Simulating a lake as a high-conductivity variably saturated porous medium

One approach for simulating ground water-lake interactions is to incorporate the lake into the ground water solution domain as a high-conductivity region. Previous studies have developed this approach using fully saturated models. This study extends this approach to variably saturated models, so that ground water-lake interactions may be more easily simulated with commonly used or public domain variably saturated codes that do not explicitly support coupled lake-water balance modeling. General guidelines are developed for the choices of saturated hydraulic conductivity and moisture retention and relative permeability curves for the lake region. When applied to an example ground water-lake system, model results are very similar to those from a model in which the lake is represented as a specified head boundary continuously updated by a lake mass balance. The high-conductivity region approach is most suitable for relatively simple geometries and lakes with slower and smaller fluctuations when the overall flow pattern and system fluxes, rather than the detailed flow pattern around the intersection of the lake and land surfaces, are of interest. © 2008 The Author(s).link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Influence of temporal fluctuations and spatial heterogeneity on pollution transport in porous media

The combined influence of temporal fluctuations and spatial heterogeneity on non-reactive solute transport mechanisms in porous media can be understood by performing simulations of steady and unsteady flow and transport in heterogeneous media. The study focuses on issues such as the degree of heterogeneity, correlation length, separation of the combined effects of temporal and spatial variations, and ergodicity conditions under unsteady flow conditions. It is shown that the effect of temporal variations on solute transport is masked by the strong effect of spatial heterogeneity. There is no obvious difference in plume shape between steady and unsteady flow conditions; the first and the second spatial moments of the plume of the unsteadystate flow condition fluctuate around the steady-state flow condition with the same period of oscillations as the input signal at small storage coefficient (S?0.001). At a relatively high standard deviation in hydraulic conductivity and a small storage coefficient, the unsteady flow condition sharpens the temporal variations in macrodispersion coefficients. The magnitude of the longitudinal macrodispersion coefficient under unsteady flow condition is almost doubled at the maximum values. However, the transverse macrodispersion coefficient fluctuates around zero. The Kubo number and Peclet number ranges are 1.2–64 and 10–250, respectively.Geoscience & EngineeringCivil Engineering and Geoscience

AKT1 Moderation of Cannabis-Induced Cognitive Alterations in Psychotic Disorder

Genetic variation in AKT1 may be associated with sensitivity to the psychotomimetic effects of cannabis as well as with increased risk for psychotic disorder following cannabis use. Investigation of the effect of this interaction on relevant intermediate phenotypes for psychosis, such as cognition, may help to clarify the underlying mechanism. Thus, verbal memory (visually presented Word Learning Task), sustained attention (Continuous Performance Test, CPT), AKT1 rs2494732 genotype, and cannabis use were examined in a large cohort of patients with psychotic disorder. No evidence was found for AKT1 x cannabis interaction on verbal memory. Cannabis use preceding onset of psychotic disorder did interact significantly with AKT1 rs2494732 genotype to affect CPT reaction time (beta=8.0, SE 3.9, p=0.037) and CPT accuracy (beta=-1.2, SE 0.4, p=0.003). Cannabis-using patients with the a priori vulnerability C/C genotype were slower and less accurate on the CPT, whereas cannabis-using patients with the T/T genotype had similar or better performance than non-using patients with psychotic disorder. The interaction was also apparent in patients with psychotic disorder who had not used cannabis in the 12 months preceding assessment, but was absent in the unaffected siblings of these patients and in healthy controls. In conclusion, cannabis use before onset of psychosis may have long-lasting effects on measures of sustained attention, even in the absence of current use, contingent on AKT1 rs2494732 genotype. The results suggest that long-term changes in cognition may mediate the risk-increasing effect of the AKT1 x cannabis interaction on psychotic disorder.Neuropsychopharmacology advance online publication, 20 July 2011; doi:10.1038/npp.2011.141