Infiltration Pond Design for Highway Runoff Treatment in Semiarid Climates

Highway runoff disposal without concern for its specific characteristics may be associated with high material and environmental costs. An understanding of storm water management has enlightened the importance of the impacts that nonpoint pollution may cause to both surface waters and groundwater. Several systems for highway runoff treatment exist, often based on detention and infiltration processes. This paper suggests a method for design and evaluation of the design of infiltration ponds for use in semiarid climates. The design principle is based on capture and infiltration of the most polluted runoff. It takes into account the rainfall and soil hydraulic characteristics for the determination of the design volume. Seasonal variations in rainfall and evaporation were considered. The soil characteristics—hydraulic conductivity, texture, pH, and cation exchange capacity—the volume of runoff which is infiltrated, and the infiltration area are used to calculate the movement of the most mobile heavy metal, Zn, in the soil. The method presented was based and applied to highway runoff but can be used for treatment of stormwater runoff from other sources.     

Hot carrier-induced degradation of gate overlapped lightly dopeddrain (GOLDD) polysilicon TFTs

Hot-carrier injection is known to produce interface states and oxide trapped charge, which, depending upon their spatial distribution, can strongly influence the local electric fields as well as the current flow. In this work, we analyze the hot carrier-induced degradation of gate overlapped lightly doped drain (GOLDD) polysilicon thin film transistors (TFTs) and a new model, which correlates the interface state generation with the hot carrier injection current, is proposed. The defect generation rate has been assumed to depend upon the product of hot electron and hole currents J_eh, and the resulting interface state distribution has been evaluated self-consistently with the current density and carrier concentration distributions. By successive iterations, a complete spatial and time evolution of the interface state distribution has been determined, and the electrical characteristics, calculated with these interface state distributions are in good agreement with the experimental data     

Exergy efficiency in industry: where do we stand?

Efficiency is a term generally used to determine how well a system performs. However, efficiency can have different meanings and, unaccompanied by a formal definition or taken out of context, can lead to serious misconceptions. In many official publications, efficiency is calculated as the ratio of useful output to energy input. This measure reflects the first law of thermodynamics (conservation of energy) but does not reflect the potential for improvement. A better measure, that also reflects the second law of thermodynamics, is the ratio of the potential useful (exergy) output to the potential useful (exergy) input. We estimate second law efficiencies for the inorganic and organic chemical industries to be 29% and 35% respectively. We also estimate the efficiency of the U.S. industry sector as a whole to be 37.6%, as compared to only 7.7% for the overall U.S. economy. These figures are far lower than the "first law" figures published by the U.S. Department of Energy (80% for industry and 42.5% overall) and they imply a significant potential for improvement.     

Differential Plasma Metabolites between High- and Low-Grade Meningioma Cases

Meningiomas (MGMs) are currently classified into grades I, II, and III. High-grade tumors are correlated with decreased survival rates and increased recurrence rates. The current grading classification is based on histological criteria and determined only after surgical tumor sampling. This study aimed to identify plasma metabolic alterations in meningiomas of different grades, which would aid surgeons in predefining the ideal surgical strategy. Plasma samples were collected from 51 patients with meningioma and classified into low-grade (LG) (grade I; n = 43), and high-grade (HG) samples (grade II, n = 5; grade III, n = 3). An untargeted metabolomic approach was used to analyze plasma metabolites. Statistical analyses were performed to select differential biomarkers among HG and LG groups. Metabolites were identified using tandem mass spectrometry along with database verification. Five and four differential biomarkers were identified for HG and LG meningiomas, respectively. To evaluate the potential of HG MGM metabolites to differentiate between HG and LG tumors, a receiving operating characteristic curve was constructed, which revealed an area under the curve of 95.7%. This indicates that the five HG MGM metabolites represent metabolic alterations that can differentiate between LG and HG meningiomas. These metabolites may indicate tumor grade even before the appearance of histological features.     

High dose fluticasone propionate, 1 mg daily, versus fluticasone propionate, 2 mg daily, or budesonide, 1.6 mg daily, in patients with chronic severe asthma. International Study Group

Airway inflammation is now regarded as fundamental in the pathogenesis of asthma and treatment with inhaled corticosteroids has proved effective. There is a need for drugs in this category with higher topical potency but fewer side-effects than those presently available. A double-blind, parallel group study was conducted in 671 patients with severe asthma (already taking between 0.8-2.0 mg of inhaled corticosteroid daily) to compare the safety and efficacy of 6 weeks of treatment with inhaled fluticasone propionate (FP), 1 mg daily, to fluticasone propionate, 2 mg daily, and budesonide (BUD), 1.6 mg daily, delivered via a metered-dose inhaler. Peak expiratory flow (PEF), asthma symptoms, and usage of rescue medication were recorded daily by the patient. At each clinic visit (-2, 0, 3 and 6 weeks) morning serum cortisol levels, bone markers and spirometry were assessed. The changes in mean morning PEF from baseline (weeks 1-6) were: FP 2 mg daily +24 l.min-1; FP 1 mg daily +21 l.min-1; BUD 1.6 mg daily +13 l.min-1. A similar rank order for the three treatments was seen for evening PEF, clinic spirometry, reduction of diurnal PEF variation, symptom scores, and requirement for rescue bronchodilators. The mean serum cortisol levels remained well within the normal range in all three groups. Analysis of the geometric mean cortisol ratio (treatment/baseline ratio after 6 weeks treatment) showed a changed rank order, the values being: FP 1 mg daily 1.04; BUD 1.6 mg daily 0.97; FP 2 mg daily 0.88.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

A comparative analysis of four protocols for maximal treadmill stress testing

The purpose of this investigation was to compare the results from four commonly used maximal treadmill stress tests: Balke, Bruce, Ellestad, and a continuous multistage running protocol. The results compared serial and maximal heart rate, metabolic demands, and ECG determinations. Fifty-one healthy men, 35 to 55 years of age, volunteered for this study and were dichotomized into trained and untrained subjects. Regression analyses showed all the tests to correlate highly. No significant differences were found between tests at maximum for V02, heart rate, and blood pressure, except for V02 for the Balke as compared to the running protocol (39 vs. 41 ml./Kg-min). The Balke protocol showed lower values at maximum in VE and RP than the other three tests as well as the most gradual rate of progression in MET cost (0.5 METS per minute). The increase for the Bruce and Ellestad tests was from 1 to 1.5 METS per minute, and a rapid initial increase (9 METS in the first 3 minutes) made the running test undesirable as a screening method. Although serial plots of heart rate and MET costs were similar to those previously reported for different population samples, the present data further refined these values. Finally, a nomograph comparing treadmill time and V02, max. for the Balke, Bruce, and Ellestad tests was developed from these data.     

Predicting building energy requirements

This paper is concerned with methods of predicting the thermal performance and energy consumption of buildings. The advantages and drawbacks in practical office situations of both approximate methods and the more precise computer methods are discussed. The widespread use of the computer for these calculations will be necessary for implementation of a National Energy Conservation Standard for building design. The new ASHRAE Standard 90–75 essentially requires such computer methods.A case study carried out for the State of California in an effort to determine the practicality of energy budgets is discussed.The outputs of four proprietary energy programs for the same two buildings are compared and found to be remarkably different. The need for an ASHRAE-endorsed public domain computer program is discussed.     

The rapid separation of aflatoxins on silica gel coated glass cylinders

A chromatographic method is described for the separation of aflatoxins on silica gel coated glass cylinders prepared with a chloroformacetone slurry. This can be done in 35–40 min compared with more than 2 hr for thin layer chromatography (TLC). This method is more rapid, economical and its sensitivity is comparable to TLC. University of Georgia College of Agriculture Experiment Stations, Journal Series Paper Number 643, College Station, Athens, Ga.     

Factors affecting conditioning in the truly random control procedure in the rat.

Found conditioned suppression in groups of male albino rats (N = 60) which had received different truly random control procedures. Degree of conditioning did not covary with the number of CSs, UCSs, or chance pairings. Conditioning was determined by the location of pairings. If pairings occurred before nonpairings, excitatory conditioning was found. If nonpairings occurred before pairings, excitatory conditioning was not found. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)