A Comparative Analysis of Surface Erosion and Water Runoff from Existing and Recontoured Forest Roads: O\u27Brien Creek Watershed, Lolo National Forest, Montana

In recent years more efforts have been made to return unneeded roads to natural states through obliteration or total recontouring methods. Yet, few data exist to support the road obliteration process. The purpose of this study was to assess some of the relative physical impacts of road obliteration for the O\u27Brien Creek (Montana) watershed. Three road treatments were chosen: recontoured road at 0 months, recontoured road at 12 months, and existing roads broken down into four segments ( cutslope, fillslope, road center and road tread). Two types of geologic formations were sampled (Bonner and Mount Shields) along with two slope categories (\u3c45% (low) and \u3e45% (high)). Each combination of factors was sampled 5 times for a total of 100 samples. Simulated rainfall was applied to each plot in order to assess erosion potential as sediment yield and runoff. Site characterization measurements, such as bulk density, sieve analysis, and organic matter content, were also taken. One-way analysis of variance was used to compare treatment means for the Bonner geologic formation while two-sampled T -tests were used to compare treatment means for Mount Shield samples. Recontoured roads (0 months) consistently had higher runoff and made more sediment available for erosion than any other treatment for both geologic formations. Statistics also showed that in the Bonner there was no significant difference in the recontoured road (12 months) and the natural slopes in the \u3c 45% category for both runoff and erosion. The high slopes for Bonner were split, with no significant difference in the runoff, but significant difference in the erosion. For the Mount Shields there was no significant difference in the recontoured road ( 12 months) and the natural slopes in the \u3e 45% category for both runoff and erosion. The low slopes were split, with no significant difference in the sediment, but significant differences in the runoff. In all cases it was found that recontoured roads (0 months) produced sediment and runoff comparable or higher than the road segments. But, after allowing for 1-year of revegetation, the volume of runoff and erosion greatly decreased to near natural slope conditions

Almost Like Being There: Embodiment, Social Presence, and Engagement Using Telepresence Robots in Blended Courses

As students’ online learning opportunities continue to increase in higher education, students are choosing not to come back to campus in-person for a variety of personal, health, safety, and financial reasons. The growing use of video conferencing technology during the COVID-19 pandemic allowed classes to continue, but students reported a sense of disconnectedness and lack of engagement with their classes. Telepresence robots may be an alternative to video conferencing that can provide learning experiences closer to the in-person experience, which also provides a stronger sense of embodiment, social presence, and engagement in the classroom. This study explored the use of telepresence robots in four undergraduate, humanities, blended learning courses. Sixty-nine students, 43 in-person and 26 remote students, were surveyed using the Telepresence and Engagement Measurement Scale (TEMS) and provided written feedback about their experience. The TEMS measured embodiment, social presence, psychological involvement, and three indicators of engagement: behavioral, affective, and cognitive. Embodiment and social presence were positively correlated as were embodiment and behavioral engagement. There was no significant difference between the two groups’ perceptions of social presence but there was a significant difference between groups’ perceptions of engagement. Qualitative data and effect sizes greater than 0.80 supported the reliability and validity of the TEMS instrument as a measurement instrument for future study of blended learning environments using remote tools such as telepresence robots. Provided that technological issues such as connectivity and audio and video quality are addressed, telepresence robots can be a useful tool to help students feel more embodied and socially present in today’s blended learning classrooms

Salinity gradient energy: Assessment of pressure retarded osmosis and osmotic heat engines for energy generation from low-grade heat sources

Development of clean energy technologies that maximize efficiency and minimize resource consumption is a necessary component for a clean and secure energy future. The osmotic heat engine (OHE) is a closed-loop, membrane based process that utilizes low-grade heat and salinity-gradient energy between two streams for electrical energy generation. The OHE couples pressure retarded osmosis (PRO), an osmotically driven membrane process, with membrane distillation (MD), a thermally driven membrane process. In PRO, water permeates via osmosis through a semi-permeable membrane from a low concentration feed stream into a higher concentration brine (draw solution). The permeate stream becomes pressurized on the high concentration side of the membrane and a mechanical device (e.g., turbine generator set) is used to convert the hydraulic pressure to electrical energy. The MD process utilizes low-grade heat to reconcentrate the diluted brine from the PRO process and to produce a deionized water stream; these streams are then resupplied to the PRO process in the OHE. High power-density (power generated per unit area of membrane) of the PRO membrane is essential to maximize the efficiency and minimize the capital and operating costs of the OHE. Likewise, high separation efficiency is needed in the MD process to effectively reconcentrate the diluted draw solution. Thus, robust PRO membranes that can support high pressure, have high water flux, low reverse salt flux, low structural parameter, and a good membrane support structure are essential. The MD process must also be able to withstand high operating temperatures (\u3e 60 ºC) and feed water concentrations, and have low pore wetting propensity. Additionally, the use of highly soluble ionic organic and inorganic draw solutions can increase PRO power densities while achieving high MD water fluxes, thus increasing efficiencies and decreasing costs of OHE. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Resource utilization and outcome at a university versus a community teaching hospital in tPA treated stroke patients: a retrospective cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Comparing patterns of resource utilization between hospitals is often complicated by biases in community and patient populations. Stroke patients treated with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) provide a particularly homogenous population for comparison because of strict eligibility criteria for treatment. We tested whether resource utilization would be similar in this homogenous population between two hospitals located in a single Midwestern US community by comparing use of diagnostic testing and associated outcomes following treatment with t-PA.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Medical records from 206 consecutive intravenous t-PA-treated stroke patients from two teaching hospitals (one university, one community-based) were reviewed. Patient demographics, clinical characteristics and outcome were analyzed, as were the frequency of use of CT, MRI, MRA, echocardiography, angiography, and EEG.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Seventy-nine and 127 stroke patients received t-PA at the university and community hospitals, respectively. The two patient populations were demographically similar. There were no differences in stroke severity. All outcomes were similar at both hospitals. Utilization of CT scans, and non-invasive carotid and cardiac imaging studies were similar at both hospitals; however, brain MR, TEE, and catheter angiography were used more frequently at the university hospital. EEG was obtained more often at the community hospital.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Utilization of advanced brain imaging and invasive diagnostic testing was greater at the university hospital, but was not associated with improved clinical outcomes. This could not be explained on the basis of stroke severity or patient characteristics. This variation of practice suggests substantial opportunities exist to reduce costs and improve efficiency of diagnostic resource use as well as reduce patient exposure to risk from diagnostic procedures.</p

GT2006-91099 NEURAL NETWORK MODELS FOR USAGE BASED REMAINING LIFE COMPUTATION

ABSTRACT In engine structural life computations, it is common practice to assign a life of certain number of start-stop cycles based on a standard flight or mission. This is done during design through detailed calculations of stresses and temperatures for a standard flight, and the use of material property and failure models. The limitation of the design phase stress and temperature calculations is that they cannot take into account actual operating temperatures and stresses. This limitation results in either very conservative life estimates and subsequent wastage of good components, or in catastrophic damage because of highly aggressive operational conditions which were not accounted for in design. In order to improve significantly the accuracy of the life prediction, the component temperatures and stresses need to be computed for actual operating conditions. However, thermal and stress models are very detailed and complex, and it could take on the order of a few hours to complete a stress and temperature simulation of critical components for a flight. The objective of this work is to develop dynamic neural network models, that would enable us to compute the stresses and temperatures at critical locations, in orders of magnitude less computation time than required by more detailed thermal and stress models. This work expands on the work done previously [1] where a linear system identification approach was developed. The current paper describes the development of a neural network model and the temperature results achieved in comparison with the original models for Honeywell turbine and compressor components. Given certain inputs such as engine speed and gas temperatures for the flight, the models compute the component critical location temperatures for the same flight in a very small fraction of time it would take the original thermal model to compute

Burden of cirrhosis on older Americans and their families: Analysis of the health and retirement study

Prevalence of cirrhosis among older adults is expected to increase; therefore, we studied the health status, functional disability, and need for supportive care in a large national sample of individuals with cirrhosis. A prospective cohort of individuals with cirrhosis was identified within the longitudinal, nationally representative Health and Retirement Study. Cirrhosis cases were identified in linked Medicare data via ICD‐9‐CM (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification) codes and compared to an age‐matched cohort without cirrhosis. Two primary outcome domains were assessed: (1) patients' health status (perceived health status, comorbidities, health care utilization, and functional disability as determined by activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living), and (2) informal caregiving (hours of caregiving provided by a primary informal caregiver and associated cost). Adjusted negative binomial regression was used to assess the association between cirrhosis and functional disability. A total of 317 individuals with cirrhosis and 951 age‐matched comparators were identified. Relative to the comparison group, individuals with cirrhosis had worse self‐reported health status, more comorbidities, and used significantly more health care services (hospitalizations, nursing home stays, physician visits; P < 0.001 for all bivariable comparisons). They also had greater functional disability ( P < 0.001 for activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living), despite adjustment for covariates such as comorbidities and health care utilization. Individuals with cirrhosis received more than twice the number of informal caregiving hours per week ( P < 0.001), at an annual cost of US $4700 per person. Conclusion: Older Americans with cirrhosis have high rates of disability, health care utilization, and need for informal caregiving. Improved care coordination and caregiver support is necessary to optimize management of this frail population. (H EPATOLOGY 2012;55:184–191)Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/89512/1/24616_ftp.pd

Biological assessment of the effects of national forest land and resource management plans and Bureau of Land Management land use plans on Canada lynx

This biological assessment (BA) documents the potential effects of existing Forest Service (FS) Land and Resource Management Plans (LRMPs), or 'Forest Plans' and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Land Use Plans (LUPs) on the Canada Lynx (Lynx canadensis), hereafter referred to as the lynx. LRMPs and LUPs are collectively referred to as 'Plans' in this document. In a Federal Register notice on July 8, 1998, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) proposed a distinct population segment of the lynx within 16 states to be listed as threatened (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1998a). This BA evaluates 57 LRMPs and 56 LUPs in 13 of these states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington

TIP47 functions in the biogenesis of lipid droplets

TIP47 (tail-interacting protein of 47 kD) was characterized as a cargo selection device for mannose 6-phosphate receptors (MPRs), directing their transport from endosomes to the trans-Golgi network. In contrast, our current analysis shows that cytosolic TIP47 is not recruited to organelles of the biosynthetic and endocytic pathways. Knockdown of TIP47 expression had no effect on MPR distribution or trafficking and did not affect lysosomal enzyme sorting. Therefore, our data argue against a function of TIP47 as a sorting device. Instead, TIP47 is recruited to lipid droplets (LDs) by an amino-terminal sequence comprising 11-mer repeats. We show that TIP47 has apolipoprotein-like properties and reorganizes liposomes into small lipid discs. Suppression of TIP47 blocked LD maturation and decreased the incorporation of triacylglycerol into LDs. We conclude that TIP47 functions in the biogenesis of LDs

Use of the osmotic membrane bioreactor for the management of tannery wastewater using absorption liquid waste as draw solution

[EN] The performance of an osmotic membrane bioreactor (OMBR) for treating tannery wastewater at laboratory scale has been evaluated in this study. The forward osmosis (FO) membrane tested was CTA-NW from HTI. As draw solution, actual waste water from an absorption column for ammonia separation, which consists mainly of ammonium sulphate was used. The study was focused on the salt reverse flux during the OMBR operation, membrane water flux, biomass characteristics and membrane fouling. Regarding membrane water flux change with the time, the measured values diminished from 3.44 to 0.72 LMH due to the membrane fouling and the salt accumulation in the biological reactor. The stable mixed liquor conductivity value at the end of the experiment was 29.8 mS·cm¿1. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiencies were maintained near 80% until the first 50 days of operation, considering the soluble COD in the reactor instead of the COD in the membrane permeate for the performance calculation. Thence, COD removal efficiencies decreased progressively due to the accumulation of non degradable COD coming from the tannery wastewater. Concerning to the membrane fouling, FESEM/EDX analysis corroborated that organic fouling was predominant on the membrane active layer.This study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the project RTC-2015-3582-5-AR.Lujan Facundo, MJ.; Mendoza Roca, JA.; Soler Cabezas, JL.; Bes-Piá, M.; Vincent Vela, MC.; Pastor Alcañiz, L. (2019). Use of the osmotic membrane bioreactor for the management of tannery wastewater using absorption liquid waste as draw solution. Process Safety and Environmental Protection. 131:292-299. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2019.09.024S29229913