Residual currents and fluxes through the mouth of Vassova coastal lagoon

An intensive sampling program of physical and chemical parameters at the mouth of Vassova lagoon (Northern Greece) during 4 separate tidal cycles is described. The study aims at understanding the tidal circulation and estimating the instantaneous and residual fluxes of water, salt and nutrients through the entrance canal of this micro-tidal lagoon. Results showed that tidal flood exceeded in duration tidal ebb, under spring and neap tidal conditions. Ebb tidal currents were recorded higher than flood currents, especially under neap tidal conditions. Unsteady flow characterized the temporal variation of longitudinal and lateral velocity, inducing a rightward deflection on flood or ebb flow. The intra-tidal variability of dissolved inorganic nitrogen showed seasonal dependence, with higher values during September, October and early March, and lower during the late March period. Residual current and flux analysis into a Eulerian and a mass transport Stokes drift mechanism illustrated that advective water and dissolved parameters (i.e., salt and nitrates, phosphates and chlorophyll-·) fluxes were an order of magnitude higher than tidal pumping effects. Water and dissolved constituents moved into the lagoon under neap tidal conditions and out of the lagoon during spring tidal conditions. Calculated flushing times ranged from 5 to 14 days, with neap tidal conditions and nearly zero freshwater discharge producing the longer flushing time. Lower water flushing effects were generated under spring tides and increased precipitation

Towards estimating computer users' mood from interaction behaviour with keyboard and mouse

The purpose of this exploratory research was to study the relationship between the mood of computer users and their use of keyboard and mouse to examine the possibility of creating a generic or individualized mood measure. To examine this, a field study (n = 26) and a controlled study (n = 16) were conducted. In the field study, interaction data and self-reported mood measurements were collected during normal PC use over several days. In the controlled study, participants worked on a programming task while listening to high or low arousing background music. Besides subjective mood measurement, galvanic skin response (GSR) data was also collected. Results found no generic relationship between the interaction data and the mood data. However, the results of the studies found significant average correlations between mood measurement and personalized regression models based on keyboard and mouse interaction data. Together the results suggest that individualized mood prediction is possible from interaction behaviour with keyboard and mouse

Wetlands for wastewater treatment and subsequent recycling of treated effluent : a review

Due to water scarcity challenges around the world, it is essential to think about non-conventional water resources to address the increased demand in clean freshwater. Environmental and public health problems may result from insufficient provision of sanitation and wastewater disposal facilities. Because of this, wastewater treatment and recycling methods will be vital to provide sufficient freshwater in the coming decades, since water resources are limited and more than 70% of water are consumed for irrigation purposes. Therefore, the application of treated wastewater for agricultural irrigation has much potential, especially when incorporating the reuse of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous, which are essential for plant production. Among the current treatment technologies applied in urban wastewater reuse for irrigation, wetlands were concluded to be the one of the most suitable ones in terms of pollutant removal and have advantages due to both low maintenance costs and required energy. Wetland behavior and efficiency concerning wastewater treatment is mainly linked to macrophyte composition, substrate, hydrology, surface loading rate, influent feeding mode, microorganism availability, and temperature. Constructed wetlands are very effective in removing organics and suspended solids, whereas the removal of nitrogen is relatively low, but could be improved by using a combination of various types of constructed wetlands meeting the irrigation reuse standards. The removal of phosphorus is usually low, unless special media with high sorption capacity are used. Pathogen removal from wetland effluent to meet irrigation reuse standards is a challenge unless supplementary lagoons or hybrid wetland systems are used

INVESTIGATION OF RAINWATER HARVESTING TANK SIZE FOR LIVESTOCK USE IN GREECE

Η συλλογή όμβριων υδάτων αποτελεί μια πανάρχαια πρακτική κάλυψης των υδατικών αναγκών τόσο για αστική χρήση όσο για άρδευση και κτηνοτροφία. Στην παρούσα εργασία διερευνήθηκε η χωρητικότητα ομβροδεξαμενής για την κάλυψη των υδατικών αναγκών μιας μέσης κτηνοτροφικής μονάδας αιγοπροβάτων εφαρμόζοντας τη μέθοδο του ημερήσιου υδατικού ισοζυγίου. Χρησιμοποιήθηκαν ημερήσιες τιμές βροχόπτωσης διάρκειας 10 έως 16 ετών από τους σταθμούς “Άγναντα” Άρτας, “Καστανιά” Κορινθίας, “Αρμένοι” Ρεθύμνου και “Κιμμέρια” Ξάνθης,  και τα αποτελέσματα έδειξαν ότι υπάρχει μεγάλη διακύμανση μεταξύ του μεγέθους ομβροδεξαμενών στους σταθμούς μελέτης λόγω των διαφορών στο ετήσιο ύψος βροχής και τη μέγιστη άνομβρη περίοδο που παρατηρήθηκαν μεταξύ των σταθμών.Rainwater harvesting is an ancient practice used to cover water needs for domestic, irrigation and livestock uses. In this study, the rainwater harvesting tank size was investigated to meet the water needs of a mixed goat-sheep farm using the method of daily water balance. Daily rainfall data for a period of 10 to 16 years from the stations “Agnanta” Arta, “Kastania” Korinthia, "Armeni" Rethymnon and “Kimmeria” Xanthi were used. Analysis of the results showed that there is a great variation in the rainwater harvesting tank size among stations studied due to differences in annual rainfall and maximum dry period

Channel Scour Induced by Spillway Failure at Lake Charleston, Illinois

published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewedOpe

Determining leaf area index and leafy tree roughness using terrestrial laser scanning

Vegetation roughness, and more specifically forest roughness, is a necessary component in better defining flood dynamics both in the sense of changes in river catchment characteristics and the dynamics of forest changes and management. Extracting roughness parameters from riparian forests can be a complicated process involving different components for different required scales and flow depths. For flow depths that enter a forest canopy, roughness at both the woody branch and foliage level is necessary. This study attempts to extract roughness for this leafy component using a relatively new remote sensing technique in the form of terrestrial laser scanning. Terrestrial laser scanning is used in this study due to its ability to obtain millions of points within relatively small forest stands. This form of lidar can be used to determine the gaps present in foliaged canopies in order to determine the leaf area index. The leaf area index can then be directly input into resistance equations to determine the flow resistance at different flow depths. Leaf area indices created using ground scanning are compared in this study to indices calculated using simple regression equations. The dominant riparian forests investigated in this study are planted and natural poplar forests over a lowland section of the Garonne River in Southern France. Final foliage roughness values were added to woody branch roughness from a previous study, resulting in total planted riparian forest roughness values of around Manning's n = 0.170–0.195 and around n = 0.245–330 for in-canopy flow of 6 and 8 m, respectively, and around n = 0.590 and around n = 0.750 for a natural forest stand at the same flow depths