Distribution of Soils in Ohio that are Described with Fractured Substratums in Unconsolidated Materials

Author Institution: Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Soil and Water Conservation ; USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service ; School of Natural Resources, The Ohio State UniversitySoil scientists, who systematically made soil surveys of Ohio, compiled the first comprehensive inventory of fractures in unconsolidated parent materials, or C horizons, of soils. Fractures have been documented in the C horizon of 95 soil series extending across 55 Ohio counties. A variety of terms were used to describe these nearly vertical fractures in otherwise massive materials. By convention, structural units are considered a product of soil-forming processes and the use of structural unit terminology has been limited to the solum consisting of O, A, E, and B master horizons and transitional horizons like AB, BE and BC horizons. Thus, terms used to describe soil structure have not been applied to the C horizon, even though the faces of prismatic structural units in the lower part of the B horizon commonly show continuity with fractures in the C horizon. Fractures have been identified in unconsolidated soil parent materials with textures of loam, silt loam, clay loam, silty clay loam, silty clay and clay. Clay films and carbonate coatings on fracture planes in the C horizon of soils indicate that water moves into and through these fractures. Fractures in the C horizon of soils also affect air movement and plant root extension into C horizons

Collaborative International Research in Clinical and Longitudinal Experience Study in NMOSD

OBJECTIVE: To develop a resource of systematically collected, longitudinal clinical data and biospecimens for assisting in the investigation into neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) epidemiology, pathogenesis, and treatment. METHODS: To illustrate its research-enabling purpose, epidemiologic patterns and disease phenotypes were assessed among enrolled subjects, including age at disease onset, annualized relapse rate (ARR), and time between the first and second attacks. RESULTS: As of December 2017, the Collaborative International Research in Clinical and Longitudinal Experience Study (CIRCLES) had enrolled more than 1,000 participants, of whom 77.5% of the NMOSD cases and 71.7% of the controls continue in active follow-up. Consanguineous relatives of patients with NMOSD represented 43.6% of the control cohort. Of the 599 active cases with complete data, 84% were female, and 76% were anti-AQP4 seropositive. The majority were white/Caucasian (52.6%), whereas blacks/African Americans accounted for 23.5%, Hispanics/Latinos 12.4%, and Asians accounted for 9.0%. The median age at disease onset was 38.4 years, with a median ARR of 0.5. Seropositive cases were older at disease onset, more likely to be black/African American or Hispanic/Latino, and more likely to be female. CONCLUSION: Collectively, the CIRCLES experience to date demonstrates this study to be a useful and readily accessible resource to facilitate accelerating solutions for patients with NMOSD

Narcissism: a factor behind the selective sharing of news online

The current study examined the extent to which narcissism influences the social network users’ intention to share positive and negative life events with (close or unknown) online contacts. Using an online survey, small vignettes and a cross-sectional convenience sample of 119 participants, the results showed that narcissism positively predicted sharing intention of positive and negative life events with strangers. However, individuals rating higher in narcissism were less likely to share negative news with family. The research findings suggest that personality traits such as narcissism, the type of contacts online, and the nature of the news may shape what information is shared by online users. The type of news presented may therefore be a function of who is posting the content, their personality, and the kind of social network contacts they have online

Co-digestion of waste from the salmon aquaculture sector with regional sewage sludge: effects on methane yield and digestate nutrient content

In Western Norway, the availability of aquaculture waste resources is relevant for both biogas production and nutrients recovery. In this study, fish sludge from the farming of salmon was tested as co-digestion substrate in the anaerobic digestion of municipal sewage sludge from different regional treatment plants. Additions of 5, 10, 25 and 30% of fish sludge in volume were evaluated. Fish sludge did not improve the methane yield of Grødaland sewage sludge. In contrast, Bergen plant’s sewage sludge yield increased up to 40% with additions of 25% fish sludge. Co-digestion mixtures are being further tested in semi-continuous reactors for its long-term process stability, methane yield, and the effects that fish sludge may have on the final digestate’s nutrient content