A Method for siting and prioritizing the removal of derelict vessels in Florida Coastal Waters: test applications in the Florida Keys

Increased boating activities and new waterfront developments have contributed an estimated 3,000 dismantled, abandoned, junked, wrecked, derelict vessels to Florida coastal waters. This report outlines a method of siting and prioritizing derelict vessel removal using the Florida Keys as a test area. The data base was information on 240 vessels, obtained from Florida Marine Patrol files. Vessel location was plotted on 1:250,000 regional and 1:5,000 and 1:12,000 site maps. Type of vessel, length, hull material, engine, fuel tanks, overall condition, afloat and submerged characteristics, and accessibility, were used to derive parametric site indices of removal priority and removal difficulty. Results indicate 59 top priority cases which should be the focus of immediate clean up efforts in the Florida Keys. Half of these cases are rated low to moderate in removal difficulty; the remainder are difficult to remove. Removal difficulty is a surrogate for removal cost: low difficulty -low cost, high difficulty - high cost. The rating scheme offers coastal planners options of focusing removal operations either on (1) specific areas with clusters of high priority derelict vessels or on (2) selected targeted derelicts at various, specific locations. (PDF has 59 pages.

The perception of subtitled humor in Italy

Despite the central place occupied by language transfer of audiovisual products, particularly in the European cinema and television sector, audience perception of both dubbing and subtitling is a largely neglected field of study and research. When, however, we start looking into the available research on the perception of translated humor and, more specifically, of the perception of humor as rendered into another language by subtitles, we realize that this is an even more neglected and unexplored field of study. This paper will attempt to address the effectiveness of subtitles in the appreciation and perception of humor, and, more specifically, will present an overview of the scant literature and research published on this subject. © Walter de Gruyter

A cloud robotics architecture for an emergency management and monitoring service in a smart cityenvironment

Cloud robotics is revolutionizing not only the robotics industry but also the ICT world, giving robots more storage and computing capacity, opening new scenarios that blend the physical to the digital world. In this vision new IT architectures are required to manage robots, retrieve data from them and create services to interact with users. In this paper a possible implementation of a cloud robotics architecture for the interaction between users and UAVs is described. Using the latter as monitoring agents, a service for fighting crime in urban environment is proposed, making one step forward towards the idea of smart cit

Antibacterial activity of matrix-bound ovotransferrin

Ovotransferrin immobilized by covalent linkage to Sepharose 4B showed a bacteriostatic effect towards Escherichia coli similar to that of free ovotransferrin. The growth of the bacteria, after exposure to the gel-bound ovotransferrin and its removal, depended on the length of exposure. The results suggest that the antibacterial activity of transferrin is not due simply to the removal of iron from the medium

Rendimientos del cultivo de colza en Mendoza con distintos regímenes de riego en períodos no críticos

Actualmente existe interés en el cultivo de colza (Brassica napus) para la obtención de biodiesel porque sus semillas contienen hasta un 50% de su peso en materia grasa. Desde hace un tiempo, debido a la producción de biocombustibles, el cultivo cobró impulso, como bioenergético, dado que cumple con todos los requisitos de calidad, de acuerdo al estándar europeo (Körbitz, 1999). Si bien en Argentina la producción de aceites vegetales se hace exclusivamente basándose en cultivos estivales, la colza se presenta como una interesante alternativa de producción invernal para una amplia zona. En Argentina, a partir del año 2010 debe usarse en el gasoil un mínimo de 5% de biodiesel. Por esa razón consideramos importante realizar esta experiencia en colza. Al ser un cultivo de ciclo inverno-primaveral, el uso del recurso hídrico no compite con los principales cultivos de la región que en su gran mayoría son de ciclo primavero estival. Mendoza es de clima árido, donde los cultivos solo prosperan bajo riego y como es sabido, el agua es un recurso escaso. Esto nos motivó a cuantificar sus necesidades hídricas totales y también a determinar el manejo óptimo del riego en cuanto a láminas y momentos de aplicación, a fin de maximizar la ecuación producción por m 3 de agua aplicada. Encontramos importante determinar y cuantificar esos “ahorros de agua" que se puedan realizar durante la fase o período no crítico al estrés hídrico, sin que esto produzca disminuciones en el rendimiento. Se propuso analizar durante dos años la respuesta del cultivo al riego diferenciado, aplicándo 4 diferentes tratamientos durante el período no sensible, reponiéndose en todos los casos durante el período crítico el 100% de la demanda evapotranspirativa. Los períodos no sensibles son: Fase nº 1: Plántula, Roseta y Elongación y Fase nº 3 de endurecimiento de grano a cosecha. Esta experiencia se llevó a cabo en los dos predios que posee la Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias. (Bermejo y Luján ambos sitios ubicados dentro del oasis norte. Mendoza, Argentina) La variedad utilizada fue: SW 2836, variedad de tipo primaveral, ciclo corto. Los tratamientos fueron los siguientes: T0 en donde se aplicó el 100 % de las necesidades hídricas del cultivo y luego tres tratamientos denominados T1, T2 y T3 en los que se aplicó respectivamente el 125, 75 y 50 % de las mismas. También se cuantificaron los rendimientos en semilla y aceite que se obtuvieron con distintos manejos del riego en cuanto a láminas y momentos de aplicación, para determinar el manejo que maximice la ecuación Kg de semilla y/o aceite por m 3 de agua aplicada. Es importante destacar que en esta experiencia contamos con estudiantes avanzados de la carrera de agronomía, como así también con personal de campo de las fincas de la facultad.Fil: Antonini, C. A. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias AgrariasFil: Barros, R. A. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Agraria

Wave simulation for the design of an innovative quay wall: the case of Vlorë Harbour

Sea states and environmental conditions are basic data for the design of marine structures. Hindcasted wave data have been applied here with the aim of identifying the proper design conditions for an innovative quay wall concept. In this paper, the results of a computational fluid dynamics model are used to optimise the new absorbing quay wall of Vlorë Harbour (Republic of Albania) and define the design loads under extreme wave conditions. The design wave states at the harbour entrance have been estimated analysing 31 years of hindcasted wave data simulated through the application of WaveWatch III. Due to the particular geography and topography of the Bay of Vlorë, wave conditions generated from the north-west are transferred to the harbour entrance with the application of a 2-D spectral wave module, whereas southern wave states, which are also the most critical for the port structures, are defined by means of a wave generation model, according to the available wind measurements. Finally, the identified extreme events have been used, through the NewWave approach, as boundary conditions for the numerical analysis of the interaction between the quay wall and the extreme events. The results show that the proposed method, based on numerical modelling at different scales from macro to meso and to micro, allows for the identification of the best site-specific solutions, also for a location devoid of any wave measurement. In this light, the objectives of the paper are two-fold. First, they show the application of sea condition estimations through the use of wave hindcasted data in order to properly define the design wave conditions for a new harbour structure. Second, they present a new approach for investigating an innovative absorbing quay wall based on CFD modelling and the NewWave theory

CFD investigations of OXYFLUX device, an innovative wave pump technology for artificial downwelling of surface water

publisher: Elsevier articletitle: CFD investigations of OXYFLUX device, an innovative wave pump technology for artificial downwelling of surface water journaltitle: Applied Ocean Research articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apor.2016.10.002 content_type: article copyright: © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Total nuclear disarmament: ethical and moral issues

Moving focus from the geostrategic and political realms to ethical and moral ones can lead to a better understanding of the paradox of “guaranteeing peace” by means of implementing an . infrastructure for the extinction of mankind (i.e. the nuclear weapons industry). A possible way forward is derived from this major paradigm shift. The analysis is contextualized within the broader scope of questioning the implicit legitimization of unrestrained tampering with nature, from matter to life

The Redevelopment of The Heritage of Social Housing in Italy: Survey and Assessment Instruments. The Case Study of Pilastro Neighborhood in Bologna

Abstract The increasing importance of social housing in order to deal with the emergency caused by the pressing demand, places in the foreground the need to redevelop the existing public housing heritage. The paper proposes the deepening of one case study, the Pilastro neighborhood, a significant example of social housing high density settlement, situated in the outskirts of Bologna in order to brought out the technical, functional and social factors, on which the level of quality of the settlement and the phenomena of social uneasiness depend. It also highlighted some factors that may pose a resistance to the measures of improvement

The Relationship between Trail Running Withdrawals and Race Topography

Context: A growing amount of recent research in sport psychology has focused on trying to understand withdrawals from ultra-races. However, according to the Four E approach, the studies underestimated the embedded components of these experiences and particularly how they were linked to the specific environmental conditions in which the experiences occurred. Objective: This study aimed to characterize trail running withdrawals in relationship to race topography. Design: Qualitative design, involving self-confrontation interviews and use of a race map. Setting: Use of the race map for description of the race activity and self-confrontation interviews took place 1–3 days after the races. Participants: Ten runners who withdrew during an ultra-trail race. Data Collection and Analysis: Data on past activity traces and experiences were elicited from self-confrontation interviews. Data were coded and compared to identify common sequences and then each type of sequence was counted with regard to race topography. Results: Results showed that each sequence was related to runners’ particular possibilities for acting, feeling, and thinking, which were in turn embedded in the race topography. These sequences allowed the unfolding of the activity and increased its overall effectiveness in relation to the constraints of this specific sport. Conclusion: This study allowed us to highlight important information on how ultra-trail runners manage their races in relationship to the race environment and more specifically to its topography. The result will also help us to recommend potential adjustments to ultra-trail runners’ performance-oriented training and preparation