Grazing management effects on sediment and phosphorus losses from streambanks

Agricultural lands are the leading cause of nonpoint-source pollution in the United States. Previous studies indicate that grazed lands can have more impact on sediment and phosphorus (P) losses to surface waters than cropland or other agricultural lands. The purpose of this research was to determine the effects of different grazing managements on streambank erosion and potential P losses. In 2004, three treatments, including rotational stocking, continuous stocking with limited stream access, and continuous stocking with full stream access were established in six adjacent pastures along Willow Creek at a research farm in Marshall County, Iowa. Erosion measurements were taken monthly from May to November in 2005 and 2006. Soil samples were collected, and total P, Mehlich III P, water-extractable P, and bulk density were analyzed by horizon with the intent of calculating the amount of P that potentially entered the stream at this site. Phosphorus levels did not vary significantly among treatments but were higher in the A horizons than in the C horizons. Although net erosion treatment differences were found in both years, these differences were not consistent and no trend emerged. Erosion/deposition activity was greatest in the continuous stocking with unrestricted access (CSU) treatment. In the four months that there 16 was a significant difference among treatments, the CSU treatment had the highest activity, denoting the most bank instability. The CSU treatment also had consistently higher potential and water-extractable P losses and movements (flux) than either the rotational stocking (RS) or the continuous stocking with restricted stream access (CSR) treatments. During the 2005 grazing season, the CSU treatment had a potential P loss of 24.2 g/m2 from the streambanks, as well as a flux of 86.3 g/m 2 in the system. In 2006, a much drier year, the CSU treatment had a potential P loss of 1.9 g/m2 and a P flux of 41.9 g/m 2 from the streambanks. Results from this study suggest that grazing management may have an effect on erosion/deposition activity, but did not have an effect on streambank erosion

Substituted molecular tweezers as a model for enzyme mimetics; synthesis and properties of the water soluble phosphonate-substituted tweezer

Die vorliegende Dissertation befasst sich mit dem Thema Molekulare Pinzetten. Diese Rezeptoren sind in der Lage, elektronenarme Aromaten (Substrate) zu komplexieren. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, Pinzetten als Modelle für natürliche Enzyme (Enzymmimetika) einzusetzen, da sie – ähnlich wie Enzyme - in der Lage sind, biologisch relevante Substrate zu binden. Zunächst wurde das Komplexierungsverhalten der in organischen Lösemitteln löslichen Diacetoxynaphthalin-Pinzette gegenüber aromatischen Sulfoniumsalzen (z.B. Dimethylphenylsulfonium-Tetrafluoroborat), sowie der Einfluss des Rezeptors auf die Reaktionskinetik bei Methyltransfer-Reaktionen mit diesen Substraten untersucht. Zusätzlich wurde der Einfluss des Lösungsmittels auf die Komplexstabilitäten untersucht und Experimente mit N-Methylnicotinamid-Iodid als Substrat durchgeführt. Alle genannten Substrate wurden hinsichtlich ihrer Komplexbildung mit zwei weiteren, hier erstmals synthetisierten Rezeptoren, der Bisphosphonsäuremethylester- sowie der Bisphosphonat-Pinzette, untersucht. Die Synthese der wasserlöslichen Bisphosphonat-Pinzette ermöglichte zudem die Analyse des Komplexierungsverhaltens von Pinzetten in wässriger Umgebung. Hierbei wurde eine starke Tendenz zur Dimerisierung festgestellt, die mittels temperaturabhängiger 1H-NMR-Titrationsexperimente quantitativ untersucht wurde. Zur Strukturaufklärung wurden hier quantenchemisch berechnete 1H-NMR-Verschiebungen herangezogen. Die untersuchten Komplexe der Rezeptoren mit verschiedenen Substraten in diversen Lösungsmitteln wiesen Komplexassoziationskonstanten zwischen 40 und 130.000.000 M-1 auf, wobei der stabilste Komplex von N-Methylnicotinamid-Iodid mit der Bisphosphonat-Pinzette in Wasser gebildet wurde, was auf einen enormen Beitrag nicht-klassischer hydrophober Wechselwirkungen schließen lässt. Bei der Untersuchung der Methyltransfer-Reaktion verursachte die Pinzette eine Verminderung der Reaktionsgeschwindigkeit um den Faktor 6

Äußerungsrechte staatlicher Funktionsträger

Äußerungen staatlicher Funktionsträger beeinflussen den öffentlichen Meinungs- und Willensbildungsprozess in vielfältiger Weise. Dabei stehen die Äußerungen staatlicher Funktionsträger in einem Spannungsverhältnis zwischen staatlicher Neutralität und der jedermann - also auch staatlichen Funktionsträgern außerhalb des Amtes - zustehenden Meinungsfreiheit. Seit einigen Jahren sind Äußerungen staatlicher Funktionsträger verstärkt Gegenstand (verfassungs-)gerichtlicher Entscheidungen, die Anlass zu kritischen Diskussionen geben. Sebastian Nellesen untersucht die rechtlichen Grundlagen und Grenzen der Äußerungsrechte staatlicher Funktionsträger und setzt sich mit den Äußerungsrechten ausgewählter staatlicher Funktionsträger auseinander

Utilizing Divers in Support of Spent Fuel Basin Closure Subproject

A number of nuclear facilities in the world are aging and with this comes the fact that we have to either keep repairing them or decommission them. At the Department of Energy Idaho Site (DOEID) there are a number of facilities that are being decommissioned, but the facilities that pose the highest risk to the large aquifer that flows under the site are given highest priorities. Aging spent nuclear fuel pools at DOE-ID are among the facilities that pose the highest risk, therefore four pools were targeted for decommissioning in Fiscal Year 2004. To accomplish this task the Idaho Completion Project (ICP) of Bechtel BWXT Idaho, LLC, put together an integrated Basin Closure Subproject team. The team was assigned a goal to look beyond traditional practices at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) to find ways to get the basin closure work done safer and more efficiently. The Idaho Completion Project (ICP) was faced with a major challenge – cleaning and preparing aging spent nuclear fuel basins for closure by removing sludge and debris, as necessary, and removing water to eliminate a potential risk to the Snake River Plain Aquifer. The project included cleaning and removing water from four basins. Two of the main challenges to a project like this is the risk of contamination from the basin walls and floors becoming airborne as the water is removed and keeping personnel exposures ALARA. ICP’s baseline plan had workers standing at the edges of the basins and on rafts or bridge cranes and then using long-handled tools to manually scrub the walls of basin surfaces. This plan had significant risk of skin contamination events, workers falling into the water, or workers sustaining injuries from the awkward working position. Analysis of the safety and radiation dose risks presented by this approach drove the team to look for smarter ways to get the work done

Assessment of self-healing capabilities, a route towards standardization, International Conference on Self-Healing Materials

In the last decade, an increasing attention has been given to the development of repairing capabilities in materials, with an emphasis in specific strategies that can promote self-healing, with or without external triggers. Self-healing has opened several new possibilities, especially in applications where long-term reliability is demanded and either maintenance or replace of these materials is difficult to perform. Depending on the material class, different approaches in order to achieve self-healing, can be adopted. This led to distinct evaluation methods of the self-healing efficiency, depending on the material and its final use. One of the new challenges in self-repairing materials lays in the establishment of a common testing procedure for different materials classes, such as ceramics, concrete, polymers and composites. Normalized procedures can conduct to a standardization of the healing evaluation, which will set a common ground towards a better understanding of the concept and its quantification. The assessment of self-healing capabilities is one of the major goals in the SHeMat project. SHeMat is a Training Network for Self-Healing Materials funded within the scope of the Seventh Framework Programme by the European Commission's Marie Curie programme. The focus of this work will be the development of a standard procedure and its applicability to the specific materials developed within the project. The comparative analysis of the results will act as a support to establish a common base for the definition of self-healing as a quantifiable characteristic. This discussion covers the work that has been conducted so far in the SHeMat project and possible future directions

Repetitive recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein 2 injections improve the callus microarchitecture and mechanical stiffness in a sheep model of distraction osteogenesis

Evidence suggests that recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein 2 (rhBMP-2) increases the mechanical integrity of callus tissue during bone healing. This effect may be either explained by an increase of callus formation or a modification of the trabecular microarchitecture. Therefore the purpose of the study was to evaluate the potential benefit of rhBMP-2 on the trabecular microarchitecture and on multidirectional callus stiffness. Further we asked, whether microarchitecture changes correlate with optimized callus stiffness. In this study a tibial distraction osteogenesis (DO) model in 12 sheep was used to determine, whether percutaneous injection of rhBMP-2 into the distraction zone influences the microarchitecture of the bone regenerate. After a latency period of 4 days, the tibiae were distracted at a rate of 1.25 mm/day over a period of 20 days, resulting in total lengthening of 25 mm. The operated limbs were randomly assigned to one treatment groups and one control group: (A) triple injection of rhBMP-2 (4 mg rhBMP-2/injection) and (B) no injection. The tibiae were harvested after 74 days and scanned by µCT (90 µm/voxel). In addition, we conducted a multidirectional mechanical testing of the tibiae by using a material testing system to assess the multidirectional strength. The distraction zones were tested for torsional stiffness and bending stiffness antero-posterior (AP) and medio-lateral (ML) direction, compression strength and maximum axial torsion. Statistical analysis was performed using multivariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by student's t-test and Regression analysis using power functions with a significance level of P<0.05. Triple injections of rhBMP-2 induced significant changes in the trabecular architecture of the regenerate compared with the control: increased trabecular number (Tb.N.) (treatment group 1.73 mm/1 vs. control group 1.2 mm/1), increased cortical bone volume fraction (BV/TV) (treatment group 0.68 vs. control group 0.47), and decreased trabecular separation (Tb.Sp.) (treatment group 0.18 mm vs. control group 0.43 mm)

Effects of Grazing Management on Selected Stream Bank Characteristics and Stream Bank Erosion

Six 30-acre cool-season grass pastures, containing predominantly smooth bromegrass and bisected by a 642- foot stream segment were grouped into two blocks and assigned one of three treatments: continuous stocking - unrestricted stream access (CSU), continuous stocking - restricted stream access (CSR), and rotational stocking (RS). Stream bank condition and surface roughness and stream morphology were evaluated pre-, mid-, and postgrazing over a two-year period. Stream bank erosion was monitored monthly from May through November over the same two-year period. Stream banks in CSU pastures had greater vegetative cover, stability, and condition scores than did the CSR or RS pastures, implying that the stream banks in pastures in which cattle had unlimited access were more susceptible to erosion than stream banks in pastures in which cattle access to stream banks was restricted or controlled. However, no effect of grazing management on net stream bank erosion was observed for either grazing season

Early response predicts a sustained response to eluxadoline in patients with irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhoea in two Phase 3 studies

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/136709/1/apt14031_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/136709/2/apt14031.pd