Impacts of Remotely Sensed Land Use Data on Watershed Hydrologic Change Assessment

Urbanization affects the stream system of a watershed. Increased urbanization alters the land cover and surface characteristics, the stream channel characteristics, and pollutant load of a stream system by increasing the amount of impervious surface. Once rural, forest, or wetland areas are changed to streets, highways, parking lots, sidewalks, and building rooftops. This results in large volumes of runoff being generated for an intense storm over a relatively short time period. As a result, sensitive ecosystems are likely to be damaged by increased urbanization. Projecting the impact of land use changes on a watershed scale often requires the use of remote sensing data to derive the required inputs on land cover and the related amount of impervious surface. Such forecasts are then used to devise alternative land use and stormwater control policies. One critical question that arises then is the impact of land use/land cover (LULC) mapping error on the resulting hydrologic model projections. In this research, we developed a methodology to assess those impacts. The Hydrologic Engineering Center-Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS) model was used to estimate the peak hydrograph for a baseline land use condition and then used to estimate the impact of LULC mapping accuracy levels on those forecasts. The Big Darby Creek Watershed located near Columbus, Ohio, which is experiencing increased urbanization, was selected to map LULC, calibrate a hydrologic model, and assess the hydrologic change due to LULC mapping error. The resulting analysis showed that modest changes in land cover classification did not produce significant impacts on the hydrologic modeling results in rural basins. However, the hydrologic changes are noticeable in urbanizing watersheds. The framework developed in this paper can be used for future modeling efforts to understand the hydrological impact of LULC change in a watershed at a large scale

Simulasi Sistem Otomasi Load Shedding menggunakan Prediksi Beban

ABSTRAK Simulator penggunaan energi listrik sangat membantu dalam perencanaan pasokan listrik secara terus menerus atau perlu pemadaman bila terjadi gangguan. Agar kinerja pembangkit dapat kembali normal, bertahap, dan terencana akibat mengalami gangguan, maka digunakan metoda Load Shedding. Sistem otomasi dibutuhkan untuk merealisasikan metoda Load Shedding, dan melalui simulator dapat mengurangi resiko terhadap kerusakan bila langsung diimplementasikan. PLC digunakan untuk memprediksi beban saat load shedding, sedangkan SCADA digunakan untuk menampilkan prioritas dan status beban. Load shedding 1 adalah tindakan pelepasan beban bila pada salah satu genset mengalami gangguan, sedangkan Load shedding 2 bila pada kedua genset mengalami gangguan. Simulasi sistem load shedding 1 dan 2 berhasil dilakukan pelepasan beban secara otomatis. Setelah pelepasan beban, kapasitas beban yang ditanggung genset sesuai dengan prediksi dari PLC. Terdapat perbedaan hasil antara daya yang diprediksi secara perhitungan dan daya terukur, kemungkinan disebabkan beban masih belum steady saat data diambil. Kata kunci: Otomasi, Simulator, Sistem Load shedding, SCADA, PLC   ABSTRACT Simulator of the use of electrical energy is very helpful in planning electricity supply continuously or needs to be suppressed if a disturbance occurs. In order for the generator performance to return to normal, gradual, and planned due to interference, the Load Shedding method is used. Automation systems are needed to realize the Load Shedding method, and through simulators can reduce the risk of damage if implemented immediately. PLC was used to predict load during load shedding, while SCADA was used to display priority and load status. Load shedding 1 was a load release action if one of the generator sets was disrupted, while Load shedding 2 if in both gensets were disrupted. Load system simulation of shedding 1 and 2 was successfully released by load automatically. After the load was released, the load capacity borne by the generator was in accordance with the predictions of the PLC., the load capacity borne by the generator was in accordance with the predictions of the PLC. There was a difference in results between the predicted power and measured power, possibly because the load was still not steady when the data was taken. Keywords: Automation, Simulator, Load Shedding System, SCADA, PL

Assessing the Accuracy of Tree Diameter Measurements Collected at a Distance

The ability to measure trees remotely or at a distance may be of value to forest inventory processes. Within three forest types (young coniferous, old coniferous, and deciduous), we compared laser caliper measurements collected at distances up to 12 m from each tree, to direct contact caliper measurements. Bitterlich sector-fork measurements and diameter tape measurements were also collected for reference purposes. We used non-parametric tests to evaluate three of our four hypotheses that suggest there are no significant differences between direct and remote diameter measurements, between caliper measurements and sector-fork measurements, and between diameter measurement errors across forest types. In general, most of the differences in diameters were small (≤0.8 cm) and were observed within the 0–6 m measurement distance from each tree. These results suggest that forest characteristics and measurement distance may play a role in remote diameter measurement accuracy. We also performed a correlation analysis between light conditions and remote measurements. The correlation analysis suggested light conditions were not significantly correlated to diameter measurement accuracy

Development of a protocol to obtain the composition of terrigenous detritus in marine sediments -a pilot study from International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 361

The geochemical and isotopic composition of terrigenous clays from marine sediments can provide important information on the sources and pathways of sediments. International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 361 drilled sites along the eastern margin of southern Africa that potentially provide archives of rainfall on the continent as well as dispersal in the Agulhas Current. We used standard methods to remove carbonate and ferromanganese oxides and Stokes settling to isolate the clay fractions. In comparison to most previous studies that aimed to extract the detrital signal from marine sediments, we additionally applied a cation exchange wash using CsCl as a final step in the sample preparation. The motivation behind the extra step, not frequently applied, is to remove ions that are gained on the clay surface due to adsorption of authigenic trace metals in the ocean or during the leaching procedure. Either would alter the composition of the detrital fraction if no cation exchange was applied. Moreover, using CsCl will provide an additional measure of the cation exchange capacity (CEC) of the samples. However, no study so far has evaluated the potential and the limitations of such a targeted protocol for marine sediments. Here, we explore the effects of removing and replacing adsorbed cations on the clay surfaces with Cs+, conducting measurements of the chemical compositions, and radiogenic isotopes on a set of eight clay sample pairs. Both sets of samples underwent the same full leaching procedure except that one batch was treated with a final CsCl wash step. In this study, organic matter was not leached because sediments at IODP Site U1478 have relatively low organic content. However, in general, we recommend including that step in the leaching procedure. As expected, significant portions of elements with high concentrations in seawater were replaced by Cs+ (2SD 2.8%.) from the wash, including 75% of the sodium and approximately 25% of the calcium, 10% of the magnesium, and 8% of the potassium. Trace metals such as Sr and Nd, whose isotopes are used for provenance studies, are also found to be in lower concentrations in the samples after the exchange wash. The exchange wash affected the radiogenic isotope compositions of the samples. Neodymium isotope ratios are slightly less radiogenic in all the washed samples. Strontium and Pb isotopes showed significant deviations to either more or less radiogenic values in different samples. The radiogenic isotopes from the CsCl-treated fractions gave more consistent correlations with each other, and we suggest this treatment offers a superior measure of provenance. Although we observed changes in the isotope ratios, the general trend in the data and hence the overall provenance interpretations remained the same. However, the chemical compositions are significantly different. We conclude that a leaching protocol including a cation exchange wash (e.g. CsCl) is useful for revealing the terrestrial fingerprint. CEC could, with further calibration efforts, be useful as a terrestrial chemical weathering proxy

Traditional Herbal Medicine Use Associated with Liver Fibrosis in Rural Rakai, Uganda

Background: Traditional herbal medicines are commonly used in sub-Saharan Africa and some herbs are known to be hepatotoxic. However little is known about the effect of herbal medicines on liver disease in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods: 500 HIV-infected participants in a rural HIV care program in Rakai, Uganda, were frequency matched to 500 HIV-uninfected participants. Participants were asked about traditional herbal medicine use and assessed for other potential risk factors for liver disease. All participants underwent transient elastography (FibroScan®) to quantify liver fibrosis. The association between herb use and significant liver fibrosis was measured with adjusted prevalence risk ratios (adjPRR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) using modified Poisson multivariable logistic regression. Results: 19 unique herbs from 13 plant families were used by 42/1000 of all participants, including 9/500 HIV-infected participants. The three most-used plant families were Asteraceae, Fabaceae, and Lamiaceae. Among all participants, use of any herb (adjPRR = 2.2, 95% CI 1.3–3.5, p = 0.002), herbs from the Asteraceae family (adjPRR = 5.0, 95% CI 2.9–8.7, p<0.001), and herbs from the Lamiaceae family (adjPRR = 3.4, 95% CI 1.2–9.2, p = 0.017) were associated with significant liver fibrosis. Among HIV infected participants, use of any herb (adjPRR = 2.3, 95% CI 1.0–5.0, p = 0.044) and use of herbs from the Asteraceae family (adjPRR = 5.0, 95% CI 1.7–14.7, p = 0.004) were associated with increased liver fibrosis. Conclusions: Traditional herbal medicine use was independently associated with a substantial increase in significant liver fibrosis in both HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected study participants. Pharmacokinetic and prospective clinical studies are needed to inform herb safety recommendations in sub-Saharan Africa. Counseling about herb use should be part of routine health counseling and counseling of HIV-infected persons in Uganda

2015 recommendations for the management of polymyalgia rheumatica: a European League Against Rheumatism/American College of Rheumatology collaborative initiative

Therapy for polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) varies widely in clinical practice as international recommendations for PMR treatment are not currently available. In this paper, we report the 2015 European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR)/American College of Rheumatology (ACR) recommendations for the management of PMR. We used the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology as a framework for the project. Accordingly, the direction and strength of the recommendations are based on the quality of evidence, the balance between desirable and undesirable effects, patients'and clinicians'values and preferences, and resource use. Eight overarching principles and nine specific recommendations were developed covering several aspects of PMR, including basic and follow-up investigations of patients under treatment, risk factor assessment, medical access for patients and specialist referral, treatment strategies such as initial glucocorticoid (GC) doses and subsequent tapering regimens, use of intramuscular GCs and disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), as well as the roles of non-steroidal anti-rheumatic drugs and non-pharmacological interventions. These recommendations will inform primary, secondary and tertiary care physicians about an international consensus on the management of PMR. These recommendations should serve to inform clinicians about best practices in the care of patients with PMR