Parameters Affecting Bird Use of Stormwater Impoundments in the Southeastern United States: Implications for Hazardous Wildlife Management at Airports

Stormwater impoundments within Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) citing criteria (10,000 ft from the air operations area) increase the risk of bird-aircraft collisions (strikes) by providing bird habitat. The number of wildlife strikes (97.5% involving birds) reported in the U.S. annually is increasing and, consequently, annual losses to the U.S. civil aviation industry from strikes now exceed $625 million. Wildlife managers must find ways to reduce this risk, while still managing stormwater for environmental quality compliance and safe aircraft ground movements. Existing guidelines for wildlife-hazard management at airports do not quantify the role of pond and landscape characteristics in attracting birds to stormwater impoundments. In a collaborative effort with the FAA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u27s Wildlife Services program, we are quantifying bird use of 40 stormwater detention ponds near Auburn, AL, over a two-year period. We will use the observer data and analyses via geographic information systems to develop bird-habitat models and, subsequently, improved BMPs to reduce bird use of stormwater impoundments in and around airports. We will present our development of this project and its objectives, as well as the project\u27s preliminary data and analyses to date

Analysis of the Two-Level NO PLIF Model for Low-Temperature High-Speed Flow Applications

The current work compares experimentally obtained nitric oxide (NO) laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) spectra with the equivalent spectra obtained analytically. The experimental spectra are computed from captured images of fluorescence in a gas cell and from a laser sheet passing through the fuel-air mixing flowfield produced by a high-speed fuel injector. The fuel injector is a slender strut that is currently being studied as a part of the Enhanced Injection and Mixing Project (EIMP) at the NASA Langley Research Center. This injector is placed downstream of a Mach 6 facility nozzle, which simulates the high Mach number airflow at the entrance of a scramjet combustor, and injects helium, which is used as an inert substitute for hydrogen fuel. Experimental planar (P) LIF is obtained by using a UV laser to excite fluorescence from the NO molecules that are present in either a gas cell or the facility air used for the EIMP experiments. The experimental data are obtained for several segments of the NO fluorescence spectrum. The selected segments encompass LIF lines with rotational quantum numbers appropriate for low-to-moderate temperature flows similar to those corresponding to the nominal experimental flow conditions. The experimental LIF spectra are then evaluated from the data and compared with those obtained from the theoretical models. The theoretical spectra are obtained from LIFBASE and LINUS software, and from a simplified version of the two-level fluorescence model. The equivalent analytic PLIF images are also obtained by applying only the simplified model to the results of the Reynolds-averaged simulations (RAS) of the mixing flowfield. Good agreement between the experimental and theoretical results provides increased confidence in both the simplified LIF modeling and CFD simulations for further investigations of high-speed injector performance using this approach

Establishing a meaningful human rights due diligence process for corporations : learning from experience of human rights impact assessment

The United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Business and Human Rights, Professor John Ruggie, has constructed a new international framework, which is set to become the cornerstone for all action on human rights and business at the international level. The principle of human rights due diligence (HRDD) is the central component of the corporate duty to respect human rights within that framework. This article argues that Ruggie's HRDD principle contains the majority of the core procedural elements that a reasonable human rights impact assessment (HRIA) process should incorporate. It is likely that the majority of corporations will adopt HRIA as a mechanism for meeting their due diligence responsibilities. However, in the context of the contentious debate around corporate human rights performance, the current state of the art in HRIA gives rise to concerns about the credibility and robustness of likely practice. Additional requirements are therefore essential if HRDD is to have a significant impact on corporate human rights performance – requirements in relation to transparency; external participation and verification; and independent monitoring and review

Close-up of primary and secondary asteroseismic CoRoT targets and the ground-based follow-up observations

To optimise the science results of the asteroseismic part of the CoRoT satellite mission a complementary simultaneous ground-based observational campaign is organised for selected CoRoT targets. The observations include both high-resolution spectroscopic and multi-colour photometric data. We present the preliminary results of the analysis of the ground-based observations of three targets. A line-profile analysis of 216 high-resolution FEROS spectra of the delta Sct star HD 50844 reveals more than ten pulsation frequencies in the frequency range 5-18 c/d, including possibly one radial fundamental mode (6.92 c/d). Based on more than 600 multi-colour photometric datapoints of the beta Cep star HD180642, spanning about three years and obtained with different telescopes and different instruments, we confirm the presence of a dominant radial mode nu1=5.48695 c/d, and detect also its first two harmonics. We find evidence for a second mode nu2=0.3017 c/d, possibly a g-mode, and indications for two more frequencies in the 7-8 c/d domain. From Stromgren photometry we find evidence for the hybrid delta Sct/gamma Dor character of the F0 star HD 44195, as frequencies near 3 c/d and 21 c/d are detected simultaneously in the different filters.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, HELAS II International Conference "Helioseismology, Asteroseismology and MHD Connections", 2008, J.Phys.: Conf. Ser. 118, 01207

The High Voltage Feedthroughs for the ATLAS Liquid Argon Calorimeters

The purpose, design specifications, construction techniques, and testing methods are described for the high voltage feedthrough ports and filters of the ATLAS Liquid Argon calorimeters. These feedthroughs carry about 5000 high voltage wires from a room-temperature environment (300 K) through the cryostat walls to the calorimeters cells (89 K) while maintaining the electrical and cryogenic integrity of the system. The feedthrough wiring and filters operate at a maximum high voltage of 2.5 kV without danger of degradation by corona discharges or radiation at the Large Hadron Collider

Groundwater recharge and age-depth profiles of intensively exploited groundwater resources in northwest India

Intensive irrigation in northwest India has led to growing concerns over the sustainability of current and future groundwater abstraction. Environmental tracers and measurements of groundwater residence times can help quantify the renewal processes. Results from 16 paired locations show the interquartile ranges for residence times in shallow alluvial groundwater (8–50 m deep) to be 1–50 years and significantly less than those from deeper groundwater (76–160 m deep) at 40–170 years. The widespread occurrence of modern tracers in deep groundwater (>60% of sites had >10% modern recharge) suggests that there is low regional aquifer anisotropy and that deep aquifers are recharged by a significant component of recent recharge via vertical leakage. Stable isotope and noble gas results at all depths conform to modern meteoric sources and annual average temperatures, with no evidence of significant regional recharge from canal leakage in this study area close to the Himalayas

Equilibrium configurations of two charged masses in General Relativity

An asymptotically flat static solution of Einstein-Maxwell equations which describes the field of two non-extreme Reissner - Nordstr\"om sources in equilibrium is presented. It is expressed in terms of physical parameters of the sources (their masses, charges and separating distance). Very simple analytical forms were found for the solution as well as for the equilibrium condition which guarantees the absence of any struts on the symmetry axis. This condition shows that the equilibrium is not possible for two black holes or for two naked singularities. However, in the case when one of the sources is a black hole and another one is a naked singularity, the equilibrium is possible at some distance separating the sources. It is interesting that for appropriately chosen parameters even a Schwarzschild black hole together with a naked singularity can be "suspended" freely in the superposition of their fields.Comment: 4 pages; accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Legal Empowerment and Horizontal Inequalities after Conflict

This article explores whether legal empowerment can address horizontal inequalities in post-conflict settings, and, if so, how. It argues that legal empowerment has modest potential to reduce these inequalities. Nevertheless, there are risks that legal empowerment might contribute to a strengthening of group identities, reduction of social cohesion, and, in the worst case, triggering of conflict. It looks at how two legal empowerment programmes in Liberia navigated the tensions between equity and peace

“Positive parochialism”, local belonging and ecological concerns: Revisiting Common Ground's Parish Maps project

Scepticism about the value of parochialism and local belonging has been a persistent feature of geographical scholarship, which has advocated a relational account of place and a cosmopolitan worldview. This paper revisits the Parish Maps project that was instigated in 1987 by UK arts and environment charity Common Ground, which led to the creation of thousands of maps across the UK and beyond, and was appraised in 1996 by Crouch and Matless in this journal. Drawing on archival materials and in‐depth interviews, we examine the legacy of the project. We argue that Common Ground's vision for Parish Maps represents a “positive parochialism” that confidently asserts the validity of the parish without retreating towards insularity. We complicate this by revealing diverse ways that communities took up Common Ground's vision. We conclude by arguing that the view of parochialism manifest by Parish Maps offers a foundation for ecological concern that remains relevant today, with places offering the potential for solidarities that bring together local and incomer. This “positive parochialism” disturbs assumptions that local attachments are necessarily exclusive and indicates the unresolved challenge of finding ways to realise the value of affect and creative environmental engagement in wider policy and land‐use planning