Interdisciplinary Modeling: Water-Related Issues and Changing Climate - New Mexico State University

Graduate course in interdisciplinary modeling: water-related issues and climate change offered at University of Nevada, Reno in Summer 2012

Interdisciplinary Modeling for Water-Related Issues Graduate Course

The science and management of aquatic ecosystems is inherently interdisciplinary, with issues associated with hydrology, atmospheric science, water quality, geochemistry, sociology, economics, environmental science, and ecology. Addressing water resources issues in any one discipline invariably involves effects that concern other disciplines, and attempts to address one issue often have consequences that exacerbate existing issues or concerns, or create new ones (Jørgensen et al. 1992; Lackey et al. 1975; Straskraba 1994) due to the strongly interactive nature of key processes (Christensen et al. 1996). Thus, research and management of aquatic ecosystems must be interdisciplinary to be most effective, but such truly interdisciplinary work is often difficult to implement. Interdisciplinary modeling is a useful approach for managing and understanding aquatic ecosystems, but there are several challenges to the implementation of successful interdisciplinary modeling of aquatic ecosystems, including (1) different spatial and temporal scales that specific disciplines are concerned with (Nilsson et al. 2003); (2) differences in degrees of uncertainty of data and models (Crockett 1994; Minns et al. 1996), and (3) lack of awareness of what modeling options are available in an interdisciplinary sense. All of these are intertwined with (4) difficulties in communication between disciplines, where different terminology and perspectives can get in the way of discussing common issues or concerns (Cullen 1990; Nicolson et al. 2002; Nilsson et al. 2003). And finally, (5) scientists and modelers need to be educated and trained about interdisciplinary approaches (Nicolson et al. 2002; NSF 2000; USGS 1999). This course is designed to address many of the challenges identified above by introducing students to models that are available in different disciplines and how such models might be applied together to address aquatic ecosystem issues, addressing issues of variability and uncertainty in implementing interdisciplinary approaches, and giving students experience in working in interdisciplinary teams to apply interdisciplinary modeling approaches to increase knowledge about aquatic ecosystems. These students will then be better-prepared for professional or academic careers in which they interact with peers from other disciplines to address real-work aquatic ecosystem issues. Faculty from different disciplines at different universities participated in this course by giving lectures on modeling topics. Much of the material being used in this course is based on outcomes from the Interdisciplinary Modeling for Aquatic Ecosystems Curriculum Development workshop that was held at Granlibakken Conference Center and Resort on July 17-22, 2005. This workshop resulted in the development of course materials for a graduate level course with an overall objective of engaging interdisciplinary discourse in modeling aquatic ecosystems. The submission includes materials from the 2015 and 2012 offerings of the course. Materials for the 2005, 2008 and 2010 course have not been included in this package. As an interinstitutional course, the course had different numbers at different institutions (e.g., NRES 730 at University of Nevada Reno, RGSC 618 at New Mexico State University, and GEOS 697 at Boise State University). The materials are organized in the nres730_ecstatic_new.zip as follows: Syllabus and schedule for the 2012 offering at New Mexico State University (618_syll_sched_2012.pdf) and syllabus and schedule for the 2015 offering at Boise State University (697_syll_sched_2015.pdf) are in the root directory. Folder “info_faculty” includes the individual schedule and syllabus files for each course year. Each lecturer was also asked to fill out a lecture information worksheet (the base worksheet is included in this folder) to provide information for students to review before each lecture. Folder “evolving_curric” includes course materials for lectures, labs, exercises, and projects Folder “lectures” includes folders for each lecture and associated labs as appropriate. The folders are ordered according to the class schedule for each year. Most lecture folders contain a lecture information file (“lectinfo_.pdf”), lecture slides, and associated lab files if a lab was associated with the lecture topic. It is recommended to review the “lectinfo_.pdf” file first to see lecture goals, required reading, context, and preparatory work. Each folder also includes a .pdf file of the associated wiki page. In some cases, a “readme_.docx” file is included to indicate of special software is needed or other guidance to complete exercises. Folder “other_ex” includes the following additional exercises that were done during the classes: Folder “conceptual_mod” includes the interactive exercise that was done early during each class offering to get students thinking about issues with linking models between disciplines. Folder “stella_lab” includes the wiki page about this lab that introduced students to Stella software. In teaching the class, we had education licenses for Stella, an object-oriented software that was useful for interacting across disciplines about modeling. The software was used for several lab exercises during the class. A purchased license is required to do those exercises. Folder “interdisc_toolbox” in the “2015” folder contains pre- and post-surveys that were used for group interactions about collaboration and communication. This exercise was only done in 2015. Folder “projects” includes class projects assigned to students during the class. Each time the class was offered, students were put into interdisciplinary groups to develop modeling approaches and do preliminary modeling of complex water resources issues. Faculty provided materials and gave presentations for these projects that are included in the project folders. Each student group prepared a presentation and report on their project, and some also shared their modeling materials are included in the project folders. Folder “wiki_items” includes two pages about the class that were on the wiki that may be of interest. Some of the links on these pages may not work. As noted, a wiki was used each time the course was offered, and the submission includes .pdfs of the wiki pages that may have links to pages for the 2008 and 2010 course offerings that are on a google sites page that will probably be discontinued in 2021.Materials on those pages may not be accessible

A Simple Approach to Distinguish Classic and Formaldehyde-Free Tannin Based Rigid Foams by ATR FT-IR

Tannin based rigid foams (TBRFs) have been produced with formaldehyde since 1994. Only recently several methods have been developed in order to produce these foams without using formaldehyde. TBRFs with and without formaldehyde are visually indistinguishable; therefore a method for determining the differences between these foams had to be found. The attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy (ATR FT-IR) investigation of the TBRFs presented in this paper allowed discrimination between the formaldehyde-containing (classic) and formaldehyde-free TBRFs.Thespectra of the formaldehyde-free TBRFs, indeed, present decreased band intensity related to the C–O stretching vibration of (i) the methylol groups and (ii) the furanic rings. This evidence served to prove the chemical difference between the two TBRFs and explained the slightly higher mechanical properties measured for the classic TBRFs

Amplitude changes in the electrophysiological response of retinal cells during simultaneous current stimulation

Purpose : Ocular electrical stimulation exhibit potential for the treatment of neurodegenerative ocular diseases. However, the underlying mechanism in the retinal cells remains subject of research. Studies applying transcranial electrical stimulation show that direct current stimulation (DCS) over the visual cortex manipulates the amplitudes of visual evoked potentials. An anodal DCS leads to increased amplitudes while a cathodal DCS decreased these amplitudes. We hypothesize that the retinal cells show similar reactions. Methods : We stimulated 15 volunteers (8m, 7f, 23.5 ± 1.6 years, one eye) with a cathodal DCS of 500 µA (DC-stimulator MC, neuroConn GmbH, Ilmenau) for 10 minutes. For DCS we used six cup electrodes (diameter: 0.95 cm) placed around one eye . Before, during and after DCS we measured the electrophysiological answer of the retinal ganglion cells using a pattern-reversal stimulus (stimulus field: 1° individual checks, 16° total; reversals per second: 4; Michelson contrast: 99%; mean luminance: 186 cd/m^2). For recording, we used Ag/AgCl ring electrodes located at the lower eyelid and the earlobe. For statistical analysis the Friedman test for paired samples and a confidence interval analysis was performed. Results : The characteristic amplitudes of the the electrophysiological answer (P50 and N95 component) as well as its peak-to-peak difference (PPD) were decreased during the stimulation. The visible trend was statistically not significant (Friedman test P50/N95/PPD: p = 0.527/0.574/0.297). Under consideration of specific volunteers (showed expected reduction of the N95 component, n = 9) we found a significant change of the N95 component for the difference between before and during DCS (confidence interval analysis, lower limit: -2.45 µV; upper limit: -0.38 µV; after Bonferroni correction α = 0.0143). Conclusions : The performed study indicates a trend that a cathodal DCS decreasing electrophysiological activity in the retina

Technical light-field setup for 3D imaging of the human nerve head validated with an eye model

With the new technology of 3D light field (LF) imaging, fundus photography can be expanded to provide depth information. This increases the diagnostic possibilities and additionally improves image quality by digitally refocusing. To provide depth information in the human optic nerve head such as in glaucoma diagnostics, a mydriatic fundus camera was upgraded with an LF imager. The aim of the study presented here was the validation of the technical setup and resulting depth estimations with an appropriate eye model. The technical setup consisted of a mydriatic fundus camera (FF450, Carl Zeiss Meditec AG, Jena, Germany) and an LF imager (R12, Raytrix GmbH, Kiel, Germany). The field of view was set to 30°. The eye model (24.65 mm total length) consisted of a two-lens optical system and interchangeable fundus models with papilla excavations from 0.2 to 1 mm in steps of 0.2 mm. They were coated with red acrylic lacquer and vessels were drawn with a thin brush. 15 images were taken for each papilla depth illuminated with green light (wavelength 520 nm ± 20 nm). Papilla depth was measured from the papilla ground to the surrounding flat region. All 15 measurements for each papilla depth were averaged and compared to the printed depth. It was possible to perform 3D fundus imaging in an eye model by means of a novel LF-based optical setup. All LF images could be digitally refocused subsequently. Depth estimation in the eye model was successfully performed over a 30° field of view. The measured virtual depth and the printed model papilla depth is linear correlated. The presented LF setup allowed high-quality 3D one-shot imaging and depth estimation of the optic nerve head in an eye model

Implantation of Ferumoxides Labeled Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Cartilage Defects

The field of tissue engineering integrates the principles of engineering, cell biology and medicine towards the regeneration of specific cells and functional tissue. Matrix associated stem cell implants (MASI) aim to regenerate cartilage defects due to arthritic or traumatic joint injuries. Adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have the ability to differentiate into cells of the chondrogenic lineage and have shown promising results for cell-based articular cartilage repair technologies. Autologous MSCs can be isolated from a variety of tissues, can be expanded in cell cultures without losing their differentiation potential, and have demonstrated chondrogenic differentiation in vitro and in vivo1, 2

New Physics and CP Violation in Singly Cabibbo Suppressed D Decays

We analyze various theoretical aspects of CP violation in singly Cabibbo suppressed (SCS) D-meson decays, such as $D \to K K,\pi \pi$. In particular, we explore the possibility that CP asymmetries will be measured close to the present level of experimental sensitivity of $O(10^{-2})$. Such measurements would signal new physics. We make the following points: (i) The mechanism at work in neutral D decays could be indirect or direct CP violation (or both). (ii) One can experimentally distinguish between these possibilities. (iii) If the dominant CP violation is indirect, then there are clear predictions for other modes. (iv) Tree-level direct CP violation in various known models is constrained to be much smaller than $10^{-2}$. (v) SCS decays, unlike Cabibbo favored or doubly Cabibbo suppressed decays, are sensitive to new contributions from QCD penguin operators and especially from chromomagnetic dipole operators. This point is illustrated with supersymmetric gluino-squark loops, which can yield direct CP violating effects of $O(10^{-2})$.Comment: 36 pages, 5 figure

Transport Coefficients from Large Deviation Functions

We describe a method for computing transport coefficients from the direct evaluation of large deviation function. This method is general, relying on only equilibrium fluctuations, and is statistically efficient, employing trajectory based importance sampling. Equilibrium fluctuations of molecular currents are characterized by their large deviation functions, which is a scaled cumulant generating function analogous to the free energy. A diffusion Monte Carlo algorithm is used to evaluate the large deviation functions, from which arbitrary transport coefficients are derivable. We find significant statistical improvement over traditional Green-Kubo based calculations. The systematic and statistical errors of this method are analyzed in the context of specific transport coefficient calculations, including the shear viscosity, interfacial friction coefficient, and thermal conductivity.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure