Mass Culture of Arthrospira Platensis Utilizing Aerobically Digested Palm Oil Mill Effluent (Adpome)

A series of experiments were conducted to develop a mass culture technique of Arthrospira platensis, a blue-green alga, in freshwater and brackishwater (1S ppt) using different concentrations (1, 2, 3, 4 and S%) of aerobically digested palm oil mill effluent (ADPOME) in two trials. The cell growth, chlorophyll a, total protein, carbohydrate, lipid contents and fatty acid profile were also studied. Physiochemical water quality parameters (temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, salinity, surface irradiance, underwater irradiance, optical density, total ammonia nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, nitrite nitrogen, total nitrogen, phosphate phosphorus, total phosphorus, chemical oxygen demand, biochemical oxygen demand and total dissolved organic carbon) were also measured throughout the study. Algal cell growth was best in 4% ADPOME, both in the freshwater and brackishwater conditions and culture cycles with mean cell dry weight of 706.98 ±285.52 and 479.79±204.53 mg L⁻¹, respectively. The highest chlorophyll a content was also observed in A. platensis cultivated in 4% ADPOME, in both freshwater and brackishwater conditions from both culture trials with mean chlorophyll a content at 10.12±6.10 and 8.40±5.23 mgL⁻¹ , respectively

Networked Families

Presents survey results on the use of the Internet and ownership of cell phones and computers, by household type. Examines how technology ownership affects the frequency, form, purpose, and quality of communications among family members and friends

Blowing Snow at McMurdo Station, Antarctica During the AWARE Field Campaign: Surface and Ceilometer Observations

Blowing snow (BLSN) is an impactful process in cold climates, affecting regional thermodynamics, radiation properties, and the surface mass balance of snow. Though it has significant climatic impacts, the process is still poorly understood and not widely included in weather and climate models. In 2016, the AWARE Field Campaign saw the deployment of a large suite of in situ and remote sensing instruments to McMurdo Station, Antarctica allowing for investigation of BLSN. A ceilometer-based BLSN detection algorithm used elsewhere in Antarctica is applied to data from AWARE, yielding a BLSN frequency of 14.1% compared to 8.2% as detected by human observers. To increase confidence in detections, the algorithm is updated to have shorter temporal averaging and to include a variety of meteorological thresholds to limit false detections due to fog. Efforts to incorporate a laser disdrometer into the algorithm were unsuccessful. An unphysical dependence of particle size distributions on wind speed is found suggesting observations are problematic at wind speeds greater than 10 m s−1. The revised algorithm detected a BLSN frequency of 7.4%, increasing agreement with human observations and confidence that the process is actively occurring at the observation site. These observations are put into context of a climatology of human observations of BLSN at McMurdo station from 2002–2018. An annual average of 8.0%–14.0% is estimated, with a total annual range of 3.4%–21.3%. Regardless of whether BLSN is observed by humans or instrument, the majority of cases at this location are associated with ongoing precipitation

A Climatology of Atmospheric Patterns Associated with Red River Valley Blizzards

Stretching along the border of North Dakota and Minnesota, The Red River Valley (RRV) of the North has the highest frequency of reported blizzards within the contiguous United States. Despite the numerous impacts these events have, few systematic studies exist that discuss the meteorological properties of blizzards. As a result, forecasting these events and lesser blowing snow events is an ongoing challenge. This study presents a climatology of atmospheric patterns associated with RRV blizzards for the winter seasons of 1979-1980 and 2017-2018. Patterns were identified using subjective and objective techniques using meteorological fields from the North American Regional Re-analysis (NARR). The RRV experiences, on average, 2.6 events per year. Blizzard frequency is bimodal, with peaks occurring in December and March. The events can largely be typed into four meteorological categories dependent on the forcing that drives the blizzard: Alberta Clippers, Arctic Fronts, Colorado Lows, and Hybrids. The objective classification of these blizzards using a competitive neural network known as the Self-Organizing Map (SOM) demonstrates that gross segregation of the events can be achieved with a small (eight-class) map. This implies that objective analysis techniques can be used to identify these events in weather and climate model output that may aid future forecasting and risk assessment projects

Keberkesanan kaedah pengajaran dan pembelajaran jarak jauh dan teradun (pjjt) di kalangan prasiswazah UMS bagi kursus UL03202 marin dan pembangunan masyarakat semasa penularan pandemik covid-19

Penawaran kursus baharu yang menumpu kepada pelestarian persekitaran marin dan pembangunan masyarakat pesisir pantai di kalangan pra-siswazah di Institusi Pengajian Tinggi Awam (IPTA) adalah amat mustahak kerana berkait rapat dengan perubahan cuaca dan kenaikan paras laut Global. Lantas, Gugusan Elektif Liberal (GEL), Pusat Penataran Ilmu dan Bahasa (PPIB), Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) telah mewujudkan satu kursus elektif bernama Marin dan Pembangunan Masyarakat mulai Semester I Sesi Akademik 2020/2021. Disebabkan penularan wabak COVID-19 di seluruh Malaysia, kaedah pengajaran dan pembelajaran (PdP) telah dilaksanakan sepenuhnya secara jarak jauh dan teradun kepada semua penuntut yang memilih kursus ini. Kaedah PdP (Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran) jarak jauh dan teradun (PJJT) menggunakan pelbagai platform aplikasi dalam talian yang melibatkan penyampaian kuliah secara segerak dan tak segerak dan teknologi digital. Oleh sebab itu, menyedari landskap kebiasaan baharu Kaedah PdP kursus baharu ini berubah secara deras mengikut keperluan dan keadaan semasa, satu penulisan dilakukan khusus bagi membincangkan tentang keberkesanan Kaedah PdP secara jarak jauh dan teradun (PJJT) bagi penuntut yang mengambil Kursus UL03202 Marin dan Pembangunan Masyarakat yang baharu ditawarkan di UMS. Objektif penulisan ini adalah untuk meneliti keberkesanan Kaedah PdP Kursus baharu yang ditawarkan dan tahap kesedaran, ketersampaian serta kefahaman penuntut sepanjang PdP tersebut diadakan secara jarak jauh dan teradun (PJJT). Analisis hasil dapatan kajian akan dibincangkan berasaskan tugasan-tugasan dan penilaian dalam talian PdP yang diadakan sepanjang empat belas minggu kuliah dan melalui maklumbalas borang PK07 serta keputusan gred keseluruhan pelajar bagi peperiksaan akhir Semester I Sesi Akademik 2020/2021 Kursus UL03202 Marin dan Pembangunan Masyarakat

Diagnosing the Nature of Land-Atmosphere Coupling: A Case Study of Dry/Wet Extremes

Land-atmosphere (L-A) interactions play a critical role in determining the diurnal evolution of land surface and planetary boundary layer (PBL) temperature and moisture states and fluxes. In turn, these interactions regulate the strength of the connection between surface moisture and precipitation in a coupled system. To address deficiencies in numerical weather prediction and climate models due to improper treatment of L-A interactions, recent studies have focused on development of diagnostics to quantify the strength and accuracy of the land-PBL coupling at the process-level. In this study, a diagnosis of the nature and impacts oflocalland-atmosphere coupling (LoCo) during dry and wet extreme conditions is presented using a combination of models and observations during the summers of2006-7 in the U.S. Southern Great Plains. Specifically, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model has been coupled to NASA's Land Information System (LIS), which provides a flexible and high-resolution representation and initialization of land surface physics and states. A range of diagnostics exploring the links and feedbacks between soil moisture and precipitation are examined for the dry/wet regimes of this region, along with the behavior and accuracy of different land-PBL scheme couplings under these conditions. In addition, we examine the impact of improved specification ofland surface states, anomalies, and fluxes that are obtained through the use of a hew optimization and uncertainty module in LIS, on the L-A coupling in WRF forecasts. Results demonstrate how LoCo diagnostics can be applied to coupled model components in the context of their integrated impacts on the process-chain connecting the land surface to the PBL and support of hydrological anomalies

The First Scattered Light Image of the Debris Disk around the Sco-Cen target HD 129590

We present the first scattered light image of the debris disk around HD 129590, a ~1.3 M$_\odot$ G1V member of the Scorpius Centaurus association with age ~10-16 Myr. The debris disk is imaged with the high contrast imaging instrument SPHERE at the Very Large Telescope, and is revealed by both the IRDIS and IFS subsytems, operating in the H and YJ bands respectively. The disk has a high infrared luminosity of $L_{\textrm{IR}}/L_{\textrm{star}}$~5$\times$10$^{-3}$, and has been resolved in other studies using ALMA. We detect a nearly edge on ring, with evidence of an inner clearing. We fit the debris disk using a model characterized by a single bright ring, with radius ~60-70 AU, in broad agreement with previous analysis of the target SED. The disk is vertically thin, and has an inclination angle of ~75$^\circ$. Along with other previously imaged edge-on disks in the Sco-Cen association such as HD 110058, HD 115600, and HD 111520, this disk image will allow of the structure and morphology of very young debris disks, shortly after the epoch of planet formation has ceased.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ