Lake sedimentary evidence of phosphorus,iron and manganese mobilisation from intensively fertilised soils

A study of historical P inputs to Friary Lough, Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland used a multi-sediment core approach. One of the sediment cores taken from the littoral zone at 2.5m water depth showed exceptionally high P, Fe and Mn concentrations below 20 cm sediment depth. Concentrations increased to 14 mg Pg(-1), 238 mg Feg(-1) and 35 mg Mng(-1) in the sediment profile and compared with deep basin maxima of 7 mg Pg(-1), 70 mg Feg(-1) and 2 mg Mng(-1) in surface sediments at 8.5m water depth. It is proposed that the high concentrations in the littoral zone core are due to post-depositional intrusion of chemical-rich local groundwater from soils in adjacent fields that are excessively fertilised with organic slurry. Soil analyses showed Olsen-P concentrations in these fields up to 125 mgkg(-1) at the soil surface (0-7.5 cm) and 39 mgkg(-1) in the sub-soil at 20 cm depth. We suggest that the mobilisation of P, Fe and Mn is due to leaching following P saturation and/or the loss of P absorbing chemicals due to prolonged reduction and complexing in wet soils. Further work will explore this relationship and the nature of the hydrological pathways through soil.     

Large-Scale Tracing of Ground Water with Sulfur Hexafluoride

Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) was injected into a 9 km reach of the Santa Ana River in Orange County, CA, over a period of two weeks. The entire flow of this river, which averaged 2.8 m3 s?1, percolated into the ground in the field area. The tracer was monitored at wells near the river to determine subsurface flow patterns and flow times with an accuracy much greater than could be achieved using numerical simulations of ground-water flow. During the experiment, SF6 effectively tagged 3.7 × 106 m3 of water. The tracer plume was mapped in the subsurface for 18 months and indicates that linear ground-water velocities averaged about 2 km year?1. The tracer reached two wells adjacent to the river (about 200 m away) within three weeks, giving evidence that SF6 was not retarded significantly relative to the ground-water flow. This is in agreement with previous laboratory experiments.     

Effects of peer support and therapist contact on long-term weight loss.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of two posttreatment programs designed to enhance the maintenance of weight loss. Eighty-five obese clients were randomly assigned to either (a) behavior therapy plus a peer-support maintenance program, (b) behavior therapy plus a therapist-contact maintenance program, or (c) behavior therapy only. At a 7-month follow-up session, the therapist-contact program resulted in significantly greater maintenance of weight loss compared with the peer support and behavior therapy only conditions. However, by the time of an 18-month follow-up assessment, overall relapse rates were equivalent across conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of gratings and periodic structures as alignment targets on wafer steppers

The use of moiré fringe techniques in microfabrication equipment is reviewed with special emphasis on mask-to-wafer alignment. The alignment strategies and associated detection methods of a number of commercial wafer steppers are described and their limitations are discussed. Potential improvements to be gained by holographic detection of grating targets are pointed out and future applications in a dynamic exposure system are proposed.     

Experimental validation of control rod related perturbations of moderator regions in an SCWR-like fuel lattice

Two different types of perturbations of an SCWR-like fuel lattice have been investigated experimentally in the central test zone of the PROTEUS zero-power research reactor at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland. In each case, a campaign of high-resolution gamma-ray spectroscopy measurements was carried out on 34 fuel pins of the test lattice. In the first case, the test lattice was perturbed by inserting aluminum rods into the four central moderator regions, while in the second case, the perturbation was affected using steel absorber rods (instead of aluminum). The derived reaction rates are the capture rate in ²³⁸U (C₈) and the total fission rate (F_tot), as also the reaction rate ratio C₈/F_tot. Each of these has been mapped on the lattice and compared to calculated results from whole-reactor Monte Carlo simulations with MCNPX. Excellent agreement has been obtained, for both perturbed lattices, between the calculated and experimental distributions of C₈, F_tot and C₈/F_tot. Considering that control rods in an SCWR assembly are foreseen to be inserted into the central moderator regions, these results may be considered as generic validation of Monte Carlo simulations for the two different types of lattice perturbations which inserted control rods imply, viz. moderator displacement and strong neutron absorption.In a second step, calculated C₈, F_tot and C₈/F_tot distributions for the two perturbed lattices (as well as for the unperturbed lattice) have been compared, at assembly level, between MCNPX and the deterministic LWR lattice code CASMO-4E. In the case of the unperturbed lattice, as well as for the lattice with steel rods, the agreement between the codes is found to be within ～1% for all pins and each reaction rate. However, for the lattice with aluminum rods, i.e. the case with mainly just moderator displacement involved, CASMO overestimates the reaction rates in the vicinity of the perturbations by up to 2–3%, when employing the standard input options. The reason for this discrepancy has been found to be the leakage treatment, which uses the fundamental-mode buckling applied in a homogenized sense across the lattice. In this way, global leakage gradients get averaged out over the entire assembly. The optional input card BZ2 for CASMO resolves this problem, and the codes then agree within 1% even for the aluminum case.     

Photolytic generation of an o-quinodimethane derivative and its reactions with unsaturated polymers

Polybutadiene was treated with o-tolualdehyde under UV irradiation to produce random copolymers through Diels-Alder reactions on the backbone double bonds. The physical properties of the polymer products change as more of the aldehyde attaches to it. The copolymers were characterized by NMR spectroscopy. A bifunctional o-tolualdehyde was synthesized and used as a crosslinking agent. Received: 19 September 1997/Accepted: 24 November 1997     

Convex and Semi-Nonnegative Matrix Factorizations

We present several new variations on the theme of nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF). Considering factorizations of the form X=FG^T, we focus on algorithms in which G is restricted to containing nonnegative entries, but allowing the data matrix X to have mixed signs, thus extending the applicable range of NMF methods. We also consider algorithms in which the basis vectors of F are constrained to be convex combinations of the data points. This is used for a kernel extension of NMF. We provide algorithms for computing these new factorizations and we provide supporting theoretical analysis. We also analyze the relationships between our algorithms and clustering algorithms, and consider the implications for sparseness of solutions. Finally, we present experimental results that explore the properties of these new methods.