Preliminary assessment of industrial needs for an advanced ocean technology

A quick-look review of selected ocean industries is presented for the purpose of providing NASA OSTA with an assessment of technology needs and market potential. The size and growth potential, needs and problem areas, technology presently used and its suppliers, are given for industries involved in deep ocean mining, petrochemicals ocean energy conversion. Supporting services such as ocean bottom surveying; underwater transportation, data collection, and work systems; and inspection and diving services are included. Examples of key problem areas that are amenable to advanced technology solutions are included. Major companies are listed

The use of tensiometers to control the irrigation of nursery stock in containers.

End of Project ReportThe use of digital tensiometers to control the irrigation of nursery stock in containers was studied over a three year period. Over this time the tensiometers performed satisfactorily and successfully automated the irrigation of the plants. The results indicate the feasibility of using them to control nursery stock irrigation under Irish conditions. An irrigation tension of 50 hPa to trigger an irrigation period resulted in larger plants than those grown under drier regimes with irrigation tensions of 100 and 200 hPa. Measurements of stomatal resistance indicated that the plants in the drier regimes were growing under greater moisture stress. The drier regimes reduced the number of irrigations and also the overall usage of water. They reduced plant size but did not impair plant appearance. It may be possible to use this approach in the future to control plant growth. There was no difference in performance between plants gown with ebb and flood irrigation and those irrigated via overhead spraylines. The ebb and flood system gave a considerable reduction in water use.European Union Structural Funds (EAGGF

Effect of medium-chain TAG and exercise on satiety, energy intake and energy balance

The present study examined whether the combination of medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) along with exercise suppress energy intake to a greater extent than either intervention alone. Twelve participants consumed a porridge breakfast containing 165 kcal 692.9 kJ of either vegetable or MCT oil on two separate occasions; one followed by rest for 240 min, one followed by rest broken up with 1h of cycling at 65% VO2peak starting at 120 min. At 240 min, participants consumed a buffet lunch to satiation, and recorded their food intake for the rest of the day. Expired air samples (for calculation of energy expenditure (EE)) and subjective ratings of appetite on visual analogue scales were taken every 30 min, and gastric emptying (GE) breath samples were taken every 15 min. There was no effect of either breakfast or exercise condition on energy intake at any time point (P>0.05) or any effect on subjective appetite ratings (P>0.05). Exercise trials resulted in significantly higher EE than resting trials (2960.6 kJ, 95% CI [2528.9, 3392.2]; P<0.001), and MCT increased resting EE over 4h compared to long-chain triglycerides (LCT) (124.8 kJ, 95% CI [13.5, 236.0]; P=0.031). GE was accelerated by exercise, regardless of breakfast, but delayed by MCT in both resting and exercise trials. The results show that exercise causes energy deficits via increased EE without promoting dietary compensation. MCT has no effect on energy intake or satiety, but increases EE under resting conditions. There is no additive effect of MCT and exercise on EE, intake, or appetite ratings

Cognitive Apprenticeship and the Supervision of Science and Engineering Research Assistants

We explore and critically reflect on the process of science and engineering research assistant skill development both within laboratory-based research teams and, when no team is present, within the faculty supervisor-research assistant interactions. Using a performance-based measure of research skill development, we identify research assistants who, over the course of an academic year of service as a researcher, markedly developed, modestly developed, or failed to develop their research skills. Interviews with these research assistants and their faculty supervisors, seen through the lens of cognitive apprenticeship, provide insight into this variation. We found that within the contours of supervisory relationships and research teams, research skill development is indelibly shaped, for better or worse, by supervisor influence and abundant trial-and-error

Two-component model of the interaction of an interstellar cloud with surrounding hot plasma

We present a two-component gasdynamic model of an interstellar cloud embedded in a hot plasma. It is assumed that the cloud consists of atomic hydrogen gas, interstellar plasma is quasineutral. Hydrogen atoms and plasma protons interact through a charge exchange process. Magnetic felds and radiative processes are ignored in the model. The influence of heat conduction within plasma on the interaction between a cloud and plasma is studied. We consider the extreme case and assume that hot plasma electrons instantly heat the plasma in the interaction region and that plasma flow can be described as isothermal. Using the two-component model of the interaction of cold neutral cloud and hot plasma, we estimate the lifetime of interstellar clouds. We focus on the clouds typical for the cluster of local interstellar clouds embedded in the hot Local Bubble and give an estimate of the lifetime of the Local interstellar cloud where the Sun currently travels. The charge transfer between highly charged plasma ions and neutral atoms generates X-ray emission. We assume typical abundance of heavy ions for the Local Bubble plasma and estimate the X-ray emissivity due to charge exchange from the interface between cold neutral cloud and hot plasma. Our results show that charge exchange X-ray emission from the neutral-plasma interfaces can be a non-negligible fraction of the observed X-ray emission.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Hypoxic modulation of exogenous nitrite-induced vasodilation in humans

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Submarine landslides in the Santa Barbara Channel as potential tsunami sources

International audienceRecent investigations using the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institutes (MBARI) Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) "Ventana" and "Tiburon" and interpretation of MBARI's EM 300 30 kHz multibeam bathymetric data show that the northern flank of the Santa Barbara Basin has experienced massive slope failures. Of particular concern is the large (130 km2) Goleta landslide complex located off Coal Oil Point near the town of Goleta, that measures 14.6-km long extending from a depth of 90 m to nearly 574 m deep and is 10.5 km wide. We estimate that approximately 1.75 km3 has been displaced by this slide during the Holocene. This feature is a complex compound submarine landslide that contains both surfical slump blocks and mud flows in three distinct segments. Each segment is composed of a distinct head scarp, down-dropped head block and a slide debris lobe. The debris lobes exhibit hummocky topography in the central areas that appear to result from compression during down slope movement. The toes of the western and eastern lobes are well defined in the multibeam image, whereas the toe of the central lobe is less distinct. Continuous seismic reflection profiles show that many buried slide debris lobes exist and comparison of the deformed reflectors with ODP Drill Site 149, Hole 893 suggest that at least 200 000 years of failure have occurred in the area (Fisher et al., 2005a). Based on our interpretation of the multibeam bathymetry and seismic reflection profiles we modeled the potential tsunami that may have been produced from one of the three surfical lobes of the Goleta slide. This model shows that a 10 m high wave could have run ashore along the cliffs of the Goleta shoreline. Several other smaller (2 km2 and 4 km2) slides are located on the northern flank of the Santa Barbara Basin, both to the west and east of Goleta slide and on the Conception fan along the western flank of the basin. One slide, named the Gaviota slide, is 3.8 km2, 2.6 km long and 1.7 km wide. A distinct narrow scar extends from near the eastern head wall of this slide for over 2km eastward toward the Goleta slide and may represent either an incipient failure or a remnant of a previous failure. Push cores collected within the main head scar of this slide consisted of hydrogen sulfide bearing mud, possibly suggesting active fluid seepage and a vibra-core penetrated ~50 cm of recent sediment overlying colluvium or landslide debris confirming the age of ~300 years as proposed by Lee et al. (2004). However, no seeps or indications of recent movement were observed during our ROV investigation within this narrow head scar indicating that seafloor in the scar is draped with mud

Thoracic involvement in systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases: pathogenesis and management.

Thoracic involvement is one of the main determinants of morbidity and mortality in patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases (ARDs), with different prevalence and manifestations according to the underlying disease. Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is the most common pulmonary complication, particularly in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Other thoracic manifestations include pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), mostly in patients with SSc, airway disease, mainly in RA, and pleural involvement, which is common in systemic lupus erythematosus and RA, but rare in other ARDs.In this review, we summarize and critically discuss the current knowledge on thoracic involvement in ARDs, with emphasis on disease pathogenesis and management. Immunosuppression is the mainstay of therapy, particularly for ARDs-ILD, but it should be reserved to patients with clinically significant disease or at risk of progressive disease. Therefore, a thorough, multidisciplinary assessment to determine disease activity and degree of impairment is required to optimize patient management. Nevertheless, the management of thoracic involvement-particularly ILD-is challenging due to the heterogeneity of disease pathogenesis, the variety of patterns of interstitial pneumonia and the paucity of randomized controlled clinical trials of pharmacological intervention. Further studies are needed to better understand the pathogenesis of these conditions, which in turn is instrumental to the development of more efficacious therapies