Microwave soil moisture measurements and analysis

An effort to develop a model that simulates the distribution of water content and of temperature in bare soil is documented. The field experimental set up designed to acquire the data to test this model is described. The microwave signature acquisition system (MSAS) field measurements acquired in Colby, Kansas during the summer of 1978 are pesented

Separation of the first- and second-order contributions in magneto-optic Kerr effect magnetometry of epitaxial FeMn/NiFe bilayers

The influence of second-order magneto-optic effects on Kerr effect magnetometry of epitaxial exchange coupled FeMn/NiFe-bilayers is investigated. A procedure for separation of the first- and second-order contributions is presented. The full angular dependence of both contributions during the magnetization reversal is extracted from the experimental data and presented using gray scaled magnetization reversal diagrams. The theoretical description of the investigated system is based on an extended Stoner-Wohlfarth model, which includes an induced unidirectional and fourfold anisotropy in the ferromagnet, caused by the coupling to the antiferromagnet. The agreement between the experimental data and the theoretical model for both the first- and second-order contributions are good, although a coherent reversal of the magnetization is assumed in the model.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, submitted to J. Appl. Phy

Assessing and Improving Pollution Prevention by Swales

Roadside swales are drainage ditches that also treat runoff to improve water quality, including infiltration of water to reduce pollutant load. In the infiltration study, a quick and simple device, the Modified Philip Dunne (MPD) infiltrometer, was utilized to measure an important infiltration parameter (saturated hydraulic conductivity, Ksat) at multiple locations in a number of swales. The study showed that the spatial variability in the swale infiltration rate was substantial, requiring 20 or more measurements along the highway to get a good estimate of the mean swale infiltration rate. This study also developed a ditch check filtration system that can be installed in swales to provide significant treatment of dissolved heavy metals and dissolved phosphorous in stormwater runoff. The results were utilized to develop design guidelines and recommendations, including sizing and treatment criteria for optimal performance of the full-scale design of these filters. Finally, the best available knowledge on swale maintenance was combined with information obtained from new surveys conducted to develop recommendations for swale maintenance schedules and effort. The recommendations aim toward optimizing the cost-effectiveness of roadside swales and thus provide useful information to managers and practitioners of roadways. The research results and information obtained from this study can thus be used to design swale systems for use along linear roadway projects that will receive pollution prevention credits for infiltration. This will enable the utilization of drainage ditches to their full pollution prevention potential, before building other more expensive stormwater treatment practices throughout Minnesota and the United States

Assessment of Stormflow and Water Quality from Undisturbed and Site Prepared Forest Land in East Texas (Final Report)

In 1979, nine small forested watersheds were instrumented in East Texas to determine the effect of intensive forest management practices On water quantity and quality. Three replications of three treatments were used: 1) clearcutting - followed by shearing and windrowing, 2) clearcutting - followed by roller chopping and 3) undisturbed control. Following treatment, the sheared and windrowed sites exposed 57% of the surface soil compared to 16% for the chopped watersheds. During 1981, the first year after treatment, stormflow volumes increased with the intensity of the site disturbance. Sites sheared produced the greatest amount of stormflow (5.76 inches), followed by chopped (3.26 inches) and the undisturbed watersheds (1.03 inches). Stormflow volumes decreased 66% and 57% on the sheared and chopped watersheds the second year following treatment. Sediment losses were significantly higher on the sheared watersheds (2,620 lb/acre) than the chopped (22 lb/acre), during 1981. By the fall of 1982, the exposure of mineral soil on the sheared sites dropped to 20% and to 4% on the chopped sites. For this reason and the lower volume of runoff, sediment loss for 1982 dropped to 71.3, 4.9 and 4.5 lb/acre for the sheared, chopped and undisturbed watersheds, respectively. Nitrate concentrations were significantly different between treatments during 1981: Sheared - 205 ppb, chopped - 96 ppb and control 10 ppb. During 1982, although nitrate concentrations were lower, the sheared watershed still had a significantly higher concentration. Total nitrogen concentration on the sheared sites was 2,155 ppb, which was significantly higher than the chopped (999 ppb) or the control sites (996 ppb) for 1981. The first year total nitrogen export from the sheared sites (2.79 lb/acre) was 3.5 times greater than the chopped loss (0.76 lb/acre) and 12 times greater than the loss on the control sites (0.24 lb/acre). The second year following treatment, total nitrogen concentrations were not significantly different and total nitrogen loss on the sheared areas was less than half of the loss recorded from the control sites during 1981. Total phosphorus concentrations for 1981 were 221, 85 and 54 ppb for the sheared, chopped and control watersheds, respectively. Total phosphorus loss for this period was only 0.297 lb/acre from the sheared treatments, but was significantly higher than the chopped or undisturbed treatments. A drop in sediment concentrations and runoff in 1982 reduced phosphorus losses on the sheared watersheds by over 90%. Calcium, potassium and sodium concentrations during 1981, were highest for the chopped treatments, while magnesium concentrations were highest on the sheared treatments. Export of these elements was greatest from the sheared sites, except for calcium, which was lost in greater quantities on the chopped sites. During 1982 there was no significant difference between treatments for Ca, Mg, K and Na concentrations. The rapid revegetation and reduction in exposed mineral soil that occurred on both sheared and chopped treatments during 1982, resulted in a decrease in runoff and sediment and nutrient losses. As the stabilization of sites continues, treatment differences should diminish. Limiting shearing and windrowing activities to the more gentle slopes will reduce first year erosion and prevent increases in sediment and nutrient losses. Roller chopping on the other hand, appears to cause only minor changes to water yield and quality on slopes of up to 25%

Development, implementation, and pilot study of a sentinel network ("The Watchtowers") for monitoring emergency primary health care activity in Norway

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In Norway there is a shortage of valid health activity statistics from the primary care out-of-hours services and the pre-hospital emergency health care system. There is little systematic information available because data registration is lacking or is only recorded periodically, and definitions of variables are not consistent.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>A representative sample of Norwegian municipalities and out-of-hours districts was contracted to establish a sentinel network, "The Watchtowers", and procedures were developed for collecting continuous data from out-of-hours services. All contacts, either per telephone or direct attendance, are recorded during day and night. The variables are registered in a computer program developed by the National Centre for Emergency Primary Health Care, and sent by email in Excel-file format to the Centre on a monthly basis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The selection process yielded a group of 18 municipalities, with a fair degree of representativeness for Norwegian municipalities as a whole. The sample has 212,921 inhabitants, which constitutes 4.6% of the total Norwegian population. During a pilot period lasting three months the Watchtowers recorded all individual contacts. The procedures for registration, submitting and checking data worked satisfactorily. There was little data missing, and during the last three months of 2006 a total of 23,346 contacts were registered.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We have been able to establish a sentinel network with a fair degree of representativeness for Norwegian out-of-hours districts and municipalities. The data collected reflect national activities from casualty clinics in Norway. Such data are useful for both research and system improvements.</p

Diagnostic scope in out-of-hours primary care services in eight European countries: an observational study

Background: In previous years, out- of-hours primary care has been organised in large-scale organisations in many countries. This may have lowered the threshold for many patients to present health problems at nights and during the weekend. Comparisons of out-of-hours care between countries require internationally comparable figures on symptoms and diagnoses, which were not available. This study aimed to describe the symptoms and diagnoses in out-of-hours primary care services in regions in eight European countries. Methods: We conducted a retrospective observational study based on medical records from out-of-hours primary care services in Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, and Switzerland. We aimed to include data on 1000 initial contacts from up to three organisations per country. Excluded were contacts with an administrative reason. The International Classification for Primary Care (ICPC) was used to categorise symptoms and diagnoses. In two countries (Slovenia and Spain) ICD10 codes were translated into ICPC codes. Results: The age distribution of patients showed a high consistency across countries, while the percentage of males varied from 33.7% to 48.3%. The ICPC categories that were used most frequently concerned: chapter A 'general and unspecified symptoms' (mean 13.2%), chapter R 'respiratory' (mean 20.4%), chapter L 'musculoskeletal' (mean 15.0%), chapter S 'skin' (mean 12.5%), and chapter D 'digestive' (mean 11.6%). So, relatively high numbers of patients presenting with infectious diseases or acute pain related syndromes. This was largely consistent across age groups, but in some age groups chapter H ('ear problems'), chapter L ('musculoskeletal') and chapter K ('cardiovascular') were frequently used. Acute life-threatening problems had a low incidence. Conclusions: This international study suggested a highly similar diagnostic scope in out-of-hours primary care services. The incidence rates of acute life-threatening health problems were low in all countries

Psychiatry out-of-hours: a focus group study of GPs' experiences in Norwegian casualty clinics

Background: For Norwegian general practitioners (GPs), acute treatment of mental illness and substance abuse are among the most commonly experienced emergency situations in out-of-hours primary healthcare. The largest share of acute referrals to emergency psychiatric wards occurs out-of-hours, and out-of-hours services are responsible for a disproportionately high share of compulsory referrals. Concerns exist regarding the quality of mental healthcare provided in the out-of-hours setting. The aim of this study was to explore which challenges GPs experience when providing emergency care out-of-hours to patients presenting problems related to mental illness or substance abuse. Methods: We conducted a qualitative study based on two individual interviews and six focus groups with purposively sampled GPs (totally 45 participants). The interviews were analysed successively in an editing style, using a thematic approach based on methodological descriptions by Charmaz and Malterud. Results: Safety and uncertainty were the dominating themes in the discussions. The threat to personal safety due to unpredictable patient behaviour was a central concern, and present security precautions in the out-of-hours services were questioned. The GPs expressed high levels of uncertainty in their work with patients presenting problems related to mental illness or substance abuse. The complexity of the problems presented, shortage of time, limited access to reliable information and limited range of interventions available during out-of-hours contributed to this uncertainty. Perceived access to second opinion seemed to have a major impact on subjectively experienced work stress. Conclusions: The GPs experienced out-of-hours psychiatry as a field with high levels of uncertainty and limited support to help them meet the experienced challenges. This might influence the quality of care provided. If the current organisation of emergency mental healthcare is to be kept, we need to provide GPs with a better support framework out-of-hours

Adenosine A1 receptor: Functional receptor-receptor interactions in the brain

Over the past decade, many lines of investigation have shown that receptor-mediated signaling exhibits greater diversity than previously appreciated. Signal diversity arises from numerous factors, which include the formation of receptor dimers and interplay between different receptors. Using adenosine A1 receptors as a paradigm of G protein-coupled receptors, this review focuses on how receptor-receptor interactions may contribute to regulation of the synaptic transmission within the central nervous system. The interactions with metabotropic dopamine, adenosine A2A, A3, neuropeptide Y, and purinergic P2Y1 receptors will be described in the first part. The second part deals with interactions between A1Rs and ionotropic receptors, especially GABAA, NMDA, and P2X receptors as well as ATP-sensitive K+ channels. Finally, the review will discuss new approaches towards treating neurological disorders

Expression and function of human hemokinin-1 in human and guinea pig airways

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Human hemokinin-1 (hHK-1) and endokinins are peptides of the tachykinin family encoded by the <it>TAC4 </it>gene. <it>TAC4 </it>and hHK-1 expression as well as effects of hHK-1 in the lung and airways remain however unknown and were explored in this study.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>RT-PCR analysis was performed on human bronchi to assess expression of tachykinin and tachykinin receptors genes. Enzyme immunoassay was used to quantify hHK-1, and effects of hHK-1 and endokinins on contraction of human and guinea pig airways were then evaluated, as well as the role of hHK-1 on cytokines production by human lung parenchyma or bronchi explants and by lung macrophages.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In human bronchi, expression of the genes that encode for hHK-1, tachykinin NK₁-and NK₂-receptors was demonstrated. hHK-1 protein was found in supernatants from explants of human bronchi, lung parenchyma and lung macrophages. Exogenous hHK-1 caused a contractile response in human bronchi mainly through the activation of NK₂-receptors, which blockade unmasked a NK₁-receptor involvement, subject to a rapid desensitization. In the guinea pig trachea, hHK-1 caused a concentration-dependant contraction mainly mediated through the activation of NK₁-receptors. Endokinin A/B exerted similar effects to hHK-1 on both human bronchi and guinea pig trachea, whereas endokinins C and D were inactive. hHK-1 had no impact on the production of cytokines by explants of human bronchi or lung parenchyma, or by human lung macrophages.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We demonstrate endogenous expression of <it>TAC4 </it>in human bronchi, the encoded peptide hHK-1 being expressed and involved in contraction of human and guinea pig airways.</p