Comparison of Methods to Determine Maritime Safety Zones for LNG Terminals

PresentationA Maritime Safety Zone is defined by the U.S. Coast Guard as a water area, shore area, or water and shore area combined to which, for safety or environmental purposes, access is limited to authorized persons, vehicles, or vessels. A Maritime Safety Zone is established to prevent interference with safe navigation and tug maneuvers, to exclude third party access in order to reduce ignition probability, to aid in emergency preparation, and to protect the public from being exposed to potential harm. USCG also defines a Maritime Security Zone for protection against intentional threats, and this is usually larger than the Safety Zone. The USCG requires that a Maritime Safety Zone be defined before a Letter of Recommendation is given. While the Canada Marine Act only suggests that a port authority may establish Traffic Control Zones, the USCG suggests using the Sandia study as guidance for determining Maritime Safety and Security Zones. Though there are guidance documents, no standard method is currently available for determining site specific Maritime Safety Zones applicable to accidental spills that could occur at the waterfront configuration of the terminal. A common methodology would enable Safety Zones to be more properly defined and create safer waterways. Two types of approaches have been proposed by DNV GL in this paper to determine the Safety Zones surrounding LNG terminals from accidental spills. A deterministic approach is based on a single maximum credible event among a set of representative scenarios that have been modeled. This approach may conservatively produce a very large hazard distance depending on the consequence of the maximum credible scenario. A probabilistic approach is a risk based approach which associates the consequence (the thermal radiation intensities and the flammable vapor dispersion distances) with the likelihood of having such a consequence. A probabilistic approach provides a more realistic basis for making informed decisions

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Quantification of Elemental Contaminants in Unregulated Water across Western Navajo Nation

The geologic profile of the western United States lends itself to naturally elevated levels of arsenic and uranium in groundwater and can be exacerbated by mining enterprises. The Navajo Nation, located in the American Southwest, is the largest contiguous Native American Nation and has over a 100-year legacy of hard rock mining. This study has two objectives, quantify the arsenic and uranium concentrations in water systems in the Arizona and Utah side of the Navajo Nation compared to the New Mexico side and to determine if there are other elements of concern. Between 2014 and 2017, 294 water samples were collected across the Arizona and Utah side of the Navajo Nation and analyzed for 21 elements. Of these, 14 elements had at least one instance of a concentration greater than a national regulatory limit, and six of these (V, Ca, As, Mn, Li, and U) had the highest incidence of exceedances and were of concern to various communities on the Navajo Nation. Our findings are similar to other studies conducted in Arizona and on the Navajo Nation and demonstrate that other elements may be a concern for public health beyond arsenic and uranium.National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences/Center for Indigenous Environmental Health Research [P50ES026089]; National Cancer Institute/Native American Cancer Prevention [U54CA143925]; Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board NARCH 10 - National Institutes of Health [1S06GM127164]; Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board NARCH 7 - Indian Health Service [U261IHS0074-01-01]; National Institutes of HealthOpen access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Perceptions of Juvenile Court Staff Regarding Occupational Functioning of Adjudicated Youth with History of Substance Use

Background: Substance use disorder has become a more prevalent issue with the younger population. Within a Southern Ohio county approximately 120 adolescents are served yearly for substance related events. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to understand the occupational needs of the adolescent population served by the court based on the perceptions of the juvenile court staff. Methods: Six participants at a Southern Ohio county juvenile court, who have regular contact with the youth, received a mixed methods survey concerning the youths’ daily living skills and barriers they may encounter. Conclusion: Based on the survey results it was noted that the youth, with a history of substance use, served by the court experience occupational dysfunction in the areas of: Activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living, sleep, social participation, leisure, work, and education. The information from the survey will help future occupational therapy students serve the population

Weighted Gene Co-Expression Network Analysis Identifies a Functional Guild and Metabolite Cluster Mediating the Relationship between Mucosal Inflammation and Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet in Ulcerative Colitis

Diet influences the pathogenesis and clinical course of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The Mediterranean diet (MD) is linked to reductions in inflammatory biomarkers and alterations in microbial taxa and metabolites associated with health. We aimed to identify features of the gut microbiome that mediate the relationship between the MD and fecal calprotectin (FCP) in ulcerative colitis (UC). Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was used to identify modules of co-abundant microbial taxa and metabolites correlated with the MD and FCP. The features considered were gut microbial taxa, serum metabolites, dietary components, short-chain fatty acid and bile acid profiles in participants that experienced an increase (n = 13) or decrease in FCP (n = 16) over eight weeks. WGCNA revealed ten modules containing sixteen key features that acted as key mediators between the MD and FCP. Three taxa (Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Dorea longicatena, Roseburia inulinivorans) and a cluster of four metabolites (benzyl alcohol, 3-hydroxyphenylacetate, 3-4-hydroxyphenylacetate and phenylacetate) demonstrated a strong mediating effect (ACME: −1.23, p = 0.004). This study identified a novel association between diet, inflammation and the gut microbiome, providing new insights into the underlying mechanisms of how a MD may influence IBD. See clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04474561)

Search for intermediate mass black hole binaries in the first observing run of Advanced LIGO

International audienceDuring their first observational run, the two Advanced LIGO detectors attained an unprecedented sensitivity, resulting in the first direct detections of gravitational-wave signals produced by stellar-mass binary black hole systems. This paper reports on an all-sky search for gravitational waves (GWs) from merging intermediate mass black hole binaries (IMBHBs). The combined results from two independent search techniques were used in this study: the first employs a matched-filter algorithm that uses a bank of filters covering the GW signal parameter space, while the second is a generic search for GW transients (bursts). No GWs from IMBHBs were detected; therefore, we constrain the rate of several classes of IMBHB mergers. The most stringent limit is obtained for black holes of individual mass 100  M⊙, with spins aligned with the binary orbital angular momentum. For such systems, the merger rate is constrained to be less than 0.93  Gpc−3 yr−1 in comoving units at the 90% confidence level, an improvement of nearly 2 orders of magnitude over previous upper limits

First low-frequency Einstein@Home all-sky search for continuous gravitational waves in Advanced LIGO data

International audienceWe report results of a deep all-sky search for periodic gravitational waves from isolated neutron stars in data from the first Advanced LIGO observing run. This search investigates the low frequency range of Advanced LIGO data, between 20 and 100 Hz, much of which was not explored in initial LIGO. The search was made possible by the computing power provided by the volunteers of the Einstein@Home project. We find no significant signal candidate and set the most stringent upper limits to date on the amplitude of gravitational wave signals from the target population, corresponding to a sensitivity depth of 48.7  [1/Hz]. At the frequency of best strain sensitivity, near 100 Hz, we set 90% confidence upper limits of 1.8×10-25. At the low end of our frequency range, 20 Hz, we achieve upper limits of 3.9×10-24. At 55 Hz we can exclude sources with ellipticities greater than 10-5 within 100 pc of Earth with fiducial value of the principal moment of inertia of 1038  kg m2