Hanford Borehole Geologic Information System (HBGIS) Updated User’s Guide for Web-based Data Access and Export

The Hanford Borehole Geologic Information System (HBGIS) is a prototype web-based graphical user interface (GUI) for viewing and downloading borehole geologic data. The HBGIS is being developed as part of the Remediation Decision Support function of the Soil and Groundwater Remediation Project, managed by Fluor Hanford, Inc., Richland, Washington. Recent efforts have focused on improving the functionality of the HBGIS website in order to allow more efficient access and exportation of available data in HBGIS. Users will benefit from enhancements such as a dynamic browsing, user-driven forms, and multi-select options for selecting borehole geologic data for export. The need for translating borehole geologic data into electronic form within the HBGIS continues to increase, and efforts to populate the database continue at an increasing rate. These new web-based tools should help the end user quickly visualize what data are available in HBGIS, select from among these data, and download the borehole geologic data into a consistent and reproducible tabular form. This revised user’s guide supersedes the previous user’s guide (PNNL-15362) for viewing and downloading data from HBGIS. It contains an updated data dictionary for tables and fields containing borehole geologic data as well as instructions for viewing and downloading borehole geologic data

Guide to using Multiple Regression in Excel (MRCX v.1.1) for Removal of River Stage Effects from Well Water Levels

A software tool was created in Fiscal Year 2010 (FY11) that enables multiple-regression correction of well water levels for river-stage effects. This task was conducted as part of the Remediation Science and Technology project of CH2MHILL Plateau Remediation Company (CHPRC). This document contains an overview of the correction methodology and a user’s manual for Multiple Regression in Excel (MRCX) v.1.1. It also contains a step-by-step tutorial that shows users how to use MRCX to correct river effects in two different wells. This report is accompanied by an enclosed CD that contains the MRCX installer application and files used in the tutorial exercises

Water Intake in Growing Beef Cattle

Water is an essential part of livestock and human diets and is often thought of as an inexpensive, readily available renewable natural resource. However, the amount of competition between humans, wildlife, feed production, and livestock for high-quality water is increasing, not only from the effects of drought but from the pressure of a growing global population (Nardone et al., 2010). With limited resources available for production agriculture, there is a need to identify and select for efficient animals that can produce more product with fewer inputs. Although some work has been done in dairy cattle, very little data is available on individual animal water intake in modern beef cattle (Brew et al., 2011). The majority of the water intake data available in growing beef cattle is derived from dividing the total amount of water drunk in a pen divided by the number of animals in that pen (Sexson et al., 2010; Mader and Davis, 2004). Data derived from groups are not generally useful for the purposes of genetic evaluation, which aims to quantify individual animal variation in a trait for selection. However, in order to practice selection on a large scale, parameters for collecting phenotypic data must be established. The objectives of this study were to measure daily water intake on a large number of beef steers and to estimate the number of test days necessary to collect accurate water intake phenotypes

synaptojanin1 Is Required for Temporal Fidelity of Synaptic Transmission in Hair Cells

To faithfully encode mechanosensory information, auditory/vestibular hair cells utilize graded synaptic vesicle (SV) release at specialized ribbon synapses. The molecular basis of SV release and consequent recycling of membrane in hair cells has not been fully explored. Here, we report that comet, a gene identified in an ENU mutagenesis screen for zebrafish larvae with vestibular defects, encodes the lipid phosphatase Synaptojanin 1 (Synj1). Examination of mutant synj1 hair cells revealed basal blebbing near ribbons that was dependent on Cav1.3 calcium channel activity but not mechanotransduction. Synaptojanin has been previously implicated in SV recycling; therefore, we tested synaptic transmission at hair-cell synapses. Recordings of post-synaptic activity in synj1 mutants showed relatively normal spike rates when hair cells were mechanically stimulated for a short period of time at 20 Hz. In contrast, a sharp decline in the rate of firing occurred during prolonged stimulation at 20 Hz or stimulation at a higher frequency of 60 Hz. The decline in spike rate suggested that fewer vesicles were available for release. Consistent with this result, we observed that stimulated mutant hair cells had decreased numbers of tethered and reserve-pool vesicles in comparison to wild-type hair cells. Furthermore, stimulation at 60 Hz impaired phase locking of the postsynaptic activity to the mechanical stimulus. Following prolonged stimulation at 60 Hz, we also found that mutant synj1 hair cells displayed a striking delay in the recovery of spontaneous activity. Collectively, the data suggest that Synj1 is critical for retrieval of membrane in order to maintain the quantity, timing of fusion, and spontaneous release properties of SVs at hair-cell ribbon synapses

Guide to using Multiple Regression in Excel (MRCX v.1.1) for Removal of River Stage Effects from Well Water Levels

A software tool was created in Fiscal Year 2010 (FY11) that enables multiple-regression correction of well water levels for river-stage effects. This task was conducted as part of the Remediation Science and Technology project of CH2MHILL Plateau Remediation Company (CHPRC). This document contains an overview of the correction methodology and a user’s manual for Multiple Regression in Excel (MRCX) v.1.1. It also contains a step-by-step tutorial that shows users how to use MRCX to correct river effects in two different wells. This report is accompanied by an enclosed CD that contains the MRCX installer application and files used in the tutorial exercises

Guide to using Multiple Regression in Excel (MRCX v.1.1) for Removal of River Stage Effects from Well Water Levels

A software tool was created in Fiscal Year 2010 (FY11) that enables multiple-regression correction of well water levels for river-stage effects. This task was conducted as part of the Remediation Science and Technology project of CH2MHILL Plateau Remediation Company (CHPRC). This document contains an overview of the correction methodology and a user’s manual for Multiple Regression in Excel (MRCX) v.1.1. It also contains a step-by-step tutorial that shows users how to use MRCX to correct river effects in two different wells. This report is accompanied by an enclosed CD that contains the MRCX installer application and files used in the tutorial exercises