Effect of Land Application of Poultry Waste on Pesticide Loss

The poultry industry in Arkansas is a large, concentrated, growing industry that produces a high volume of fecal waste. Most of this waste is surface applied as pasture fertilizer. Pesticides are commonly used in the poultry industry for fly and litter beetle contro land are often a component of the surface-applied poultry waste. No information exists in the scientific literature regarding the transport of this pesticide component to nearby water supplies.Our research focused on cyromazine, a feed-through larvicide used to control flies in caged-layer hen houses. Tetrachlorvinphos and carbaryl are also used in poultry waste, but these pesticides have a relatively low solubility in water and rapid decomposition rate. Cyromazine, however, is highly soluble and stable in water. Since it may be readily washed from the pasture by heavy rainfall and may persist in surface and soil water, cyromazine appears to be potentially a much greater long-term threat to water quality than either carbaryl or tetrachlorvinphos. Therefore, the objective of this investigation was to examine the extent of cyromazine loss as a result of land application of caged layer manure. To quantify cyromazine loss from pasture plots treated with caged layer manure,research was conducted at the University of Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station at Fayetteville. Plots of uniform slope were bordered to isolate surface runoff, fitted with runoff collectors, and established in fescue pasture. Suction lysimeters were placed at the 60 cm depth to sample soil water in the unsaturated zone. Caged layer manure was analyzed for cyromazine concentration and applied to the plots at three different rates. Rainfall was applied by simulator at two intensities. Surface runoff and lysimeter samples were measured and analyzed for cyromazine concentration. A solid phase extraction procedure was used to separate the cyromazine from the water samples and analysis was done by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results showed that a heavier manure application increased both the runoff and cyromazine concentration. Higher rainfall intensity also increased total cyromazine loss in the runoff, but provided enough runoff volume to decrease the cyromazine concentration. Soil water from the unsaturated zone was monitored for a year following the manure application, but neither cyromazine nor its metabolite, melamine, were detected

The impact of resolution on the adjustment and decadal variability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation in a coupled climate model

Variations in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) exert an important influence on climate, particularly on decadal time scales. Simulation of the MOC in coupled climate models is compromised, to a degree that is unknown, by their lack of fidelity in resolving some of the key processes involved. There is an overarching need to increase the resolution and fidelity of climate models, but also to assess how increases in resolution influence the simulation of key phenomena such as the MOC. In this study we investigate the impact of significantly increasing the (ocean and atmosphere) resolution of a coupled climate model on the simulation of MOC variability by comparing high and low resolution versions of the same model. In both versions, decadal variability of the MOC is closely linked to density anomalies that propagate from the Labrador Sea southward along the deep western boundary. We demonstrate that the MOC adjustment proceeds more rapidly in the higher resolution model due the increased speed of western boundary waves. However, the response of the Atlantic Sea Surface Temperatures (SSTs) to MOC variations is relatively robust - in pattern if not in magnitude - across the two resolutions. The MOC also excites a coupled ocean-atmosphere response in the tropical Atlantic in both model versions. In the higher resolution model, but not the lower resolution model, there is evidence of a significant response in the extratropical atmosphere over the North Atlantic 6 years after a maximum in the MOC. In both models there is evidence of a weak negative feedback on deep density anomalies in the Labrador Sea, and hence on the MOC (with a time scale of approximately ten years). Our results highlight the need for further work to understand the decadal variability of the MOC and its simulation in climate models

Assessment of Effectiveness of Buffer Zones in Removing Impurities in Runoff from Areas Treated with Poultry Litter. Part II: Source Areas to Buffer Areas Ratio Effects

Vegetative filter strips (VFS) are known to reduce runoff losses of nutrients. solids. and other materials from land areas treated with fertilizers . Although VFS effectiveness is known to depend partially on the relative lengths of filter and pollutant source areas. there is little experimental evidence available to quantify this dependence. This is particularly the case when VFS are implemented down-slope of pasture areas treated with animal manures such as poultry litter. This study assessed the influences of pollutant source area (treated with poultry litter) and VFS lengths on VFS removal of total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN). ammonia nitrogen (NH3 -N ). nitrate nitrogen (N03-N). ortho-phosphorus (P04-P). total phosphorus (TP). total organic carbon (TOC). total suspended solids (TSS). and fecal coliform (FC) fromincoming runoff for a silt loam soil with fescue cover. Litter-treated lengths of 6.1. 12.2. and 18.3 m with corresponding VFS lengths of up to 18.3 m. 12.2 m. and 6.1 m. respectively, were examined. Runoff was produced from simulated rainfall applied at 50 mm/h for 1 h of runoff. Concentrations of the parameters analyzed were unaffected by litter treated length but demonstrated a first-order decrease with increasing VFS length except in the cases of TSS and FC. Mass transport of TKN. NH3-N. P04-P. and TP increased with increasing litter-treated length (due to increased runoff) and decreased (approximately first-order) with increasing VFS length. Effectiveness of the VFS in terms of TKN. NH3-N. P04 -P. and TP removal from runoff ranged from 6.5 to 96.3% depending on the particular parameter. litter-treated length. and VFS length. The data collected during this study can be helpful in developing and testing simulation models of VFS performance and can thus aid in design of VFS for pasture areas treated with poultry litter

Smoothed particle magnetohydrodynamic simulations of protostellar outflows with misaligned magnetic field and rotation axes

We have developed a modified form of the equations of smoothed particle magnetohydrodynamics which are stable in the presence of very steep density gradients. Using this formalism, we have performed simulations of the collapse of magnetised molecular cloud cores to form protostars and drive outflows. Our stable formalism allows for smaller sink particles (< 5 AU) than used previously and the investigation of the effect of varying the angle, {\theta}, between the initial field axis and the rotation axis. The nature of the outflows depends strongly on this angle: jet-like outflows are not produced at all when {\theta} > 30{\deg}, and a collimated outflow is not sustained when {\theta} > 10{\deg}. No substantial outflows of any kind are produced when {\theta} > 60{\deg}. This may place constraints on the geometry of the magnetic field in molecular clouds where bipolar outflows are seen.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 13 pages, 14 figures. Animations can be found at http://www.astro.ex.ac.uk/people/blewis/research/outflows_misaligned_fields.htm

Behind at the Starting Line: Poverty Among Hispanic Infants

In this brief, authors Daniel Lichter, Scott Sanders, and Kenneth Johnson examine the economic circumstances of Hispanic infants using the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey annual microdata files from 2006 through 2010. They report that a disproportionate share of Hispanic infants start life’s race behind the starting line, poor and disadvantaged—an important finding because the proportion of all U.S. births that are Hispanic is growing rapidly. The poverty risk is especially high among rural Hispanic infants and those in new destinations. Despite higher poverty risks, Hispanic infants receive less governmental assistance. High Hispanic infant poverty has immediate and long-term consequences for infants and the nation. Failing to invest in families and children now has long-term consequences because early childhood poverty tends to set into motion a series of lifecycle disadvantages (such as insufficient parenting, bad neighborhoods, underfunded schools, and poor health care) that greatly increases the likelihood of poverty in adulthood. The authors conclude that whether today’s Hispanic children will assimilate into America’s economic mainstream is an open question, but the Hispanic infants who will help reshape America’s future require public policy attention now

Altering temperature in a mammalian body

The present application relates to systems and methods for altering temperature in a mammalian body. Optionally, the systems and methods can be used to lower or raise core body temperature of a mammalian subject. Optionally, the systems and methods can be used to lower or raise the temperature of glabrous skin of a mammalian subject.Board of Regents, University of Texas Syste

Spin-independent v-representability of Wigner crystal oscillations in one-dimensional Hubbard chains: The role of spin-charge separation

Electrons in one-dimension display the unusual property of separating their spin and charge into two independent entities: The first, which derive from uncharged spin-1/2 electrons, can travel at different velocities when compared with the second, built from charged spinless electrons. Predicted theoretically in the early sixties, the spin-charge separation has attracted renewed attention since the first evidences of experimental observation, with usual mentions as a possible explanation for high-temperature superconductivity. In one-dimensional (1D) model systems, the spin-charge separation leads the frequencies of Friedel oscillations to suffer a 2k_F -- 4k_F crossover, mainly when dealing with strong correlations, where they are referred to as Wigner crystal oscillations. In non-magnetized systems, the current density functionals which are applied to the 1D Hubbard model are not seen to reproduce this crossover, referring to a more fundamental question: Are the Wigner crystal oscillations in 1D systems non-interacting v-representable? Or, is there a spin-independent Kohn-Sham potential which is able to yield spin-charge separation? Finding an appropriate answer to both questions is our main task here. By means of exact and DMRG solutions, as well as, a new approach of exchange-correlation potential, we show the answer to be positive. Specifically, the v-representable 4k_F oscillations emerge from attractive interactions mediated by positively charged spinless holes -- the holons -- as an additional contribution to the repulsive on-site Hubbard interaction