South Platte Mapping and Analysis Program (SPMAP): implementation of a user-centered decision support tool

May 2005.Includes bibliographical references

Field drainage management

Presented at the 2002 USCID/EWRI conference, Energy, climate, environment and water - issues and opportunities for irrigation and drainage on July 9-12 in San Luis Obispo, California.Includes bibliographical references.The Colorado State University Irrigation and Drainage model (CSUID) is a decision support system (DSS) that helps design and/or manage irrigation and drainage systems, which maintain crop productivity while controlling drainage return flows. CSUID includes components for irrigation scheduling; root growth calculations; flow and transport in unsaturated and saturated zones; drain discharge; and crop yield estimates. The DSS runs on a PC with Windows 95/NT. Data for the model is currently being collected from four fields in Colorado's Arkansas River Basin

Dexamethasone Attenuates Hyperexcitability Provoked by Experimental Febrile Status Epilepticus.

The role of neuroinflammation in the mechanisms of epilepsy development is important because inflammatory mediators provide tractable targets for intervention. Inflammation is intrinsically involved in the generation of childhood febrile seizures (FSs), and prolonged FS [febrile status epilepticus (FSE)] precedes a large proportion of adult cases of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). As TLE is often refractory to therapy and is associated with serious cognitive and emotional problems, we investigated whether its development can be prevented using anti-inflammatory strategies. Using an immature rat model of FSE [experimental FSE (eFSE)], we administered dexamethasone (DEX), a broad anti-inflammatory agent, over 3 d following eFSE. We assessed eFSE-provoked hippocampal network hyperexcitability by quantifying the presence, frequency, and duration of hippocampal spike series, as these precede and herald the development of TLE-like epilepsy. We tested whether eFSE provoked hippocampal microgliosis, astrocytosis, and proinflammatory cytokine production in male and female rats and investigated blood-brain barrier (BBB) breaches as a potential contributor. We then evaluated whether DEX attenuated these eFSE sequelae. Spike series were not observed in control rats given vehicle or DEX, but occurred in 41.6% of eFSE-vehicle rats, associated with BBB leakage and elevated hippocampal cytokines. eFSE did not induce astrocytosis or microgliosis but provoked BBB disruption in 60% of animals. DEX significantly reduced spike series prevalence (to 7.6%) and frequency, and abrogated eFSE-induced cytokine production and BBB leakage (to 20%). These findings suggest that a short, postinsult intervention with a clinically available anti-inflammatory agent potently attenuates epilepsy-predicting hippocampal hyperexcitability, potentially by minimizing BBB disruption and related neuroinflammation

A real time hearing loss simulator

International audienc

Scheduled water delivery

Presented at the fifth international conference on irrigation and drainage, Irrigation and drainage for food, energy and the environment on November 3-6, 2009 in Salt Lake City, Utah.Includes bibliographical references.Scheduled water delivery (SWD) provides the opportunity to increase overall irrigation system performance and define legitimate water use in regions without adjudication. A well-managed program of scheduled water delivery is able to fulfill seasonal crop water requirements in a timely manner, but requires less water than on-demand water delivery. In order to successfully realize SWD in an irrigation district, several components need to be addressed and developed simultaneously. This paper will present results of on-going research in the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) related to implementation of scheduled water delivery supported by a decision-support system (DSS) and modernization of irrigation infrastructure. A DSS developed over the last four years uses linear programming to find an optimum water delivery schedule for all canal service areas in the MRGCD irrigation system. The DSS has been developed for the entire MRGCD and a significant validation effort of input parameters and model logic has been completed. The second component for implementing scheduled water delivery is a program of irrigation infrastructure modernization with Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. Over the past six years, the MRGCD has modernized canal infrastructure and developed a SCADA system with the focus being to improve water use efficiency. The third component in implementing scheduled water delivery is its acceptance by all water users as a matter of district policy and practice. To gain acceptance and disseminate information regarding SWD, a public outreach program was formulated that includes providing water users information through newsletters, websites, and public meetings. It also included training related MRGCD staff in the concepts and practice of scheduled water delivery and the use of related decision-support systems

Scheduled water delivery

Presented at Meeting irrigation demands in a water-challenged environment: SCADA and technology: tools to improve production: a USCID water management conference held on September 28 - October 1, 2010 in Fort Collins, Colorado.Includes bibliographical references.Scheduled water delivery (SWD) provides the opportunity to increase overall irrigation system performance and define legitimate water use in regions without adjudication. A well-managed program of scheduled water delivery is able to fulfill seasonal crop water requirements in a timely manner, but requires less water than on-demand water delivery. In order to successfully realize SWD in an irrigation district, several components need to be addressed and developed simultaneously. This paper will present results of on-going research in the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) related to implementation of scheduled water delivery supported by a decision-support system (DSS) and modernization of irrigation infrastructure. A DSS developed over the last four years uses linear programming to find an optimum water delivery schedule for all canal service areas in the MRGCD irrigation system. The DSS has been developed for the entire MRGCD and a significant validation effort of input parameters and model logic has been completed. The second component for implementing scheduled water delivery is a program of irrigation infrastructure modernization with Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. Over the past six years, the MRGCD has modernized canal infrastructure and developed a SCADA system with the focus being to improve water use efficiency. The third component in implementing scheduled water delivery is its acceptance by all water users as a matter of district policy and practice. To gain acceptance and disseminate information regarding SWD, a public outreach program was formulated that includes providing water users information through newsletters, websites, and public meetings. It also included training related MRGCD staff in the concepts and practice of scheduled water delivery and the use of related decision-support systems

Surface water microbial community response to the biocide 2-2-dibromo-3-nitrilopropionamide used in unconventional oil and gas extraction.

Production of unconventional oil and gas continues to rise, but the effects of high-density hydraulic fracturing (HF) activity near aquatic ecosystems are not fully understood. A commonly used biocide in HF, 2,2-dibromo-3-nitrilopropionamide (DBNPA), was studied in microcosms of HF-impacted vs. HF-unimpacted surface water streams to (1) compare the microbial community response, (2) investigate DBNPA degradation products based on past HF exposure, and (3) compare the microbial community response differences and similarities between the HF biocides DBNPA and glutaraldehyde. The microbial community responded to DBNPA differently in HF-impacted vs. HF-unimpacted microcosms in terms of 16S rRNA gene copies quantified, alpha and beta diversity, and differential abundance analyses of microbial community composition through time. The difference in microbial community changes affected degradation dynamics. HF-impacted microbial communities were more sensitive to DBNPA, causing the biocide and byproducts of the degradation to persist for longer than in HF-unimpacted microcosms. Seventeen DBNPA byproducts were detected, many of them not widely known as DBNPA byproducts. Many of the believed to be uncharacterized brominated byproducts detected may pose environmental and health impacts. Similar taxa were able to tolerate glutaraldehyde and DBNPA, however DBNPA was not as effective for microbial control as indicated by a smaller overall decrease of 16S rRNA gene copies/mL after exposure to the biocide and a more diverse set of taxa was able to tolerate it. These findings suggest that past HF activity in streams can affect the microbial community response to environmental perturbation such as the biocide DBNPA

Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis post extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support and literature review

The use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for reversible pulmonary failure in critically ill patients has increased over the last few decades. Nosocomial infections are a major complication of ECMO and fungi have been found to be a common cause. Herein, we describe a case of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis following ECMO, which was successfully treated with combination antifungal therapy and interferon-gamma

The dependence of alpha-tocopheroxyl radical reduction by hydroxy-2,3-diarylxanthones on structure and micro-environment

The flavonoid quercetin is known to reduce the α-tocopheroxyl radical (˙TocO) and reconstitute α-tocopherol (TocOH). Structurally related polyphenolic compounds, hydroxy-2,3-diarylxanthones (XH), exhibit antioxidant activity which exceeds that of quercetin in biological systems. In the present study repair of ˙TocO by a series of these XH has been evaluated using pulse radiolysis. It has been shown that, among the studied XH, only 2,3-bis(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-9H-xanthen-9-one (XH9) reduces ˙TocO, though repair depends strongly on the micro-environment. In cationic cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) micelles, 30% of ˙TocO radicals are repaired at a rate constant of ∼7.4 × 106 M−1 s−1 by XH9 compared to 1.7 × 107 M−1 s−1 by ascorbate. Water-soluble Trolox (TrOH) radicals (˙TrO) are restored by XH9 in CTAB (rate constant ∼3 × 104 M−1 s−1) but not in neutral TX100 micelles where only 15% of ˙TocO are repaired (rate constant ∼4.5 × 105 M−1 s−1). In basic aqueous solutions ˙TrO is readily reduced by deprotonated XH9 species leading to ionized XH9 radical species (radical pKa ∼10). An equilibrium is observed (K = 130) yielding an estimate of 130 mV for the reduction potential of the [˙X9,H+/XH9] couple at pH 11, lower than the 250 mV for the [˙TrO,H+/TrOH] couple. A comparable value (100 mV) has been determined by cyclic voltammetry measurements