Virus-like particle distribution and abundance in sediments and overlying waters along eutrophication gradients in two subtropical estuaries

Viruses are recognized as ubiquitous components of marine ecosystems; however, there has been limited study of viral abundance and its ecological role in sediments. Viral abundance was determined in both the water column and sediments of a eutrophic (Brisbane River/Moreton Bay; 27°25′S, 153°5′E) and oligotrophic (Noosa River; 26°15′S, 153°0′E) estuary in subtropical Queensland, Australia. Viruses, bacteria, and microalgae from both water column and extracted sediment samples were enumerated using SYBR Green I staining and epifluorescence microscopy. Sediment viral abundance ranged from 10 to 10 particles cm of sediment, bacterial abundance ranged from 10 to 10 cells cm of sediment, and microalgal abundance ranged from 10 to 10 cells cm sediment. Pelagic abundances for all microorganisms were 10-1,000-fold lower than sediment abundances. Correlations between viral abundances and suspended solids suggest that viruses sorbed to suspended material in the water column may settle out and contribute to the benthic viral population. Virus production was measured by a time course increase of viral abundance in seawater using a dilution technique. Virus production was highest in eutrophic waters of the Brisbane River, and addition of inorganic nutrients (NO + NH + PO + SiO) stimulated viral production rates at all stations by 14-52% above ambient, suggesting that inorganic nutrient availability may play a key role in aquatic viral abundance

Entanglement sharing among qudits

Consider a system consisting of n d-dimensional quantum particles (qudits), and suppose that we want to optimize the entanglement between each pair. One can ask the following basic question regarding the sharing of entanglement: what is the largest possible value Emax(n,d) of the minimum entanglement between any two particles in the system? (Here we take the entanglement of formation as our measure of entanglement.) For n=3 and d=2, that is, for a system of three qubits, the answer is known: Emax(3,2) = 0.550. In this paper we consider first a system of d qudits and show that Emax(d,d) is greater than or equal to 1. We then consider a system of three particles, with three different values of d. Our results for the three-particle case suggest that as the dimension d increases, the particles can share a greater fraction of their entanglement capacity.Comment: 4 pages; v2 contains a new result for 3 qudits with d=

Long-term Annual Aerial Surveys of Submersed Aquatic Vegetation (SAV) Support Science, Management, and Restoration

Aerial surveys of coastal habitats can uniquely inform the science and management of shallow, coastal zones, and when repeated annually, they reveal changes that are otherwise difficult to assess from ground-based surveys. This paper reviews the utility of a long-term (1984–present) annual aerial monitoring program for submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV) in Chesapeake Bay, its tidal tributaries, and nearby Atlantic coastal bays, USA. We present a series of applications that highlight the program’s importance in assessing anthropogenic impacts, gauging water quality status and trends, establishing and evaluating restoration goals, and understanding the impact of commercial fishing practices on benthic habitats. These examples demonstrate how periodically quantifying coverage of this important foundational habitat answers basic research questions locally, as well as globally, and provides essential information to resource managers. New technologies are enabling more frequent and accurate aerial surveys at greater spatial resolution and lower cost. These advances will support efforts to extend the applications described here to similar issues in other areas

Parallel transport in an entangled ring

This paper defines a notion of parallel transport in a lattice of quantum particles, such that the transformation associated with each link of the lattice is determined by the quantum state of the two particles joined by that link. We focus particularly on a one-dimensional lattice--a ring--of entangled rebits, which are binary quantum objects confined to a real state space. We consider states of the ring that maximize the correlation between nearest neighbors, and show that some correlation must be sacrificed in order to have non-trivial parallel transport around the ring. An analogy is made with lattice gauge theory, in which non-trivial parallel transport around closed loops is associated with a reduction in the probability of the field configuration. We discuss the possibility of extending our result to qubits and to higher dimensional lattices.Comment: 31 pages, no figures; v2 includes a new example of a qubit rin

Improving management of a mid-Atlantic coastal barrier island through assessment of habitat condition

AbstractTo achieve desired environmental outcomes, environmental condition and trends need to be rigorously measured and communicated to resource managers, scientists, and a broader general audience. However, there is often a disconnect between responsive ecosystem monitoring and decision making for strategic long-term management. This project demonstrates how historical monitoring data can be synthesized and used for future planning and decision making, thereby closing the management feedback cycle. This study linked disparate datasets, collected for a variety of purposes and across multiple temporal and spatial scales, in order to assess and quantify current habitat conditions. The results inform integrated resource management decision-making at Assateague Island National Seashore (Maryland and Virginia, USA) by using ecological reference conditions to identify monitoring needs, areas of high vulnerability, and areas with potential for improved management. The approach also provides a framework that can be applied in the future to assess the effectiveness of these management decisions on the condition of island habitats, and is a replicable demonstration of incorporating diverse monitoring datasets into an adaptive management cycle

Assessing variation in utilization for acute myocardial infarction in New York State

a b s t r a c t Background: Wide variations exist in healthcare expenditures, though most prior studies have assessed aggregate utilization. We sought to examine healthcare utilization variation in New York State by assessing hospitals in peer groups of similar capabilities. Methods: Using charge data in New York State from the 2008 Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS) and cost-to-charge ratios at the cost-center level drawn from Institutional Cost Reports, we calculated total, routine, and ancillary costs for patients discharged with an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) diagnosis in 2008. We assessed the correlation of these cost data to Hospital Referral Region (HRR) Medicare reimbursement data from the 2007 Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care. After describing hospital level cost variability, we examined characteristics associated with higher costs within peer groups of similar cardiac care capabilities. Results: We found greater costs in hospitals providing the highest level of cardiovascular services, with cardiac surgery capable hospitals and non-invasive hospitals having total costs of $21,166 and$9268 per AMI discharge, and ancillary costs of $12,006 and$4167 per AMI discharge, respectively. Substantial variability in utilization existed in all levels of hospitals and across individual departmental cost centers. The two factors most frequently associated with higher total and ancillary costs across peer groups were patient case mix index and major or minor teaching status. Conclusions: Significant variation in cost per AMI discharge exists even within peer groups of hospitals with similar cardiac care capabilities. Implications: These findings support measurement and analysis at the hospital level to further understand the reasons for variation in utilization

Pyrochemical Glovebox Line Replacement and Modernization Effort at Los Alamos National Laboratory Plutonium Facility.

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), as part of the stockpile stewardship mission, is developing the capability to manufacture replacement pits for the United States nuclear weapon stockpile. Part of this effort requires that the various manufacturing activities formerly performed at the Rocky Flats be reconstructed at LANL, modernized to improve operation, and re-certified for pit production. Part of this effort requires that new pyrochemical metal production facilities be installed in TA-55 to replace existing outdated equipment. The purpose of this effort is design, build/procure, assemble, cold test, and support installation activities for ten pyrochemical processing gloveboxes and processing support equipment for insertion into a selected PF-4 laboratory. Eight of the gloveboxes will be connected to a common trolley tunnel with a state-of-the-art automated transport system that can access each glovebox. Five of those gloveboxes will be designed to accommodate standard water-cooled pyrochemical processing furnaces with appropriate lift mechanisms for handling the furnace products and processing hardware. Another glovebox will be designed to accommodate an improved breaking press that will be designed/procured to break alpha metal up to a thickness of l-inch, eliminate introduction of hydraulic oil to the glovebox environment, provide appropriate shielding for prevention of glovebox damage due to shrapnel projectiles, and use interchangeable impact tools in order to be able to process both contaminated and clean metals with the same machine. In addition, a storage glovebox and a distillation glovebox (already developed) will be attached to the transport system. Two other gloveboxes, one accommodating two casting furnaces and another storage glovebox, will be installed in the laboratory independent of the transport system. A transfer system (trolley) will be incorporated to handle material flow between the pyrochemical furnace gloveboxes, the press glovebox, the storage glovebox, and the distillation glovebox. The trolley will be very simple to operate, able to accommodate at least 50 pounds, require minimal maintenance, and be able to be requested and operated fiom any of the glovebox locations on the line. The transfer system will be capable of discharging its load in some manner through the open door to the entrance of each of the gloveboxes on the line. This may be an automatic function with manual selection for unusual loads or a completely manual operation. An existing commercial or otherwise proven system will be used if possible to minimize the design and test time needed for the system. Two commercial systems examined so far are the Montrac monorail type system available from Montech Incorporated and the Linear Synchronous Motor system available from MagneMotion Inc. Work to be completed during FY02 includes glovebox design, transport system industry research, demonstration of selected commercial transport systems, transport system conceptual design, metal breaking press conceptual design, and glovebox furnace lift mechanism design. Glovebox fabrication/procurement, material transport system procurement, press procurement, lift mechanism procurement, system assembly and staging, system testing, assistance in installing the system into TA-55, assistance with NMT configuration management approvals, and shakeout testing of the system is scheduled for FY03 and FY04. The goal is to have a fully functioning and modernized pyrochemical processing line in PF-4 ready for processing sometime in the first or second quarter of FY04

Long-term Annual Aerial Surveys of Submersed Aquatic Vegetation (SAV) Support Science, Management, and Restoration

Aerial surveys of coastal habitats can uniquely inform the science and management of shallow, coastal zones, and when repeated annually,theyrevealchangesthatareotherwisedifficulttoassess fromground-basedsurveys.Thispaperreviewstheutilityofalongterm(1984–present)annualaerialmonitoringprogramforsubmersedaquaticvegetation(SAV)inChesapeakeBay,itstidaltributaries, and nearby Atlantic coastal bays, USA. We present a series of applications that highlight the program’s importance in assessing anthropogenic impacts, gauging water quality status and trends, establishing and evaluating restoration goals, and understanding the impactofcommercialfishingpracticesonbenthichabitats.Theseexamplesdemonstratehowperiodicallyquantifyingcoverageofthis important foundational habitat answers basic research questions locally, as well as globally, and provides essential information to resource managers. New technologies are enabling more frequent and accurate aerial surveys at greater spatial resolution and lower cost. These advances will support efforts to extend the applications described here to similar issues in other areas