Combined source infrastructure assessment model

2012 Summer.Includes bibliographical references.Integrated utilization of surface and groundwater is a promising strategy that has the potential to reduce the costs associated with water system infrastructure projects and improve the sustainability of yields from finite water resources. Planning and design of conjunctive use systems can be complicated. Key challenges include resolving the timing of withdrawals, timing of storage, sizing of infrastructure components, and efficiently estimating costs. A combined source infrastructure assessment model (CSIAM) has been developed in this study using a decision programming approach. The CSIAM is designed for single-and multi-source water systems including surface water-only, groundwater-only, and combined surface water and groundwater sources. Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) via groundwater injection wells is a primary component of the CSIAM when there is surplus surface water available to store. Primary model inputs include project life-span, per capita demands, initial population, population growth rate, surface water treatment capacity, number of existing wells, inflows, reservoir stage-storage, evaporative and seepage losses, and unit costs for capital expenditures and operations and maintenance. Model outputs include project water demands, surface reservoir storage, volume of monthly surface water treatment, groundwater extraction and/or injection volumes, cumulative groundwater extraction and/or injection volumes, number of wells, capital costs, operation and maintenance costs, life-cycle costs, and present value. The model is demonstrated via analysis of three scenarios involving groundwater-only, combined groundwater and surface water, and surface water-only. The scenarios are predicated on data provided by the town of Castle Rock, Colorado. While the Town of Castle Rock provides a basis for applying the model, the results should not be viewed as having direct bearing on future actions in the Town of Castle Rock. Many of the key issues that will ultimately drive the Town's water supply plans are not included in this analysis. Use of a combined groundwater and surface water system is $91 million and$231 million less than a groundwater-only system and streamflow-only system, respectively. Furthermore, the use of a combined groundwater and surface water system reduces groundwater depletion by 55%, relative to a groundwater-only system. In addition, a total of 107 pumping wells will need to be installed in a groundwater-only system versus 67 pumping wells in a combined groundwater/surface water system. Both deterministic and stochastic inputs are used in the model, wherein the principle stochastic input is urban irrigation demands. The differences between results using deterministic and stochastic inputs vary depending on the output. In general, analyses using stochastic inputs lead to a need for infrastructure with greater capacities and higher costs. The CSIAM also can be used to resolve costs as a function of groundwater depletion by testing different surface water treatment plant sizes

Age-related impairment of human T lymphocytes' activation: specific differences between CD4+ and CD8+ subsets

The relevance of physiological immune aging is of great interest with respect to determining disorders with pathologic immune function in aging individuals. In recent years, the relevance of changes in peripheral lymphocytes in age-associated neurologic diseases has become more evident. Due to the lack of immunological studies, covering more than one event after mitogenic activation, we envisaged a new concept in the present study, aiming to investigate several events, starting from T cell receptor (TCR) ligation up to T cell proliferation. In addition, we addressed the question whether changes are present in the subsets (CD4, CD8) with aging. Phosphorylation of tyrosine residues declines with increasing age in CD4+ cells. Fewer levels of CD69 positive cells after 4 h mitogenic activation, altered expression of cytokines (IL2, IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha; 22 h) and lower proliferation (72 h) were determined in aging. Moreover, it could be shown that CD8+ lymphocytes react more effectively to mitogenic stimulation with reference to CD69 expression and proliferation in both age groups (60 years old). These data indicate that T cell activation, mediated by TCR engagement, is significantly impaired in aging and both subsets are affected. However, bypassing the TCR does not fully restore T cell function, indicating that there are more mechanisms involved than impaired signal transduction through TCR only. The results will be discussed in relation to their relevance in neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders

Finite element analysis on multi-chamber tensairity-like structures filled with fluid and/or gas

The concept of Tensairity-structures [6] developed by the company Airlight in Biasca, Switzerland, has been known since 2004. The advantages of the airbeams with a compression element and a spiraled cable are essentially their light weight and that such beams can be used for wide span structures. To achieve a further weight reduction Pronk et al [8] proposed to replace the compression element by an additional slim chamber filled with water. Experiments with these multi-chamber beams with and without cables showed a stiffer behavior in bending tests compared to only air filled beams. In the current contribution different tests like - primarily - the bending of multi-chamber beams will be simulated with finite elements. Explicit and implicit finite element simulations with LS-DYNA [7] and FEAP-MeKa [11] respectively will be performed with a special focus on the interaction of structural deformations and the gas/fluid filling in combination with the cables contacting the membranes. The specific features have been implemented in the above codes. The fluid and/or gas filling is replaced by an energetically equivalent load and corresponding stiffness matrix contributions to simulate quasi-static fluid-structure interaction taking the effect of the deformations of the chambers on the fluid/gas filling into account. This approach has already been introduced for fluid-structure interaction problems with large deformations and stability analysis in [1], [2]. For the implicit simulation the cables will be added using special solid-beam finite elements [5]. A new curve-to-surface contact algorithm is developed to model the contact interaction between cables and the deformable shell structure

Distribution of infection with gastro-intestinal nematodes in different groups of dairy goats in Switzerland and its influence on milk production

The aim of this field study was to investigate interactions between gastro-intestinal nematode (GIN) infection, milk performance and age in goats in order to identify animal groups with higher susceptibility to GIN. On 3 farms (farm A: n = 29, farm B: n = 33, farm C: n = 117 milking goats) fecal egg count reduction tests (FECRT) were performed in summer. All 179 milking goats were enrolled in FECRT and individual milk performance was recorded before and after FEC for FECRT. Furthermore, in early summer and autumn bulk fecal samples were cultured for every farm and GIN genera were determined

Adaptation of Poa alpina to altitude and land use in the Swiss Alps

Current land use and climate change are prompting questions about the ability of plants to adapt to such environmental change. Therefore, we experimentally addressed plant performance and quantitative-genetic diversity of the common Alpine Meadow Grass Poa alpina. We asked how land use and altitude affect the occurrence of P. alpina in the field and whether its common-garden performance suggests adaptation to conditions at plant origin and differences in quantitative genetic diversity among plant origins. Among 216 candidate grassland sites of different land use and altitude from 12 villages in the Swiss Alps, P. alpina occurred preferentially in fertilized and grazed sites and at higher elevations. In a common garden at 1,500m asl, we grew two plants of >600 genotypes representing 78 grassland sites. After 2years, nearly 90% of all plants had reproduced. In agreement with adaptive advantages of vegetative reproduction at higher altitudes, only 23% of reproductive plants from lower altitudes reproduced via vegetative bulbils, but 55% of plants from higher altitudes. In agreement with adaptive advantages of reproduction in grazed sites, allocation to reproductive biomass was higher in plants from grazed grasslands than from mown ones. For 53 grasslands, we also investigated broad-sense heritability H2, which was significant for all studied traits and twice as high for grazed as for mown grasslands. Moreover, possibly associated with their higher landscape diversity, H2 was higher for sites of villages of Romanic cultural tradition than for those of Germanic and Walser traditions. We suggest promoting diverse land use regimes to conserve not only landscape and plant species diversity, but also adaptive genetic differentiation and heritable genetic variatio

Microsatellite Diversity of the Agriculturally Important Alpine Grass Poa alpina in Relation to Land Use and Natural Environment

Background and Aims The Alpine Meadow Grass Poa alpina is common in subalpine and alpine natural sites and agriculturally used land, where it is an important fodder grass. Natural factors and human land use are supposed to have been shaping its genetic diversity for hundreds of years. The species comprises sexually and vegetatively reproducing plants. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of agricultural land use, environmental factors and the mode of reproduction on the distribution of its microsatellite diversity within and among populations and to analyse whether its genetic diversity is correlated with plant species diversity in grassland parcels. Methods Genetic diversity of P. alpina was assessed with five microsatellite markers for 569 plants originating from 20 natural sites and from 54 grassland parcels of different cultural tradition, land use and altitude in the Swiss Alps. Due to polyploidy and frequent aneuploidy of the species, data analyses were based on the presence of microsatellite bands. Key Results A low but significant differentiation was found in microsatellite bands among natural sites and agriculturally used parcels, while their microsatellite band diversity within populations did not differ. An increased differentiation was found in microsatellite bands with increasing geographic distance among parcels, and a differentiation among grazed and mown parcels, and among sexually and vegetatively reproducing populations. Band richness of sampled plants per village was higher for villages where parcels represented more different land-use types. Within populations, microsatellite band diversity was higher in grazed than in mown parcels. Conclusions The diversity of human land use in the Alps was associated with genetic diversity of P. alpina. Therefore, the ongoing socio-economically motivated land-use changes, which reduce the number of different land-use types, will affect the genetic diversity of P. alpina negativel

Omnipresence of leaf herbivory by invertebrates and leaf infection by fungal pathogens in agriculturally used grasslands of the Swiss Alps, but low plant damage

Agriculturally used grasslands in the Alps are characterised by a trade-off between high fodder production in some and high plant species richness in others. In contrast to plant species richness and production, however, little is known on the relevance of biological interactions between plants, invertebrate herbivores, and fungal pathogens for grasslands in the Alps. At the time when the vegetation was fully developed, but prior to agricultural use, we examined whether leaf damage by herbivory and fungal pathogen infection, and their diversity, are affected by plant functional group, land use, and altitude. Moreover, we studied whether extent and diversity of leaf damage are related to each other, to plant species richness, and to standing crop. We recorded the leaf area damaged by ten types of herbivory and five types of fungal pathogen infection on 12,054 plant leaves of legumes, other forbs, and graminoids collected in 215 grassland parcels in 12 valleys in the Swiss Alps. With 83% of all leaves infested, herbivory and fungal pathogen infection were omnipresent. However, only 2.7% leaf area was damaged by herbivory and 1.2% by fungal pathogens. Damage by herbivory was highest on legumes, and damage by fungal pathogens was highest on graminoids. More leaf damage by herbivory occurred in traditionally mown sites and at lower altitudes, while damage by fungal pathogen infection was independent of land use and altitude. Most types of herbivory were found on legumes and on leaves from fertilised sites, whereas the number of fungal pathogen types was highest on graminoids and in unfertilised sites. Larger standing crop was associated with higher leaf damage and diversity of herbivory types per leaf. Neither damage by herbivory nor by fungal pathogens was correlated with plant species diversity. In more plant species rich parcels, the number of herbivory types was lower at the leaf level, but tended to be higher at the parcel level. Our results highlight the omnipresence of plant-herbivore and plant-pathogen interactions. They suggest that current land use changes from mowing to grazing or to abandonment decrease the diversity of herbivory, and that fertilisation decreases pathogen diversity. As our results did not reveal conservation conflicts between diversities of plants, herbivores, and fungal pathogens, and as the damage from herbivory and pathogens is generally low, we conclude that for protecting the high diversity of plant-herbivore and plant-pathogen interactions a diverse low-intensity land use should be maintaine

Design and Synthesis of Main Group Metal Complexes to Achieve Desired Photophysical Properties through s-Orbital Destabilization

Many optoelectronic applications, including organic light emitting diodes (OLEDS), photocatalysis and photovoltaics, utilize platinum group transition metal complexes. Due to the scarcity of platinum group metals, it is essential to investigate alternative metals that can act as organometallic centers in emissive small molecule complexes. Heavy main group metals are compelling choices for the replacement of these metals due to maintaining certain physical properties, such as high spin-orbit coupling (SOC) constants. The high SOC in these metals allow for facile intersystem crossing (ISC) to access to a long-lived triplet excited state. The ISC can also allow for phosphorescent emission. Many transition metal complexes undergo a metal-to-ligand charge transfer (MLCT) that can be harnessed in various optoelectronic applications. Transition metal MLCTs originate from d-electrons, but these electrons are energetically buried on main group metals. Therefore, the most energetically accessible electrons on the metal are often located as a lone pair in an s-orbital. In order to replicate photophysical properties on main group metals, a greater understanding of the s2 lone pair on the metal center is necessary. These electrons can be manipulated by the coordination environment around a main group metal and become accessible for MLCTs. Synthesizing complexes with main group metals can also be challenging and requires alternative methods than those utilized with transition metals. Several 4- and 6- coordinate bismuth(III) complexes are synthesized and studied. Antimony(III) and lead(II) are also investigated as potential main group metal centers. Absorption spectroscopy, electrochemistry, and DFT studies are performed to help understand the effects of the coordination environment around these main group metals. These results demonstrate that useful optoelectronic properties of Bi3+ can be accessed through hypercoordination with covalent organobismuth interactions, that mimic electronic structure of lead perovskites. These results also indicate how to design future main group metal complexes with the aim of controlling the s-orbital contribution in frontier orbitals.</p