Multi-inlet migration modeling for navigation channel management in Tabusintac Bay, Eastern Canada

In New Brunswick, Atlantic Canada, Tabusintac Bay’s multiple tidal inlets meander through narrow barrier islands and are prone to large storm-induced shifts, making navigation hazardous. A multi-evidence assessment comprised of air-photo analysis, field observations and modeling was undertaken to understand the system and recommend sustainable dredging strategies and/or engineering alternatives. The modeling relied on a combination of simple analytical methods for tidal inlet stability, and complex morphological modeling to project the evolution of the nearshore bathymetry. The study recommended reassigning dredging efforts to a new inlet projected to grow and have better stability. Observations two years after the initial modeling effort indicate that the morphological evolution is consistent with the simulation results, and allowed lowered maintenance dredging requirements. This study illustrates how such a multi-evidence assessment of complex coastal dynamics can concretely guide efforts to reduce maintenance dredging and improve safety at sea

Wildfires and geochemical change in a subalpine forest over the past six millennia

Citation: Bérangère Leys and Philip E Higuera and Kendra K McLauchlan and Paul V Dunnette. (2016). Wildfires and geochemical change in a subalpine forest over the past six millennia. Environmental Research Letters, 11(12), 125003.Bérangère Leys and Philip E Higuera and Kendra K McLauchlan and Paul V Dunnette. (2016). Wildfires and geochemical change in a subalpine forest over the past six millennia. Environmental Research Letters, 11(12), 125003.The frequency of large wildfires in western North America has been increasing in recent decades, yet the geochemical impacts of these events are poorly understood. The multidecadal timescales of both disturbance-regime variability and ecosystem responses make it challenging to study the effects of fire on terrestrial nutrient cycling. Nonetheless, disturbance-mediated changes in nutrient concentrations could ultimately limit forest productivity over centennial to millennial time scales. Here, we use a novel approach that combines quantitative elemental analysis of lake sediments using x-ray fluorescence to assess the geochemical impacts of high-severity fires in a 6200 year long sedimentary record from a small subalpine lake in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, USA. Immediately after 17 high-severity fires, the sedimentary concentrations of five elements increased (Ti, Ca, K, Al, and P), but returned to pre-fire levels within three decades. Multivariate analyses indicate that erosion of weathered mineral material from the catchment is a primary mechanism though which high-severity fires impact element cycling. A longer-term trend in sediment geochemistry was also identified over millennial time scales. This decrease in the concentrations of six elements (Al, Si, K, Ti, Mn, and Fe) over the past 6200 years may have been due to a decreased rate of high-severity fires, long-term ecosystem development, or changes in precipitation regime. Our results indicate that high-severity fire events can determine elemental concentrations in subalpine forests. The degree of variability in geochemical response across time scales suggests that shifting rates of high-severity burning can cause significant changes in key rock-derived nutrients. To our knowledge, these results are the first to reveal repeated loss of rock-derived nutrients from the terrestrial ecosystem due to high-severity fires. Understanding the future of fire-prone coniferous forests requires further documentation and quantification of this important mechanism linking fire regimes and biogeochemical cycles

Fire history reconstruction in grassland ecosystems: amount of charcoal reflects local area burned

Citation: Leys, B., Brewer, S. C., McConaghy, S., Mueller, J., & McLauchlan, K. K. (2015). Fire history reconstruction in grassland ecosystems: amount of charcoal reflects local area burned. Environmental Research Letters, 10(11), 114009. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/11/114009Fire is one of the most prevalent disturbances in the Earth system, and its past characteristics can be reconstructed using charcoal particles preserved in depositional environments. Although researchers know that fires produce charcoal particles, interpretation of the quantity or composition of charcoal particles in terms of fire source remains poorly understood. In this study, we used a unique four-year dataset of charcoal deposited in traps from a native tallgrass prairie in mid-North America to test which environmental factors were linked to charcoal measurements on three spatial scales. We investigated small and large charcoal particles commonly used as a proxy of fire activity at different spatial scales, and charcoal morphotypes representing different types of fuel. We found that small (125–250 μ m) and large (250 μ m–1 mm) particles of charcoal are well-correlated (Spearman correlation = 0.88) and likely reflect the same spatial scale of fire activity in a system with both herbaceous and woody fuels. There was no significant relationship between charcoal pieces and fire parameters <500 m from the traps. Moreover, local area burned (<5 km distance radius from traps) explained the total charcoal amount, and regional burning (200 km radius distance from traps) explained the ratio of non arboreal to total charcoal (NA/ T ratio). Charcoal variables, including total charcoal count and NA/ T ratio, did not correlate with other fire parameters, vegetation cover, landscape, or climate variables. Thus, in long-term studies that involve fire history reconstructions, total charcoal particles, even of a small size (125–250 μ m), could be an indicator of local area burned. Further studies may determine relationships among amount of charcoal recorded, fire intensity, vegetation cover, and climatic parameters

Effect of spin-orbit coupling on the excitation spectrum of Andreev billiards

We consider the effect of spin-orbit coupling on the low energy excitation spectrum of an Andreev billiard (a quantum dot weakly coupled to a superconductor), using a dynamical numerical model (the spin Andreev map). Three effects of spin-orbit coupling are obtained in our simulations: In zero magnetic field: (1) the narrowing of the distribution of the excitation gap; (2) the appearance of oscillations in the average density of states. In strong magnetic field: (3) the appearance of a peak in the average density of states at zero energy. All three effects have been predicted by random-matrix theory.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

A microbial platform for renewable propane synthesis based on a fermentative butanol pathway

Background Propane (C3H8) is a volatile hydrocarbon with highly favourable physicochemical properties as a fuel, in addition to existing global markets and infrastructure for storage, distribution and utilization in a wide range of applications. Consequently, propane is an attractive target product in research aimed at developing new renewable alternatives to complement currently used petroleum-derived fuels. This study focuses on the construction and evaluation of alternative microbial biosynthetic pathways for the production of renewable propane. The new pathways utilize CoA intermediates that are derived from clostridial-like fermentative butanol pathways and are therefore distinct from the first microbial propane pathways recently engineered in Escherichia coli. Results We report the assembly and evaluation of four different synthetic pathways for the production of propane and butanol, designated a) atoB-adhE2 route, b) atoB-TPC7 route, c) nphT7-adhE2 route and d) nphT7-TPC7 route. The highest butanol titres were achieved with the atoB-adhE2 (473 ± 3 mg/L) and atoB-TPC7 (163 ± 2 mg/L) routes. When aldehyde deformylating oxygenase (ADO) was co-expressed with these pathways, the engineered hosts also produced propane. The atoB-TPC7-ADO pathway was the most effective in producing propane (220 ± 3 μg/L). By (i) deleting competing pathways, (ii) including a previously designed ADOA134F variant with an enhanced specificity towards short-chain substrates and (iii) including a ferredoxin-based electron supply system, the propane titre was increased (3.40 ± 0.19 mg/L). Conclusions This study expands the metabolic toolbox for renewable propane production and provides new insight and understanding for the development of next-generation biofuel platforms. In developing an alternative CoA-dependent fermentative butanol pathway, which includes an engineered ADO variant (ADOA134F), the study addresses known limitations, including the low bio-availability of butyraldehyde precursors and poor activity of ADO with butyraldehyde

Drivers of Australian dust: a case study of frontal winds and dust dynamics in the lower Lake Eyre Basin

The roles of pre-frontal, frontal and post-frontal winds as the primary wind systems for dust entrainment and transport in Australia are well established. While the relevance of each system has been observed across different wind erosion events in central Australia, the entrainment of dust by all three winds during the passage of an individual front has not been demonstrated until now. Synoptic information, satellite aerosol and imagery, meteorological and dust concentration data are presented for a single case study erosion event in the lower Lake Eyre Basin. This event demonstrates variable dust transport in three different directions from one of the southern Hemisphere's most significant source regions, and the changing nature of the active dust pathways during the passage of a frontal system. While only a single dust event is considered, the findings show the complexity of mineral aerosol emission and transport patterns even within an individual dust outbreak. For the lower Lake Eyre Basin, this appreciation of pathway behaviour is significant for better understanding the role of aeolian inputs from the dominant Australian source to surrounding marine systems. In a wider context, the findings exhibit the detailed insights into major dust source dynamics that can be obtained from high resolution spatial and particularly temporal data, as used in combination. This work highlights the importance of adequately resolved data for the accurate determination of dust entrainment and transport patterns of major dust sources

Transceiver ASIC in HVCMOS Technology for 3D Ultrasound Computer Tomography

Abstract3D Ultrasound Computer Tomography (3D USCT) is an imaging method for the early de-tection of breast cancer. It provides three-dimensional multimodal images of the breast. Thenew 3D USCT device developed currently at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology containsmore than two thousand ultrasound transducers placed in a water-filled aperture where thepatient submerges one breast. The ultrasound transducers are grouped as transducer arraysystems (TAS) of 18 receiver (RX) and transmitter (TX) elements. The transducer front-end electronics contain high-voltage (HV) and low-voltage (LV) amplifiers and switcheswhich are implemented as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). This contribu-tion presents a patented mixed signal, multichannel, transceiver ASIC developed in a com-mercial 350 nm high-voltage CMOS (HV-CMOS) process. The HV-CMOS process provideslow-voltage and high-voltage transistors that can be combined on the same substrate. TheHV transistors can sustain voltages up to 120 V

Behaviour of advanced tritium breeder pebbles under simultaneous action of accelerated electrons and high temperature

The authors greatly acknowledge the technical and experimen-tal support of O. Valtenbergs and L. Avotina (Institute of Chemical Physics, University of Latvia). The work is performed in the frames of the University of Latvia financed project No. Y9-B044-ZF-N-300, “Nano, Quantum Technologies, and Innovative Materials for Eco-nomics”.Advanced lithium orthosilicate (Li4SiO4) pebbles with additions of lithium metatitanate (Li2TiO3) as a secondary phase are suggested as a potential source for tritium breeding in future nuclear fusion reactors. The advanced Li4SiO4 pebbles with different contents of Li2TiO3 were examined before and after simultaneous action of 5 MeV accelerated electron beam (dose rate: up to 10 MGy h−1) and high temperature (up to 1120 K) in a dry argon atmosphere. The accumulated radiation-induced defects (RD) and radiolysis products (RP) were studied by electron spin resonance (ESR) spectrometry and thermally stimulated luminescence (TSL) technique. The phase transitions were studied with powder X-ray diffraction (p-XRD). The microstructure and mechanical strength of the pebbles, before and after irradiation, were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and comprehensive crush load tests. The obtained results revealed that the irradiation temperature has a significant impact on the accumulation of RD and RP in the advanced Li4SiO4 pebbles, and with an increasing content of Li2TiO3, the concentration of accumulated paramagnetic RD and RP decreases. Major changes in the mechanical strength, microstructure and phase composition of the advanced pebbles were not detected after irradiation.University of Latvia Y9-B044-ZF-N-300; Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART