The Open Navigation Surface Project

Many hydrographic and oceanographic agencies have moved or are moving towards gridded bathymetric products. However, there is no accepted format to allow these grids to be exchanged while maintaining data and metadata integrity. This paper describes the Open Navigation Surface (ONS) Project, which aims to fill this gap. The ONS Project is an open-source software project designed to provide a freely available, portable source-code library to encapsulate gridded bathymetric surfaces with associated uncertainty values. The data file format is called a Bathymetric Attributed Grid (BAG). The BAG is developed and maintained by the ONS Working Group (ONSWG), and the source code is available via the ONS websit

Simulation–Optimization Modeling: A Survey and Potential Application in Reservoir Systems Operation

This paper presents a survey of simulation and optimization modeling approaches used in reservoir systems operation problems. Optimization methods have been proved of much importance when used with simulation modeling and the two approaches when combined give the best results. The main objective of this review article is to discuss simulation, optimization and combined simulation– optimization modeling approach and to provide an overview of their applications reported in literature. In addition to classical optimization techniques, application and scope of computational intelligence techniques, such as, evolutionary computa- tions, fuzzy set theory and artificial neural networks, in reservoir system operation studies are reviewed. Conclusions and suggestive remarks based on this survey are outlined, which could be helpful for future research and for system managers to decide appropriate methodology for application to their systems

Development of a Grazing Land Management Education Program for Northern Australia’s Grasslands and Grassy Woodlands

Recognition of the potential to enhance grazing land management to meet the goal of sustainable beef production has been increasing over the past decade. Recognition of the relationship between poor land management and negative off-site environmental impacts, such as soil erosion and a decline in the condition of rivers and adjacent near shore coastal areas from sediment transport, has increased also. This concern has matured somewhat to include the critical link between land condition and production, and the threat to sustainable carrying capacity that comes from declining land condition. Concurrently, interest has increased in optimising the use of pasture, e.g. through the development of infrastructure (watering points, fencing), through more pro-active management e.g. alternative grazing systems, spelling of pastures, and through pasture development. In fact, it can be argued that achieving production goals while improving and maintaining the health of the land has become the major on-property issue for northern Australian graziers

Absolute calibration of the intramolecular site preference of 15N fractionation in tropospheric N2O by FT-IR spectroscopy

Nitrous oxide (N2O) plays important roles in atmospheric chemistry both as a greenhouse gas and in stratospheric ozone depletion. Isotopic measurements of N2O have provided an invaluable insight into understanding its atmospheric sources and sinks. The preference for 15N fractionation between the central and terminal positions (the “site preference”) is particularly valuable because it depends principally on the processes involved in N2O production or consumption, rather than the 15N content of the substrate from which it is formed. Despite the value of measurements of the site preference, there is no internationally recognized standard reference material of accurately known and accepted site preference, and there has been some lack of agreement in published studies aimed at providing such a standard. Previous work has been based on isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS); in this work we provide an absolute calibration for the intramolecular site preference of 15N fractionation of working standard gases used in our laboratory by a completely independent technique—high-resolution Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. By reference to this absolute calibration, we determine the site preference for 25 samples of tropospheric N2O collected under clean air conditions to be 19.8‰ ± 2.1‰. This result is in agreement with that based on the earlier absolute calibration of Toyoda and Yoshida (Toyoda, S. and Yoshida, N. Anal. Chem. 1999, 71, 4711−4718) who found an average tropospheric site preference of 18.7‰ ± 2.2‰. We now recommend an interlaboratory exchange of working standard N2O gases as the next step to providing an international reference standard

"Chiamo uomo chi \ue8 padrone delle sue lingue". modelli di plurilinguismo da Lampedusa in su.

Il plurilinguismo dei nuovi migranti viene analizzato insieme al ruolo della lingua nella costruzione di modelli di societ\ue0 inclusiva e plural

Undergraduate teaching in geriatric medicine: mapping the British Geriatrics Society undergraduate curriculum to Tomorrow's Doctors 2009

Introduction: in 2008, the British Geriatrics Society (BGS) developed the Recommended Undergraduate Curriculum in Geriatric Medicine. This was subsequently mapped to the second edition of Tomorrows' Doctors (TD2, 2003). Following the publication of the third edition of Tomorrow's Doctors in 2009 (TD3), the mapping exercise was repeated to verify the extent to which the updated General Medical Council recommendations supported teaching in ageing and geriatric medicine. Method: we analysed TD3 and identified 48 aspects of its general guidance that were relevant to the teaching of medicine for older people. We then mapped these to the 2009 BGS curriculum. Results: the BGS curriculum was supported in full by TD3. However, learning outcomes relating to the interpretation and conduct of research in TD3 had no corresponding outcomes in the BGS curriculum. Conclusion: the BGS curriculum for medical undergraduates continues to provide a specific and complete list of learning objectives, all of which could help to operationalise the general statements made in TD3 with relation to ageing and geriatric medicine. Learning outcomes in research in frail older patients have been added following this mapping exercise

Transport of NOX emissions from sugarcane fertilisation into the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon

The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area contains highly sensitive ecosystems that are threatened by the effects of anthropogenic activity including eutrophication. The nearby sugarcane plantations of tropical north Queensland are fertilised annually and there has been ongoing concern about the magnitude of the loss of applied nitrogen to the environment. Previous studies have considered the potential of rainwater run-off to deposit reactive nitrogen species into rivers and ultimately into the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon, but have neglected the possibility of transport via the atmosphere. This paper reports the results of a modelling study commissioned by Australia’s National Heritage Trust aimed at assessing whether or not atmospheric deposition of reactive nitrogen from Queensland’s sugarcane plantations posed a potential threat to the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon. Atmospheric dispersion modelling was undertaken using The Air Pollution Model, developed by Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. Despite the predominance of onshore southeasterly winds, the dispersion model results indicate that 9% of the time during the sugarcane fertilization season (in the modeled years 2001–2006) the meteorological conditions resulted in emissions from the coastal regions of north Queensland being transported out over the ocean around the Great Barrier Reef. The results suggest that there may be a greater efficiency for transport out over the reef during October than for November and December. For the 2 months that exhibited the greatest potential for transport of coastal pollution to the Great Barrier Reef, the modeled deposition of nitrogen oxides (NOX) into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon was less than 1% of the total emissions from the sugarcane plantations, but was not zero. Our model has a simple chemical scheme that does not cover the full chemistry of all reactive nitrogen compounds and so the results are only indicative of the potential levels of deposition. Nevertheless, our study shows that small amounts of NOX that originate from sugarcane fertilization may be transported and dry deposited into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon. Other pathways not included in the modeling scheme may provide a more efficient transport mechanism. Whilst modern practices for the application of fertilizer to sugarcane plantations have drastically reduced emissions, the potential efficiency of transport of pollutants via the atmosphere may be of concern for other more highly polluting agricultural industries

What side effects are problematic for patients prescribed antipsychotic medication? the Maudsley Side Effects (MSE) measure for antipsychotic medication

Background Capturing service users' perspectives can highlight additional and different concerns to those of clinicians, but there are no up to date, self-report psychometrically sound measures of side effects of antipsychotic medications. Aim To develop a psychometrically sound measure to identify antipsychotic side effects important to service users, the Maudsley Side Effects (MSE) measure. Method An initial item bank was subjected to a Delphi exercise (n = 9) with psychiatrists and pharmacists, followed by service user focus groups and expert panels (n = 15) to determine item relevance and language. Feasibility and comprehensive psychometric properties were established in two samples (N43 and N50). We investigated whether we could predict the three most important side effects for individuals from their frequency, severity and life impact. Results MSE is a 53-item measure with good reliability and validity. Poorer mental and physical health, but not psychotic symptoms, was related to side-effect burden. Seventy-nine percent of items were chosen as one of the three most important effects. Severity, impact and distress only predicted 'putting on weight' which was more distressing, more severe and had more life impact in those for whom it was most important. Conclusions MSE is a self-report questionnaire that identifies reliably the side-effect burden as experienced by patients. Identifying key side effects important to patients can act as a starting point for joint decision making on the type and the dose of medication

Epigenetic control of the vasopressin promoter explains physiological ability to regulate vasopressin transcription in dehydration and salt loading states in the rat

The synthesis of arginine vasopressin (AVP) in the supraoptic nucleus (SON) and paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus is sensitive to increased plasma osmolality and a decreased blood volume, and thus is robustly increased by both dehydration (increased plasma osmolality and decreased blood volume) and salt loading (increased plasma osmolality). Both stimuli result in functional remodelling of the SON and PVN, a process referred to as functional‐related plasticity. Such plastic changes in the brain have recently been associated with altered patterns of DNA methylation at CpG (cytosine‐phosphate‐guanine) residues, a process considered to be important for the regulation of gene transcription. In this regard, the proximal Avp promoter contains a number of CpG sites and is recognised as one of four CpG islands for the Avp gene, suggesting that methylation may be regulating Avp transcription. In the present study, we show that, in an immortalised hypothalamic cell line 4B, the proximal Avp promoter is highly methylated, and treatment of these cells with the DNA methyltransferase inhibitor 5‐Aza‐2′‐deoxycytidine to demethylate DNA dramatically increases basal and stimulated Avp biosynthesis. We report no changes in the expression of DNA methyltransferases, Dnmt1 and Dnmt3a, whereas there is decreased expression of the demethylating enzyme ten‐eleven‐translocation 2, Tet2, in the SON by dehydration and salt loading. We found higher methylation of the SON Avp promoter in dehydrated but not salt‐loaded rats. By analysis of individual CpG sites, we observed hypomethylation, hypermethylation and no change in methylation of specific CpGs in the SON Avp promoter of the dehydrated rat. Using reporter gene assays, we show that mutation of individual CpGs can result in altered Avp promoter activity. We propose that methylation of the SON Avp promoter is necessary to co‐ordinate the duel inputs of increased plasma osmolality and decreased blood volume on Avp transcription in the chronically dehydrated rat