Removal and Reuse of Phosphorus as a Fertilizer from CAFO Runoff

Eutrophication is the process in which nutrient saturated waters promote algal blooms on the surface of the water. This limits the amount of dissolved oxygen content in the water, effectively limiting the range of species that can survive in a body of water. Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) can contribute to this issue. The animals in a CAFO produce large amounts of nutrient-rich waste streams that can enter natural waterways if not properly managed and increase the problem of eutrophication. The ability to treat these waste streams and recover the excess nutrients would allow for not only the reduction of nutrient leaching and runoff but would help create sustainable phosphorus practice. Phosphorus is vital in terms of food production, and there is no replacement for phosphorus for plants or humans. As the population continues to increase, food demand will as well. This means that at any point that phosphorus can be recovered, it should be. To recover phosphorus effectively from waste water sources, reverse osmosis, anion exchange, or adsorption are all viable options. Woo Pig Pooie researched these options for recovering phosphorus, and adsorption was found to be the most promising from standpoints of low maintenance and cost effectiveness. Multiple adsorption materials were ranked based on appropriate performance of cost, particle size, adsorption qualities, and the effects of application of the material. Water treatment residuals, WTR (i.e. spent alum from a drinking water treatment plant), was determined to be the most effective adsorbent. WTR, a waste product, is 80% water as it exits the water treatment plant. It must be pelletized and dried before use as an adsorbent. Pelletized and dried WTR was utilized in a full-scale facility treating 62 GPM of feed using two 11,000 gallons packed columns with associated equipment. If the cost of pelletizing and drying the WTR is included, an alternative strategy for implementation on individual farms is for several farmers to form a cooperative, which would allow the minimization of the $1,460,000 fixed capital cost and the$504,000 cost of manufacturing of the drying pelletizing facility. This would allow for the maximum amount of WTR to be treated increasing the revenue of the operation to $731,500. The cooperative would have an operation of 10 years with a net present value of$5,000. Experimental results using WTR packed columns have shown non-detectable levels of phosphorus in the effluent. The produced phosphorus saturated WTR could be land applied to reduce the level of nutrients in runoff from fields, making a safer agriculture operation

The phenomenology of near-death experiences in Northland Māori of New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North Campus, Manawatū, New Zealand

Near-death experiences (NDEs) can be described as profoundly life-changing, subjective events, that typically manifest in those who have been pronounced clinically dead. Over the past four decades, NDEs have been a field of interest for many researchers. However, the majority of NDE research has been conducted in Western contexts, with fewer than ten studies completed in non-Western regions (Sleutjes, Moreira-Almeida, & Greyson, 2014). The limited non-Western NDE research makes it difficult to determine the role culture may play in the development or interpretation of the NDE. The focus of the current study is the phenomenology of the NDEs of Maori residing in Northland, Aotearoa New Zealand. Because of the Maori focus, Kaupapa Maori Research was selected as the most appropriate methodological framework for this study. A ‘whanau of supervisors’ consisting of five Kaumatua and Kuia assisted the non-Maori researcher with respect to Kaupapa Maori. Six participants took part in unstructured interviews. Findings revealed the significant role of tikanga Maori within the NDEs of participants’, as well as a high similarity with the features often reported by NDErs of Western culture. Based on these results, it is suggested the two positions previous authors have regarded as conflicting, are not in fact mutually exclusive. The NDE may be cross-cultural in nature and culturally interpreted, but incorporate elements developed in reference to culture

Alternate multiple-outer-planet missions using a Saturn-Jupiter flyby sequence

A study has been made of a method for providing more frequent launch opportunities for multiple-planet Grand Tour type missions to the outer solar system. A Saturn-Jupiter flyby sequence was used in the analysis to initiate the mission instead of the normal Jupiter-Saturn sequence. The Saturn-first approach is shown to yield several new launch opportunities following the 1980 cutoff date for Jupiter-first missions. Results are given for various two-planet, three-planet, and four-planet Jupiter-first and Saturn-first missions. A unique five-planet Saturn-first mission and a Saturn-Jupiter flyby which returns to earth are also discussed. Mission performance is evaluated for each flyby technique by comparing Saturn-first and Jupiter-first missions with respect to launch energy requirements, available launch windows, planetary encounter conditions, and total mission times

Assessment of Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome Incidence and Identification of Other Correlating Risk Factors in Patients Admitted Through the Emergency Department

PURPOSE: The purpose of this project was to measure adherence rates to the current alcohol use screening process, and identification of correlations of alcohol use and outcomes in patients admitted to Norton Hospital, via the emergency department. METHODS: The study design is a retrospective descriptive evaluation, of adherence to the current alcohol use screening process, and associations among age, gender, ethnicity, length of stay, number of ICU days, restraint use days, level of care at admission (ICU, TCU, LLM/tele, MS), incidence of AWS/DTs, and activation of the CIWA protocol among the adult inpatient population of Norton Hospital’s downtown campus, admitted via the emergency department (ED), for greater than 24 hours, between April 2016 and April 2017. The sample consisted of 300 randomly selected patient charts, using the inclusion criteria. RESULTS: It was found that overall screening adherence for alcohol use on patients admitted from the emergency room was nearly 100%. Among the study population 26.3% screened positive, 4.3% had the specific diagnosis of alcohol withdrawal syndrome, 4.7% were treated with CIWA protocol. Those who screened positive were more likely to be male, with a mean age of 49.8 years. No statistical differences in ethnicity, level of care at admission, restraint use, mortality, number of ICU days, and length of stay were found within the study sample population, between those who screened positive or negative for alcohol use at admission. CONCLUSION: Further research needs to be done to better understand associations between alcohol use screening and ethnicity, level of care at admission, restraint use, length of stay, number of ICU days and mortality in the overall population at Norton Hospital’s downtown campus. Retrospective review revealed that there was a high level of adherence to the alcohol use screening process by the health care staff. The screening process for alcohol use at admission is well documented within those admitted via the emergency department

Land Grant Application- Young, John (York)

Land grant application submitted to the Maine Land Office on behalf of John Young for service in the Revolutionary War, by their widow Hannah.https://digitalmaine.com/revolutionary_war_me_land_office/2015/thumbnail.jp

Stop Pummeling My Primates: Effects of Land Use Change on Behaviors of Papio Anubis Near Lake Manyara National Park in Mto wa Mbu, Tanzania

The ever-increasing human population means more land is required for housing and agricultural needs to sustain the growing population. This study involves a group of olive baboons living in and on the boundary of Lake Manyara National Park in Mto wa Mbu, Tanzania. They leave the park everyday and travel to surrounding areas. There are three different habitats near the baboons’ exit point of the park, a residential area with houses and some people, an undisturbed area without homes and residents, and an agricultural area, full of farms and the most densely populated area. The object of this study was to determine whether the behaviors of the baboons were influenced or changed by the different habitats. 389 total scans of the males, females and young were conducted over a three-week period, observing and recording their feeding, moving, resting, vigilant, grooming and playing behaviors. The results demonstrated that the baboon’s behaviors are dependent on the habitats they are in (p values 2.34707E-06, 7.43812E-09, 0.000115921). The study also showed that the baboons spend very little time in the agricultural habitat where the most people are (8.7%, 34/389 scans). The influx of humans and farms has affected the baboons and their actions. If the population continues to increase and development continues to expand, the baboons’ behaviors will likely continue to be affected

Turkish Accession to the European Union: Shaped by Perception or Reality?

Throughout the last fifty years, Turkish-EU relations have fluctuated between positive to completely suspended, though one factor has remained consistent: the European Union’s hesitation to grant Turkey full membership. While some EU member countries justify barring Turkey from their ranks for a multitude of institutional, economic, and security reasons, similar issues have been overlooked in the past when accepting the membership bids of countries such as Spain, Greece, Romania, and Bulgaria. Why has Turkey in particular faced such sustained opposition from EU citizens? Is this opposition based on misinformed perceptions or an actual “clash” of cultures between the EU and Turkey? This project comparatively analyzes European public opinion and the “actual” cultural differences between Turkey and the EU, as measured by data from European Values Surveys, to conclude that EU citizens’ skepticism of Turkish accession is perhaps not very misplaced after all

Gender and absentee slave-ownership in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Britain

This thesis explores the relationship between gender, property and power in the context of British slave-ownership in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, working to unpick the categories of slave-owner, ‘West Indian’ and absentee. It demonstrates how both men and women played crucial roles as transmitters of West Indian property, acting as conduits who helped to facilitate the transmission of slave-based wealth into metropolitan society. The heart of the thesis is an analysis of qualitative material. It uses Barbadian slave-owner Thomas Lane as a lens through which to interrogate the complicated relationship between absentee slave-ownership and masculinity, exploring how male absentees, unlike many of their literary counterparts, were able to conceive and present themselves as both slave-owners and gentlemen. But it places a particular focus on female absentees, examining the mediations and constraints that these women faced, while also highlighting the ways in which they were able to carve a place for themselves within these always restricted parameters. Looking at Jamaican slave-holder Anna Eliza Grenville, it examines the ways she negotiated her position as a married woman and substantial property owner, as well as situating her slave-ownership within her broader social, political and imperial worlds. Indeed, nearly a quarter of absentees who claimed compensation following the abolition of slavery in 1834 were women. Using the records of the Slave Compensation Commission the thesis examines, where possible, how the most substantial female slave-owners became claimants and how they bequeathed the Caribbean property they owned or compensation they received. Absentee slave-owners were a large and diverse range of people. This thesis demonstrates just some of the many ways that these absentees, male and female, worked to bring slave-ownership ‘home’ to metropolitan Britain in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries