Applying Reflection Tomography in the Postmigration Domain to Multifold Ground-Penetrating Radar Data

Acquisition and processing of multifold ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data enable detailed measurements of lateral velocity variability. The velocities constrain interpretation of subsurface materials and lead to significant improvement in image accuracy when coupled with prestack depth migration (PSDM). Reflection tomography in the postmigration domain was introduced in the early 1990s for velocity estimation in seismic reflection. This robust, accurate method is directly applicable in multifold GPR imaging. At a contaminated waste facility within the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford site in Washington, the method is used to identify significant lateral and vertical velocity heterogeneity associated with infilled waste pits. Using both the PSDM images and velocity models in interpretation, a paleochannel system that underlies the site and likely forms contaminant migration pathways is identified

Prediction and Control of Urban Stormwater Quality- A Case Study

Paper by Philip B. Bedient, Jeff L. Lambert, Chris B. Amandes, and David P. Smit

Ground-Penetrating Radar Theory and Application of Thin-Bed Offset-Dependent Reflectivity

Offset-dependent reflectivity or amplitude-variationwith- offset (AVO) analysis of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data may improve the resolution of subsurface dielectric permittivity estimates. A horizontally stratified medium has a limiting layer thickness below which thin-bed AVO analysis is necessary. For a typical GPR signal, this limit is approximately 0.75 of the characteristic wavelength of the signal. Our approach to modeling the GPR thin-bed response is a broadband, frequency-dependent computation that utilizes an analytical solution to the three-interface reflectivity and is easy to implement for either transverse electric (TE) or transverse magnetic (TM) polarizations. The AVO curves for TE and TM modes differ significantly. In some cases, constraining the interpretation using both TE and TM data is critical. In two field examples taken from contaminated-site characterization data, we find quantitative thin-bed modeling agrees with the GPR field data and available characterization data

Pivotal Advance: Eosinophil infiltration of solid tumors is an early and persistent inflammatory host response

Tumor-associated eosinophilia has been observed in numerous human cancers and several tumor models in animals; however, the details surrounding this eosinophilia remain largely undefined and anecdotal. We used a B16-F10 melanoma cell injection model to demonstrate that eosinophil infiltration of tumors occurred from the earliest palpable stages with significant accumulations only in the necrotic and capsule regions. Furthermore, the presence of diffuse extracellular matrix staining for eosinophil major basic protein was restricted to the necrotic areas of tumors, indicating that eosinophil degranulation was limited to this region. Antibody-mediated depletion of CD4+ T cells and adoptive transfer of eosinophils suggested, respectively, that the accumulation of eosinophils is not associated with T helper cell type 2-dependent immune responses and that recruitment is a dynamic, ongoing process, occurring throughout tumor growth. Ex vivo migration studies have identified what appears to be a novel chemotactic factor(s) released by stressed/dying melanoma cells, suggesting that the accumulation of eosinophils in tumors occurs, in part, through a unique mechanism dependent on a signal(s) released from areas of necrosis. Collectively, these studies demonstrate that the infiltration of tumors by eosinophils is an early and persistent response that is spatial-restricted. It is more important that these data also show that the mechanism(s) that elicit this host response occur, independent of immune surveillance, suggesting that eosinophils are part of an early inflammatory reaction at the site of tumorigenesis. © Society for Leukocyte Biology

Survey of Period Variations of Superhumps in SU UMa-Type Dwarf Novae

We systematically surveyed period variations of superhumps in SU UMa-type dwarf novae based on newly obtained data and past publications. In many systems, the evolution of superhump period are found to be composed of three distinct stages: early evolutionary stage with a longer superhump period, middle stage with systematically varying periods, final stage with a shorter, stable superhump period. During the middle stage, many systems with superhump periods less than 0.08 d show positive period derivatives. Contrary to the earlier claim, we found no clear evidence for variation of period derivatives between superoutburst of the same object. We present an interpretation that the lengthening of the superhump period is a result of outward propagation of the eccentricity wave and is limited by the radius near the tidal truncation. We interpret that late stage superhumps are rejuvenized excitation of 3:1 resonance when the superhumps in the outer disk is effectively quenched. Many of WZ Sge-type dwarf novae showed long-enduring superhumps during the post-superoutburst stage having periods longer than those during the main superoutburst. The period derivatives in WZ Sge-type dwarf novae are found to be strongly correlated with the fractional superhump excess, or consequently, mass ratio. WZ Sge-type dwarf novae with a long-lasting rebrightening or with multiple rebrightenings tend to have smaller period derivatives and are excellent candidate for the systems around or after the period minimum of evolution of cataclysmic variables (abridged).Comment: 239 pages, 225 figures, PASJ accepte

Fish consumption, omega-3 fatty acids, and environmental contaminants in relation to low-grade inflammation and early atherosclerosis

Available online 22 October 2012

Leveraging mesh modularization to lower the computational cost of localized updates to regional 2D hydrodynamic model outputs

Hydrodynamic model outputs are used in urban flood risk modelling, flood alert systems, and Monte Carlo hazard assessment. This study tackles an under-explored challenge wherein regular updates to the spatial characteristics of the watershed – due to factors such as changing land use – alter the watershed’s response to rainfall forcing, thus rendering existing model outputs obsolete. Because state-of-the-art hydrodynamic models are computationally expensive, frequently re-running simulations can be costly. Modularization addresses this problem by requiring re-computation only for a limited domain affected by the land use changes. This article introduces a novel approach by modularizing the 2D domain into independent sub-domains before (‘discrete’) and after (‘abstract’) the numerical computations. Using the Hydrologic Engineering Center River Analysis System (HEC-RAS) 2D model of a large urban watershed in Houston as an illustrative and generalizable testbed, we show that both the discrete and abstract modularization closely approximates the results from re-running the entire model. The computational cost of modularization scales linearly with model size for memory requirements as storing the solution on the interior boundaries (discrete) or throughout the domain (abstract) are necessary. This trade-off of memory for computation may facilitate advances in surrogate modelling or Monte Carlo flood risk assessment