Dye Tracing and the Effects of Infrastructure in Hidden River Cave, Horse Cave, KY

Hidden River Cave is a stream cave system found in Horse Cave, KY with continuous water flow of its two branches, Wheet River and East River. The infrastructure of the city of Hose Cave, KY was originally designed to utilize natural sinkholes for drainage of all wastewaters. The city uses many of these, now modified, sinkholes for wastewater disposal and storm water drainage. Historically, Hidden River Cave has been severely impacted by unmonitored dumping of contamination. To better understand and identify specific flow paths from sinkholes and infrastructure into Hidden River Cave, this study documented various sinkholes and other infrastructure, such as storm drains, sewer systems, and other undocumented pipes, that could send water from the surface to Hidden River Cave. The study focused on using fluorescent dyes injected into four sites in order to document how the water carrying these dyes moved through the cave system. These dyes were identified using charcoal dye receptors placed at six locations within Hidden River Cave. Additionally, passage cross-sections of two major branches of the cave were measured, while depth and velocity measurements were taken to calculate the discharge of the river in these branches of the cave. Dye trace results identified two flow paths and hypothesized a small groundwater basin based on the detection of various dyes within the cave from multiple injection sites. Discharge results appear to agree with the flow path interpretation derived from the dye traces. The most significant findings of this research include: 1) identifying multiple flow paths from various injection points, 2) determining the relationship between discharge of the Wheet River and East River in Hidden River Cave, and 3) hypothesizing a flow route based on a lack of detection from a previously unidentified injection point. These findings improve the understanding of the relationship between surface water catchment in the city of Horse Cave and the flow into Hidden River Cave

0+ states and collective bands in 228Th studied by the (p,t) reaction

The excitation spectra in the deformed nucleus 228Th have been studied by means of the (p,t)-reaction, using the Q3D spectrograph facility at the Munich Tandem accelerator. The angular distributions of tritons were measured for about 110 excitations seen in the triton spectra up to 2.5 MeV. Firm 0+ assignments are made for 17 excited states by comparison of experimental angular distributions with the calculated ones using the CHUCK3 code. Assignments up to spin 6+ are made for other states. Sequences of states are selected which can be treated as rotational bands and as multiplets of excitations. Moments of inertia have been derived from these sequences, whose values may be considered as evidence of the two-phonon nature of most 0+ excitations. Experimental data are compared with interacting boson model and quasiparticle-phonon model calculations and with experimental data for 229Pa.Comment: 21 pages, 14 figure

The Evolution of LGBTQIA+ Personnel in the American Workplace

This paper highlights the organizational diversity challenges current firms and institutions face, such as LGBTQIA+ personnel in the workforce. Therefore, this research aims to provide recommendations for effectively using communication and mentoring skills in a diverse workplace. As a result, organizations should utilize the best practices to establish an inclusive and diverse workforce. The implications of the findings emphasize a literature gap on how corporations can create an inclusive workplace for all employees, regardless of their sexual orientation. Importantly, the significance of the results will raise further questions about the notion of marginalized employees in work settings. Overall, the research on the LGBTQIA+ community in work environments is notable and must be studied to spread awareness of the value that these personnel bring in the workplace

7th–8th Grade: English Level 3, Learning Packet #4 • Theme: Disasters #4

Exploring Survivor Stories, Grades 7-8 We\u27ve already explored a few survivor stories, but we\u27re going to look at a few other experiences. This week we are going to take a look at the stories of people, kids in particular, who have experienced disasters and lived to tell about them. We\u27re going to take a look at their encounters with natural disasters to understand how they withstood these dangers. Lesson 1 • It\u27s going to BLOW!, Mountain of fire, Meetings challenges Lesson 2 • Too hot to handle, Lost in Death Valley, Meeting challenges Lesson 3 • Cold enough for you?, Lost in a blizzard, Meeting challenges Lesson 4 • Land falls away, Sinkhole excerpt from Tangerine, Meeting challenges Lesson 5 • Review the week\u27s learning, Write a first-person story of getting heat stroke What will you learn in this packet? - Learn/refine (make better) your understanding of vocabulary and sentence structure - Explore cause and effect relationships of disasters, actions, and physical conditions - Make and explain predictions and inferences about people, actions, or events - Reflect on your learning and how you can use it in the real world Answer Keys W aa a , b a a c.W aa a , b a a c. Detected language : Englis

6'-Methoxy Raloxifene-analog enhances mouse bone properties with reduced estrogen receptor binding

Raloxifene (RAL) is an FDA-approved drug used to treat osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. RAL suppresses bone loss primarily through its role as a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM). This hormonal estrogen therapy promotes unintended side effects, such as hot flashes and increased thrombosis risk, and prevents the drug from being used in some patient populations at-risk for fracture, including children with bone disorders. It has recently been demonstrated that RAL can have significant positive effects on overall bone mechanical properties by binding to collagen and increasing bone tissue hydration in a cell-independent manner. A Raloxifene-Analog (RAL-A) was synthesized by replacing the 6-hydroxyl substituent with 6-methoxy in effort to reduce the compound's binding affinity for estrogen receptors (ER) while maintaining its collagen-binding ability. It was hypothesized that RAL-A would improve the mechanical integrity of bone in a manner similar to RAL, but with reduced estrogen receptor binding. Molecular assessment showed that while RAL-A did reduce ER binding, downstream ER signaling was not completely abolished. In-vitro, RAL-A performed similarly to RAL and had an identical concentration threshold on osteocyte cell proliferation, differentiation, and function. To assess treatment effect in-vivo, wildtype (WT) and heterozygous (OIM+/-) female mice from the Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) murine model were treated with either RAL or RAL-A from 8 weeks to 16 weeks of age. There was an untreated control group for each genotype as well. Bone microarchitecture was assessed using microCT, and mechanical behavior was assessed using 3-point bending. Results indicate that both compounds produced analogous gains in tibial trabecular and cortical microarchitecture. While WT mechanical properties were not drastically altered with either treatment, OIM+/- mechanical properties were significantly enhanced, most notably, in post-yield properties including bone toughness. This proof-of-concept study shows promising results and warrants the exploration of additional analog iterations to further reduce ER binding and improve fracture resistance

Adjusting particle-size distributions to account for aggregation in tephra-deposit model forecasts

Volcanic ash transport and dispersion (VATD) models are used to forecast tephra deposition during volcanic eruptions. Model accuracy is limited by the fact that fine-ash aggregates (clumps into clusters), thus altering patterns of deposition. In most models this is accounted for by ad hoc changes to model input, representing fine ash as aggregates with density ρagg, and a log-normal size distribution with median μagg and standard deviation σagg. Optimal values may vary between eruptions. To test the variance, we used the Ash3d tephra model to simulate four deposits: 18 May 1980 Mount St. Helens; 16-17 September 1992 Crater Peak (Mount Spurr); 17 June 1996 Ruapehu; and 23 March 2009 Mount Redoubt. In 192 simulations, we systematically varied μagg and σagg, holding ρagg constant at 600 kgm-3. We evaluated the fit using three indices that compare modeled versus measured (1) mass load at sample locations; (2) mass load versus distance along the dispersal axis; and (3) isomass area. For all deposits, under these inputs, the best-fit value of μagg ranged narrowly between ∼2.3 and 2.7φ (0.20-0.15 mm), despite large variations in erupted mass (0.25-50 Tg), plume height (8.5- 25 km), mass fraction of fine ( \u3c 0.063 mm) ash (3-59 %), atmospheric temperature, and water content between these eruptions. This close agreement suggests that aggregation may be treated as a discrete process that is insensitive to eruptive style or magnitude. This result offers the potential for a simple, computationally efficient parameterization scheme for use in operational model forecasts. Further research may indicate whether this narrow range also reflects physical constraints on processes in the evolving cloud

Is State Law Looking for Trouble: The Federal Arbitration Act Flexes Its Preemptive Muscle

This article begins with an overview of the preemption concept as it affects the American legal system. The source of preemption power is revealed and the most common forms of preemption are introduced. Next, the article discusses preemption and its interaction with the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). The discussion begins with a chronological view of the cases that have defined the effects the FAA has on arbitration agreements via its preemption power and ends with a summary of the current state of the law

Macroscopic and microscopic description of phase transition in cerium isotopes

The spherical-to-deformed phase transition in cerium isotopes recently suggested to occur between Ce146 and Ce148 has been examined in the framework of the macroscopic algebraic collective model and two microscopic approaches, namely Skyrme-Hartree-Fock + Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) calculations and the symmetry conserving configuration mixing method with Gogny energy density functionals applied also to the neighboring nuclei along the cerium isotopic chain. Possible spectral signatures of the phase transition are discussed in more details. The microscopic calculations predict octupole softness manifested by rather flat potential energy curves as a function of the octupole deformation parameter β3 for Ce146 and Ce148 and shape coexistence characterized by axially symmetric 0+ states, triaxial 2+ bands, and octupole deformation for the lowest 1- state

Oxygen Saturation of Retinal Vessels in All Stages of Diabetic Retinopathy and Correlation to Ultra-Wide Field Fluorescein Angiography

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine retinal hemoglobin oxygen saturation (SO2) in patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR) using retinal oximetry (RO) and to correlate the degree of retinal ischemia using intravenous fluorescein angiography (IVFA). Methods: This is a single-center cross-sectional cohort study. Twenty-seven controls and 60 adult patients with diabetes mellitus (16 without DR and 44 with DR) were enrolled. Patients were stratified according to DR severity. Using RO, SO2 was measured in major retinal arterioles (SaO2) and venules (SvO2). Using IVFA, the percentage of retinal ischemia in 31 patients with DR was calculated and correlated with RO. Results: Pairwise one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed a significant increase in SaO2 and SvO2 in patients with proliferative DR (PDR) compared with controls (SaO2: PDR, 100 ± 7% vs. controls, 91 ± 4% [P = 0.003]; SvO2: PDR, 66 ± 11% vs. controls, 53 ± 6% [P < 0.00001]). The percentage of retinal ischemia also increased with DR severity: ANOVA showed a significant difference in retinal ischemia between all categories of nonproliferative DR vs. PDR: 2.31 ± 2% vs. 7.92 ± 9% (P = 0.017), respectively. Pearson two-tailed correlation showed significant correlation between SaO2 and ischemia (R = 0.467, P = 0.011). Conclusions: Hemoglobin oxygen saturation of retinal arterioles and venules increases with DR severity; SaO2 correlates with increasing ischemia measured by IVFA. Retinal oximetry may complement current imaging strategies to noninvasively augment the diagnosis and risk stratification of patients with diabetes