Field-Scale Evaluation of Bioaugmentation Dosage for Treating Chlorinated Ethenes

A field demonstration was performed to evaluate the impacts of bioaugmentation dosage for treatment of chlorinated ethenes in a sandy-to-silty shallow aquifer. Specifically, bioaugmentation using a commercially available Dehalococcoides (DHC)-containing culture was performed in three separate groundwater recirculation loops, with one loop bioaugmented with 3.9 × 10¹¹ DHC, the second loop bioaugmented with 3.9 × 10¹² DHC, and the third loop bioaugmented with 3.9 × 10¹³ DHC. Groundwater monitoring was performed to evaluate DHC growth and migration, dechlorination rates, and aquifer geochemistry. The loop inoculated with 3.9 × 10¹² DHC showed slower dechlorination rates and DHC migration/growth compared with the other loops. This relatively poor performance was attributed to low pH conditions. Results for the loops inoculated with 3.9 × 10¹¹ and 3.9 × 10¹³ DHC showed similar timeframes for dechlorination, as evaluated at a monitoring well approximately 10 feet downgradient of the DHC injection well. Application of a recently developed one-dimensional bioaugmentation fate and transport screening model provided a reasonable prediction of the data in these two loops. Overall, these results suggest that increasing bioaugmentation dosage does not necessarily result in decreased dechlorination timeframes in the field. The ability to predict results suggests that modeling potentially can serve as an effective tool for determining bioaugmentation dosage and predicting overall remedial timeframes.     

Assimilation of sea surface temperature into CECOM by flux correction

Sea surface temperature (SST) from a near real-time data set produced from satellites data has been assimilated into a coupled ice–ocean forecasting model (Canadian East Coast Ocean Model) using an efficient data assimilation method. The method is based on an optimal interpolation scheme by which SST is melded into the model through the adjustment of surface heat flux. The magnitude and space–time variation of the adjustment depend on the depth of heat diffusion into the water column in response to changes in surface flux, the correlation time scale of the data, and model and data errors. The diffusion depth is scaled by the eddy diffusivity for temperature. The ratio of the model and data errors is treated as an adjustable parameter. To evaluate the quality of the assimilation, the results from the model with and without assimilation are compared to independent ship data from the Atlantic Zone Monitoring Program and the World Ocean Circulation Experiment. It is shown that the assimilation has a significant impact on the modeled SST, reducing the root mean square difference (RMSD) between the model SST and the ship SST by 0.63°C or 37%. The RMSD of the assimilated SST is smaller than that of the satellite SST by 0.23°C. This suggests that model simulations or predictions with data assimilation can provide the best estimate of the true SST. A sensitivity study is performed to examine the change of the model RMSD with the adjustable parameter in the assimilation equation. The results show that there is an optimal value of the parameter and the model SST is not very sensitive to the parameter.     

Stability of Kerogen Classification with Regard to Image Segmentation

This paper investigates the stability of an automatic system for classifying kerogen material from images of sieved rock samples. The system comprises four stages: image acquisition, background removal, segmentation, and classification of the segmented kerogen pieces as either inertinite or vitrinite. Depending upon a segmentation parameter d, called “overlap”, touching pieces of kerogen may be split differently. The aim of this study is to establish how robust the classification result is to variations of the segmentation parameter. There are two issues that pose difficulties in carrying out an experiment. First, even a trained professional may be uncertain when distinguishing between isolated pieces of inertinite and vitrinite, extracted from transmitted-light microscope images. Second, because manual labelling of large amount of data for training the system is an arduous task, we acquired the true labels (ground truth) only for the pieces obtained at overlap d=0.5. To construct ground truth for various values of d we propose here label-inheritance trees. With thus estimated ground truth, an experiment was carried out to evaluate the robustness of the system to changes in the segmentation through varying the overlap value d. The average system accuracy across values of d spanning the range from 0 to 1 was 86.5%, which is only slightly lower than the accuracy of the system at the design value of d=0.5 (89.07%).     

Conodont biostratigraphy across the Permian–Triassic boundary at the Dawen section, Great Bank of Guizhou, Guizhou Province, South China: Implications for the Late Permian extinction and correlation with Meishan

Several continuous Permian–Triassic boundary (PTB) sections are well exposed in the interior of the Great Bank of Guizhou (GBG) on the east limb of the Bianyang syncline, Luodian County, Guizhou Province, South China. Fourteen conodont taxa are identified, including Clarkina kazi, Clarkina lehrmanni n. sp., Clarkina taylorae, Clarkina zhejiangensis, Hindeodus eurypyge, Hindeodus inflatus, Hindeodus sxlatidentatus, Hindeodus parvus erectus, Hindeodus parvus parvus, Hindeodus postparvus, Hindeodus praeparvus, Hindeodus typicalis, Isarcicella staeschei, and Merrillina ultima based on a detailed study of the Permian-Triassic interval at the Dawen section. The first occurrence (FO) of H. parvus parvus in the lower Daye Formation, at about 7.45 m above the contact surface between the Upper Permian skeletal packstone and a calcimicrobial framestone unit, is correlated with the Permian–Triassic boundary; the occurrence of H. eurypyge, H. praeparvus and M. ultima immediately below and H. postparvus above the interval supports this interpretation. A morphometric analysis of 31 Hindeodus specimens helped distinguish H. parvus erectus from H. parvus parvus and H. postparvus. Correlation with the Meishan section (PTB GSSP) using both conodont biostratigraphy and carbon isotopes, indicates that the major extinction at the two localities is simultaneous and coincides with the top of the skeletal packstone at Dawen. The contact between the skeletal packstone and the calcimicrobialite is very irregular and has previously been interpreted as a dissolution surface and correlated with a surface in the lower part of bed 27 at Meishan. Our results confirm this interpretation and reveal that the dissolution event postdated the extinction.     

Public Targets,Private Choices: Urban Climate Governance in the Pacific Northwest

A survey of local governments participating in two urban climate change programs is presented to determine the mechanisms used to reach emissions reduction goals and the motivations for participation. Results support previous research that shows a preference for policies that rely on changes in individual behavior, while also providing new insights into how mitigation responsibilities are distributed among the public and private sector and the relative importance of scientific consensus, economic incentives, and federal inaction on local government justification for climate-related policies. The article concludes with a discussion of urban climate governance as part of a wider system of neoliberal climate governance.     

Evaluation of the response modification coefficient and collapse potential of special concentrically braced frames

Special concentrically braced frames (SCBFs) are commonly used for seismic design of buildings. Their large elastic stiffness and strength efficiently sustains the seismic demands during smaller, more frequent earthquakes. During large, infrequent earthquakes, SCBFs exhibit highly nonlinear behavior due to brace buckling and yielding and the inelastic behavior induced by secondary deformation of the framing system. These response modes reduce the system demands relative to an elastic system without supplemental damping using a response modification coefficient, commonly termed the R factor. More recently, procedures put forth in FEMAP695 have been made to quantify the R factor through a formalized procedure that accounts for collapse potential. The primary objective of the research in this paper was to evaluate the approach for SCBFs. An improved model for SCBFs that permits simulation of brace fracture was used to conduct response history analyses. A series of three‐story, nine‐story and 20‐story SCBFs were designed and evaluated. Initially, the FEMAP695 method was conducted to estimate collapse and the corresponding R factor. An alternate procedure for scaling the multiple acceleration records to the seismic design hazard was also evaluated. The results show significant variation between the two methods. Of the three variations of buildings studied, the largest vulnerability was identified for the three‐story building. To achieve a consistent margin of safety against collapse, a significantly lower R factor is required for the low‐rise SCBFs (three‐story), whereas the mid‐rise and high‐rise SCBFs (nine‐story and 20‐story) may continue to use the current value of 6, as provided in ASCE‐07. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hydrological response characteristics of Mediterranean catchments at different time scales: a meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

This work examines 140 hydrological studies conducted in the Mediterranean region. It identifies key characteristics of the hydrological responses of Mediterranean catchments at various time scales and compares different methods and modelling approaches used for individual-catchment studies. The study area is divided into the northwestern (NWM), eastern (EM) and southern (SM) Mediterranean. The analysis indicates regional discrepancies in which the NWM shows the most extreme rainfall regime. A tendency for reduced water resources driven by both anthropogenic and climatic pressures and a more extreme rainfall regime are also noticeable. Catchments show very heterogeneous responses over time and space, resulting in limitations in hydrological modelling and large uncertainties in predictions. However, few models have been developed to address these issues. Additional studies are necessary to improve the knowledge of Mediterranean hydrological features and to account for regional specificities.

Editor D. Koutsoyiannis Associate editor A. Efstratiadis