Exploration of Ion Species in Agricultural Subsurface Drainage Waters

Assessing the effectiveness of management strategies to reduce agricultural nutrient efflux is hampered by the lack of affordable, continuous in-situ monitoring systems. Generalized water quality monitoring is possible using electrical conductivity. However environmental conditions can influence the ionic ratios, resulting in misinterpretations of established electrical conductivity and ionic composition relationships. Here we characterize the specific electrical conductivity of agricultural drainage waters to define these environmental conditions and dissolved constituents that contribute to electrical conductivity. Results from a field investigation revealed that bicarbonate, calcium, nitrate, magnesium, chloride, sodium, and sulfate (in order of decreasing ppm concentration) are primary dissolved constituents that contribute to the electrical conductivity of agricultural drainage waters. Analysis of seasonal drainage samples showed that bicarbonate, calcium, and magnesium were present at greater concentrations during the post growing season, while nitrate and chloride were greatest in the growing season. Seasonal variability of sulfate and sodium was negligible. Continuous corn and corn in annual rotation with soybeans had greater magnesium and chloride concentrations than that of soybeans in annual rotation with corn. Conversely, calcium was greater among soybean cropping systems compared to that of corn cropping systems. Bicarbonate and nitrate were not significantly different among any of the cropping systems. These changes in the ionic composition resulted in significantly different ionic ratios among the growing and post growing season samples, but not among cropping systems

Cluster Stack Basics

Brett Zimmerman, University of Oklahoma Senior Systems Analyst, OU Supercomputing Center for Education and Research (OSCER)Linux Cluster Institute (LCI) Workshop May 18-22, 2015 University of Oklahoma, Thurman J. White Forum Building (OU Forum) 1704 Asp Avenue Norman, Oklahoma 73072 This workshop was focused toward Linux system administrators who were new to HPC.University of Oklahoma OU Supercomputing Center for Education and Research (OSCER) Linux Cluster InstituteN

Benchmarking and tuning

Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Research & Education Facilitators Virtual Residency 2015 hosted at the University of Oklahoma (OU) and available live via videoconferencing Sunday May 31 - Saturday June 6 2015 for Computational & Data-enabled Science & Engineering Track: Lecture: Benchmarking and Tuning by Brett ZimmermanPresented at the Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Research & Education Facilitators Virtual Residency 2015, June 2, 2015.ACI-REF Workshop The University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma Supercomputing Center for Education & Research (OSCER)N

"Because if we talk about health issues first, it is easier to talk about human trafficking"; findings from a mixed methods study on health needs and service provision among migrant and trafficked fishermen in the Mekong.

BACKGROUND: Human trafficking in the fishing industry or "sea slavery" in the Greater Mekong Subregion is reported to involve some of the most extreme forms of exploitation and abuse. A largely unregulated sector, commercial fishing boats operate in international waters far from shore and outside of national jurisdiction, where workers are commonly subjected to life-threatening risks. Yet, research on the health needs of trafficked fishermen is sparse. This paper describes abuses, occupational hazards, physical and mental health and post-trafficking well-being among a systematic consecutive sample of 275 trafficked fishermen using post-trafficking services in Thailand and Cambodia. These findings are complemented by qualitative interview data collected with 20 key informants working with fishermen or on issues related to their welfare in Thailand. RESULTS: Men and boys trafficked for fishing (aged 12-55) were mainly from Cambodia (n = 217) and Myanmar (n = 55). Common physical health problems included dizzy spells (30.2%), exhaustion (29.5%), headaches (28.4%) and memory problems (24.0%). Nearly one-third (29.1%) reported pain in three or more areas of their body and one-quarter (26.9%) reported being in "poor" health. Physical health symptoms were strongly associated with: severe violence; injuries; engagement in long-haul fishing; immigration detention or symptoms of mental health disorders. Survivors were exposed to multiple work hazards and were perceived as disposable when disabled by illness or injuries. Employers struggled to apply internationally recommended Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) practices in Thailand. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) encountered challenges when trying to obtain healthcare for uninsured fishermen. Challenges included fee payment, service provision in native languages and officials siding with employers in disputes over treatment costs and accident compensation. Survivors' post-trafficking concerns included: money problems (75.9%); guilt and shame (33.5%); physical health (33.5%) and mental health (15.3%). CONCLUSION: Fishermen in this region are exposed to very serious risks to their health and safety, and their illnesses and injuries often go untreated. Men who enter the fishing industry in Thailand, especially migrant workers, require safe working conditions and targeted protections from human trafficking. Survivors of the crime of sea slavery must be provided with the compensation they deserve and the care they need, especially psychological support

The Oklahoma PetaStore: A Business Model for Big Data on a Small Budget

1. INTRODUCTION In the era of Big Data, and especially as research data management requirements are tightening, research productivity in many disciplines can be highly sensitive to the availability of large scale, long term storage sufficient to contain the many and varied datasets produced and/or consumed by research teams. At the University of Oklahoma (OU), the OU Supercomputing Center for Education & Research (OSCER), a division of OU Information Technology (IT), has been providing large scale archival storage to a growing population of researchers. This has been accomplished via a resource named the Oklahoma PetaStore, funded by a National Science Foundation (NSF) Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) grant (see Acknowledgements) and consisting of disk and tape hardware, software and media. By adopting an unusual business model, OSCER has made very large scale, long term storage available to researchers, at pricing substantially lower than could be accomplished on their own, and with management provided by IT professionals rather than by research team members (for example, graduate students).ABSTRACT In the era of Big Data, research productivity can be highly sensitive to the availability of large scale, long term archival storage. Unfortunately, many mass storage systems are prohibitively expensive at scales appropriate for individual institutions rather than for national centers. Furthermore, a key issue is the set of circumstances under which researchers can, and are willing to, adopt a centralized technology that, in a pure cost recovery model, might be, or might appear to be, more expensive than what the research teams could build on their own. This paper examines a business model that addresses these concerns in a comprehensive manner, distributing the costs among a funding agency, the institution and the research teams, thereby reducing the challenges faced by each. Categories and Subject Descriptors B.3.2 [Design Styles]: Mass storage General Terms Design, Economics, Reliability Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]. XSEDE '14, July 13 - 18 2014, Atlanta, GA, USA Copyright is held by the owner/author(s). Publication rights licensed to ACM. ACM 978-1-4503-2893-7/14/07…$15.00. http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2616498.2616548 Keywords Archival storage, mass store, business modelN

Defining a spinal microcircuit that gates myelinated afferent input: implications for tactile allodynia

Chronic pain presents a major unmet clinical problem. The development of more effective treatments is hindered by our limited understanding of the neuronal circuits underlying sensory perception. Here, we show that parvalbumin (PV)-expressing dorsal horn interneurons modulate the passage of sensory information conveyed by low-threshold mechanoreceptors (LTMRs) directly via presynaptic inhibition and also gate the polysynaptic relay of LTMR input to pain circuits by inhibiting lamina II excitatory interneurons whose axons project into lamina I. We show changes in the functional properties of these PV interneurons following peripheral nerve injury and that silencing these cells unmasks a circuit that allows innocuous touch inputs to activate pain circuits by increasing network activity in laminae I–IV. Such changes are likely to result in the development of tactile allodynia and could be targeted for more effective treatment of mechanical pain

Health of men, women, and children in post-traffi cking services in Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam: an observational cross-sectional study

Background Traffi cking is a crime of global proportions involving extreme forms of exploitation and abuse. Yet little research has been done of the health risks and morbidity patterns for men, women, and children traffi cked for various forms of forced labour. Methods We carried out face-to-face interviews with a consecutive sample of individuals entering 15 post-traffi cking services in Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam. We asked participants about living and working conditions, experience of violence, and health outcomes. We measured symptoms of anxiety and depression with the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist and post-traumatic stress disorder with the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire, and used adjusted logistic regression models to estimate the eff ect of traffi cking on these mental health outcomes, controlling for age, sector of exploitation, and time in traffi cking. Findings We interviewed 1102 people, of whom 1015 reached work destinations. Participants worked in various sectors including sex work (329 [32%]), fi shing (275 [27%]), and factories (136 [13%]). 481 (48%) of 1015 experienced physical violence, sexual violence, or both, with 198 (35%) of 566 women and girls reporting sexual violence. 478 (47%) of 1015 participants were threatened and 198 (20%) were locked in a room. 685 (70%) of 985 who had data available worked 7 days per week and 296 (30%) of 989 worked at least 11 hours per day. 222 (22%) of 983 had a serious injury at work. 61·2% (95% CI 58·2–64·2) of participants reported symptom of depression, 42·8% (39·8–45·9) reported symptoms of anxiety, and 38·9% (36·0–42·0) reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. 5·2% (4·0–6·8) had attempted suicide in the past month. Participants who experienced extremely excessive overtime at work, restricted freedom, bad living conditions, threats, or severe violence were more likely to report symptoms of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Interpretation This is the fi rst health study of a large and diverse sample of men, women, and child survivors of traffi cking for various forms of exploitation. Violence and unsafe working conditions were common and psychological morbidity was associated with severity of abuse. Survivors of traffi cking need access to health care, especially mental health care