Egg Capsule Hatching Success in Rapana venosa and Urosalpinx cinerea in Relation to Temperature and Salinity

The maintenance of a population within the geographic range is influenced by the physical and environmental conditions under which breeding occurs. It is hypothesized that environmental conditions under which egg capsules are successfully hatched will influence the range of potential habitat of the invasive veined rapa whelk, Rapana venosa, and the native Atlantic oyster drill, Urosalpinx cinerea, in the Chesapeake Bay. This study examines the environmental conditions of temperature, salinity, and the time of deposition of egg capsules within the reproductive period (here quantified as cumulative number of day degrees at egg capsule deposition). The range of R. venosa and U. cinerea habitat in the Chesapeake Bay, in relation to environmental conditions, is important given the potential impact of both species on native shellfish stocks. Egg capsule hatching success and egg capsule incubation time for R. venosa and U. cinerea were examined at temperatures (18oC, 22oC, 26oC, 30oC, and ambient York River water temperature) and salinities (7 ppt, 14 ppt, 21 ppt, 28 ppt, and ambient York River salinity) reflective of the Chesapeake Bay during egg capsule deposition. Salinity is the greatest factor influencing R. venosa and U. cinerea egg capsule hatching success. Increasing salinities increase the percentage of R. venosa and U. cinerea egg capsules to hatch as well as the percentage of U. cinerea embryos alive at hatch. For R. venosa, the percentage of egg capsules to hatch is greatest at 21 ppt. For U. cinerea the percentage of egg capsules to hatch and the percentage of embryos alive at hatch are greatest at salinities of 21 ppt or 28 ppt. R. venosa and U. cinerea egg capsules do not hatch at 7 ppt in the temperature range examined. Temperature within the range examined was not found to be an important factor influencing egg capsule hatching success for either species. However, temperature was an important factor influencing the rate at which the egg capsule hatching process occurs. The percentage of R. venosa egg capsules to hatch increases and the percentage of U. cinerea alive at hatch decreases along the egg capsule deposition time series. For R. venosa, an increase in the percentage of egg capsules to hatch occurs if egg capsules are deposited later in the time series. For U. cinerea the percentage of egg capsules to hatch is not affected by position in the egg capsule deposition time series, but the percentage of embryos alive at hatch decreases along the time series examined. The temperatures and salinities for optimal R. venosa egg capsule hatching range from 18oC to 30oC and from 11 ppt to 28 ppt and vary based on the timing of egg capsule deposition. The temperatures and salinities for optimal U. cinerea egg capsule hatching range from 18oC to 30oC and from 20 ppt to 28 ppt and do not vary based on the timing of egg capsule deposition. Optimal egg capsule hatching for R. venosa and U. cinerea occur at different temperature-salinity combinations throughout the majority of the egg capsule deposition time series

Indian Argo Trajectories and Surface Currents

An important objective of Argo is measurement of ocean circulation. As Argo floats collect salinity/temperature profiles, they also give information on the surface and subsurface currents. Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) being a Regional Data Assembly Centre for Indian Argo has so far launched 160 floats in the Indian Ocean to develop the global ocean observation system as a part of international cooperation project and is responsible for real time generation and dissemination of this data. This work is an attempt to extract information on sea surface in application to the Lagrangian part of the Argo floats. This report constitutes two sections. The first section documents the process of operational generation and dissemination of the Argo trajectory data. The second section describes the data product, Surface Currents and its comparison with Simple Ocean Data Assimilation & Drifting buoy currents

Stability and Control Analysis of the F-15B Quiet SpikeTM Aircraft

The primary purpose of the Quiet Spike(TradeMark) flight research program was to analyze the aerodynamic, structural, and mechanical proof-of-concept of a large multi-stage telescoping nose spike installed on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Dryden Flight Research Center (Edwards, California) F-15B airplane. This report describes the preflight stability and control analysis performed to assess the effect of the spike on the stability, controllability, and handling qualities of the airplane; and to develop an envelope expansion approach to maintain safety of flight. The overall flight test objective was to collect flight data to validate the spike structural dynamics and loads model up to Mach 1.8. Other objectives included validating the mechanical feasibility of a morphing fuselage at operational conditions and determining the near-field shock wave characterization. The two main issues relevant to the stability and control objectives were the effects of the spike-influenced aerodynamics on the F-15B airplane flight dynamics, and the air data and angle-of-attack sensors. The analysis covered the sensitivity of the stability margins, and the handling qualities due to aerodynamic variation and the maneuvering limitations of the F-15B Quiet Spike configuration. The results of the analysis and the implications for the flight test program are also presented

Endoscopic resection of sinonasal inverted papilloma: a multivariate retrospective analysis of factors affecting recurrence and persistence

Sinonasal inverted papilloma (IP) is the most common benign epithelial tumor in the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses, with a worldwide incidence between 0.6 and 1.5/100 000 persons per year. However, only a few studies have investigated patient-dependent factors related to IP recurrence and persistence. According to available evidence, these factors are still debated, and results are contradictory. In this multicenter retrospective study, we analyzed the clinical records of 130 patients who were surgically treated for sinonasal IP to evaluate the factors affecting recurrence and persistence of IP and compared the curative rates of different surgical approaches. Our analysis showed that IP recurrence is strongly related to specific risk factors including incomplete surgical removal, stage of disease, site of the lesion, surgical technique, and malignancy rate. In conclusion, the recurrence of IP may be affected by several risk factors; these factors must be carefully considered during clinical evaluation and especially during the follow-up of patients with IP

COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS MODELING ANALYSIS OF COMBUSTORS

In the current fiscal year FY01, several CFD simulations were conducted to investigate the effects of moisture in biomass/coal, particle injection locations, and flow parameters on carbon burnout and NO{sub x} inside a 150 MW GEEZER industrial boiler. Various simulations were designed to predict the suitability of biomass cofiring in coal combustors, and to explore the possibility of using biomass as a reburning fuel to reduce NO{sub x}. Some additional CFD simulations were also conducted on CERF combustor to examine the combustion characteristics of pulverized coal in enriched O{sub 2}/CO{sub 2} environments. Most of the CFD models available in the literature treat particles to be point masses with uniform temperature inside the particles. This isothermal condition may not be suitable for larger biomass particles. To this end, a stand alone program was developed from the first principles to account for heat conduction from the surface of the particle to its center. It is envisaged that the recently developed non-isothermal stand alone module will be integrated with the Fluent solver during next fiscal year to accurately predict the carbon burnout from larger biomass particles. Anisotropy in heat transfer in radial and axial will be explored using different conductivities in radial and axial directions. The above models will be validated/tested on various fullscale industrial boilers. The current NO{sub x} modules will be modified to account for local CH, CH{sub 2}, and CH{sub 3} radicals chemistry, currently it is based on global chemistry. It may also be worth exploring the effect of enriched O{sub 2}/CO{sub 2} environment on carbon burnout and NO{sub x} concentration. The research objective of this study is to develop a 3-Dimensional Combustor Model for Biomass Co-firing and reburning applications using the Fluent Computational Fluid Dynamics Code

T-cell responses in oiled guillemots and swans in a rehabilitation setting

This article has been accepted for publication in the Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. The final version can be accessed from the link below.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Aquatic birds are commonly affected by oil spills. Despite rehabilitation efforts, the majority of rehabilitated common guillemots (Uria aalge) do not survive, whereas mute swans (Cygnus olor) tend to have higher post-release survival. Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) present in crude oil and diesel are immunotoxic in birds affecting cell-mediated responses to immunogens. Because it is a target of PAH toxicity, T-lymphocyte response to controlled mitogen administration (phytohemagglutinnin test) was investigated in a scoping study as a potentially useful minimally invasive in vivo test of cell-mediated immunity. The test was performed on 69 mute swans and 31 common guillemots stranded on the Norfolk and Lincolnshire coastline and inland waterways in England (UK)either due to injury or to contamination with crude or diesel oil. T-lymphocyte response was significantly decreased in swans with greater oil scores. T-lymphocyte responses were also decreased in guillemots, but this finding was not statistically significant