Site 5 air sparging pilot test, Naval Air Station Cecil Field, Jacksonville, Florida

A 72-h air sparging pilot test was conducted at Site 5 (Operable Unit 2), Naval Air Station Cecil Field, Jacksonville, FL, to determine performance parameters necessary for full-scale design. The sparge well was completed to a depth of 29 ft, several feet below the groundwater plume contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), primarily benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX). Air flow rates supplied to the sparge well were 3 cubic feet/min (cfm) during the first day, 2 cfm during the second day, and 1 cfm during the third day. Water levels in monitoring wells initially rose approximately 2 ft during the first 4-5 h of the test, then receded back to pre-test equilibrium levels over the next 15 h, for a total duration of water mounding of about 20 h. A small (approximately 0.5 ft) water table drop, with subsequent recovery to equilibrium level, occurred each time the air sparging rate was decreased. Although there is considerable variation depending on direction from the sparge well, the average radius of influence varied from approximately 30 ft at 1 cfm to 50 ft at 3 cfm. The air sparge system was capable of increasing the dissolved oxygen from 0 to 6 or 7 mg/l within 12-15 h of air channels reaching a given location. A lag time of approximately 13 h was observed before air channels reached a radius of 30 ft and dissolved oxygen levels began to increase at that radius. CO(2) (stripped out of the groundwater by the sparging) decreased from a pre-test concentration of 150 to 20 mg/l at r=5 ft, and from 150 to 50 mg/l at r=30 ft, within a period of about 24 h. The rate of VOC mass removal during the pilot test was 0.06 lb/day at a sparge rate of 3 cfm, and it appears that air sparging will effect a rapid cleanup of the VOCs in the Site 5 groundwater plume.     

A textbook with two target audiences [review of VLSI Test Principles and Architecture by Laung-Terng Wang et al.; 2006]

This is a review of VLSI Test Principles and Architectures (edited by Laung-Terng Wang, Cheng-Wen Wu, and Xiaoqing Wen), which is partly a textbook and partly a collection of survey articles on testing by top experts. The book's strengths include the practical aspects discussed, the good examples presented, and the depth of many of its chapters. The weaknesses include a lack of consistency of target audience across chapters and a lack of cohesiveness. Nearly everyone will get something out of this book, but prospective purchasers should review the topics of interest to see if the level is right for them.     

Application of regional earthquake mitigation optimization

A linear program was developed to help seismically active communities decide: (1) how much to spend on pre-earthquake mitigation that aims to reduce future losses versus waiting until after an event and paying for reconstruction, and (2) which of the many possible mitigation activities to fund so as to minimize overall risk. The mitigation alternatives considered are structural upgrading policies for groups of buildings. Benefits of mitigation are losses avoided in future earthquakes, including structural, non-structural, contents, and time-related losses, and casualties. The model is intended to be used as a tool to support the public regional mitigation planning process. In realistic applications, the model includes millions of variables, thus requiring a special solution method. This paper focuses on two efficient solution algorithms to solve the model—a Dantzig–Wolfe decomposition algorithm and a greedy heuristic algorithm. A comprehensive numerical study compares the two algorithms in terms of solution quality and solution time. The study shows that, compared to the Dantzig–Wolfe algorithm, the heuristic algorithm is much faster as expected, and provides comparable solution quality.     

Beyond parallel play: Science befriending the art of method acting to advance healing relationships.

Research underscores the central role of factors in healing that appear to relate to the therapeutic relationship. These nonspecific or common factors and placebo effects are often overshadowed by an emphasis in the field on particular empirically supported therapies. Yet relationship variables account for a greater proportion of the variance in treatment outcomes than the technical intervention employed, representing a notable blind spot in our science and, by extension, our practice. As a consequence, clinical instruction in psychology and in the health professions more broadly generally lacks adequate specificity with respect to how to cultivate a healing relationship. Through the elaboration of several techniques derived from theatrical traditions, the authors propose that method acting and similar schools of drama provide a method for honing clinical skills in these areas that is amenable to empirical scrutiny. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Common and distinct patterns of affective response in dimensions of anxiety and depression.

The authors examined the time course of affective responding associated with different affective dimensions--anxious apprehension, anxious arousal, and anhedonic depression--using an emotion-modulated startle paradigm. Participants high on 1 of these 3 dimensions and nonsymptomatic control participants viewed a series of affective pictures with acoustic startle probes presented before, during, and after the stimuli. All groups exhibited startle potentiation during unpleasant pictures and in anticipation of both pleasant and unpleasant pictures. Compared with control participants, symptomatic participants exhibited sustained potentiation following the offset of unpleasant stimuli and a lack of blink attenuation during and following pleasant stimuli. Common and unique patterns of affective responses in the 3 types of mood symptoms are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Near-tip behavior of deflected creep cracks

Near-tip displacement fields of a creep crack which exhibited moderate deflection from its initially mode I condition have been measured using the stereoimaging technique. From the measured displacement fields, near-tip strains and crack opening displacements (CODs) are obtained and compared with existing asymptotic solutions for stationary, deflected cracks. The comparison reveals that the near-tip strain field and CODs of a stationary deflected creep crack in stainless steel (creep exponent of 8) are of the Riedel-Rice type. The degree of mode mixity is also adequately predicted for the deflected crack. The results for stainless steel are compared with previous results for a glass-ceramic (creep exponent of 1.5), to assess the range of applicability of the RR field. Discrepancies between theory and experiment are discussed in terms of the dominant creep mechanism, which is dislocation creep for the stainless steel and grain boundary sliding for the glass-ceramic.