Design, Construction and Performance Testing of a Landscape Irrigation Runoff Mitigation System

The study of water-saving technology is critically important due to urban population growth, drought, and decreasing potable water supplies in Texas and throughout many parts of the world. Because current water supplies are not expected to meet water demand in the coming decades, this could have serious impacts on families, industrial growth, and economic stability. At the same time, water is wasted every year by inefficient or improper landscape irrigation practices. After thorough research on products available on the market today, it was found that none exist with the function of managing lawn/landscape irrigation based on detection of runoff. Thus, designing a device which could mitigate landscape runoff could potentially 1) offer greater landscape irrigation efficiency and water conservation, 2) improve water quality of streams and lakes, and 3) contribute to efforts aimed at addressing the future water crisis. This research investigated a Landscape Irrigation Runoff Mitigation System (LIRMS) for minimizing irrigation water losses from residential or commercial landscapes. Four types of irrigation runoff sensors were designed and manufactured. A central control module for receiving signals from sensors and controlling several irrigation valves at the same time was also designed. Afterwards, the prototypes were installed in the field and hardwired with the central control module along with two control plots with no runoff sensors installed. The different prototypes were evaluated based on their performance characteristics including the ability of each to work reliably over an extended period of time and to effectively reduce runoff. A website was designed so that irrigation data could be accessed online. Also, a wireless communication module and an autonomous energy system were designed and tested to allow the wireless communication between the irrigation runoff sensor and the control unit as well as to reduce energy consumption. The Landscape Irrigation Runoff Mitigation System (LIRMS) equipped with the cubic float prototype/conductivity prototype showed the highest potential for water conservation, leading to a runoff reduction rate of 40% - 50%. Further studies should focus on advancing the wireless communication module and conducting more tests under different irrigation strategies for refining the system to reduce even greater amounts of runoff

Characteristics and Enrichment Genesis of the Platinum Group Elements (PGEs) in Organic Rich Shale of the Wufeng and Longmaxi Formations of Upper Ordovician and Lower Silurian in the Sichuan Basin

The petrology, mineralogy, elemental geochemistry, biology and PGEs characteristics of the black shale of the Wufeng and Longmaxi Formations in the CN outcrop of the Sichuan Basin are studied in this paper. The distribution and change in PGEs at different horizons are summarized, and the reasons for PGEs enrichment are discussed. The results show that the PGEs in the organic-rich shale segment are obviously enriched, which is positively correlated with the Total Organic Carbon (TOC) content and has a Pt–Pd distribution characteristic. δEuN, Pd/Pt, (Pt + Pd)/(Os + Ru + Ir), etc., and SiO2–Al2O3 and It/Pt–Pd/Pt discrimination diagrams, indicate that they are not extraterrestrial sources, nor are they the origins of normal seawater deposition but they are related to hydrothermal deposition. The enrichment process of PGEs is relatively complicated and is controlled by the impact of the sedimentary environment in the restricted basin. The anoxic water environment and organic-rich environment are the main factors of PGEs enrichment. PGEs and TOC have a good positive correlation and can be used as index parameters for sedimentary environments and organic matter enrichment

Study on the Provenance and Tectonic Setting of Mudstone in the Lower Silurian Longmaxi Formation of the Yanyuan Basin on the Western Margin of the Yangtze Platform

This study investigates the provenance and tectonic background of the lower Silurian Longmaxi Formation black shale of the Yanyuan Basin in the western Kangdian ancient land and provides guidance for shale gas exploration and development in the area. The mineral petrological and geochemical characteristics of the Longmaxi Formation black shale in this area have been studied in detail. The study area is mainly a passive continental margin environment, but also has the attributes of an active continental margin and island arc environment due to the collision between the western oceanic crust and the Yangtze continental crust. The source rocks are mainly felsic igneous rocks, with a small contribution of intermediate–basic rocks. It is inferred that the Kangdian ancient land in the eastern part of the area could be the main provenance area, but with the contribution of sediments derived from oceanic island arc located in the west. During the whole Longmaxi period, the tectonic movement was intense, the climate was cold, the degree of chemical weathering was low, and it was a highly volatile geological sedimentary basin. Therefore, the highly siliceous organic-rich mudstone, which was different from the Sichuan Basin, was deposited

Study on the Provenance and Tectonic Setting of Mudstone in the Lower Silurian Longmaxi Formation of the Yanyuan Basin on the Western Margin of the Yangtze Platform

This study investigates the provenance and tectonic background of the lower Silurian Longmaxi Formation black shale of the Yanyuan Basin in the western Kangdian ancient land and provides guidance for shale gas exploration and development in the area. The mineral petrological and geochemical characteristics of the Longmaxi Formation black shale in this area have been studied in detail. The study area is mainly a passive continental margin environment, but also has the attributes of an active continental margin and island arc environment due to the collision between the western oceanic crust and the Yangtze continental crust. The source rocks are mainly felsic igneous rocks, with a small contribution of intermediate–basic rocks. It is inferred that the Kangdian ancient land in the eastern part of the area could be the main provenance area, but with the contribution of sediments derived from oceanic island arc located in the west. During the whole Longmaxi period, the tectonic movement was intense, the climate was cold, the degree of chemical weathering was low, and it was a highly volatile geological sedimentary basin. Therefore, the highly siliceous organic-rich mudstone, which was different from the Sichuan Basin, was deposited

Method and system for reduction of irrigation runoff

An irrigation mitigation runoff system that includes an irrigation system having at least one water outlet and a sensor that detects flow of water through a boundary. A controller is operatively coupled to the irrigation system and the sensor. Responsive to the sensor detecting flow of water through the boundary above a pre-defined threshold, the controller signals the irrigation system to pause irrigation.U

Method and system for reduction of irrigation runoff

An irrigation mitigation runoff system that includes an irrigation system having at least one water outlet and a sensor that detects flow of water through a boundary. A controller is operatively coupled to the irrigation system and the sensor. Responsive to the sensor detecting flow of water through the boundary above a pre-defined threshold, the controller signals the irrigation system to pause irrigation.U

Method and system for reduction of irrigation runoff

An irrigation mitigation runoff system that includes an irrigation system having at least one water outlet and a sensor that detects flow of water through a boundary. A controller is operatively coupled to the irrigation system and the sensor. Responsive to the sensor detecting flow of water through the boundary above a pre-defined threshold, the controller signals the irrigation system to pause irrigation.U

Method and system for reduction of irrigation runoff

An irrigation mitigation runoff system that includes an irrigation system having at least one water outlet and a sensor that detects flow of water through a boundary. A controller is operatively coupled to the irrigation system and the sensor. Responsive to the sensor detecting flow of water through the boundary above a pre-defined threshold, the controller signals the irrigation system to pause irrigation.U

Observatory science with eXTP

International audienceIn this White Paper we present the potential of the enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry (eXTP) mission for studies related to Observatory Science targets. These include flaring stars, supernova remnants, accreting white dwarfs, low and high mass X-ray binaries, radio quiet and radio loud active galactic nuclei, tidal disruption events, and gamma-ray bursts. eXTP will be excellently suited to study one common aspect of these objects: their often transient nature. Developed by an international Consortium led by the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Science, the eXTP mission is expected to be launched in the mid 2020s

CEPC Conceptual Design Report: Volume 2 - Physics & Detector

The Circular Electron Positron Collider (CEPC) is a large international scientific facility proposed by the Chinese particle physics community to explore the Higgs boson and provide critical tests of the underlying fundamental physics principles of the Standard Model that might reveal new physics. The CEPC, to be hosted in China in a circular underground tunnel of approximately 100 km in circumference, is designed to operate as a Higgs factory producing electron-positron collisions with a center-of-mass energy of 240 GeV. The collider will also operate at around 91.2 GeV, as a Z factory, and at the WW production threshold (around 160 GeV). The CEPC will produce close to one trillion Z bosons, 100 million W bosons and over one million Higgs bosons. The vast amount of bottom quarks, charm quarks and tau-leptons produced in the decays of the Z bosons also makes the CEPC an effective B-factory and tau-charm factory. The CEPC will have two interaction points where two large detectors will be located. This document is the second volume of the CEPC Conceptual Design Report (CDR). It presents the physics case for the CEPC, describes conceptual designs of possible detectors and their technological options, highlights the expected detector and physics performance, and discusses future plans for detector R&D and physics investigations. The final CEPC detectors will be proposed and built by international collaborations but they are likely to be composed of the detector technologies included in the conceptual designs described in this document. A separate volume, Volume I, recently released, describes the design of the CEPC accelerator complex, its associated civil engineering, and strategic alternative scenarios