Impact of ERTS-1 images on management of New Jersey's coastal zone

The thrust of New Jersey's ERTS investigation is development of procedures for operational use of ERTS-1 data by the Department of Environmental Protection in the management of the State's coastal zone. Four major areas of concern were investigated: detection of land use changes in the coastal zone; monitoring of offshore waste disposal; siting of ocean outfalls; and allocation of funds for shore protection. ERTS imagery was not useful for shore protection purposes; it was of limited practical value in the evaluation of offshore waste disposal and ocean outfall siting. However, ERTS imagery shows great promise for operational detection of land use changes in the coastal zone. Some constraints for practical change detection have been identified

Methods for comparative evaluation of propulsion system designs for supersonic aircraft

The propulsion system comparative evaluation study was conducted to define a rapid, approximate method for evaluating the effects of propulsion system changes for an advanced supersonic cruise airplane, and to verify the approximate method by comparing its mission performance results with those from a more detailed analysis. A table look up computer program was developed to determine nacelle drag increments for a range of parametric nacelle shapes and sizes. Aircraft sensitivities to propulsion parameters were defined. Nacelle shapes, installed weights, and installed performance was determined for four study engines selected from the NASA supersonic cruise aircraft research (SCAR) engine studies program. Both rapid evaluation method (using sensitivities) and traditional preliminary design methods were then used to assess the four engines. The method was found to compare well with the more detailed analyses

Application of ERTS-1 data to the protection and management of New Jersey's coastal environment

The author has identified the following significant results. Rapid access to ERTS data was provided by NASA GSFC for the February 26, 1974 overpass of the New Jersey test site. Forty-seven hours following the overpass computer-compatible tapes were ready for processing at EarthSat. The finished product was ready just 60 hours following the overpass and delivered to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. This operational demonstration has been successful in convincing NJDEP as to the worth of ERTS as an operational monitoring and enforcement tool of significant value to the State. An erosion/ accretion severity index has been developed for the New Jersey shore case study area. Computerized analysis techniques have been used for monitoring offshore waste disposal dumping locations, drift vectors, and dispersion rates in the New York Bight area. A computer shade print of the area was used to identify intensity levels of acid waste. A Litton intensity slice print was made to provide graphic presentation of dispersion characteristics and the dump extent. Continued monitoring will lead to the recommendation and justification of permanent dumping sites which pose no threat to water quality in nearshore environments

Comparison of high-specific-activity ultratrace 123/131I-MIBG and carrier-added 123/131I-MIBG on efficacy, pharmacokinetics, and tissue distribution

Metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) is an enzymatically stable synthetic analog of norepinephrine that when radiolabled with diagnostic ((123)I) or therapeutic ((131)I) isotopes has been shown to concentrate highly in sympathetically innervated tissues such as the heart and neuroendocrine tumors that possesses high levels of norepinephrine transporter (NET). As the transport of MIBG by NET is a saturable event, the specific activity of the preparation may have dramatic effects on both the efficacy and safety of the radiodiagnostic/radiotherapeutic. Using a solid labeling approach (Ultratrace), noncarrier-added radiolabeled MIBG can be efficiently produced. In this study, specific activities of >1200 mCi/micromol for (123)I and >1600 mCi/micromol for (131)I have been achieved. A series of studies were performed to assess the impact of cold carrier MIBG on the tissue distribution of (123/131)I-MIBG in the conscious rat and on cardiovascular parameters in the conscious instrumented dog. The present series of studies demonstrated that the carrier-free Ultratrace MIBG radiolabeled with either (123)I or (131)I exhibited similar tissue distribution to the carrier-added radiolabeled MIBG in all nontarget tissues. In tissues that express NETs, the higher the specific activity of the preparation the greater will be the radiopharmaceutical uptake. This was reflected by greater efficacy in the mouse neuroblastoma SK-N-BE(2c) xenograft model and less appreciable cardiovascular side-effects in dogs when the high-specific-activity radiopharmaceutical was used. The increased uptake and retention of Ultratrace (123/131)I-MIBG may translate into a superior diagnostic and therapeutic potential. Lastly, care must be taken when administering therapeutic doses of the current carrier-added (131)I-MIBG because of its potential to cause adverse cardiovascular side-effects, nausea, and vomiting

Settlement history, land holdings and landscape change, Eyjafjallahreppur, Iceland

In this paper we focus on a region in south Iceland and assess the confidence with which it is possible to determine the changing patterns of settlement history for a region and relate it to contemporaneous land boundaries. For a geographically coherent group of up to 38 possible farm sites in the northern and western part of Eyjafjallahreppur, south Iceland, the timing of occupation and abandonment is assessed. In addition, boundaries of landholdings, probable status and inter-site relationships are identified. Currently only 10 sites are occupied. There is some uncertainty over the location of the earliest settlements, but after the 11th century, successful principle farm sites such as Dalur, Seljaland and Mörk remain in the same locations. As a result, recent data on landholdings combined with a knowledge of the form of landholding sub-division, offers insights into pre-modern times, with some data relevant to medieval times. An ‘abandoned frontier’ exists in the inland area of Þórsmörk, but abandonment is not restricted to the uplands; it has occurred throughout the region. Most desertion occurred before the cold phases of the Little Ice Age in the 18th century. Overall, much farm desertion can be attributed to landscape destruction as a result of river migration, but it is also biased towards small dependent farms often established for social reasons (such as the property requirement for marriage) and evidently insufficiently resourced for long term success in a changing physical environment

Degrees of success : evaluating the environmental impacts of long term settlement in South Iceland.

This paper focuses on the occupation and landscape history of Dalur and Mörk, two areas of long-term settlement in the Eyjafjallahreppur district of southern Iceland. The aim is to illustrate the importance of evaluating not only farm occupation and abandonment, but also to assess the complexities of the environmental interactions of long-term settlements. Environmental records are assessed using data from 50 sediment profiles, constrained by tephrochronology, located in the farm infields (tún) and outfields (hagi). This record indicates that despite similar outward appearances today, the environs of Dalur and Mörk have experienced different histories of environmental change over the last 1000 years. At least 14 subsidiary settlements were at one time or another established within Dalur, or were dependent on the Church farm there. Ten of these settlements were subsequently abandoned and sediment accumulation rates, a proxy indicator of erosion, remained low, indicating restricted local human impact. We conclude that this illustrates the importance of access and rights to additional resources out with the principal farm. In addition, much of the immediate environs of the main farm site was probably un-wooded at the time of settlement, so the total degree of vegetative change was limited. In contrast, palaeoenvironmental data indicates that the environs of Mörk were extensively wooded at the time of Landnám, but this woodland was rapidly cleared and this was followed by several centuries of landscape instability. In a cultural contrast, the landholdings of Mörk experienced less subdivision with a total of only five dependent farms established across the land belonging to three main farms (all of which had chapels). From the early 10th to 14th centuries there was significantly enhanced erosion within the Mörk landholdings, but this stabilised and the principal farms endured and to form sites of long-term settlement. The ownership of additional resource rights, including woodland further up-valley, may have made the crucial contribution to long term endurance

Letter From Francis Mairs Huntington-Wilson to Herbert Hoover, January 28, 1940

A typed copy of a letter from Francis Mairs Huntington-Wilson addressed to Herbert Hoover, dated January 28, 1940. Within, Wilson writes in another attempt to convince Herbert Hoover to allocate unrestricted financial contributions towards munitions and relief for Finland.https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/fmhw_secondworldwar_documents/1004/thumbnail.jp