extended and supported through the description of preservation state. The aim of which is to facilitate the dynamic controlled management of scientific data through its lifecycle. While processes are considered they are not statically defined but rather driven by human interactions in the form of risk management/review procedure that produce actionable plans, which are responsive to change. We then proceed by describing the feasibility testing of extended risk management and planning procedures which integrate current practices. This was done through the CEDA Archival Format Audit which inspected British Atmospheric Data Centre and NERC Earth Observation Data Centre Archival holdings. These holdings are extensive, comprising of around 2 Petabytes of data and 137 million individual files, which were analysed and characterised in terms of format, based risk. We are then able to present an overview of the format based risk burden faced by a large scale archive attempting to maintain the usability of heterogeneous environmental data sets We continue by presenting a dynamic data management information model and provide discussion of the following core model entities and their relationships: Aspirational entities, which include Data Entity definitions and their associated Preservation Objectives. Risk entities, which act as drivers for change within the data lifecycle. These include Acquisitional Risks, Technical Risks, Strategic Risks and External Risks Plan entities, which detail the actions to bring about change within an archive. These include Acquisition Plans, Preservation Plans and Monitoring plans which support responsive interactions with the community. The Result entities describe the outcomes of the plans. This includes Acquisitions. Mitigations and Accepted Risks. With risk acceptance permitting imperfect but functional solutions that can be realistically supported within an archives resource levels

Effect of soil property uncertainties on permafrost thaw projections: a calibration-constrained analysis: Modeling Archive

DOE Data Explorer

J.C. Rowland; D.R. Harp; C.J. Wilson; A.L. Atchley; V.E. Romanovsky; E.T. Coon; S.L. Painter

2016-02-02

This Modeling Archive is in support of an NGEE Arctic publication available at doi:10.5194/tc-10-341-2016. This dataset contains an ensemble of thermal-hydro soil parameters including porosity, thermal conductivity, thermal conductivity shape parameters, and residual saturation of peat and mineral soil. The ensemble was generated using a Null-Space Monte Carlo analysis of parameter uncertainty based on a calibration to soil temperatures collected at the Barrow Environmental Observatory site by the NGEE team. The micro-topography of ice wedge polygons present at the site is included in the analysis using three 1D column models to represent polygon center, rim and trough features. The Arctic Terrestrial Simulator (ATS) was used in the calibration to model multiphase thermal and hydrological processes in the subsurface.

Archived DNA reveals fisheries and climate induced collapse of a major fishery.

PubMed

Bonanomi, Sara; Pellissier, Loïc; Therkildsen, Nina Overgaard; Hedeholm, Rasmus Berg; Retzel, Anja; Meldrup, Dorte; Olsen, Steffen Malskær; Nielsen, Anders; Pampoulie, Christophe; Hemmer-Hansen, Jakob; Wisz, Mary Susanne; Grønkjær, Peter; Nielsen, Einar Eg

2015-10-22

Fishing and climate change impact the demography of marine fishes, but it is generally ignored that many species are made up of genetically distinct locally adapted populations that may show idiosyncratic responses to environmental and anthropogenic pressures. Here, we track 80 years of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) population dynamics in West Greenland using DNA from archived otoliths in combination with fish population and niche based modeling. We document how the interacting effects of climate change and high fishing pressure lead to dramatic spatiotemporal changes in the proportions and abundance of different genetic populations, and eventually drove the cod fishery to a collapse in the early 1970s. Our results highlight the relevance of fisheries management at the level of genetic populations under future scenarios of climate change.

Archived DNA reveals fisheries and climate induced collapse of a major fishery

PubMed Central

Bonanomi, Sara; Pellissier, Loïc; Therkildsen, Nina Overgaard; Hedeholm, Rasmus Berg; Retzel, Anja; Meldrup, Dorte; Olsen, Steffen Malskær; Nielsen, Anders; Pampoulie, Christophe; Hemmer-Hansen, Jakob; Wisz, Mary Susanne; Grønkjær, Peter; Nielsen, Einar Eg

2015-01-01

Fishing and climate change impact the demography of marine fishes, but it is generally ignored that many species are made up of genetically distinct locally adapted populations that may show idiosyncratic responses to environmental and anthropogenic pressures. Here, we track 80 years of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) population dynamics in West Greenland using DNA from archived otoliths in combination with fish population and niche based modeling. We document how the interacting effects of climate change and high fishing pressure lead to dramatic spatiotemporal changes in the proportions and abundance of different genetic populations, and eventually drove the cod fishery to a collapse in the early 1970s. Our results highlight the relevance of fisheries management at the level of genetic populations under future scenarios of climate change. PMID:26489934

Archived DNA reveals fisheries and climate induced collapse of a major fishery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bonanomi, Sara; Pellissier, Loïc; Therkildsen, Nina Overgaard; Hedeholm, Rasmus Berg; Retzel, Anja; Meldrup, Dorte; Olsen, Steffen Malskær; Nielsen, Anders; Pampoulie, Christophe; Hemmer-Hansen, Jakob; Wisz, Mary Susanne; Grønkjær, Peter; Nielsen, Einar Eg

2015-10-01

Fishing and climate change impact the demography of marine fishes, but it is generally ignored that many species are made up of genetically distinct locally adapted populations that may show idiosyncratic responses to environmental and anthropogenic pressures. Here, we track 80 years of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) population dynamics in West Greenland using DNA from archived otoliths in combination with fish population and niche based modeling. We document how the interacting effects of climate change and high fishing pressure lead to dramatic spatiotemporal changes in the proportions and abundance of different genetic populations, and eventually drove the cod fishery to a collapse in the early 1970s. Our results highlight the relevance of fisheries management at the level of genetic populations under future scenarios of climate change.

High-resolution elemental records of Glycymeris glycymeris (Bivalvia) shells from the Iberian upwelling system: Ontogeny and environmental control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Freitas, Pedro; Richardson, Christopher; Chenery, Simon; Butler, Paul; Reynolds, David; Gaspar, Miguel; Scourse, James

2015-04-01

The great potential of bivalve shells as a high-resolution geochemical proxy archive of environmental conditions at the time of growth has been known for several decades. The elemental composition of bivalve shells has been studied with the purpose of reconstructing environmental conditions: e.g. seawater temperature (Sr and Mg), primary productivity (Li, Mn, Mo and Ba), redox conditions (Mn and Mo), terrigenous inputs (Li) and pollution (Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb). However, the interpretation of such records remains extremely challenging and complex, with processes affecting element incorporation in the shell (e.g. crystal fabrics, organic matrix, shell formation mechanisms and physiological processes) and the influence of more than one environmental parameter affecting elemental composition of bivalve shells. Nevertheless, bivalve shells remain an underused source of information on environmental conditions, with the potential to record high-resolution (sub-weekly to annually), multi-centennial time series of geochemical proxy data. The relatively long-lived bivalve (>100 years) Glycymeris glycymeris occurs in coastal shelf seas of Europe and North West Africa and is a valid annually resolved sclerochronological archive for palaeonvironmental reconstructions. The temporal framework provided by absolute annually dated shell material makes Glycymeris glycymeris a valuable, albeit unexplored, resource for investigating sub-annually resolved geochemical proxies. We present a first evaluation on the potential of Ba, P and U, the latter two elements rarely studied in bivalves, in Glycymeris glycymeris shells to record variations in the environmental conditions, respectively primary productivity, dissolved inorganic phosphorus and carbonate ion concentration/pH. High-resolution (31 to 77 samples per year) profiles of elemental/Ca ratios (E/Ca) over four years of growth (2001 to 2004) were obtained by LA-ICP-MS on two shells (13 and 16 years old) live-collected in 2010 at 30 m water depth on the Iberia upwelling system. In both shells, clear E/Ca annual cycles with significant higher-frequency variability (weekly to sub-monthly) were observed over the four years of growth analysed. However, E/Ca ratios and the amplitude of the annual E/Ca cycles were lower in the older shell and showed decreasing trends with age (ontogenetic effects). E/Ca ratios were age-detrended using statistical techniques derived from dendrochronology, resulting in similar and coherent profiles in both shells. It seems unlikely that enough variability in E/Ca ratios will be recorded in the shell after 15 to 20 years of age to allow the retrieval of an environmental signal by age-detrending E/Ca ratios. Detrended P/Ca, Ba/Ca and U/Ca in Glycymeris glycymeris shells showed coherent variations with coeval modelled and instrumental oceanographic series from the Iberia upwelling system that suggest a robust potential as an archive of environmental conditions in the first 15 to 20 years of growth. Nevertheless a robust calibration is required to distinguish between the influences of multiple environmental parameters. This study was financed and conducted in the frame of the Portuguese FCT GLYCY Project (contract PTDC/AAC-CLI/118003/2010).

Utilisation of cancer screening services by disabled women in Chile

PubMed Central

Rotarou, Elena S.

2017-01-01

Background Research has shown that women with disabilities face additional challenges in accessing and using healthcare services compared to non-disabled women. However, relatively little is known about the utilisation of cancer screening services for women with disabilities. This study addresses this gap by examining the utilisation of the Papanicolaou test and mammography for disabled women in Chile. Methods We used cross-sectional data, taken from a 2015 nationally-representative survey. Initially, we employed logistic regressions to test for differences in utilisation rates for the Papanicolaou test (66,281 observations) and the mammogram (35,294 observations) between disabled and non-disabled women. Next, logistic regressions were used to investigate the demographic, socioeconomic, and health-related factors affecting utilisation rates for cancer screening services for disabled women (sample sizes: 5,823 observations for the Papanicolaou test and 5,731 observations for the mammogram). Results Disabled women were less likely to undergo screening tests than non-disabled women. For the Papanicolaou test and mammography, the multivariable regression models showed that living in rural areas, having higher education, being affiliated with a private health insurance company, giving a good health self-assessment score, and being under medical treatment for other illnesses were associated with higher utilisation rates. On the other hand, being single, inactive with regard to employment, and having a better income were linked with lower utilisation. While utilisation rates for both disabled and non-disabled women have increased since 2006, the utilisation disparity has slightly increased. Conclusions This study shows the influence of various factors in the utilisation rates of preventive cancer screening services for disabled women. To develop effective initiatives targeting inequalities in the utilisation of cancer screening tests, it is important to move beyond an exclusively single-disease approach and acknowledge the complexity of the patient population. PMID:28459874

Utilisation of cancer screening services by disabled women in Chile.

PubMed

Sakellariou, Dikaios; Rotarou, Elena S

2017-01-01

Research has shown that women with disabilities face additional challenges in accessing and using healthcare services compared to non-disabled women. However, relatively little is known about the utilisation of cancer screening services for women with disabilities. This study addresses this gap by examining the utilisation of the Papanicolaou test and mammography for disabled women in Chile. We used cross-sectional data, taken from a 2015 nationally-representative survey. Initially, we employed logistic regressions to test for differences in utilisation rates for the Papanicolaou test (66,281 observations) and the mammogram (35,294 observations) between disabled and non-disabled women. Next, logistic regressions were used to investigate the demographic, socioeconomic, and health-related factors affecting utilisation rates for cancer screening services for disabled women (sample sizes: 5,823 observations for the Papanicolaou test and 5,731 observations for the mammogram). Disabled women were less likely to undergo screening tests than non-disabled women. For the Papanicolaou test and mammography, the multivariable regression models showed that living in rural areas, having higher education, being affiliated with a private health insurance company, giving a good health self-assessment score, and being under medical treatment for other illnesses were associated with higher utilisation rates. On the other hand, being single, inactive with regard to employment, and having a better income were linked with lower utilisation. While utilisation rates for both disabled and non-disabled women have increased since 2006, the utilisation disparity has slightly increased. This study shows the influence of various factors in the utilisation rates of preventive cancer screening services for disabled women. To develop effective initiatives targeting inequalities in the utilisation of cancer screening tests, it is important to move beyond an exclusively single-disease approach and acknowledge the complexity of the patient population.

Trends, determinants and inequities of 4+ ANC utilisation in Bangladesh.

PubMed

Rahman, Aminur; Nisha, Monjura Khatun; Begum, Tahmina; Ahmed, Sayem; Alam, Nurul; Anwar, Iqbal

2017-01-13

The objectives of this study are to document the trend on utilisation of four or more (4 + ) antenatal care (ANC) over the last 22 years period and to explore the determinants and inequity of 4 + ANC utilisation as reported by the last two Bangladesh Demographic and Health surveys (BDHS) (2011 and 2014). The data related to ANC have been extracted from the BDHS data set which is available online as an open source. STATA 13 software was used for organising and analysing the data. The outcome variable considered for this study was utilisation of 4 + ANC. Trends of 4 + ANC were measured in percentage and predictors for 4 + ANC were measured through bivariate and multivariable analysis. The concentration index was estimated for assessing inequity in 4 + ANC utilisation. Utilisation of 4 + ANC has increased by about 26% between the year 1994 and 2014. Higher level of education, residing in urban region and richest wealth quintile were found to be significant predictors. The utilisation of 4 + ANC has decreased with increasing parity and maternal age. The inequity indices showed consistent inequities in 4 + ANC utilisation, and such inequities were increased between 2011 and 2014. In Bangladesh, the utilisation of any ANC rose steadily between 1994 and 2014, but progress in terms of 4 + ANC utilisation was much slower as the expectation was to achieve the national set target (50%: 4 + ANC utilisation) by 2016. Socio-economic inequities were observed in groups that failed to attend a 4 + ANC visit. Policymakers should pay special attention to increase the 4 + ANC coverage where this study can facilitate to identify the target groups whom need to be intervened on priority basis.

Determination of total mercury in environmental and biological samples by flow injection cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murphy, James; Jones, Phil; Hill, Steve J.

1996-12-01

A simple and accurate method has been developed for the determination of total mercury in environmental and biological samples. The method utilises an off-line microwave digestion stage followed by analysis using a flow injection system with detection by cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometry. The method has been validated using two certified reference materials (DORM-1 dogfish and MESS-2 estuarine sediment) and the results agreed well with the certified values. A detection limit of 0.2 ng g -1 Hg was obtained and no significant interference was observed. The method was finally applied to the determination of mercury in river sediments and canned tuna fish, and gave results in the range 0.1-3.0 mg kg -1.

Investigating glacial mass balance variability around the Prince Gustav Channel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Royston, Samantha; Gudmundsson, Hilmar; Clarke, Lucy; Fox, Adrian

2015-04-01

Glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula have shown a varied response to recent climatic change. Most commonly, AP tidewater glaciers have retreated at the calving front and their flow rate has accelerated, increasing the contribution to sea level rise. Here, we utilise the results from a new photogrammetric technique that unlocks the archives of aerial photography from the 1940's to present, to investigate the driving mechanisms of glacier mass change on the AP over this period. Surface DEMs at different epochs have been derived using the new technique for a number of individual glacier basins. A higher-order vertically-integrated ice stream model is used to investigate the driving mechanisms of change for the area around the Prince Gustav Channel, incorporating basins covered by the new datasets. The Prince Gustav Ice Shelf collapsed in January 1995, followed by significant frontal retreat and speed up of its tributary glaciers. Additionally, significant changes have been observed for non-tributary glaciers such as Whisky Glacier on James Ross Island. Here, we investigate the sensitivity of this region's glaciers to ice shelf collapse, atmospheric and oceanic variability.

Digesting the data - Effects of predator ingestion on the oxygen isotopic signature of micro-mammal teeth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barham, Milo; Blyth, Alison J.; Wallwork, Melinda D.; Joachimski, Michael M.; Martin, Laure; Evans, Noreen J.; Laming, Belinda; McDonald, Bradley J.

2017-11-01

Biogenic minerals such as dental apatite have become commonly analysed archives preserving geochemical indicators of past environmental conditions and palaeoecologies. However, post-mortem, biogenic minerals are modified due to the alteration/replacement of labile components, and recent moves to utilise micro-mammal tooth δ18O signatures for refined Cenozoic terrestrial palaeoclimate reconstructions has lacked consideration of the chemical effects of predator digestion. Here, the physical and chemical condition of laboratory-raised mouse (Mus musculus) teeth have been investigated in conjunction with their bulk phosphate and tissue-specific δ18O values prior, and subsequent, to ingestion and excretion by various predator species (owls, mammals and a reptile). Substantial variability (up to 2‰) in the δ18O values of both undigested teeth and those ingested by specific predators suggests significant natural heterogeneity of individual prey δ18O. Statistically distinct, lower δ18O values (∼0.7‰) are apparent in teeth ingested by barn owls compared to undigested controls as a result of the chemically and enzymatically active digestive and waste-pellet environments. Overall, dentine tissues preserve lower δ18O values than enamel, while the greatest modification of oxygen isotope signals is exhibited in the basal enamel of ingested teeth as a result of its incompletely mineralised state. However, recognition of 18O-depletion in chemically purified phosphate analyses demonstrates that modification of original δ18O values is not restricted to labile oxygen-bearing carbonate and organic phases. The style and magnitude of digestive-alteration varies with predator species and no correlation was identified between specific physical or minor/trace-element (patterns or concentrations) modification of ingested teeth and disruption of their primary oxygen isotope values. Therefore, there is a current lack of any screening tool for oxygen isotope disruption as a result of predation. These results point to the need for careful application of the micro-mammal oxygen isotope palaeoenvironmental proxy in future studies.

Research Applications of Data from Arctic Ocean Drifting Platforms: The Arctic Buoy Program and the Environmental Working Group CD's.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moritz, R. E.; Rigor, I.

2006-12-01

ABSTRACT: The Arctic Buoy Program was initiated in 1978 to measure surface air pressure, surface temperature and sea-ice motion in the Arctic Ocean, on the space and time scales of synoptic weather systems, and to make the data available for research, forecasting and operations. The program, subsequently renamed the International Arctic Buoy Programme (IABP), has endured and expanded over the past 28 years. A hallmark of the IABP is the production, dissemination and archival of research-quality datasets and analyses. These datasets have been used by the authors of over 500 papers on meteorolgy, sea-ice physics, oceanography, air-sea interactions, climate, remote sensing and other topics. Elements of the IABP are described briefly, including measurements, analysis, data dissemination and data archival. Selected highlights of the research applications are reviewed, including ice dynamics, ocean-ice modeling, low-frequency variability of Arctic air-sea-ice circulation, and recent changes in the age, thickness and extent of Arctic Sea-ice. The extended temporal coverage of the data disseminated on the Environmental Working Group CD's is important for interpreting results in the context of climate.

Marine bivalve shell geochemistry and ultrastructure from modern low pH environments: environmental effect versus experimental bias

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hahn, S.; Rodolfo-Metalpa, R.; Griesshaber, E.; Schmahl, W. W.; Buhl, D.; Hall-Spencer, J. M.; Baggini, C.; Fehr, K. T.; Immenhauser, A.

2012-05-01

Bivalve shells can provide excellent archives of past environmental change but have not been used to interpret ocean acidification events. We investigated carbon, oxygen and trace element records from different shell layers in the mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis combined with detailed investigations of the shell ultrastructure. Mussels from the harbour of Ischia (Mediterranean, Italy) were transplanted and grown in water with mean pHT 7.3 and mean pHT 8.1 near CO2 vents on the east coast of the island. Most prominently, the shells recorded the shock of transplantation, both in their shell ultrastructure, textural and geochemical record. Shell calcite, precipitated subsequently under acidified seawater responded to the pH gradient by an in part disturbed ultrastructure. Geochemical data from all test sites show a strong metabolic effect that exceeds the influence of the low-pH environment. These field experiments showed that care is needed when interpreting potential ocean acidification signals because various parameters affect shell chemistry and ultrastructure. Besides metabolic processes, seawater pH, factors such as salinity, water temperature, food availability and population density all affect the biogenic carbonate shell archive.

Toward Automatic Georeferencing of Archival Aerial Photogrammetric Surveys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giordano, S.; Le Bris, A.; Mallet, C.

2018-05-01

Images from archival aerial photogrammetric surveys are a unique and relatively unexplored means to chronicle 3D land-cover changes over the past 100 years. They provide a relatively dense temporal sampling of the territories with very high spatial resolution. Such time series image analysis is a mandatory baseline for a large variety of long-term environmental monitoring studies. The current bottleneck for accurate comparison between epochs is their fine georeferencing step. No fully automatic method has been proposed yet and existing studies are rather limited in terms of area and number of dates. State-of-the art shows that the major challenge is the identification of ground references: cartographic coordinates and their position in the archival images. This task is manually performed, and extremely time-consuming. This paper proposes to use a photogrammetric approach, and states that the 3D information that can be computed is the key to full automation. Its original idea lies in a 2-step approach: (i) the computation of a coarse absolute image orientation; (ii) the use of the coarse Digital Surface Model (DSM) information for automatic absolute image orientation. It only relies on a recent orthoimage+DSM, used as master reference for all epochs. The coarse orthoimage, compared with such a reference, allows the identification of dense ground references and the coarse DSM provides their position in the archival images. Results on two areas and 5 dates show that this method is compatible with long and dense archival aerial image series. Satisfactory planimetric and altimetric accuracies are reported, with variations depending on the ground sampling distance of the images and the location of the Ground Control Points.

Lessons Learned while Exploring Cloud-Native Architectures for NASA EOSDIS Applications and Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pilone, D.

2016-12-01

As new, high data rate missions begin collecting data, the NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) archive is projected to grow roughly 20x to over 300PBs by 2025. To prepare for the dramatic increase in data and enable broad scientific inquiry into larger time series and datasets, NASA has been exploring the impact of applying cloud technologies throughout EOSDIS. In this talk we will provide an overview of NASA's prototyping and lessons learned in applying cloud architectures to: Highly scalable and extensible ingest and archive of EOSDIS data Going "all-in" on cloud based application architectures including "serverless" data processing pipelines and evaluating approaches to vendor-lock in Rethinking data distribution and approaches to analysis in a cloud environment Incorporating and enforcing security controls while minimizing the barrier for research efforts to deploy to NASA compliant, operational environments. NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) is a coordinated series of satellites for long term global observations. NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) is a multi-petabyte-scale archive of environmental data that supports global climate change research by providing end-to-end services from EOS instrument data collection to science data processing to full access to EOS and other earth science data. On a daily basis, the EOSDIS ingests, processes, archives and distributes over 3 terabytes of data from NASA's Earth Science missions representing over 6000 data products ranging from various types of science disciplines. EOSDIS has continually evolved to improve the discoverability, accessibility, and usability of high-impact NASA data spanning the multi-petabyte-scale archive of Earth science data products.

Identification of mycotoxins by UHPLC-QTOF MS in airborne fungi and fungi isolated from industrial paper and antique documents from the Archive of Bogotá.

PubMed

Castillo, Nancy I; Ibáñez, María; Beltrán, Eduardo; Rivera-Monroy, Jhon; Ochoa, Juan Camilo; Páez-Castillo, Mónica; Posada-Buitrago, Martha L; Sulyok, Michael; Hernández, Félix

2016-01-01

Mold deterioration of historical documents in archives and libraries is a frequent and complex phenomenon that may have important economic and cultural consequences. In addition, exposure to toxic fungal metabolites might produce health problems. In this work, samples of broths of fungal species isolated from the documentary material and from indoor environmental samples of the Archive of Bogotá have been analyzed to investigate the presence of mycotoxins. High resolution mass spectrometry made possible to search for a large number of mycotoxins, even without reference standards available at the laboratory. For this purpose, a screening strategy based on ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QTOF MS) under MS(E) mode was applied. A customized home-made database containing elemental composition for around 600 mycotoxins was compiled. The presence of the (de)protonated molecule measured at its accurate mass was evaluated in the samples. When a peak was detected, collision induced dissociation fragments and characteristic isotopic ions were also evaluated and used for tentative identification, based on structure compatibility and comparison with literature data (if existing). Up to 44 mycotoxins were tentatively identified by UHPLC-QTOF MS. 34 of these tentative compounds were confirmed by subsequent analysis using a targeted LC-MS/MS method, supporting the strong potential of QTOF MS for identification/elucidation purposes. The presence of mycotoxins in these samples might help to reinforce safety measures for researchers and staff who work on reception, restoration and conservation of archival material, not only at the Archive of Bogotá but worldwide. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Utilising E-on Vue and Unity 3D scenes to generate synthetic images and videos for visible signature analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Madden, Christopher S.; Richards, Noel J.; Culpepper, Joanne B.

2016-10-01

This paper investigates the ability to develop synthetic scenes in an image generation tool, E-on Vue, and a gaming engine, Unity 3D, which can be used to generate synthetic imagery of target objects across a variety of conditions in land environments. Developments within these tools and gaming engines have allowed the computer gaming industry to dramatically enhance the realism of the games they develop; however they utilise short cuts to ensure that the games run smoothly in real-time to create an immersive effect. Whilst these short cuts may have an impact upon the realism of the synthetic imagery, they do promise a much more time efficient method of developing imagery of different environmental conditions and to investigate the dynamic aspect of military operations that is currently not evaluated in signature analysis. The results presented investigate how some of the common image metrics used in target acquisition modelling, namely the Δμ1, Δμ2, Δμ3, RSS, and Doyle metrics, perform on the synthetic scenes generated by E-on Vue and Unity 3D compared to real imagery of similar scenes. An exploration of the time required to develop the various aspects of the scene to enhance its realism are included, along with an overview of the difficulties associated with trying to recreate specific locations as a virtual scene. This work is an important start towards utilising virtual worlds for visible signature evaluation, and evaluating how equivalent synthetic imagery is to real photographs.

The Space Environmental Impact System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kihn, E. A.

2009-12-01

The Space Environmental Impact System (SEIS) is an operational tool for incorporating environmental data sets into DoD Modeling and Simulation (M&S) which allows for enhanced decision making regarding acquisitions, testing, operations and planning. The SEIS system creates, from the environmental archives and developed rule-base, a tool for describing the effects of the space environment on particular military systems, both historically and in real-time. The system uses data available over the web, and in particular data provided by NASA’s virtual observatory network, as well as modeled data generated specifically for this purpose. The rule base system developed to support SEIS is an open XML based model which can be extended to events from any environmental domain. This presentation will show how the SEIS tool allows users to easily and accurately evaluate the effect of space weather in terms that are meaningful to them as well as discuss the relevant standards used in its construction and go over lessons learned from fielding an operational environmental decision tool.

Maternal health services utilisation by Kenyan adolescent mothers: Analysis of the Demographic Health Survey 2014.

PubMed

Banke-Thomas, Aduragbemi; Banke-Thomas, Oluwasola; Kivuvani, Mwikali; Ameh, Charles Anawo

2017-06-01

Kenya has one of the highest adolescent fertility rates in East-Africa, estimated at 106 births per 1000 females aged 15-19years. In addition to promoting safe sexual behaviour, utilisation of maternal health services (MHS) is essential to prevent poor outcomes of pregnancy and childbirth. To ensure optimum planning, particularly in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals, this study assesses the current service utilisation patterns of Kenyan adolescent mothers and the factors that affect this utilisation. Using data from the recently published 2014 Kenya Demographic Health Survey, we collected demographic and utilisation data of all three MHSs (antenatal care (ANC), skilled birth attendance (SBA) and postnatal care (PNC)) of adolescent mothers aged 15-19years. We then conducted bivariate and multivariate analyses to test associations between selected demographic and service utilisation variables. Our findings showed that half of Kenyan adolescent mothers have had their first birth by the age of 16. MHS utilisation rates amongst Kenyan adolescent mothers were 93%, 65%, 92% for ANC, SBA and PNC respectively. Mother's education, religion, ethnicity, place of residence, wealth quintile, mass media exposure, and geographical region were significant predictors for both ANC and SBA utilisation. Education level of partner was significant for ANC utilisation while parity was significant for both SBA and PNC. Adolescent MHS utilisation is not optimum in Kenya. More work that includes affordable care provision, cultural re-orientation, targeted mass-media campaigns and male involvement in care need to be done with emphasis on the most disadvantaged areas. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Novel Insight for Organic Matter Sourcing: Interest of Time Resolved Fluorescence to Qualify and Quantify PAH Content of Solid Matrix at High Resolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quiers, M.; Perrette, Y.; Jacq, K.; Pousset, E.; Plassart, G.

2017-12-01

OM fluorescence is today a well-developed tool used to characterize and quantify organic matter (OM), but also to evaluate and discriminate OM fate and changes related to climate and environmental modifications. While fluorescence measurements on water and soils extracts provide information about organic fluxes today, solid phase fluorescence using natural archives allows to obtain high resolution records of OM evolution during time. These evolutions can be discussed in regards of climate and environmental perturbations detected in archives using different proxies, and thus provide keys for understanding factors driving carbon fluxes mechanisms. Among fluorescent organic species, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) have been used as probe molecules for organic contamination tracking. Moreover, monitoring studies have shown that PAH could also be used as markers to discriminates atmospheric and erosion factors leading to PAH and organic matter fluxes to the aquifer. PAH records in soils and natural archives appear as a promising proxy to follow both past atmospheric contamination and soil erosion. But, PAH fluorescence is difficult to discriminate from bulk OM fluorescence using steady-state fluorescence (SSF) technics as their fluorescence domains recover. Time resolved emission spectroscopy (TRES) increases the information provided by SSF technic, adding a time dimension to measurements and allowing to discriminate PAH fluorescence. We report here a first application of this technic on natural archives. The challenge is to obtain TRES signature along the sample, including for low PAH concentrations. This study aims to evaluate the reliability of high resolution TRES measurement as PAH carbon fluxes sources. Method is based on LIF instrument for solid phase fluorescence measurement. An instrument coupling an excitation system constituting by 2 pulsed lasers (266 and 355 nm) and a detection system was developed. This measurement provides high resolution record of PAH fluorescence. Preliminary results on stalagmite samples, lake sediments and soils will be reported. PAH content variations along the sample were compared with PAH concentration and with bulk OM content deduced from SSF records. The accuracy of the PAH fluorescence as source marker of fluxes will be discussed for each type of sample.

Outpatient echocardiography in the evaluation of innocent murmurs in children: utilisation benchmarking.

PubMed

Frias, Patricio A; Oster, Matthew; Daley, Patricia A; Boris, Jeffrey R

2016-03-01

We sought to benchmark the utilisation of echocardiography in the outpatient evaluation of heart murmurs by evaluating two large paediatric cardiology centres. Although criteria exist for appropriate use of echocardiography, there are no benchmarking data demonstrating its utilisation. We performed a retrospective cohort study of outpatients aged between 0 and 18 years at the Sibley Heart Center Cardiology and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Division of Cardiology, given a sole diagnosis of "innocent murmur" from 1 July, 2007 to 31 October, 2010. Using internal claims data, we compared the utilisation of echocardiography according to centre, patient age, and physician years of service. Of 23,114 eligible patients (Sibley Heart Center Cardiology: 12,815, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Division of Cardiology: 10,299), 43.1% (Sibley Heart Center Cardiology: 45.2%, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Division of Cardiology: 40.4%; p1-5 years had the lowest utilisation (32.7%). In two large paediatric cardiology practices, the overall utilisation of echocardiography by physicians with a sole diagnosis of innocent murmur was similar. There was significant and similar variability in utilisation by provider at both centres. Although these data serve as initial benchmarking, the variability in utilisation highlights the importance of appropriate use criteria.

A millennial-scale chronicle of evolutionary responses to cultural eutrophication in Daphnia.

PubMed

Frisch, Dagmar; Morton, Philip K; Chowdhury, Priyanka Roy; Culver, Billy W; Colbourne, John K; Weider, Lawrence J; Jeyasingh, Punidan D

2014-03-01

For an accurate assessment of the anthropogenic impacts on evolutionary change in natural populations, we need long-term environmental, genetic and phenotypic data that predate human disturbances. Analysis of c. 1600 years of history chronicled in the sediments of South Center Lake, Minnesota, USA, revealed major environmental changes beginning c. 120 years ago coinciding with the initiation of industrialised agriculture in the catchment area. Population genetic structure, analysed using DNA from dormant eggs of the keystone aquatic herbivore, Daphnia pulicaria, suggested no change for c. 1500 years prior to striking shifts associated with anthropogenic environmental alterations. Furthermore, phenotypic assays on the oldest resurrected metazoan genotypes (potentially as old as c. 700 years) indicate significant shifts in phosphorus utilisation rates compared to younger genotypes. Younger genotypes show steeper reaction norms with high growth under high phosphorus (P), and low growth under low P, while 'ancient' genotypes show flat reaction norms, yet higher growth efficiency under low P. Using this resurrection ecology approach, environmental, genetic and phenotypic data spanning pre- and post-industrialised agricultural eras clearly reveal the evolutionary consequences of anthropogenic environmental change. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

Increasing global accessibility and understanding of water column sonar data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wall, C.; Anderson, C.; Mesick, S.; Parsons, A. R.; Boyer, T.; McLean, S. J.

2016-02-01

Active acoustic (sonar) technology is of increasing importance for research examining the water column. NOAA uses water column sonar data to map acoustic properties from the ocean surface to the seafloor - from bubbles to biology to bottom. Scientific echosounders aboard fishery survey vessels are used to estimate biomass, measure fish school morphology, and characterize habitat. These surveys produce large volumes of data that are costly and difficult to maintain due to their size, complexity, and proprietary format that require specific software and extensive knowledge. However, through proper management they can deliver valuable information beyond their original collection purpose. In order to maximize the benefit to the public, the data must be easily discoverable and accessible. Access to ancillary data is also needed for complete environmental context and ecosystem assessment. NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, in partnership with NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service and the University of Colorado, created a national archive for the stewardship and distribution of water column sonar data collected on NOAA and academic vessels. A web-based access page allows users to query the metadata and access the raw sonar data. Visualization products being developed allow researchers and the public to understand the quality and content of large volumes of archived data more easily. Such products transform the complex data into a digestible image or graphic and are highly valuable for a broad audience of varying backgrounds. Concurrently collected oceanographic data and bathymetric data are being integrated into the data access web page to provide an ecosystem-wide understanding of the area ensonified. Benefits of the archive include global access to an unprecedented nationwide dataset and the increased potential for researchers to address cross-cutting scientific questions to advance the field of marine ecosystem acoustics.

The potential of the coral species Porites astreoides as a paleoclimate archive for the Tropical South Atlantic Ocean

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pereira, N. S.; Sial, A. N.; Frei, R.; Ullmann, C. V.; Korte, C.; Kikuchi, R. K. P.; Ferreira, V. P.; Kilbourne, K. H.

2017-08-01

The aragonitic skeletons of corals are unique archives of geochemical tracers that can be used as proxies for environmental conditions with high fidelity and sub-annual resolution. Such records have been extensively used for reconstruction of climatic conditions in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, Red Sea and Caribbean, but lack for the Equatorial South Atlantic. Here we present coral-based records of Sr/Ca, δ18O and δ13C and the first δ18O-SST calibration for the scleractinian coral species Porites astreoides from the Rocas Atoll, Equatorial South Atlantic. The investigated geochemical proxies for P. astreoides presented a very well-developed seasonal cyclicity in all proxies. We use the monthly means of δ18O and SST from the period of 2001-2013 to propose a calibration for a paleothermometer based on Porites, which gives T(°C) = -8.69(±0.79)* δ18O -7.05(±3.14), and yielded a SST δ18O-depended reconstruction with fidelity better than 0.5 °C for most of the record. Biases of up to 2 °C might be associated with reduced growth rate periods of the coral record. The Sr/Ca data show systematic, annual fluctuations but analyses are too imprecise to propose a Sr/Ca-SST calibration. The δ13C values are found to vary in phase with δ18O and Sr/Ca and are interpreted to be controlled by solar irradiation-modulated photosynthetic activity on the annual level. Our findings extend the global data base of coral records, contributing to further investigations using coral skeleton as environmental archives. In particular, the present study helps to better understand the climate variability of the South Atlantic tropical ocean-atmosphere system.

Diagenetic susceptibility of carbonate archives - an experimental approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pederson, C.; Purgstaller, B.; Mavromatis, V.; Dietzel, M.; Jöns, N.; Buhl, D.; Neuser, R. D.; Breitenbach, S. F. M.; Hoffmann, R.; Kwiecien, O.; Riechelmann, S.; Immenhauser, A.

2017-12-01

Carbonate sediments and biominerals can record environmental conditions during both deposition and subsequent diagenesis, making them important archives of within the geologic record. Therefore, the alteration processes of these paleoenvironmental proxies are important to understand if one is to deduce environmental conditions based on their petrographic and geochemical signature. This study uses an experimental approach in order to best indicate the controls and effects of the diagenesis of various carbonate archives. Samples are hydrothermally altered at known conditions including pore water chemistry (meteoric and brine fluids), and temperature (100-200°C), and are directly compared to an unaltered subsample (same specimen) for petrographic and geochemical alteration, allowing for reduced heterogeneity, and a quantitative and systematic approach to determine the type, extent, and controls of diagenesis. Initial results indicate little-no alteration at the lower temperature experiments (100°C), and almost complete alteration observed at higher temperatures (175-200°C), while intermediate temperature ranges (130-160°C) prove promising for the evaluation of both diagenetic mechanisms, as well as rate limiting factors controlling alteration. Initial results indicate partial recrystallization of the bivalve A. Islandica, as well as other carbonates (corals, bivalves, gastropods, ammonites, and speleothems), with a visually distinct recrystallization front for select specimens. Results indicate that the diagenetic pathway preferentially follows organic distribution, and internal structures within the organo-sediments and minerals, possibly formed during initial formation. Alteration also suggests preferential movement of intercrystalline organics in some sample types, where they appear to be pushed away from the diagenetic front, causing concentration of the water insoluble organics, and the production of visually darker areas surrounding diagenetic fluid pathways.

Integrated nuclear data utilisation system for innovative reactors.

PubMed

Yamano, N; Hasegawa, A; Kato, K; Igashira, M

2005-01-01

A five-year research and development project on an integrated nuclear data utilisation system was initiated in 2002, for developing innovative nuclear energy systems such as accelerator-driven systems. The integrated nuclear data utilisation system will be constructed as a modular code system, which consists of two sub-systems: the nuclear data search and plotting sub-system, and the nuclear data processing and utilisation sub-system. The system will be operated with a graphical user interface in order to enable easy utilisation through the Internet by both nuclear design engineers and nuclear data evaluators. This paper presents an overview of the integrated nuclear data utilisation system, describes the development of a prototype system to examine the operability of the user interface and discusses specifications of the two sub-systems.

Protecting the Moon for research: ILEWG report

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foing, Bernard H.

We give a report on recommendations with emphasis on environment protection, and since last COSPAR from ILEWG International conferences Exploration and Utilisation of the Moon on held at Cape Canaveral in 2008 (ICEUM10), and in Beijing in May 2010 with IAF (GLUC -ICEUM11). We discuss the different rationale for Moon exploration, as debated at ILEWG. ILEWG Science task group has listed priorities for scientific investigations: clues on the formation and evolution of rocky planets, accretion and bombardment in the inner solar system, comparative planetology processes (tectonic, volcanic, impact cratering, volatile delivery), records astrobiology, survival of organics; past, present and future life; sciences from a biology lunar laboratory. We discuss how to preserve Moon research potential in these areas while operating with instruments, landers, rover during a cooperative robotic village, and during the transition form lunar human outpost to permanent sustainable human base. We discuss how Moon-Mars Exploration can inspire solutions to global Earth sustained development with the trade-off of In-Situ Utilisation of resources; Establishment of permanent robotic infrastructures, Environmental and planetary protection aspects and lessons for Mars; Life sciences laboratories, and support to human exploration. Co-authors: ILEWG Task Groups on Science, Technology and Human Lunar Bases ILEWG Reference documents: http://sci.esa.int/ilewg -10th ILEWG Conference on Exploration and Utilisation of the Moon, NASA Lunar Ex-ploration Analysis Group-PSace Resources Roundtable, Cape Canaveral October 2008, pro-gramme online at http://sci.esa.int/ilewg/ -9th ILEWG Conference on Exploration and Utilisation of the Moon, ICEUM9 Sorrento 2007, programme online at http://sci.esa.int/ilewg/ -8th ILEWG Conference on Exploration and Utilisation of the Moon, Beijing July 2006, programme online at http://sci.esa.int/ilewg/ -The Moon and Near Earth Objects (P. Ehrenfreund , B.H. Foing, A. Cellino Editors), Ad-vances in Space Research, Volume 37, Issue 1, pp 1-192, 2006 -7th ILEWG Conference on Exploration and Utilisation of the Moon, Toronto Sept 2005, Programme and Proceedings on line at www.ilewg.org, R. Richards et al Editors -6th ILEWG Conference on Exploration and Utilisation of the Moon, Udaipur Nov. 2004, Proceedings ( N. Bhandari Editor), Journal Earth System Science, India, 114, No6, Dec 2005, pp. 573-841 -5th ILEWG Conference on Exploration and Utilisation of the Moon, Hawaii Nov 2003, Pro-ceedings ILC2005/ICEUM5 (S.M. Durst et al Editors), Vol 108, 1-576 pp, Science and Tech-nology Series, American Astronautical Society, 2004 -'The next steps in exploring deep space -A cosmic study by the IAA', W. Huntress, D. Stetson, R. Farquhar, J. Zimmerman, B. Clark, W. O'Neil, R. Bourke and B. Foing, Acta Astronautica, Vol 58, Issues 6-7, March-April 2006, p302-377 -IAA/ESA workshop on "Next Steps in Exploring Deep Space", ESTEC 22-23 sept. 2003 (B.H. Foing W. Huntress, conveners) Lunar Exploration, Planetary and Space Science, Vol 50, issue 14-15, Dec 2002 (B.H. Foing al) -ESLAB36 symposium on "Earth-like Planets and Moons", 2002, ESA-SP514, pp. 1-356, (B.H.Foing B. Battrick, editors) -'Lunar Exploration 2000', (B.H. Foing, D. Heather, Editors), Adv. Space Research Vol 30, Nr 8, 2002 -'Earth-Moon Relationships', Proceedings of the Conference held in Padova, Italy at the Ac-cademia Galileiana di Scienze Lettere ed Arti, Nov. 2000, (C. Barbieri and F. Rampazzi, Editors), in Earth, Moon , Planets Vol. 85-86, Nos 1-3, pp 1-575, 2001 -4th International Conference on Exploration and Utilisation of the Moon, ESTEC, 2000, ESA SP-462 (B.H. Foing M. Perry, editors) -Investing in Space: The Challenge for Europe. Long-Term Space Policy Committee, Second Report, May 1999. ESA-SP-2000 -2nd International Lunar Workshop, held at Kyoto in October 1996, Proceedings, H. Mizutani, editor, Japan Space Forum Publisher, 1997 International Lunar Workshop, 1994 May 31-June 3, Beatenberg, Switzerland. Proceedings. Ed. Balsiger, H. et al. European Space Agency, 1994. ESA-SP-1170 -Astronomy and Space Science from the Moon', Proceedings of COSPAR/IAF session at World Congress, Washington, (B.H. Foing et al editors), Advances in Space Research, Volume 14, Issue 6, 1994 -Mission to the Moon, Europe's Priorities for Scientific Exploration and Utilisation of the Moon', R.M. Bonnet et al, European Space Agency, ESA SP-1150, June 1992

SeaDataNet Pan-European infrastructure for Ocean & Marine Data Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manzella, G. M.; Maillard, C.; Maudire, G.; Schaap, D.; Rickards, L.; Nast, F.; Balopoulos, E.; Mikhailov, N.; Vladymyrov, V.; Pissierssens, P.; Schlitzer, R.; Beckers, J. M.; Barale, V.

2007-12-01

SEADATANET is developing a Pan-European data management infrastructure to insure access to a large number of marine environmental data (i.e. temperature, salinity current, sea level, chemical, physical and biological properties), safeguard and long term archiving. Data are derived from many different sensors installed on board of research vessels, satellite and the various platforms of the marine observing system. SeaDataNet allows to have information on real time and archived marine environmental data collected at a pan-european level, through directories on marine environmental data and projects. SeaDataNet allows the access to the most comprehensive multidisciplinary sets of marine in-situ and remote sensing data, from about 40 laboratories, through user friendly tools. The data selection and access is operated through the Common Data Index (CDI), XML files compliant with ISO standards and unified dictionaries. Technical Developments carried out by SeaDataNet includes: A library of Standards - Meta-data standards, compliant with ISO 19115, for communication and interoperability between the data platforms. Software of interoperable on line system - Interconnection of distributed data centres by interfacing adapted communication technology tools. Off-Line Data Management software - software representing the minimum equipment of all the data centres is developed by AWI "Ocean Data View (ODV)". Training, Education and Capacity Building - Training 'on the job' is carried out by IOC-Unesco in Ostende. SeaDataNet Virtual Educational Centre internet portal provides basic tools for informal education

Using natural archives to detect climate and environmental tipping points in the Earth System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thomas, Zoë A.

2016-11-01

'Tipping points' in the Earth system are characterised by a nonlinear response to gradual forcing, and may have severe and wide-ranging impacts. Many abrupt events result from simple underlying system dynamics termed 'critical transitions' or 'bifurcations'. One of the best ways to identify and potentially predict threshold behaviour in the climate system is through analysis of natural ('palaeo') archives. Specifically, on the approach to a tipping point, early warning signals can be detected as characteristic fluctuations in a time series as a system loses stability. Testing whether these early warning signals can be detected in highly complex real systems is a key challenge, since much work is either theoretical or only tested with simple models. This is particularly problematic in palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironmental records with low resolution, non-equidistant data, which can limit accurate analysis. Here, a range of different datasets are examined to explore generic rules that can be used to detect such dramatic events. A number of key criteria are identified to be necessary for the reliable identification of early warning signals in natural archives, most crucially, the need for a low-noise record of sufficient data length, resolution and accuracy. A deeper understanding of the underlying system dynamics is required to inform the development of more robust system-specific indicators, or to indicate the temporal resolution required, given a known forcing. This review demonstrates that time series precursors from natural archives provide a powerful means of forewarning tipping points within the Earth System.

Search Engine for Antimicrobial Resistance: A Cloud Compatible Pipeline and Web Interface for Rapidly Detecting Antimicrobial Resistance Genes Directly from Sequence Data.

PubMed

Rowe, Will; Baker, Kate S; Verner-Jeffreys, David; Baker-Austin, Craig; Ryan, Jim J; Maskell, Duncan; Pearce, Gareth

2015-01-01

Antimicrobial resistance remains a growing and significant concern in human and veterinary medicine. Current laboratory methods for the detection and surveillance of antimicrobial resistant bacteria are limited in their effectiveness and scope. With the rapidly developing field of whole genome sequencing beginning to be utilised in clinical practice, the ability to interrogate sequencing data quickly and easily for the presence of antimicrobial resistance genes will become increasingly important and useful for informing clinical decisions. Additionally, use of such tools will provide insight into the dynamics of antimicrobial resistance genes in metagenomic samples such as those used in environmental monitoring. Here we present the Search Engine for Antimicrobial Resistance (SEAR), a pipeline and web interface for detection of horizontally acquired antimicrobial resistance genes in raw sequencing data. The pipeline provides gene information, abundance estimation and the reconstructed sequence of antimicrobial resistance genes; it also provides web links to additional information on each gene. The pipeline utilises clustering and read mapping to annotate full-length genes relative to a user-defined database. It also uses local alignment of annotated genes to a range of online databases to provide additional information. We demonstrate SEAR's application in the detection and abundance estimation of antimicrobial resistance genes in two novel environmental metagenomes, 32 human faecal microbiome datasets and 126 clinical isolates of Shigella sonnei. We have developed a pipeline that contributes to the improved capacity for antimicrobial resistance detection afforded by next generation sequencing technologies, allowing for rapid detection of antimicrobial resistance genes directly from sequencing data. SEAR uses raw sequencing data via an intuitive interface so can be run rapidly without requiring advanced bioinformatic skills or resources. Finally, we show that SEAR is effective in detecting antimicrobial resistance genes in metagenomic and isolate sequencing data from both environmental metagenomes and sequencing data from clinical isolates.

Global data bases on distribution, characteristics and methane emission of natural wetlands: Documentation of archived data tape

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Matthews, Elaine

1989-01-01

Global digital data bases on the distribution and environmental characteristics of natural wetlands, compiled by Matthews and Fung (1987), were archived for public use. These data bases were developed to evaluate the role of wetlands in the annual emission of methane from terrestrial sources. Five global 1 deg latitude by 1 deg longitude arrays are included on the archived tape. The arrays are: (1) wetland data source, (2) wetland type, (3) fractional inundation, (4) vegetation type, and (5) soil type. The first three data bases on wetland locations were published by Matthews and Fung (1987). The last two arrays contain ancillary information about these wetland locations: vegetation type is from the data of Matthews (1983) and soil type from the data of Zobler (1986). Users should consult original publications for complete discussion of the data bases. This short paper is designed only to document the tape, and briefly explain the data sets and their initial application to estimating the annual emission of methane from natural wetlands. Included is information about array characteristics such as dimensions, read formats, record lengths, blocksizes and value ranges, and descriptions and translation tables for the individual data bases.

Remotely sensed data available from the US Geological Survey EROS Data Center

USGS Publications Warehouse

Dwyer, John L.; Qu, J.J.; Gao, W.; Kafatos, M.; Murphy , R.E.; Salomonson, V.V.

2006-01-01

The Center for Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS) is a field center of the geography discipline within the US geological survey (USGS) of the Department of the Interior. The EROS Data Center (EDC) was established in the early 1970s as the nation’s principal archive of remotely sensed data. Initially the EDC was responsible for the archive, reproduction, and distribution of black-and-white and color-infrared aerial photography acquired under numerous mapping programs conducted by various Federal agencies including the USGS, Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, and NASA. The EDC was also designated the central archive for data acquired by the first satellite sensor designed for broad-scale earth observations in support of civilian agency needs for earth resource information. A four-band multispectral scanner (MSS) and a return-beam vidicon (RBV) camera were initially flown on the Earth Resources Technology Satellite-1, subsequently designated Landsat-1. The synoptic coverage, moderate spatial resolution, and multi-spectral view provided by these data stimulated scientists with an unprecedented perspective from which to study the Earth’s surface and to understand the relationships between human activity and natural systems.

Ark and Archive: Making a Place for Long-Term Research on Barro Colorado Island, Panama.

PubMed

Raby, Megan

2015-12-01

Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Panama, may be the most studied tropical forest in the world. A 1,560-hectare island created by the flooding of the Panama Canal, BCI became a nature reserve and biological research station in 1923. Contemporaries saw the island as an "ark" preserving a sample of primeval tropical nature for scientific study. BCI was not simply "set aside," however. The project of making it a place for science significantly reshaped the island through the twentieth century. This essay demonstrates that BCI was constructed specifically to allow long-term observation of tropical organisms--their complex behaviors, life histories, population dynamics, and changing species composition. An evolving system of monitoring and information technology transformed the island into a living scientific "archive," in which the landscape became both an object and a repository of scientific knowledge. As a research site, BCI enabled a long-term, place-based form of collective empiricism, focused on the study of the ecology of a single tropical island. This essay articulates tropical ecology as a "science of the archive" in order to examine the origins of practices of environmental surveillance that have become central to debates about global change and conservation.

Prediction of the Long Term Stability of Polyester-Based Recording Media. First Annual Report, June 1982; Second Annual Report, August 1983; Progress Report, December 1984.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Daniel W.; And Others

This document comprises three progress reports for a 5-year environmental aging study aimed at establishing the lifetimes of magnetic tapes and the poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) base of photographic and electronic film under archival storage conditions. The first annual report (1982) introduces the rationale for the project, provides…

Influences and interactions of inundation, peat, and snow on active layer thickness: Modeling Archive

DOE Data Explorer

Scott Painter; Ethan Coon; Cathy Wilson; Dylan Harp; Adam Atchley

2016-04-21

This Modeling Archive is in support of an NGEE Arctic publication currently in review [4/2016]. The Advanced Terrestrial Simulator (ATS) was used to simulate thermal hydrological conditions across varied environmental conditions for an ensemble of 1D models of Arctic permafrost. The thickness of organic soil is varied from 2 to 40cm, snow depth is varied from approximately 0 to 1.2 meters, water table depth was varied from -51cm below the soil surface to 31 cm above the soil surface. A total of 15,960 ensemble members are included. Data produced includes the third and fourth simulation year: active layer thickness, time of deepest thaw depth, temperature of the unfrozen soil, and unfrozen liquid saturation, for each ensemble member. Input files used to run the ensemble are also included.

Providing an Analysis Environment with Access to High-Volume Simulation and Observational Data for Climate Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bennett, V. L.; Juckes, M. N.; Kershaw, P. J.; Lawrence, B.; Stephens, A.; Pritchard, M.; Pepler, S.

2015-12-01

Environmental science requires the fusion of ever growing volumes of data from multiple simulation and observation platforms. In the UK, the Centre for Environmental Analysis (CEDA) provides infrastructure to support the analysis of such data. CEDA delivers both a curated archive, and an environment to exploit that data alongside other datasets. Over 3 petabytes (PB) of data are now available in the archive and this will rise considerably in the next 12 months as key datasets are acquired and made available via the JASMIN super data cluster. JASMIN incorporates over 17 PB of disk, co-located with tape and computing facilities for data analysis via batch, hosted and cloud computing The first of the European Sentinel series of satellites, Sentinel-1A was launched in April 2014, followed by Sentinel-2A in July 2015. Synthetic Aperture Radar data from Sentinel-1A data is already flowing, with around one terabyte per day being archived at CEDA. Recent data are stored on-line for direct access to users; older data will be moved to near-line tape, reinstating for users on demand. It is expected that most UK science users will access, process and analyse the data in the JASMIN-CEMS hosted environment avoiding the need to download and store data on their local machines. Sentinel 2 and Sentinel 3 data will follow soon, with landcover mapping expected to be an important application for Sentinel 2 data. The same approach will be adopted for CMIP6 data, where we expect to both host the largest possible CMIP cache and provide a specific resource for one of the constituent MIPS: HIRESMIP. We expect to provide the UK climate community (and related European collaborators, such as the PRIMAVERA consortium) a 2 PB disk cache alongside a complete copy of HIRESMIP (10-50 PB) on tape. This paper describes these challenging use cases and presents recent infrastructure developments, including how the facility for Climate and Environmental Monitoring from Space, CEMS, exploits JASMIN.

Less-studied TCE: are their environmental concentrations increasing due to their use in new technologies?

PubMed

Filella, M; Rodríguez-Murillo, J C

2017-09-01

The possible environmental impact of the recent increase in use of a group of technology-critical elements (Nb, Ta, Ga, In, Ge and Te) is analysed by reviewing published concentration profiles in environmental archives (ice cores, ombrotrophic peat bogs, freshwater sediments and moss surveys) and evaluating temporal trends in surface waters. No increase has so far been recorded. The low potential direct emissions of these elements, resulting from their absolute low production levels, make it unlikely that the increasing use of these elements in modern technology has any noticeable effect on their environmental concentrations on a global scale. This holds particularly true for those of these elements that are probably emitted in relatively high amounts from other human activities (i.e., coal combustion and non-ferrous smelting), such as In, the most studied element of the group. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Creating and Searching a Local Inventory for Data Granules in a Remote Archive

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cornillon, P. C.

2016-12-01

More often than not, search capabilities for network accessible data do not exist or do not meet the requirements of the user. For large archives this can make finding data of interest tedious at best. This summer, the author encountered such a problem with regard to the two existing archives of VIIRS L2 sea surface temperature (SST) fields obtained with the new ACSPO retrieval algorithm; one at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's PO-DAAC and the other at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). In both cases the data were available via ftp and OPeNDAP but there was no search capability at the PO-DAAC and the NCEI archive was incomplete. Furthermore, in order to meet the needs of a broad range of datasets and users, the beta version of the search engine at NCEI was cumbersome for the searches of interest. Although some of these problems have been resolved since (and may be described in other posters/presentations at this meeting), the solution described in this presentation offers the user the ability to develop a search capability for archives lacking a search capability and/or to configure searches more to his or her preferences than the generic searches offered by the data provider. The solution, a Matlab script, used html access to the PO-DAAC web site to locate all VIIRS 10 minute granules and OPeNDAP access to acquire the bounding box for each granule from the metadata bound to the file. This task required several hours of wall time to acquire the data and to write the bounding boxes to a local file with the associated ftp and OPeNDAP urls for the 110,000+ granule archive. A second Matlab script searched the local archive, seconds, for granules falling in a user defined space-time window and an ascii file of wget commands associated with these was generated. This file was then executed to acquire the data of interest. The wget commands can be configured to acquire the entire files via ftp or a subset of each file via OPeNDAP. Furthermore, the search capability, based on bounding boxes and rectangular regions, could easily be modified to further refine the search. Finally, the script that builds the inventory has been designed to update the local inventory, minutes per month rather than hours.

Does charging different user fees for primary and secondary care affect first-contacts with primary healthcare? A systematic review

PubMed Central

Hone, Thomas; Lee, John Tayu; Majeed, Azeem; Conteh, Lesong; Millett, Christopher

2017-01-01

Abstract Policy-makers are increasingly considering charging users different fees between primary and secondary care (differential user charges) to encourage utilisation of primary health care in health systems with limited gate keeping. A systematic review was conducted to evaluate the impact of introducing differential user charges on service utilisation. We reviewed studies published in MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane library, EconLIT, HMIC, and WHO library databases from January 1990 until June 2015. We extracted data from the studies meeting defined eligibility criteria and assessed study quality using an established checklist. We synthesized evidence narratively. Eight studies from six countries met our eligibility criteria. The overall study quality was low, with diversity in populations, interventions, settings, and methods. Five studies examined the introduction of or increase in user charges for secondary care, with four showing decreased secondary care utilisation, and three showing increased primary care utilisation. One study identified an increase in primary care utilisation after primary care user charges were reduced. The introduction of a non-referral charge in secondary care was associated with lower primary care utilisation in one study. One study compared user charges across insurance plans, associating higher charges in secondary care with higher utilisation in both primary and secondary care. Overall, the impact of introducing differential user-charges on primary care utilisation remains uncertain. Further research is required to understand their impact as a demand side intervention, including implications for health system costs and on utilisation among low-income patients. PMID:28453713

The utilisation of health research in policy-making: concepts, examples and methods of assessment

PubMed Central

Hanney, Stephen R; Gonzalez-Block, Miguel A; Buxton, Martin J; Kogan, Maurice

2003-01-01

The importance of health research utilisation in policy-making, and of understanding the mechanisms involved, is increasingly recognised. Recent reports calling for more resources to improve health in developing countries, and global pressures for accountability, draw greater attention to research-informed policy-making. Key utilisation issues have been described for at least twenty years, but the growing focus on health research systems creates additional dimensions. The utilisation of health research in policy-making should contribute to policies that may eventually lead to desired outcomes, including health gains. In this article, exploration of these issues is combined with a review of various forms of policy-making. When this is linked to analysis of different types of health research, it assists in building a comprehensive account of the diverse meanings of research utilisation. Previous studies report methods and conceptual frameworks that have been applied, if with varying degrees of success, to record utilisation in policy-making. These studies reveal various examples of research impact within a general picture of underutilisation. Factors potentially enhancing utilisation can be identified by exploration of: priority setting; activities of the health research system at the interface between research and policy-making; and the role of the recipients, or 'receptors', of health research. An interfaces and receptors model provides a framework for analysis. Recommendations about possible methods for assessing health research utilisation follow identification of the purposes of such assessments. Our conclusion is that research utilisation can be better understood, and enhanced, by developing assessment methods informed by conceptual analysis and review of previous studies. PMID:12646071

Recent Advance in Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry Techniques for Environmental Analysis in Japan

PubMed Central

Suzuki, Shigeru

2014-01-01

The techniques and measurement methods developed in the Environmental Survey and Monitoring of Chemicals by Japan’s Ministry of the Environment, as well as a large amount of knowledge archived in the survey, have led to the advancement of environmental analysis. Recently, technologies such as non-target liquid chromatography/high resolution mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography with micro bore column have further developed the field. Here, the general strategy of a method developed for the liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) analysis of environmental chemicals with a brief description is presented. Also, a non-target analysis for the identification of environmental pollutants using a provisional fragment database and “MsMsFilter,” an elemental composition elucidation tool, is presented. This analytical method is shown to be highly effective in the identification of a model chemical, the pesticide Bendiocarb. Our improved micro-liquid chromatography injection system showed substantially enhanced sensitivity to perfluoroalkyl substances, with peak areas 32–71 times larger than those observed in conventional LC/MS. PMID:26819891

Factors affecting Japanese retirees' healthcare service utilisation in Malaysia: a qualitative study

PubMed Central

Kohno, Ayako; Nik Farid, Nik Daliana; Musa, Ghazali; Abdul Aziz, Norlaili; Nakayama, Takeo; Dahlui, Maznah

2016-01-01

Objective While living overseas in another culture, retirees need to adapt to a new environment but often this causes difficulties, particularly among those elderly who require healthcare services. This study examines factors affecting healthcare service utilisation among Japanese retirees in Malaysia. Design We conducted 6 focus group discussions with Japanese retirees and interviewed 8 relevant medical services providers in-depth. Guided by the Andersen Healthcare Utilisation Model, we managed and analysed the data, using QSR NVivo 10 software and the directed content analysis method. Setting We interviewed participants at Japan Clubs and their offices. Participants 30 Japanese retirees who live in Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh, and 8 medical services providers. Results We identified health beliefs, medical symptoms and health insurance as the 3 most important themes, respectively, representing the 3 dimensions within the Andersen Healthcare Utilisation Model. Additionally, language barriers, voluntary health repatriation to Japan and psychological support were unique themes that influence healthcare service utilisation among Japanese retirees. Conclusions The healthcare service utilisation among Japanese retirees in Malaysia could be partially explained by the Andersen Healthcare Utilisation Model, together with some factors that were unique findings to this study. Healthcare service utilisation among Japanese retirees in Malaysia could be improved by alleviating negative health beliefs through awareness programmes for Japanese retirees about the healthcare systems and cultural aspects of medical care in Malaysia. PMID:27006344

Analytical Modelling of the Spread of Disease in Confined and Crowded Spaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goscé, Lara; Barton, David A. W.; Johansson, Anders

2014-05-01

Since 1927 and until recently, most models describing the spread of disease have been of compartmental type, based on the assumption that populations are homogeneous and well-mixed. Recent models have utilised agent-based models and complex networks to explicitly study heterogeneous interaction patterns, but this leads to an increasing computational complexity. Compartmental models are appealing because of their simplicity, but their parameters, especially the transmission rate, are complex and depend on a number of factors, which makes it hard to predict how a change of a single environmental, demographic, or epidemiological factor will affect the population. Therefore, in this contribution we propose a middle ground, utilising crowd-behaviour research to improve compartmental models in crowded situations. We show how both the rate of infection as well as the walking speed depend on the local crowd density around an infected individual. The combined effect is that the rate of infection at a population scale has an analytically tractable non-linear dependency on crowd density. We model the spread of a hypothetical disease in a corridor and compare our new model with a typical compartmental model, which highlights the regime in which current models may not produce credible results.

Rock Smelting of Copper Ores with Waste Heat Recovery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Norgate, Terry; Jahanshahi, Sharif; Haque, Nawshad

It is generally recognised that the grades of metallic ores are falling globally. This trend can be expected to increase the life cycle-based energy requirement for primary metal production due to the additional amount of material that must be handled and treated in the mining and mineral processing stages of the metal production life cycle. Rock (or whole ore) smelting has been suggested as a possible alternative processing route for low grade ores with a potentially lower energy intensity and environmental impact than traditional processing routes. In this processing route, the beneficiation stage is eliminated along with its associated energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, but this is partially offset by the need for more solid material to be handled and heated up to smelting temperatures. A life cycle assessment study was carried out to assess the potential energy and greenhouse gas benefits of a conceptual flowsheet of the rock smelting process, using copper ore as an example. Recovery and utilisation of waste heat in the slag (via dry slag granulation) and offgas streams from the smelting step was also included in the study, with the waste heat being utilised either for thermal applications or electricity generation.

Identification of mycotoxins by UHPLC–QTOF MS in airborne fungi and fungi isolated from industrial paper and antique documents from the Archive of Bogotá

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

Castillo, Nancy I.; Ibáñez, María; Beltrán, Eduardo

Mold deterioration of historical documents in archives and libraries is a frequent and complex phenomenon that may have important economic and cultural consequences. In addition, exposure to toxic fungal metabolites might produce health problems. In this work, samples of broths of fungal species isolated from the documentary material and from indoor environmental samples of the Archive of Bogotá have been analyzed to investigate the presence of mycotoxins. High resolution mass spectrometry made possible to search for a large number of mycotoxins, even without reference standards available at the laboratory. For this purpose, a screening strategy based on ultra-high pressure liquidmore » chromatography coupled to quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC–QTOF MS) under MS{sup E} mode was applied. A customized home-made database containing elemental composition for around 600 mycotoxins was compiled. The presence of the (de)protonated molecule measured at its accurate mass was evaluated in the samples. When a peak was detected, collision induced dissociation fragments and characteristic isotopic ions were also evaluated and used for tentative identification, based on structure compatibility and comparison with literature data (if existing). Up to 44 mycotoxins were tentatively identified by UHPLC–QTOF MS. 34 of these tentative compounds were confirmed by subsequent analysis using a targeted LC–MS/MS method, supporting the strong potential of QTOF MS for identification/elucidation purposes. The presence of mycotoxins in these samples might help to reinforce safety measures for researchers and staff who work on reception, restoration and conservation of archival material, not only at the Archive of Bogotá but worldwide. - Highlights: • Mold deterioration of historical documents is a frequent and complex phenomenon. • Samples of broths of fungal species isolated from Archive of Bogotá analyzed. • UHPLC–QTOF MS (MS{sup E}) applied for mycotoxins screening, without reference standards. • Customized home-made database for around 600 mycotoxins compiled. • 44 mycotoxins tentatively identified, 34 of which confirmed by LC–MS/MS.« less

Long Term Land Cover and Seagrass Mapping using Landsat and Object-based Image Analysis from 1972 - 2010 in the Coastal Environment of South East Queensland, Australia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lyons, M. B.; Phinn, S. R.; Roelfsema, C. M.

2011-12-01

Long term global archives of high-moderate spatial resolution, multi-spectral satellite imagery are now readily accessible, but are not being fully utilised by management agencies due to the lack of appropriate methods to consistently produce accurate and timely management ready information. This work developed an object-based approach to map land cover and seagrass distribution in an Australian coastal environment for a 38 year Landsat image time-series archive. Landsat Multi-Spectral Scanner (MSS), Thematic Mapper (TM) and Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) imagery were used without in-situ field data input to produce land and seagrass cover maps every year data was available, resulting in over 60 individual map products over the 38 year archive. Land cover was mapped annually and included several vegetation, bare ground, urban and agricultural classes. Seagrass distribution was also mapped annually, and in some years monthly, via horizontal projective foliage cover classes, sand and deepwater. Land cover products were validated using aerial photography and seagrass was validated with field survey data, producing several measures of accuracy. An average overall accuracy of 65% and 81% was reported for seagrass and land cover respectively, which is consistent with other studies in the area. This study is the first to show moderate spatial resolution, long term annual changes in land cover and seagrass in an Australian environment, without the use of in-situ data; and only one of a few similar studies globally. The land cover products identify several long term trends; such as significant increases in South East Queensland's urban density, vegetation clearing in rural and rural-residential areas, and inter-annual variation in dry vegetation types in western South East Queensland. The seagrass cover products show that there has been a minimal overall change in seagrass extent, but that seagrass cover level distribution is extremely dynamic; evidenced by large scale migrations of higher seagrass cover levels and several events of sudden, significant changes in cover level. These mapping products will allow management agencies to build a baseline assessment of their resources, understand past changes and help inform implementation and planning of management policy to address potential future changes.

Long term land cover and seagrass mapping using Landsat and object-based image analysis from 1972 to 2010 in the coastal environment of South East Queensland, Australia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lyons, Mitchell B.; Phinn, Stuart R.; Roelfsema, Chris M.

2012-07-01

Long term global archives of high-moderate spatial resolution, multi-spectral satellite imagery are now readily accessible, but are not being fully utilised by management agencies due to the lack of appropriate methods to consistently produce accurate and timely management ready information. This work developed an object-based remote sensing approach to map land cover and seagrass distribution in an Australian coastal environment for a 38 year Landsat image time-series archive (1972-2010). Landsat Multi-Spectral Scanner (MSS), Thematic Mapper (TM) and Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) imagery were used without in situ field data input (but still using field knowledge) to produce land and seagrass cover maps every year data were available, resulting in over 60 map products over the 38 year archive. Land cover was mapped annually using vegetation, bare ground, urban and agricultural classes. Seagrass distribution was also mapped annually, and in some years monthly, via horizontal projected foliage cover classes, sand and deep water. Land cover products were validated using aerial photography and seagrass maps were validated with field survey data, producing several measures of accuracy. An average overall accuracy of 65% and 80% was reported for seagrass and land cover products respectively, which is consistent with other studies in the area. This study is the first to show moderate spatial resolution, long term annual changes in land cover and seagrass in an Australian environment, created without the use of in situ data; and only one of a few similar studies globally. The land cover products identify several long term trends; such as significant increases in South East Queensland's urban density and extent, vegetation clearing in rural and rural-residential areas, and inter-annual variation in dry vegetation types in western South East Queensland. The seagrass cover products show that there has been a minimal overall change in seagrass extent, but that seagrass cover level distribution is extremely dynamic; evidenced by large scale migrations of higher seagrass cover levels and several sudden and significant changes in cover level. These mapping products will allow management agencies to build a baseline assessment of their resources, understand past changes and help inform implementation and planning of management policy to address potential future changes.

Changing seasonality patterns in Central Europe from Miocene Climate Optimum to Miocene Climate Transition deduced from the Crassostrea isotope archive

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harzhauser, Mathias; Piller, Werner E.; Müllegger, Stefan; Grunert, Patrick; Micheels, Arne

2011-03-01

The Western Tethyan estuarine oyster Crassostrea gryphoides is an excellent climate archive due to its large size and rapid growth. It is geologically long lived and allows a stable isotope-based insight into climatic trends during the Miocene. Herein we utilised the climate archive of 5 oyster shells from the Miocene Climate Optimum (MCO) and the subsequent Miocene Climate Transition (MCT) to evaluate changes of seasonality patterns. MCO shells exhibit highly regular seasonal rhythms of warm-wet and dry-cool seasons. Optimal conditions resulted in extraordinary growth rates of the oysters. δ 13C profiles are in phase with δ 18O although phytoplankton blooms may cause a slight offset. Estuarine waters during the MCO in Central Europe display a seasonal temperature range of c. 9-10 °C. Absolute water temperatures have ranged from 17 to 19 °C during cool seasons and up to 28 °C in warm seasons. Already during the early phase of the MCO, the growth rates are distinctly declining, although gigantic and extremely old shells have been formed at that time. Still, a very regular and well expressed seasonality is dominating the isotope profiles, but episodically occurring extreme climate events influence the environments. The seasonal temperature range is still c. 9 °C but the cool season temperature seems to be slightly lower (16 °C) and the warm season water temperature does not exceed c. 25 °C. In the later MCT at c. 12.5-12.0 Ma the seasonality pattern is breaking down and is replaced by successions of dry years with irregular precipitation events. No correlation between δ 18O and δ 13C is documented maybe due to a suboptimal nutrition level which would explain the low growth rates and small sizes. The amplitude of seasonal temperature range is decreasing to 5-8 °C. No clear cooling trend can be postulated for that time as the winter season water temperatures range from 15 to 20 °C. This may point to unstable precipitation rhythms on a multi-annual to decadal scale as main difference between MCO and MCT climates in Central Europe instead of a simple temperature decline scenario.

Mapping the Risks. Assessing the Homeland Security Implications of Publicly Available Geospatial Information

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-01-01

Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board 1 0.2 Export-Import Bank 1 0.2 National Archives and Records Administration 1 0.2 Supreme Court of the United...Agency Commodity Futures Trading Commission Consumer Product Safety Commission Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Environmental Protection Agency...Intelligence www.cia.gov Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board www.dnfsb.gov Department of

Ecological Risk Assessment of Perchlorate in Avian Species, Rodents, Amphibians and Fish

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-06-01

also pose toxicological risk to terrestrial and aquatic organisms. In some instances, the occurrence of these metabolites in soils at live firing...embryo (Acheta domesticus) as an invertebrate teratology model. Fundamental and Applied Toxicology . 3:233-236. Zhang, B., P.N. Smith, and T.A...exposure on the hibernation success of the American toad (Bufu americanus). Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology . 46:518- 527

Development of autonomous gamma dose logger for environmental monitoring

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

Jisha, N. V.; Krishnakumar, D. N.; Surya Prakash, G.

2012-03-15

Continuous monitoring and archiving of background radiation levels in and around the nuclear installation is essential and the data would be of immense use during analysis of any untoward incidents. A portable Geiger Muller detector based autonomous gamma dose logger (AGDL) for environmental monitoring is indigenously designed and developed. The system operations are controlled by microcontroller (AT89S52) and the main features of the system are software data acquisition, real time LCD display of radiation level, data archiving at removable compact flash card. The complete system operates on 12 V battery backed up by solar panel and hence the system ismore » totally portable and ideal for field use. The system has been calibrated with Co-60 source (8.1 MBq) at various source-detector distances. The system is field tested and performance evaluation is carried out. This paper covers the design considerations of the hardware, software architecture of the system along with details of the front-end operation of the autonomous gamma dose logger and the data file formats. The data gathered during field testing and inter comparison with GammaTRACER are also presented in the paper. AGDL has shown excellent correlation with energy fluence monitor tuned to identify {sup 41}Ar, proving its utility for real-time plume tracking and source term estimation.« less

Prospects for reconstructing paleoenvironmental conditions from organic compounds in polar snow and ice

USGS Publications Warehouse

Giorio, Chiara; Kehrwald, Natalie; Barbante, Carlo; Kalberer, Markus; King, Amy C.F.; Thomas, Elizabeth R.; Wolff, Eric W.; Zennaro, Piero

2018-01-01

Polar ice cores provide information about past climate and environmental changes over periods ranging from a few years up to 800,000 years. The majority of chemical studies have focused on determining inorganic components, such as major ions and trace elements as well as on their isotopic fingerprint. In this paper, we review the different classes of organic compounds that might yield environmental information, discussing existing research and what is needed to improve knowledge. We also discuss the problems of sampling, analysis and interpretation of organic molecules in ice. This review highlights the great potential for organic compounds to be used as proxies for anthropogenic activities, past fire events from different types of biomass, terrestrial biogenic emissions and marine biological activity, along with the possibility of inferring past temperature fluctuations and even large-scale climate variability. In parallel, comprehensive research needs to be done to assess the atmospheric stability of these compounds, their ability to be transported long distances in the atmosphere, and their stability in the archive in order to better interpret their fluxes in ice cores. In addition, specific decontamination procedures, analytical methods with low detection limits (ng/L or lower), fast analysis time and low sample requests need to be developed in order to ensure a good time resolution in the archive.

Prospects for reconstructing paleoenvironmental conditions from organic compounds in polar snow and ice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giorio, Chiara; Kehrwald, Natalie; Barbante, Carlo; Kalberer, Markus; King, Amy C. F.; Thomas, Elizabeth R.; Wolff, Eric W.; Zennaro, Piero

2018-03-01

Polar ice cores provide information about past climate and environmental changes over periods ranging from a few years up to 800,000 years. The majority of chemical studies have focused on determining inorganic components, such as major ions and trace elements as well as on their isotopic fingerprint. In this paper, we review the different classes of organic compounds that might yield environmental information, discussing existing research and what is needed to improve knowledge. We also discuss the problems of sampling, analysis and interpretation of organic molecules in ice. This review highlights the great potential for organic compounds to be used as proxies for anthropogenic activities, past fire events from different types of biomass, terrestrial biogenic emissions and marine biological activity, along with the possibility of inferring past temperature fluctuations and even large-scale climate variability. In parallel, comprehensive research needs to be done to assess the atmospheric stability of these compounds, their ability to be transported long distances in the atmosphere, and their stability in the archive in order to better interpret their fluxes in ice cores. In addition, specific decontamination procedures, analytical methods with low detection limits (ng/L or lower), fast analysis time and low sample requests need to be developed in order to ensure a good time resolution in the archive.

Development of autonomous gamma dose logger for environmental monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jisha, N. V.; Krishnakumar, D. N.; Surya Prakash, G.; Kumari, Anju; Baskaran, R.; Venkatraman, B.

2012-03-01

Continuous monitoring and archiving of background radiation levels in and around the nuclear installation is essential and the data would be of immense use during analysis of any untoward incidents. A portable Geiger Muller detector based autonomous gamma dose logger (AGDL) for environmental monitoring is indigenously designed and developed. The system operations are controlled by microcontroller (AT89S52) and the main features of the system are software data acquisition, real time LCD display of radiation level, data archiving at removable compact flash card. The complete system operates on 12 V battery backed up by solar panel and hence the system is totally portable and ideal for field use. The system has been calibrated with Co-60 source (8.1 MBq) at various source-detector distances. The system is field tested and performance evaluation is carried out. This paper covers the design considerations of the hardware, software architecture of the system along with details of the front-end operation of the autonomous gamma dose logger and the data file formats. The data gathered during field testing and inter comparison with GammaTRACER are also presented in the paper. AGDL has shown excellent correlation with energy fluence monitor tuned to identify 41Ar, proving its utility for real-time plume tracking and source term estimation.

Manipulation of dietary methionine+cysteine and threonine in broilers significantly decreases environmental nitrogen excretion.

PubMed

Donato, D C Z; Sakomura, N K; Silva, E P; Troni, A R; Vargas, L; Guagnoni, M A N; Meda, B

2016-06-01

The intensification of livestock have increased the emission of pollutants to the environment, leading to a growing interest in seeking strategies that minimise these emissions. Studies have shown that it is possible to manipulate diets by reducing CP levels and thus reducing nitrogen (N) excretion, without compromising performance. However, there is no knowledge of any study that has focused on reducing N excretion and relating this reduction to individual amino acids. This study investigated the effect of dietary methionine+cysteine (MC) and threonine (THR), the two most limiting amino acids for broiler production, on nitrogen excretion (NE) and nitrogen deposition (ND) and determined the efficiency of utilisation of both amino acids for protein deposition. Six trials were conducted to measure the NE and ND in broiler chickens during three rearing phases in response to dietary amino acid. The efficiency of utilisation of the amino acids was calculated by linear regression of body protein deposition and the amino acid intake. Despite the differences between sexes and phases, the efficiency of utilisation was the same, being 0.60 and 0.59 for MC and THR, respectively. The rate of NE behaved exponentially, increasing with amino acid intake, and can exceed 50% of N intake, being higher than ND. On average, for a reduction in intake of each unit of MC or THR (mg) there is a reduction of 0.5% of NE. Although this reduction seems low, considering that it corresponds to changes in one amino acid only, the impact on a large scale would be significant. Knowledge of how animals respond to NE and ND/protein deposition according to amino acid dietary content may represent new efforts towards reducing the impact on environment.

Price and utilisation differences for statins between four countries.

PubMed

Thai, Loc Phuoc; Vitry, Agnes Isabelle; Moss, John Robert

2018-02-01

Australia, England, France and New Zealand use different policies to regulate their medicines market, which can impact on utilisation and price. To compare the prices and utilisation of statins in Australia, England, France and New Zealand from 2011 to 2013. Utilisation of statins in the four countries was compared using Defined Daily Doses (DDD) per 1000 inhabitants per year. Pairwise Laspeyres and Paasche index comparisons were conducted comparing the price and utilisation of statins. The results showed that the price of statins in New Zealand was the cheapest. The price of statins in Australia was most expensive in 2011 and 2012 but France was more expensive in 2013. There were large differences between the Laspeyres index and Paasche index when comparing the price and utilisation of England with Australia and France. The policies that regulate the New Zealand and England medicines markets were more effective in reducing the price of expensive statins. The relative utilisation of cheaper statins was greatest in England and had a large effect on the differences between the two index results. The pricing policies in Australia have been only partly effective in reducing the price of statins compared to other countries.

Stroke patients’ utilisation of extrinsic feedback from computer-based technology in the home: a multiple case study realistic evaluation

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Evidence indicates that post − stroke rehabilitation improves function, independence and quality of life. A key aspect of rehabilitation is the provision of appropriate information and feedback to the learner. Advances in information and communications technology (ICT) have allowed for the development of various systems to complement stroke rehabilitation that could be used in the home setting. These systems may increase the provision of rehabilitation a stroke survivor receives and carries out, as well as providing a learning platform that facilitates long-term self-managed rehabilitation and behaviour change. This paper describes the application of an innovative evaluative methodology to explore the utilisation of feedback for post-stroke upper-limb rehabilitation in the home. Methods Using the principles of realistic evaluation, this study aimed to test and refine intervention theories by exploring the complex interactions of contexts, mechanisms and outcomes that arise from technology deployment in the home. Methods included focus groups followed by multi-method case studies (n = 5) before, during and after the use of computer-based equipment. Data were analysed in relation to the context-mechanism-outcome hypotheses case by case. This was followed by a synthesis of the findings to answer the question, ‘what works for whom and in what circumstances and respects?’ Results Data analysis reveals that to achieve desired outcomes through the use of ICT, key elements of computer feedback, such as accuracy, measurability, rewarding feedback, adaptability, and knowledge of results feedback, are required to trigger the theory-driven mechanisms underpinning the intervention. In addition, the pre-existing context and the personal and environmental contexts, such as previous experience of service delivery, personal goals, trust in the technology, and social circumstances may also enable or constrain the underpinning theory-driven mechanisms. Conclusions Findings suggest that the theory-driven mechanisms underpinning the utilisation of feedback from computer-based technology for home-based upper-limb post-stroke rehabilitation are dependent on key elements of computer feedback and the personal and environmental context. The identification of these elements may therefore inform the development of technology; therapy education and the subsequent adoption of technology and a self-management paradigm; long-term self-managed rehabilitation; and importantly, improvements in the physical and psychosocial aspects of recovery. PMID:24903401

Stroke patients' utilisation of extrinsic feedback from computer-based technology in the home: a multiple case study realistic evaluation.

PubMed

Parker, Jack; Mawson, Susan; Mountain, Gail; Nasr, Nasrin; Zheng, Huiru

2014-06-05

Evidence indicates that post-stroke rehabilitation improves function, independence and quality of life. A key aspect of rehabilitation is the provision of appropriate information and feedback to the learner.Advances in information and communications technology (ICT) have allowed for the development of various systems to complement stroke rehabilitation that could be used in the home setting. These systems may increase the provision of rehabilitation a stroke survivor receives and carries out, as well as providing a learning platform that facilitates long-term self-managed rehabilitation and behaviour change. This paper describes the application of an innovative evaluative methodology to explore the utilisation of feedback for post-stroke upper-limb rehabilitation in the home. Using the principles of realistic evaluation, this study aimed to test and refine intervention theories by exploring the complex interactions of contexts, mechanisms and outcomes that arise from technology deployment in the home. Methods included focus groups followed by multi-method case studies (n = 5) before, during and after the use of computer-based equipment. Data were analysed in relation to the context-mechanism-outcome hypotheses case by case. This was followed by a synthesis of the findings to answer the question, 'what works for whom and in what circumstances and respects?' Data analysis reveals that to achieve desired outcomes through the use of ICT, key elements of computer feedback, such as accuracy, measurability, rewarding feedback, adaptability, and knowledge of results feedback, are required to trigger the theory-driven mechanisms underpinning the intervention. In addition, the pre-existing context and the personal and environmental contexts, such as previous experience of service delivery, personal goals, trust in the technology, and social circumstances may also enable or constrain the underpinning theory-driven mechanisms. Findings suggest that the theory-driven mechanisms underpinning the utilisation of feedback from computer-based technology for home-based upper-limb post-stroke rehabilitation are dependent on key elements of computer feedback and the personal and environmental context. The identification of these elements may therefore inform the development of technology; therapy education and the subsequent adoption of technology and a self-management paradigm; long-term self-managed rehabilitation; and importantly, improvements in the physical and psychosocial aspects of recovery.

Mapping of recent brachiopod microstructure: a tool for environmental and climate studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ye, Facheng; Angiolini, Lucia; Crippa, Gaia; Garbelli, Claudio; Brand, Uwe; Cusack, Maggie; Harper, Elizabeth

2017-04-01

The shells of brachiopods are considered excellent archives of proxies for palaeoenvironment reconstructions. In fact, their biominerals when preserved in the fossil record have considerable potential for extending the climate and environmental record in the geological past. However, their use as fossil archives requires an understanding of how recent shells maintain or change their morphostructure and geochemistry in response to climate, environmental pressures or even ontogenetic/species-specific variation. Here, we focus on the morphology and size of the basic structural units (the fibres within the secondary layer) of several extant brachiopod taxa, to understand their growth program and ontogenetic variation, and if and how they are affected by different environmental conditions. Twenty-nine specimens of six recent brachiopod species [Notosaria nigricans (Sowerby, 1846), Liothyrella neozelanica (Thomson, 1918), Liothyrella uva (Broderip, 1833), Magasella sanguinea (Leach, 1814), Gryphus vitreus (Born, 1778), Calloria inconspicua (Sowerby, 1846)] were chosen for shell microstructural analysis using scanning electron microscopy. The morphology and size of each fibre in the shells of these specimens (600 fibres in ventral valves and 587 fibres in dorsal valves) were described using six parameters [Max and Min ferret (caliper diameter, i.e. longest/shortest distance between any two parallel tangents on the fibre), Area, Perimeter, Convex area and Convex perimeter]. Based on the statistical analysis of these data, we conclude that: 1) There is no significant difference in the shape and size of the fibres between ventral and dorsal valves of specimen's; 2) there is an ontogenetic trend in the shape and size of the fibres, as they invariably become wider and flatter with increasing age, that is from the external posterior part to the internal anterior part of each valve. This has important implications in comparative studies of fossil shells; 3) when comparing two species of the same genus living in different environmental conditions (e.g., Liothyrella uva and Liothyrella neozelanica), the fibres of Liothyrella uva are narrower and rounder than those of Liothyrella neozelanica, a difference that can be related to environmental differences of their habitats.

Does charging different user fees for primary and secondary care affect first-contacts with primary healthcare? A systematic review.

PubMed

Hone, Thomas; Lee, John Tayu; Majeed, Azeem; Conteh, Lesong; Millett, Christopher

2017-06-01

Policy-makers are increasingly considering charging users different fees between primary and secondary care (differential user charges) to encourage utilisation of primary health care in health systems with limited gate keeping. A systematic review was conducted to evaluate the impact of introducing differential user charges on service utilisation. We reviewed studies published in MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane library, EconLIT, HMIC, and WHO library databases from January 1990 until June 2015. We extracted data from the studies meeting defined eligibility criteria and assessed study quality using an established checklist. We synthesized evidence narratively. Eight studies from six countries met our eligibility criteria. The overall study quality was low, with diversity in populations, interventions, settings, and methods. Five studies examined the introduction of or increase in user charges for secondary care, with four showing decreased secondary care utilisation, and three showing increased primary care utilisation. One study identified an increase in primary care utilisation after primary care user charges were reduced. The introduction of a non-referral charge in secondary care was associated with lower primary care utilisation in one study. One study compared user charges across insurance plans, associating higher charges in secondary care with higher utilisation in both primary and secondary care. Overall, the impact of introducing differential user-charges on primary care utilisation remains uncertain. Further research is required to understand their impact as a demand side intervention, including implications for health system costs and on utilisation among low-income patients. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Factors that influence utilisation of HIV/AIDS prevention methods among university students residing at a selected university campus.

PubMed

Ndabarora, Eléazar; Mchunu, Gugu

2014-01-01

Various studies have reported that university students, who are mostly young people, rarely use existing HIV/AIDS preventive methods. Although studies have shown that young university students have a high degree of knowledge about HIV/AIDS and HIV modes of transmission, they are still not utilising the existing HIV prevention methods and still engage in risky sexual practices favourable to HIV. Some variables, such as awareness of existing HIV/AIDS prevention methods, have been associated with utilisation of such methods. The study aimed to explore factors that influence use of existing HIV/AIDS prevention methods among university students residing in a selected campus, using the Health Belief Model (HBM) as a theoretical framework. A quantitative research approach and an exploratory-descriptive design were used to describe perceived factors that influence utilisation by university students of HIV/AIDS prevention methods. A total of 335 students completed online and manual questionnaires. Study findings showed that the factors which influenced utilisation of HIV/AIDS prevention methods were mainly determined by awareness of the existing university-based HIV/AIDS prevention strategies. Most utilised prevention methods were voluntary counselling and testing services and free condoms. Perceived susceptibility and perceived threat of HIV/AIDS score was also found to correlate with HIV risk index score. Perceived susceptibility and perceived threat of HIV/AIDS showed correlation with self-efficacy on condoms and their utilisation. Most HBM variables were not predictors of utilisation of HIV/AIDS prevention methods among students. Intervention aiming to improve the utilisation of HIV/AIDS prevention methods among students at the selected university should focus on removing identified barriers, promoting HIV/AIDS prevention services and providing appropriate resources to implement such programmes.

Archive of chirp seismic reflection data collected during USGS cruises 00SCC02 and 00SCC04, Barataria Basin, Louisiana, May 12-31 and June 17-July 2, 2000

USGS Publications Warehouse

Calderon, Karynna; Dadisman, S.V.; Kindinger, J.L.; Flocks, J.G.; Wiese, D.S.; Kulp, Mark; Penland, Shea; Britsch, L.D.; Brooks, G.R.

2003-01-01

This archive consists of two-dimensional marine seismic reflection profile data collected in the Barataria Basin of southern Louisiana. These data were acquired in May, June, and July of 2000 aboard the R/V G.K. Gilbert. Included here are data in a variety of formats including binary, American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII), Hyper-Text Markup Language (HTML), shapefiles, and Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) and Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) images. Binary data are in Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) SEG-Y format and may be downloaded for further processing or display. Reference maps and GIF images of the profiles may be viewed with a web browser. The Geographic Information Systems (GIS) information provided here is compatible with Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) GIS software.

Management of clandestine drug laboratories: need for evidence-based environmental health policies.

PubMed

Al-Obaidi, Tamara A; Fletcher, Stephanie M

2014-01-01

Clandestine drug laboratories (CDLs) have been emerging and increasing as a public health problem in Australia, with methamphetamine being the dominant illegally manufactured drug. However, management and remediation of contaminated properties are still limited in terms of regulation and direction, especially in relation to public and environmental health practice. Therefore, this review provides an update on the hazards and health effects associated with CDLs, with a specific look at the management of these labs from an Australian perspective. Particularly, the paper attempts to describe the policy landscape for management of CDLs, and identifies current gaps and how further research may be utilised to advance understanding and management of CDLs and inform public health policies. The paper highlights a significant lack of evidence-based policies and guidelines to guide regulatory authority including environmental health officers in Australia. Only recently, the national Clandestine Drug Laboratory Guidelines were developed to assist relevant authority and specialists manage and carry out investigations and remediation of contaminated sites. However, only three states have developed state-based guidelines, some of which are inadequate to meet environmental health requirements. The review recommends well-needed inter-sectoral collaborations and further research to provide an evidence base for the development of robust policies and standard operating procedures for safe and effective environmental health management and remediation of CDLs.

Low socio-economic environmental determinants of children's physical activity in Coventry, UK: A Qualitative study in parents.

PubMed

Eyre, E L J; Duncan, M J; Birch, S L; Cox, V M

2014-01-01

Children's physical activity (PA) is affected by socio-economic status (SES) and the environment. Children are not fully autonomous in their decision making; parental decisions thus affect how children utilise their surrounding environments for PA. The aim was to examine environmental influences on children's PA from a qualitative perspective in parents from low SES wards in Coventry, UK. 59 parents of children in year 4 (aged 8-9years) completed the ALPHA environmental questionnaire. 16 of these parents took part in focus group discussions examining environmental facilitators and barriers to their child's PA (March-April, 2013). Emerging themes related to physical (i.e. poor access, safety and quality of the neighbourhood) and social environment (i.e. 'rough' neighbourhood due to crime and anti-social behaviour) influences on the PA behaviour of children. The parents believed these environmental factors resulted in the children engaging in greater sedentary activity (watching TV) indoors. The school environment was perceived as a supportive physical environment for children's PA behaviour. Parent's perceptions of an unsupportive physical and social environment restrict children's opportunities to play outside and be physically active and may lead to increased body fat (BF). Schools provide a supportive environment for children from low SES to be physically active in.

Varves in lake sediments - a review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zolitschka, Bernd; Francus, Pierre; Ojala, Antti E. K.; Schimmelmann, Arndt

2015-06-01

Downcore counting of laminations in varved sediments offers a direct and incremental dating technique for high-resolution climatic and environmental archives with at least annual and sometimes even seasonal resolution. The pioneering definition of varves by De Geer (1912) had been restricted to rhythmically deposited proglacial clays. One century later the meaning of 'varve' has been expanded to include all annually deposited laminae in terrestrial and marine settings. Under favourable basin configurations and environmental conditions, limnic varves are formed due to seasonality of depositional processes from the lake's water column and/or transport from the catchment area. Subsequent to deposition of topmost laminae, the physical preservation of the accumulating varved sequence requires the sustained absence of sediment mixing, for example via wave action or macrobenthic bioturbation. Individual (sub)laminae in varved lake sediments typically express contrasting colours, always differ in terms of their organic, chemical and/or mineralogical compositions, and often also differ with regard to grain-size. Various predominating climatic and depositional conditions may result in clastic, biogenic or endogenic (incl. evaporitic) varved sediments and their mixtures. To reliably establish a varve chronology, the annual character of laminations needs to be determined and verified in a multidisciplinary fashion. Sources and influences of possible errors in varve chronologies are best determined and constrained by repeated varve counts, and by including radioisotopes and correlation with historically documented events. A well-established varve chronology greatly enhances the scientific value of laminated limnic archives by securely anchoring the wealth of multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental information in the form of time-series for multidisciplinary investigations. Applications of varved records are discussed with special reference to advances since the 1980s. These span fields like calibrating radiometric dating methods, reconstructing past changes of the Earth's magnetic field or detecting fluctuations in solar forcing. Once a varve chronology is established it can be applied to precisely date events like volcanic ash layers, earthquakes or human impact, as well as short- and long-term climate (temperature, precipitation, wind, hydroclimatic conditions or flooding) and environmental changes (eutrophication, pollution). Due to their exceptional high temporal resolution and in combination with their robust and accurate "internal" time scale in calendar years, annually laminated sediments can be regarded as one of the most precious environmental archives on the continents. These records are necessary to extend temporally limited instrumental records back in time. As such they have societal relevance with regard to risk assessments related to natural hazards arising from e.g. flooding or volcanic eruptions.

An Outbreak of Respiratory Tularemia Caused by Diverse Clones of Francisella tularensis

PubMed Central

Johansson, Anders; Lärkeryd, Adrian; Widerström, Micael; Mörtberg, Sara; Myrtännäs, Kerstin; Öhrman, Caroline; Birdsell, Dawn; Keim, Paul; Wagner, David M.; Forsman, Mats; Larsson, Pär

2014-01-01

Background. The bacterium Francisella tularensis is recognized for its virulence, infectivity, genetic homogeneity, and potential as a bioterrorism agent. Outbreaks of respiratory tularemia, caused by inhalation of this bacterium, are poorly understood. Such outbreaks are exceedingly rare, and F. tularensis is seldom recovered from clinical specimens. Methods. A localized outbreak of tularemia in Sweden was investigated. Sixty-seven humans contracted laboratory-verified respiratory tularemia. F. tularensis subspecies holarctica was isolated from the blood or pleural fluid of 10 individuals from July to September 2010. Using whole-genome sequencing and analysis of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), outbreak isolates were compared with 110 archived global isolates. Results. There were 757 SNPs among the genomes of the 10 outbreak isolates and the 25 most closely related archival isolates (all from Sweden/Finland). Whole genomes of outbreak isolates were >99.9% similar at the nucleotide level and clustered into 3 distinct genetic clades. Unexpectedly, high-sequence similarity grouped some outbreak and archival isolates that originated from patients from different geographic regions and up to 10 years apart. Outbreak and archival genomes frequently differed by only 1–3 of 1 585 229 examined nucleotides. Conclusions. The outbreak was caused by diverse clones of F. tularensis that occurred concomitantly, were widespread, and apparently persisted in the environment. Multiple independent acquisitions of F. tularensis from the environment over a short time period suggest that natural outbreaks of respiratory tularemia are triggered by environmental cues. The findings additionally caution against interpreting genome sequence identity for this pathogen as proof of a direct epidemiological link. PMID:25097081

Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Control Technology Options within the Energy, Water and Food Nexus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Al-Ansari, Tareq; Korre, Anna; Nie, Zhenggang; Shah, Nilay

2015-04-01

The utilisation of Energy, Water and Food (EWF) resources can be described as a nexus of complex linkages embodied in industrial and natural processes. Food production is one such example of a system that mobilises EWF resources to deliver a product which is highly influenced by the efficiency of the industrial processes contributing to it and the conditions of the surrounding natural environment. Aggregating the utilisation of EWF resources into interconnected sub-systems is necessary for the accurate representation of the system's dynamics in terms of its material flow and resource consumption. The methodology used in this study is an extension of previous work developed regarding nexus analysis (Al-Ansari et al. 2014a, Al-Ansari et al. 2014b). Life cycle assessment (LCA) is used to prepare detailed models of the sub-system components, determine the linkages between the different nexus constituents and evaluate impacts on the natural environment. The nexus system is comprised of water sub-systems represented by a reverse osmosis (RO) desalination process. Energy sub-systems for power generation include models for a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) and solar Photovoltaics (PV) energy generation, as well as an amine based CO2 capture process enabling the utilisation of CO2 for the artificial fertilization of crops. The agricultural sub-systems include the production and application of fertilizers and the raising of livestock. A biomass integrated gasification combined cycle (BIGCC) for power generation using waste manure from the livestock sub-system is also included. The objective of this study is to consider a conventional food system in Qatar and enhance its environmental performance by using a nexus approach to examine different scenarios and operating modes. For the Qatar case study, three scenarios and four modes of operation were developed as part of the analysis. The baseline scenario uses fossil fuel to power the entire EWF nexus system using CCGT, the second scenario integrates PV to power the RO units and the third scenario uses solar PV to power the RO and fertilizer production facilities. The second operating mode integrates the BIGCC for power generation and the third mode utilises the gasification by-product biochar for the enhancement of agricultural productivity in addition to the power generated from the BIGCC. The final mode of operation examines the use of CO2 capture technology in the baseline scenario to support fertilization resulting in productivity increases for crops. References: Al-Ansari, T., Korre, A., Nie, Z., Shah, N., "Development of a life cycle assessment model for the analysis of the energy, water and food nexus" Computer Aided Chemical Engineering, 33, (2014), 1039-1044. Al-Ansari, T., Korre, A., Nie, Z., Shah, N., Integrated Modelling of the Energy, Water and Food Nexus to Enhance the Environmental Performance of Food Production Systems, 9th International Conference LCA of Food, San Francisco, USA, 8 - 10 October 2014

Factors affecting Japanese retirees' healthcare service utilisation in Malaysia: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Kohno, Ayako; Nik Farid, Nik Daliana; Musa, Ghazali; Abdul Aziz, Norlaili; Nakayama, Takeo; Dahlui, Maznah

2016-03-22

While living overseas in another culture, retirees need to adapt to a new environment but often this causes difficulties, particularly among those elderly who require healthcare services. This study examines factors affecting healthcare service utilisation among Japanese retirees in Malaysia. We conducted 6 focus group discussions with Japanese retirees and interviewed 8 relevant medical services providers in-depth. Guided by the Andersen Healthcare Utilisation Model, we managed and analysed the data, using QSR NVivo 10 software and the directed content analysis method. We interviewed participants at Japan Clubs and their offices. 30 Japanese retirees who live in Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh, and 8 medical services providers. We identified health beliefs, medical symptoms and health insurance as the 3 most important themes, respectively, representing the 3 dimensions within the Andersen Healthcare Utilisation Model. Additionally, language barriers, voluntary health repatriation to Japan and psychological support were unique themes that influence healthcare service utilisation among Japanese retirees. The healthcare service utilisation among Japanese retirees in Malaysia could be partially explained by the Andersen Healthcare Utilisation Model, together with some factors that were unique findings to this study. Healthcare service utilisation among Japanese retirees in Malaysia could be improved by alleviating negative health beliefs through awareness programmes for Japanese retirees about the healthcare systems and cultural aspects of medical care in Malaysia. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Ames Life Science Data Archive: Translational Rodent Research at Ames

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wood, Alan E.; French, Alison J.; Ngaotheppitak, Ratana; Leung, Dorothy M.; Vargas, Roxana S.; Maese, Chris; Stewart, Helen

2014-01-01

The Life Science Data Archive (LSDA) office at Ames is responsible for collecting, curating, distributing and maintaining information pertaining to animal and plant experiments conducted in low earth orbit aboard various space vehicles from 1965 to present. The LSDA will soon be archiving data and tissues samples collected on the next generation of commercial vehicles; e.g., SpaceX & Cygnus Commercial Cargo Craft. To date over 375 rodent flight experiments with translational application have been archived by the Ames LSDA office. This knowledge base of fundamental research can be used to understand mechanisms that affect higher organisms in microgravity and help define additional research whose results could lead the way to closing gaps identified by the Human Research Program (HRP). This poster will highlight Ames contribution to the existing knowledge base and how the LSDA can be a resource to help answer the questions surrounding human health in long duration space exploration. In addition, it will illustrate how this body of knowledge was utilized to further our understanding of how space flight affects the human system and the ability to develop countermeasures that negate the deleterious effects of space flight. The Ames Life Sciences Data Archive (ALSDA) includes current descriptions of over 700 experiments conducted aboard the Shuttle, International Space Station (ISS), NASA/MIR, Bion/Cosmos, Gemini, Biosatellites, Apollo, Skylab, Russian Foton, and ground bed rest studies. Research areas cover Behavior and Performance, Bone and Calcium Physiology, Cardiovascular Physiology, Cell and Molecular Biology, Chronobiology, Developmental Biology, Endocrinology, Environmental Monitoring, Gastrointestinal Physiology, Hematology, Immunology, Life Support System, Metabolism and Nutrition, Microbiology, Muscle Physiology, Neurophysiology, Pharmacology, Plant Biology, Pulmonary Physiology, Radiation Biology, Renal, Fluid and Electrolyte Physiology, and Toxicology. These experiment descriptions and data can be accessed online via the public LSDA website (http://lsda.jsc.nasa.gov) and information can be requested via the Data Request form at http://lsda.jsc.nasa.gov/common/dataRequest/dataRequest.aspx or by contacting the ALSDA Office at: Alison.J.French@nasa.gov

Trends of brominated diphenyl ethers in fresh and archived Great Lakes fish (1979-2005)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Batterman, Stuart; Chernyak, Sergei; Gwynn, Erica; Cantonwine, David; Jia, Chunrong; Begnoche, Linda J.; Hickey, James P.

2007-01-01

While few environmental measurements of brominated diphenyl ethers (BDEs) were completed prior to the mid-1990s, analysis of appropriately archived samples might enable the determination of contaminant trends back to the introduction of these chemicals. In this paper, we first investigate the stability of BDEs in archived frozen and extracted fish samples, and then characterize trends of these chemicals in rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) and lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) in each of the Great Lakes between 1979 and 2005. We focus on the four most common congeners (BDE-47, 100, 99 and 153) and use a change-point analysis to detect shifts in trends. Analyses of archived fish samples yielded precise BDE concentration measurements with only small losses (0.8% per year in frozen fish tissues, 2.2% per year in refrigerated extracts). Trends in fish from all Great Lakes showed large increases in BDE concentrations that started in the early to mid-1980s with fairly consistent doubling times (generally 2–4 years except in Lake Erie smelt where levels increased very slowly), though concentrations and trends show differences by congener, fish species and lake. The most recent data show that accumulation rates are slowing, and concentrations of penta- and hexa-congeners in trout from Lakes Ontario and Michigan and smelt from Lake Ontario started to decrease in the mid-1990s. Trends in smelt and trout are evolving somewhat differently, and trout concentrations in the five lakes are now ranked as Michigan > Superior = Ontario > Huron = Erie, and smelt concentrations as Michigan > Ontario > Huron > Superior > Erie. The analysis of properly archived samples permits the reconstruction of historical trends, congener distributions, biomagnification and other information that can aid the understanding and management of these contaminants.

Spatiotemporal Interpolation for Environmental Modelling

PubMed Central

Susanto, Ferry; de Souza, Paulo; He, Jing

2016-01-01

A variation of the reduction-based approach to spatiotemporal interpolation (STI), in which time is treated independently from the spatial dimensions, is proposed in this paper. We reviewed and compared three widely-used spatial interpolation techniques: ordinary kriging, inverse distance weighting and the triangular irregular network. We also proposed a new distribution-based distance weighting (DDW) spatial interpolation method. In this study, we utilised one year of Tasmania’s South Esk Hydrology model developed by CSIRO. Root mean squared error statistical methods were performed for performance evaluations. Our results show that the proposed reduction approach is superior to the extension approach to STI. However, the proposed DDW provides little benefit compared to the conventional inverse distance weighting (IDW) method. We suggest that the improved IDW technique, with the reduction approach used for the temporal dimension, is the optimal combination for large-scale spatiotemporal interpolation within environmental modelling applications. PMID:27509497

Thermo-hydro-mechanical-chemical processes in fractured-porous media: Benchmarks and examples

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kolditz, O.; Shao, H.; Görke, U.; Kalbacher, T.; Bauer, S.; McDermott, C. I.; Wang, W.

2012-12-01

The book comprises an assembly of benchmarks and examples for porous media mechanics collected over the last twenty years. Analysis of thermo-hydro-mechanical-chemical (THMC) processes is essential to many applications in environmental engineering, such as geological waste deposition, geothermal energy utilisation, carbon capture and storage, water resources management, hydrology, even climate change. In order to assess the feasibility as well as the safety of geotechnical applications, process-based modelling is the only tool to put numbers, i.e. to quantify future scenarios. This charges a huge responsibility concerning the reliability of computational tools. Benchmarking is an appropriate methodology to verify the quality of modelling tools based on best practices. Moreover, benchmarking and code comparison foster community efforts. The benchmark book is part of the OpenGeoSys initiative - an open source project to share knowledge and experience in environmental analysis and scientific computation.

Do 'environmental bads' such as alcohol, fast food, tobacco, and gambling outlets cluster and co-locate in more deprived areas in Glasgow City, Scotland?

PubMed

Macdonald, Laura; Olsen, Jonathan R; Shortt, Niamh K; Ellaway, Anne

2018-05-01

This study utilised an innovative application of spatial cluster analysis to examine the socio-spatial patterning of outlets selling potentially health-damaging goods/services, such as alcohol, fast food, tobacco and gambling, within Glasgow City, Scotland. For all categories of outlets combined, numbers of clusters increased linearly from the least to the most income deprived areas (i.e. one cluster within the least deprived quintile to ten within the most deprived quintile). Co-location of individual types of outlets (alcohol, fast food, tobacco and gambling) within similar geographical areas was also evident. This type of research could influence interventions to tackle the co-occurrence of unhealthy behaviours and contribute to policies tackling higher numbers of 'environmental bads' within deprived areas. Crown Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Environmentally friendly use of non-coal ashes in Sweden.

PubMed

Ribbing, C

2007-01-01

The Swedish Thermal Engineering Research Institute (Värmeforsk) initiated an applied research program "Environmentally friendly use of non-coal ashes", in 2002. The program aims at increasing knowledge on the by-products of energy production and their application. The goal of formulating technical and environmental guidelines and assessments is a major point of the program, which is supported by about forty authorities and private organisations. The programme has been divided into four areas: recycling of ashes to forests, geotechnical applications, use in landfilling, and environmental aspects and chemistry. Among all results obtained, the following progress is shown: *Evidence for the positive effects of spreading ashes on forest growth. *A proposal for environmental guidelines on the utilisation of ashes in construction. *A handbook for using non-coal fly ashes in unpaved roads. *Technical and environmental assessments of MSWI bottom ashes in road construction. *Development of the use of ashes with municipal wastewater sludge as a cover for landfills and mine tailings. *Use of ashes from bio-fuels in concrete and replacement of cement in stoop mining. *A method to classify those by-products from combustion that have mirror entries in the EWC as a hazardous or non-hazardous compound. The Ash Programme has also made it possible to increase knowledge on ashes as valuable materials, on quality assurance and on markets for recovered materials.

Environmental and economic analyses of waste disposal options for traditional markets in Indonesia.

PubMed

Aye, Lu; Widjaya, E R

2006-01-01

Waste from traditional markets in Indonesia is the second largest stream of municipal solid waste after household waste. It has a higher organic fraction and may have greater potential to be managed on a business scale compared to household wastes. The attributed reason is that in general the wastes generated from traditional markets are more uniform, more concentrated and less hazardous than waste from other sources. This paper presents the results of environmental and economic assessments to compare the options available for traditional market waste disposal in Indonesia. The options compared were composting in labour intensive plants, composting in a centralised plant that utilised a simple wheel loader, centralised biogas production and landfill for electricity production. The current open dumping practice was included as the baseline case. A life cycle assessment (LCA) was used for environmental analysis. All options compared have lower environmental impacts than the current practice of open dumping. The biogas production option has the lowest environmental impacts. A cost-benefit analysis, which considered greenhouse gas savings, was used for the economic assessment. It was found that composting at a centralised plant is the most economically feasible option under the present Indonesian conditions. The approach reported in this study could be applied for 'a pre-feasibility first cut comparison' that includes environmental aspects in a decision-making framework for developing countries even though European emission factors were used.

A multi-environmental study of recent breeding progress on nitrogen use efficiency in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).

PubMed

Cormier, Fabien; Faure, Sébastien; Dubreuil, Pierre; Heumez, Emmanuel; Beauchêne, Katia; Lafarge, Stéphane; Praud, Sébastien; Le Gouis, Jacques

2013-12-01

By comparing 195 varieties in eight trials, this study assesses nitrogen use efficiency improvement in high and low nitrogen conditions in European winter wheat over the last 25 years. In a context where European agriculture practices have to deal with environmental concerns and nitrogen (N) fertiliser cost, nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) has to be improved. This study assessed genetic progress in winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) NUE. Two hundred and twenty-five European elite varieties were tested in four environments under two levels of N. Global genetic progress was assessed on additive genetic values and on genotype × N interaction, covering 25 years of European breeding. To avoid sampling bias, quality, precocity and plant height were added as covariates in the analyses when needed. Genotype × environment interactions were highly significant for all the traits studied to such an extent that no additive genetic effect was detected on N uptake. Genotype × N interactions were significant for yield, grain protein content (GPC), N concentration in straw, N utilisation, and NUE. Grain yield improvement (+0.45 % year(-1)) was independent of the N treatment. GPC was stable, thus grain nitrogen yield was improved (+0.39 % year(-1)). Genetic progress on N harvest index (+0.12 % year(-1)) and on N concentration in straw (-0.52 % year(-1)) possibly revealed improvement in N remobilisation. There has been an improvement of NUE additive genetic value (+0.33 % year(-1)) linked to better N utilisation (+0.20 % year(-1)). Improved yield stability was detected as a significant improvement of NUE in low compared to high N conditions. The application of these results to breeding programs is discussed.

Developments in the recovery of colour in fine art prints using spatial image processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rizzi, A.; Parraman, C.

2010-06-01

Printmakers have at their disposal a wide range of colour printing processes. The majority of artists will utilise high quality materials with the expectation that the best materials and pigments will ensure image permanence. However, as many artists have experienced, this is not always the case. Inks, papers and materials can deteriorate over time. For artists and conservators who need to restore colour or tone to a print could benefit from the assistance of spatial colour enhancement tools. This paper studies two collections from the same edition of fine art prints that were made in 1991. The first edition has been kept in an archive and not exposed to light. The second edition has been framed and exposed to light for about 18 years. Previous experiments using colour enhancement methods [9,10] have involved a series of photographs that had been taken under poor or extreme lighting conditions, fine art works, scanned works. There are a range of colour enhancement methods: Retinex, RSR, ACE, Histogram Equalisation, Auto Levels, which are described in this paper. In this paper we will concentrate on the ACE algorithm and use a range of parameters to process the printed images and describe these results.

Further comparison of MODTRAN 5 to measured data in the UV band

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Leon; Richardson, Mark; Ayling, Richard; Barlow, Nick

2014-10-01

The ability to accurately model background radiation from the sun is important in understanding the operation of missile systems with ultraviolet (UV) guard channels. In theory a missile system's UV channel detects a target's silhouette, caused by its `negative contrast' with respect to background UV radiation. The variation in background levels of UV will therefore have an effect on the operability of a missile system that utilises a UV channel. In this paper an update on the measurement and comparison of background UV-A radiation to data produced by Moderate Resolution Atmospheric Transmission 5 (MODTRAN®5) is given. In the past surface flux and radiance data calculated using MODTRAN®5 has been compared to data from the World Ozone and Ultraviolet Data Centre (WOUDC) archive, and measurements taken by the author at the Defence Academy of the UK. With the aid of spectral measurement equipment, new measurements have been made and compared with the radiance profiles produced by MODTRAN®5, including measurements made throughout both winter and summer months. Also discussed are the effects of scattering and absorption by different cloud types on the amount of radiation observed at the Earth's surface.

Fermilab Today - Related Content

Science.gov Websites

Fermilab Today Related Content Subscribe | Contact Fermilab Today | Archive | Classifieds Search Experiment Profiles Current Archive Current Fermilab Today Archive of 2015 Archive of 2014 Archive of 2013 Archive of 2012 Archive of 2011 Archive of 2010 Archive of 2009 Archive of 2008 Archive of 2007 Archive of

C-130 Automated Digital Data System (CADDS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scofield, C. P.; Nguyen, Chien

1991-01-01

Real time airborne data acquisition, archiving and distribution on the NASA/Ames Research Center (ARC) C-130 has been improved over the past three years due to the implementation of the C-130 Automated Digital Data System (CADDS). CADDS is a real time, multitasking, multiprocessing ROM-based system. CADDS acquires data from both avionics and environmental sensors inflight for all C-130 data lines. The system also displays the data on video monitors throughout the aircraft.

Radiocarbon dating of plant macrofossils from tidal-marsh sediment

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kemp, A.C.; Nelson, Alan R.; Horton, B.P.

2013-01-01

Tidal-marsh sediment is an archive of Holocene environmental changes, including movements of sea and land levels, and extreme events such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Accurate and precise radiocarbon dating of environmental changes is necessary to estimate rates of change and the recurrence interval (frequency) of events. Plant macrofossils preserved in growth position (or deposited soon after death) in tidal-marsh sediment are ideal samples for dating such changes. In this chapter, we focus on the selection of plant macrofossils for radiocarbon dating and the application of ages from different types of macrofossils to varied research projects, and make recommendations for selection and preparation of tidal-marsh samples for dating.

A portal for the ocean biogeographic information system

USGS Publications Warehouse

Zhang, Yunqing; Grassle, J. F.

2002-01-01

Since its inception in 1999 the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) has developed into an international science program as well as a globally distributed network of biogeographic databases. An OBIS portal at Rutgers University provides the links and functional interoperability among member database systems. Protocols and standards have been established to support effective communication between the portal and these functional units. The portal provides distributed data searching, a taxonomy name service, a GIS with access to relevant environmental data, biological modeling, and education modules for mariners, students, environmental managers, and scientists. The portal will integrate Census of Marine Life field projects, national data archives, and other functional modules, and provides for network-wide analyses and modeling tools.

Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca in Glycymeris glycymeris (Bivalvia) shells from the Iberian upwelling system: Ontogeny and environmental control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Freitas, Pedro; Richardson, Christopher; Chenery, Simon; Monteiro, Carlos; Butler, Paul; Reynolds, David; Scourse, James; Gaspar, Miguel

2017-04-01

Bivalve shells have a great potential as high-resolution geochemical proxy archives of marine environmental conditions. In addition, sclerochronology of long-lived bivalve species (e.g. Arctica islandica) provides a timeline of absolutely dated shell material for geochemical analysis that can extend into the past beyond the lifetime of single individuals through the use of replicated crossmatched centennial to millennial chronologies. However, the interpretation of such records remains extremely challenging and complex, with multiple environmental and biological processes affecting element incorporation in the shell (e.g. crystal fabrics, organic matrix, biomineralization mechanisms and physiological processes). As a result, the effective use of bivalve shell elemental/Ca ratios as palaeoenvironmental proxies has been limited, often to species-specific applications or applications restricted to particular environmental settings. The dog-cockle, Glycymeris glycymeris, is a relatively long-lived bivalve (up to 200 years) that occurs in coarse-grained subtidal sediments of coastal shelf seas of Europe and North West Africa. Glycymeris glycymeris shells provide a valuable, albeit not fully explored, archive to reconstruct past environmental variability in an area lacking sclerochronological studies due to the rarity of long-lived bivalves and lack of coral reefs. In this study, we evaluate the potential of Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios in G. glycymeris shells as geochemical proxies of upwelling conditions in the Iberian Upwelling System, the northern section of the Canary Current Eastern Boundary Upwelling System. Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca generally co-varied significantly and a clear ontogenetic, non-environmental related change in Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca variability was observed. High Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios in older shells (> 10 years old) were found to be associated with the occurrence of growth lines deposited during the winter reduction in shell growth. Nevertheless, Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca variation in older shells was synchronous with contemporary environmental conditions, i.e. upwelling intensity and salinity. The use of Sr or Mg in G. glycymeris shells as valid geochemical environmental proxies in the Iberian Upwelling System remains complex and requires further research to unravel environmental and physiological/biomineralization controls. This study was financed by the Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) GLYCY Project (contract PTDC/AAC-CLI/118003/2010) and a sabbatical grant to PSF (Ref: SFRH/BSAB/127786/2016), co-supported by POCH and the European Social Fund. Funding for consumable costs was provided by Bangor University.

Intelligent instrumentation applied in environment management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Magheti, Mihnea I.; Walsh, Patrick; Delassus, Patrick

2005-06-01

The use of information and communications technology in environment management and research has witnessed a renaissance in recent years. From optical sensor technology, expert systems, GIS and communications technologies to computer aided harvesting and yield prediction, these systems are increasable used for applications developing in the management sector of natural resources and biodiversity. This paper presents an environmental decision support system, used to monitor biodiversity and present a risk rating for the invasion of pests into the particular systems being examined. This system will utilise expert mobile technology coupled with artificial intelligence and predictive modelling, and will emphasize the potential for expansion into many areas of intelligent remote sensing and computer aided decision-making for environment management or certification. Monitoring and prediction in natural systems, harnessing the potential of computing and communication technologies is an emerging technology within the area of environmental management. This research will lead to the initiation of a hardware and software multi tier decision support system for environment management allowing an evaluation of areas for biodiversity or areas at risk from invasive species, based upon environmental factors/systems.

Health service utilisation amongst urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged younger than 5 years registered with a primary health-care service in South-East Queensland.

PubMed

Hall, Kerry K; Chang, Anne B; Anderson, Jennie; Arnold, Daniel; Otim, Michael; O'Grady, Kerry-Ann F

2018-06-01

The majority of Australia's Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children live in urban areas; however, little is known about their health service use. We aimed to describe health service utilisation amongst a cohort of urban Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children aged <5 years. We analysed health service utilisation data collected in an ongoing prospective cohort study of children aged <5 years registered with an Aboriginal-owned and operated primary health-care service. Enrolled children were followed monthly for 12 months, with data on health service utilisation collected at baseline and at each monthly follow-up. Health service utilisation rates, overall and by service provider and reason for presentation, were calculated and reported as incidence rates per 100 child-months with the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Between February 2013 and November 2015, 180 children were enrolled, and 1541 child-months of observation were available for analysis. The overall incidence of health service utilisation was 52.5 per 100 child-months (95% CI 48.7-56.5); 81% of encounters were with general practitioners. Presentation rates were the highest for acute respiratory illnesses (30.7/100 child-months, 95% CI 27.8-33.9). In this community, acute respiratory illnesses are predominant causes of health service utilisation in young children. The health-care utilisation profile of these children presents important opportunities for health promotion and intervention. © 2018 Paediatrics and Child Health Division (The Royal Australasian College of Physicians).

The experiences of culturally and linguistically diverse family caregivers in utilising dementia services in Australia

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Older people from culturally and linguistically diverse groups are underrepresented in residential aged care but overrepresented in community aged care in Australia. However, little is known about culturally and linguistically diverse family caregivers in utilising dementia services in Australia because previous studies mainly focused on the majority cultural group. Experiences of caregivers from culturally and linguistically diverse groups who are eligible to utilise dementia services in Australia are needed in order to optimize the utilisation of dementia services for these caregivers. Methods The aim of the study was to explore the experiences of family caregivers from Chinese, Greek, Italian and Vietnamese groups in utilising dementia services. Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics was used to interpret the experiences of the participants. Focus group discussions and in-depth individual interviews were used to collect data. Data collection was conducted over a six month period in 2011. In total, 46 family caregivers who were caring for 39 persons with dementia participated. Results Four themes were revealed: (1) negotiating services for the person with dementia; (2) the impact of acculturation on service utilisation; (3) the characteristics of satisfactory services; and (4) negative experiences in utilising services. The present study revealed that the participation of caregivers from culturally and linguistically diverse groups in planning and managing dementia services ranged markedly from limited participation to full participation. Conclusions The findings of this study suggest that caregivers from culturally and linguistically diverse groups need to be fully prepared so they can participate in the utilisation of dementia services available to them in Australia. PMID:24148155

The experiences of culturally and linguistically diverse family caregivers in utilising dementia services in Australia.

PubMed

Xiao, Lily Dongxia; De Bellis, Anita; Habel, Lesley; Kyriazopoulos, Helena

2013-10-22

Older people from culturally and linguistically diverse groups are underrepresented in residential aged care but overrepresented in community aged care in Australia. However, little is known about culturally and linguistically diverse family caregivers in utilising dementia services in Australia because previous studies mainly focused on the majority cultural group. Experiences of caregivers from culturally and linguistically diverse groups who are eligible to utilise dementia services in Australia are needed in order to optimize the utilisation of dementia services for these caregivers. The aim of the study was to explore the experiences of family caregivers from Chinese, Greek, Italian and Vietnamese groups in utilising dementia services. Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics was used to interpret the experiences of the participants. Focus group discussions and in-depth individual interviews were used to collect data. Data collection was conducted over a six month period in 2011. In total, 46 family caregivers who were caring for 39 persons with dementia participated. Four themes were revealed: (1) negotiating services for the person with dementia; (2) the impact of acculturation on service utilisation; (3) the characteristics of satisfactory services; and (4) negative experiences in utilising services. The present study revealed that the participation of caregivers from culturally and linguistically diverse groups in planning and managing dementia services ranged markedly from limited participation to full participation. The findings of this study suggest that caregivers from culturally and linguistically diverse groups need to be fully prepared so they can participate in the utilisation of dementia services available to them in Australia.

Environmental quality alters female costs and benefits of evolving under enforced monogamy.

PubMed

Grazer, Vera M; Demont, Marco; Michalczyk, Łukasz; Gage, Matthew J G; Martin, Oliver Y

2014-02-05

Currently many habitats suffer from quality loss due to environmental change. As a consequence, evolutionary trajectories might shift due to environmental effects and potentially increase extinction risk of resident populations. Nevertheless, environmental variation has rarely been incorporated in studies of sexual selection and sexual conflict, although local environments and individuals' condition undoubtedly influence costs and benefits. Here, we utilise polyandrous and monogamous selection lines of flour beetles, which evolved in presence or absence of sexual selection for 39 generations. We specifically investigated effects of low vs. standard food quality (i.e. stressful vs. benign environments) on reproductive success of cross pairs between beetles from the contrasting female and male selection histories to assess gender effects driving fitness. We found a clear interaction of food quality, male selection history and female selection history. Monogamous females generally performed more poorly than polyandrous counterparts, but reproductive success was shaped by selection history of their mates and environmental quality. When monogamous females were paired with polyandrous males in the standard benign environment, females seemed to incur costs, possibly due to sexual conflict. In contrast, in the novel stressful environment, monogamous females profited from mating with polyandrous males, indicating benefits of sexual selection outweigh costs. Our findings suggest that costs and benefits of sexually selected adaptations in both sexes can be profoundly altered by environmental quality. With regard to understanding possible impacts of environmental change, our results further show that the ecology of mating systems and associated selection pressures should be considered in greater detail.

Utilisation of a community-based health facility in a low-income urban community in Ibadan, Nigeria

PubMed Central

Asuzu, Michael C.

2015-01-01

Background Primary healthcare is established to ensure that people have access to health services through facilities located in their community. However, utilisation of health facilities in Nigeria remains low in many communities. Aim To assess the utilisation of community-based health facility (CBHF) amongst adults in Ibadan, Nigeria Settings A low-income community in Ibadan North West Local Government Area of Oyo State. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a simple random sampling technique to select one adult per household in all 586 houses in the community. A semi-structured interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect information on respondents' sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge and utilisation of the CBHF. Data analysis included descriptive statistics and association testing using the Chi-square test at p = 0.05. Results The mean age of the respondents was 46.5 ± 16.0 years; 46.0% were men and 81.0% married; 26% had no formal education and 38.0% had secondary-level education and above; traders constituted 52.0% of the sample; and 85.2% were of low socioeconomic standing; 90% had patronised the CBHF. The main reasons for non-utilisation were preference for general hospitals (13.8%) and self-medication (12.1%). Respondents who had secondary education and above, were in a higher socioeconomic class, who had good knowledge of the facility and were satisfied with care, utilised the CBHF three months significantly more than their counterparts prior to the study (p < 0.05). However, only satisfaction with care was found to be a significant predictor of utilisation of the CBHF. Conclusion The utilisation of the CBHF amongst adults in the study setting is high, driven mostly by satisfaction with the care received previously. Self-medication, promoted by uncontrolled access to drugs through pharmacies and patent medicine stores, threatens this high utilisation. PMID:26245600

Validation of mega composite sampling and nationwide mass inventories for 26 previously unmonitored contaminants in archived biosolids from the U.S National Biosolids Repository

PubMed Central

Chari, Bipin P.; Halden, Rolf U.

2012-01-01

In the present study, archived U.S biosolids from the 2001 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Sewage Sludge Survey were analyzed with an expanded U.S EPA Method 1694, to determine the occurrence of 26 previously unmonitored pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) among a total of 120 analytes. The study further served to examine the reproducibility of a mega-composite approach for creating chemical mass inventories in biosolids based on pooled samples from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) nationwide. Five mega-composites reflecting 94 WWTPs in 32 states and the District of Columbia were constructed from archived biosolids and analyzed by LC/ESI-MS/MS using a newly introduced analytical method expanding upon U.S EPA Method 1694. In addition, soil-biosolids mixtures from a mesocosm setup were analyzed to experimentally determine the half-lives of biosolids-borne compounds applied on U.S land. Among 59 analytes detected, 33 had been reported previously, whereas 26 are reported in biosolids for the first time, at levels ranging from 1.65 to 673 μg kg−1 dry weight. Newly recognized biosolids constituents were identified as Ca2+ channel blockers, antidepressants, diuretics, β-blockers and analgesics. Using a mass balance approach, the total loading of these 26 pharmaceuticals to U.S soils from biosolids land application was estimated at 5–15 tons year−1. Past and present datasets for 30 pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) were determined to be statistically indistinguishable (paired t-test; p = 0.01). This study expands the list of PPCPs reported in U.S biosolids, provides the first estimates of nationwide release rates to and environmental half-lives in U.S agricultural soils, and confirms the utility of using mega-composite sampling for economical tracking of chemical inventories in biosolids on a national scale. PMID:22789759

Millennial scale impact on the marine biogeochemical cycle of mercury from early mining on the Iberian Peninsula

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Serrano, O.; Martínez-Cortizas, A.; Mateo, M. A.; Biester, H.; Bindler, R.

2013-01-01

The high-resolution mercury record of a Posidonia oceanica mat in the northwest Mediterranean provides an unprecedented testimony of changes in environmental mercury (Hg) loading to the coastal marine environment over the past 4315 yr BP. The period reconstructed made it possible to establish tentative preanthropogenic background Hg levels for the area (6.8 ± 1.5 ng g-1 in bulk sediments). A small, but significant, anthropogenic Hg increase was identifiable by 2500 yr BP, in agreement with the beginning of intense mining in Spain. Changes in the record suggest four major periods of anthropogenic Hg pollution inputs to the Mediterranean: first, during the Roman Empire (2100-1800 yr BP); second, in the Late Middle Ages (970-650 yr BP); third, in the modern historical era (530-380 yr BP); and fourth, in the industrial period (last 250 years), with Hg concentrations two-, four-, five-, and tenfold higher than background concentrations, respectively. Hg from anthropogenic sources has dominated during the last millennium (increase from 12 to 100 ng g-1), which can be related to the widespread historical exploitation of ore resources on the Iberian Peninsula. The chronology of Hg concentrations in the mat archive, together with other Hg pollution records from the Iberian Peninsula, suggests regional-scale Hg transport and deposition and shows earlier marine Hg pollution than elsewhere in Europe. Moreover, the mat also records a higher number of historic contamination phases, in comparison with other natural archives, probably due to the fact that the bioaccumulating capacity of P. oceanica magnify environmental changes in Hg concentrations. In this study, we demonstrate the uniqueness of P. oceanica meadows as a long-term archive recording trends in Hg abundance in the marine coastal environment, as well as its potential role in the Mediterranean as a long-term Hg sink.

Nutrient utilisation and particulate organic matter changes during summer in the upper mixed layer (Ross Sea, Antarctica)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Catalano, G.; Povero, P.; Fabiano, M.; Benedetti, F.; Goffart, A.

1997-01-01

The relationships among vertical stability, estimated nutrient utilisation and particulate organic matter in the Ross Sea are analysed from data collected during two cruises in the summers of 1987-1988 and 1989-1990. In the upper mixed layer (UML), identified through the vertical stability E( Z(UML)), nutrient consumption is calculated as the difference between the "diluted" nutrient value and the mean calculated from the integrated value in the UML. The nutrient utilisation ratio and E( Z(UML)) are linearly related for E( Z(UML))≤25, whereas for values > 25, the distribution pattern is more scattered and independent of E( Z(UML)). For E( Z(UML))≥25, utilisation values were ≥4, 0.4 and 10 mmol m -3 for nitrate, phosphate and silicate, respectively. Significant relationships between nutrient depletion and both particulate organic carbon (POC) and particulate protein/particulate carbohydrate ratios (PPRT/PCHO) are found. The analysis of particulate matter distribution vs nutrient utilisation shows that the stations could be divided into two groups having different characteristics. The first group includes coastal stations, where high nutrient utilisation, POC and PPRT/PCHO are typical of areas with high production. In the second group (pelagic stations), nutrient utilisation, POC and PPRT/PCHO are lower. The vertical stability can be used to discriminate among the factors that influence primary production.

Social determinants of dental health services utilisation of Greek adults.

PubMed

Pavi, E; Karampli, E; Zavras, D; Dardavesis, T; Kyriopoulos, J

2010-09-01

To identify the determinants of dental care utilisation among Greek adults, with a particular emphasis on socio-economic determinants. Data were collected through a national survey on health and health care services utilisation of a sample of 4,003 Greek adults stratified by geographic region, age and gender. A purpose made questionnaire was used during face-to-face interviews. A 2-stage model was developed to assess the impact of independent variables on dental utilisation likelihood and frequency. 39.6% (1,562) of Greek adults reported having visited a dentist within the last year. Among dental attenders, 32.6% reported prevention as the reason for visit. Statistically significant differences in dental care utilisation were observed in relation to demographic, socioeconomic and lifestyle factors. Logistic regression analysis showed that gender, age, income, education, place of residence, private insurance coverage and self-rated oral health are important determinants of dental services utilisation. Mean number of dental visits within previous year was 1.6. Results from Poisson regression analysis indicated that lower income level correlates to lower number of dental visits, while having visited for treatment (rather than for prevention) correlated to higher number of dental visits. Greek adults do not exhibit satisfactory dental visiting behaviour. Extent of care sought is associated with need for treatment rather than preventive reasons. The findings confirm the existence of socioeconomic inequalities in dental services utilisation among Greek adults.

Utilization of physiotherapy in the continuum of stroke care at a tertiary hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria.

PubMed

Olaleye, Olubukola Adebisi; Lawal, Zainab Iyabo

2017-03-01

To investigate the pattern of referral for and utilisation of physiotherapy in the continuum of stroke care at a tertiary hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria. Referral notes and medical records of patients admitted in the University College Hospital, Ibadan with a clinical diagnosis of stroke between January, 2009 and December, 2013 were retrospectively reviewed. Information on age, sex, type of stroke, length of hospital stay, referral for physiotherapy and utilisation of physiotherapy were retrieved. Data were summarised using descriptive statistics and analysed using Chi-square test. A total of 783 patients with stroke were admitted in the hospital during the period under study. The in-patient mortality rate was 37.2%. The mean Length of Hospital Stay (LoHS) was 16.17±12.34 days. Referral rate for physiotherapy was high (75.8%) and the mean time from admission to referral for physiotherapy was three days. Majority of patients referred utilised physiotherapy (63.4%) and mean number of physiotherapy sessions received during in-patient care was 8.69±6.45. There was a significant association between LoHS and utilisation of in-patientphysiotherapy (p=0.02). The referral rate of stroke patients for physiotherapy was relatively high. Utilisation of in-patient physiotherapy reduced length of hospital stay among patients with stroke. Utilisation of out-patient physiotherapy was low. Strategies to enhance out-patient utilisation should be explored.

The use of geoscience methods for terrestrial forensic searches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pringle, J. K.; Ruffell, A.; Jervis, J. R.; Donnelly, L.; McKinley, J.; Hansen, J.; Morgan, R.; Pirrie, D.; Harrison, M.

2012-08-01

Geoscience methods are increasingly being utilised in criminal, environmental and humanitarian forensic investigations, and the use of such methods is supported by a growing body of experimental and theoretical research. Geoscience search techniques can complement traditional methodologies in the search for buried objects, including clandestine graves, weapons, explosives, drugs, illegal weapons, hazardous waste and vehicles. This paper details recent advances in search and detection methods, with case studies and reviews. Relevant examples are given, together with a generalised workflow for search and suggested detection technique(s) table. Forensic geoscience techniques are continuing to rapidly evolve to assist search investigators to detect hitherto difficult to locate forensic targets.

Land use and environmental assessment in the central Atlantic region

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alexander, R. H.; Fitzpatrick, K.; Lins, H. F., Jr.; Mcginty, H. K., III

1975-01-01

Data from high altitude aircraft, LANDSAT and Skylab were used in a comprehensive regional survey of land use and its associated environmental impact in the Central Atlantic Regional Ecological Test Site (CARETS). Each sensor system has advantages that were demonstrated by producing experimental land use maps and other data products, applying them to typical problems encountered in regional planning and environmental impact assessment, and presenting the results to prospective users for evaluation. An archival collection of imagery, maps, data summaries, and technical reports was assembled, constituting an environmental profile of the central Atlantic region. The investigation was organized into four closely-related modules, a land use information module, an environmental impact module, a user interaction and evaluation module, and a geographic information systems module. Results revealed a heterogeneous user community with diverse information needs, tending, however, definitely toward the higher-resolution sensor data and the larger-scale land use maps and related information products. Among project recommendations are greater efforts toward improving compatibility of federal, state, and local land use information programs, and greater efforts toward a broader exchange of imagery, computer tapes, and land use information derived therefrom.

The North American Carbon Program Multi-scale Synthesis and Terrestrial Model Intercomparison Project – Part 2: Environmental driver data

DOE PAGES

Wei, Yaxing; Liu, Shishi; Huntzinger, Deborah N.; ...

2014-12-05

Ecosystems are important and dynamic components of the global carbon cycle, and terrestrial biospheric models (TBMs) are crucial tools in further understanding of how terrestrial carbon is stored and exchanged with the atmosphere across a variety of spatial and temporal scales. Improving TBM skills, and quantifying and reducing their estimation uncertainties, pose significant challenges. The Multi-scale Synthesis and Terrestrial Model Intercomparison Project (MsTMIP) is a formal multi-scale and multi-model intercomparison effort set up to tackle these challenges. The MsTMIP protocol prescribes standardized environmental driver data that are shared among model teams to facilitate model model and model observation comparisons. Inmore » this article, we describe the global and North American environmental driver data sets prepared for the MsTMIP activity to both support their use in MsTMIP and make these data, along with the processes used in selecting/processing these data, accessible to a broader audience. Based on project needs and lessons learned from past model intercomparison activities, we compiled climate, atmospheric CO 2 concentrations, nitrogen deposition, land use and land cover change (LULCC), C3 / C4 grasses fractions, major crops, phenology and soil data into a standard format for global (0.5⁰ x 0.5⁰ resolution) and regional (North American: 0.25⁰ x 0.25⁰ resolution) simulations. In order to meet the needs of MsTMIP, improvements were made to several of the original environmental data sets, by improving the quality, and/or changing their spatial and temporal coverage, and resolution. The resulting standardized model driver data sets are being used by over 20 different models participating in MsTMIP. Lastly, the data are archived at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center (ORNL DAAC, http://daac.ornl.gov) to provide long-term data management and distribution.« less

Review of Namibian legislation and policies pertinent to environmental flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bethune, Shirley; Amakali, Maria; Roberts, Kevin

The rationale for evaluating Namibian environmental flows is essentially that of ensuring ‘the maintenance of ecosystems, essential ecological processes and biological diversity’ and the sustainable utilisation of natural resources as promoted in clause 95 of the Namibian Constitution. Recent policy and legislative reforms have created a unique opportunity for Namibia to incorporate environmental sensitivity clauses such as those to ensure adequate environmental flows for river systems. The Second National Development Plan and the National Water Policy White Paper form the basis for the new Water Resources Management Act, promulgated in December 2004. The National Water Policy includes a basic principle headed “Ecosystem values and sustainability” that stresses that the management of water resources needs to harmonise human and environmental requirements, recognising the role of water in supporting the ecosystem. One of the strategies given to ensure environmental and economic sustainability reads: “Ensure that in-stream flows are adequate both in terms of quality and quantity to sustain the ecosystem”. Although the water policy clearly states that: “The legislation will provide for determining an environmental water reserve for freshwater sources before they can be used to supply other demands than domestic and subsistence livestock watering”, there is now no direct mention of environmental flows in the new Water Act. This paper explores to what extent the need for the determination of environmental water needs has been incorporated into Namibian policies, legislation and development plans. It makes recommendations, pertinent to the Namibian situation, of what needs to be done to ensure that environmental water requirements are taken into account in future planning, operation and management of Namibia’s precious water resources.

Factors associated with postnatal care utilisation in Rwanda: A secondary analysis of 2010 Demographic and Health Survey data.

PubMed

Rwabufigiri, Bernard N; Mukamurigo, Judith; Thomson, Dana R; Hedt-Gautier, Bethany L; Semasaka, Jean Paul S

2016-05-31

Postnatal care (PNC) in the first seven days is important for preventing morbidity and mortality in mothers and new-borns. Sub-Saharan African countries, which account for 62 % of maternal deaths globally, have made major efforts to increase PNC utilisation, but utilisation rates remains low even in countries like Rwanda where PNC services are universally available for free. This study identifies key socio-economic and demographic factors associated with PNC utilisation in Rwanda to inform improved PNC policies and programs. This is a secondary analysis of the 2010 Demographic and Health Survey, a national multi-stage, cross-sectional survey. In bivariate analysis, we used chi-square tests to identify demographic and socio-economic factors associated with PNC utilisation at α = 0.1. Pearson's R statistic (r > 0.5) was used to identify collinear covariates, and to choose which covariate was more strongly associated with PNC utilisation. Manual backward stepwise logistic regression was performed on the remaining covariates to identify key factors associated with PNC utilisation at α = 0.05. All analyses were performed in Stata 13 adjusting for sampling weights, clustering, and stratification. Of the 2,748 women with a live birth in the last two years who answered question about PNC utilisation, 353 (12.8 %) returned for PNC services within seven days after birth. Three factors were positively associated with PNC use: delivering at a health facility (OR: 2.97; 95 % CI: 2.28-3.87), being married but not involved with one's own health care decision-making (OR: 1.69; 95 % CI: 1.17, 2.44) compared to being married and involved; and being in the second (OR: 1.46; 95 % CI: 1.01-2.09) or richest wealth quintile (OR: 2.04; 95 % CI: 1.27-3.29) compared to the poorest. Mother's older age at delivery was negatively associated with PNC use (20-29 - OR: 0.51, 95 % CI: 0.29-0.87; 30-39 - OR: 0.47, 95 % CI: 0.27-0.83; 40-49 - OR: 0.32, 95 % CI: 0.16-0.64). Low PNC utilisation in Rwanda appears to be a universal problem though older age and poverty are further barriers to PNC utilisation. A recent change in the provision of BCG vaccination to new-borns might promote widespread PNC utilisation. We further recommend targeted campaigns to older mothers and poorest mothers, focusing on perceptions of health system quality, cultural beliefs, and pregnancy risks.

Contextual and individual factors associated with dental services utilisation by Brazilian adults: A multilevel analysis

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Background Inequalities in the utilisation of dental services in Brazil are remarkable. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of contextual and individual factors with the utilisation of dental services by Brazilian adults using the Andersen’s behavioural model. Methods Individual-level data from 27,017 adults residents in the State capitals who were interviewed in the 2013 Brazilian National Health Survey were pooled with contextual city-level data. The outcomes were non-utilisation of dental services and last dental visit over 12 months ago. Individual predisposing variables were age, sex, race/skin colour, schooling and social network. Individual enabling variables included income, health insurance and registration in primary health care. Individual need variables were self-perceived dental health and self-reported missing teeth. Multilevel logistic regression models were performed to estimate odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) of the association of contextual and individual predisposing, enabling and need-related variables with dental services outcomes. Results Predisposing (OR = 0.89; 95% CI 0.81–0.97) and enabling (OR = 0.90; 95% CI 0.85–0.96) contextual factors were associated with non-utilisation of dental services. Individual predisposing (sex, race/skin colour, schooling), enabling (income, health insurance) and need (self-perceived oral health, missing teeth) were associated with non-utilisation of dental services and last dental visit over 12 months ago. The latter was also associated with other individual predisposing (age, social network) and need (eating difficulties due to oral problems) characteristics. Conclusions Individual and contextual determinants influenced dental services utilisation in Brazilian adults. These factors should be on the policy agenda and considered in the organisation of health services aiming to reduce oral health inequalities related to access and utilisation of dental services. PMID:29420660

Contextual and individual factors associated with dental services utilisation by Brazilian adults: A multilevel analysis.

PubMed

Herkrath, Fernando José; Vettore, Mario Vianna; Werneck, Guilherme Loureiro

2018-01-01

Inequalities in the utilisation of dental services in Brazil are remarkable. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of contextual and individual factors with the utilisation of dental services by Brazilian adults using the Andersen's behavioural model. Individual-level data from 27,017 adults residents in the State capitals who were interviewed in the 2013 Brazilian National Health Survey were pooled with contextual city-level data. The outcomes were non-utilisation of dental services and last dental visit over 12 months ago. Individual predisposing variables were age, sex, race/skin colour, schooling and social network. Individual enabling variables included income, health insurance and registration in primary health care. Individual need variables were self-perceived dental health and self-reported missing teeth. Multilevel logistic regression models were performed to estimate odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) of the association of contextual and individual predisposing, enabling and need-related variables with dental services outcomes. Predisposing (OR = 0.89; 95% CI 0.81-0.97) and enabling (OR = 0.90; 95% CI 0.85-0.96) contextual factors were associated with non-utilisation of dental services. Individual predisposing (sex, race/skin colour, schooling), enabling (income, health insurance) and need (self-perceived oral health, missing teeth) were associated with non-utilisation of dental services and last dental visit over 12 months ago. The latter was also associated with other individual predisposing (age, social network) and need (eating difficulties due to oral problems) characteristics. Individual and contextual determinants influenced dental services utilisation in Brazilian adults. These factors should be on the policy agenda and considered in the organisation of health services aiming to reduce oral health inequalities related to access and utilisation of dental services.

Inequalities in utilisation of general practitioner and specialist services in 9 European countries.

PubMed

Stirbu, Irina; Kunst, Anton E; Mielck, Andreas; Mackenbach, Johan P

2011-10-31

The aim of this study is to describe the magnitude of educational inequalities in utilisation of general practitioner (GP) and specialist services in 9 European countries. In addition to West European countries, we have included 3 Eastern European countries: Hungary, Estonia and Latvia. To cover the gap in knowledge we pay a special attention to the magnitude of inequalities among patients with chronic conditions. Data on the use of GP and specialist services were derived from national health surveys of Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands and Norway. For each country and education level we calculated the absolute prevalence and relative inequalities in utilisation of GP and specialist services. In order to account for the need for care, the results were adjusted by the measure of self-assessed health. People with lower education used GP services equally often in most countries (except Belgium and Germany) compared with those with a higher level of education. At the same time people with a higher education used specialist care services significantly more often in all countries, except in the Netherlands. The general pattern of educational inequalities in utilisation of specialist care was similar for both men and women. Inequalities in utilisation of specialist care were equally large in Eastern European and in Western European countries, except for Latvia where the inequalities were somewhat larger. Similarly, large inequalities were found in the utilisation of specialist care among patients with chronic diseases, diabetes, and hypertension. We found large inequalities in the utilisation of specialist care. These inequalities were not compensated by utilisation of GP services. Of particular concern is the presence of inequalities among patients with a high need for specialist care, such as those with chronic diseases. © 2011 Stirbu et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Worldwide Emerging Environmental Issues Affecting the U.S. Military. April 2008 Report

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-04-01

Arctic faster, harder - Polar bears may be at even greater risk http://www.wwf.ca/NewsAndFacts/NewsRoom/default.asp?section=archive&page=display&ID =1586...Derek Smith, professor of infectious disease informatics at Cambridge University’s Department of Zoology , and colleagues at Los Alamos National...ice shelves are breaking off or cracking at a higher rate than feared, noted polar ice researchers who accompanied Canadian Rangers on a patrol

Summary of SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) Ocean Wave Data Archived at ERIM (Environmental Research Institute of Michigan).

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-05-01

transform (FFT) techniques achieve the required azi- muthal compression of the SAR Doppler history (Ausherman, 1980). Specially- designed digital...processors have also been designed for 3 -[RIM RADAR DIVISION real-time processing of SAR data aboard the aircraft for display or transmission to a ground...included a multi-sided box pattern designed to image the dominant waves from various directions. Figure 2 presents the results obtained as a function of

Late Quaternary stratigraphy of the La Janda Basin (SW Spain) - first results and palaeoenvironmental significance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Höbig, Nicole; Santisteban, Juan; Mediavilla, Rosa; May, Simon Matthias; Klasen, Nicole; Brückner, Helmut; van't Hoff, Jasmijn; Reicherter, Klaus

2017-04-01

The La Janda basin in southern Spain is a near-shore geo-bio-archive comprising a variable Quaternary depositional history, with shallow marine, lacustrine, palustrine, and terrestrial strata. In the 1930s the lake was drained and is serving now as a huge agricultural area. The 33 m-core recovered in fall 2016 along with several shallower drill cores up to c. 15 m, reveals insights into a unique mixed terrestrial palaeo-environmental archive in Andalucia influenced by the Atlantic Ocean and hence the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) within the Gulf of Cádiz. The basin's evolution was influenced both by the postglacial marine transgression and by an active tectonic fault controlling most of the accommodation space by causing subsidence. Our long core was accompanied by further corings along an E-W striking transect in order to reveal also the relation of the influence of tectonic activity with sedimentary sequences. Multi-Sensor Core Logging has been completed. Results of sedimentological, geochemical and micropalaeontological analyses will be presented in the frame of the climate variations during the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene, along with a preliminary age-depth model based on radiocarbon (AMS-14C) and optical stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating techniques. Our investigations ultimately aim at providing valuable information on major Late Pleistocene to Holocene climatic and palaeo-environmental fluctuations in the southernmost part of the Iberian Peninsula.

Potential and limitation of combining terrestrial and marine growth records from Iceland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Piermattei, A.; Urbinati, C.; Tonelli, E.; Eggertsson, Ó.; Levanič, T.; Kaczka, R. J.; Andrew, C.; Schöne, B. R.; Büntgen, U.

2017-08-01

Seasonally formed, perennial growth increments of various organisms may possibly contain information about past environmental changes, well before instrumental measurements occurred. Such annually resolved proxy records have been mainly obtained from terrestrial archives, with a paucity of similar data originating from marine habitats. Iceland represents ideal conditions to develop both, tree ring (dendro) and bivalve shell (sclero) chronologies from adjacent sites. Here we introduce the first network of Icelandic birch (Betula pubescens Ehrh.) and rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) dendrochronologies, as well as ocean quahog (Arctica islandica L.) sclerochronologies. In order to identify the dominant external drivers of tree and shell growth, we assess the common growth trends and growth extremes within and between the terrestrial and marine records, as well as relationships of both archives with instrumental-based meteorological indices. Capturing a strong signal of June-August mean air temperature, the dendrochronologies are significantly positively correlated to each other. The sclerochronologies, however, reveal much lower growth coherency, which likely results from different sampling strategies and growth habitats. Disagreement between the dendro- and sclerochronologies possibly originates from unequal sample size, offset in the seasonal timing and rate of the growth, as well as varying sensitivities to different environmental factors. Our results emphasize the importance of considering a wide range of species and taxa to reconstruct a more complete picture of terrestrial and marine ecosystem functioning and productivity across various spatiotemporal scales.

GOES-R Space Weather Data: Ensuring Access and Usability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tilton, M.; Rowland, W. F.; Wilkinson, D. C.; Denig, W. F.; Darnel, J.; Kress, B. T.; Loto'aniu, P. T. M.; Machol, J. L.; Redmon, R. J.; Rodriguez, J. V.

2015-12-01

The upcoming Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite series, GOES-R, will provide critical space weather data. These data are used to prevent communication outages, mitigate the damage solar weather causes to satellites and power grids, and reduce astronaut radiation exposure. The space weather instruments aboard GOES-R will deliver an operational dataset of unprecedented breadth. However, NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)—the organization that provides access to archived GOES-R data—has faced several challenges in delivering this information to customers in usable form. For instance, the GOES-R ground system was contracted to develop higher-level products for terrestrial data but not space weather data. Variations in GOES-R data file formats and archive locations have also threatened to create an inconsistent user experience. This presentation will examine the ways in which NCEI is making GOES-R space weather data more accessible and actionable for customers. These efforts include NCEI's development of high-level data products to meet the requirements of NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center—a role NCEI has not previously played. In addition, NCEI is creating a demonstration system to show how these products can be produced in real-time. The organization is also examining customer usage of the GOES-NOP data access system and using these access patterns to drive decisions about the GOES-R user interface.

An outbreak of respiratory tularemia caused by diverse clones of Francisella tularensis.

PubMed

Johansson, Anders; Lärkeryd, Adrian; Widerström, Micael; Mörtberg, Sara; Myrtännäs, Kerstin; Ohrman, Caroline; Birdsell, Dawn; Keim, Paul; Wagner, David M; Forsman, Mats; Larsson, Pär

2014-12-01

The bacterium Francisella tularensis is recognized for its virulence, infectivity, genetic homogeneity, and potential as a bioterrorism agent. Outbreaks of respiratory tularemia, caused by inhalation of this bacterium, are poorly understood. Such outbreaks are exceedingly rare, and F. tularensis is seldom recovered from clinical specimens. A localized outbreak of tularemia in Sweden was investigated. Sixty-seven humans contracted laboratory-verified respiratory tularemia. F. tularensis subspecies holarctica was isolated from the blood or pleural fluid of 10 individuals from July to September 2010. Using whole-genome sequencing and analysis of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), outbreak isolates were compared with 110 archived global isolates. There were 757 SNPs among the genomes of the 10 outbreak isolates and the 25 most closely related archival isolates (all from Sweden/Finland). Whole genomes of outbreak isolates were >99.9% similar at the nucleotide level and clustered into 3 distinct genetic clades. Unexpectedly, high-sequence similarity grouped some outbreak and archival isolates that originated from patients from different geographic regions and up to 10 years apart. Outbreak and archival genomes frequently differed by only 1-3 of 1 585 229 examined nucleotides. The outbreak was caused by diverse clones of F. tularensis that occurred concomitantly, were widespread, and apparently persisted in the environment. Multiple independent acquisitions of F. tularensis from the environment over a short time period suggest that natural outbreaks of respiratory tularemia are triggered by environmental cues. The findings additionally caution against interpreting genome sequence identity for this pathogen as proof of a direct epidemiological link. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

A Systematic Review of Community Engagement in the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Extramural Research Solicitations: Implications for Research Funders

PubMed Central

Yuen, Tina; Park, Alice N.; Seifer, Sarena D.

2015-01-01

Objectives. We systematically reviewed the Environmental Protection Agency, National Center for Environmental Research’s (NCER’s) requests for applications (RFAs) and identified strategies that NCER and other funders can take to bolster community engagement. Methods. We queried NCER’s publically available online archive of funding opportunities from fiscal years 1997 to 2013. From an initial list of 211 RFAs that met our inclusion criteria, 33 discussed or incorporated elements of community engagement. We examined these RFAs along 6 dimensions and the degree of alignments between them. Results. We found changes over time in the number of RFAs that included community engagement, variations in how community engagement is defined and expected, inconsistencies between application requirements and peer review criteria, and the inclusion of mechanisms supporting community engagement in research. Conclusions. The results inform a systematic approach to developing RFAs that support community engagement in research. PMID:26469656

A Systematic Review of Community Engagement in the US Environmental Protection Agency's Extramural Research Solicitations: Implications for Research Funders.

PubMed

Yuen, Tina; Park, Alice N; Seifer, Sarena D; Payne-Sturges, Devon

2015-12-01

We systematically reviewed the Environmental Protection Agency, National Center for Environmental Research's (NCER's) requests for applications (RFAs) and identified strategies that NCER and other funders can take to bolster community engagement. We queried NCER's publically available online archive of funding opportunities from fiscal years 1997 to 2013. From an initial list of 211 RFAs that met our inclusion criteria, 33 discussed or incorporated elements of community engagement. We examined these RFAs along 6 dimensions and the degree of alignments between them. We found changes over time in the number of RFAs that included community engagement, variations in how community engagement is defined and expected, inconsistencies between application requirements and peer review criteria, and the inclusion of mechanisms supporting community engagement in research. The results inform a systematic approach to developing RFAs that support community engagement in research.

Fermilab History and Archives Project | Norman F. Ramsey

Science.gov Websites

Fermilab History and Archives Project Fermilab History and Archives Project Fermilab History and Archives Project Home About the Archives History and Archives Online Request Contact Us History & ; Archives Project Fermilab History and Archives Project Norman F. Ramsey Back to History and Archives

Investigating the potential role of persistent organic pollutants in Hawaiian green sea turtle fibropapillomatosis

USGS Publications Warehouse

Keller, Jennifer M.; Balazs, George H.; Nilsen, Frances; Rice, Marc; Work, Thierry M.; Jensen, Brenda A.

2014-01-01

It has been hypothesized for decades that environmental pollutants may contribute to green sea turtle fibropapillomatosis (FP), possibly through immunosuppression leading to greater susceptibility to the herpesvirus, the putative causative agent of this tumor-forming disease. To address this question, we measured concentrations of 164 persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and halogenated phenols in 53 Hawaiian green turtle (Chelonia mydas) plasma samples archived by the Biological and Environmental Monitoring and Archival of Sea Turtle Tissues (BEMAST) project at the National Institute of Standards and Technology Marine Environmental Specimen Bank. Four groups of turtles were examined: free-ranging turtles from Kiholo Bay (0% FP, Hawaii), Kailua Bay (low FP, 8%, Oahu), and Kapoho Bay (moderate FP, 38%, Hawaii) and severely tumored stranded turtles that required euthanasia (high FP, 100%, Main Hawaiian Islands). Four classes of POPs and seven halogenated phenols were detected in at least one of the turtles, and concentrations were low (often <200 pg/g wet mass). The presence of halogenated phenols in sea turtles is a novel discovery; their concentrations were higher than most man-made POPs, suggesting that the source of most of these compounds was likely natural (produced by the algal turtle diet) rather than metabolites of man-made POPs. None of the compounds measured increased in concentration with increasing prevalence of FP across the four groups of turtles, suggesting that these 164 compounds are not likely primary triggers for the onset of FP. However, the stranded, severely tumored, emaciated turtle group (n = 14) had the highest concentrations of POPs, which might suggest that mobilization of contaminants with lipids into the blood during late-stage weight loss could contribute to the progression of the disease. Taken together, these data suggest that POPs are not a major cofactor in causing the onset of FP.

Investigating the potential role of persistent organic pollutants in Hawaiian green sea turtle fibropapillomatosis.

PubMed

Keller, Jennifer M; Balazs, George H; Nilsen, Frances; Rice, Marc; Work, Thierry M; Jensen, Brenda A

2014-07-15

It has been hypothesized for decades that environmental pollutants may contribute to green sea turtle fibropapillomatosis (FP), possibly through immunosuppression leading to greater susceptibility to the herpesvirus, the putative causative agent of this tumor-forming disease. To address this question, we measured concentrations of 164 persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and halogenated phenols in 53 Hawaiian green turtle (Chelonia mydas) plasma samples archived by the Biological and Environmental Monitoring and Archival of Sea Turtle Tissues (BEMAST) project at the National Institute of Standards and Technology Marine Environmental Specimen Bank. Four groups of turtles were examined: free-ranging turtles from Kiholo Bay (0% FP, Hawaii), Kailua Bay (low FP, 8%, Oahu), and Kapoho Bay (moderate FP, 38%, Hawaii) and severely tumored stranded turtles that required euthanasia (high FP, 100%, Main Hawaiian Islands). Four classes of POPs and seven halogenated phenols were detected in at least one of the turtles, and concentrations were low (often <200 pg/g wet mass). The presence of halogenated phenols in sea turtles is a novel discovery; their concentrations were higher than most man-made POPs, suggesting that the source of most of these compounds was likely natural (produced by the algal turtle diet) rather than metabolites of man-made POPs. None of the compounds measured increased in concentration with increasing prevalence of FP across the four groups of turtles, suggesting that these 164 compounds are not likely primary triggers for the onset of FP. However, the stranded, severely tumored, emaciated turtle group (n=14) had the highest concentrations of POPs, which might suggest that mobilization of contaminants with lipids into the blood during late-stage weight loss could contribute to the progression of the disease. Taken together, these data suggest that POPs are not a major cofactor in causing the onset of FP.

An environmental database for Venice and tidal zones

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Macaluso, L.; Fant, S.; Marani, A.; Scalvini, G.; Zane, O.

2003-04-01

The natural environment is a complex, highly variable and physically non reproducible system (not in laboratory, nor in a confined territory). Environmental experimental studies are thus necessarily based on field measurements distributed in time and space. Only extensive data collections can provide the representative samples of the system behavior which are essential for scientific advancement. The assimilation of large data collections into accessible archives must necessarily be implemented in electronic databases. In the case of tidal environments in general, and of the Venice lagoon in particular, it is useful to establish a database, freely accessible to the scientific community, documenting the dynamics of such systems and their response to anthropic pressures and climatic variability. At the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti in Venice (Italy) two internet environmental databases has been developed: one collects information regarding in detail the Venice lagoon; the other co-ordinate the research consortium of the "TIDE" EU RTD project, that attends to three different tidal areas: Venice Lagoon (Italy), Morecambe Bay (England), and Forth Estuary (Scotland). The archives may be accessed through the URL: www.istitutoveneto.it. The first one is freely available and applies to anyone is interested. It is continuously updated and has been structured in order to promote documentation concerning Venetian environment and disseminate this information for educational purposes (see "Dissemination" section). The second one is supplied by scientists and engineers working on this tidal system for various purposes (scientific, management, conservation purposes, etc.); it applies to interested researchers and grows with their own contributions. Both intend to promote scientific communication, to contribute to the realization of a distributed information system collecting homogeneous themes, and to initiate the interconnection among databases regarding different kinds of environment.

Managing Data and Facilitating Science: A spectrum of activities in the Centre for Environmental Data Archival. (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lawrence, B.; Bennett, V.; Callaghan, S.; Juckes, M. N.; Pepler, S.

2013-12-01

The UK Centre for Environmental Data Archival (CEDA) hosts a number of formal data centres, including the British Atmospheric Data Centre (BADC), and is a partner in a range of national and international data federations, including the InfraStructure for the European Network for Earth system Simulation, the Earth System Grid Federation, and the distributed IPCC Data Distribution Centres. The mission of CEDA is to formally curate data from, and facilitate the doing of, environmental science. The twin aims are symbiotic: data curation helps facilitate science, and facilitating science helps with data curation. Here we cover how CEDA delivers this strategy by established internal processes supplemented by short-term projects, supported by staff with a range of roles. We show how CEDA adds value to data in the curated archive, and how it supports science, and show examples of the aforementioned symbiosis. We begin by discussing curation: CEDA has the formal responsibility for curating the data products of atmospheric science and earth observation research funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). However, curation is not just about the provider community, the consumer communities matter too, and the consumers of these data cross the boundaries of science, including engineers, medics, as well as the gamut of the environmental sciences. There is a small, and growing cohort of non-science users. For both producers and consumers of data, information about data is crucial, and a range of CEDA staff have long worked on tools and techniques for creating, managing, and delivering metadata (as well as data). CEDA "science support" staff work with scientists to help them prepare and document data for curation. As one of a spectrum of activities, CEDA has worked on data Publication as a method of both adding value to some data, and rewarding the effort put into the production of quality datasets. As such, we see this activity as both a curation and a facilitation activity. A range of more focused facilitation activities are carried out, from providing a computing platform suitable for big-data analytics (the Joint Analysis System, JASMIN), to working on distributed data analysis (EXARCH), and the acquisition of third party data to support science and impact (e.g. in the context of the facility for Climate and Environmental Monitoring from Space, CEMS). We conclude by confronting the view of Parsons and Fox (2013) that metaphors such as Data Publication, Big Iron, Science Support etc are limiting, and suggest the CEDA experience is that these sorts of activities can and do co-exist, much as they conclude they should. However, we also believe that within co-existing metaphors, production systems need to be limited in their scope, even if they are on a road to a more joined up infrastructure. We shouldn't confuse what we can do now with what we might want to do in the future.

A high-efficiency HPGe coincidence system for environmental analysis.

PubMed

Britton, R; Davies, A V; Burnett, J L; Jackson, M J

2015-08-01

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is supported by a network of certified laboratories which must meet certain sensitivity requirements for CTBT relevant radionuclides. At the UK CTBT Radionuclide Laboratory (GBL15), a high-efficiency, dual-detector gamma spectroscopy system has been developed to improve the sensitivity of measurements for treaty compliance, greatly reducing the time required for each sample. Utilising list-mode acquisition, each sample can be counted once, and processed multiple times to further improve sensitivity. For the 8 key radionuclides considered, Minimum Detectable Activities (MDA's) were improved by up to 37% in standard mode (when compared to a typical CTBT detector system), with the acquisition time required to achieve the CTBT sensitivity requirements reduced from 6 days to only 3. When utilising the system in coincidence mode, the MDA for (60) Co in a high-activity source was improved by a factor of 34 when compared to a standard CTBT detector, and a factor of 17 when compared to the dual-detector system operating in standard mode. These MDA improvements will allow the accurate and timely quantification of radionuclides that decay via both singular and cascade γ emission, greatly enhancing the effectiveness of CTBT laboratories. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Varietal Discrimination and Genetic Variability Analysis of Cymbopogon Using RAPD and ISSR Markers Analysis.

PubMed

Bishoyi, Ashok Kumar; Sharma, Anjali; Kavane, Aarti; Geetha, K A

2016-06-01

Cymbopogon is an important genus of family Poaceae, cultivated mainly for its essential oils which possess high medicinal and economical value. Several cultivars of Cymbopogon species are available for commercial cultivation in India and identification of these cultivars was conceded by means of morphological markers and essential oil constitution. Since these parameters are highly influenced by environmental factors, in most of the cases, it is difficult to identify Cymbopogon cultivars. In the present study, Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and Inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers were employed to discriminate nine leading varieties of Cymbopogon since prior genomic information is lacking or very little in the genus. Ninety RAPD and 70 ISSR primers were used which generated 63 and 69 % polymorphic amplicons, respectively. Similarity in the pattern of UPGMA-derived dendrogram of RAPD and ISSR analysis revealed the reliability of the markers chosen for the study. Varietal/cultivar-specific markers generated from the study could be utilised for varietal/cultivar authentication, thus monitoring the quality of the essential oil production in Cymbopogon. These markers can also be utilised for the IPR protection of the cultivars. Moreover, the study provides molecular marker tool kit in both random and simple sequence repeats for diverse molecular research in the same or related genera.

Use of immobilised biocatalysts in the processing of cheese whey.

PubMed

Kosseva, Maria R; Panesar, Parmjit S; Kaur, Gurpreet; Kennedy, John F

2009-12-01

Food processing industry operations need to comply with increasingly more stringent environmental regulations related to the disposal or utilisation of by-products and wastes. These include growing restrictions on land spraying with agro-industrial wastes, and on disposal within landfill operations, and the requirements to produce end products that are stabilised and hygienic. Much of the material generated as wastes by the dairy processing industries contains components that could be utilised as substrates and nutrients in a variety of microbial/enzymatic processes, to give rise to added-value products. A good example of a waste that has received considerable attention as a source of added-value products is cheese whey. The carbohydrate reservoir of lactose (4-5%) in whey and the presence of other essential nutrients make it a good natural medium for the growth of microorganisms and a potential substrate for bioprocessing through microbial fermentation. Immobilised cell and enzyme technology has also been applied to whey bioconversion processes to improve the economics of such processes. This review focuses upon the elaboration of a range of immobilisation techniques that have been applied to produce valuable whey-based products. A comprehensive literature survey is also provided to illustrate numerous immobilisation procedures with particular emphasis upon lactose hydrolysis, and ethanol and lactic acid production using immobilised biocatalysts.

Integrating geological archives and climate models for the mid-Pliocene warm period.

PubMed

Haywood, Alan M; Dowsett, Harry J; Dolan, Aisling M

2016-02-16

The mid-Pliocene Warm Period (mPWP) offers an opportunity to understand a warmer-than-present world and assess the predictive ability of numerical climate models. Environmental reconstruction and climate modelling are crucial for understanding the mPWP, and the synergy of these two, often disparate, fields has proven essential in confirming features of the past and in turn building confidence in projections of the future. The continual development of methodologies to better facilitate environmental synthesis and data/model comparison is essential, with recent work demonstrating that time-specific (time-slice) syntheses represent the next logical step in exploring climate change during the mPWP and realizing its potential as a test bed for understanding future climate change.

Integrating geological archives and climate models for the mid-Pliocene warm period

PubMed Central

Haywood, Alan M.; Dowsett, Harry J.; Dolan, Aisling M.

2016-01-01

The mid-Pliocene Warm Period (mPWP) offers an opportunity to understand a warmer-than-present world and assess the predictive ability of numerical climate models. Environmental reconstruction and climate modelling are crucial for understanding the mPWP, and the synergy of these two, often disparate, fields has proven essential in confirming features of the past and in turn building confidence in projections of the future. The continual development of methodologies to better facilitate environmental synthesis and data/model comparison is essential, with recent work demonstrating that time-specific (time-slice) syntheses represent the next logical step in exploring climate change during the mPWP and realizing its potential as a test bed for understanding future climate change. PMID:26879640

The ghost of public health journalism: past, present, and future.

PubMed

Cooper, Glinda S; Brown, Rebecca C

2010-03-01

The news industry is undergoing shrinking newspaper circulations, cuts in science and health coverage, and expansion of Internet news sources. We examine the impact of these changes using a case study set in Libby, Montana. In 1999, a Seattle newspaper story focused attention on asbestos exposure and related diseases in this small town. In 2009, that newspaper became an online-only newspaper, just as coverage of a related criminal trial began. Later that year the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a public health emergency. Online newspaper archives and a collaboration between the University of Montana's journalism and law schools contributed to coverage of these developments. Continued efforts to promote interest in and skills needed for high-quality public health and environmental reporting are needed.

Environmental and economic analyses of waste disposal options for traditional markets in Indonesia

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

Aye, Lu; Widjaya, E.R.

2006-07-01

Waste from traditional markets in Indonesia is the second largest stream of municipal solid waste after household waste. It has a higher organic fraction and may have greater potential to be managed on a business scale compared to household wastes. The attributed reason is that in general the wastes generated from traditional markets are more uniform, more concentrated and less hazardous than waste from other sources. This paper presents the results of environmental and economic assessments to compare the options available for traditional market waste disposal in Indonesia. The options compared were composting in labour intensive plants, composting in amore » centralised plant that utilised a simple wheel loader, centralised biogas production and landfill for electricity production. The current open dumping practice was included as the baseline case. A life cycle assessment (LCA) was used for environmental analysis. All options compared have lower environmental impacts than the current practice of open dumping. The biogas production option has the lowest environmental impacts. A cost-benefit analysis, which considered greenhouse gas savings, was used for the economic assessment. It was found that composting at a centralised plant is the most economically feasible option under the present Indonesian conditions. The approach reported in this study could be applied for 'a pre-feasibility first cut comparison' that includes environmental aspects in a decision-making framework for developing countries even though European emission factors were used.« less

Effect of the environment on the secondary metabolic profile of Tithonia diversifolia: a model for environmental metabolomics of plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sampaio, Bruno Leite; Edrada-Ebel, Ruangelie; da Costa, Fernando Batista

2016-07-01

Tithonia diversifolia is an invasive weed commonly found in tropical ecosystems. In this work, we investigate the influence of different abiotic environmental factors on the plant’s metabolite profile by multivariate statistical analyses of spectral data deduced by UHPLC-DAD-ESI-HRMS and NMR methods. Different plant part samples of T. diversifolia which included leaves, stems, roots, and inflorescences were collected from two Brazilian states throughout a 24-month period, along with the corresponding monthly environmental data. A metabolomic approach employing concatenated LC-MS and NMR data was utilised for the first time to study the relationships between environment and plant metabolism. A seasonal pattern was observed for the occurrence of metabolites that included sugars, sesquiterpenes lactones and phenolics in the leaf and stem parts, which can be correlated to the amount of rainfall and changes in temperature. The distribution of the metabolites in the inflorescence and root parts were mainly affected by variation of some soil nutrients such as Ca, Mg, P, K and Cu. We highlight the environment-metabolism relationship for T. diversifolia and the combined analytical approach to obtain reliable data that contributed to a holistic understanding of the influence of abiotic environmental factors on the production of metabolites in various plant parts.

Effect of the environment on the secondary metabolic profile of Tithonia diversifolia: a model for environmental metabolomics of plants

PubMed Central

Sampaio, Bruno Leite; Edrada-Ebel, RuAngelie; Da Costa, Fernando Batista

2016-01-01

Tithonia diversifolia is an invasive weed commonly found in tropical ecosystems. In this work, we investigate the influence of different abiotic environmental factors on the plant’s metabolite profile by multivariate statistical analyses of spectral data deduced by UHPLC-DAD-ESI-HRMS and NMR methods. Different plant part samples of T. diversifolia which included leaves, stems, roots, and inflorescences were collected from two Brazilian states throughout a 24-month period, along with the corresponding monthly environmental data. A metabolomic approach employing concatenated LC-MS and NMR data was utilised for the first time to study the relationships between environment and plant metabolism. A seasonal pattern was observed for the occurrence of metabolites that included sugars, sesquiterpenes lactones and phenolics in the leaf and stem parts, which can be correlated to the amount of rainfall and changes in temperature. The distribution of the metabolites in the inflorescence and root parts were mainly affected by variation of some soil nutrients such as Ca, Mg, P, K and Cu. We highlight the environment-metabolism relationship for T. diversifolia and the combined analytical approach to obtain reliable data that contributed to a holistic understanding of the influence of abiotic environmental factors on the production of metabolites in various plant parts. PMID:27383265

Effect of the environment on the secondary metabolic profile of Tithonia diversifolia: a model for environmental metabolomics of plants.

PubMed

Sampaio, Bruno Leite; Edrada-Ebel, RuAngelie; Da Costa, Fernando Batista

2016-07-07

Tithonia diversifolia is an invasive weed commonly found in tropical ecosystems. In this work, we investigate the influence of different abiotic environmental factors on the plant's metabolite profile by multivariate statistical analyses of spectral data deduced by UHPLC-DAD-ESI-HRMS and NMR methods. Different plant part samples of T. diversifolia which included leaves, stems, roots, and inflorescences were collected from two Brazilian states throughout a 24-month period, along with the corresponding monthly environmental data. A metabolomic approach employing concatenated LC-MS and NMR data was utilised for the first time to study the relationships between environment and plant metabolism. A seasonal pattern was observed for the occurrence of metabolites that included sugars, sesquiterpenes lactones and phenolics in the leaf and stem parts, which can be correlated to the amount of rainfall and changes in temperature. The distribution of the metabolites in the inflorescence and root parts were mainly affected by variation of some soil nutrients such as Ca, Mg, P, K and Cu. We highlight the environment-metabolism relationship for T. diversifolia and the combined analytical approach to obtain reliable data that contributed to a holistic understanding of the influence of abiotic environmental factors on the production of metabolites in various plant parts.

Examining Associations of Environmental Characteristics with Recreational Cycling Behaviour by Street-Level Strava Data

PubMed Central

Sun, Yeran; Du, Yunyan; Wang, Yu; Zhuang, Liyuan

2017-01-01

Policymakers pay much attention to effectively increasing frequency of people’s cycling in the context of developing sustainable and green cities. Investigating associations of environmental characteristics and cycling behaviour could offer implications for changing urban infrastructure aiming at encouraging active travel. However, earlier examinations of associations between environmental characteristics and active travel behaviour are limited by low spatial granularity and coverage of traditional data. Crowdsourced geographic information offers an opportunity to determine the fine-grained travel patterns of people. Particularly, Strava Metro data offer a good opportunity for studies of recreational cycling behaviour as they can offer hourly, daily or annual cycling volumes with different purposes (commuting or recreational) in each street across a city. Therefore, in this study, we utilised Strava Metro data for investigating associations between environmental characteristics and recreational cycling behaviour at a large spatial scale (street level). In this study, we took account of population density, employment density, road length, road connectivity, proximity to public transit services, land use mix, proximity to green space, volume of motor vehicles and traffic accidents in an empirical investigation over Glasgow. Empirical results reveal that Strava cyclists are more likely to cycle for recreation on streets with short length, large connectivity or low volume of motor vehicles or on streets surrounded by residential land. PMID:28617345

Examining Associations of Environmental Characteristics with Recreational Cycling Behaviour by Street-Level Strava Data.

PubMed

Sun, Yeran; Du, Yunyan; Wang, Yu; Zhuang, Liyuan

2017-06-15

Policymakers pay much attention to effectively increasing frequency of people's cycling in the context of developing sustainable and green cities. Investigating associations of environmental characteristics and cycling behaviour could offer implications for changing urban infrastructure aiming at encouraging active travel. However, earlier examinations of associations between environmental characteristics and active travel behaviour are limited by low spatial granularity and coverage of traditional data. Crowdsourced geographic information offers an opportunity to determine the fine-grained travel patterns of people. Particularly, Strava Metro data offer a good opportunity for studies of recreational cycling behaviour as they can offer hourly, daily or annual cycling volumes with different purposes (commuting or recreational) in each street across a city. Therefore, in this study, we utilised Strava Metro data for investigating associations between environmental characteristics and recreational cycling behaviour at a large spatial scale (street level). In this study, we took account of population density, employment density, road length, road connectivity, proximity to public transit services, land use mix, proximity to green space, volume of motor vehicles and traffic accidents in an empirical investigation over Glasgow. Empirical results reveal that Strava cyclists are more likely to cycle for recreation on streets with short length, large connectivity or low volume of motor vehicles or on streets surrounded by residential land.

DataUp: Helping manage and archive data within the researcher's workflow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strasser, C.

2012-12-01

There are many barriers to data management and sharing among earth and environmental scientists; among the most significant are lacks of knowledge about best practices for data management, metadata standards, or appropriate data repositories for archiving and sharing data. We have developed an open-source add-in for Excel and an open source web application intended to help researchers overcome these barriers. DataUp helps scientists to (1) determine whether their file is CSV compatible, (2) generate metadata in a standard format, (3) retrieve an identifier to facilitate data citation, and (4) deposit their data into a repository. The researcher does not need a prior relationship with a data repository to use DataUp; the newly implemented ONEShare repository, a DataONE member node, is available for any researcher to archive and share their data. By meeting researchers where they already work, in spreadsheets, DataUp becomes part of the researcher's workflow and data management and sharing becomes easier. Future enhancement of DataUp will rely on members of the community adopting and adapting the DataUp tools to meet their unique needs, including connecting to analytical tools, adding new metadata schema, and expanding the list of connected data repositories. DataUp is a collaborative project between Microsoft Research Connections, the University of California's California Digital Library, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and DataONE.

Stability of Bovine viral diarrhea virus 1 nucleic acid in fetal bovine samples stored under different conditions.

PubMed

Ridpath, Julia F; Neill, John D; Chiang, Yu-Wei; Waldbillig, Jill

2014-01-01

Infection of pregnant cattle with both species of Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) can result in reproductive disease that includes fetal reabsorption, mummification, abortion, stillbirths, congenital defects affecting structural, neural, reproductive, and immune systems, and the birth of calves persistently infected with BVDV. Accurate diagnosis of BVDV-associated reproductive disease is important to control BVDV at the production unit level and assessment of the cost of BVDV infections in support of BVDV control programs. The purpose of the current study was to examine the stability of viral nucleic acid in fetal tissues exposed to different conditions, as measured by detection by polymerase chain reaction. Five different types of fetal tissue, including brain, skin and muscle, ear, and 2 different pooled organ samples, were subjected to conditions that mimicked those that might exist for samples collected after abortions in production settings or possible storage conditions after collection and prior to testing. In addition, tissues were archived for 36 months at -20°C and then retested, to mimic conditions that might occur in the case of retrospective surveillance studies. Brain tissue showed the highest stability under the conditions tested. The impact of fecal contamination was increased following archiving in all tissue types suggesting that, for long-term storage, effort should be made to reduce environmental contaminants before archiving.

Using Network Analysis to Characterize Biogeographic Data in a Community Archive

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wellman, T. P.; Bristol, S.

2017-12-01

Informative measures are needed to evaluate and compare data from multiple providers in a community-driven data archive. This study explores insights from network theory and other descriptive and inferential statistics to examine data content and application across an assemblage of publically available biogeographic data sets. The data are archived in ScienceBase, a collaborative catalog of scientific data supported by the U.S Geological Survey to enhance scientific inquiry and acuity. In gaining understanding through this investigation and other scientific venues our goal is to improve scientific insight and data use across a spectrum of scientific applications. Network analysis is a tool to reveal patterns of non-trivial topological features in the data that do not exhibit complete regularity or randomness. In this work, network analyses are used to explore shared events and dependencies between measures of data content and application derived from metadata and catalog information and measures relevant to biogeographic study. Descriptive statistical tools are used to explore relations between network analysis properties, while inferential statistics are used to evaluate the degree of confidence in these assessments. Network analyses have been used successfully in related fields to examine social awareness of scientific issues, taxonomic structures of biological organisms, and ecosystem resilience to environmental change. Use of network analysis also shows promising potential to identify relationships in biogeographic data that inform programmatic goals and scientific interests.

Remote sensing data acquisition, analysis and archival. Volume 1. Final report

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

Stringer, W.J.; Dean, K.G.; Groves, J.E.

1993-03-25

The project specialized in the acquisition and dissemination of satellite imagery and its utilization for case-specific and statistical analyses of offshore environmental conditions, particularly those involving sea ice. During the duration of this contract, 854 Landsat Multispectral Scanner and 2 Landsat Thematic Mapper scenes, 8,576 Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer images, and 31,000 European, Earth Resources Satellite, Synthetic Aperture Radar images were archived. Direct assistance was provided to eight Minerals Management Service (MMS)-sponsored studies, including analyses of Port Moller circulation, Bowhead whale migration, distribution, population and behavioral studies, Beaufort Sea fisheries, oil spill trajectory model development, and Kasegaluk Lagoon environmentalmore » assessments. In addition, under this Cooperative Agreement several complete studies were undertaken based on analysis of satellite imagery. The topics included: Kasegaluk Lagoon transport, the effect of winter storms on arctic ice, the relationship between ice surface temperatures as measured by buoys and passive microwave imagery, unusual cloud forms following lead-openings, and analyses of Chukchi and Bering sea polynyas.« less

MagIC: Geomagnetic Applications from Earth History to Archeology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Constable, C.; Tauxe, L.; Koppers, A.; Minnett, R.; Jarboe, N.

2016-12-01

Major scientific challenges increasingly require an interdisciplinary approach, and highlight the need for open archives, incorporating visualization and analysis tools that are flexible enough to address novel research problems. Increasingly modern standards for publication are (or should be) demanding direct links to data, data citations, and adequate documentation that allow other researchers direct access to the fundamental measurements and analyses producing the results. Carefully documented metadata are essential and data models may need considerable complexity to accommodate re-use of observations originally collected with a different purpose in mind. The Magnetics Information Consortium (MagIC) provides an online home for all kinds of paleo-, archeo-magnetic, rock, and environmental magnetic data, from documentation of fieldwork, through lab protocols, to interpretations in terms of geomagnetic history. Examples of their application to understanding geomagnetic field behavior, archeological dating, and voyages of exploration to discover America will be used to highlight best practices and illustrate unexpected benefits of data archived using best practices with the goal of maintaining high standards for reproducibility.

Archive of Boomer seismic reflection data: collected during USGS Cruise 96CCT01, nearshore south central South Carolina coast, June 26 - July 1, 1996

USGS Publications Warehouse

Calderon, Karynna; Dadisman, Shawn V.; Kindinger, Jack G.; Flocks, James G.; Wiese, Dana S.

2003-01-01

This archive consists of marine seismic reflection profile data collected in four survey areas from southeast of Charleston Harbor to the mouth of the North Edisto River of South Carolina. These data were acquired June 26 - July 1, 1996, aboard the R/V G.K. Gilbert. Included here are data in a variety of formats including binary, American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII), Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML), Portable Document Format (PDF), Rich Text Format (RTF), Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) and Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) images, and shapefiles. Binary data are in Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) SEG-Y format and may be downloaded for further processing or display. Reference maps and GIF images of the profiles may be viewed with a web browser. The Geographic Information Systems (GIS) map documents provided were created with Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) GIS software ArcView 3.2 and 8.1.

Agile based "Semi-"Automated Data ingest process : ORNL DAAC example

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santhana Vannan, S. K.; Beaty, T.; Cook, R. B.; Devarakonda, R.; Hook, L.; Wei, Y.; Wright, D.

2015-12-01

The ORNL DAAC archives and publishes data and information relevant to biogeochemical, ecological, and environmental processes. The data archived at the ORNL DAAC must be well formatted, self-descriptive, and documented, as well as referenced in a peer-reviewed publication. The ORNL DAAC ingest team curates diverse data sets from multiple data providers simultaneously. To streamline the ingest process, the data set submission process at the ORNL DAAC has been recently updated to use an agile process and a semi-automated workflow system has been developed to provide a consistent data provider experience and to create a uniform data product. The goals of semi-automated agile ingest process are to: 1.Provide the ability to track a data set from acceptance to publication 2. Automate steps that can be automated to improve efficiencies and reduce redundancy 3.Update legacy ingest infrastructure 4.Provide a centralized system to manage the various aspects of ingest. This talk will cover the agile methodology, workflow, and tools developed through this system.

Executable research compendia in geoscience research infrastructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nüst, Daniel

2017-04-01

From generation through analysis and collaboration to communication, scientific research requires the right tools. Scientists create their own software using third party libraries and platforms. Cloud computing, Open Science, public data infrastructures, and Open Source enable scientists with unprecedented opportunites, nowadays often in a field "Computational X" (e.g. computational seismology) or X-informatics (e.g. geoinformatics) [0]. This increases complexity and generates more innovation, e.g. Environmental Research Infrastructures (environmental RIs [1]). Researchers in Computational X write their software relying on both source code (e.g. from https://github.com) and binary libraries (e.g. from package managers such as APT, https://wiki.debian.org/Apt, or CRAN, https://cran.r-project.org/). They download data from domain specific (cf. https://re3data.org) or generic (e.g. https://zenodo.org) data repositories, and deploy computations remotely (e.g. European Open Science Cloud). The results themselves are archived, given persistent identifiers, connected to other works (e.g. using https://orcid.org/), and listed in metadata catalogues. A single researcher, intentionally or not, interacts with all sub-systems of RIs: data acquisition, data access, data processing, data curation, and community support [3]. To preserve computational research [3] proposes the Executable Research Compendium (ERC), a container format closing the gap of dependency preservation by encapsulating the runtime environment. ERCs and RIs can be integrated for different uses: (i) Coherence: ERC services validate completeness, integrity and results (ii) Metadata: ERCs connect the different parts of a piece of research and faciliate discovery (iii) Exchange and Preservation: ERC as usable building blocks are the shared and archived entity (iv) Self-consistency: ERCs remove dependence on ephemeral sources (v) Execution: ERC services create and execute a packaged analysis but integrate with existing platforms for display and control These integrations are vital for capturing workflows in RIs and connect key stakeholders (scientists, publishers, librarians). They are demonstrated using developments by the DFG-funded project Opening Reproducible Research (http://o2r.info). Semi-automatic creation of ERCs based on research workflows is a core goal of the project. References [0] Tony Hey, Stewart Tansley, Kristin Tolle (eds), 2009. The Fourth Paradigm: Data-Intensive Scientific Discovery. Microsoft Research. [1] P. Martin et al., Open Information Linking for Environmental Research Infrastructures, 2015 IEEE 11th International Conference on e-Science, Munich, 2015, pp. 513-520. doi: 10.1109/eScience.2015.66 [2] Y. Chen et al., Analysis of Common Requirements for Environmental Science Research Infrastructures, The International Symposium on Grids and Clouds (ISGC) 2013, Taipei, 2013, http://pos.sissa.it/archive/conferences/179/032/ISGC [3] Opening Reproducible Research, Geophysical Research Abstracts Vol. 18, EGU2016-7396, 2016, http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2016/EGU2016-7396.pdf

The history of environmental change and adaptation in eastern Saloum-Senegal—Driving forces and perceptions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mbow, Cheikh; Mertz, Ole; Diouf, Awa; Rasmussen, Kjeld; Reenberg, Anette

2008-12-01

Environmental change in the Sahel-Sudan zone of West Africa has been a major issue in development debates over the last decades. Using remote sensing based land cover change analysis, archival data, national and international statistical data, and household interviews, we analyze the drivers of environmental change in Eastern Saloum in Central East Senegal as well as the local perceptions of these changes and adaptation. Being part of the ground nut basin, Eastern Saloum has witnessed rapid environmental degradation caused by the conversion of forest and savanna areas to agricultural land during the last 20-30 years and by a combination of decline in precipitation, soil degradation, a diversity of policies with little concern for the environment, fluctuating markets and population pressure. Farmers perceive the environmental change mainly as land degradation and poor soil fertility, though recent extensification of agriculture counters this effect and has led to increased vegetation cover in marginal areas. They identified erratic climate, agricultural policies, insufficient food production and desire to increase income as the main drivers of change in the area. We conclude that while climate variability has influenced environmental change in the area, various types of State interventions in agriculture and global market fluctuations appear to have been the main underlying causes of environmental degradation.

Heat Stress Illness in a Mechanized Infantry Brigade During Simulated Combat at Fort Irwin

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-05-01

this expanded concept of risk measurement and tracking, at least partly, feasible. Year(s) # heat Primary (Sumncr only) illnesses/10.000/week Activity...operations. Inibntly 28-34, May-June 1992. Clowes, G.H.A., and O’Donnell, T.F. Jr. Current concepts : heat stroke. New England Journal of Medicine 291(11...V.M.. Role of dehydration in heat stress-induced variations in mental performance. Archives of Environmental Healh 43: 15-17, 1988. Halbertstadt, Hans

Reliability issues in PACS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taira, Ricky K.; Chan, Kelby K.; Stewart, Brent K.; Weinberg, Wolfram S.

1991-07-01

Reliability is an increasing concern when moving PACS from the experimental laboratory to the clinical environment. Any system downtime may seriously affect patient care. The authors report on the several classes of errors encountered during the pre-clinical release of the PACS during the past several months and present the solutions implemented to handle them. The reliability issues discussed include: (1) environmental precautions, (2) database backups, (3) monitor routines of critical resources and processes, (4) hardware redundancy (networks, archives), and (5) development of a PACS quality control program.

The smartphone in the memory clinic: A study of patient and care partner's utilisation habits.

PubMed

Benge, Jared F; Dinh, Kara L; Logue, Erin; Phenis, Richard; Dasse, Michelle N; Scullin, Michael K

2018-04-16

Smartphones have potential as cognitive aids for adults with cognitive impairments. However, little is known about how patients and their care partners utilise smartphones in their day-to-day lives. We collected self-reported smartphone utilisation data from patients referred for neuropsychological evaluations (N = 53), their care partners (N = 44), and an Amazon Mechanical Turk control sample (N = 204). Patient participants were less likely to own a smartphone than controls, with increasing age associated with less utilisation of smartphone features in all groups. Of the patients who owned smartphones, spontaneous use of cognitive aid features (e.g., reminders and calendars) occurred on only a monthly-to-weekly basis; by comparison, patients reported utilising social/general features (e.g., email and internet) on a weekly-to-daily basis. Individuals referred for geriatric cognitive disorder evaluations were less likely to own and use smartphones than individuals referred for other reasons. Care partners reported using their smartphones more frequently than control group adults, with 55% of care partners endorsing utilising their device in caring for the patient. Building upon existing smartphone use habits to increase the use of cognitive aid features may be a feasible intervention for some patients, and including care partners in such interventions is encouraged.

Socioeconomic inequalities in health care utilisation in Norway: the population-based HUNT3 survey.

PubMed

Vikum, Eirik; Krokstad, Steinar; Westin, Steinar

2012-08-22

In this study we investigated the distribution of self-reported health care utilisation by education and household income in a county population in Norway, in a universal public health care system based on ideals of equal access for all according to need, and not according to wealth. The study included 24,147 women and 20,608 men aged 20 years and above in the third Nord-Trøndelag Health Survey (HUNT 3) of 2006-2008. Income-related horizontal inequity was estimated through concentration indexes, and inequity by both education and income was estimated as risk ratios through conventional regression. We found no overall pro-rich or pro-educated socioeconomic gradient in needs-adjusted utilisation of general practitioner or inpatient care. However, we found overall pro-rich and pro-educated inequity in utilisation of both private medical specialists and hospital outpatient care. For these services there were large differences in levels of inequity between younger and older men and women. In contrast with recent studies from Norway, we found pro-rich and pro-educated social inequalities in utilisation of hospital outpatient services and not only private medical specialists. Utilisation of general practitioner and inpatient services, which have low access threshold or are free of charge, we found to be equitable.

Impact of Nutritional Status and Sleep Quality on Hospital Utilisation in the Oldest Old with Heart Failure.

PubMed

Selan, S; Hellström, A; Fagerström, C

2016-02-01

To describe three-year trends in nutritional status and sleep quality and their impact on hospital utilisation in the oldest old (80 +) with heart failure (HF). Single-centred longitudinal observational study. South-eastern Sweden. 90 elderly (80+) with objectively verified HF. Baseline data from the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) and on sleep quality were collected through structured interviews following the HF diagnosis (n=90) and at a three-year follow-up (n=41). Data on hospital utilisation during the three years following the HF diagnosis were also collected. Nineteen percent of the participants were found to have impaired nutritional status, a condition that increased hospital utilisation by four bed days per year. A majority (85%) had impaired sleep quality, but no impact on hospital utilisation was found. Nutritional status and sleep quality were stable over the three-year period. In the oldest old with HF, impaired nutritional status and impaired sleep quality are already common at HF diagnosis. Impaired nutritional status increases hospital utilisation significantly. Therefore, it is of supreme importance to systematically evaluate nutritional status and sleep quality in the oldest old when they are diagnosed with HF, as well as to take action if impairments are present.

Fermilab History and Archives Project | Home

Science.gov Websites

Fermilab History and Archives Project Fermilab History and Archives Project Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory Home About the Archives History & Archives Online Request Contact Us Site Index SEARCH the site: History & Archives Project Fermilab History and Archives Project The History of

Trends of CT utilisation in an emergency department in Taiwan: a 5-year retrospective study

PubMed Central

Hu, Sung-Yuan; Hsieh, Ming-Shun; Lin, Meng-Yu; Hsu, Chiann-Yi; Lin, Tzu-Chieh; How, Chorng-Kuang; Wang, Chen-Yu; Tsai, Jeffrey Che-Hung; Wu, Yu-Hui; Chang, Yan-Zin

2016-01-01

Objectives To investigate the association between the trends of CT utilisation in an emergency department (ED) and changes in clinical imaging practice and patients' disposition. Setting A hospital-based retrospective observational study of a public 1520-bed referral medical centre in Taiwan. Participants Adult ED visits (aged ≥18 years) during 2009–2013, with or without receiving CT, were enrolled as the study participants. Main outcome measures For all enrolled ED visits, we retrospectively analysed: (1) demographic characteristics, (2) triage categories, (3) whether CT was performed and the type of CT scan, (4) further ED disposition, (5) ED cost and (6) ED length of stay. Results In all, 269 239 adult ED visits (148 613 male patients and 120 626 female patients) were collected during the 5-year study period, comprising 38 609 CT scans. CT utilisation increased from 11.10% in 2009 to 17.70% in 2013 (trend test, p<0.001). Four in 5 types of CT scan (head, chest, abdomen and miscellaneous) were increasingly utilised during the study period. Also, CT was increasingly ordered annually in all age groups. Although ED CT utilisation rates increased markedly, the annual ED visits did not actually increase. Moreover, the subsequent admission rate, after receiving ED CT, declined (59.9% in 2009 to 48.2% in 2013). Conclusions ED CT utilisation rates increased significantly during 2009–2013. Emergency physicians may be using CT for non-emergent studies in the ED. Further investigation is needed to determine whether increasing CT utilisation is efficient and cost-effective. PMID:27279477

COPD: Health Care Utilisation Patterns with Different Disease Management Interventions.

PubMed

Luk, Edwin K; Hutchinson, Anastasia F; Tacey, Mark; Irving, Louis; Khan, Fary

2017-08-01

The management of COPD is a significant and costly issue worldwide, with acute healthcare utilisation consisting of admissions and outpatient attendances being a major contributor to the cost. Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) and integrated disease management (IDM) are often offered. Whilst there is strong evidence of physical and quality of life outcomes following IDM and PR, few studies have looked into healthcare utilisation. The aims of this study were to confirm whether IDM and PR reduce acute healthcare utilisation and to identify factors which contribute to acute health care utilisation or increased mortality. This was a retrospective cohort study of patients with COPD who were referred to IDM over a 10-year period. Patients were also offered an 8-week PR program. Data collected were matched with the hospital dataset to obtain information on inpatient, ED and outpatient attendances. 517 patients were enrolled to IDM. 315 (61%) also commenced PR and 220 (43%) completed PR. Patients who were referred to PR were younger and had less comorbidities (p < 0.001). Both groups (IDM only and IDM + PR referred) had reductions in healthcare utilisation but the IDM-only group had greater reductions. A survival benefit (HR 0.68, 95% CI 0.50-0.92) was seen in those who were PR completers compared to patients who received IDM only. Patients with COPD who successfully complete PR in addition to participating in IDM have improved survival. IDM alone was effective in the reduction of healthcare utilisation; however, the addition of PR did not reduce healthcare usage further.

Estimation of an optimal chemotherapy utilisation rate for cancer: setting an evidence-based benchmark for quality cancer care.

PubMed

Jacob, S A; Ng, W L; Do, V

2015-02-01

There is wide variation in the proportion of newly diagnosed cancer patients who receive chemotherapy, indicating the need for a benchmark rate of chemotherapy utilisation. This study describes an evidence-based model that estimates the proportion of new cancer patients in whom chemotherapy is indicated at least once (defined as the optimal chemotherapy utilisation rate). The optimal chemotherapy utilisation rate can act as a benchmark for measuring and improving the quality of care. Models of optimal chemotherapy utilisation were constructed for each cancer site based on indications for chemotherapy identified from evidence-based treatment guidelines. Data on the proportion of patient- and tumour-related attributes for which chemotherapy was indicated were obtained, using population-based data where possible. Treatment indications and epidemiological data were merged to calculate the optimal chemotherapy utilisation rate. Monte Carlo simulations and sensitivity analyses were used to assess the effect of controversial chemotherapy indications and variations in epidemiological data on our model. Chemotherapy is indicated at least once in 49.1% (95% confidence interval 48.8-49.6%) of all new cancer patients in Australia. The optimal chemotherapy utilisation rates for individual tumour sites ranged from a low of 13% in thyroid cancers to a high of 94% in myeloma. The optimal chemotherapy utilisation rate can serve as a benchmark for planning chemotherapy services on a population basis. The model can be used to evaluate service delivery by comparing the benchmark rate with patterns of care data. The overall estimate for other countries can be obtained by substituting the relevant distribution of cancer types. It can also be used to predict future chemotherapy workload and can be easily modified to take into account future changes in cancer incidence, presentation stage or chemotherapy indications. Copyright © 2014 The Royal College of Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluation de l'intergiciel de communication DDS pour son utilisation dans le domaine avionique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Levesque-Landry, Kevin

Les aeronefs modernes doivent combler de plus en plus de fonctionnalites afin de satisfaire les besoins de la clientele. De ce fait, les besoins en communications des systemes avioniques sont grandissants. De plus, la portabilite et la reutilisabilite des applications sont des defis d'actualite dans le domaine avionique. De ce fait, ce projet de recherche vise a faire une evaluation de la technologie d'intergiciel de service de distribution de donnees (DDS) pour son utilisation dans le domaine avionique. Cette technologie permettrait de reduire la complexite des communications et faciliter la portabilite et reutilisabilite des applications grâce a son interface standardisee. Dans ce projet de recherche, la norme DDS est tout d'abord etudiee pour cibler les fonctionnalites qui sont utiles au domaine avionique. Les differentes polices de qualite de services sont ainsi etudiees et denotent la flexibilite de la technologie DDS. Un intergiciel DDS est egalement evalue dans un environnement de laboratoire afin de mesurer l'impact de l'utilisation de cette technologie sur les performances de latence ainsi que sur l'utilisation de la bande passante. Les resultats montrent une faible augmentation de la latence moyenne lorsque l'intergiciel DDS est utilise. L'intergiciel DDS est egalement utilise dans une etude de cas avec un AFCS (automatic flight control system) afin de quantifier les effets de son utilisation sur une application avionique. Les resultats montrent que l'utilisation de l'intergiciel DDS n'empeche pas l'AFCS d'atteindre la stabilite, mais qu'elle ralentit l'atteinte de cette derniere. Finalement, une etude de cas est effectuee afin de valider que la technologie DDS peut etre utilisee pour construire des systemes redondants. Les resultats montrent que l'intergiciel DDS permet de faire de la redondance de reserve sans avoir un impact visible sur les performances du systeme redondant.

People and water: Exploring the social-ecological condition of watersheds of the United States

PubMed Central

Scown, Murray W.; Flotemersch, Joseph E.; Spanbauer, Trisha L.; Eason, Tarsha; Garmestani, Ahjond; Chaffin, Brian C.

2018-01-01

A recent paradigm shift from purely biophysical towards social-ecological assessment of watersheds has been proposed to understand, monitor, and manipulate the myriad interactions between human well-being and the ecosystem services that watersheds provide. However, large-scale, quantitative studies in this endeavour remain limited. We utilised two newly developed ‘big-data’ sets—the Index of Watershed Integrity (IWI) and the Human Well-Being Index (HWBI)—to explore the social-ecological condition of watersheds throughout the conterminous U.S., and identified environmental and socio-economic influences on watershed integrity and human well-being. Mean county IWI was highly associated with ecoregion, industry-dependence, and state, in a spatially-explicit regression model (R2 = 0.77, P < 0.001), whereas HWBI was not (R2 = 0.31, P < 0.001). HWBI is likely influenced by factors not explored here, such as governance structure and formal and informal organisations and institutions. ‘Win-win’ situations in which both IWI and HWBI were above the 75th percentile were observed in much of Utah, Colorado, and New Hampshire, and lessons from governance that has resulted in desirable outcomes might be learnt from here. Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia, along with large parts of the desert southwest, had intact watersheds but low HWBI, representing areas worthy of further investigation of how ecosystem services might be utilised to improve well-being. The Temperate Prairies and Central USA Plains had widespread areas of low IWI but high HWBI, likely a result of historic exploitation of watershed resources to improve well-being, particularly in farming-dependent counties. The lower Mississippi Valley had low IWI and HWBI, which is likely related to historical (temporal) and upstream (spatial) impacts on both watershed integrity and well-being. The results emphasise the importance of considering spatial and temporal trade-offs when utilising the ecosystem services provided by watersheds to improve human well-being. PMID:29682591

People and water: Exploring the social-ecological condition of watersheds of the United States.

PubMed

Scown, Murray W; Flotemersch, Joseph E; Spanbauer, Trisha L; Eason, Tarsha; Garmestani, Ahjond; Chaffin, Brian C

2017-01-01

A recent paradigm shift from purely biophysical towards social-ecological assessment of watersheds has been proposed to understand, monitor, and manipulate the myriad interactions between human well-being and the ecosystem services that watersheds provide. However, large-scale, quantitative studies in this endeavour remain limited. We utilised two newly developed 'big-data' sets-the Index of Watershed Integrity (IWI) and the Human Well-Being Index (HWBI)-to explore the social-ecological condition of watersheds throughout the conterminous U.S., and identified environmental and socio-economic influences on watershed integrity and human well-being. Mean county IWI was highly associated with ecoregion, industry-dependence, and state, in a spatially-explicit regression model (R 2 = 0.77, P < 0.001), whereas HWBI was not (R 2 = 0.31, P < 0.001). HWBI is likely influenced by factors not explored here, such as governance structure and formal and informal organisations and institutions. 'Win-win' situations in which both IWI and HWBI were above the 75 th percentile were observed in much of Utah, Colorado, and New Hampshire, and lessons from governance that has resulted in desirable outcomes might be learnt from here. Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia, along with large parts of the desert southwest, had intact watersheds but low HWBI, representing areas worthy of further investigation of how ecosystem services might be utilised to improve well-being. The Temperate Prairies and Central USA Plains had widespread areas of low IWI but high HWBI, likely a result of historic exploitation of watershed resources to improve well-being, particularly in farming-dependent counties. The lower Mississippi Valley had low IWI and HWBI, which is likely related to historical (temporal) and upstream (spatial) impacts on both watershed integrity and well-being. The results emphasise the importance of considering spatial and temporal trade-offs when utilising the ecosystem services provided by watersheds to improve human well-being.

Multi-proxy analyses of geo-bio-archives - a key to reconstruct major environmental and ecological changes in the Ephesia, W Turkey, during the last eight millennia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stock, Friederike; Knipping, Maria; Pint, Anna; Krichel, Marc; Schwarzbauer, Jan; Dsikowitzky, Larissa; Brückner, Helmut

2016-04-01

This interdisciplinary geoarchaeological research in the environs of the ancient city of Ephesus (W Turkey) focuses on (i) Holocene landscape reconstruction along with sea-level changes, and (ii) human impact on landscape evolution. More than 200 sediment cores were retrieved from geo-bio-archives and analysed with a multi-proxy approach (geochemical, sedimentological, microfaunal, palynological, and parasitological methods). The Holocene palaeogeographic changes in the embayment of the Küçük Menderes (Kaystros) on the Aegean coast of Turkey with the famous ancient city of Ephesus are counted amongst the most dramatic ones in the Mediterranean. About seven millennia ago, the maximum marine transgression filled the Küçük Menderes graben up to 20 km inland. Since then, the coastline has continuously shifted westwards due to the progradation of the deltas of this river and its tributaries. Besides other natural factors, like sea level fluctuations and tectonics, the speed of delta progradation was mainly governed by the riverine sediment load, which, in turn, was very much dependent on the human impact on the vegetation cover of the drainage basins. The sedimentation rates confirm this assumption: While low rates occurred between the 5th and the 1st millennia BC (up to 1 mm/year), much higher rates (4 - 30 mm/year) can be calculated thereafter. In response to these dramatic environmental changes, human settlements and their harbours had to be relocated several times from the 1st millennium BC onwards. The Koressos harbour and the Roman harbour were important hubs for commerce with the islands in the Aegean Sea. The nowadays silted-up harbour basins are valuable geo-bio-archives. The Roman harbours inventory shows high heavy metal concentrations (lead, copper), fruit tree pollen and eggs of intestinal parasites from the 1st millennium BC until the 7th century AD, as evidence of intensive human impact during that period of time. The occurrence of organic compounds (abietane, retene, loliolode and β-cyclocitral originating, e.g., from natural resins, tar and bitumen) also correlate with the intensive use of the harbour. In contrast, the lake and swamps of Belevi, located 14 km upstream of Ephesus, represent a geo-bio-archive with a quasi-natural sedimentation. However, even there the palynological analysis clearly reveals settlement activities already since the 7th millennium BC. The proof of the Santorini tephra of 1630 BC is an excellent marker horizon; it is the first time that this ash was detected in the environs of Ephesus.

Biogenic hardparts: Difficult archives of the geological past (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Immenhauser, A.; Schone, B. R.; Hoffmann, R.; Niedermayr, A.

2013-12-01

Biomineralized exo- or endoskeletons of fossil marine invertebrates are widespread and diverse components of the Phanerozoic rock record of Earth's past and present oceans. Exoskeletons serve as protection against environmental pressure or predators, whilst endoskeletons can act as support or serve as an attachment for muscles and ligaments and hence as a mechanism for transmitting muscular forces. Biogenic hard parts represent sophisticated products resulting from the hierarchical interaction of inorganic minerals (95%) and macromolecular organic matrices, forming commonly less than 5%. The significance of many biogenic carbonate archives lies in the time-resolved growth patterns and their ability to record ambient environmental conditions in the form of multiple geochemical properties (multi-proxy archives) that have been widely used to assess past oceanic seawater properties. Here, we compile and review published work dealing with crystallization pathways of skeletal hard parts secreted by mollusks (i.e., bivalves and cephalopods) as well as brachiopods as widely used archives of ancient neritic epeiric settings. Bivalves and cephalopods (e.g., extinct ammonoids and belemnites and extant Sepia, Nautilus and Spirula) all form accretionary calcitic, aragonitic or vateritic skeletal hard parts. Despite the fact that mollusks and brachiopods form part of very different branches of the animal phylogenetic tree, their biomineralization strategies are surprisingly similar. Our main focus lies in a critical assessment of the complex pathways of ions and aquo-complexes from their source (seawater) to the final product (biomineral). We do this as an attempt to critically test the commonly held hypothesis that many fossil hard parts precipitated (under favorable conditions and pending subsequent diagenetic alteration) in equilibrium with seawater. Two main observations stand out: (1) the present knowledge on pathways and mechanisms (e.g., ion channel trans-membrane or endocytosis and vesicle transport, precursor mineralogies etc.) is surprisingly incomplete and in many cases based on descriptive rather than mechanistic approaches; (2) in analogy to all metazoans, biomineralization processes of mollusks and brachiopods are complex and involve different mechanisms for different elements. The combined uptake of specific elements both from inorganic and metabolic sources represents a major problem. Despite all of these problems, field experiments document that these biominerals respond to the aquatic geochemistry and the physical properties (temperature, salinity, pH etc.) of their environment, albeit in a more complex manner than conventionally assumed. Significant advances in multi-proxy research, however, require a more holistic view of the physico-chemical and biological processes involved. The present contribution represents a first tentative step towards this goal.

Ways forward for aquatic conservation: Applications of environmental psychology to support management objectives.

PubMed

Walker-Springett, Kate; Jefferson, Rebecca; Böck, Kerstin; Breckwoldt, Annette; Comby, Emeline; Cottet, Marylise; Hübner, Gundula; Le Lay, Yves-François; Shaw, Sylvie; Wyles, Kayleigh

2016-01-15

The success or failure of environmental management goals can be partially attributed to the support for such goals from the public. Despite this, environmental management is still dominated by a natural science approach with little input from disciplines that are concerned with the relationship between humans and the natural environment such as environmental psychology. Within the marine and freshwater environments, this is particularly concerning given the cultural and aesthetic significance of these environments to the public, coupled with the services delivered by freshwater and marine ecosystems, and the vulnerability of aquatic ecosystems to human-driven environmental perturbations. This paper documents nine case studies which use environmental psychology methods to support a range of aquatic management goals. Examples include understanding the drivers of public attitudes towards ecologically important but uncharismatic river species, impacts of marine litter on human well-being, efficacy of small-scale governance of tropical marine fisheries and the role of media in shaping attitudes towards. These case studies illustrate how environmental psychology and natural sciences can be used together to apply an interdisciplinary approach to the management of aquatic environments. Such an approach that actively takes into account the range of issues surrounding aquatic environment management is more likely to result in successful outcomes, from both human and environmental perspectives. Furthermore, the results illustrate that better understanding the societal importance of aquatic ecosystems can reduce conflict between social needs and ecological objectives, and help improve the governance of aquatic ecosystems. Thus, this paper concludes that an effective relationship between academics and practitioners requires fully utilising the skills, knowledge and experience from both sectors. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

36 CFR 1280.66 - May I use the National Archives Library?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Archives Library? 1280.66 Section 1280.66 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS... the Washington, DC, Area? § 1280.66 May I use the National Archives Library? The National Archives Library facilities in the National Archives Building and in the National Archives at College Park are...

36 CFR 1280.66 - May I use the National Archives Library?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... Archives Library? 1280.66 Section 1280.66 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS... the Washington, DC, Area? § 1280.66 May I use the National Archives Library? The National Archives Library facilities in the National Archives Building and in the National Archives at College Park are...

36 CFR 1280.66 - May I use the National Archives Library?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... Archives Library? 1280.66 Section 1280.66 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS... the Washington, DC, Area? § 1280.66 May I use the National Archives Library? The National Archives Library facilities in the National Archives Building and in the National Archives at College Park are...

36 CFR 1280.66 - May I use the National Archives Library?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... Archives Library? 1280.66 Section 1280.66 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS... the Washington, DC, Area? § 1280.66 May I use the National Archives Library? The National Archives Library facilities in the National Archives Building and in the National Archives at College Park are...

Getting Personal: Personal Archives in Archival Programs and Curricula

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Douglas, Jennifer

2017-01-01

In 2001, Catherine Hobbs referred to silences around personal archives, suggesting that these types of archives were not given as much attention as organizational archives in the development of archival theory and methodology. The aims of this article are twofold: 1) to investigate the extent to which such silences exist in archival education…

Quantitative assessment of the relationships among ecological, morphological and aesthetic values in a river rehabilitation initiative.

PubMed

McCormick, Ashlee; Fisher, Karen; Brierley, Gary

2015-04-15

Promoting community support in rehabilitation efforts through incorporation of aesthetic considerations is an important component of environmental management. This research utilised a small-scale survey methodology to explore relationships among the ecological and morphological goals of scientists and the aesthetic goals of the public using the Twin Streams Catchment, Auckland, New Zealand, as a case study. Analyses using a linear model and a generalised linear mixed model showed statistically significant relationships between perceived naturalness of landscapes and their aesthetic ratings, and among ratings of perceived naturalness and ecological integrity and morphological condition. Expert measures of health and the aesthetic evaluations of the public were well aligned, indicating public preferences for landscapes of high ecological integrity with good morphological condition. Further analysis revealed participants used 'cues to care' to rate naturalness. This suggests that environmental education endeavours could further align values with these cues in efforts to enhance approaches to landscape sustainability. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Influence of Implementation of Composite Materials in Civil Aircraft Industry on reduction of Environmental Pollution and Greenhouse Effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beck, A. J.; Hodzic, A.; Soutis, C.; Wilson, C. W.

2011-12-01

Computer-based Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) models were carried out to compare lightweight composites with the traditional aluminium over their useful lifetime. The analysis included raw materials, production, useful life in operation and disposal at the end of the material's useful life. The carbon fibre epoxy resin composite could in some cases reduce the weight of a component by up to 40 % compared to aluminium. As the fuel consumption of an aircraft is strongly influenced by its total weight, the emissions can be significantly reduced by increasing the proportion of composites used in the aircraft structure. Higher emissions, compared to aluminium, produced during composites production meet their 'break even' point after certain number of time units when used in aircraft structures, and continue to save emissions over their long-term operation. The study highlighted the environmental benefits of using lightweight structures in aircraft design, and also showed that utilisation of composites in products without energy saving may lead to increased emissions in the environment.

Community Cloud Computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marinos, Alexandros; Briscoe, Gerard

Cloud Computing is rising fast, with its data centres growing at an unprecedented rate. However, this has come with concerns over privacy, efficiency at the expense of resilience, and environmental sustainability, because of the dependence on Cloud vendors such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft. Our response is an alternative model for the Cloud conceptualisation, providing a paradigm for Clouds in the community, utilising networked personal computers for liberation from the centralised vendor model. Community Cloud Computing (C3) offers an alternative architecture, created by combing the Cloud with paradigms from Grid Computing, principles from Digital Ecosystems, and sustainability from Green Computing, while remaining true to the original vision of the Internet. It is more technically challenging than Cloud Computing, having to deal with distributed computing issues, including heterogeneous nodes, varying quality of service, and additional security constraints. However, these are not insurmountable challenges, and with the need to retain control over our digital lives and the potential environmental consequences, it is a challenge we must pursue.

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

PubMed

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

2013-09-15

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

Building a Laboratory-Scale Biogas Plant and Verifying its Functionality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boleman, Tomáš; Fiala, Jozef; Blinová, Lenka; Gerulová, Kristína

2011-01-01

The paper deals with the process of building a laboratory-scale biogas plant and verifying its functionality. The laboratory-scale prototype was constructed in the Department of Safety and Environmental Engineering at the Faculty of Materials Science and Technology in Trnava, of the Slovak University of Technology. The Department has already built a solar laboratory to promote and utilise solar energy, and designed SETUR hydro engine. The laboratory is the next step in the Department's activities in the field of renewable energy sources and biomass. The Department is also involved in the European Union project, where the goal is to upgrade all existed renewable energy sources used in the Department.

Review: Utilization of Waste From Coffee Production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blinová, Lenka; Sirotiak, Maroš; Bartošová, Alica; Soldán, Maroš

2017-06-01

Coffee is one of the most valuable primary products in the world trade, and also a central and popular part of our culture. However, coffees production generate a lot of coffee wastes and by-products, which, on the one hand, could be used for more applications (sorbent for the removal of heavy metals and dyes from aqueous solutions, production of fuel pellets or briquettes, substrate for biogas, bioethanol or biodiesel production, composting material, production of reusable cups, substrat for mushroom production, source of natural phenolic antioxidants etc.), but, on the other hand, it could be a source of severe contamination posing a serious environmental problem. In this paper, we present an overview of utilising the waste from coffee production.

OceanNOMADS: Real-time and retrospective access to operational U.S. ocean prediction products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harding, J. M.; Cross, S. L.; Bub, F.; Ji, M.

2011-12-01

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Operational Model Archive and Distribution System (NOMADS) provides both real-time and archived atmospheric model output from servers at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) respectively (http://nomads.ncep.noaa.gov/txt_descriptions/marRutledge-1.pdf). The NOAA National Ocean Data Center (NODC) with NCEP is developing a complementary capability called OceanNOMADS for operational ocean prediction models. An NCEP ftp server currently provides real-time ocean forecast output (http://www.opc.ncep.noaa.gov/newNCOM/NCOM_currents.shtml) with retrospective access through NODC. A joint effort between the Northern Gulf Institute (NGI; a NOAA Cooperative Institute) and the NOAA National Coastal Data Development Center (NCDDC; a division of NODC) created the developmental version of the retrospective OceanNOMADS capability (http://www.northerngulfinstitute.org/edac/ocean_nomads.php) under the NGI Ecosystem Data Assembly Center (EDAC) project (http://www.northerngulfinstitute.org/edac/). Complementary funding support for the developmental OceanNOMADS from U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) through the Southeastern University Research Association (SURA) Model Testbed (http://testbed.sura.org/) this past year provided NODC the analogue that facilitated the creation of an NCDDC production version of OceanNOMADS (http://www.ncddc.noaa.gov/ocean-nomads/). Access tool development and storage of initial archival data sets occur on the NGI/NCDDC developmental servers with transition to NODC/NCCDC production servers as the model archives mature and operational space and distribution capability grow. Navy operational global ocean forecast subsets for U.S waters comprise the initial ocean prediction fields resident on the NCDDC production server. The NGI/NCDDC developmental server currently includes the Naval Research Laboratory Inter-America Seas Nowcast/Forecast System over the Gulf of Mexico from 2004-Mar 2011, the operational Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) regional USEast ocean nowcast/forecast system from early 2009 to present, and the NAVOCEANO operational regional AMSEAS (Gulf of Mexico/Caribbean) ocean nowcast/forecast system from its inception 25 June 2010 to present. AMSEAS provided one of the real-time ocean forecast products accessed by NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration from the NGI/NCDDC developmental OceanNOMADS during the Deep Water Horizon oil spill last year. The developmental server also includes archived, real-time Navy coastal forecast products off coastal Japan in support of U.S./Japanese joint efforts following the 2011 tsunami. Real-time NAVOCEANO output from regional prediction systems off Southern California and around Hawaii, currently available on the NCEP ftp server, are scheduled for archival on the developmental OceanNOMADS by late 2011 along with the next generation Navy/NOAA global ocean prediction output. Accession and archival of additional regions is planned as server capacities increase.

Environmental factors associated with crash-related mortality and injury among taxi drivers in New South Wales, Australia.

PubMed

Lam, Lawrence T

2004-09-01

This exploratory study aims to investigate the associations between some environmental factors and the increased risk of motor vehicle crash-related injuries among taxi drivers. Information utilised in the study are obtained from police reports of all road traffic accidents that occurred on the roads between 1996 and 2000 in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Of the 7923 taxi drivers who involved in crashes, nearly 10% (n = 750) were killed or injured. Results indicate sex, and two environmental factors are significantly associated with an increased risk of crash-related mortality and injury among taxi drivers. The adjusted relative risk of crash-related mortality and injury is increased by 60% for those who work the night shift (OR = 1.59, 95%CI = 1.35-1.88), and by 20% for those who do not carry any passenger on board (OR = 1.20, 95%CI = 1.02-1.41) should these drivers involve in a crash. The increased relative risk of crash-related mortality and injury is nearly 2.5 times for female taxi drivers (OR = 2.30, 95%CI = 1.45-3.65) when compared with their male counterparts. Copyright 2003 Elsevier Ltd.

36 CFR § 1280.66 - May I use the National Archives Library?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... Archives Library? § 1280.66 Section § 1280.66 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND... Facilities in the Washington, DC, Area? § 1280.66 May I use the National Archives Library? The National Archives Library facilities in the National Archives Building and in the National Archives at College Park...

Physicians utilisation of internet medical databases at the tertiary health institutions in Osun State, south west, Nigeria.

PubMed

Shabi, Iwok N; Shabi, Olabode M; Akewukereke, Modupe A; Udofia, Emem P

2011-12-01

To determine the extent, purpose, determinants and the impact of the utilization of Internet medical databases among the respondents. A descriptive cross sectional survey of 540 randomly selected physicians at the two tertiary health institutions in Osun State, south west, Nigeria. A total of 444 (82.2%) physicians completed the questionnaires. All the respondents have used the internet medical databases within the last 4 weeks of the study. Majority, (53.8%) used the internet resources at least once in 2 weeks, while 12.2% used the resources every day. The online resources are mainly sought for Routine patient care and for Research purposes. pubmed (70.3%), hinari (69.0%), and Free medical journals (60.1%) are the frequently used online databases/digital archives. The internet resources has positively impacted the Clinical practice (40.0%) and Research output (65.5%) of the physicians. There had been considerable increase in the extent and quality of utilization of online medical databases which has positively impacted on the Clinical practice and Research output of the physicians. Ease of finding the needed information and the availability of evidence based resources are the major determinants of the databases utilized. © 2011 The authors. Health Information and Libraries Journal © 2011 Health Libraries Group.

A new UKIDSS proper motion survey and key early results, including new benchmark systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, L.; Lucas, P.; Burningham, B.; Jones, H.; Pinfield, D.; Smart, R.; Andrei, A.

We present a proper motion catalogue for the 1500 deg2 of 2 epoch J-band UKIDSS Large Area Survey (LAS) data, which includes 120,000 stellar sources with motions detected above the 5sigma level. Our upper limit on proper motion detection is 3\\farcs3 yr-1 and typical uncertainties are of order 10 mas yr-1 for bright sources from data with a modest 1.8-7.0 year epoch baseline. We developed a bespoke proper motion pipeline which applies a source-unique second order polynomial transformation to UKIDSS array coordinates to counter potential local non-uniformity in the focal plane. Our catalogue agrees well with the proper motion data supplied in the current WFCAM Science Archive (WSA) tenth data release (DR10) catalogue where there is overlap, and in various optical catalogues, but it benefits from some improvements, such as a larger matching radius and relative to absolute proper motion correction. We present proper motion results for 128 T dwarfs in the UKIDSS LAS and key early results of projects utilising our catalogue, in particular searches for brown dwarf benchmark systems through cross matches with existing proper motion catalogues. We report the discovery of two new T dwarf benchmark systems.

Reducing hospital associated infection: a role for social marketing.

PubMed

Conway, Tony; Langley, Sue

2013-01-01

Although hand hygiene is seen as the most important method to prevent the transmission of hospital associated infection in the UK, hand hygiene compliance rates appear to remain poor. This research aims to assess the degree to which social marketing methodology can be adopted by a particular organisation to promote hand hygiene compliance. The research design is based on a conceptual framework developed from analysis of social marketing literature. Data collection involved taped interviews given by nursing staff working within a specific Hospital Directorate in Manchester, England. Supplementary data were obtained from archival records of the hand hygiene compliance rates. Findings highlighted gaps in the Directorate's approach to the promotion of hand hygiene compared to what could be using social marketing methodology. Respondents highlighted how the Directorate failed to fully optimise resources required to endorse hand hygiene practice and this resulted in poorer compliance. From the experiences and events documented, the study suggests how the emergent phenomena could be utilised by the Directorate to apply a social marketing approach which could positively influence hand hygiene compliance. The paper seeks to explore the use of social marketing in nursing to promote hand hygiene compliance and offer a conceptual framework that provides a way of measuring the strength of the impact that social marketing methodology could have.

An integrative review of in-class activities that enable active learning in college science classroom settings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arthurs, Leilani A.; Kreager, Bailey Zo

2017-10-01

Engaging students in active learning is linked to positive learning outcomes. This study aims to synthesise the peer-reviewed literature about 'active learning' in college science classroom settings. Using the methodology of an integrative literature review, 337 articles archived in the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) are examined. Four categories of in-class activities emerge: (i) individual non-polling activities, (ii) in-class polling activities, (iii) whole-class discussion or activities, and (iv) in-class group activities. Examining the collection of identified in-class activities through the lens of a theoretical framework informed by constructivism and social interdependence theory, we synthesise the reviewed literature to propose the active learning strategies (ALSs) model and the instructional decisions to enable active learning (IDEAL) theory. The ALS model characterises in-class activities in terms of the degrees to which they are designed to promote (i) peer interaction and (ii) social interdependence. The IDEAL theory includes the ALS model and provides a framework for conceptualising different levels of the general concept 'active learning' and how these levels connect to instructional decision-making about using in-class activities. The proposed ALS model and IDEAL theory can be utilised to inform instructional decision-making and future research about active learning in college science courses.

Using Formative Research to Develop Environmental and Ecological Interventions to Address Overweight and Obesity

PubMed Central

Wilson, Mark G.; Goetzel, Ron Z.; Ozminkowski, Ronald J.; DeJoy, Dave M.; Della, Lindsay; Roemer, Enid Chung; Schneider, Jennifer; Tully, Karen J.; White, John M.; Baase, Catherine M.

2010-01-01

Objective This paper presents the formative research phase of a large multi-site intervention study conducted to inform the feasibility of introducing environmental and ecological interventions. Methods Using mixed methods that included an environmental assessment, climate survey, leadership focus groups and interviews, and archival data, information was collected on employee health and job factors, the physical environment, social-organizational environment, and current health programs. Results Results show that 83% of employees at the study sites were overweight or obese. Leadership was very supportive of health initiatives and felt integrating the strategies into organizational operations would increase their likelihood of success. Environmental assessment scores ranged from 47 to 19 on a 100 point scale. Health services personnel tended to view the organizational climate for health more positively than site leadership (mean of 3.6 vs 3.0 respectively). Conclusions Intervention strategies chosen included increasing healthy food choices in vending, cafeterias, and company meetings, providing a walking path, targeting messages, developing site goals, training leaders, and establishing leaders at the work group level. PMID:18073340

Improved sugar co-utilisation by encapsulation of a recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain in alginate-chitosan capsules

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Two major hurdles for successful production of second-generation bioethanol are the presence of inhibitory compounds in lignocellulosic media, and the fact that Saccharomyces cerevisiae cannot naturally utilise pentoses. There are recombinant yeast strains that address both of these issues, but co-utilisation of glucose and xylose is still an issue that needs to be resolved. A non-recombinant way to increase yeast tolerance to hydrolysates is by encapsulation of the yeast. This can be explained by concentration gradients occuring in the cell pellet inside the capsule. In the current study, we hypothesised that encapsulation might also lead to improved simultaneous utilisation of hexoses and pentoses because of such sugar concentration gradients. Results In silico simulations of encapsulated yeast showed that the presence of concentration gradients of inhibitors can explain the improved inhibitor tolerance of encapsulated yeast. Simulations also showed pronounced concentration gradients of sugars, which resulted in simultaneous xylose and glucose consumption and a steady state xylose consumption rate up to 220-fold higher than that found in suspension culture. To validate the results experimentally, a xylose-utilising S. cerevisiae strain, CEN.PK XXX, was constructed and encapsulated in semi-permeable alginate-chitosan liquid core gel capsules. In defined media, encapsulation not only increased the tolerance of the yeast to inhibitors, but also promoted simultaneous utilisation of glucose and xylose. Encapsulation of the yeast resulted in consumption of at least 50% more xylose compared with suspended cells over 96-hour fermentations in medium containing both sugars. The higher consumption of xylose led to final ethanol titres that were approximately 15% higher. In an inhibitory dilute acid spruce hydrolysate, freely suspended yeast cells consumed the sugars in a sequential manner after a long lag phase, whereas no lag phase was observed for the encapsulated yeast, and glucose, mannose, galactose and xylose were utilised in parallel from the beginning of the cultivation. Conclusions Encapsulation of xylose-fermenting S. cerevisiae leads to improved simultaneous and efficient utilisation of several sugars, which are utilised sequentially by suspended cells. The greatest improvement is obtained in inhibitory media. These findings show that encapsulation is a promising option for production of second-generation bioethanol. PMID:25050138

The magnetohydrodynamics coal-fired flow facility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1995-01-01

In this quarterly technical progress report, UTSI reports on the status of a multitask contract to develop the technology for the steam bottoming portion of a MHD Steam Combined Cycle Power Plant. The report describes the facility maintenance and environmental work completed, status of completing technical reports and certain key administrative actions occurring during the quarter. With program resources at a minimum to closeout the MHD program, no further testing occurred during the quarter, but the DOE CFFF facility was maintained in a standby status with winterization, preventive maintenance and repairs accomplished as needed. Plans and preparations progressed for environmental actions needed at the site to investigate and characterize the groundwater and for removal/disposal of asbestos in the cooling tower. Work continued to progress on archiving the results of the MHD program.

Trends of CT utilisation in an emergency department in Taiwan: a 5-year retrospective study.

PubMed

Hu, Sung-Yuan; Hsieh, Ming-Shun; Lin, Meng-Yu; Hsu, Chiann-Yi; Lin, Tzu-Chieh; How, Chorng-Kuang; Wang, Chen-Yu; Tsai, Jeffrey Che-Hung; Wu, Yu-Hui; Chang, Yan-Zin

2016-06-08

To investigate the association between the trends of CT utilisation in an emergency department (ED) and changes in clinical imaging practice and patients' disposition. A hospital-based retrospective observational study of a public 1520-bed referral medical centre in Taiwan. Adult ED visits (aged ≥18 years) during 2009-2013, with or without receiving CT, were enrolled as the study participants. For all enrolled ED visits, we retrospectively analysed: (1) demographic characteristics, (2) triage categories, (3) whether CT was performed and the type of CT scan, (4) further ED disposition, (5) ED cost and (6) ED length of stay. In all, 269 239 adult ED visits (148 613 male patients and 120 626 female patients) were collected during the 5-year study period, comprising 38 609 CT scans. CT utilisation increased from 11.10% in 2009 to 17.70% in 2013 (trend test, p<0.001). Four in 5 types of CT scan (head, chest, abdomen and miscellaneous) were increasingly utilised during the study period. Also, CT was increasingly ordered annually in all age groups. Although ED CT utilisation rates increased markedly, the annual ED visits did not actually increase. Moreover, the subsequent admission rate, after receiving ED CT, declined (59.9% in 2009 to 48.2% in 2013). ED CT utilisation rates increased significantly during 2009-2013. Emergency physicians may be using CT for non-emergent studies in the ED. Further investigation is needed to determine whether increasing CT utilisation is efficient and cost-effective. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Determinants of utilisation differences for cancer medicines in Belgium, Scotland and Sweden.

PubMed

Ferrario, Alessandra

2017-12-01

Little comparative evidence is available on utilisation of cancer medicines in different countries and its determinants. The aim of this study was to develop a statistical model to test the correlation between utilisation and possible determinants in selected European countries. A sample of 31 medicines for cancer treatment that obtained EU-wide marketing authorisation between 2000 and 2012 was selected. Annual data on medicines' utilisation covering the in- and out-patient public sectors were obtained from national authorities between 2008 and 2013. Possible determinants of utilisation were extracted from HTA reports and complemented by contacts with key informants. A longitudinal mixed effect model was fitted to test possible determinants of medicines utilisation in Belgium, Scotland and Sweden. In the all-country model, the number of indications reimbursed positively correlated with increased consumption of medicines [one indication 2.6, 95% CI (1.8-3.6); two indications 2.4, 95% CI (1.4-4.3); three indications 4.9, 95% CI (2.2-10.9); all P < 0.01], years since EU-wide marketing authorisation [1.2, 95% CI (1.02-1.4); p < 0.05], price per DDD [0.9, 95% CI (0.998-0.999), P < 0.01], and Prescrire rating [0.5, 95% CI (0.3-0.9), P < 0.05] after adjusting for time and other covariates. In this study, the most important correlates of increased utilisation in a sample of cancer medicines introduced in the past 15 years were: medicines coverage and time since marketing authorisation. Prices had a negative effect on consumption in Belgium and Sweden. The positive impact of financial MEAs in Scotland suggests that the latter may remove the regressive effect of list prices on consumption.

Health services utilisation disparities between English speaking and non-English speaking background Australian infants

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background To examine the differences in health services utilisation and the associated risk factors between infants from non-English speaking background (NESB) and English speaking background (ESB) within Australia. Methods We analysed data from a national representative longitudinal study, the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) which started in 2004. We used survey logistic regression coupled with survey multiple linear regression to examine the factors associated with health services utilisation. Results Similar health status was observed between the two groups. In comparison to ESB infants, NESB infants were significantly less likely to use the following health services: maternal and child health centres or help lines (odds ratio [OR] 0.56; 95% confidence intervals [CI], 0.40-0.79); maternal and child health nurse visits (OR 0.68; 95% CI, 0.49-0.95); general practitioners (GPs) (OR 0.58; 95% CI, 0.40-0.83); and hospital outpatient clinics (OR 0.54; 95% CI, 0.31-0.93). Multivariate analysis results showed that the disparities could not be fully explained by the socioeconomic status and language barriers. The association between English proficiency and the service utilised was absent once the NESB was taken into account. Maternal characteristics, family size and income, private health insurance and region of residence were the key factors associated with health services utilisation. Conclusions NESB infants accessed significantly less of the four most frequently used health services compared with ESB infants. Maternal characteristics and family socioeconomic status were linked to health services utilisation. The gaps in health services utilisation between NESB and ESB infants with regard to the use of maternal and child health centres or phone help, maternal and child health nurse visits, GPs and paediatricians require appropriate policy attentions and interventions. PMID:20374663

Utilisation of primary total knee joint replacements across socioeconomic status in the Barwon Statistical Division, Australia, 2006-2007: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Brennan, Sharon Lee; Stanford, Tyman; Wluka, Anita E; Page, Richard S; Graves, Stephen E; Kotowicz, Mark A; Nicholson, Geoffrey C; Pasco, Julie A

2012-01-01

There are few Australian data that examine the association between total knee joint replacement (TKR) utilisation and socioeconomic status (SES). This study examined TKR surgeries with a diagnosis of osteoarthritis (OA) performed for residents of Barwon Statistical Division (BSD) for 2006-2007. Cross-sectional. BSD, South-eastern Victoria, Australia All patients who underwent a TKR for OA, 2006-2007, and whose residential postcode was identified as within the BSD of Australia, and for whom SES data were available, were eligible for inclusion. Primary TKR data ascertained from the Australian Orthopaedic Association National Joint Replacement Registry. Residential addresses were matched with the Australian Bureau of Statistics census data, and the Index of Relative Socioeconomic Disadvantage was used to determine SES, categorised into quintiles whereby quintile 1 indicated the most disadvantaged and quintile 5 the least disadvantaged. Age-specific and sex-specific rates of TKR utilisation per 1000 person-years were reported for 10-year age bands. Females accounted for 62.7% of the 691 primary TKR surgeries performed during 2006-2007. The greatest utilisation rates of TKR in males was 7.6 observed in those aged >79 years, and in 10.2 in females observed in those aged 70-79 years. An increase in TKR was observed for males in SES quintile four compared to quintile 1 in which the lowest utilisation which was observed (p=0.04). No differences were observed in females across SES quintiles. Further investigation is warranted on a larger scale to examine the role that SES may play in TKR utilisation, and to determine whether any social disparities in TKR utilisation reflect health system biases or geographic differences.

ModelArchiver—A program for facilitating the creation of groundwater model archives

USGS Publications Warehouse

Winston, Richard B.

2018-03-01

ModelArchiver is a program designed to facilitate the creation of groundwater model archives that meet the requirements of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) policy (Office of Groundwater Technical Memorandum 2016.02, https://water.usgs.gov/admin/memo/GW/gw2016.02.pdf, https://water.usgs.gov/ogw/policy/gw-model/). ModelArchiver version 1.0 leads the user step-by-step through the process of creating a USGS groundwater model archive. The user specifies the contents of each of the subdirectories within the archive and provides descriptions of the archive contents. Descriptions of some files can be specified automatically using file extensions. Descriptions also can be specified individually. Those descriptions are added to a readme.txt file provided by the user. ModelArchiver moves the content of the archive to the archive folder and compresses some folders into .zip files.As part of the archive, the modeler must create a metadata file describing the archive. The program has a built-in metadata editor and provides links to websites that can aid in creation of the metadata. The built-in metadata editor is also available as a stand-alone program named FgdcMetaEditor version 1.0, which also is described in this report. ModelArchiver updates the metadata file provided by the user with descriptions of the files in the archive. An optional archive list file generated automatically by ModelMuse can streamline the creation of archives by identifying input files, output files, model programs, and ancillary files for inclusion in the archive.

Modular operation of membrane bioreactors for higher hydraulic capacity utilisation.

PubMed

Veltmann, K; Palmowski, L M; Pinnekamp, J

2011-01-01

Using data from 6 full-scale municipal membrane bioreactors (MBR) in Germany the hydraulic capacity utilisation and specific energy consumption were studied and their connexion shown. The average hydraulic capacity utilisation lies between 14% and 45%. These low values are justified by the necessity to deal with intense rain events and cater for future flow increases. However, this low hydraulic capacity utilisation leads to high specific energy consumption. The optimisation of MBR operation requires a better utilisation of MBR hydraulic capacity, particularly under consideration of the energy-intensive membrane aeration. A first approach to respond to large influent flow fluctuations consists in adjusting the number of operating modules. This is practised by most MBR operators but so far mostly with variable flux and constant membrane aeration. A second approach is the real-time adjustment of membrane aeration in line with flux variations. This adjustment is not permitted under current manufacturers' warranty conditions. A further opportunity is a discontinuous operation, in which filtration takes place over short periods at high flux and energy for membrane aeration is saved during filtration pauses. The integration of a buffer volume is thereby indispensable. Overall a modular design with small units, which can be activated/ inactivated according to the influent flow and always operate under optimum conditions, enables a better utilisation of MBR hydraulic capacity and forms a solid base to reduce MBR energy demand.

African American women's preventative care usage: the role of social support and racial experiences and attitudes.

PubMed

Pullen, Erin; Perry, Brea; Oser, Carrie

2014-09-01

Research suggests that African Americans are less likely to utilise preventative care services than Americans of European descent, and that these patterns may contribute to racial health disparities in the United States. Despite the persistence of inequalities in preventative care utilisation, culturally relevant factors influencing the use of these gateway health services have been understudied among marginalised groups. Using a stratified sample of 205 low-income African American women, this research examines the predictors of receiving a physical exam, with a particular emphasis on how differing levels of social support from friend and family networks and experiences of racial discrimination and cultural mistrust shape utilisation. The findings underscore the importance of traditional predictors of utilisation, including insurance status and having a usual physician. However, they also indicate that supportive ties to friendship networks are associated with higher predicted rates of having an annual physical exam, while social support from family and sentiments of cultural mistrust are associated with lower rates of utilisation. Broadly, the findings indicate that even as traditional predictors of help-seeking become less relevant, it will be critical to explore how variations in discrimination experiences and social relationships across marginalised groups drive patterns of preventative care utilisation. © 2014 The Authors. Sociology of Health & Illness © 2014 Foundation for the Sociology of Health & Illness/John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Metabolic specialisation on preferred prey and constraints in the utilisation of alternative prey in an ant-eating spider.

PubMed

Líznarová, Eva; Pekár, Stano

2016-10-01

Trophic specialists are expected to possess adaptations that increase the efficiency of handling preferred prey. Such adaptations may constrain the ability to utilise alternative prey. Here we tested whether the ant-eating spider Euryopis episinoides possesses metabolic specialisations with increased efficiency in utilising preferred prey and decreased efficiency in utilising alternative prey. In addition, we investigated the contribution of genetic variation via maternal effects. We reared E. episinoides spiders from the first instar on two different diets, either ants (preferred prey) or fruit flies (alternative prey). Spider survival rate and increases in body mass were significantly higher on the ant diet. The total development time did not differ between diet groups, nor did the number of egg sacs per female or the incubation period. However, the number of eggs per egg sac and hatching success were higher on the ant diet. There was a genetic variation in several offspring traits. Our data support the hypothesis that stenophagous ant-eating E. episinoides have a metabolic specialisation on ant utilisation indicated by higher efficiency in utilising ants than fruit flies. While most individuals of E. episinoides were able to capture fruit flies, only very few spiders were able to develop and reproduce on a pure fruit fly diet, suggesting the existence of within-species genetic variation regarding the tolerance to alternative prey. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Stoichiometric modelling of assimilatory and dissimilatory biomass utilisation in a microbial community

PubMed Central

Hunt, Kristopher A.; Jennings, Ryan deM.; Inskeep, William P.; Carlson, Ross P.

2017-01-01

Summary Assimilatory and dissimilatory utilisation of autotroph biomass by heterotrophs is a fundamental mechanism for the transfer of nutrients and energy across trophic levels. Metagenome data from a tractable, thermoacidophilic microbial community in Yellowstone National Park was used to build an in silico model to study heterotrophic utilisation of autotroph biomass using elementary flux mode analysis and flux balance analysis. Assimilatory and dissimilatory biomass utilisation was investigated using 29 forms of biomass-derived dissolved organic carbon (DOC) including individual monomer pools, individual macromolecular pools and aggregate biomass. The simulations identified ecologically competitive strategies for utilizing DOC under conditions of varying electron donor, electron acceptor or enzyme limitation. The simulated growth environment affected which form of DOC was the most competitive use of nutrients; for instance, oxygen limitation favoured utilisation of less reduced and fermentable DOC while carbon-limited environments favoured more reduced DOC. Additionally, metabolism was studied considering two encompassing metabolic strategies: simultaneous versus sequential use of DOC. Results of this study bound the transfer of nutrients and energy through microbial food webs, providing a quantitative foundation relevant to most microbial ecosystems. PMID:27387069

The IRIS Data Management Center: An international "network of networks", providing open, automated access to geographically distributed sensors of geophysical and environmental data.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benson, R. B.; Ahern, T. K.; Trabant, C.

2006-12-01

The IRIS Data Management System has long supported international collaboration for seismology by both deploying a global network of seismometers and creating and maintaining an open and accessible archive in Seattle, WA, known as the Data Management Center (DMC). With sensors distributed on a global scale spanning more than 30 years of digital data, the DMC provides a rich repository of observations across broad time and space domains. Primary seismological data types include strong motion and broadband seismometers, conventional and superconducting gravimeters, tilt and creep meters, GPS measurements, along with other similar sensors that record accurate and calibrated ground motion. What may not be as well understood is the volume of environmental data that accompanies typical seismological data these days. This poster will review the types of time-series data that are currently being collected, how they are collected, and made freely available for download at the IRIS DMC. Environmental sensor data that is often co-located with geophysical data sensors include temperature, barometric pressure, wind direction and speed, humidity, insolation, rain gauge, and sometimes hydrological data like water current, level, temperature and depth. As the primary archival institution of the International Federation of Digital Seismograph Networks (FDSN), the IRIS DMC collects approximately 13,600 channels of real-time data from 69 different networks, from close to 1600 individual stations, currently averaging 10Tb per year in total. A major contribution to the IRIS archive currently is the EarthScope project data, a ten-year science undertaking that is collecting data from a high-resolution, multi-variate sensor network. Data types include magnetotelluric, high-sample rate seismics from a borehole drilled into the San Andreas fault (SAFOD) and various types of strain data from the Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO). In addition to the DMC, data centers located in other countries are networked seamlessly, and are providing access for researchers to these data from national networks around the world utilizing the IRIS developed Data Handling Interface (DHI) system. This poster will highlight some of the DHI enabled clients that allow geophysical information to be directly transferred to the clients. This ability allows one to construct a virtual network of data centers providing the illusion of a single virtual observatory. Furthermore, some of the features that will be shown include direct connections to MATLAB and the ability to access globally distributed sensor data in real time. We encourage discussion and participation from network operators who would like to leverage existing technology, as well as enabling collaboration.

Technical feasibility and carbon footprint of biochar co-production with tomato plant residue.

PubMed

Llorach-Massana, Pere; Lopez-Capel, Elisa; Peña, Javier; Rieradevall, Joan; Montero, Juan Ignacio; Puy, Neus

2017-09-01

World tomato production is in the increase, generating large amounts of organic agricultural waste, which are currently incinerated or composted, releasing CO 2 into the atmosphere. Organic waste is not only produced from conventional but also urban agricultural practices due recently gained popularity. An alternative to current waste management practices and carbon sequestration opportunity is the production of biochar (thermally converted biomass) from tomato plant residues and use as a soil amendment. To address the real contribution of biochar for greenhouse gas mitigation, it is necessary to assess the whole life cycle from the production of the tomato biomass feedstock to the actual distribution and utilisation of the biochar produced in a regional context. This study is the first step to determine the technical and environmental potential of producing biochar from tomato plant (Solanum lycopersicum arawak variety) waste biomass and utilisation as a soil amendment. The study includes the characterisation of tomato plant residue as biochar feedstock (cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin and metal content); feedstock thermal stability; and the carbon footprint of biochar production under urban agriculture at pilot and small-scale plant, and conventional agriculture at large-scale plant. Tomato plant residue is a potentially suitable biochar feedstock under current European Certification based on its lignin content (19.7%) and low metal concentration. Biomass conversion yields of over 40%, 50% carbon stabilization and low pyrolysis temperature conditions (350-400°C) would be required for biochar production to sequester carbon under urban pilot scale conditions; while large-scale biochar production from conventional agricultural practices have not the potential to sequestrate carbon because its logistics, which could be improved. Therefore, the diversion of tomato biomass waste residue from incineration or composting to biochar production for use as a soil amendment would environmentally be beneficial, but only if high biochar yields could be produced. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Shape Up or Ship Out: Can We Enhance Productivity in Coastal Aquaculture to Compete with Other Uses?

PubMed Central

Schrobback, Peggy; Pascoe, Sean; Coglan, Louisa

2014-01-01

Coastal resources are coming under increasing pressure from competition between recreational, commercial and conservation uses. This is particularly so in coastal areas adjacent to major population centres. Given high recreational and conservation values in such areas, economic activities need to be highly efficient in order to persist. Management of these industries must therefore also encourage efficient production and full utilisation of the areas available. In order to achieve this, managers must first understand the level and drivers of productivity, and how these can be influenced. In this study, by way of illustration, the focus was on the Sydney rock oyster industry within Queensland's Moreton Bay, a multiple use marine park with high recreational and conservation value adjacent to Australia’s third largest city. Productivity of the oyster industry in Moreton Bay is currently low compared to historic levels, and management has an objective of reversing this trend. It is unclear whether this difference is due to oyster farmers’ business choices and personal characteristics or whether varying environmental conditions in the Moreton Bay limit the capacity of the oyster industry. These require different management responses in order to enhance productivity. The study examined different productivity measures of the oyster industry using data envelopment analysis (DEA) to determine where productivity gains can be made and by how much. The findings suggest that the industry is operating at a high level of capacity utilisation, but a low level of efficiency. The results also suggest that both demographic and environmental conditions affect technical efficiency in the Bay, with water characteristics improvements and appropriate training potentially providing the greatest benefits to the industry. Methods used in this study are transferable to other industries and provide a means by which coastal aquaculture may be managed to ensure it remains competitive with other uses of coastal resources. PMID:25545861

Shape up or ship out: can we enhance productivity in coastal aquaculture to compete with other uses?

PubMed

Schrobback, Peggy; Pascoe, Sean; Coglan, Louisa

2014-01-01

Coastal resources are coming under increasing pressure from competition between recreational, commercial and conservation uses. This is particularly so in coastal areas adjacent to major population centres. Given high recreational and conservation values in such areas, economic activities need to be highly efficient in order to persist. Management of these industries must therefore also encourage efficient production and full utilisation of the areas available. In order to achieve this, managers must first understand the level and drivers of productivity, and how these can be influenced. In this study, by way of illustration, the focus was on the Sydney rock oyster industry within Queensland's Moreton Bay, a multiple use marine park with high recreational and conservation value adjacent to Australia's third largest city. Productivity of the oyster industry in Moreton Bay is currently low compared to historic levels, and management has an objective of reversing this trend. It is unclear whether this difference is due to oyster farmers' business choices and personal characteristics or whether varying environmental conditions in the Moreton Bay limit the capacity of the oyster industry. These require different management responses in order to enhance productivity. The study examined different productivity measures of the oyster industry using data envelopment analysis (DEA) to determine where productivity gains can be made and by how much. The findings suggest that the industry is operating at a high level of capacity utilisation, but a low level of efficiency. The results also suggest that both demographic and environmental conditions affect technical efficiency in the Bay, with water characteristics improvements and appropriate training potentially providing the greatest benefits to the industry. Methods used in this study are transferable to other industries and provide a means by which coastal aquaculture may be managed to ensure it remains competitive with other uses of coastal resources.

Thermal response to firefighting activities in residential structure fires: impact of job assignment and suppression tactic.

PubMed

Horn, Gavin P; Kesler, Richard M; Kerber, Steve; Fent, Kenneth W; Schroeder, Tad J; Scott, William S; Fehling, Patricia C; Fernhall, Bo; Smith, Denise L

2018-03-01

Firefighters' thermal burden is generally attributed to high heat loads from the fire and metabolic heat generation, which may vary between job assignments and suppression tactic employed. Utilising a full-sized residential structure, firefighters were deployed in six job assignments utilising two attack tactics (1. Water applied from the interior, or 2. Exterior water application before transitioning to the interior). Environmental temperatures decreased after water application, but more rapidly with transitional attack. Local ambient temperatures for inside operation firefighters were higher than other positions (average ~10-30 °C). Rapid elevations in skin temperature were found for all job assignments other than outside command. Neck skin temperatures for inside attack firefighters were ~0.5 °C lower when the transitional tactic was employed. Significantly higher core temperatures were measured for the outside ventilation and overhaul positions than the inside positions (~0.6-0.9 °C). Firefighters working at all fireground positions must be monitored and relieved based on intensity and duration. Practitioner Summary: Testing was done to characterise the thermal burden experienced by firefighters in different job assignments who responded to controlled residential fires (with typical furnishings) using two tactics. Ambient, skin and core temperatures varied based on job assignment and tactic employed, with rapid elevations in core temperature in many roles.

Effects of thermal treatments on the characterisation and utilisation of red mud with sawdust additive.

PubMed

Liu, Yanju; Naidu, Ravi; Ming, Hui; Dharmarajan, Rajarathnam; Du, Jianhua

2016-06-01

Extremely large amounts of red mud (bauxite residue) are generated globally every year from alumina refining industries, which are being disposed of on engineered landfills. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of thermal treatments on red mud for development of utilisation strategies. Thermal treatments of red mud samples and their characterisations were investigated under inert (N2) and oxidative (air) conditions with and without sawdust addition at 200-600°C. After calcination, the resulting samples were analysed using thermogravimetric-infrared spectroscopy (TG-IR) for functional group transformations, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) for thermal loss profiles and X-ray diffraction (XRD) for mineral transformations. The characterisation results showed that in N2 environment, boehmite in red mud was transferred to transition alumina at around 400°C while losing water from structural components. The addition of sawdust for incubation and calcination of red mud in air increased the surface area, whereas that in nitrogen atmosphere lead to reduction of hematite to magnetite at around 500°C. The incorporated carbon materials played a major role in increasing the surface area especially for pore size less than 2.5 nm. This treated red mud with altered mineral composition and improved properties for binding contaminants can be used for environmental remediation and in the process of metal recovery such as iron. © The Author(s) 2016.

The Efficacy of Blue-Green Infrastructure for Pluvial Flood Prevention under Conditions of Deep Uncertainty

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Babovic, Filip; Mijic, Ana; Madani, Kaveh

2017-04-01

Urban areas around the world are growing in size and importance; however, cities experience elevated risks of pluvial flooding due to the prevalence of impermeable land surfaces within them. Urban planners and engineers encounter a great deal of uncertainty when planning adaptations to these flood risks, due to the interaction of multiple factors such as climate change and land use change. This leads to conditions of deep uncertainty. Blue-Green (BG) solutions utilise natural vegetation and processes to absorb and retain runoff while providing a host of other social, economic and environmental services. When utilised in conjunction with Decision Making under Deep Uncertainty (DMDU) methodologies, BG infrastructure provides a flexible and adaptable method of "no-regret" adaptation; resulting in a practical, economically efficient, and socially acceptable solution for flood risk mitigation. This work presents the methodology for analysing the impact of BG infrastructure in the context of the Adaptation Tipping Points approach to protect against pluvial flood risk in an iterative manner. An economic analysis of the adaptation pathways is also conducted in order to better inform decision-makers on the benefits and costs of the adaptation options presented. The methodology was applied to a case study in the Cranbrook Catchment in the North East of London. Our results show that BG infrastructure performs better under conditions of uncertainty than traditional grey infrastructure.

The exposure to and health effects of antimony

PubMed Central

Cooper, Ross G.; Harrison, Adrian P.

2009-01-01

Context: This minireview describes the health effects of antimony exposure in the workplace and the environment. Aim: To collate information on the consequences of occupational and environmental exposure to antimony on physiological function and well-being. Methods: The criteria used in the current minireview for selecting articles were adopted from proposed criteria in The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. Articles were classified from an acute and chronic exposure and toxicity thrust. Results: The proportion of utilised and non-utilised articles was tabulated. Antimony toxicity is dependent on the exposure dose, duration, route (breathing, eating, drinking, or skin contact), other chemical exposures, age, sex, nutritional status, family traits, life style, and state of health. Chronic exposure to antimony in the air at levels of 9 mg/m3 may exacerbate irritation of the eyes, skin, and lungs. Long-term inhalation of antimony can potentiate pneumoconiosis, altered electrocardiograms, stomach pain, diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach ulcers, results which were confirmed in laboratory animals. Although there were investigations of the effect of antimony in sudden infant death syndrome, current findings suggest no link. Antimony trioxide exposure is predominant in smelters. Mining and exposure via glass working, soldering, and brazing are also important. Conclusion: Antimony has some useful but undoubtedly harmful effects on health and well-being and measures need to be taken to prevent hazardous exposure of the like. Its biological monitoring in the workplace is essential. PMID:20165605

Utilisation of biomass gasification by-products for onsite energy production.

PubMed

Vakalis, S; Sotiropoulos, A; Moustakas, K; Malamis, D; Baratieri, M

2016-06-01

Small scale biomass gasification is a sector with growth and increasing applications owing to the environmental goals of the European Union and the incentivised policies of most European countries. This study addresses two aspects, which are at the centre of attention concerning the operation and development of small scale gasifiers; reuse of waste and increase of energy efficiency. Several authors have denoted that the low electrical efficiency of these systems is the main barrier for further commercial development. In addition, gasification has several by-products that have no further use and are discarded as waste. In the framework of this manuscript, a secondary reactor is introduced and modelled. The main operating principle is the utilisation of char and flue gases for further energy production. These by-products are reformed into secondary producer gas by means of a secondary reactor. In addition, a set of heat exchangers capture the waste heat and optimise the process. This case study is modelled in a MATLAB-Cantera environment. The model is non-stoichiometric and applies the Gibbs minimisation principle. The simulations show that some of the thermal energy is depleted during the process owing to the preheating of flue gases. Nonetheless, the addition of a secondary reactor results in an increase of the electrical power production efficiency and the combined heat and power (CHP) efficiency. © The Author(s) 2016.

Data archiving for animal cognition research: report of an NIMH workshop.

PubMed

Kurtzman, Howard S; Church, Russell M; Crystal, Jonathon D

2002-11-01

In July 2001, the National Institute of Mental Health sponsored a workshop titled "Data Archiving for Animal Cognition Research." Participants included scientists as well as experts in archiving, publishing, policy, and law. As is described in this report, the workshop resulted in a set of conclusions and recommendations concerning (A) the impact of data archiving on research, (B) how to incorporate data archiving into research practice, (C) contents of data archives, (D) technical and archival standards, and (E) organizational, financing, and policy issues. The animal cognition research community is encouraged to begin now to establish archives, deposit data and related materials, and make use of archived materials in new scientific projects.

The resilience and adaptive capacity of social-environmental systems in colonial Mexico

PubMed Central

Endfield, Georgina H.

2012-01-01

Civilization collapse scenarios highlight what for some are worrying parallels between past case studies and societies under threat from apparently unprecedented global environmental and climate change today. Archive-based studies of socio-economic responses to climate variability in colonial Mexico suggest that the complex interactions between environment and society influence the degree to which regional livelihoods may be vulnerable or resilient to disruption and also illustrate that vulnerability to change can lead to improved understanding of risk and increased adaptive capacity. In this paper, I draw on examples to argue that experience of climate variability, extreme weather events, or weather-related events and crises can challenge societal resilience, but can also increase opportunities for learning and innovation, extending the repertoire of adaptive responses. The historical examples selected might help inform the degree to which societies can develop strategies to deal with environmental perturbations at different scales and highlight that social breakdown and collapse are not an inevitable result of transformation. PMID:22371568

Managing ocean information in the digital era--events in Canada open questions about the role of marine science libraries.

PubMed

Wells, Peter G

2014-06-15

Information is the foundation of evidence-based policies for effective marine environmental protection and conservation. In Canada, the cutback of marine science libraries introduces key questions about the role of such institutions and the management of ocean information in the digital age. How vital are such libraries in the mission of studying and protecting the oceans? What is the fate and value of the massive grey literature holdings, including archival materials, much of which is not in digital form but which often contains vital data? How important is this literature generally in the marine environmental sciences? Are we likely to forget the history of the marine pollution field if our digital focus eclipses the need for and access to comprehensive collections and skilled information specialists? This paper explores these and other questions against the backdrop of unprecedented changes in the federal libraries, marine environmental science and legislation in Canada. Copyright © 2014 The Author. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Environmental programs for ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC)

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

Wilde, P.

1981-07-01

The environmental research effort in support of the US Department of Energy's Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) program has the goal of providing documented information on the effect of proposed operations on the ocean and the effect of oceanic conditions on the plant. The associated environment program consists of archival studies in potential areas serial oceanographic cruises to sites or regions of interest, studies from various fixed platforms at sites, and compilation of such information for appropriate legal compliance and permit requirements and for use in progressive design of OTEC plants. Site/regions investigated are south of Mobile and west ofmore » Tampa, Gulf of Mexico; Punta Tuna, Puerto Rico; St. Croix, Virgin Islands; Kahe Point, Oahu and Keahole Point, Hawaii, Hawaiian Islands; and off the Brazilian south Equatorial Coast. Four classes of environmental concerns identified are: redistribution of oceanic properties (ocean water mixing, impingement/entrainment etc.); chemical pollution (biocides, working fluid leaks, etc.); structural effects (artificial reef, aggregation, nesting/migration, etc.); socio-legal-economic (worker safety, enviromaritime law, etc.).« less

The resilience and adaptive capacity of social-environmental systems in colonial Mexico.

PubMed

Endfield, Georgina H

2012-03-06

Civilization collapse scenarios highlight what for some are worrying parallels between past case studies and societies under threat from apparently unprecedented global environmental and climate change today. Archive-based studies of socio-economic responses to climate variability in colonial Mexico suggest that the complex interactions between environment and society influence the degree to which regional livelihoods may be vulnerable or resilient to disruption and also illustrate that vulnerability to change can lead to improved understanding of risk and increased adaptive capacity. In this paper, I draw on examples to argue that experience of climate variability, extreme weather events, or weather-related events and crises can challenge societal resilience, but can also increase opportunities for learning and innovation, extending the repertoire of adaptive responses. The historical examples selected might help inform the degree to which societies can develop strategies to deal with environmental perturbations at different scales and highlight that social breakdown and collapse are not an inevitable result of transformation.

Climatic and environmental aspects of the Mongol withdrawal from Hungary in 1242 CE

PubMed Central

Büntgen, Ulf; Di Cosmo, Nicola

2016-01-01

The Mongol invasion of Eastern Europe, and especially its sudden withdrawal from Hungary in 1242 CE, has generated much speculation and an array of controversial theories. None of them, however, considered multifaceted environmental drivers and the coupled analysis of historical reports and natural archives. Here we investigate annually resolved, absolutely dated and spatially explicit paleoclimatic evidence between 1230 and 1250 CE. Documentary sources and tree-ring chronologies reveal warm and dry summers from 1238–1241, followed by cold and wet conditions in early-1242. Marshy terrain across the Hungarian plain most likely reduced pastureland and decreased mobility, as well as the military effectiveness of the Mongol cavalry, while despoliation and depopulation ostensibly contributed to widespread famine. These circumstances arguably contributed to the determination of the Mongols to abandon Hungary and return to Russia. While overcoming deterministic and reductionist arguments, our ‘environmental hypothesis’ demonstrates the importance of minor climatic fluctuations on major historical events. PMID:27228400

A fully automatic processing chain to produce Burn Scar Mapping products, using the full Landsat archive over Greece

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kontoes, Charalampos; Papoutsis, Ioannis; Herekakis, Themistoklis; Michail, Dimitrios; Ieronymidi, Emmanuela

2013-04-01

Remote sensing tools for the accurate, robust and timely assessment of the damages inflicted by forest wildfires provide information that is of paramount importance to public environmental agencies and related stakeholders before, during and after the crisis. The Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications and Remote Sensing of the National Observatory of Athens (IAASARS/NOA) has developed a fully automatic single and/or multi date processing chain that takes as input archived Landsat 4, 5 or 7 raw images and produces precise diachronic burnt area polygons and damage assessments over the Greek territory. The methodology consists of three fully automatic stages: 1) the pre-processing stage where the metadata of the raw images are extracted, followed by the application of the LEDAPS software platform for calibration and mask production and the Automated Precise Orthorectification Package, developed by NASA, for image geo-registration and orthorectification, 2) the core-BSM (Burn Scar Mapping) processing stage which incorporates a published classification algorithm based on a series of physical indexes, the application of two filters for noise removal using graph-based techniques and the grouping of pixels classified as burnt to form the appropriate pixels clusters before proceeding to conversion from raster to vector, and 3) the post-processing stage where the products are thematically refined and enriched using auxiliary GIS layers (underlying land cover/use, administrative boundaries, etc.) and human logic/evidence to suppress false alarms and omission errors. The established processing chain has been successfully applied to the entire archive of Landsat imagery over Greece spanning from 1984 to 2012, which has been collected and managed in IAASARS/NOA. The number of full Landsat frames that were subject of process in the framework of the study was 415. These burn scar mapping products are generated for the first time to such a temporal and spatial extent and are ideal to use in further environmental time series analyzes, production of statistical indexes (frequency, geographical distribution and number of fires per prefecture) and applications, including change detection and climate change models, urban planning, correlation with manmade activities, etc.

Terminology supported archiving and publication of environmental science data in PANGAEA.

PubMed

Diepenbroek, Michael; Schindler, Uwe; Huber, Robert; Pesant, Stéphane; Stocker, Markus; Felden, Janine; Buss, Melanie; Weinrebe, Matthias

2017-11-10

Exemplified on the information system PANGAEA, we describe the application of terminologies for archiving and publishing environmental science data. A terminology catalogue (TC) was embedded into the system, with interfaces allowing to replicate and to manually work on terminologies. For data ingest and archiving, we show how the TC can improve structuring and harmonizing lineage and content descriptions of data sets. Key is the conceptualization of measurement and observation types (parameters) and methods, for which we have implemented a basic syntax and rule set. For data access and dissemination, we have improved findability of data through enrichment of metadata with TC terms. Semantic annotations, e.g. adding term concepts (including synonyms and hierarchies) or mapped terms of different terminologies, facilitate comprehensive data retrievals. The PANGAEA thesaurus of classifying terms, which is part of the TC is used as an umbrella vocabulary that links the various domains and allows drill downs and side drills with various facets. Furthermore, we describe how TC terms can be linked to nominal data values. This improves data harmonization and facilitates structural transformation of heterogeneous data sets to a common schema. Technical developments are complemented by work on the metadata content. Over the last 20 years, more than 100 new parameters have been defined on average per week. Recently, PANGAEA has increasingly been submitting new terms to various terminology services. Matching terms from terminology services with our parameter or method strings is supported programmatically. However, the process ultimately needs manual input by domain experts. The quality of terminology services is an additional limiting factor, and varies with respect to content, editorial, interoperability, and sustainability. Good quality terminology services are the building blocks for the conceptualization of parameters and methods. In our view, they are essential for data interoperability and arguably the most difficult hurdle for data integration. In summary, the application of terminologies has a mutual positive effect for terminology services and information systems such as PANGAEA. On both sides, the application of terminologies improves content, reliability and interoperability. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Seasonal migration and environmental conditions of Pacific halibut Hippoglossus stenolepis, elucidated from pop-up archival transmitting (PAT) tags

USGS Publications Warehouse

Loher, Timothy; Seitz, Andrew C.

2006-01-01

Pop-up archival transmitting (PAT) tags were used to study the fall migration of halibut in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). We tagged 6 Pacific halibut Hippoglossus stenolepis on summer feeding grounds in the eastern GOA and another 6 in the western GOA from June 13 to August 6, 2002. The tags were programed to be released from the fish on January 15, 2003, at the height of the winter spawning season: 10 tags successfully detached, transmitted archived environmental data (depth and temperature), and generated accurate latitude–longitude coordinates shortly after pop-up; 2 tags deployed off SE Alaska were lost. The tags revealed that 6 fish had moved a considerable distance (>200 km) between tagging and pop-up, and all of these had moved northward to some extent. The longest of the observed migrations was from the southern Alaska Peninsula to Yakutat Bay, a linear displacement of 1153 km; 4 fish showed little evidence of geographic displacement, exhibiting migrations that ranged only from 30 to 69 km. Although 2 fish had moved inshore by the end of the tagging period, all other fish had moved offshore regardless of their overall migration distance. The precise timing of offshore movements varied, beginning as early as August and as late as January. These observations generally corroborate conventional tagging, indicating migration of halibut toward winter spawning grounds in the northern GOA, and movement of fish to deep water in fall. However, no single stereotypic migration behavior was apparent, and a variety of vertical movement patterns and temperature profiles were observed. Halibut spent most time in waters of 5 to 7°C, but experienced temperatures ranging from 2.6 to 11.6°C. Depth observations ranged from 0 to 736 m, with summertime activity concentrated in depths from 0 to 400 m, and halibut that exhibited offshore movement were typically observed at 300 to 700 m by mid-winter. Vertical movement (short-period changes in depth) varied among fish and over time, with some fish displaying little vertical activity, others displaying short periods of activity, and still others displaying considerable activity throughout their time at liberty.

Standardization of the Definitions of Vertical Resolution and Uncertainty in the NDACC-archived Ozone and Temperature Lidar Measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leblanc, T.; Godin-Beekmann, S.; Payen, Godin-Beekmann; Gabarrot, Franck; vanGijsel, Anne; Bandoro, J.; Sica, R.; Trickl, T.

2012-01-01

The international Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) is a global network of high-quality, remote-sensing research stations for observing and understanding the physical and chemical state of the Earth atmosphere. As part of NDACC, over 20 ground-based lidar instruments are dedicated to the long-term monitoring of atmospheric composition and to the validation of space-borne measurements of the atmosphere from environmental satellites such as Aura and ENVISAT. One caveat of large networks such as NDACC is the difficulty to archive measurement and analysis information consistently from one research group (or instrument) to another [1][2][3]. Yet the need for consistent definitions has strengthened as datasets of various origin (e.g., satellite and ground-based) are increasingly used for intercomparisons, validation, and ingested together in global assimilation systems.In the framework of the 2010 Call for Proposals by the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) located in Bern, Switzerland, a Team of lidar experts was created to address existing issues in three critical aspects of the NDACC lidar ozone and temperature data retrievals: signal filtering and the vertical filtering of the retrieved profiles, the quantification and propagation of the uncertainties, and the consistent definition and reporting of filtering and uncertainties in the NDACC- archived products. Additional experts from the satellite and global data standards communities complement the team to help address issues specific to the latter aspect.

Does natural weathering change the stable isotope composition (²H, ¹³C, ¹⁵N, ¹⁸O and ³⁴S) of cattle hair?

PubMed

Auerswald, Karl; Rossmann, Andreas; Schäufele, Rudi; Schwertl, Michael; Monahan, Frank J; Schnyder, Hans

2011-12-30

Stable isotope analysis of hair has found applications in many fields of science because it provides a temporally resolved, fairly stable isotopic archive of mammalian individuals. We investigated whether this hair archive is modified by natural weathering while attached to a living animal. We analyzed the tail switch hairs of one suckler cow, sampled seven times over a period of four annual summer pasture-winter stall feeding cycles. We compared relative isotope ratios (δ²H, δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, δ¹⁸O and δ³⁴S) of sections of hair that grew simultaneously but were exposed to natural weathering conditions over different periods of time. Natural wear caused a loss of mass of approx. 0.13% day⁻¹, with no apparent effect of environmental conditions. Changes in δ²H, δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N and δ¹⁸O were below the detection limit, indicating that hair is a reliable archive for the isotopes of these elements. In contrast, δ³⁴S values increased during the grazing period by about 1‰, with exposure to UV radiation appearing to have a major influence on this result. The δ³⁴S values decreased during the subsequent stall period, probably due to abrasion. Seasonal variation in δ³⁴S may indicate alternating environments that differ in their weathering conditions.

Changes in stable isotope composition in Lake Michigan trout ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Researchers have frequently sought to use environmental archives of sediment, peat and glacial ice to try and assess historical trends in atmospheric mercury (Hg) deposition to aquatic ecosystems. While this information is valuable in the context of identifying temporal source trends, these types of assessments cannot account for likely changes in bioavailability of Hg sources that are tied to the formation of methylmercury (MeHg) and accumulation in fish tissues. For this study we propose the use of long-term fish archives and Hg stable isotope determination as an improved means to relate temporal changes in fish Hg levels to varying Hg sources in the Great Lakes. For this study we acquired 180 archived fish composites from Lake Michigan over a 40-year time period (1975 to 2014) from the Great Lakes Fish Monitoring and Surveillance Program, which were analyzed for their total Hg content and Hg isotope abundances. The results reveal that Hg sources to Lake Michigan trout (Salvelinus namaycush) have encountered considerable changes as well as a large shift in the food web trophic position as a result of the introduction of several invasive species, especially the recent invasion of dreissenid mussels. Total Hg concentrations span a large range (1,600 to 150 ng g-1) and exhibit large variations from 1975 to 1985. Ä199Hg signatures similarly exhibit large variation (3.2 to 6.9‰) until 1985, followed by less variation through the end of the data record in 2014.

Toward a Late Quaternary tephrostratigraphic framework for East African palaeoenvironmental records

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lane, Christine; Martin-Jones, Catherine; Johnson, Thomas; Lamb, Henry; Pearce, Nick; Scholz, Christopher; Smith, Victoria; Verschuren, Dirk

2015-04-01

Understanding the spatial and temporal variability of climate forcing and environmental response across a continent as climatically diverse as Africa relies upon comparison of data from widespread palaeoenvironmental archives. Accurate, precise and independent chronologies for such records are essential; however this remains a challenge in many environments, often preventing the valid comparison of detailed palaeo-proxy records. Many studies have now shown that volcanic ash (tephra) can be detected in terrestrial and marine sediments thousands of kilometres from their source, often as microscopic or "cryptic" layers. As well as offering opportunities for both direct (e.g. by 40Ar/39Ar methods) and indirect (e.g. by associated 14C dates) dating of the sediment sequence, tephra layers can provide stratigraphic tie-lines between archives, facilitating precise correlations at single moments in time. Furthermore, where two or more tephra layers are co-located in multiple records, rates of change can be compared within a period of equivalent duration, even in the absence of absolute age estimates. Investigations into the presence of visible and non-visible (crypto-) tephra layers within lacustrine palaeoenvironmental records of the last ~150 ka BP from across East Africa are revealing the potential for this approach to (i) correlate palaeoclimate archives from across and beyond tropical Africa within a regional tephrostratigraphic framework; (ii) provide age constraints for individual core chronologies, in particular beyond the limits of radiocarbon dating; and (iii) increase our knowledge of the history of Late Quaternary explosive volcanism in East Africa.

Data management in NOAA

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Callicott, William M.

1993-01-01

The NOAA archives contain 150 terabytes of data in digital form, most of which are the high volume GOES satellite image data. There are 630 data bases containing 2,350 environmental variables. There are 375 million film records and 90 million paper records in addition to the digital data base. The current data accession rate is 10 percent per year and the number of users are increasing at a 10 percent annual rate. NOAA publishes 5,000 publications and distributes over one million copies to almost 41,000 paying customers. Each year, over six million records are key entered from manuscript documents and about 13,000 computer tapes and 40,000 satellite hardcopy images are entered into the archive. Early digital data were stored on punched cards and open reel computer tapes. In the late seventies, an advanced helical scan technology (AMPEX TBM) was implemented. Now, punched cards have disappeared, the TBM system was abandoned, most data stored on open reel tapes have been migrated to 3480 cartridges, many specialized data sets were distributed on CD ROM's, special archives are being copied to 12 inch optical WORM disks, 5 1/4 inch magneto-optical disks were employed for workstation applications, and 8 mm EXABYTE tapes are planned for major data collection programs. The rapid expansion of new data sets, some of which constitute large volumes of data, coupled with the need for vastly improved access mechanisms, portability, and improved longevity are factors which will influence NOAA's future systems approaches for data management.

NASA SNPP SIPS - Following in the Path of EOS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Behnke, Jeanne; Hall, Alfreda; Ho, Evelyn

2016-01-01

NASA's Earth Science Data Information System (ESDIS) Project has been operating NASA's Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (SNPP) Science Data Segment (SDS) since the launch in October 2011. At launch, the SDS focused primarily on the evaluation of Sensor Data Records (SDRs) and Environmental Data Records (EDRs) produced by the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), a National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA) Program, as to their suitability for Earth system science. During the summer of 2014, NASA transitioned to the production of standard Earth Observing System (EOS)-like science products for all instruments aboard Suomi NPP. The five Science Investigator-led Processing Systems (SIPS): Land, Ocean, Atmosphere, Ozone, and Sounder were established to produce the NASA SNPP standard Level 1, Level 2, and global Level 3 products developed by the SNPP Science Teams and to provide the products to NASA's Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) for archive and distribution to the user community. The processing, archiving and distribution of data from NASA's Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) and Ozone Mapper/Profiler Suite (OMPS) Limb instruments will continue. With the implementation of the JPSS Block 2 architecture and the launch of JPSS-1, the SDS will receive SNPP data in near real-time via the JPSS Stored Mission Data Hub (JSH), as well as JPSS-1 and future JPSS-2 data. The SNPP SIPS will ingest EOS compatible Level 0 data from the EOS Data Operations System (EDOS) element for their data processing, enabling the continuous EOS-SNPP-JPSS Satellite Data Record.

Environmental policies, politics, and community risk perception: case study of community contamination in Casper, Wyoming.

PubMed

Tajik, Mansoureh; Gottlieb, Karen; Lowndes, Nita; Stewart, Gloria

2007-01-01

We identify and explain factors that affected a community's perception of risk due to extensive industrial contamination and people's distrust of government agencies regarding the environmental investigations. Intrinsic bounded case study methodology was used to conduct research about extensive environmental contaminations due to activities of an oil refinery in North Casper, Wyoming, and the citizens' response. Data were collected from multiple sources that included public testimonies, observations, public hearings and meetings minutes, newspaper articles, archived records obtained from federal and state environmental and health agencies, as well as industry records obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. The overarching theme that emerged was lack of trust due to several critical events and factors such as no response or delay in response time to community concerns, lack of transparency, perceived cover up, vague and fragmented communication by government and state officials, perception of pro-industry stance, and perceived unfair treatment. People's perception of environmental risks and their willingness to accept official explanations and outcomes of environmental investigations are strongly affected by their direct experiences with government agencies and the evidence of influence the powerful industries exert over relevant investigations. The government cannot successfully address public and community concerns about environmental health impacts of contaminations and in turn the public perception of risk unless it adopts and implements policies, procedures, and protocols that are clear, timely, transparent, and free from industry influence.

Association between secure patient–clinician email and clinical services utilisation in a US integrated health system: a retrospective cohort study

PubMed Central

Meng, Di; Palen, Ted E; Tsai, Joanne; McLeod, Melanie; Garrido, Terhilda; Qian, Heather

2015-01-01

Objective To assess associations between secure patient–clinician email use and clinical services utilisation over time. Design Retrospective cohort study between July 2010 and December 2013. Controlling for a utilisation surge around first secure email use, we analysed difference of differences between propensity score-matched groups of secure patient–clinician email users and non-users for utilisation 1–12 months before and 7–18 months after first email (users) or a randomly assigned index date (non-users). Setting US integrated healthcare delivery system. Participants 9345 adults with first secure email use between July 2011 and July 2012 and continuous enrolment for ≥30 months and 9345 adults without secure email use between July 2010 and July 2012 matched to users on demographics, health status, and baseline utilisation. Primary Outcome Measures Rates of office visits, patient-initiated phone calls, scheduled telephone visits, after-hours clinic visits, emergency department visits, and hospitalisations. Results After controlling for multiple factors, no statistically significant differences in utilisation between secure email users and non-users occurred. Utilisation transiently increased by 88–237% around first email use. Annual rates of patient-initiated phone calls decreased among secure email users, 0.2 fewer calls per person (95% CI −0.3 to −0.1), from a mean of 4.1 calls per person 1–12 months before first use to a mean of 3.8 calls per person 7–18 months after first use. Rates of patient-initiated phone calls also decreased among non-users, 0.1 fewer calls per person (95% CI −0.2 to 0.0), from a mean of 4.2 calls per person 1–12 months before the index date to mean of 4.1 calls per person 7–18 months after the index date. Conclusions Compared with non-users, patient use of secure email with clinicians was not associated with statistically significant differences in clinical services utilisation 7–18 months after first use. PMID:26553841

Factors influencing utilisation of maternal health services by adolescent mothers in Low-and middle-income countries: a systematic review.

PubMed

Banke-Thomas, Oluwasola Eniola; Banke-Thomas, Aduragbemi Oluwabusayo; Ameh, Charles Anawo

2017-02-16

Adolescent mothers aged 15-19 years are known to have greater risks of maternal morbidity and mortality compared with women aged 20-24 years, mostly due to their unique biological, sociological and economic status. Nowhere Is the burden of disease greater than in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). Understanding factors that influence adolescent utilisation of essential maternal health services (MHS) would be critical in improving their outcomes. We systematically reviewed the literature for articles published until December 2015 to understand how adolescent MHS utilisation has been assessed in LMICs and factors affecting service utilisation by adolescent mothers. Following data extraction, we reported on the geographical distribution and characteristics of the included studies and used thematic summaries to summarise our key findings across three key themes: factors affecting MHS utilisation considered by researcher(s), factors assessed as statistically significant, and other findings on MHS utilisation. Our findings show that there has been minimal research in this study area. 14 studies, adjudged as medium to high quality met our inclusion criteria. Studies have been published in many LMICs, with the first published in 2006. Thirteen studies used secondary data for assessment, data which was more than 5 years old at time of analysis. Ten studies included only married adolescent mothers. While factors such as wealth quintile, media exposure and rural/urban residence were commonly adjudged as significant, education of the adolescent mother and her partner were the commonest significant factors that influenced MHS utilisation. Use of antenatal care also predicted use of skilled birth attendance and use of both predicted use of postnatal care. However, there may be some context-specific factors that need to be considered. Our findings strengthen the need to lay emphasis on improving girl child education and removing financial barriers to their access to MHS. Opportunities that have adolescents engaging with health providers also need to be seized. These will be critical in improving adolescent MHS utilisation. However, policy and programmatic choices need to be based on recent, relevant and robust datasets. Innovative approaches that leverage new media to generate context-specific dis-aggregated data may provide a way forward.

Association between secure patient-clinician email and clinical services utilisation in a US integrated health system: a retrospective cohort study.

PubMed

Meng, Di; Palen, Ted E; Tsai, Joanne; McLeod, Melanie; Garrido, Terhilda; Qian, Heather

2015-11-09

To assess associations between secure patient-clinician email use and clinical services utilisation over time. Retrospective cohort study between July 2010 and December 2013. Controlling for a utilisation surge around first secure email use, we analysed difference of differences between propensity score-matched groups of secure patient-clinician email users and non-users for utilisation 1-12 months before and 7-18 months after first email (users) or a randomly assigned index date (non-users). US integrated healthcare delivery system. 9345 adults with first secure email use between July 2011 and July 2012 and continuous enrolment for ≥30 months and 9345 adults without secure email use between July 2010 and July 2012 matched to users on demographics, health status, and baseline utilisation. Rates of office visits, patient-initiated phone calls, scheduled telephone visits, after-hours clinic visits, emergency department visits, and hospitalisations. After controlling for multiple factors, no statistically significant differences in utilisation between secure email users and non-users occurred. Utilisation transiently increased by 88-237% around first email use. Annual rates of patient-initiated phone calls decreased among secure email users, 0.2 fewer calls per person (95% CI -0.3 to -0.1), from a mean of 4.1 calls per person 1-12 months before first use to a mean of 3.8 calls per person 7-18 months after first use. Rates of patient-initiated phone calls also decreased among non-users, 0.1 fewer calls per person (95% CI -0.2 to 0.0), from a mean of 4.2 calls per person 1-12 months before the index date to mean of 4.1 calls per person 7-18 months after the index date. Compared with non-users, patient use of secure email with clinicians was not associated with statistically significant differences in clinical services utilisation 7-18 months after first use. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Relationships Between the Bulk-Skin Sea Surface Temperature Difference, Wind, and Net Air-Sea Heat Flux

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Emery, William J.; Castro, Sandra L.; Lindstrom, Eric (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The primary purpose of this project was to evaluate and improve models for the bulk-skin temperature difference to the point where they could accurately and reliably apply under a wide variety of environmental conditions. To accomplish this goal, work was conducted in three primary areas. These included production of an archive of available data sets containing measurements of the skin and bulk temperatures and associated environmental conditions, evaluation of existing skin layer models using the compiled data archive, and additional theoretical work on the development of an improved model using the data collected under diverse environmental conditions. In this work we set the basis for a new physical model of renewal type, and propose a parameterization for the temperature difference across the cool skin of the ocean in which the effects of thermal buoyancy, wind stress, and microscale breaking are all integrated by means of the appropriate renewal time scales. Ideally, we seek to obtain a model that will accurately apply under a wide variety of environmental conditions. A summary of the work in each of these areas is included in this report. A large amount of work was accomplished under the support of this grant. The grant supported the graduate studies of Sandra Castro and the preparation of her thesis which will be completed later this year. This work led to poster presentations at the 1999 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting and 2000 IGARSS meeting. Additional work will be presented in a talk at this year's American Meteorological Society Air-Sea Interaction Meeting this May. The grant also supported Sandra Castro during a two week experiment aboard the R/P Flip (led by Dr. Andrew Jessup of the Applied Physics Laboratory) to help obtain additional shared data sets and to provide Sandra with a fundamental understanding of the physical processes needed in the models. In a related area, the funding also partially supported Dr. William Emery and Daniel Baldwin in the preparation of their publication "Accuracy of in situ sea surface temperatures used to calibrate infrared satellite measurements". The remainder of this report is drawn from these publications and presentations.

The Environmental Data Initiative data repository: Trustworthy practices that foster preservation, fitness, and reuse for environmental and ecological data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Servilla, M. S.; Brunt, J.; Costa, D.; Gries, C.; Grossman-Clarke, S.; Hanson, P. C.; O'Brien, M.; Smith, C.; Vanderbilt, K.; Waide, R.

2017-12-01

The Environmental Data Initiative (EDI) is an outgrowth of more than 30 years of information management experience and technology from LTER Network data practitioners. EDI builds upon the PASTA data repository software used by the LTER Network Information System and manages more than 42,000 data packages, containing tabular data, imagery, and other formats. Development of the repository was a community process beginning in 2009 that included numerous working groups for generating use cases, system requirements, and testing of completed software, thereby creating a vested interested in its success and transparency in design. All software is available for review on GitHub, and refinements and new features are ongoing. Documentation is also available on Read-the-docs, including a comprehensive description of all web-service API methods. PASTA is metadata driven and uses the Ecological Metadata Language (EML) standard for describing environmental and ecological data; a simplified Dublin Core document is also available for each data package. Data are aggregated into packages consisting of metadata and other related content described by an OAI-ORE document. Once archived, each data package becomes immutable and permanent; updates are possible through the addition of new revisions. Components of each data package are accessible through a unique identifier, while the entire data package receives a DOI that is registered in DataCite. Preservation occurs through a combination of DataONE synchronization/replication and by a series of local and remote backup strategies, including daily uploads to AWS Glacier storage. Checksums are computed for all data at initial upload, with random verification occurring on a continuous basis, thus ensuring the integrity of data. PASTA incorporates a series of data quality tests to ensure that data are correctly documented with EML before data are archived; data packages that fail any test are forbidden in the repository. These tests are a measure data fitness, which ultimately increases confidence in data reuse and synthesis. The EDI data repository is recognized by multiple organizations, including EarthCube's Council of Data Facilities, the United States Geological Survey, FAIRsharing.org, re3data.org, and is a PLOS and Nature recommended data repository.

Nature and origins of virtual environments - A bibliographical essay

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ellis, S. R.

1991-01-01

Virtual environments presented via head-mounted, computer-driven displays provide a new media for communication. They may be analyzed by considering: (1) what may be meant by an environment; (2) what is meant by the process of virtualization; and (3) some aspects of human performance that constrain environmental design. Their origins are traced from previous work in vehicle simulation and multimedia research. Pointers are provided to key technical references, in the dispersed, archival literature, that are relevant to the development and evaluation of virtual-environment interface systems.

Arm structure in normal spiral galaxies, 1: Multivariate data for 492 galaxies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Magri, Christopher

1994-01-01

Multivariate data have been collected as part of an effort to develop a new classification system for spiral galaxies, one which is not necessarily based on subjective morphological properties. A sample of 492 moderately bright northern Sa and Sc spirals was chosen for future statistical analysis. New observations were made at 20 and 21 cm; the latter data are described in detail here. Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS) fluxes were obtained from archival data. Finally, new estimates of arm pattern radomness and of local environmental harshness were compiled for most sample objects.

Time utilisation trends of supported employment services by persons with mental disability in South Africa.

PubMed

Van Niekerk, Lana; Coetzee, Zelda; Engelbrecht, Madri; Hajwani, Zerina; Terreblanche, Santie

2015-01-01

This paper reports on the second phase of a two-phased study that was undertaken to determine the feasibility of supported employment (SE) as a strategy with which to facilitate the employment of persons with disability in competitive work contexts. The study population comprised people with mental disabilities receiving SE in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. To describe the components of SE utilised by persons with mental disability (i.e. psychiatric or intellectual disability) in terms of type and time utilisation patterns over 12 months. Criterion sampling, a form of purposive sampling, was used to identify 29 study participants - 19 with intellectual disability and 10 with psychiatric disability. Data collection commenced for each participant when a work placement had been identified and preparation for such ensued. Data was collected prospectively for a period of 12 months. SE service components utilised by participants were captured using a data capture sheet that was developed for this purpose. Time utilisation indicated a steep downwards trend for both cohorts. The decrease in utilisation of SE service components over a period of one year was more pronounced in the psychiatric disability (PD) cohort, who utilized almost half the total SE services in the first month. SE services can be considered as a viable option for return to work in resource-constrained environments. Providers of SE services will need to modify approaches in order to meet contextual realities.

Earth observation archive activities at DRA Farnborough

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Palmer, M. D.; Williams, J. M.

1993-01-01

Space Sector, Defence Research Agency (DRA), Farnborough have been actively involved in the acquisition and processing of Earth Observation data for over 15 years. During that time an archive of over 20,000 items has been built up. This paper describes the major archive activities, including: operation and maintenance of the main DRA Archive, the development of a prototype Optical Disc Archive System (ODAS), the catalog systems in use at DRA, the UK Processing and Archive Facility for ERS-1 data, and future plans for archiving activities.

The marine isotope stage 1-5 cryptotephra record of Tenaghi Philippon, Greece: Towards a detailed tephrostratigraphic framework for the Eastern Mediterranean region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wulf, Sabine; Hardiman, Mark J.; Staff, Richard A.; Koutsodendris, Andreas; Appelt, Oona; Blockley, Simon P. E.; Lowe, J. John; Manning, Christina J.; Ottolini, Luisa; Schmitt, Axel K.; Smith, Victoria C.; Tomlinson, Emma L.; Vakhrameeva, Polina; Knipping, Maria; Kotthoff, Ulrich; Milner, Alice M.; Müller, Ulrich C.; Christanis, Kimon; Kalaitzidis, Stavros; Tzedakis, Polychronis C.; Schmiedl, Gerhard; Pross, Jörg

2018-04-01

The iconic climate archive of Tenaghi Philippon (TP), NE Greece, allows the study of short-term palaeoclimatic and environmental change throughout the past 1.3 Ma. To provide high-quality age control for detailed palaeoclimate reconstructions based on the TP archive, (crypto)tephra studies of a peat core 'TP-2005' have been carried out for the 0-130 ka interval. The results show that the TP basin is ideally positioned to receive tephra fall from both the Italian and Aegean Arc volcanic provinces. Two visible tephra layers, the Santorini Cape Riva/Y-2 (c. 22 ka) and the Campanian Ignimbrite (CI)/Y-5 (c. 39.8 ka) tephras, and six primary cryptotephra layers, namely the early Holocene E1 tephra from the Aeolian Islands (c. 8.3 ka), the Campanian Y-3 (c. 29 ka) and X-6 tephras (c. 109.5 ka), as well as counterpart tephras TM-18-1d (c. 40.4 ka), TM-23-11 (c. 92.4 ka) and TM-33-1a (c. 116.7 ka) from the Lago Grande di Monticchio sequence (southern Italy), were identified along with repeatedly redeposited Y-2 and CI tephra material. Bayesian modelling of the ages of seven of the primary tephra layers, 60 radiocarbon measurements and 20 palynological control points have been applied to markedly improve the chronology of the TP archive. This revised chronology constrains the age of tephra TM-18-1d to 40.90-41.66 cal ka BP (95.4% range). Several tephra layers identified in the TP record form important isochrons for correlating this archive with other terrestrial (e.g., Lago Grande di Monticchio, Sulmona Basin and Lake Ohrid) and marine (e.g., Adriatic Sea core PRAD 1-2 and Aegean Sea core LC21) palaeoclimate records in the Mediterranean region.

Design and implementation of scalable tape archiver

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nemoto, Toshihiro; Kitsuregawa, Masaru; Takagi, Mikio

1996-01-01

In order to reduce costs, computer manufacturers try to use commodity parts as much as possible. Mainframes using proprietary processors are being replaced by high performance RISC microprocessor-based workstations, which are further being replaced by the commodity microprocessor used in personal computers. Highly reliable disks for mainframes are also being replaced by disk arrays, which are complexes of disk drives. In this paper we try to clarify the feasibility of a large scale tertiary storage system composed of 8-mm tape archivers utilizing robotics. In the near future, the 8-mm tape archiver will be widely used and become a commodity part, since recent rapid growth of multimedia applications requires much larger storage than disk drives can provide. We designed a scalable tape archiver which connects as many 8-mm tape archivers (element archivers) as possible. In the scalable archiver, robotics can exchange a cassette tape between two adjacent element archivers mechanically. Thus, we can build a large scalable archiver inexpensively. In addition, a sophisticated migration mechanism distributes frequently accessed tapes (hot tapes) evenly among all of the element archivers, which improves the throughput considerably. Even with the failures of some tape drives, the system dynamically redistributes hot tapes to the other element archivers which have live tape drives. Several kinds of specially tailored huge archivers are on the market, however, the 8-mm tape scalable archiver could replace them. To maintain high performance in spite of high access locality when a large number of archivers are attached to the scalable archiver, it is necessary to scatter frequently accessed cassettes among the element archivers and to use the tape drives efficiently. For this purpose, we introduce two cassette migration algorithms, foreground migration and background migration. Background migration transfers cassettes between element archivers to redistribute frequently accessed cassettes, thus balancing the load of each archiver. Background migration occurs the robotics are idle. Both migration algorithms are based on access frequency and space utility of each element archiver. To normalize these parameters according to the number of drives in each element archiver, it is possible to maintain high performance even if some tape drives fail. We found that the foreground migration is efficient at reducing access response time. Beside the foreground migration, the background migration makes it possible to track the transition of spatial access locality quickly.

Lessons learned from planetary science archiving

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zender, J.; Grayzeck, E.

2006-01-01

The need for scientific archiving of past, current, and future planetary scientific missions, laboratory data, and modeling efforts is indisputable. To quote from a message by G. Santayama carved over the entrance of the US Archive in Washington DC “Those who can not remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” The design, implementation, maintenance, and validation of planetary science archives are however disputed by the involved parties. The inclusion of the archives into the scientific heritage is problematic. For example, there is the imbalance between space agency requirements and institutional and national interests. The disparity of long-term archive requirements and immediate data analysis requests are significant. The discrepancy between the space missions archive budget and the effort required to design and build the data archive is large. An imbalance exists between new instrument development and existing, well-proven archive standards. The authors present their view on the problems and risk areas in the archiving concepts based on their experience acquired within NASA’s Planetary Data System (PDS) and ESA’s Planetary Science Archive (PSA). Individual risks and potential problem areas are discussed based on a model derived from a system analysis done upfront. The major risk for a planetary mission science archive is seen in the combination of minimal involvement by Mission Scientists and inadequate funding. The authors outline how the risks can be reduced. The paper ends with the authors view on future planetary archive implementations including the archive interoperability aspect.

User-driven Cloud Implementation of environmental models and data for all

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gurney, R. J.; Percy, B. J.; Elkhatib, Y.; Blair, G. S.

2014-12-01

Environmental data and models come from disparate sources over a variety of geographical and temporal scales with different resolutions and data standards, often including terabytes of data and model simulations. Unfortunately, these data and models tend to remain solely within the custody of the private and public organisations which create the data, and the scientists who build models and generate results. Although many models and datasets are theoretically available to others, the lack of ease of access tends to keep them out of reach of many. We have developed an intuitive web-based tool that utilises environmental models and datasets located in a cloud to produce results that are appropriate to the user. Storyboards showing the interfaces and visualisations have been created for each of several exemplars. A library of virtual machine images has been prepared to serve these exemplars. Each virtual machine image has been tailored to run computer models appropriate to the end user. Two approaches have been used; first as RESTful web services conforming to the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Processing Service (WPS) interface standard using the Python-based PyWPS; second, a MySQL database interrogated using PHP code. In all cases, the web client sends the server an HTTP GET request to execute the process with a number of parameter values and, once execution terminates, an XML or JSON response is sent back and parsed at the client side to extract the results. All web services are stateless, i.e. application state is not maintained by the server, reducing its operational overheads and simplifying infrastructure management tasks such as load balancing and failure recovery. A hybrid cloud solution has been used with models and data sited on both private and public clouds. The storyboards have been transformed into intuitive web interfaces at the client side using HTML, CSS and JavaScript, utilising plug-ins such as jQuery and Flot (for graphics), and Google Maps APIs. We have demonstrated that a cloud infrastructure can be used to assemble a virtual research environment that, coupled with a user-driven development approach, is able to cater to the needs of a wide range of user groups, from domain experts to concerned members of the general public.

Global Change Data Center: Mission, Organization, Major Activities, and 2001 Highlights

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wharton, Stephen W. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Rapid efficient access to Earth sciences data is fundamental to the Nation's efforts to understand the effects of global environmental changes and their implications for public policy. It becomes a bigger challenge in the future when data volumes increase further and missions with constellations of satellites start to appear. Demands on data storage, data access, network throughput, processing power, and database and information management are increased by orders of magnitude, while budgets remain constant and even shrink. The Global Change Data Center's (GCDC) mission is to provide systems, data products, and information management services to maximize the availability and utility of NASA's Earth science data. The specific objectives are (1) support Earth science missions be developing and operating systems to generate, archive, and distribute data products and information; (2) develop innovative information systems for processing, archiving, accessing, visualizing, and communicating Earth science data; and (3) develop value-added products and services to promote broader utilization of NASA Earth Sciences Enterprise (ESE) data and information. The ultimate product of GCDC activities is access to data and information to support research, education, and public policy.

Observations from the GOES Space Environment Monitor and Solar X-ray Imager are now available in a whole new way!

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilkinson, D. C.

2012-12-01

NOAA's Geosynchronous Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) have been observing the environment in near-earth-space for over 37 years. Those data are down-linked and processed by the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) and form the cornerstone of their alert and forecast services. At the close of each UT day these data are ingested by the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) where they are merged into the national archive and made available to the user community in a uniform manner. In 2012 NGDC unveiled a RESTful web service for accessing these data. What does this mean? Users can now build a web-like URL using simple predefined constructs that allows their browser or custom software to directly access the relational archives and bundle the requested data into a variety of popular formats. The user can select precisely the data they need and the results are delivered immediately. NGDC understands that many users are perfectly happy retrieving data via pre-generated files and will continue to provide internally documented NetCDF and CSV files far into the future.

DataUp 2.0: Improving On a Tool For Helping Researchers Archive, Manage, and Share Their Tabular Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strasser, C.; Borda, S.; Cruse, P.; Kunze, J.

2013-12-01

There are many barriers to data management and sharing among earth and environmental scientists; among the most significant are a lack of knowledge about best practices for data management, metadata standards, or appropriate data repositories for archiving and sharing data. Last year we developed an open source web application, DataUp, to help researchers overcome these barriers. DataUp helps scientists to (1) determine whether their file is CSV compatible, (2) generate metadata in a standard format, (3) retrieve an identifier to facilitate data citation, and (4) deposit their data into a repository. With funding from the NSF via a supplemental grant to the DataONE project, we are working to improve upon DataUp. Our main goal for DataUp 2.0 is to ensure organizations and repositories are able to adopt and adapt DataUp to meet their unique needs, including connecting to analytical tools, adding new metadata schema, and expanding the list of connected data repositories. DataUp is a collaborative project between the California Digital Library, DataONE, the San Diego Supercomputing Center, and Microsoft Research Connections.

Observations from the GOES Space Environment Monitor and Solar X-ray Imager are now available in a whole new way!

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilkinson, D. C.

2013-12-01

NOAA's Geosynchronous Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) have been observing the environment in near-earth-space for over 37 years. Those data are down-linked and processed by the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) and form the cornerstone of their alert and forecast services. At the close of each UT day these data are ingested by the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) where they are merged into the national archive and made available to the user community in a uniform manner. In 2012 NGDC unveiled a RESTful web service for accessing these data. What does this mean? Users can now build a web-like URL using simple predefined constructs that allows their browser or custom software to directly access the relational archives and bundle the requested data into a variety of popular formats. The user can select precisely the data they need and the results are delivered immediately. NGDC understands that many users are perfectly happy retrieving data via pre-generated files and will continue to provide internally documented NetCDF and CSV files far into the future.

Collection to Archival: A Data Management Strategy for the Ocean Acidification Community

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burger, E. F.; Smith, K. M.; Parsons, A. R.; Wanninkhof, R. H.; O'Brien, K.; Barbero, L.; Schweitzer, R.; Manke, A.

2014-12-01

Recently new data collection platforms, many of them autonomous mobile platforms, have added immensely to the data volume the Ocean Acidification community is dealing with. This is no exception with NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) Ocean Acidification (OA) effort. Collaboration between the PMEL Carbon group and the PMEL Science Data Integration group to manage local data has spawned the development of a data management strategy that covers the data lifecycle from collection to analysis to quality control to archival. The proposed software and workflow will leverage the successful data management framework pioneered by the Surface Ocean CO2 Atlas (SOCAT) project, but customized for Ocean Acidification requirements. This presentation will give a brief overview of the data management framework that will be implemented for Ocean Acidification data that are collected by PMEL scientists. We will also be discussing our plans to leverage this system to build an east coast ocean acidification management system at NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML), as well as a national OA management system at NOAA's National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC).

Volcanic Ash Preservation in Prokosko Jezero, Boznia Herzegowina - Extending our Knowledge of Eruptions in the Adriatic Sea Area.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van den Bogaard, C.; Dörfler, W.

2017-12-01

Archaeological and palaeoecological studies of settlement phases and changes in society are often based on natural archives: changes in the sediment composition and pollen content reflect climatic developments, plant successions show human interactions with the landscape. Volcanic ash layers preserved in the archives form valuable time markers in archaeological studies, the data base is being enlarged rapidly. Here we report new results from a core from the Prokosko Jezero, Boznia Herzegowina, close to the Neolithic tell settlement at Okoliste. The core extends the European eruption record back into Late Glacial times. A total of at least 18 eruptive events are recorded in the core. No visible ash layers occur, 13 of the events are preserved as crypto-tephra layers, 5 as discrete layers. The ash particles have been provenance-fingerprinted by electron microprobe analysis and results are compared with published chemical measurements obtained from proximal and other distal sites within and around the Adriatic Sea. One of the aims of the present study was the timely correlation to other distal sites, comparing the overregional environmental development.

The Emergence of Star Clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Calzetti, Daniela

2017-08-01

We propose to measure the timescale for the clearing of natal dust by young star clusters. We will augment existing archival UV-to-I imaging data with new WFC3/IR images at J, H, and Paschen-beta for a sample of six nearby star forming galaxies. Under the standard scenario that the clearing is performed by supernovae (> 3 Myr), simulations show that not enough ionizing photons can escape galaxies and reionize the Universe at z>6. However, the actual clearing timescale is poorly established. We will obtain accurate ages and extinctions for the embedded and emergent young clusters in our target galaxies, in order to: (1) determine whether dust clearing occurs before or after 3 Myr, (2) investigate environmental dependencies for the timescale, and (3) establish the principal mechanisms for enabling the escape of ionizing photons from galaxies. Our project provides the physical footing for future JWST observations aimed at determining the sources of reionization of the Universe. The combination of archival and new images will also equip the community with a lasting legacy of homogeneous UV-to-IR coverage for a sample of nearby galaxies.

On-line access to remote sensing data with the satellite-data information system (ISIS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strunz, G.; Lotz-Iwen, H.-J.

1994-08-01

The German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) is developing the satellite-data information system ISIS as central interface for users to access Earth observation data. ISIS has been designed to support international scientific research as well as operational applications by offering online database access via public networks, and is integrated in the international activities dedicated to catalogue and archive interoperability. A prototype of ISIS is already in use within the German Processing and Archiving Facility for ERS-1 for the storage and retrieval of digital SAR quicklook products and for the Radarmap of Germany. An operational status of the system is envisaged for the launch of ERS-2. The paper in hand describes the underlying concepts of ISIS and the recent state of realization. It explains the overall structure of the system and the functionality of each of its components. Emphasis is put on the description of the advisory system, the catalogue retrieval, and the online access and transfer of image data. Finally, the integration into a future global environmental data network is outlined.

Ozone determinations with the NOAA SBUV/2 system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Planet, Walter G.; Lienesch, James H.; Bowman, Harold D.; Miller, Alvin J.; Nagatani, Ronald M.

1994-01-01

The NOAA satellite ozone monitoring program was initiated by the National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS) in December 1984, with the launch of the NOAA-9 spacecraft carrying the first operational Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Spectrometer (SBUV/2). This instrument and its successor on NOAA-11, launched in 1988, are similar to the SBUV instrument launched by the NASA in 1978 on the Nimbus-7 research spacecraft. Measurements by the SBUV and SBUV/2 instruments overlap beginning in 1985. These instruments use measurements of the reflected ultraviolet solar radiation from the atmosphere to derive total ozone amounts and ozone vertical profiles. Since launch, the NOAA instruments and the derived products have been undergoing extensive evaluation by scientists of NOAA and NASA. Measurements obtained with these instruments are processed in real time by the NESDIS. These are reprocessed as the SBUV/2 instrument characterization is refined and as the retrieval algorithm for processing the data is improved. The NOAA-9 ozone data archive begins in March 1985 and continues through October 1990. The archive of NOAA-11 data begins in January 1989 and the data continues to be acquired in 1992.

Continuous water quality monitoring for the hard clam industry in Florida, USA.

PubMed

Bergquist, Derk C; Heuberger, David; Sturmer, Leslie N; Baker, Shirley M

2009-01-01

In 2000, Florida's fast-growing hard clam aquaculture industry became eligible for federal agricultural crop insurance through the US Department of Agriculture, but the responsibility for identifying the cause of mortality remained with the grower. Here we describe the continuous water quality monitoring system used to monitor hard clam aquaculture areas in Florida and show examples of the data collected with the system. Systems recording temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, water depth, turbidity and chlorophyll at 30 min intervals were installed at 10 aquaculture lease areas along Florida's Gulf and Atlantic coasts. Six of these systems sent data in real-time to a public website, and all 10 systems provided data for web-accessible archives. The systems documented environmental conditions that could negatively impact clam survival and productivity and identified biologically relevant water quality differences among clam aquaculture areas. Both the real-time and archived data were used widely by clam growers and nursery managers to make management decisions and in filing crop loss insurance claims. While the systems were labor and time intensive, we recommend adjustments that could reduce costs and staff time requirements.

The Role of NOAA's National Data Centers in the Earth and Space Science Infrastructure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fox, C. G.

2008-12-01

NOAA's National Data Centers (NNDC) provide access to long-term archives of environmental data from NOAA and other sources. The NNDCs face significant challenges in the volume and complexity of modern data sets. Data volume challenges are being addressed using more capable data archive systems such as the Comprehensive Large Array-Data Stewardship System (CLASS). Challenges in assuring data quality and stewardship are in many ways more challenging. In the past, scientists at the Data Centers could provide reasonable stewardship of data sets in their area of expertise. As staff levels have decreased and data complexity has increased, Data Centers depend on their data providers and user communities to provide high-quality metadata, feedback on data problems and improvements. This relationship requires strong partnerships between the NNDCs and academic, commercial, and international partners, as well as advanced data management and access tools that conform to established international standards when available. The NNDCs are looking to geospatial databases, interactive mapping, web services, and other Application Program Interface approaches to help preserve NNDC data and information and to make it easily available to the scientific community.

Utilisation of Used Palm Oil as an Alternative Fuel in Thailand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Permchart, W.; Tanatvanit, S.

2007-10-01

This paper summarises the overview of the current situation of alternative energies in Thailand. The utilisation of bio-diesel as an alternative energy in two economic sectors (i.e. transport and industrial sectors), which have the largest energy consumption in the country, is mainly presented because it has seemed to be the most promising project among various energy conservation projects of the Thai government. Actually, there is another bio-fuel project, namely, the ethanol project for blending with gasoline to produce gasohol (E10) used in gasoline engines, which has been developed and already become to an important policy for energy conservation of the country. Due to much more large number of diesel has been utilised, the bio-diesel project has been the first priority one to solve the petroleum crisis problems. However, it is remarked that the utilisation of bio-diesel as an alternative fuel seems to be unsatisfactory because of various reasons. Some issues in terms of both government policies and technical problems have not been clearly addressed. Therefore, this paper not only presents the utilisation of bio-diesel in these two sectors but also discusses the production processes, characterisations and some experimental testing results of bio-diesel.

ICT and OTs: a model of information and communication technology acceptance and utilisation by occupational therapists.

PubMed

Schaper, Louise K; Pervan, Graham P

2007-06-01

There is evidence to suggest that health professionals are reluctant to accept and utilise information and communication technologies (ICT) and concern is growing within health informatics research that this is contributing to the lag in adoption and utilisation of ICT across the health sector. Technology acceptance research within the field of information systems has been limited in its application to health and there is a concurrent need to develop and gain empirical support for models of technology acceptance within health and to examine acceptance and utilisation issues amongst health professionals to improve the success of information system implementation in this arena. This paper outlines a project that examines ICT acceptance and utilisation by Australian occupational therapists. It describes the theoretical basis behind the development of a research model and the methodology being employed to empirically validate the model using substantial quantitative, qualitative and longitudinal data. Preliminary results from Phase II of the study are presented. The theoretical significance of this work is that it uses a thoroughly constructed research model, with potentially the largest sample size ever tested, to extend technology acceptance research into the health sector.

[Day hospitals--predictors for utilisation and quality expectations from the perspective of family caregivers of dementia patients].

PubMed

Donath, Carolin; Bleich, Stefan; Grässel, Elmar

2009-05-01

To relieve the burden on family caregivers of dementia patients, the utilisation of day hospitals should be increased. Therefore, the predictive variables for utilisation as well as family caregivers' views regarding the quality of day hospitals must be investigated. The cross-sectional study was carried out as an anonymous, written survey of family caregivers of dementia patients in four regions of Germany. Quantitative and qualitative data from 404 family caregivers was analysed using binary logistic regression analysis and qualitative content analysis, respectively. In addition, 11 day hospital managers were interviewed concerning their quality concepts. The only significant predictor for the utilisation of day hospitals is the estimate of how helpful this support is for the family caregiver's situation. Those who have already had experiences with a day hospital expressed a wish for medical and psychiatric care by "well-trained" staff and a reasonable form of occupation for the dementia patient. In order to increase utilisation, family caregivers must be convinced of the advantages of using day hospitals. A day hospital that combines both activating occupational therapy and medical care by well-trained staff is what family caregivers wish most for their care-receivers.

Determinants of utilisation of intrapartum obstetric care services in Cambodia, and gaps in coverage.

PubMed

Chomat, Anne Marie; Grundy, John; Oum, Sophal; Bermudez, Odilia I

2011-01-01

Facility delivery and skilled birth attendance are two of the most effective strategies for decreasing maternal mortality. The objectives of this study were to further define utilisation of these services in Cambodia and to uncover socio-economic or location-specific coverage gaps that may exist. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of the 2005 Cambodia Demographic Health Survey (CDHS) to determine prevalence, and determinants, of service utilisation. Out of 6069 women aged 15-49 years, 77% delivered at home, three-fourths without a skilled birth attendant. Poverty, lower education and rural residence were associated with the highest likelihood of poor utilisation of services. Discussion. While there has been an overall increase in facility deliveries and skilled birth attendance since 2000, improvements have been spread unevenly across the population, benefiting mostly urban, wealthier and better educated women. While recent financing initiatives and health system developments appear to have further increased service utilisation since 2005, the extent of their reach to the most vulnerable populations, and their ultimate impact on maternal mortality reduction, remain to be elucidated. Further expanding successful initiatives, particularly among vulnerable populations, is essential. Longitudinal evaluation of ongoing strategies and their impact remains critical.

Enzymatic membrane reactors for biodegradation of recalcitrant compounds. Application to dye decolourisation.

PubMed

López, C; Mielgo, I; Moreira, M T; Feijoo, G; Lema, J M

2002-11-13

Membrane bioreactors are being increasingly used in enzymatic catalysed transformations. However, the application of enzymatic-based treatment systems in the environmental field is rather unusual. The aim of this paper is to overview the application of enzymatic membrane reactors to wastewater treatment, more specifically to dye decolourisation. Firstly, the basic aspects such as different configurations of enzymatic reactors, advantages and disadvantages associated to their utilisation are revised as well as the application of this technology to wastewater treatment. Secondly, dye decolourisation by white-rot fungi and their oxidative enzymes are discussed, presenting an overall view from for in vivo and in vitro systems. Finally, dye decolourisation by manganese peroxidase in an enzymatic membrane reactor in continuous operation is presented.

Determination of quaternary ammonium compounds in seawater samples by solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Bassarab, P; Williams, D; Dean, J R; Ludkin, E; Perry, J J

2011-02-04

A method for the simultaneous determination of two biocidal quaternary ammonium compounds; didecyldimethylammonium chloride (didecyldimethyl quat) and dodecylbenzyldimethylammonium chloride (benzyl quat), in seawater by solid phase extraction (SPE) followed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was developed. The optimised procedure utilised off-line extraction of the analytes from seawater using polymeric (Strata-X) SPE cartridges. Recoveries ranged from 80 to 105%, with detection limits at the low parts-per-trillion (ng/l) level for both analytes. To demonstrate sensitivity, environmental concentrations were measured at three different locations along the North East coast of England with measured values in the range 120-270ng/l. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

(Per)Forming Archival Research Methodologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gaillet, Lynee Lewis

2012-01-01

This article raises multiple issues associated with archival research methodologies and methods. Based on a survey of recent scholarship and interviews with experienced archival researchers, this overview of the current status of archival research both complicates traditional conceptions of archival investigation and encourages scholars to adopt…

Carboniferous climate teleconnections archived in coupled bioapatite δ18OPO4 and 87Sr/86Sr records from the epicontinental Donets Basin, Ukraine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Montañez, Isabel P.; Osleger, Dillon J.; Chen, Jitao; Wortham, Barbara E.; Stamm, Robert G.; Nemyrovska, Tamara I.; Griffin, Julie M.; Poletaev, Vladislav I.; Wardlaw, Bruce R.

2018-06-01

Reconstructions of paleo-seawater chemistry are largely inferred from biogenic records of epicontinental seas. Recent studies provide considerable evidence for large-scale spatial and temporal variability in the environmental dynamics of these semi-restricted seas that leads to the decoupling of epicontinental isotopic records from those of the open ocean. We present conodont apatite δ18OPO4 and 87Sr/86Sr records spanning 24 Myr of the late Mississippian through Pennsylvanian derived from the U-Pb calibrated cyclothemic succession of the Donets Basin, eastern Ukraine. On a 2 to 6 Myr-scale, systematic fluctuations in bioapatite δ18OPO4 and 87Sr/86Sr broadly follow major shifts in the Donets onlap-offlap history and inferred regional climate, but are distinct from contemporaneous more open-water δ18OPO4 and global seawater Sr isotope trends. A -1 to -6‰ offset in Donets δ18OPO4 values from those of more open-water conodonts and greater temporal variability in δ18OPO4 and 87Sr/86Sr records are interpreted to primarily record climatically driven changes in local environmental processes in the Donets sea. Systematic isotopic shifts associated with Myr-scale sea-level fluctuations, however, indicate an extrabasinal driver. We propose a mechanistic link to glacioeustasy through a teleconnection between high-latitude ice changes and atmospheric pCO2 and regional monsoonal circulation in the Donets region. Inferred large-magnitude changes in Donets seawater salinity and temperature, not archived in the more open-water or global contemporaneous records, indicate a modification of the global climate signal in the epicontinental sea through amplification or dampening of the climate signal by local and regional environmental processes. This finding of global climate change filtered through local processes has implications for the use of conodont δ18OPO4 and 87Sr/86Sr values as proxies of paleo-seawater composition, mean temperature, and glacioeustasy.

Sclerochronology and geochemical variation in limpet shells (Patella vulgata): A new archive to reconstruct coastal sea surface temperature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fenger, Tracy; Surge, Donna; SchöNe, Bernd; Milner, Nicky

2007-07-01

Climate archives contained in shells of the European limpet, Patella vulgata, accumulated in archaeological deposits can potentially provide much needed information about Holocene environmental change in midlatitude coastal areas. Before reconstructing climate information preserved in these zooarchaeological records, we studied the controls on oxygen and carbon isotope ratios (δ18O and δ13C, respectively) in modern specimens. We tested the hypothesis that P. vulgata precipitates its shell in isotopic equilibrium with the ambient water by comparing δ18OSHELL with predicted values. Predicted δ18OSHELL was constructed using observed sea surface temperature (SST) records and the equilibrium fractionation equation for calcite and water. We assumed a constant δ18OWATER value of +0.10‰ (VSMOW) based on published regional measurements. Comparison of δ18OSHELL with predicted values revealed that δ18OSHELL values were higher than expected by +1.01 ± 0.21‰. Consequently, estimated SST calculated from δ18OSHELL was 4.2 ± 2.3°C lower than observed SST. However, because of the relatively uniform offset between observed and expected δ18O, an adjustment can be made to account for this predictable vital effect. Thus past climate can be reliably reconstructed using this temperature proxy once the offset is taken into account. δ13C values have a similar cyclicity to the δ18O variation and therefore vary seasonally. However, δ13C is slightly out of phase relative to δ18O. An overall negative shift in δ13CSHELL over the lifetime of the individual indicates a vital effect associated with ontogeny. Further study of environmental and ecological factors that influence shell δ13C is required to evaluate fully the potential of carbon isotope ratios as a useful environmental proxy.

Carboniferous climate teleconnections archived in coupled bioapatite δ18OPO4 and 87Sr/86Sr records from the epicontinental Donets Basin, Ukraine

USGS Publications Warehouse

Montanez, Isabel P.; Osleger, Dillon J.; Chen, J.-H.; Wortham, Barbara E.; Stamm, Robert G.; Nemyrovska, Tamara I.; Griffin, Julie M.; Poletaev, Vladislav I.; Wardlaw, Bruce R.

2018-01-01

Reconstructions of paleo-seawater chemistry are largely inferred from biogenic records of epicontinental seas. Recent studies provide considerable evidence for large-scale spatial and temporal variability in the environmental dynamics of these semi-restricted seas that leads to the decoupling of epicontinental isotopic records from those of the open ocean. We present conodont apatite δ18OPO4 and 87Sr/86Sr records spanning 24 Myr of the late Mississippian through Pennsylvanian derived from the U–Pb calibrated cyclothemic succession of the Donets Basin, eastern Ukraine. On a 2 to 6 Myr-scale, systematic fluctuations in bioapatite δ18OPO4 and 87Sr/86Sr broadly follow major shifts in the Donets onlap–offlap history and inferred regional climate, but are distinct from contemporaneous more open-water δ18OPO4 and global seawater Sr isotope trends. A −1 to −6‰ offset in Donets δ18OPO4 values from those of more open-water conodonts and greater temporal variability in δ18OPO4 and 87Sr/86Sr records are interpreted to primarily record climatically driven changes in local environmental processes in the Donets sea. Systematic isotopic shifts associated with Myr-scale sea-level fluctuations, however, indicate an extrabasinal driver. We propose a mechanistic link to glacioeustasy through a teleconnection between high-latitude ice changes and atmospheric pCO2 and regional monsoonal circulation in the Donets region. Inferred large-magnitude changes in Donets seawater salinity and temperature, not archived in the more open-water or global contemporaneous records, indicate a modification of the global climate signal in the epicontinental sea through amplification or dampening of the climate signal by local and regional environmental processes. This finding of global climate change filtered through local processes has implications for the use of conodont δ18OPO4 and 87Sr/86Sr values as proxies of paleo-seawater composition, mean temperature, and glacioeustasy.

The harbour of Elaia: A palynological archive for human environmental interactions during the last 7500 years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shumilovskikh, Lyudmila S.; Seeliger, Martin; Feuser, Stefan; Novenko, Elena; Schlütz, Frank; Pint, Anna; Pirson, Felix; Brückner, Helmut

2016-10-01

Elaia, the harbour city for ancient Pergamon (western Turkey), was investigated using geoarchaeological methods. The rise and fall of Elaia were closely linked to the flourishing period of Pergamon, which ruled wide parts of today's western Turkey in Hellenistic times. In the framework of this research, the palynological analysis of a 9 m sediment core, Ela-70, retrieved from the enclosed harbour of the city, was carried out to reconstruct the vegetation and environmental history of the wider Gulf of Elaia region. An age-depth model, based on 11 calibrated radiocarbon ages, starting from 7.5 ka BP, provides the basis for the high resolution study of sediments from the Hellenistic period, as well as before and after. The lower part of the pollen diagram is characterised by high percentages of deciduous oaks and pines, suggesting the dominance of open forests close to the coring site. The change from oak forests to a cultural landscape, with olive, pistachio, walnut, and grape, started around 850 BC, reaching a maximum ca. 250 BC, and continuing to ca. AD 800. This period is characterised by increase of fire activity, soil erosion intensity, and pastoral farming. Such long-lasting intensive land use likely led to the climax ecosystem turnover from open deciduous oak forests to pine stands, while salt marshes developed around the coring site. The discovery of the dinoflagellate cysts of Peridinium ponticum, a Black Sea endemic species, in the harbour of Elaia evidences maritime trade between the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea; its first occurrence coincides with the time of the Mithridatic Wars (1st century BC). In conclusion, palynological data, in addition to historical and archaeological records, provide a deeper insight into human environmental interactions, as derived from the geoarchaeological archive of the harbour of Elaia.

Physiology regulates the relationship between coccosphere geometry and growth phase in coccolithophores

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sheward, Rosie M.; Poulton, Alex J.; Gibbs, Samantha J.; Daniels, Chris J.; Bown, Paul R.

2017-03-01

Coccolithophores are an abundant phytoplankton group that exhibit remarkable diversity in their biology, ecology and calcitic exoskeletons (coccospheres). Their extensive fossil record is a testament to their important biogeochemical role and is a valuable archive of biotic responses to environmental change stretching back over 200 million years. However, to realise the full potential of this archive for (palaeo-)biology and biogeochemistry requires an understanding of the physiological processes that underpin coccosphere architecture. Using culturing experiments on four modern coccolithophore species (Calcidiscus leptoporus, Calcidiscus quadriperforatus, Helicosphaera carteri and Coccolithus braarudii) from three long-lived families, we investigate how coccosphere architecture responds to shifts from exponential (rapid cell division) to stationary (slowed cell division) growth phases as cell physiology reacts to nutrient depletion. These experiments reveal statistical differences in coccosphere size and the number of coccoliths per cell between these two growth phases, specifically that cells in exponential-phase growth are typically smaller with fewer coccoliths, whereas cells experiencing growth-limiting nutrient depletion have larger coccosphere sizes and greater numbers of coccoliths per cell. Although the exact numbers are species-specific, these growth-phase shifts in coccosphere geometry demonstrate that the core physiological responses of cells to nutrient depletion result in increased coccosphere sizes and coccoliths per cell across four different coccolithophore families (Calcidiscaceae, Coccolithaceae, Isochrysidaceae and Helicosphaeraceae), a representative diversity of this phytoplankton group. Building on this, the direct comparison of coccosphere geometries in modern and fossil coccolithophores enables a proxy for growth phase to be developed that can be used to investigate growth responses to environmental change throughout their long evolutionary history. Our data also show that changes in growth rate and coccoliths per cell associated with growth-phase shifts can substantially alter cellular calcite production. Coccosphere geometry is therefore a valuable tool for accessing growth information in the fossil record, providing unprecedented insights into the response of species to environmental change and the potential biogeochemical consequences.

Lifelines for High School Climate Change Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gould, A. D.

2012-12-01

The Lifelines project aims to establish a network of practicing high school teachers actively using climate change curricula by creating professional learning communities (PLCs) of teachers who, through remote meetings and workshops, maintain ongoing communication and sharing of best practices among colleagues to strengthen knowledge and promote effective teaching strategies. The project explores techniques to achieve the most effective teleconferencing meetings and workshops. This promotes not only teaching about minimizing environmental impacts of human activity, but minimizes environmental impacts of professional development — practicing what we preach. To date, Lifelines PLCs have set up websites and e-mail lists for sharing information. Teleconferences and webinars have been held using services such as Skype, ReadyTalk, and Wiggio. Many of the meetings have been recorded and archived for the benefit of members who could not attend in real-time.

A laboratory information management system for the analysis of tritium (3H) in environmental waters.

PubMed

Belachew, Dagnachew Legesse; Terzer-Wassmuth, Stefan; Wassenaar, Leonard I; Klaus, Philipp M; Copia, Lorenzo; Araguás, Luis J Araguás; Aggarwal, Pradeep

2018-07-01

Accurate and precise measurements of low levels of tritium ( 3 H) in environmental waters are difficult to attain due to complex steps of sample preparation, electrolytic enrichment, liquid scintillation decay counting, and extensive data processing. We present a Microsoft Access™ relational database application, TRIMS (Tritium Information Management System) to assist with sample and data processing of tritium analysis by managing the processes from sample registration and analysis to reporting and archiving. A complete uncertainty propagation algorithm ensures tritium results are reported with robust uncertainty metrics. TRIMS will help to increase laboratory productivity and improve the accuracy and precision of 3 H assays. The software supports several enrichment protocols and LSC counter types. TRIMS is available for download at no cost from the IAEA at www.iaea.org/water. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Antenatal Care Utilisation and Content between Low-Risk and High-Risk Pregnant Women

PubMed Central

Yeoh, Ping Ling; Hornetz, Klaus; Dahlui, Maznah

2016-01-01

Background The purpose of antenatal care is to monitor and improve the wellbeing of the mother and foetus. The World Health Organization recommends risk-oriented strategy that includes: (i) routine care to all women, (ii) additional care for women with moderately severe diseases and complications, (iii) specialised obstetrical and neonatal care for women with severe diseases and complications. Antenatal care is concerned with adequate care in order to be effective. Measurement for adequacy of antenatal care often applies indexes that assess initiation of care and number of visits. In addition, adequacy of care content should also be assessed. Results of studies in developed settings demonstrate that women without risk factors use antenatal services more frequently than recommended. Such over-utilisation is problematic for low-resourced settings. Moreover, studies show that a substantial proportion of high-risk women had utilisation or content of care below the recommended standard. Yet studies in developing countries have seldom included a comparison between low-risk and high-risk women. The purpose of the study was therefore to assess adequacy of care and pregnancy outcomes for the different risk groups. Methods A retrospective study using a multistage sampling technique, at public-funded primary health care clinics was conducted. Antenatal utilisation level was assessed using a modified Adequacy of Prenatal Care Utilisation index that measures the timing for initiation of care and observed-to-expected visits ratio. Adequacy of antenatal care content assessed compliance to routine care based on the local guidelines. Results Intensive or “adequate-plus” antenatal care utilisation as defined by the modified index was noted in over half of the low-risk women. On the other hand, there were 26% of the high-risk women without the expected intensive utilisation. Primary- or non-educated high-risk women were less likely to have a higher antenatal care utilisation level compared with tertiary educated ones (OR = 0.20, P = 0.003). Half of all women had <80% of the recommended antenatal care content. A higher proportion of high-risk than low-risk women scored <80% of the routine care content (p<0.015). The majority of the additional laboratory tests were performed on high-risk women. Provision of antenatal education showed comparatively poor compliance to guidelines, more than half of the antenatal advice topics assessed were rarely provided to the women. High-risk women were associated with a higher prevalence of adverse pregnancy outcome. Conclusions Disproportionate utilisation of antenatal care according to risk level of pregnancy indicates the need for better scheduling of care. The risk-oriented approach often results in a tendency to focus on the risk conditions of the women. Training interventions are recommended to improve communication and to help healthcare professionals understand the priorities of the women. Further studies are required to assess the reason for disproportionate utilisation of antenatal care according to risk level and how delivery of antenatal advice can be improved, reviewing both user and provider perspectives. PMID:27010482

76 FR 15349 - Advisory Committee on the Electronic Records Archives (ACERA); Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-21

... NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION Advisory Committee on the Electronic Records Archives (ACERA); Meeting AGENCY: National Archives and Records Administration. ACTION: Notice of Meeting. SUMMARY... Archives and Records Administration (NARA) announces a meeting of the Advisory Committee on the Electronic...

Hospital emergency department utilisation rates among the immigrant population in Barcelona, Spain

PubMed Central

Buron, Andrea; Cots, Francesc; Garcia, Oscar; Vall, Oriol; Castells, Xavier

2008-01-01

Background The recent increase in the number of immigrants of Barcelona represents a challenge for the public healthcare system, the emergency department being the most used healthcare service by this group. However, utilisation rates in our environment have not yet been studied. We aimed to compare emergency department utilisation rates between Spanish-born and foreign-born residents in a public hospital of Barcelona. Methods The study population included all adults residing in the area of study and visiting the emergency department of Hospital del Mar in 2004. The emergency care episodes were selected from the Emergency Department register, and the population figures from the Statistics Department of Barcelona. Emergency care episodes were classified into five large clinical categories. Adjusted rate ratios (RR) of utilisation among foreign-born vs. Spanish-born residents were assessed through negative binomial regression. Results The overall utilisation rate was 382 emergency contacts per 1,000 persons-years. The RR for foreign-born versus Spanish-born residents was 0.62 (95% CI: 0.52; 0.74%). The RR was also significantly below one in surgery (0.51, 95% CI: 0.42; 0.63), traumatology (0.47, 95% CI: 0.38; 0.59), medicine (0.48, 95% CI: 0.38; 0.59) and psychiatry (0.42, 95% CI: 0.18; 0.97). No differences were found in utilisation of gynaecology and minor emergency services. Conclusion The overall lower utilisation rates obtained for foreign-born residents is consistent with previous studies and is probably due to the "healthy immigrant effect". Thus, the population increase due to immigration does not translate directly into a corresponding increase in the number of emergency contacts. The lack of differences in minor and gynaecological emergency care supports the hypothesis that immigrants overcome certain barriers by using the emergency department to access to health services. The issue of healthcare barriers should therefore be addressed, especially among immigrants. PMID:18315871

The use of secure anonymised data linkage to determine changes in healthcare utilisation following severe open tibial fractures.

PubMed

Page, Piers R J; Trickett, Ryan W; Rahman, Shakeel M; Walters, Angharad; Pinder, Leila M; Brooks, Caroline J; Hutchings, Hayley; Pallister, Ian

2015-07-01

Severe open fractures of the lower limbs are complex injuries requiring expert multidisciplinary management in appropriate orthoplastic centres. This study aimed to assess the impact of open fractures on healthcare utilisation and test the null hypotheses that there is no difference in healthcare utilisation between the year before and year after injury, and that there is no difference in healthcare utilisation in the year post-injury between patients admitted directly to an orthoplastic centre in keeping with the joint BOA/BAPRAS standards and those having initial surgery elsewhere. This retrospective cohort study utilising secure anonymised information linkage (SAIL), a novel databank of anonymised nationally pooled health records, recruited patients over 18 years of age sustaining severe open lower limb fractures managed primarily or secondarily at our centre and who had data available in the SAIL databank. 101 patients met inclusion criteria and 90 of these had records in the SAIL databank. The number of days in hospital, number of primary care attendances, number of outpatient attendances and number of emergency department attendances in the years prior and subsequent to injury were recorded. Patients sustaining open fractures had significantly different healthcare utilisation in the year after injury when compared with the year before, in terms of days spent in hospital (23.42 vs. 1.70, p=0.000), outpatient attendances (11.98 vs. 1.05, p=0.000), primary care attendances (29.48 vs. 11.99, p=0.000) and emergency department presentations (0.2 vs. 0.01, p=0.025). Patients admitted directly to orthoplastic centres had significantly fewer operations (1.78 vs. 3.31) and GP attendances (23.6 vs. 33.52) than those transferred in subsequent to initial management in other units. There is a significant increase in healthcare utilisation after open tibial fracture. Adherence to national standards minimises the impact of this on both patients and health services. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Utilisation of hepatocellular carcinoma screening in Australians at risk of hepatitis B virus-related carcinoma and prescribed anti-viral therapy.

PubMed

Sheppard-Law, Suzanne; Zablotska-Manos, Iryna; Kermeen, Melissa; Holdaway, Susan; Lee, Alice; George, Jacob; Zekry, Amany; Maher, Lisa

2018-07-01

To investigate hepatocellular carcinoma screening utilisation and factors associated with utilisation among patients prescribed hepatitis B virus anti-viral therapy and at risk of hepatocellular carcinoma. The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma has increased in Australia over the past three decades with chronic hepatitis B virus infection a major contributor. hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance programs aim to detect cancers early enabling curative treatment options, longer survival and longer times to recurrence. Multi-site cross-sectional survey. An online study questionnaire was administered to eligible participants attending three Sydney tertiary hospitals. Data were grouped into six mutually exclusive hepatocellular carcinoma risk factor categories as per American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases guidelines. All analyses were undertaken in STATA. Logistic regression was used to assess the associations between covariates and screening utilisation. Multivariate models described were assessed using the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness of fit. Of the 177 participants, 137 (77.4%) self-reported that US had been performed in the last six months. Awareness that screening should be performed and knowing the correct frequency of US screening were independently associated with screening utilisation. Participants who knew that screening should be undertaken were three times more likely to have had pretreatment education or were prescribed hepatitis B virus anti-viral treatment for >4 years. Participants reporting a family history of hepatocellular carcinoma were less likely to know that screening should be undertaken every 6 months. While utilisation of hepatocellular carcinoma surveillance programs was higher in this study than in previous reports, strategies to further improve surveillance remain necessary. Findings from this research form the basis for proposing strategies to improve utilisation of hepatocellular carcinoma screening, inform hepatitis B virus-related clinical practice and for the delivery of care and nursing education to people receiving hepatitis B virus anti-viral therapy and at risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Web Archiving for the Rest of Us: How to Collect and Manage Websites Using Free and Easy Software

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dunn, Katharine; Szydlowski, Nick

2009-01-01

Large-scale projects such as the Internet Archive (www.archive.org) send out crawlers to gather snapshots of much of the web. This massive collection of archived websites may include content of interest to one's patrons. But if librarians want to control exactly when and what is archived, relying on someone else to do the archiving is not ideal.…

Service utilisation by carers of people with dementia in rural Victoria.

PubMed

Ervin, Kaye; Reid, Carol

2015-12-01

To explore the use of community and dementia-specific services by informal carers caring for someone with dementia in a rural setting. Carers of people with dementia were recruited through a variety of rural community services and invited to complete a survey related to the utilisation of community services. A total of 39 carers completed surveys. Despite 84% reporting use of the Aged Care Assessment Service and 61% reporting provision of printed information on the services available, less than half of the carers utilised commonly available support services. Only 46% received financial compensation for their carer role. Rural carers of care recipients with behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia underutilise community services. Services that may assist with carer stress and depression and services that provide advice on the management of distressing behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia were utilised by less than half of the carers surveyed. © 2014 AJA Inc.

The ERESE Project: Interfacing with the ERDA Digital Archive and ERR Reference Database in EarthRef.org

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koppers, A. A.; Staudigel, H.; Mills, H.; Keller, M.; Wallace, A.; Bachman, N.; Helly, J.; Helly, M.; Miller, S. P.; Massell Symons, C.

2004-12-01

To bridge the gap between Earth science teachers, librarians, scientists and data archive managers, we have started the ERESE project that will create, archive and make available "Enduring Resources in Earth Science Education" through information technology (IT) portals. In the first phase of this National Science Digital Library (NSDL) project, we are focusing on the development of these ERESE resources for middle and high school teachers to be used in lesson plans with "plate tectonics" and "magnetics" as their main theme. In this presentation, we will show how these new ERESE resources are being generated, how they can be uploaded via online web wizards, how they are archived, how we make them available via the EarthRef.org Digital Archive (ERDA) and Reference Database (ERR), and how they relate to the SIOExplorer database containing data objects for all seagoing cruises carried out by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The EarthRef.org web resource uses the vision of a "general description" of the Earth as a geological system to provide an IT infrastructure for the Earth sciences. This emphasizes the marriage of the "scientific process" (and its results) with an educational cyber-infrastructure for teaching Earth sciences, on any level, from middle school to college and graduate levels. Eight different databases reside under EarthRef.org from which ERDA holds any digital object that has been uploaded by other scientists, teachers and students for free, while the ERR holds more than 80,000 publications. For more than 1,500 of these publications, this latter database makes available for downloading JPG/PDF images of the abstracts, data tables, methods and appendices, together with their digitized contents in Microsoft Word and Excel format. Both holdings are being used to store the ERESE objects that are being generated by a group of undergraduate students majoring in Environmental Systems (ESYS) program at the UCSD with an emphasis on the Earth Sciences. These students perform library and internet research in order to design and generate these "Enduring Resources in Earth Science Education" that they test by closely interacting with the research faculty at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Typical ERESE resources can be diagrams, model cartoons, maps, data sets for analyses, and glossary items and essays to explain certain Earth Science concepts and are ready to be used in the classroom.

76 FR 19147 - Advisory Committee on the Electronic Records Archives (ACERA)

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-06

... NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION Advisory Committee on the Electronic Records Archives... Electronic Records Archives (ACERA). The meeting has been consolidated into one day. This meeting will be... number of individuals planning to attend must be submitted to the Electronic Records Archives Program at...

Ethics and Truth in Archival Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tesar, Marek

2015-01-01

The complexities of the ethics and truth in archival research are often unrecognised or invisible in educational research. This paper complicates the process of collecting data in the archives, as it problematises notions of ethics and truth in the archives. The archival research took place in the former Czechoslovakia and its turbulent political…

A Vision of Archival Education at the Millennium.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tibbo, Helen R.

1997-01-01

Issues critical to the development of an archival education degree program are discussed including number of credit hours and courses. Archival educators continue to revise the Society of American Archivists (SAA) Master's of Archival Studies (M.A.S.) guidelines as higher education and the world changes. Archival educators must cooperate with…

Examining Activism in Practice: A Qualitative Study of Archival Activism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Novak, Joy Rainbow

2013-01-01

While archival literature has increasingly discussed activism in the context of archives, there has been little examination of the extent to which archivists in the field have accepted or incorporated archival activism into practice. Scholarship that has explored the practical application of archival activism has predominately focused on case…

Common Data Servers as a Foundation for Specialized Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burger, E. F.; Schweitzer, R.; O'Brien, K.; Manke, A. B.; Smith, K. M.

2017-12-01

NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) hosts a broad range of research efforts that span many scientific and environmental research disciplines. Many of these research projects have their own data streams that are as diverse as the research. Data are collected using various platforms, including innovative new platforms such as Saildrones and autonomous profilers. With its requirements for public access to federally funded research results and data, the 2013 White House Office of Science and Technology memo on Public Access to Research Results (PARR) changed the data landscape for Federal agencies. In 2015, with support from the PMEL Director, the PMEL Science Data Integration Group (SDIG) initiated a multi-year effort to formulate and implement an integrated data-management strategy for PMEL research efforts. The PMEL integrated data management strategy will provide data access, visualization and some archive services to PMEL data and use existing and proven frameworks for this capability. In addition to these foundational data services, these data access and visualization frameworks are also leveraged to provide enhanced services to scientists. One enhanced service developed is a data management "dashboard". This application provides scientists with a snapshot of their data assets, access to these data, a map view of data locations, and information on the archival status. Ideally, information on the dashboard continually updates to accurately reflect the project's data asset status. This poster explains how frameworks such as ERDDAP and LAS were used as a foundation for the development of custom services, as well as an explanation of the PMEL data management dashboard functionality. We will also highlight accomplishments of the PMEL Integrated data management strategy implementation.

Ancient DNA analysis identifies marine mollusc shells as new metagenomic archives of the past.

PubMed

Der Sarkissian, Clio; Pichereau, Vianney; Dupont, Catherine; Ilsøe, Peter C; Perrigault, Mickael; Butler, Paul; Chauvaud, Laurent; Eiríksson, Jón; Scourse, James; Paillard, Christine; Orlando, Ludovic

2017-09-01

Marine mollusc shells enclose a wealth of information on coastal organisms and their environment. Their life history traits as well as (palaeo-) environmental conditions, including temperature, food availability, salinity and pollution, can be traced through the analysis of their shell (micro-) structure and biogeochemical composition. Adding to this list, the DNA entrapped in shell carbonate biominerals potentially offers a novel and complementary proxy both for reconstructing palaeoenvironments and tracking mollusc evolutionary trajectories. Here, we assess this potential by applying DNA extraction, high-throughput shotgun DNA sequencing and metagenomic analyses to marine mollusc shells spanning the last ~7,000 years. We report successful DNA extraction from shells, including a variety of ancient specimens, and find that DNA recovery is highly dependent on their biomineral structure, carbonate layer preservation and disease state. We demonstrate positive taxonomic identification of mollusc species using a combination of mitochondrial DNA genomes, barcodes, genome-scale data and metagenomic approaches. We also find shell biominerals to contain a diversity of microbial DNA from the marine environment. Finally, we reconstruct genomic sequences of organisms closely related to the Vibrio tapetis bacteria from Manila clam shells previously diagnosed with Brown Ring Disease. Our results reveal marine mollusc shells as novel genetic archives of the past, which opens new perspectives in ancient DNA research, with the potential to reconstruct the evolutionary history of molluscs, microbial communities and pathogens in the face of environmental changes. Other future applications include conservation of endangered mollusc species and aquaculture management. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Anchovies to Whales: tracking vertebrate biodiversity in Monterey Bay by metabarcoding environmental DNA (eDNA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Closek, C. J.; Starks, H.; Walz, K.; Boehm, A. B.; Chavez, F.

2016-12-01

The oscillation between the dominance of Sardinops sagax (pacific sardine) and Engraulis mordax (northern anchovy) has been documented in the California Coastal Ecosystem for more than 100 years. These two species are strong drivers of trophic interactions in the region. As part of the Marine Biodiversity Observational Network (MBON) initiative, we used archived filtered seawater samples collected late-summer to mid-fall over a span of 8 years from Monterey Bay, CA to examine the change in marine vertebrate environmental DNA (eDNA). Water samples were collected from a nearshore location in Monterey Bay (C1) during the years of 2008-15. The water was then filtered, and the filter was archived at -80°C. DNA was extracted from the filters, and the 12S rRNA gene present in mitochondrial DNA was PCR amplification using primers designed to amplify 12s rRNA genes from marine vertebrates. The amplicons were subsequently sequenced with an Illumina MiSeq and the data processed using an analysis pipeline for sequence annotation. More than 20 fish genera were noted in the sequences from 2008-12, with Engraulis the dominant fish genus from 2013-15. Anchovy and Megaptera novaeangliae (humpback whale) were present in temporal patterns similar to those noted during visual observations where anchovy and humpback whale were more abundant during the years of 2013-2015 than the other years. This study demonstrates our ability to detect megafauna and fish species that are important to the Monterey Bay ecosystem from coastal water samples and determine community structural differences over time.

Enhancement of real-time EPICS IOC PV management for the data archiving system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Jae-Ha

2015-10-01

The operation of a 100-MeV linear proton accelerator, the major driving values and experimental data need to be archived. According to the experimental conditions, different data are required. Functions that can add new data and delete data in real time need to be implemented. In an experimental physics and industrial control system (EPICS) input output controller (IOC), the value of process variables (PVs) are matched with the driving values and data. The PV values are archived in text file format by using the channel archiver. There is no need to create a database (DB) server, just a need for large hard disk. Through the web, the archived data can be loaded, and new PV values can be archived without stopping the archive engine. The details of the implementation of a data archiving system with channel archiver are presented, and some preliminary results are reported.

Development of acute and chronic sediment bioassays with the harpacticoid copepod Quinquelaophonte sp.

PubMed

Stringer, Tristan J; Glover, Chris N; Keesing, Vaughan; Northcott, Grant L; Gaw, Sally; Tremblay, Louis A

2014-01-01

Reliable environmentally realistic bioassay methodologies are increasingly needed to assess the effects of environmental pollution. This study describes two estuarine sediment bioassays, one acute (96 h) and one chronic (14 d), with the New Zealand harpacticoid copepod Quinquelaophonte sp. utilising behavioural and reproductive endpoints. Spiked sediments were used to expose Quinquelaophonte sp. to three reference compounds representing important categories of estuarine chemical stressors: zinc (a metal), atrazine (a pesticide), and phenanthrene (a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon). Acute-to-chronic ratios (ACR) were used to further characterise species responses. Acute sediment (sandy and low total organic content) 96 h EC50 values for the sublethal inhibition of mobility for zinc, atrazine and phenanthrene were 137, 5.4, and 2.6 µg/g, respectively. The chronic EC50 values for inhibition of reproduction (total offspring) were 54.5, 0.0083, and 0.067 µg/g for zinc, atrazine, and phenanthrene, respectively. For phenanthrene, a potentially novel mode of action was identified on reproduction. Quinquelaophonte sp. was found to be more sensitive than several other estuarine species indicating choice of test organism is important to characterising the effects of environmentally relevant levels of contamination. The bioassay sediment results demonstrate the sensitivity and suitability of Quinquelaophonte sp. as a tool for the assessment use of estuarine health. © 2013 Published by Elsevier Inc.

Evaluating hazardous air pollutants in Australia.

PubMed

Hinwood, A L; Di Marco, P N

2002-12-27

Hazardous air pollutants (HAPS) have been evaluated for their health and environmental significance on a targeted and campaign basis in Australia until recently. Individual States and Territories have been undertaking targeted monitoring studies and have numerous control strategies aimed at controlling HAPS emissions with the focus largely on volatile organic compounds (VOCs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and selected heavy metals, with some limited work on exposure assessment. There has been little evaluation of the potential health or environmental effects of the monitored concentrations of these substances and few toxicological or epidemiological studies have been conducted-none in the community setting in Australia. Moreover, there has not been an agreed method for assessing risks from HAPS in ambient air, with different jurisdictions utilising different international benchmarks. Recently, the National Environmental Health (EnHealth) Council commenced developing a risk assessment methodology, which is being used in the development of ambient air quality guidelines for selected HAPS in Western Australia. In 1999, the Commonwealth Government established the Living Cities-Toxics Program, designed to assess the state of knowledge on HAPS in Australia with the aims of identifying and prioritising HAPS, identifying information gaps and informing the development of national air quality standards and national management strategies. The Commonwealth Government commenced a number of projects in 2000 to progress these aims.

Enhancement of biogas production from food waste and sewage sludge - Environmental and economic life cycle performance.

PubMed

Eriksson, Ola; Bisaillon, Mattias; Haraldsson, Mårten; Sundberg, Johan

2016-06-15

Management of municipal solid waste is an efficient method to increase resource efficiency, as well as to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources due to that (1) waste to a large extent is renewable as it consists of food waste, paper, wood etc. and (2) when energy and materials are recovered from waste treatment, fossil fuels can be substituted. In this paper results from a comprehensive system study of future biological treatment of readily degradable waste in two Swedish regions are presented. Different collection and separation systems for food waste in households have been applied as well as technical improvements of the biogas process as to reduce environmental impact. The results show that central sorting of a mixed fraction into recyclables, combustibles, biowaste and inert is a competitive option compared to source separation. Use of pellets is beneficial compared to direct spreading as fertiliser. Fuel pellets seem to be the most favourable option, which to a large extent depends on the circumstances in the energy system. Separation and utilisation of nitrogen in the wet part of the digestion residue is made possible with a number of technologies which decreases environmental impact drastically, however to a substantial cost in some cases. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Changes in health care utilisation following a reform involving choice and privatisation in Swedish primary care: a five-year follow-up of GP-visits

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background The organisation of Swedish primary health care has changed following introduction of free choice of provider for the population in combination with freedom of establishment for private primary care providers. Our aim was to investigate changes in individual health care utilisation following choice and privatisation in Swedish primary care from an equity perspective, in subgroups defined by age, gender and family income. Methods The study is based on register data years 2007 – 2011 from the Skåne Regional Council (population 1.2 million) regarding individual health care utilisation in the form of visits to general practitioner (GP). Health utilisation data was matched with data about individual’s age, gender and family income provided by Statistics Sweden. Multilevel, logistic regression models were constructed to analyse changes in health utilisation in different subgroups and the probability of a GP-visit before and after reform. Results Health care utilisation in terms of both number of individuals that had visited a GP and number of GP-visits per capita increased in all defined subgroups, but to a varying degree. Multilevel logistic regression showed that individuals of both genders aged above 64 and belonging to a family with an income above median had more advantage of the reform, OR 1.25-1.29. Conclusions Reforms involving choice and privatisation in Swedish primary health care improved access to GP-visits generally, but more so for individuals belonging to a family with income above the median. PMID:24171894

Drug-related stigma and access to care among people who inject drugs in Vietnam.

PubMed

Lan, Chiao-Wen; Lin, Chunqing; Thanh, Duong Cong; Li, Li

2018-03-01

There are considerable challenges faced by people with a history of injecting drug use (PWID) in Vietnam, including drug-related stigma and lack of access to healthcare. Seeking and utilising healthcare, as well as harm reduction programs for PWID, are often hampered by drug-related stigma. This study aimed to examine the impacts of drug-related stigma on access to care and utilisation of harm reduction programs among PWID in Vietnam. A cross-sectional study was conducted in two provinces in Vietnam, Phú Thọ and Vinh Phúc. The study participants completed the survey by using Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interview between late 2014 and early 2015. Linear multiple regression models and logistic regression models were used to assess the relationship among drug-related stigma, access to care and utilisation of harm reduction programs, including methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) and needle exchange programs (NEP). A total of 900 PWID participated in this study. Drug-related stigma was significantly associated with lower level of access to care, but not with utilisation of MMT or NEP. Older age was positively associated with higher levels of access to care. Levels of education were positively correlated with access to care, as well as utilisation of MMT and NEP. This study underscores the need for future interventions to reduce drug-related stigma in society and in health-care settings to improve PWID's utilisation of care services. Special attention should be paid to younger PWID and those with lower levels of education. © 2017 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.

A method to calibrate channel friction and bathymetry parameters of a Sub-Grid hydraulic model using SAR flood images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wood, M.; Neal, J. C.; Hostache, R.; Corato, G.; Chini, M.; Giustarini, L.; Matgen, P.; Wagener, T.; Bates, P. D.

2015-12-01

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites are capable of all-weather day and night observations that can discriminate between land and smooth open water surfaces over large scales. Because of this there has been much interest in the use of SAR satellite data to improve our understanding of water processes, in particular for fluvial flood inundation mechanisms. Past studies prove that integrating SAR derived data with hydraulic models can improve simulations of flooding. However while much of this work focusses on improving model channel roughness values or inflows in ungauged catchments, improvement of model bathymetry is often overlooked. The provision of good bathymetric data is critical to the performance of hydraulic models but there are only a small number of ways to obtain bathymetry information where no direct measurements exist. Spatially distributed river depths are also rarely available. We present a methodology for calibration of model average channel depth and roughness parameters concurrently using SAR images of flood extent and a Sub-Grid model utilising hydraulic geometry concepts. The methodology uses real data from the European Space Agency's archive of ENVISAT[1] Wide Swath Mode images of the River Severn between Worcester and Tewkesbury during flood peaks between 2007 and 2010. Historic ENVISAT WSM images are currently free and easy to access from archive but the methodology can be applied with any available SAR data. The approach makes use of the SAR image processing algorithm of Giustarini[2] et al. (2013) to generate binary flood maps. A unique feature of the calibration methodology is to also use parameter 'identifiability' to locate the parameters with higher accuracy from a pre-assigned range (adopting the DYNIA method proposed by Wagener[3] et al., 2003). [1] https://gpod.eo.esa.int/services/ [2] Giustarini. 2013. 'A Change Detection Approach to Flood Mapping in Urban Areas Using TerraSAR-X'. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 51, no. 4. [3] Wagener. 2003. 'Towards reduced uncertainty in conceptual rainfall-runoff modelling: Dynamic identifiability analysis'. Hydrol. Process. 17, 455-476.

Mapping for the masses: using free remote sensing data for disaster management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teeuw, R.; McWilliam, N.; Morris, N.; Saunders, C.

2009-04-01

We examine the uses of free satellite imagery and Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) for disaster management, targeting three data sources: the United Nations Charter on Space and Disasters, Google Earth and internet-based satellite data archives, such as the Global Land Cover Facility (GLCF). The research has assessed SRTM and ASTER DEM data, Landsat TM/ETM+ and ASTER imagery, as well as utilising datasets and basic GIS operations available via Google Earth. As an aid to Disaster Risk Reduction, four sets of maps can be produced from satellite data: (i) Multiple Geohazards: areas prone to slope instability, coastal inundation and fluvial flooding; (ii) Vulnerability: population density, habitation types, land cover types and infrastructure; (iii) Disaster Risk: produced by combining severity scores from (i) and (ii); (iv) Reconstruction: zones of rock/sediment with construction uses; areas of woodland (for fuel/construction) water sources; transport routes; zones suitable for re-settlement. This set of Disaster Risk Reduction maps are ideal for regional (1:50,000 to 1:250,000 scale) planning for in low-income countries: more detailed assessments require relatively expensive high resolution satellite imagery or aerial photography, although Google Earth has a good track record for posting high-res imagery of disaster zones (e.g. the 2008 Burma storm surge). The Disaster Risk maps highlight areas of maximum risk to a region's emergency planners and decision makers, enabling various types of public education and other disaster mitigation measures. The Reconstruction map also helps to save lives, by facilitating disaster recovery. Many problems have been identified. Access to the UN Charter imagery is fine after a disaster, but very difficult if assessing pre-disaster indicators: the data supplied also tends to be pre-processed, when some relief agencies would prefer to have raw data. The limited and expensive internet access in many developing countries limits access to archives of free satellite data, such as the GLCF. Finally, data integration, spatial/temporal analysis and map production are all hindered by the high price of most GIS software, making the development of suitable open-source software a priority.

Environmental resources of selected areas of Hawaii: Climate, ambient air quality, and noise

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

Lombardi, D.A.; Blasing, T.J.; Easterly, C.E.

1995-03-01

This report has been prepared to make available and archive background scientific data and related information on climate, ambient air quality, and ambient noise levels collected during the preparation of the environmental impact statement (EIS) for Phases 3 and 4 of the Hawaii Geothermal Project (HGP) as defined by the state of Hawaii in its April 1989 proposal to Congress. The US Department of Energy (DOE) published a notice withdrawing its Notice of Intent to prepare the HGP-EIS. Since the state of Hawaii is no longer pursuing or planning to pursue the HGP, DOE considers the project to be terminated.more » The report presents a general description of the climate add air quality for the islands of Hawaii (henceforth referred to as Hawaii), Maui and Oahu. It also presents a literature review as baseline information on the health effects of sulfide. The scientific background data and related information is being made available for use by others in conducting future scientific research in these areas. This report describes the environmental resources present in the areas studied (i.e., the affected environment) and does not represent an assessment of environmental impacts.« less

The shellfish enigma across the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in southern Scandinavia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lewis, J. P.; Ryves, D. B.; Rasmussen, P.; Olsen, J.; Knudsen, K.-L.; Andersen, S. H.; Weckström, K.; Clarke, A. L.; Andrén, E.; Juggins, S.

2016-11-01

The well-known and widespread replacement of oysters (abundant during the Mesolithic period) by cockles and mussels in many Danish Stone Age shell middens ca. 5900 cal yrs BP coincides with the transition to agriculture in southern Scandinavia. This human resource shift is commonly believed to reflect changing resource availability, driven by environmental and/or climatic change at the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition rather than cultural choice. While several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the ;Mesolithic-Neolithic oyster decline;, an explanation based on a sudden freshening of the inner Danish waters has received most attention. Here, for the first time, we test and refute this long-standing hypothesis that declining salinity explains the marked reduction in oysters identified within numerous shell middens across coastal Denmark at the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition using quantitative and qualitative salinity inference from several, independent proxies (diatoms, molluscs and foraminifera) from multiple Danish fjord sites. Alternatively, we attribute the oyster decline to other environmental causes (particularly changing sedimentation), ultimately driven by external climatic forcing. Critical application of such high-quality environmental archives can reinvigorate archaeological debates and can aid in understanding and managing environmental change in increasingly impacted coastal regions.

Effect of active shortening on the rate of ATP utilisation by rabbit psoas muscle fibres

PubMed Central

Sun, Y-B; Hilber, K; Irving, M

2001-01-01

The rate of ATP utilisation during active shortening of single skinned fibres from rabbit psoas muscle at 10 °C was measured using an NADH-linked assay. Fibres were immersed in silicone oil and illuminated with 365 nm light. The amounts of NADH and carboxytetramethylrhodamine (CTMR) in the illuminated region of the fibre were measured simultaneously from fluorescence emission at 425–475 and 570–650 nm, respectively. The ratio of these two signals was used to determine the intracellular concentration of NADH, and thus the ATP utilisation, without interference from movements of the fibre with respect to the measuring light beam. The total extra ATP utilisation due to shortening (ΔATP) was determined by extrapolation of the steady isometric rates before and after shortening to the mid-point of the shortening period. ΔATP had a roughly linear dependence on the extent of shortening in the range 1–15% fibre length (L0) at a shortening velocity of 0.4 L0 s−1 from initial sarcomere length 2.7 μm. For shortening of 1%L0, ΔATP was 21 ± 1 μm (mean ±s.e.m., n = 3). The mean rate of ATP utilisation during ramp shortening of 10%L0 had a roughly linear dependence on shortening velocity in the range 0.05–1.2 L0 s−1. During unloaded shortening at 1.2 L0 s−1 the mean rate of ATP utilisation was 1.7 mm s−1, about 9 times the isometric rate. ΔATP was roughly independent of shortening velocity, and was 84 ± 9 μm (mean ±s.e.m., n = 6) for shortening of 10%L0. The implications of these results for mechanical-chemical coupling in muscle are discussed. The total ATP utilisation associated with shortening of 1%L0 is only about 17% of the concentration of the myosin heads in the fibre, suggesting that during isometric contraction either less than 17% of the myosin heads are attached to actin, or that heads can detach without commitment to ATP splitting. The fraction of myosin heads attached to actin during unloaded shortening is estimated from the rate of ATP utilisation to be less than 7%. PMID:11251058

Ethnic disparities in utilisation of maternal health care services in Ghana: evidence from the 2007 Ghana Maternal Health Survey.

PubMed

Ganle, John Kuumuori

2016-01-01

Disparities in utilisation of maternal health care remain a challenge to attainment of the maternal health-related Millennium Development Goals. The objective of this descriptive study was to examine disparities in utilisation of maternal health care among ethnic groups in Ghana. Data from the 2007 Ghana Maternal Health Survey were analysed for disparities in antenatal care (ANC) visit, utilisation of tetanus toxoid immunisation and iron tablets/syrup intake during pregnancy, place of delivery, skilled birth attendance, caesarean section (CS) and post-natal care (PNC) among different ethnic groups. Findings show that the proportion of women who received any form of skilled antenatal, delivery and PNC in the five years (2003-2007) preceding the survey was 96%, 55% and 55%, respectively. Despite the incremental progress Ghana made in improving access to skilled maternal health care services, large gradients of disparities exist. The ethnic difference in utilisation of institutional prenatal care was small; however, fewer births to women from majority ethnic groups such as the Akan (21%) took place at home compared with births to women from minority ethnic groups such as the Ewe (58.8%), Guan (42.7%), Grusi (53.4%), Mole-Dagbani (74.7%) and Gruma (58.8%). The rate of consultation of a skilled health care provider for delivery among the different ethnic groups also ranged from a low of 27% for births to Mole-Dagbani women to a high of 68.8% among births to Akan women. Minority ethnic groups reported lower utilisation levels for most of the components of skilled maternity care in Ghana. However, ethnic disparities in utilisation of all the components of ANC in Ghana were less compared to delivery in health facilities, skilled attendance at birth, use of CS and PNC. Therefore, efforts to promote universal access to skilled maternity care not only should target those sub-populations with significantly low utilisation levels but also must focus on those components of maternal health care such as skilled attendance at delivery that demonstrate the greatest disparities. There is also the need to further explore who continues to remain excluded from receiving needed care, and how to encourage such women, especially minority women, to seek skilled care.

Environmental & economic life cycle assessment of current & future sewage sludge to energy technologies.

PubMed

Mills, N; Pearce, P; Farrow, J; Thorpe, R B; Kirkby, N F

2014-01-01

The UK Water Industry currently generates approximately 800GWh pa of electrical energy from sewage sludge. Traditionally energy recovery from sewage sludge features Anaerobic Digestion (AD) with biogas utilisation in combined heat and power (CHP) systems. However, the industry is evolving and a number of developments that extract more energy from sludge are either being implemented or are nearing full scale demonstration. This study compared five technology configurations: 1 - conventional AD with CHP, 2 - Thermal Hydrolysis Process (THP) AD with CHP, 3 - THP AD with bio-methane grid injection, 4 - THP AD with CHP followed by drying of digested sludge for solid fuel production, 5 - THP AD followed by drying, pyrolysis of the digested sludge and use of the both the biogas and the pyrolysis gas in a CHP. The economic and environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) found that both the post AD drying options performed well but the option used to create a solid fuel to displace coal (configuration 4) was the most sustainable solution economically and environmentally, closely followed by the pyrolysis configuration (5). Application of THP improves the financial and environmental performance compared with conventional AD. Producing bio-methane for grid injection (configuration 3) is attractive financially but has the worst environmental impact of all the scenarios, suggesting that the current UK financial incentive policy for bio-methane is not driving best environmental practice. It is clear that new and improving processes and technologies are enabling significant opportunities for further energy recovery from sludge; LCA provides tools for determining the best overall options for particular situations and allows innovation resources and investment to be focused accordingly. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.