Total Coal Thickness of the Fire Clay and Fire Clay Rider Coals in Eastern Kentucky

This map is one of a series that shows the regional characteristics of the Fire Clay coal zone. The maps were prepared as part of the U.S. Geological Survey\u27s National Coal Assessment Program, which compiles regional maps and databases that provide a comprehensive assessment of the most important coal beds in the nation. Within the zone, the Fire Clay coal is the most economically important bed and is one of the leading producers in the state of Kentucky. It is known for a persistent flint-clay parting that is believed to be of volcanic origin. This map represents the total coal thickness, minus partings, of the Fire Clay and Fire Clay rider coals for the eastern Kentucky region

Geology of the Fire Clay Coal in Part of the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field

Coal beds mined in Kentucky often are not laterally continuous in thickness, quality, or roof condition. Regional and local variation is common. Because thickness, quality, and roof conditions are the result of geologic processes that were active when the coal was deposited as a peat swamp, a better understanding of the relationships between geology and major coal resources can aid in identifying geologic trends, which can be extrapolated beyond areas of present mining. The focus of this study is on the Fire Clay (Hazard No. 4) coal, one of the leading producers in the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field with 20 million short tons of annual production. More than 3,800 thickness measurements, highwall and outcrop descriptions, borehole and geophysical-log descriptions, and proximate analyses from 97 localities were used in conjunction with previous palynologic and petrographic studies to investigate the geology of the Fire Clay coal in a 15-quadrangle area of the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field. The Fire Clay coal is commonly separated into two distinct layers or benches by a flint-clay and shale parting called the “jackrock parting” by miners. Maps of coal benches above and below the parting show that the lower bench is limited in extent and variable in thickness. In contrast, the coal above the jackrock parting occurs across most of the study area and is characterized by rectangular patterns of coal thickness. Multiple coal benches resulted from the accumulation of multiple peat deposits, each with different characteristics. The lower bench of the coal was deposited when a peat accumulated above an irregular topographic surface. Because the peat was being deposited at or below the water table, it was often flooded by sediment from lateral sources, resulting in moderate to locally high ash yields. This peat was drowned and then covered by volcanic ash, which formed the flint clay in the jackrock parting. The upper coal bench accumulated above the ash deposit, after irregularities in the topography had been filled. The relatively flat surface allowed the swamps to spread outward and dome upward above the water table in some areas. Doming of the peat resulted in areas of coal with generally low ash yields and sulfur contents. Sharp, angular changes in the upper coal bench are inferred to represent subtle fault influence on upper peat accumulation. The upper peat was buried by a series of river channels, which were bounded by levees, flood plains, and elongate bays. Several of the rivers eroded through the Fire Clay peats, forming cutouts in the coal. These cutouts often follow orientations similar to the angular trends of coal thinning, suggesting a relationship that can be extended beyond the present limits of mining. Also, additional peat swamps accumulated above the levees and flood plains bounding the channels. Along the thinning margins of these deposits, the peats came near or merged with the top of the Fire Clay coal, resulting in local areas of increased coal thickness. Rider coal benches exhibit high to moderate sulfur contents and ash yields, so that although they may increase coal thickness, total coal quality generally decreases where riders combine with the Fire Clay coal

Analysis of secondary growth in the Arabidopsis shoot reveals a positive role of jasmonate signalling in cambium formation

After primary growth, most dicotyledonous plants undergo secondary growth. Secondary growth involves an increase in the diameter of shoots and roots through formation of secondary vascular tissue. A hallmark of secondary growth initiation in shoots of dicotyledonous plants is the initiation of meristematic activity between primary vascular bundles, i.e. in the interfascicular regions. This results in establishment of a cylindrical meristem, namely the vascular cambium. Surprisingly, despite its major implications for plant growth and the accumulation of biomass, the molecular regulation of secondary growth is only poorly understood. Here, we combine histological, molecular and genetic approaches to characterize interfascicular cambium initiation in the Arabidopsis thaliana inflorescence shoot. Using genome-wide transcriptional profiling, we show that stress-related and touch-inducible genes are up-regulated in stem regions where secondary growth takes place. Furthermore, we show that the products of COI1, MYC2, JAZ7 and the touch-inducible gene JAZ10, which are components of the JA signalling pathway, are cambium regulators. The positive effect of JA application on cambium activity confirmed a stimulatory role of JA in secondary growth, and suggests that JA signalling triggers cell divisions in this particular context

Coal Resources of the Fire Clay Coal Zone in Eastern Kentucky

This chart is one of a series that shows the regional characteristics of the Fire Clay coal zone. The maps and charts were prepared as part of the U.S. Geological Survey\u27s National Coal Assessment Program, which compiles regional maps and databases that provide a comprehensive assessment of the most important coal beds in the nation. Within this coal zone, the Fire Clay coal is the most economically important bed and is one of the leading producers in the state of Kentucky. The Fire Clay coal contains a flint-clay parting that is believed to be of volcanic origin. The widespread occurrence of this parting aids in correlation, and therefore the Fire Clay coal is a key marker bed in the region. This chart describes the distribution of data used for the coal assessment, generalized mined-out areas in relation to coal thickness, geologic structure of the bed, and coal-resource estimates. Coal thickness for the Fire Clay and Fire Clay rider beds is presented in Kentucky Geological Survey Map and Chart Series 5 (series 12)

Available Resources of the Fire Clay Coal in Part of the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field

Available resources for the Fire Clay coal were calculated for a 15-quadrangle area in the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field. Original coal resources were estimated to be 1.8 billion tons (BT). Coal mined or lost in mining was estimated at 449 million tons (MT), leaving 1.3 BT of remaining Fire Clay resources in the study area. Of the remaining resources, 400 MT is restricted from mining, primarily because the coal is less than 28 in. thick, normally considered too thin to mine underground using present technology. The total coal available for mining in the study area is 911 MT, or 52 percent of the original resource. Of the 911 MT, 14.9 percent is thicker than 42 in., and only 6.1 percent is accessible by surface-mining methods. The largest block of available coal is in the Leatherwood quadrangle, is less than 42 in. thick, and mostly occurs below drainage

Available Coal Resources of the Booneville 7.5–Minute Quadrangle, Owsley County, Kentucky

The Booneville Quadrangle lies within the Southwestern Reserve District of the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field. Six coal beds in the quadrangle have been commercially developed, mainly by surface mining methods, and comprise the basis of this Coal Availability Study. These beds are, in descending stratigraphic order, Copland, Whitesburg, Amburgy, Upper Elkhorn No. 3, Jellico and Manchester. A computerized Geographic Information System (GRASS) was used to calculate estimates of original, mined-out and remaining resources, restrictions to mining and available resources

House Calls by Mobile Integrated Health Paramedics for Patients with Heart Failure: A Feasibility Study.

Background: Early readmissions following hospital discharge for heart failure (HF) remain a major concern. Among the various strategies designed to reduce readmissions, home evaluations have been observed to have a favorable impact. We assessed the feasibility of integrating community paramedics into the outpatient management of HF patients. Methods: Selected paramedics completed an educational HF curriculum. These Mobile Integrated Health Paramedics (MIHP) performed scheduled home visits 2- and 15-days post-discharge for patients with Stage C HF (Phase I) and patients with Stage D HF (Phase II). Facilitated by a Call Center, a process was created for performing urgent MIHP house calls within 60 minutes of a medical provider’s request. A HF specialist, with an on-call emergency department command physician, could order an intravenous diuretic during home visits. During each phase of the study the incidence of 30-day HF readmissions, 30-day all-cause readmissions, emergency room evaluations, unplanned office encounters, as well as any adverse events were prospectively documented. Results: Collaborative relationships between our hospital network and local EMS organizations were created. There were 82 MIHP home visits. Eight patients received urgent home evaluations within 60 minutes post-request, 1 requiring transport to an ED. The incidence of all-cause 30-day readmissions in 20 Stage C and 20 Stage D patients was 15% and 40%, respectively. There were no adverse events attributable to the MIHP house calls. Conclusions: It is feasible to integrate MIHPs into the outpatient management of HF. Signals of effectiveness for reducing early readmissions were observed. Obstacles to creating an effective paramedic “House Calls” program were identified. A randomized trial is required to assess the value of this care process and its impact on early readmissions in patients with Stage C and Stage D HF

Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity.

Atrophy of neurons in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a key role in the pathophysiology of depression and related disorders. The ability to promote both structural and functional plasticity in the PFC has been hypothesized to underlie the fast-acting antidepressant properties of the dissociative anesthetic ketamine. Here, we report that, like ketamine, serotonergic psychedelics are capable of robustly increasing neuritogenesis and/or spinogenesis both in vitro and in vivo. These changes in neuronal structure are accompanied by increased synapse number and function, as measured by fluorescence microscopy and electrophysiology. The structural changes induced by psychedelics appear to result from stimulation of the TrkB, mTOR, and 5-HT2A signaling pathways and could possibly explain the clinical effectiveness of these compounds. Our results underscore the therapeutic potential of psychedelics and, importantly, identify several lead scaffolds for medicinal chemistry efforts focused on developing plasticity-promoting compounds as safe, effective, and fast-acting treatments for depression and related disorders

Slope and amplitude asymmetry effects on low frequency capacitively coupled carbon tetrafluoride plasmas

We report investigations of capacitively coupled carbon tetrafluoride (CF4) plasmas excited with tailored voltage waveforms containing up to five harmonics of a base frequency of 5.5 MHz. The impact of both the slope asymmetry, and the amplitude asymmetry, of these waveforms on the discharge is examined by combining experiments with particle-in-cell simulations. For all conditions studied herein, the discharge is shown to operate in the drift-ambipolar mode, where a comparatively large electric field in the plasma bulk (outside the sheaths) is the main mechanism for electron power absorption leading to ionization. We show that both types of waveform asymmetries strongly influence the ion energy at the electrodes, with the particularity of having the highest ion flux on the electrode where the lowest ion energy is observed. Even at the comparatively high pressure (600 mTorr) and low fundamental frequency of 5.5 MHz used here, tailoring the voltage waveforms is shown to efficiently create an asymmetry of both the ion energy and the ion flux in geometrically symmetric reactors