Database management and implementation for coal fire detection and monitoring in the Ruijgou Coalfield, Northwest China

Coal fire monitoring by aerospace remote sensing and GIS techniques is an advanced approach, which has been implemented in the Rujigou coalfield, northwest China. A database of several different types of data, including remote sensing images, results of geological surveys, etc., has been collected and assembled in a PC-based information system, which is being developed by the International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences (ITC). This coal fire monitoring and management information system (CoalMan) comprises of two main parts: one is the database with its management tools, and the tools for data processing and analysis form the other. This paper first introduces the structure of the CoalMan information system, presents the data types and contents of CoalMan database, then shows the data management methods. A complex data analysis package is outlined too, as the core of the information system

SN2002kg -- the brightening of LBV V37 in NGC 2403

SN2002kg is a type IIn supernova, detected in October 2002 in the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 2403. We show that the position of SN2002kg agrees within the errors with the position of the LBV V37. Ground based and HST ACS images however show that V37 is still present after the SN2002kg event. We compiled a lightcurve of V37 which underlines the variablity of the object, and shows that SN2002kg was the brightening of V37 and not a supernova. The recent brightening is not a giant eruption, but more likely part of an S Dor phase. V37 shows strong Halpha +[NII] emission in recent images and in the SN2002kg spectrum, which we interprete as the signature of the presence of an LBV nebula. A historic spectrum lacks emission, which may hint that we are witnessing the formation of an LBV nebula.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, accepted in A&A Letter, paper with images in full resolution at http://www.astro.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/kweis/publications.htm

Organic Compounds and Genotoxicity in Drinking Water

Until recently only lipophilic compounds were analysed in any research on the occurrence of mutanogenic and carcinogenic compounds in water. They were isolated using XAD-resins. They contain approximately half of the total organic material present in water. A clear mutanogenic effect was demonstrated for these compounds using Amestest. The hydrophilic fraction of the organic material was difficult to investigate because of problems with isolation and analysis caused by its high solubility. The high solubility means in practice that the hydrophilic compounds are mobile in conventional treatment systems and in soil and can easily penetrate into drinking water. A method was developed to isolate hydrophilic compounds using a combination of ion exchange and a clean-up with a XAD-resin. The isolated compounds were examined with the Amestest for the presence of mutanogenic compounds. For some tested water types a mutanogenic effect was found in the lipophilic material. Due to oxidation with ozone, mutanogenic compounds can be formed from (non-mutanogenic) industrial pollutions. No mutanogenic activity was found in the hydrophilic organic material of all examined water types, even after ozone oxidation or chlorination. It was hypothesized that hydrophilic compounds can not reach the DNA of the cell, thus they do not play any (geno) toxicological role