430 research outputs found
THE CONTRIBUTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL AMENITIES TO AGRICULTURAL LAND VALUES: HEDONIC MODELLING USING GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS DATA
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data are used in a hedonic model to measure the impact of recreational and scenic amenities on agricultural land values. Results indicate agricultural land values are determined by environmental amenities as well as production attributes. Significant amenity variables included scenic view, elk habitat and fishery productivity.Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use,
A Four-Stage Method for Developing Early Interventions for Alcohol Among Aboriginal Adolescents
This paper details a four-stage methodology for developing early alcohol interventions for at-risk Aboriginal youth. Stage 1 was an integrative approach to Aboriginal education that upholds Aboriginal traditional wisdom supporting respectful relationships to the Creator, to the land and to each other. Stage 2 used quantitative methods to investigate associations between personality risk factors and risky drinking motives. Stage 3 used qualitative interviews to further understand the contexts and circumstances surrounding drinking behaviour within a larger cultural context. Stage 3 involved tailoring personality- matched, motive-specific brief interventions to meet at-risk adolescentsâ needs. Stage 4 involved an efficacy test of the interventions. This novel methodology has significance for future program development to meet diverse social, cultural and health needs of at-risk adolescents
Southwest Indian Ridge lower crust and Moho: the nature of the lower crust and Moho at slower spreading ridges (SloMo-Leg 1)
International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 360 will form the first leg of a multiphase drilling project that aims to drill through the crust/mantle boundary at the ultraslow-spreading Southwest Indian Ridge and investigate the nature of the MohoroviÄiÄ seismic discontinuity (Moho). Expedition 360 is expected to drill ~1300 m into lower crustal gabbro and is unlikely to penetrate the crustâmantle transition or recover a significant amount of peridotite. Drilling will be sited at Atlantis Bank, on an elevated wave-cut platform on the east flank of the Atlantis II Transform. Previous drilling and mapping shows that Atlantis Bank is a large oceanic core complex, exposing a tectonic window of deep crustal and lithospheric mantle exhumed on the footwall of an oceanic detachment fault. The shallowest part of Atlantis Bank, at 700 m water depth, consists of a ~25 km2 wave-cut platform rimmed by a thin bioclastic limestone cap. The platform is part of a continuous gabbro massif ~40 km long by 30 km wide, overlying granular mantle peridotite that forms the lower slopes of the eastern wall of the Atlantis II Transform. Mapping shows that basement on the wave-cut platform consists largely of shallow-dipping amphibolitized gabbro mylonite generated by detachment faulting. This fault rooted near-continuously into partially crystalline gabbro for >4 million years. The mylonite exposed on the platform, and by cross-faulting and landslips on the sides of Atlantis Bank, both cut and are cut by steeply north dipping greenschist-facies diabase dikes. Thus, the gabbro crystallized at depth was uplifted into the zone of diking at the ridge axis, creating, in effect, the equivalent to the base of a dikeâgabbro transition seen in many ophiolites.
Previous Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) operations at Atlantis Bank drilled the 1508 m deep Hole 735B and 150 m deep Hole 1105A, both recovering long sections of gabbro. During Expedition 360, we propose to drill to a nominal depth of 1.3 km at a site on the northern edge of the Atlantis Bank platform, ~1 km north-northeast of Hole 1105A and ~2 km northeast of Hole 735B. A future drilling expedition, SloMo-Leg 2, aims to deepen the hole to ~3 km, with the overall goal of penetrating the crustâmantle transition, which is believed to be ~2.5 km above the seismically determined Moho. Specific objectives of Expedition 360 include establishing the lateral continuity of the igneous, metamorphic, and structural stratigraphies previously drilled to the southwest, testing the nature of a magnetic polarity transition, and investigating the biogeochemistry of the lower crust.Funding for the program is provided by the following international partners and implementing organizations:
National Science Foundation (NSF), United States
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan
European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling (ECORD)
Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Peopleâs Republic of China
Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM)
Australian Research Council (ARC) and GNS Science (New Zealand), Australian/New Zealand
Consortium (ANZIC)
Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), India
Coordination for Improvement of Higher Education Personnel, Brazi
PKS 1830-211: A Face-On Spiral Galaxy Lens
We present new Hubble Space Telescope images of the gravitational lens PKS
1830-211, which allow us to characterize the lens galaxy and update the
determination of the Hubble constant from this system. The I-band image shows
that the lens galaxy is a face-on spiral galaxy with clearly delineated spiral
arms. The southwestern image of the background quasar passes through one of the
spiral arms, explaining the previous detections of large quantities of
molecular gas and dust in front of this image. The lens galaxy photometry is
consistent with the Tully-Fisher relation, suggesting the lens galaxy is a
typical spiral galaxy for its redshift. The lens galaxy position, which was the
main source of uncertainty in previous attempts to determine H_0, is now known
precisely. Given the current time delay measurement and assuming the lens
galaxy has an isothermal mass distribution, we compute H_0 = 44 +/- 9 km/s/Mpc
for an Omega_m = 0.3 flat cosmological model. We describe some possible
systematic errors and how to reduce them. We also discuss the possibility
raised by Courbin et al. (2002), that what we have identified as a single lens
galaxy is actually a foreground star and two separate galaxies.Comment: 21 pp., 4 figs., accepted by ApJ, section added to discuss related
work by Courbin et al. (astro-ph/0202026
Outcome of Patients With Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy and a Normal Electrocardiogram
ObjectivesThis study sought to clarify the frequency, clinical phenotype, and prognosis of those patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) who present with a normal electrocardiogram (ECG).BackgroundHypertrophic cardiomyopathy is the most common cause of sudden death in young people. Screening advocates have recommended a 12-lead ECG for the early detection of HCM in athletes, yet the clinical outcomes of those presenting with a normal ECG remains to be fully delineated.MethodsBaseline characteristic and echocardiographic data were collected on all patients with HCM who initially presented to our institution with a diagnostic echocardiogram but a normal ECG. Follow-up was obtained and compared with the prognosis of HCM patients who presented with abnormal ECGs.ResultsWe compared 135 HCM patients with a normal ECG with 2,350 HCM patients with an abnormal ECG. The latter group was more likely to have worse symptoms, have higher gradients, and a greater degree of septal wall thickness than the patients with a normal ECG. Severe obstructive symptoms requiring surgical myectomy and implantation of an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator were more common in patients with abnormal ECGs. Cardiac survival was significantly better in the group with a normal ECG at presentationânone of these patients had a cardiac death at follow-up.ConclusionsAlmost 6% of patients presenting with demonstrable echocardiographic evidence of HCM had a normal ECG at the time of diagnosis. This subset of patients with normal ECG-HCM appears to exhibit a less severe phenotype with better cardiovascular outcomes
Exploring Spatial Patterns of Virginia Tornadoes Using Kernel Density and Space-Time Cube Analysis (1960-2019)
This study evaluates the spatial-temporal patterns in Virginia tornadoes using the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Centerâs Severe Weather GIS (SVRGIS) database. In addition to descriptive statistics, the analysis employs Kernel Density Estimation for spatial pattern analysis and space-time cubes to visualize the spatiotemporal frequency of tornadoes and potential trends. Most of the 726 tornadoes between 1960â2019 occurred in Eastern Virginia, along the Piedmont and Coastal Plain. Consistent with other literature, both the number of tornadoes and the tornado days have increased in Virginia. While 80% of the tornadoes occurred during the warm season, tornadoes did occur during each month including two deadly tornadoes in January and February. Over the 60-year period, a total of 28 people were killed in the Commonwealth. Most tornado activity took place in the afternoon and early evening hours drawing attention to the temporal variability of risk and vulnerability. Spatial analysis results identify significant, non-random clusters of tornado activity and increasing temporal frequency. While this study improves weather-related literacy and addresses a need in the Commonwealth, more research is necessary to further evaluate the synoptic and mesoscale mechanisms of Virginia tornadoes
The host galaxies of luminous quasars
We present results of a deep HST/WFPC2 imaging study of 17 quasars at z~0.4,
designed to determine the properties of their host galaxies. The sample
consists of quasars with absolute magnitudes in the range -24>M_V>-28, allowing
us to investigate host galaxy properties across a decade in quasar luminosity,
but at a single redshift. We find that the hosts of all the RLQs, and all the
RQQs with nuclear luminosities M_V<-24, are massive bulge-dominated galaxies,
confirming and extending the trends deduced from our previous studies. From the
best-fitting model host galaxies we have estimated spheroid and black-hole
masses, and the efficiency (with respect to Eddington luminosity) with which
each quasar is radiating. The largest inferred black-hole mass in our sample is
\~3.10^9 M_sun, comparable to those at the centres of M87 and Cygnus A. We find
no evidence for super-Eddington accretion in even the most luminous objects. We
investigate the role of scatter in the black-hole:spheroid mass relation in
determining the ratio of quasar to host-galaxy luminosity, by generating
simulated populations of quasars lying in hosts with a Schechter mass function.
Within the subsample of the highest luminosity quasars, the observed variation
in nuclear-host luminosity ratio is consistent with being the result of the
scatter in the black-hole:spheroid relation. Quasars with high nuclear-host
ratios can be explained by sub-Eddington accretion onto black holes in the
high-mass tail of the black-hole:spheroid relation. Our results imply that,
owing to the Schechter cutoff, host mass should not continue to increase
linearly with quasar luminosity, at the very highest luminosities. Any quasars
more luminous than M_V=-27 should be found in massive elliptical hosts which at
the present day would have M_V ~ -24.5.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 18 pages; 7 figures and 17
greyscale images are reproduced here at low quality due to space limitations.
High-resolution figures are available from
ftp://ftp.roe.ac.uk/pub/djef/preprints/floyd2004
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Cavitation in soft matter
Cavitation is the sudden, unstable expansion of a void or bubble within a liquid or solid subjected to a negative hydrostatic stress. Cavitation rheology is a field emerging from the development of a suite of materials characterization, damage quantification, and therapeutic techniques that exploit the physical principles of cavitation. Cavitation rheology is inherently complex and broad in scope with wide-ranging applications in the biology, chemistry, materials, and mechanics communities. This perspective aims to drive collaboration among these communities and guide discussion by defining a common core of high-priority goals while highlighting emerging opportunities in the field of cavitation rheology. A brief overview of the mechanics and dynamics of cavitation in soft matter is presented. This overview is followed by a discussion of the overarching goals of cavitation rheology and an overview of common experimental techniques. The larger unmet needs and challenges of cavitation in soft matter are then presented alongside specific opportunities for researchers from different disciplines to contribute to the field
Pseudomonas aeruginosa arylsulfatase: a purified enzyme for the mild hydrolysis of steroid sulfates
The hydrolysis of sulfate ester conjugates is frequently required prior to analysis for a range of analytical techniques including gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Sulfate hydrolysis may be achieved with commercial crude arylsulfatase enzyme preparations such as that derived from Helix pomatia but these contain additional enzyme activities such as glucuronidase, oxidase, and reductase that make them unsuitable for many analytical applications. Strong acid can also be used to hydrolyze sulfate esters but this can lead to analyte degradation or increased matrix interference. In this work, the heterologously expressed and purified arylsulfatase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa is shown to promote the mild enzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis of a range of steroid sulfates. The substrate scope of this P. aeruginosa arylsulfatase hydrolysis is compared with commercial crude enzyme preparations such as that derived from H. pomatia. A detailed kinetic comparison is reported for selected examples. Hydrolysis in a urine matrix is demonstrated for dehydroepiandrosterone 3-sulfate and epiandrosterone 3-sulfate. The purified P. aeruginosa arylsulfatase contains only sulfatase activity allowing for the selective hydrolysis of sulfate esters in the presence of glucuronide conjugates as demonstrated in the short three-step chemoenzymatic synthesis of 5α-androstane-3ÎČ,17ÎČ-diol 17-glucuronide (ADG, 1) from epiandrosterone 3-sulfate. The P. aeruginosa arylsulfatase is readily expressed and purified (0.9âg per L of culture) and thus provides a new and selective method for the hydrolysis of steroid sulfate esters in analytical sample preparation.We thank the Australian Government Anti-Doping Research Pro-gram for financial support
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