Fish Assemblage and Ecosystem Metabolism Responses to Reconnection of the Bird's Point‐New Madrid Floodway during the 2011 Mississippi River Flood

Understanding the ecological function of developed large rivers remains elusive because these systems have long been altered for multiple uses. In particular, floodplains of large rivers, such as the Mississippi River, have been contained behind extensive levees. A historic flood occurred in the lower Mississippi River system during spring of 2011, prompting the US Army Corps of Engineers to activate the Bird's Point‐New Madrid floodway, a 55 000‐ha, agriculturally dominated, leveed area. Water entered the floodway at flows >1 m s^?1 through two crevasses created in the upper portion of the levee and exited through a crevasse at the lower end. During the month, the floodway was inundated; we quantified discharge, water chemistry, primary production and fish production in the floodway and the adjacent river. Water entering the floodway was retained <1.3 d, and nutrient concentrations were not elevated in the floodway beyond those in the river, despite expected contributions from a legacy of fertilization. Primary production equaled respiration in the floodway, while the adjacent river was heterotrophic. Gizzard shad and freshwater drum were more abundant in the floodway than the river, while channel catfish were more abundant in the river. Growth rates of young native fishes, normalized for temperature, were the same in the floodway and the river, with the exception of gizzard shad, which grew faster in the floodway. Fish community structure, especially in the lower floodway, was temporally and spatially dynamic. Even though it has been heavily modified for agriculture, the floodway provided benefits, albeit limited, to the Mississippi River. With multifunctional management and strategic planning, systems such as these may provide substantial services such as flood abatement, nutrient transformation and fish production in the Mississippi River basin and potentially reduce nutrient loading downstream in areas such as the Gulf of Mexico. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

RFID tag readability issues with palletized loads of consumer goods

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an automatic identification technology, relying on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags. This technology is being used in enterprise supply chain management‐related applications to improve the efficiency of inventory tracking and management. However, this technology has not been able to realize its promised potential because of several factors, such as lack of congruous worldwide standards, privacy issues and less than perfect read rates in supply chain applications. This research aimed to evaluate the readability issues commonly faced by tagged cases of palletized consumer products. The variables studied in this research were product‐package type, tag type, tag location on cases, pallet pattern and forklift speed through a RFID portal representative of a dock door in a warehouse. To determine which variables were the most significant, a binary logistic regression was run. The number of tags read was inputted for the number of events and total number of products per pallet as the number of trials. The variables product content, pallet pattern, and speed, and all interactions were then included in the model. It was observed that readability greatly varies for different product‐package systems, with paper towels producing near‐perfect reads, followed by bottled water and carbonated soda cans. The slower the forklift truck speed, the better the readability across the board, and the best pallet patterns were dependent on the product‐package type. For bottled water, the best pallet pattern was column, and for carbonated soda, the interlocking pattern. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interception of Communications

This paper takes a brief look at reasons for monitoring computer networks and some of the methods by which this may be performed. An argument is made against the overuse of intrusive methods of eavesdropping, and recommends that network monitoring tools should be designed in such a way that they provide answers to questions supplied by network operators without providing the facilities to record unnecessary information which may in many cases be confidential. Even when using a network monitoring system for policing use of a network, it is possible to design systems in such a way that they perform a traffic classification process without releasing details of the traffic being monitored.     

Developing services for insanity acquittees conditionally released into the community: Maximizing success and minimizing recidivism.

This article evaluated factors related to failure to maintain conditional release in a large sample (N = 363) of individuals who were found not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) and subsequently released into the community. We evaluated extensive demographic, diagnostic, criminal history, and aftercare information from NGRI acquittees. Results from a logistic regression demonstrated that a diagnosis of substance abuse, previous revocation of conditional release, and mental health symptoms requiring inpatient hospitalization were all related to revocation of conditional release. From a policy perspective, community-based services must be intensive, focused on both mental health and alcohol and drug-abuse problems, and provide a continuity of mental heath services from the hospital to the community. With intense community-based services, NGRI acquittees can be successfully reintegrated into the community with few difficulties. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of language in training psychologists to work with Hispanic clients.

The increasing number of Spanish and English bilingual and Spanish-dominant clients requesting psychological services creates challenges for practitioners and agencies. Literature regarding the importance of the Spanish language in providing service to Hispanic clients is reviewed. It is argued that services to Spanish-speaking clients are frequently inadequate because of the lack of training in the use of Spanish in professional settings. A model for training psychologists to provide psychological services in Spanish is presented along with recommendations for practitioners who are struggling with the dilemma of providing services in a language other than that of their professional training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A continuous-flow electrophile scavenger prepared by a simple grafting procedure

A versatile method for grafting reactive polymer onto macroporous polymer monoliths has been developed, and this method used to prepare a monolith containing primary amines. Reactive polymer was grafted onto residual olefins within the crosslinked monoliths using free-radical polymerization, and without requiring any pre-grafting activation. Capacities of the grafted monoliths were easily controlled by altering the composition of the grafting solution. Grafting N-vinylacetamide, followed by amide cleavage using hydrazine, afforded a monolith containing primary amine groups that was used for efficient continuous-flow scavenging of isocyanates, with 92% of phenyl isocyanate removed from solution in a reaction with a residence time of 49 min. High levels of scavenging required only a small excess of polymeric amine.     

Hydrodynamics of shunt valves

A study of differential pressure valves (DPV) used in the treatment of hydrocephalus was undertaken to determine their pressure-flow characteristics and compatability with the antisiphon valve (ASV). DPV could be classified into two groups: low resistance valves (LRV) and high resistance valves (HRV). The LRV maintains intraventricular pressure (IVP) near the closing pressure (CP) of the valve by permitting a high flow whenever CP is exceeded. The HRV regulates IVP by attempting to match inflow with some point on the pressure-flow curve of the valve. These characteristics were lost unless valve outlet pressure was maintained at atmospheric pressure. This could be accomplished by using a proximal DPV with an ASV at the DPV outlet, thus converting the DPV into a gauge pressure valve and preventing the 'siphon effect' seen with the use of a DPV alone.