Experimental observations of cohesive sediment dynamics in aquaculture recirculation tanks

se describe un modelo para velcocidad de caida de agregados validado experimentalmente.Cohesive sediments from non-used food and fish excreta are a main concern in aquaculture recirculation tank design. Excess concentrations of sediments can cause fish death or additional costs of energy for aeration. Flow dynamics in these tanks is represented as a multiphase flow with two disperse phases: one of solids (cohesive sediments) and one of gas (oxygen) because aeration is always needed. This research was carried out to understand the settling behavior of flocs when subjected to a liquid shear rate. A reduced scale model of an aquaculture recirculation tank was built in Plexiglas in order to use Particle Image Velocimetry and Particle Tracking Velocimetry techniques to measure fluid velocities, solid settling velocities, floc shape, and size. The optical techniques provided a description of how the phases organize in space and how this organization is related to the microphysics. Different flow rates and solid concentrations were used to develop varied configurations in the system. Models for floc settling velocity based on fractal theory were calibrated. Cohesive sediments from fish food were observed in long-term experiments at constant fluid shear rate and constant gas flow rates in the recirculation tank. Images were obtained each five minutes. Image analysis provided us with floc settling velocity data and floc size. Using floc settling velocity data, floc density data were obtained for different diameters at equilibrium conditions, after one hour or larger experiments. Statistical analysis of floc velocities for different floc sizes allowed us to obtain an expression for the drag coefficient as a function of floc particle Reynolds number (R*=ρwWsD/μ) where Ws is the floc settling velocity, D is floc diameter, ρw is the liquid mass density and μ is the liquid viscosity. The results are helpful to improve cohesive sediment removal in aquaculture recirculation tanks by providing a tool to obtain optimum sedimentation rates as a function of fluid shear ratesUAE

Experimental assessment of Athabasca river cohesive sediment deposition dynamics.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) originating from natural sources, and potentially from the Athabasca Oil Sands development, are of concern for the Athabasca River and Lake Athabasca delta ecosystems. In order to model the transport of fine sediments (and associated PAHs), it is important to describe the sediment dynamics within the river system. Flocs possess different settling characteristics compared to individual particles. A key aspect in modelling floc settling behaviour is the mathematical linkage of the floc density to floc size. In this paper, a rotating annular flume is used to determine the settling characteristics of Muskeg River (a tributary of the Athabasca River) sediments under different shear conditions. Simulations of the settling and flocculation behaviour of these sediments were used to calibrate a density vs. floc size model. A relationship of the parameters relating floc size and density with the fractal dimension F shows that as diameter increases flocs become weaker. Recommendations for the practical application of the model are further formulated in this paper. The deposition tests offer a quantitative measure of the relative amount of sediment that is likely to be transported through the river for given flow conditions.Para el rio Athabasca y los ecosistemas deltaicos del lago athabasca, los hidrocarburos Aromaticos policiclicos (HAPs) originados e fuentes naturales y potencialmente por los desarrollos de arenas bituminosas, son una amenaza. Para poder modelar el transporte de sedimentos finos (y HAPs asociados) es importante describir la dinámica de estos dentro del sistema. Los agregados (floculos) que se forman tiene caracteristicas de sedimentación diferentes a las partículas individuales. Un aspoecto importante para modelar la sedimentación de floculos es la relación matemática entre el tamaño de este y su densidad. En este articulo un canal rotatorio circular es usado para determinar las características de sedimentación de sedimentos del río Muskeg(un tributario del Athabasca) para diferentes condiciones de tasa de corte. Un modelo de densidad de los flóculos vs. tamaño de estos fue calibrado con las simulaciones de la sedimentación de esos sedimentos cohesivos. Una relación obtenida entre tamaño de flóculos, densidad y dimensión fractal F muestra que ha medida que su tamaño aumenta se vuelve mas frágil. Recomendaciones para la aplicación práctica del modelo se sugieren en el artículo. Los tests de deposito presentan una medida cuantitativa de la proporción de sedimentos que es posible que sea transportada por el río dada sus condiciones hidrodinámicas.Environment Canada, CONACY

Definition of critical hydrodynamic conditions for sediment motion initiation using optical technique

Sediment motion initiation experiments were performed in a glass rectangular channel, with a loose bed in the central part. The main goal is to obtain the critical hydrodynamic characteristics that causes sediment bed motion initiation, for different cohesionless sediment grain sizes. The optical technique of Particle Tracking Velocimetry (PTV) was used in order to determine the critical velocity profiles for sediment initiation of motion. Between the parameters that define this critical velocity profile is the one known as bed rugosity which represents the height of asperities in the bed. For conditions near bed motion initiation experimental velocity profiles were obtained and they allowed us also to define fluctuating velocities u´, v´ and a value of bed rugosity ks related to a representative grain size of the bed. It was shown that obtained critical velocity profiles are in good agreement with other works in the scientific literature provided an appropriate definition of bed rugosity is made.Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Méxic

Identificación de áreas críticas de erosión en el Curso Alto del Río Lerma

El Curso Alto del Río Lerma (carl) tiene una extensión de 2 117.9 km2, presenta en su parte alta, el Volcán Nevado de Toluca, elevaciones de 4 560 msnm y en su parte baja la presa José Antonio Alzate una elevación de 2 569 msnm. La abrupta topografía, las altas precipitaciones y la intervención humana (tala de bosques y prácticas agrícolas inadecuadas), presentes en la cuenca, generan anualmente una importante pérdida de suelo. En este trabajo se identifican las áreas del carl que producen mayor pérdida de suelo. Se hizo un esfuerzo para identificar los municipios más afectados con el fin de instarles a tomar medidas preventivas. Estos municipios corresponden a Santiago Tianguistenco, Lerma y Ocoyoacac que juntos representan 60% de las zonas con grado de erosión extrema. En índices de erosión alta a los anteriores se le suman Otzolotepec, Temoaya, Xalatlaco, Toluca en las faldas del Nevado y Zinacantepec

Optical Methods Applied to Hydrodynamics of Cohesive Sediments

Suspended sediment transport in large rivers is constituted mainly by cohesive sediments, which form aggregates or flocs with primary particles less than 65 μm. The removal of cohesive sediments in aquaculture tanks is a difficult problem. Due to its size, density, and shape, the hydrodynamic behavior of flocs is very different from that of non-cohesive sediments as they depend on the interaction with the water column. This chapter describes the experimental results obtained in sedimentation tanks, reduced models of aquaculture recirculation tanks, and a rotating circular flume with Plexiglas walls, in which optical methods were used to determine flocs’ characteristics. These methods include particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) and digital holography for particle image velocimetry (DHPIV). Fractal models for floc density were successfully developed and validated with PTV experimental results in an aquaculture recirculation tank. Also, a model for the settling velocity of the flocs was validated using a permeable drag coefficient definition. Suspended sediments from Mexico’s two largest rivers, Usumacinta and Grijalva, with a mean flow rate near mouth of 1700 and 650 m3/s, respectively, were analyzed in a rotating circular flume. The shear velocity obtained in the field was reproduced in the circular flume and size and shape of flocs were obtained. This allowed to reproduce suspended sediment concentration profiles of rivers. DHPIV techniques were developed in order to obtain the actual size of the flocs based on Fresnel approximation for the reconstruction of holographic images

Regional analysis of climate variability at three time scales and its effect on rainfed maize production in the Upper Lerma River Basin, Mexico

Rainy season use to be from May to September and actually is from June to September. Rainy season use to be from May to September and actually is from June to September. In the region, the most determinant factor for maize crop losses is the water deficit.This study explored climate variability in the Upper Lerma River Basin, State of Mexico, Mexico, at three timescales: annual (1960–2010), monthly (1980–2010) and seasonal (1980–2010). The effects of monthly and seasonal (2003–2010) variability on rainfed maize crops were also evaluated. The variables of rainfall, maximum temperature, minimum temperature and number of hailstorms were interpolated to generate monthly spatial-temporal series. Over a period of 51 years, the climate of the region shows an accumulative annual increase of 131 mm in rainfall and an increase of 0.8 and 0.74 °C in maximum and minimum temperature, respectively. In conclusion, significant changes in the climate variables were found at the three analyzed timescales. Seasonal climate changes were found to coincide with the most vulnerable stage or flowering period of maize; particularly, a shift in the rainfall pattern generates a water deficit that impacts production yield. Hailstorms have increased in frequency, yet their phase shift results in a lesser impact to maize during its most critical stage of development.This study was financed by the Basic Science research project, SEP-CONACYT “Mesoamerican Corn and Scenarios for Local development (El maíz473 mesoamericano y sus escenarios de desarrollo local), No. 130947. The authors also wish to thank the two anonymous reviewers and their comments for improving and restructuring the manuscript in order to highlight the results of this research

Single dose of diclofenac or meloxicam for control of pain, facial swelling, and trismus in oral surgery

Background: Postoperative pain associated with removal of mandibular third molars has been documented from moderate to severe during the first 24 hours after surgery, with pain peaking between 6 and 8 hours when a conventional local anesthetic is used. Dental pain is largely inflammatory, and evidence-based medicine has shown that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are the best analgesics for dental pain. The aim of this study was to compare the analgesic, anti-inflammatory and anti-trismus effect of a single dose of diclofenac and meloxicam after mandibular third molar extraction. Material and Methods: A total of 36 patients were randomized into two treatment groups, each with 18 patients, using a series of random numbers: Group A, was administered 100 mg of diclofenac; and Group B, 15 mg of meloxicam. Drugs were administered orally 1 hour prior to surgery. We evaluated pain intensity, analgesic consumption, swelling, as well as trismus. Results: The results of this study showed that patients receiving 15 mg of meloxicam had less postoperative pain ( P =0.04) and better aperture than those receiving 100 mg of diclofenac ( P =0.03). The meloxicam group presented less swelling than diclofenac group; however, significant statistical differences were not observed. Conclusions: Data of this double-blind, randomized, parallel-group clinical trial demonstrated that patients receiving 15 mg of preoperative meloxicam had a better postoperative analgesia and anti-trismus effect compared with who were given 100 mg of diclofenac after third molar extractions

Haemophilus parasuis molecular serotyping assay

Haemophilus parasuis causes Glässer's disease and pneumonia in pigs. Indirect hemagglutination (IHA) is typically used to serotype this bacterium, distinguishing 15 serovars with some nontypeable isolates. The capsule loci of the 15 reference strains have been annotated, and significant genetic variation was identified between serovars, with the exception of serovars 5 and 12. A capsule locus and in silico serovar were identified for all but two nontypeable isolates in our collection of >200 isolates. Here, we describe the development of a multiplex PCR, based on variation within the capsule loci of the 15 serovars of H. parasuis, for rapid molecular serotyping. The multiplex PCR (mPCR) distinguished between all previously described serovars except 5 and 12, which were detected by the same pair of primers. The detection limit of the mPCR was 4.29 × 10(5) ng/μl bacterial genomic DNA, and high specificity was indicated by the absence of reactivity against closely related commensal Pasteurellaceae and other bacterial pathogens of pigs. A subset of 150 isolates from a previously sequenced H. parasuis collection was used to validate the mPCR with 100% accuracy compared to the in silico results. In addition, the two in silico-nontypeable isolates were typeable using the mPCR. A further 84 isolates were analyzed by mPCR and compared to the IHA serotyping results with 90% concordance (excluding those that were nontypeable by IHA). The mPCR was faster, more sensitive, and more specific than IHA, enabling the differentiation of 14 of the 15 serovars of H. parasuis.This work was supported by a BPEX PhD studentship and a Longer and Larger (LoLa) grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (grant numbers BB/G020744/1, BB/G019177/1, BB/G019274/1 and BB/G003203/1), the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Zoetis, awarded to the Bacterial Respiratory Diseases of Pigs-1 Technology (BRaDP1T) consortium. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from American Society for Microbiology via http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/JCM.01991-1

Erosion characteristics and floc strenght of Athabasca river cohesive sediments: towards managing sediment-related issues

Purpose: Most of Canada’s tar sands exploitations are located in the Athabasca river basin. Deposited cohesive sediments in Athabasca river and tributaries are a potential source of PAHs in the basin. Erosional behavior of cohesive sediments depends not only of fluid turbulence but on sediments structure and particularly the influence of organic content. This research tries to describe this behavior in Athabasca river sediments. Methods: An experimental study of cohesive sediments dynamics in one of the tributaries, the Muskeg river, was developed in a rotating annular flume. Variation of the shear stress allowed the determination of erosional strength for beds with different consolidation periods. Particle size measurements were made with a laser diffraction device operated in a continuous flow through mode. Optical analyses of flocs (ESEM and TEM) were performed with samples taken at the end of the experiments. Results: An inverse relationship between suspended sediment concentration (SS) and the consolidation period was found. The differences are related in this research to the increasing organic content of the sediments with consolidation period. The particle size measurements during the experiments showed differences on floc strength that are also related to changing organic content during different consolidation periods. ESEM and TEM observations confirm the structural differences for beds with different consolidation periods. The effects of SFGL on floc structure and in biostabilization of the bed are discussed. Conclusions: It is recommended in this paper that consolidation period should be taken into account for the modeling of erosion of cohesive sediments in the Athabasca river. Relating to transport models of pollutants (PAHs) it is highly recommended to consider flocs organic content, particularly algae, in the resuspension module.Environment Canada, CONACY

The Fourteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey and from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment

The fourth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) has been in operation since July 2014. This paper describes the second data release from this phase, and the fourteenth from SDSS overall (making this, Data Release Fourteen or DR14). This release makes public data taken by SDSS-IV in its first two years of operation (July 2014-2016). Like all previous SDSS releases, DR14 is cumulative, including the most recent reductions and calibrations of all data taken by SDSS since the first phase began operations in 2000. New in DR14 is the first public release of data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS); the first data from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2), including stellar parameter estimates from an innovative data driven machine learning algorithm known as "The Cannon"; and almost twice as many data cubes from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey as were in the previous release (N = 2812 in total). This paper describes the location and format of the publicly available data from SDSS-IV surveys. We provide references to the important technical papers describing how these data have been taken (both targeting and observation details) and processed for scientific use. The SDSS website (www.sdss.org) has been updated for this release, and provides links to data downloads, as well as tutorials and examples of data use. SDSS-IV is planning to continue to collect astronomical data until 2020, and will be followed by SDSS-V.Comment: SDSS-IV collaboration alphabetical author data release paper. DR14 happened on 31st July 2017. 19 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by ApJS on 28th Nov 2017 (this is the "post-print" and "post-proofs" version; minor corrections only from v1, and most of errors found in proofs corrected