Benchmarking 2D hydraulic models for urban flood simulations

This paper describes benchmark testing of six two-dimensional (2D) hydraulic models (DIVAST, DIVASTTVD, TUFLOW, JFLOW, TRENT and LISFLOOD-FP) in terms of their ability to simulate surface flows in a densely urbanised area. The models are applied to a 1·0 km × 0·4 km urban catchment within the city of Glasgow, Scotland, UK, and are used to simulate a flood event that occurred at this site on 30 July 2002. An identical numerical grid describing the underlying topography is constructed for each model, using a combination of airborne laser altimetry (LiDAR) fused with digital map data, and used to run a benchmark simulation. Two numerical experiments were then conducted to test the response of each model to topographic error and uncertainty over friction parameterisation. While all the models tested produce plausible results, subtle differences between particular groups of codes give considerable insight into both the practice and science of urban hydraulic modelling. In particular, the results show that the terrain data available from modern LiDAR systems are sufficiently accurate and resolved for simulating urban flows, but such data need to be fused with digital map data of building topology and land use to gain maximum benefit from the information contained therein. When such terrain data are available, uncertainty in friction parameters becomes a more dominant factor than topographic error for typical problems. The simulations also show that flows in urban environments are characterised by numerous transitions to supercritical flow and numerical shocks. However, the effects of these are localised and they do not appear to affect overall wave propagation. In contrast, inertia terms are shown to be important in this particular case, but the specific characteristics of the test site may mean that this does not hold more generally

When does socioeconomic status (SES) moderate the heritability of IQ?:No evidence for g x SES interaction for IQ in a representative sample of 1,176 Australian adolescent twin pairs

Bioecological theory predicts that cognitive ability is more heritable among those raised in higher socioeconomic status (SES) families. However, the mechanism of this effect is unclear, and the effect may not be universal. We tested for gene × SES interaction effects on Full-scale IQ in 2307 adolescent Australian twins (mean age 16.2 years). Mean IQ scores were modestly higher among those from higher SES backgrounds, but the magnitude of genetic influences on IQ was uniformly high across the range of SES. Research identifying the conditions under which expressed genetic potential can become decoupled from parental SES, as seen here, is needed. We speculate that school provision may be key

Evaluating eHealth: Undertaking Robust International Cross-Cultural eHealth Research

David Bates and Adam Wright discuss the opportunities and challenges of undertaking international collaborations in eHealth evaluation research, and make recommendations for moving forward

SNP Sets and Reading Ability: Testing Confirmation of a 10-SNP Set in a Population Sample

A set of 10 SNPs associated with reading ability in 7-year-olds was reported based on initial pooled analyses of 100K SNP chip data, with follow-up testing stages using pooling and individual testing. Here we examine this association in an adolescent population sample of Australian twins and siblings (N = 1177) aged 12 to 25 years. One (rs1842129) of the 10 SNPs approached significance (P = .05) but no support was found for the remaining 9 SNPs or the SNP set itself. Results indicate that these SNPs are not associated with reading ability in an Australian population. The results are interpreted as supporting use of much larger SNP sets in common disorders where effects are small

Incorporating Medication Indications into the Prescribing Process

Purpose The incorporation of medication indications into the prescribing process to improve patient safety is discussed. Summary Currently, most prescriptions lack a key piece of information needed for safe medication use: the patient-specific drug indication. Integrating indications could pave the way for safer prescribing in multiple ways, including avoiding look-alike/sound-alike errors, facilitating selection of drugs of choice, aiding in communication among the healthcare team, bolstering patient understanding and adherence, and organizing medication lists to facilitate medication reconciliation. Although strongly supported by pharmacists, multiple prior attempts to encourage prescribers to include the indication on prescriptions have not been successful. We convened 6 expert panels to consult high-level stakeholders on system design considerations and requirements necessary for building and implementing an indications-based computerized prescriber order-entry (CPOE) system. We summarize our findings from the 6 expert stakeholder panels, including rationale, literature findings, potential benefits, and challenges of incorporating indications into the prescribing process. Based on this stakeholder input, design requirements for a new CPOE interface and workflow have been identified. Conclusion The emergence of universal electronic prescribing and content knowledge vendors has laid the groundwork for incorporating indications into the CPOE prescribing process. As medication prescribing moves in the direction of inclusion of the indication, it is imperative to design CPOE systems to efficiently and effectively incorporate indications into prescriber workflows and optimize ways this can best be accomplished

Evidence for hydrogen oxidation and metabolic plasticity in widespread deep-sea sulfur-oxidizing bacteria

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2012. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of National Academy of Sciences for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 110 (2013): 330-335, doi:10.1073/pnas.1215340110.Hydrothermal vents are a well-known source of energy that powers chemosynthesis in the deep sea. Recent work suggests that microbial chemosynthesis is also surprisingly pervasive throughout the dark oceans, serving as a significant CO2 sink even at sites far-removed from vents. Ammonia and sulfur have been identified as potential electron donors for this chemosynthesis, but they do not fully account for measured rates of dark primary production in the pelagic water column. Here we use metagenomic and metatranscriptomic analyses to show that deep-sea populations of the SUP05 group of uncultured sulfur oxidizing Gammaproteobacteria, which are abundant in widespread and diverse marine environments, contain and highly express genes encoding group 1 Ni-Fe hydrogenase enzymes for H2 oxidation. Reconstruction of near-complete genomes of two co-occurring SUP05 populations in hydrothermal plumes and deep waters of the Gulf of California enabled detailed population-specific metatranscriptomic analyses, revealing dynamic patterns of gene content and transcript abundance. SUP05 transcripts for genes involved in H2 and sulfur oxidation are most abundant in hydrothermal plumes where these electron donors are enriched. In contrast, a second hydrogenase has more abundant transcripts in background deep sea samples. Coupled with results from a bioenergetic model that suggest that H2 oxidation can contribute significantly to the SUP05 energy budget, these findings reveal the potential importance of H2 as a key energy source in the deep ocean. This study also highlights the genomic plasticity of SUP05, which enables this widely distributed group to optimize its energy metabolism (electron donor and acceptor) to local geochemical conditions.This project is funded in part by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the National Science Foundation (OCE 1029242)