Effects of low level military training flights on wading bird colonies in Florida

During 1983 and 1984 the effect of low level military training flights on the establishment. size and reproductive success of wading bird colonies was studied in Florida. Based on the indirect evidence of colony distributions and turnover rates in relation to military areas (training routes designated to 500 feet or less above ground level and military operations areas). there was no demonstrated effect of military activity on wading bird colony establishment or size on a statewide basis. Colony distributions were random with respect to military areas and turnover rates were within 2% when military and non-military areas were compared. Colony distributions and turnover rates, however. were related to the amount and type.Les tuer-tne or freshwater) of wetland. respectively. During two breeding seasons the behavioral responses and reproductive success of selected species were monitored in a non-habituated treatment colony (military overflights) and a control colony (no overflights). Breeding wading birds responded to F-16 overflights at 420 knots indicated airspeed. 82-84% maximum rpm. 500 feet above ground level and sound levels ranging from 55-100 dBA by exhibiting no response. looking up or changing position (usually to an alert posture): no productivity limiting responses were observed. High-nesting Great Egrets responded more than other species, nestling Great Egrets and Cattle Egrets responded significantly (r <.05) more intensely than adults of their respective species, and adults responded less during incubation and late chick-rearing than at other times. In addition, no differences in adult attendance, aggressive interactions or chick feeding rates were observed to result from F-16 overflights. No evidence of habituation to overflights was noted. Humans entering the colony or airboats approaching the colony vicinity elicited the most severe responses (flushing and panic flights) observed at both sites. Since relatively little coastal military activity occurs at low levels ( ~500 ft) and only one Brown Pelican colony (5-6% of the breeding population) was located in such an area, the reproductive success of five, more lIexposedll study species (Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Tricolored Herons, Little Blue Herons, Cattle Egrets) nesting in interior freshwater colonies was studied. Reproductive activity including such factors as nest success, nestling survival, nestling mortality, and nesting chronology was independent of F-16 overflights but related to ecological factors including colony location, colony characteristics and climatology. The responses to and effects of F-16 overflights, as reported here, should not be considered representative of military aircraft at lower altitudes or greater noise levels. (194 pages

Academic Intervention: Acceleration and Remediation

Eighth grade math students must pass a standards based test to be promoted to the next grade. Students who were at risk of failing the state’s annual test faced impending retention. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to see if an intensive nine-week (55 min per day) remedial Math Connection (MC) class for 67 suburban, eighth grade students identified as at risk of failing, could significantly increase the scores; concurrently, at this Title I school, they were compared with 122 eighth grade students who were not identified as at risk of failing. The dependent variable was measured using the AIMSweb tests (nonmultiple choice answer format). A quantitative quasi-experiment of nonequivalent control group design, pretest and posttest, was used with the AIMSweb tests. When controlling for pretest scores through an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), results indicated that there was no significant difference between the AIMSweb scores for the math class group as compared with the no math class group. Future studies need to consider both efficient and effective processes of instruction and assessment formats for the remediation of students at risk of failing the state’s math summative assessment

Evaluating hydrology preservation of simplified terrain representations

We present an error metric based on the potential energy of water flow to evaluate the quality of lossy terrain simplification algorithms. Typically, terrain compression algorithms seek to minimize RMS (root mean square) and maximum error. These metrics fail to capture whether a reconstructed terrain preserves the drainage network. A quantitative measurement of how accurately a drainage network captures the hydrology is important for determining the effectiveness of a terrain simplification technique. Having a measurement for testing and comparing different models has the potential to be widely used in numerous applications (flood prevention, erosion measurement, pollutant propagation, etc). In this paper, we transfer the drainage network computed on reconstructed geometry onto the original uncompressed terrain and use our error metric to measure the level of error created by the simplification. We also present a novel terrain simplification algorithm based on the compression of hydrology features. This method and other terrain compression schemes are then compared using our new metric

Autoantibodies in humans with cystic or alveolar echinococcosis

Sera from 16 echinococcosis patients were analyzed with respect to poiyclonal B cell activation and autoantibody formation. At least 8 of the sera were from patients who were never in tropical countries and therefore their cases were not complicated by other parasitic diseases. In comparison with a group of 52 healthy controls, these patients had significant levels of antibodies to DNP and haemocyanin, indicators of polyclonal B cell activation. There were also significant differences between control and patient groups with respect to antibodies to dsDNA, histones, actin, vimentin, and desmin. This is the first report of autoantibodies in echinococcosi

COMPUTER SIMULATION OF OVERTOPPING OF LEVEES

There have been many cases of earth embankment failures, for example, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, where breaching occurred and devastated the surrounding population. Levee failures are preventable by a better understanding of the ways in which these embankments are designed and fail. The objective of this research is to protect levees against future failures. This paper studies various overtopping quantities and durations to represent the same level of levee erosion hazard. This study is based on experimental results of steady flows on the land side of a levee. The effect of water flow has been investigated and a comparison has been done between rills formations and erosion time for various water flows. Results showed that the pictures of digital simulations and real photographs which have been taken during tests in the laboratory are in a good concordance. Ha habido muchos casos de fallos de terraplén, por ejemplo, el huracán Katrina en 2005, en el cual se produjo una ruptura, devastando la población de los alrededores. Las fallas de diques se pueden prevenir, y es un objetivo de esta investigación alcanzar una mejor comprensión de las maneras en que estos diques se diseñan y fallan, a fin de poder protegerlos contra futuros fallos. Este documento desarrolla y recomienda equivalencias preliminares de combinaciones acumulativas de varias cantidades de desbordamiento y las duraciones asociadas que representan el mismo nivel de riesgo de erosión del dique. Las metodologías se basan en los resultados experimentales de flujos constantes en el lado seco de un dique. El efecto del flujo de agua se ha estudiado específicamente en esta investigación, y se ha hecho una comparación entre las formaciones de surcos y el tiempo de erosión para distintos flujos de agua

Measuring terrain distances through extracted channel networks

This paper initiates a forensic analysis of the causes of levee failures by analyzing and extracting information from a sequence of elevation data. This is a crucial step in bettering the design and construction of levees and dams. (Fully diagnosing failures usually requires knowledge beyond the geometry of the levee, such as weather conditions and material properties). We use results from computer simulations of levee overtopping for training data. The simulations use smoothed particle hydrodynamics coupled with a well-known erodibility model. Using the sequential nature of our data, we extract important channel networks that form as the soil is scoured away. We present a series of metrics to measure the distance between channel networks to assist in determining the critical threshold value used to extract important channels from the flow network. Methods for determining this ideal threshold have gone mainly unexplored, and so we present a comparison of various threshold values and how closely they identify matching channel networks on sequential terrains. These threshold values allow us to identify important properties of the terrain that form its fingerprint, a way of characterizing the geometry of the terrain. Our method for fingerprinting terrain is an important step toward the diagnosis of levee failure from digital elevation data

Validation of Erosion Modeling: Physical and Numerical

The overall intent of this research is to develop numerical models of erosion of levees, dams and embankments, validated by physical models. The physical models are performed at 1-g and at high g\u27s using a geotechnical centrifuge. The erosion is modeled in detail, from beginning to end, that is from the time the levee is overtopped until the levee is breached. Typical quantities measured as a function of time are the depth, width and volume of rills, number of junction points, are the rills straight or meandering, sediment transport quantities, and finally breach. This data can be obtained from the numerical modeling, but is difficult to obtain from the physical modeling. Video images indicate the physical modeling agrees quite well with the numerical modeling. A comparison has also been done between observed breaching width and the FEMA new formula for both 1-g and centrifuge tests

Quantitative analysis of simulated erosion for different soils

Levee overtopping can lead to failure and cause catastrophic damage, as was the case during Hurricane Katrina. We present a computer simulation of erosion to study the development of the rills and gullies that form along an earthen embankment during overtopping. We have coupled 3D Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics with an erodibility model to produce our simulation. Through comparison between simulations and between simulation and analogous laboratory experiments, we provide quantitative and qualitative results, evaluating the accuracy of our simulation

Device management of arrhythmias after Fontan conversion

ObjectivesWe assessed our pacemaker strategy, use of antitachycardia therapies, generator longevity, and need for programming changes in patients having Fontan conversion with arrhythmia surgery.MethodsBetween 1994 and 2008, of 121 consecutive patients having Fontan conversion and arrhythmia surgeries, 120 patients underwent pacemaker implantation at the time of Fontan conversion (mean age 22.9 ± 8.1 years). Prior pacemakers were in place in 32/120 (26.7%) patients. Between 1994 and 1998, single-chamber atrial antitachycardia pacemakers were implanted (n = 12); atrial rate-responsive pacemakers (n = 31) were implanted between 1998 and 2002. Dual-chamber rate-responsive pacemakers (n = 16) were used between 2002 and 2003, and subsequently dual-chamber antitachycardia pacemakers (n = 61) have become the pacemaker of choice. Leads have evolved from transatrial endocardial leads to epicardial unipolar and subsequently bipolar leads.ResultsAmong 87 patients with adequate follow-up, all are currently atrially paced at a minimum lower rate ≥70 beats per minute. Single-chamber atrial pacemakers were implanted in 43 (antitachycardia in 12), and dual-chamber pacemakers in 77 (antitachycardia in 61); multisite ventricular leads were placed in 7 patients. Far-field R-wave sensing in 78.6% of unipolar atrial leads led to use of epicardial bipolar leads. Late atrioventricular block (24%) led to routine implantation of dual-chamber pacemakers. Antitachycardia pacing was utilized in 7%. One patient required acute lead revision and 4 required late upgrade to dual-chamber pacemakers. There was no pacemaker-related infection. Twenty patients required generator change, and the mean device longevity was 7.53 years.ConclusionsCustomized pacemaker therapy can optimize management of patients following Fontan conversion. Device longevity is excellent. Based on our experience with 120 Fontan conversions, we recommend placement of a dual-chamber antitachycardia pacemaker with bipolar steroid-eluting epicardial leads in all patients at the time of the conversion

Simulating Levee Erosion with Physical Modeling Validation

This paper studies rill and gully initiation and propagation on levees, dams, and general earth embankments. It specifically studies where these erosion features occur, and how long a particular embankment can sustain overtopping before breaching and catastrophic failure. This contrasts to previous levee erosion analysis, which has primarily concerned the final effects of erosion, such as soil loss, depth of scour and breach width. This paper describes the construction of scaled-down physical models of levees composed of different homogeneous sands, as well as sand-clay mixtures, and their laboratory testing. A 3-D laser range scanner captured the surface features of the physical model, before and after erosion. The resulting data is utilized in developing digital simulations of the rill erosion process. Those simulations combine 3-D Navier-Stokes fluid simulations and a segmented height field data structure to produce an accurate portrayal of the erosive processes, which will be validated by physical modeling