Sorption and desorption behavior of residual antidepressants and caffeine in freshwater sediment and sewage sludge

The use of antidepressants is widespread in modern times. Thus, they present a potential risk for ecosystems due to occurrence in domestic sewage containing unaltered metabolites and structures, even after the treatment plants have processed the sewage. The current research investigated the sorption and desorption of antidepressants(citalopram, venlafaxine, fluoxetine, sertraline, and amitriptyline) and caffeine from freshwater sediment and sewage sludge. The samples of freshwater sediment were ...     

LiDAR-based digital terrain analysis of an area exposed to the risk of lava flow invasion: the Zafferana Etnea territory, Mt. Etna (Italy)

The town of Zafferana Etnea, located on the southeastern slope of Mt. Etna volcano (Italy), has been repeatedly threatened by lava flows in recent centuries. The last serious threat occurred during the 1991–1993 eruption, when the lava front came to a halt only 1.7 km from the centre of town. Morphostructural data derived from light detection and ranging (LiDAR) surveys carried out on Etna in 2005 have enabled us to evaluate the risk of lava invasion in a section (16 km²) of the Zafferana Etnea territory. Qualitative and quantitative results are obtained combining the information derived from LiDAR analysis with geological, morphological and structural data using geographic information systems technology (GIS). The study quantifies in unprecedented detail the areal extent and volume of forested and urban areas and its degree of exposure to different levels of hazard from future lava invasion. Nearly 52% of the urban texture fall into areas of moderate to high risk from lava invasion. Future land use planning should take these findings into account and promote new development preferentially in areas of lower risk.     

Food Web Structure and Habitat Connectivity in Fish Estuarine Nurseries—Impact of River Flow

River flow variability is known to influence estuarine production, yet knowledge on its effect upon estuarine food webs dynamics is still scarce. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes were used to assess the effect of river flow in the connectivity and food web interactions between the two main fish nursery areas of the Tagus estuary. The aims of the present work were to investigate the seasonal variation in food web structure and the exchange rate of individuals of marine juvenile fish among estuarine nurseries, to compare the spring of a rainy year (2001) with that of an average year (2000), and to investigate the impact of the winter floods of 2001. A low level of connectivity was observed for the fish species that use these areas as nurseries. In low river flow conditions, two isotopically distinct food webs were established in each nursery area. These food webs were very sensitive to small variations in the freshwater input. Winter floods seem to disrupt the localized food webs that are established in low river flow periods, leading to the re-establishment of a wider food web. While in rainy years this wide food web is maintained until spring, in average years the food web undergoes fragmentation into two localized and isotopically distinctive food webs. The increase in frequency of droughts due to climate change should lower the connectivity of the estuarine fish nurseries food webs, causing habitat fragmentation and consequent loss in complexity and resilience.     

The P-y Response of Laterally Loaded Flexible Piles in Residual Soil

This paper describes the main features related to lateral displacements with depth after successive lateral loading–unloading cycles applied to the top of reinforced-concrete flexible bored piles embedded in naturally bonded residual soil. The bored piles under study have a cylindrical shape, with 0.40-m in diameter and 8.0-m in length. Both bored piles types (P1 and P2) include an embedded steel pipe section in their center as longitudinal steel reinforcements: pile type P1 has another 16 steel rods as steel reinforcement to concrete while pile type P2 has no further steel reinforcement. Pile type P1 has three times as much stiffness (EI) and four and a half times the plastic moment (M_y) than pile type P2. A similar load–displacement performance was observed at initial loads as for small displacements of both piles. At this initial loading stage, the response of the reinforced concrete piles is a function of the soil characteristics and of a linear elastic pile deformation. During this stage, piles can even be understood as probes for evaluating soil reactions. For larger horizontal displacements, after the concrete section starts undergoing large deformations, approaching the ultimate bending moment, pile behavior and consequently the load–displacement relation starts to diverge for both piles. For pile P1 the values of relevant lateral displacements are extended to about 2.5-m in depth, while for pile P2 lateral displacements are mostly constrained to about 2.0-m in depth. Measurements of horizontal displacements of pile P1 against depth recorded with a slope indicator show that, after unloading, lateral loads at distinct stages (small and near failure loads), exhibits a much higher elastic phase of the system response. An analytical fitting model of soil reaction is proposed based on the measured displacements from slope indicator. The integration of a continuous model proposed for the soil reaction agrees fairly well with the measured displacements up to moments close to plastic limit. Results of load–displacement show that the stiffer pile (P1) was able to mobilize twice as much lateral load compared to pile P2 for a service limit displacement of about 20 mm. The paper shows results that enable the isolation of the structural variable through real scale pile load tests, thus granting understanding of its importance and enabling its quantitative visualization in examples of piles embedded in residual soil sites.

     

Concurrent imaging of chlorophyll fluorescence,Chlorophyll a content and green fluorescent proteins‐like proteins of symbiotic cnidarians

Research on photosynthetic cnidarians has been mainly focused on the symbiosis established between the cnidarian host and its dinoflagellates endosymbionts from genus Symbiodinium. Despite the potential of imaging techniques for assessing the spatial distribution of key parameters of cnidarian photobiology, such as photochemical activity, chlorophyll a content or green fluorescent proteins (GFPs), to our best knowledge, no study has ever attempted to simultaneous map these three features. In this study, we developed a modified imaging pulse amplitude fluorometer by applying excitation light of different wavelengths and selectively detecting short spectral bands through bandpass filters. The imaging system was used to sequentially excite and quantify chlorophyll variable fluorescence (maximum quantum yield of photosystem II, F_v/F_m), Chl a content (normalized difference vegetation index) and relative content of GFPs. The spatial distribution of these photophysiological parameters was mapped both horizontally, across the surface of the soft corals Sarcophyton cf. glaucum and Sinularia flexibilis and the zoanthid Protopalythoa sp., and vertically, throughout a vertical section of S. cf. glaucum. Results showed bleached areas within each individual coral colony and registered photophysiological changes with S. cf. glaucum tissue depth. Analysis of Protopalythoa sp. polyps’ expansion revealed differential surface patterns of NDVI and GFP concentration, and a negative relation between these latter parameters within each polyp. This novel non‐invasive approach allowed a high‐resolution characterization of the spatial relationship between these key parameters through the analysis of image information on a pixel‐by‐pixel basis, which has great potential for investigating the physiological state of symbiotic associations.     

Discovery of the 'missing' mode in HR 1217 by the Whole Earth Telescope

HR 1217 is a prototypical rapidly oscillating Ap star that has presented a test to the theory of non-radial stellar pulsation. Prior observations showed a clear pattern of five modes with alternating frequency spacings of 33.3 and 34.6 μHz, with a sixth mode at a problematic spacing of 50.0 μHz (which equals  1.5×33.3 μHz)  to the high-frequency side. Asymptotic pulsation theory allowed for a frequency spacing of 34 μHz, but Hipparcos observations rule out such a spacing. Theoretical calculations of magnetoacoustic modes in Ap stars by Cunha predicted that there should be a previously undetected mode 34 μHz higher than the main group, with a smaller spacing between it and the highest one. In this Letter, we present preliminary results from a multisite photometric campaign on the rapidly oscillating Ap star HR 1217 using the 'Whole Earth Telescope'. While a complete analysis of the data will appear in a later paper, one outstanding result from this run is the discovery of a newly detected frequency in the pulsation spectrum of this star, at the frequency predicted by Cunha.     

First Results from SWAN Lyman α solar wind mapper on SOHO

After one year of almost flawless operation on board the SOHO spacecraft poised at L1 Lagrange point, we report the main features of SWAN observations. SWAN is mainly dedicated to the monitoring of the latitude distribution of the solar wind by the Lα method. Maps of sky Lα emissions were recorded througout the year. The region of maximum emission, located in the upwind hemisphere, deviates strongly from the pattern that could be expected from a solar wind constant with latitude. It is divided into two lobes by a depression aligned with the solar equatorial plane called the Lyα groove already noted in 1976 Prognoz data. The north lobe is much brighter than the south lobe. These two characteristics can be explained qualitatively by an enhanced ionization along the neutral sheet where the slow solar wind is concentrated, which results from the higher low-latitude solar wind mass flux as measured by Ulysses. The groove is the direct imprint on the sky of the enhanced carving by the slow solar wind, at this time of solar minimum, when the tilt angle of the neutral sheet is small. The question is still pending to predict what will happen with the ascending phase of the solar cycle. Observations of comets are briefly mentioned, with the ability of SWAN to monitor the H₂O production of many comets. Operations of the instrument are briefly described, including some instrumental problems which could be solved by software modifications sent to the instrument. Supplementary material to this paper is available in electronic form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1004979605559     

Seismic hazard analysis in zones of time and space interdependence: An application to S?o Miguel Island, Azores

The Azores Islands are located in the mid-Atlantic region near the triple junction where the Euro-Asiatic-African-American plates join together. Seismic activity in the area is very high, as can be observed either from historical events since the fifteenth century, from present day microseismicity, and from direct and indirect measurements of recent tectonic deformation. Volcanic activity is also present throughout the region.All available information, even data exhibiting low quality, was used to develop hazard models of São Miguel Island. Source zones were established based on both the global tectonic behaviour of the region and on the local active fault structures. Recurrence laws for São Miguel Island, for which historical information seemed quite incomplete, were obtained from the large events in the entire archipelago and from their remarkable pattern of time and space dependence, and complimented by information on long-term fault deformation (for the longer recurrence periods) and on high precision instrumental network (for the very short recurrence periods).Attenuation laws were derived from data on events felt and/or recorded in the Island.Hazard maps were obtained through a modified version of McGuire's algorithm for several geometries of source areas and results compared with the maximum observed intensity of historical events.Abstract presented at the 21st General Assembly of the European Seismological Commission held in Sofia, 1988.