Reusable chelating resins concentrate metal ions from highly dilute solutions

Column chromatographic method uses new metal chelating resins for recovering heavy-metal ions from highly dilute solutions. The absorbed heavy-metal cations may be removed from the chelating resins by acid or base washes. The resins are reusable after the washes are completed

Apparatus to measure the mid-infrared spectral emittance of cold powders in a vacuum

Apparatus for measuring mid-infrared spectral emission from cold powders in vacuu

Discovering Donors: Legal Rights to Access Information About Anonymous Sperm Donors Given to Children of Artificial Insemination in Johnson v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County

In the Johnson case, six-year-old Brittany, a child conceived through artificial insemination, was diagnosed with a genetically-transmitted kidney disease originating from the child\u27s anonymous sperm donor. The case documents the parents\u27 struggle to obtain personal medical information regarding the anonymous donor. It also illustrates the donor\u27s fight, with the full support of the sperm bank, to maintain his anonymity at all costs. This Note discusses the court\u27s decision in Johnson v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County, et al., in which it held that children created through artificial insemination should be allowed access to information about their anonymous sperm donor fathers under limited circumstances. This Note will also explain the impact this decision will have on current sperm bank practices. Part II explains the background of the artificial insemination industry, as well as privacy rights discussed by the Johnson court. Part III will discuss the facts of the case and its procedural history. Part IV explains the court\u27s analysis of this case and its decision. Part V critiques the court\u27s analysis and discusses the possible effect the decision may have on the artificial insemination industry

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThe energy industry is facing major challenges as world energy demand continues to increase. Unconventional resources, including oil shale, have the capacity to meet that demand as production technology develops. There are many challenges associated with production of fuels from these resources including economics, environmental considerations, sustainability, and government policies. Improving predictive capabilities for energy production from these resources could play a major role in addressing these challenges. Simulation of thermal/reactive reservoir systems is complex. Heat transfers through the rock and fluids by conduction and convection, chemical reactions occur, phases change, multiphase fluids ow, and rock mechanical properties change. Each of these physical processes occurs simultaneously, affecting each other. Important physical processes also occur at widely varying length and time scales. Even where physical process models may be appropriate, the input data are highly uncertain. Useful modeling tools must find a balance between solution accuracy and computational effeciency. Simplifying assumptions are typically made according to data and experience. However, these simplifying assumptions may not be justified where data are sparse and where system characteristics change as a process unfolds. This research explores methods to expose the most important physical parameters and models for making efficient and useful predictions. Reservoir simulation methods for approaching thermal and reactive problems have been explored and analyzed showing heating by conduction alone is slow, and removal of products in a rubble system is not trivial. Experimental design methods have been implemented to expose some important parameters for predicting liquid fuel production, and surrogate models have been created with those parameters that approximate full simulation within 15% accuracy. Expected variations in kinetics and relative permeability modeling parameters predict a normal probability with a mean of 295 bbls (about 39 wt% initial kerogen in place) ultimate oil recovery with a standard deviation of 40 bbls (about 5 wt% initial kerogen in place). A case study involving a hybrid process involving in situ pyrolysis, in situ combustion, and CO2 enhanced oil recovery has shown that the energy input requirement for oil shale heating can be reduced by more than 335 million BTU, or 55%, and produce 160 bbls or 36% more oil. Finally, novel methods for performing these complex simulations are discussed. Progress and challenges with these novel methods are also discussed

Discovering Donors: Legal Rights to Access Information About Anonymous Sperm Donors Given to Children of Artificial Insemination in Johnson v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County

In the Johnson case, six-year-old Brittany, a child conceived through artificial insemination, was diagnosed with a genetically-transmitted kidney disease originating from the child\u27s anonymous sperm donor. The case documents the parents\u27 struggle to obtain personal medical information regarding the anonymous donor. It also illustrates the donor\u27s fight, with the full support of the sperm bank, to maintain his anonymity at all costs. This Note discusses the court\u27s decision in Johnson v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County, et al., in which it held that children created through artificial insemination should be allowed access to information about their anonymous sperm donor fathers under limited circumstances. This Note will also explain the impact this decision will have on current sperm bank practices. Part II explains the background of the artificial insemination industry, as well as privacy rights discussed by the Johnson court. Part III will discuss the facts of the case and its procedural history. Part IV explains the court\u27s analysis of this case and its decision. Part V critiques the court\u27s analysis and discusses the possible effect the decision may have on the artificial insemination industry

Statistical Analysis of Model Data for Operational Space Launch Weather Support at Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

The 12-km resolution North American Mesoscale (NAM) model (MesoNAM) is used by the 45th Weather Squadron (45 WS) Launch Weather Officers at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) to support space launch weather operations. The 45 WS tasked the Applied Meteorology Unit to conduct an objective statistics-based analysis of MesoNAM output compared to wind tower mesonet observations and then develop a an operational tool to display the results. The National Centers for Environmental Prediction began running the current version of the MesoNAM in mid-August 2006. The period of record for the dataset was 1 September 2006 - 31 January 2010. The AMU evaluated MesoNAM hourly forecasts from 0 to 84 hours based on model initialization times of 00, 06, 12 and 18 UTC. The MesoNAM forecast winds, temperature and dew point were compared to the observed values of these parameters from the sensors in the KSC/CCAFS wind tower network. The data sets were stratified by model initialization time, month and onshore/offshore flow for each wind tower. Statistics computed included bias (mean difference), standard deviation of the bias, root mean square error (RMSE) and a hypothesis test for bias = O. Twelve wind towers located in close proximity to key launch complexes were used for the statistical analysis with the sensors on the towers positioned at varying heights to include 6 ft, 30 ft, 54 ft, 60 ft, 90 ft, 162 ft, 204 ft and 230 ft depending on the launch vehicle and associated weather launch commit criteria being evaluated. These twelve wind towers support activities for the Space Shuttle (launch and landing), Delta IV, Atlas V and Falcon 9 launch vehicles. For all twelve towers, the results indicate a diurnal signal in the bias of temperature (T) and weaker but discernable diurnal signal in the bias of dewpoint temperature (T(sub d)) in the MesoNAM forecasts. Also, the standard deviation of the bias and RMSE of T, T(sub d), wind speed and wind direction indicated the model error increased with the forecast period all four parameters. The hypothesis testing uses statistics to determine the probability that a given hypothesis is true. The goal of using the hypothesis test was to determine if the model bias of any of the parameters assessed throughout the model forecast period was statistically zero. For th is dataset, if this test produced a value >= -1 .96 or <= 1.96 for a data point, then the bias at that point was effectively zero and the model forecast for that point was considered to have no error. A graphical user interface (GUI) was developed so the 45 WS would have an operational tool at their disposal that would be easy to navigate among the multiple stratifications of information to include tower locations, month, model initialization times, sensor heights and onshore/offshore flow. The AMU developed the GUI using HyperText Markup Language (HTML) so the tool could be used in most popular web browsers with computers running different operating systems such as Microsoft Windows and Linux