STS-3 Induced Environment Contamination Monitor (IECM): Quick-look report

The STS-3/Induced Environment Contamination Monitor (IECM) mission is described. The IECM system performance is discussed, and IECM mission time events are briefly described. Quick look analyses are presented for each of the 10 instruments comprising the IECM on the flight of STS-3. Finally, a short summary is presented and plans are discussed for future IECM flights, and opportunities for direct mapping of Orbiter effluents using the Remote manipulator System

Distributed Modeling of Ablation (1996–2011) and Climate Sensitivity on the Glaciers of Taylor Valley, Antarctica

The McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica host the coldest and driest ecosystem on Earth, which is acutely sensitive to the availability of water coming from glacial runoff. We modeled the spatial variability in ablation and assessed climate sensitivity of the glacier ablation zones using 16 years of meteorological and surface mass-balance observations collected in Taylor Valley. Sublimation was the primary form of mass loss over much of the ablation zones, except for near the termini where melt, primarily below the surface, dominated. Microclimates in ~10 m scale topographic basins generated melt rates up to ten times higher than over smooth glacier surfaces. In contrast, the vertical terminal cliffs on the glaciers can have higher or lower melt rates than the horizontal surfaces due to differences in incoming solar radiation. The model systematically underpredicted ablation for the final 5 years studied, possibly due to an increase of windblown sediment. Surface mass-balance sensitivity to temperature was ~−0.02 m w.e. K−1, which is among the smallest magnitudes observed globally. We also identified a high sensitivity to ice albedo, with a decrease of 0.02 having similar effects as a 1 K increase in temperature, and a complex sensitivity to wind speed

Host density drives viral, but not trypanosome, transmission in a key pollinator

Supplemental feeding of wildlife populations can locally increase the density of individuals, which may in turn impact disease dynamics. Flower strips are a widely used intervention in intensive agricultural systems to nutritionally support pollinators such as bees. Using a controlled experimental semi-field design, we asked how density impacts transmission of a virus and a trypanosome parasite in bumblebees. We manipulated bumblebee density by using different numbers of colonies within the same area of floral resource. In high-density compartments, slow bee paralysis virus was transmitted more quickly, resulting in higher prevalence and level of infection in bumblebee hosts. By contrast, there was no impact of density on the transmission of the trypanosome Crithidia bombi, which may reflect the ease with which this parasite is transmitted. These results suggest that agri-environment schemes such as flower strips, which are known to enhance the nutrition and survival of bumblebees, may also have negative impacts on pollinators through enhanced disease transmission. Future studies should assess how changing the design of these schemes could minimize disease transmission and thus maximise their health benefits to wild pollinators

Do Patients Taking Warfarin Experience Delays to Theatre, Longer Hospital Stay, and Poorer Survival After Hip Fracture?

BACKGROUND: Patients sustaining a fractured neck of the femur are typically of advanced age with multiple comorbidities. As a consequence, the proportion of these patients receiving warfarin therapy is approximately 10%. There are currently few studies investigating outcomes in this subset of patients. QUESTIONS/PURPOSES: The purpose of this study was to assess the association between warfarin therapy and time to surgery, length of hospital stay, and survival in patients sustaining a fractured neck of the femur. METHODS: Data for 2036 patients admitted to our center between July 2009 and July 2014 with a fractured neck of the femur were extracted from the National Hip Fracture Database. Fifty-seven patients received no surgical treatment and were excluded from analysis. Multivariable ordinary least squares regression was performed to test the association between warfarin treatment on time to surgery and length of stay, and Cox proportional hazards to test followup survival. Variables included in the regression model were age, sex, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score, admission Abbreviated Mental Test Score (AMTS), fracture type, operation type, and premorbid Work Ability Index (WAI). One hundred fifty-two of 1979 surgically treated patients (8%) were receiving warfarin therapy at the time of admission. RESULTS: After controlling for age, sex, ASA score, AMTS, fracture type, operation type, and WAI, we found that patients taking warfarin were less likely to go to surgery by 36 hours (odds ratio [OR], 0.20; 95% CI, 0.14-0.30), and less likely to go to surgery by 48 hours (OR, 0.17; 95% CI, 0.11-0.24). Patients taking warfarin had a longer length of stay (median, 15 days; interquartile range [IQR], 12-22 days) compared with patients not taking warfarin (median, 13 days; IQR, 9-20 days; p < 0.001). Survival analysis to June 2015 showed a higher mortality for patients taking warfarin (12-month survival, 66% vs 76%; hazard ratio, 1.57; 95% CI, 1.21-2.04; p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: After controlling for multiple prognostic factors such as age, ASA score, AMTS, and WAI, warfarin therapy at the time of injury is associated with increased time to surgery, length of stay, and decreased survival. This study highlights the need to view warfarin therapy as a 'red flag' in patients presenting with a fractured neck of the femur. Preoperatively, prompt warfarin reversal together with adequate investigation and optimization of the patient should ensure timely, safe surgery. Early involvement of the anesthesia team should ensure an appropriate level of postoperative care for these patients. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level III, therapeutic study.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11999-016-5056-

Laboratory and pilot field-scale testing of surfactants for environmental restoration of chlorinated solvent DNAPLs

This project is composed of two phases and has the objective of demonstrating surfactant-enhanced aquifer remediation (SEAR) as a practical remediation technology at DOE sites with ground water contaminated by dense, non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs), in particular, chlorinated solvents. The first phase of this project, Laboratory and Pilot Field Scale Testing, which is the subject of the work so far, involves (1) laboratory experiments to examine the solubilization of multiple component DNAPLs, e.g., solvents such as perchloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE), by dilute surfactant solutions, and (2) a field test to demonstrate SEAR technology on a small scale and in an existing well

The importance of soil and vegetation characteristics for establishing ground nesting bee aggregations

Most bee species are ground-nesters, yet knowledge on the nesting behaviour of this diverse group remains sparse. Evidence on the effectiveness of ground-nesting bee species as crop pollinators is growing, but there is limited information on their nesting habits and preferences and how to manage habitats to enhance populations on farms. In this study, artificially prepared plots of bare soil were constructed with the aim to attract ground-nesting bees to nest in a commercial orchard in Kent, UK. Nine soil parameters were measured to determine their preferred soil properties: hydraulic conductivity, soil compaction, soil moisture, soil temperature, soil stoniness, soil organic matter, soil root biomass, soil texture and vegetation cover. Eighteen non-parasitic ground-nesting bee species (7 Andrena, 9 Lasioglossum, 1 Halictus and 1 Colletes spp.) were recorded in the study plots. Soil stoniness and soil temperature at 10cm depth were positively correlated, and vegetation cover and hydraulic conductivity were negatively correlated with the number of ground-nesting bees on the plots. We show that artificially created habitats can be exploited for nesting by several ground-nesting bee species. This study’s findings can inform management practices to enhance ground-nesting bee populations in agricultural and urban areas

Covers of acts over monoids II

In 1981 Edgar Enochs conjectured that every module has a flat cover and finally proved this in 2001. Since then a great deal of effort has been spent on studying different types of covers, for example injective and torsion free covers. In 2008, Mahmoudi and Renshaw initiated the study of flat covers of acts over monoids but their definition of cover was slightly different from that of Enochs. Recently, Bailey and Renshaw produced some preliminary results on the `other' type of cover and it is this work that is extended in this paper. We consider free, divisible, torsion free and injective covers and demonstrate that in some cases the results are quite different from the module case

Processes controlling carbon cycling in Antarctic glacier surface ecosystems

Glacier surface ecosystems, including cryoconite holes and cryolakes, are significant contributors to regional carbon cycles. Incubation experiments to determine the net production (NEP) of organic matter in cryoconite typically have durations of 6-24 hours, and produce a wide range of results, many of which indicate that the system is net heterotrophic. We employ longer term incubations to examine the temporal variation of NEP in cryoconite from the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica to examine the effect of sediment disturbance on system production, and to understand processes controlling production over the lifetimes of glacier surface ecosystems. The shorter-term incubations have durations of one week and show net heterotrophy. The longer term incubations of approximately one year show net autotrophy, but only after a period of about 40 days (~1000 hours). The control on net organic carbon production is a combination of the rate of diffusion of dissolved inorganic carbon from heterotrophic activity within cryoconite into the water, the rate of carbonate dissolution, and the saturation of carbonate in the water (which is a result of photosynthesis in a closed system). We demonstrate that sediment on glacier surfaces has the potential to accumulate carbon over timescales of months to years

Near-Surface Internal Melting: a Substantial Mass Loss on Antarctic Dry Valley Glaciers

The McMurdo Dry Valleys, southern Victoria Land, East Antarctica, are a polar desert, and melt from glacial ice is the primary source of water to streams, lakes and associated ecosystems. Previous work found that to adequately model glacier ablation and subsurface ice temperatures with a surface energy-balance model required including the transmission of solar radiation into the ice. Here we investigate the contribution of subsurface melt to the mass balance of (and runoff from) Dry Valley glaciers by including a drainage process in the model and applying the model to three glacier sites using 13years of hourly meteorological data. Model results for the smooth glacier surfaces common to many glaciers in the Dry Valleys showed that sublimation was typically the largest component of surface lowering, with rare episodes of surface melting, consistent with anecdotal field observations. Results also showed extensive internal melting 5-15 cm below the ice surface, the drainage of which accounted for 50% of summer ablation. This is consistent with field observations of subsurface streams and formation of a weathering crust. We identify an annual cycle of weathering crust formation in summer and its removal during the 10 months of winter sublimation