Two New Techniques for Evaluating Connectivity of Septic Fields to Great Lake Watersheds and Embayments

Pictometry Oblique Imagery was successfully used to map septic fields in Oak Orchard watershed. Analysis of the imagery proved to be efficient for finding leach fields, and between 66 to 81% of the septic fields previously mapped by the Genesee Orleans County Department of Health, were identified. The remainder were not identified because of canopy cover, or were either septic systems without leach fields, the septic field postdated the imagery, or were not visible. Consequently under ideal conditions (septic systems with leach fields and no canopy or shadows) the method should be able to identify over 80% of the systems. Imagery taken during the transition from dormant to growing season proved best for identifying leach fields. One example of a plume from a short circuited system was recorded. A total of 1277 septic fields were mapped in the watershed. Spatial distribution was heterogenous, with dense sites of septic fields concentrated along residential road corridors. Approximately 4.2% of the leach fields were located less than 100 feet of a tributary. This is below the minimum separation distance of a leach field to a waterbody that is required by the NYS Department of Health code. The average distance of a leach field to a tributary is 327 meters with 50% of the leach fields occurring within 240 meters of mapped tributaries. Maps of important septic field “hotspots” were developed for watershed stakeholders and include tributaries along Batavia-Elba Townline Rd., Marsh Creek, and tributaries near the intersections of Alleghany and Lockport Rds, Judge Rd and Knowlesville Rd., and Lockport and Albion Rd. Considerable numbers of septic fields occur along Lake Alice in the main stem of the river, however this stretch is probably diluted by water input from the Erie Canal at the Glendale Dam. In a second set of experiments, a new DNA-based groundwater tracer was introduced to two septic systems to see if it could be used to trace individual septic systems. The tracer was not discovered in one site, however, a breakthrough curve was obtained in the second site 31 days after being introduced into the toilet. This tracer passed through at least 200 meters of groundwater flowpath and 1 km of stream. The results of these experiments suggest that frequent, systematic sampling and careful lab protocols to identify the signal to noise threshold of the procedure are critical to the success of the technique. In summary we suggest that Pictometry Oblique Imagery can be used to map septic fields in a watershed and that the DNA Tracer technique may be successful in some septic systems. Further research needs to be conducted to improve the success of the latter

Computation of protein geometry and its applications: Packing and function prediction

This chapter discusses geometric models of biomolecules and geometric constructs, including the union of ball model, the weigthed Voronoi diagram, the weighted Delaunay triangulation, and the alpha shapes. These geometric constructs enable fast and analytical computaton of shapes of biomoleculres (including features such as voids and pockets) and metric properties (such as area and volume). The algorithms of Delaunay triangulation, computation of voids and pockets, as well volume/area computation are also described. In addition, applications in packing analysis of protein structures and protein function prediction are also discussed.Comment: 32 pages, 9 figure

Community professionals' management of client care : a mixed-methods systematic review

This is the final draft, after peer-review, of a manuscript published in Journal of Health Services Research & Policy. The definitive version, detailed above, is available online at www.rsmjournals.com.Peer reviewedPostprin

The institutional shaping of management: in the tracks of English individualism

Globalisation raises important questions about the shaping of economic action by cultural factors. This article explores the formation of what is seen by some as a prime influence on the formation of British management: individualism. Drawing on a range of historical sources, it argues for a comparative approach. In this case, the primary comparison drawn is between England and Scotland. The contention is that there is a systemic approach to authority in Scotland that can be contrasted to a personal approach in England. An examination of the careers of a number of Scottish pioneers of management suggests the roots of this systemic approach in practices of church governance. Ultimately this systemic approach was to take a secondary role to the personal approach engendered by institutions like the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, but it found more success in the different institutional context of the USA. The complexities of dealing with historical evidence are stressed, as is the value of taking a comparative approach. In this case this indicates a need to take religious practice as seriously as religious belief as a source of transferable practice. The article suggests that management should not be seen as a simple response to economic imperatives, but as shaped by the social and cultural context from which it emerges

Shining Light on Merging Galaxies I: The Ongoing Merger of a Quasar with a `Green Valley' Galaxy

Serendipitous observations of a pair z = 0.37 interacting galaxies (one hosting a quasar) show a massive gaseous bridge of material connecting the two objects. This bridge is photoionized by the quasar (QSO) revealing gas along the entire projected 38 kpc sightline connecting the two galaxies. The emission lines that result give an unprecedented opportunity to study the merger process at this redshift. We determine the kinematics, ionization parameter (log U ~ -2.5 +- 0.03), column density (N_H ~ 10^{21} cm^{-2}), metallicity ([M/H] ~ -0.20 +- 0.15), and mass (~ 10^8 Msun) of the gaseous bridge. We simultaneously constrain properties of the QSO-host (M_DM>8.8x 10^{11} Msun) and its companion galaxy (M_DM>2.1 x 10^{11} Msun; M_star ~ 2 x 10^{10} Msun; stellar burst age=300-800 Myr; SFR~6 Msun/yr; and metallicity 12+log (O/H)= 8.64 +- 0.2). The general properties of this system match the standard paradigm of a galaxy-galaxy merger caught between first and second passage while one of the galaxies hosts an active quasar. The companion galaxy lies in the so-called `green valley', with a stellar population consistent with a recent starburst triggered during the first passage of the merger and has no detectable AGN activity. In addition to providing case-studies of quasars associated with galaxy mergers, quasar/galaxy pairs with QSO-photoionized tidal bridges such as this one offer unique insights into the galaxy properties while also distinguishing an important and inadequately understood phase of galaxy evolution.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figures, 5 tables, Submitted to ApJ, revised to address referee's comment

The Luminosity and Mass Functions of Low-Mass Stars in the Galactic Disk: I. The Calibration Region

We present measurements of the luminosity and mass functions of low-mass stars constructed from a catalog of matched Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and 2 Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) detections. This photometric catalog contains more than 25,000 matched SDSS and 2MASS point sources spanning ~30 square degrees on the sky. We have obtained follow-up spectroscopy, complete to J=16, of more than 500 low mass dwarf candidates within a 1 square degree sub-sample, and thousands of additional dwarf candidates in the remaining 29 square degrees. This spectroscopic sample verifies that the photometric sample is complete, uncontaminated, and unbiased at the 99% level globally, and at the 95% level in each color range. We use this sample to derive the luminosity and mass functions of low-mass stars over nearly a decade in mass (0.7 M_sun > M_* > 0.1 M_sun). We find that the logarithmically binned mass function is best fit with an M_c=0.29 log-normal distribution, with a 90% confidence interval of M_c=0.20--0.50. These 90% confidence intervals correspond to linearly binned mass functions peaking between 0.27 M_sun and 0.12 M_sun, where the best fit MF turns over at 0.17 M_sun. A power law fit to the entire mass range sampled here, however, returns a best fit of alpha=1.1 (where the Salpeter slope is alpha = 2.35). These results agree well with most previous investigations, though differences in the analytic formalisms adopted to describe those mass functions can give the false impression of disagreement. Given the richness of modern-day astronomical datasets, we are entering the regime whereby stronger conclusions can be drawn by comparing the actual datapoints measured in different mass functions, rather than the results of analytic analyses that impose structure on the data a priori. (abridged)Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal. 21 pages, emulateapj format, 12 figures. Figures 1, 4, 11 and 12 degraded for astroph; full resolution version available for download at http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~kcovey

Atypical Developmental Patterns of Brain Chemistry in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

IMPORTANCE Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with symptoms emerging during early childhood. The pathophysiology underlying the disorder remains incompletely understood. OBJECTIVE To examine cross-sectional and longitudinal patterns of brain chemical concentrations in children with ASD or idiopathic developmental delay (DD) from 3 different age points, beginning early in the clinical course. DESIGN Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging data were acquired longitudinally for children with ASD or DD, and primarily cross-sectionally for children with typical development (TD), at 3 to 4, 6 to 7, and 9 to 10 years of age. SETTING Recruitment, diagnostic assessments, and magnetic resonance imaging were performed at the University of Washington in Seattle. PARTICIPANTS Seventy-three children (45 with ASD, 14 with DD, and 14 with TD) at 3 to 4 years of age; 69 children (35 with ASD, 14 with DD, and 20 with TD) at 6 to 7 years of age; and 77 children (29 with ASD, 15 with DD, and 33 with TD) at 9 to 10 years of age. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Concentrations of N-acetylaspartate (NAA), choline (Cho), creatine (Cr), myo-inositol (ml), and glutamine plus glutamate (Glx) in cerebral gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) at 3 to 4, 6 to 7, and 9 to 10 years of age, and calculation of rates of change of these chemicals between 3 and 10 years of age. RESULTS At 3 to 4 years of age, the ASD group exhibited lower NAA, Cho, and Cr concentrations than did the TD group in both GM and WM, alterations that largely were not observed at 9 to 10 years of age. The DD group exhibited reduced GM and WM NAA concentrations at 3 to 4 years of age; GM NAA concentrations remained reduced at 9 to 10 years of age compared with the TD group. There were distinct differences between the ASD and DD groups in the rates of GM NAA, Cho, and Cr changes between 3 and 10 years of age. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE The GM chemical changes between 3 and 10 years of age differentiated the children with ASD from those with DD. Most notably, a dynamic reversal of GM NAA reductions was observed in the children with ASD. By contrast, persistent GM NAA reductions in the children with DD suggest a different, more static, underlying developmental process

Deep Neural Networks for Energy and Position Reconstruction in EXO-200

We apply deep neural networks (DNN) to data from the EXO-200 experiment. In the studied cases, the DNN is able to reconstruct the relevant parameters - total energy and position - directly from raw digitized waveforms, with minimal exceptions. For the first time, the developed algorithms are evaluated on real detector calibration data. The accuracy of reconstruction either reaches or exceeds what was achieved by the conventional approaches developed by EXO-200 over the course of the experiment. Most existing DNN approaches to event reconstruction and classification in particle physics are trained on Monte Carlo simulated events. Such algorithms are inherently limited by the accuracy of the simulation. We describe a unique approach that, in an experiment such as EXO-200, allows to successfully perform certain reconstruction and analysis tasks by training the network on waveforms from experimental data, either reducing or eliminating the reliance on the Monte Carlo.Comment: Accepted version. 33 pages, 28 figure