241-AZ Farm Annulus Extent of Condition Baseline Inspection

This report provides the results of the comprehensive annulus visual inspection for tanks 241- AZ-101 and 241-AZ-102 performed in fiscal year 2013. The inspection established a baseline covering about 95 percent of the annulus floor for comparison with future inspections. Any changes in the condition are also included in this document

Retrospective Barrier Placements for a Skunk Rabies Epizootic in NW Wyoming

Striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) are the most important reservoir of rabies on the Great Plains. In August, 1988 a skunk rabies epizootic proceeded from the index case west of Cowley, WY. By 1991, epizootic had reached nearly all areas in the Shoshone River Basin (SRB), and it ended in 1993. This area and the remainder of the SRB had been previously considered rabies-free. The USDA\u27s Wildlife Services (WS) cooperated with state and local officials in a rabies monitoring and control program starting in 1990. Using information from the literature, signs, tracks, and radio-telemetry of normal and rabid skunks, WS decided to trap mainly riparian and irrigated agricultural habitats in the valley\u27s floor. Here, a mosaic of irrigation ditches (e.g., Buffalo Bill Cody\u27s circa 1908) was shown to be travel corridors for skunks. Trapped species (\u3e1,000 skunks) were sent to the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory for rabies testing using immuno-fluorescent of brain tissues. The study area extended from the Bighorn Canyon and Lake on the east up river to Buffalo Bill Reservoir on the west. The study area and subsequent epizootic encompassed a portion of the Shoshone River ~90 km in length and an area of ~ 85,000 ha (54 mi2). Traditional surveillance data composed \u3c10% of the sample -public referrals of suspiciously acting wildlife and road kills. We analyzed 215 rabid skunk locations and dates together with GIS hydrology and land use information. Hypothetical barriers were modeled using potential synergisms formed among restricted habitat, depopulation, and vaccine (if one had been available), combined with the natural epizootiology of this rabies strain with high virulence. Two dates for barrier locations were identified that may have halted the spreading epizootic: 1) before April 1989, when the rabies epizootic might have been limited to Polecat and Sage Creeks, and 2) June 1989, when the epizootic may have been stopped before it entered the majority of SRB including the larger population centers of Byron, Powell, and Cody

Retrospective Barrier Placements for a Skunk Rabies Epizootic in NW Wyoming

Striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) are the most important reservoir of rabies on the Great Plains. In August, 1988 a skunk rabies epizootic proceeded from the index case west of Cowley, WY. By 1991, epizootic had reached nearly all areas in the Shoshone River Basin (SRB), and it ended in 1993. This area and the remainder of the SRB had been previously considered rabies-free. The USDA\u27s Wildlife Services (WS) cooperated with state and local officials in a rabies monitoring and control program starting in 1990. Using information from the literature, signs, tracks, and radio-telemetry of normal and rabid skunks, WS decided to trap mainly riparian and irrigated agricultural habitats in the valley\u27s floor. Here, a mosaic of irrigation ditches (e.g., Buffalo Bill Cody\u27s circa 1908) was shown to be travel corridors for skunks. Trapped species (\u3e1,000 skunks) were sent to the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory for rabies testing using immuno-fluorescent of brain tissues. The study area extended from the Bighorn Canyon and Lake on the east up river to Buffalo Bill Reservoir on the west. The study area and subsequent epizootic encompassed a portion of the Shoshone River ~90 km in length and an area of ~ 85,000 ha (54 mi2). Traditional surveillance data composed \u3c10% of the sample -public referrals of suspiciously acting wildlife and road kills. We analyzed 215 rabid skunk locations and dates together with GIS hydrology and land use information. Hypothetical barriers were modeled using potential synergisms formed among restricted habitat, depopulation, and vaccine (if one had been available), combined with the natural epizootiology of this rabies strain with high virulence. Two dates for barrier locations were identified that may have halted the spreading epizootic: 1) before April 1989, when the rabies epizootic might have been limited to Polecat and Sage Creeks, and 2) June 1989, when the epizootic may have been stopped before it entered the majority of SRB including the larger population centers of Byron, Powell, and Cody

Tank 241-AY-102 Leak Assessment Supporting Documentation: Miscellaneous Reports, Letters, Memoranda, And Data

This report contains reference materials cited in RPP-ASMT -53793, Tank 241-AY-102 Leak Assessment Report, that were obtained from the National Archives Federal Records Repository in Seattle, Washington, or from other sources including the Hanford Site's Integrated Data Management System database (IDMS)

Double-Shell Tank Visual Inspection Changes REsulting from the Tank 241-AY-102 Primary Tank Leak - 14193

As part of the Double-Shell Tank (DST) Integrity Program, remote visual inspections are utilized to perform qualitative in-service inspections of the DSTs in order to provide a general overview of the condition of the tanks. During routine visual inspections of tank 241-AY -1 02 (A Y -1 02) in August 2012, anomalies were identified on the annulus floor which resulted in further evaluations. In October 2012, Washington River Protection Solutions, LLC determined that the primary tank of AY -102 was leaking. Following identification of the tank AY-102 probable leak cause, evaluations considered the adequacy of the existing annulus inspection frequency with respect to the circumstances of the tank AY-1021eak and the advancing age of the DST structures. The evaluations concluded that the interval between annulus inspections should be shortened for all DSTs, and each annulus inspection should cover > 95 percent of annulus floor area, and the portion of the primary tank (i.e., dome, sidewall, lower knuckle, and insulating refractory) that is visible from the annulus inspection risers. In March 2013, enhanced visual inspections were performed for the six oldest tanks: 241-AY-101, 241-AZ-101,241-AZ-102, 241-SY-101, 241-SY-102, and 241-SY-103, and no evidence of leakage from the primary tank were observed. Prior to October 2012, the approach for conducting visual examinations of DSTs was to perform a video examination of each tank's interior and annulus regions approximately every five years (not to exceed seven years between inspections). Also, the annulus inspection only covered about 42 percent of the annulus floor

Eliciting a predatory response in the eastern corn snake (Pantherophis guttatus) using live and inanimate sensory stimuli: implications for managing invasive populations

North America's Eastern corn snake (Pantherophis guttatus) has been introduced to several islands throughout the Caribbean and Australasia where it poses a significant threat to native wildlife. Invasive snake control programs often involve trapping with live bait, a practice that, as well as being costly and labour intensive, raises welfare and ethical concerns. This study assessed corn snake response to live and inanimate sensory stimuli in an attempt to inform possible future trapping of the species and the development of alternative trap lures. We exposed nine individuals to sensory cues in the form of odour, visual, vibration and combined stimuli and measured the response (rate of tongue-flick [RTF]). RTF was significantly higher in odour and combined cues treatments, and there was no significant difference in RTF between live and inanimate cues during odour treatments. Our findings suggest chemical cues are of primary importance in initiating predation and that an inanimate odour stimulus, absent of simultaneous visual and vibratory cues, is a potential low-cost alternative trap lure for the control of invasive corn snake populations

241-AY-102 Leak Detection Pit Drain Line Inspection Report

This document provides a description of the design components, operational approach, and results from the Tank AY-102 leak detection pit drain piping visual inspection. To perform this inspection a custom robotic crawler with a deployment device was designed, built, and operated by IHI Southwest Technologies, Inc. for WRPS to inspect the 6-inch leak detection pit drain line

Accurate Genome Relative Abundance Estimation Based on Shotgun Metagenomic Reads

Accurate estimation of microbial community composition based on metagenomic sequencing data is fundamental for subsequent metagenomics analysis. Prevalent estimation methods are mainly based on directly summarizing alignment results or its variants; often result in biased and/or unstable estimates. We have developed a unified probabilistic framework (named GRAMMy) by explicitly modeling read assignment ambiguities, genome size biases and read distributions along the genomes. Maximum likelihood method is employed to compute Genome Relative Abundance of microbial communities using the Mixture Model theory (GRAMMy). GRAMMy has been demonstrated to give estimates that are accurate and robust across both simulated and real read benchmark datasets. We applied GRAMMy to a collection of 34 metagenomic read sets from four metagenomics projects and identified 99 frequent species (minimally 0.5% abundant in at least 50% of the data- sets) in the human gut samples. Our results show substantial improvements over previous studies, such as adjusting the over-estimated abundance for Bacteroides species for human gut samples, by providing a new reference-based strategy for metagenomic sample comparisons. GRAMMy can be used flexibly with many read assignment tools (mapping, alignment or composition-based) even with low-sensitivity mapping results from huge short-read datasets. It will be increasingly useful as an accurate and robust tool for abundance estimation with the growing size of read sets and the expanding database of reference genomes

Review of nanomaterials in dentistry: interactions with the oral microenvironment, clinical applications, hazards, and benefits.

Interest in the use of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) as either nanomedicines or dental materials/devices in clinical dentistry is growing. This review aims to detail the ultrafine structure, chemical composition, and reactivity of dental tissues in the context of interactions with ENMs, including the saliva, pellicle layer, and oral biofilm; then describes the applications of ENMs in dentistry in context with beneficial clinical outcomes versus potential risks. The flow rate and quality of saliva are likely to influence the behavior of ENMs in the oral cavity, but how the protein corona formed on the ENMs will alter bioavailability, or interact with the structure and proteins of the pellicle layer, as well as microbes in the biofilm, remains unclear. The tooth enamel is a dense crystalline structure that is likely to act as a barrier to ENM penetration, but underlying dentinal tubules are not. Consequently, ENMs may be used to strengthen dentine or regenerate pulp tissue. ENMs have dental applications as antibacterials for infection control, as nanofillers to improve the mechanical and bioactive properties of restoration materials, and as novel coatings on dental implants. Dentifrices and some related personal care products are already available for oral health applications. Overall, the clinical benefits generally outweigh the hazards of using ENMs in the oral cavity, and the latter should not prevent the responsible innovation of nanotechnology in dentistry. However, the clinical safety regulations for dental materials have not been specifically updated for ENMs, and some guidance on occupational health for practitioners is also needed. Knowledge gaps for future research include the formation of protein corona in the oral cavity, ENM diffusion through clinically relevant biofilms, and mechanistic investigations on how ENMs strengthen the tooth structure