bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
MOVEMENT AND EROSION OF ALBERTA BITUMEN ALONG THE BOTTTOM AS A FUNCTION OF TEMPERATURE, WATER VELOCITY AND SALINITY
Authors: GLOEKLER M.D. , BALLESTERO T.P. , DAVE E.V. , GAUDREAU I.P. , WATKINS C.B.R. , KINNER N.E. 
Published: September 2017

AbstractWhile many trajectory models exist to predict the movement of oil floating in or on water, few are designed to address heavy oil on the bottom of water bodies. In addition, remobilization (erosion) of the material into the water column is also difficult to predict. While properties such as adhesion, viscosity and density of oil may be readily measured, the critical shear stress (CSS) and the effect of (current) velocity, salinity, and temperature are virtually unknown for most heavy oils. The Coastal Response Research Center (CRRC) has a 4,000 L annular flume, with a water depth of 0.43 m. An inner rectangular flume (1.2 m length, 0.2m width, 0.9 m height), placed inside the annular flume, was preceded by two flow straighteners to reduced turbulence and produce a uniform, one dimensional flow field. The current is generated by an electric thrust motor and measured in 3D by a Nortek AS (Norway) Vectrino II Profiling Velocimeter. A 20g circle of Alberta bitumen (API ~ 10°) was placed on a laminated grid (1cm2 square pattern) at the bottom of the straight flume. A total of 2.3m3 of water was then gradually added to the flume. The electric motor was started and the profiler began collecting data. Two cameras, placed along the side and above the oil, collected video of the erosions and length/width changes of the oil. Conditions were held steady for one hour once the desired current velocity was achieved. Temperatures, current velocity (X, Y, Z), and digital videographic data were collected during each run. Erosions and percent lengthening of the oil was monitored as a function of water temperature, salinity and velocity. The turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) method was used to calculate the bed shear stress (BSS). In addition to the expected impact of higher temperature on the movement along the bed and erosion into the water column, the viscoelastic and shear-thinning properties of the bitumen played a role in its behavior (lowering of viscosity at higher BSS slowing erosions and movement) and must be considered when predicting its behavior during a spill.
Establishing Post Spill Environmental Monitoring Processes: Experience from the United Kingdom Premiam Initiative
Authors: Kirby Mark 
Published: September 2017

ABSTRACT 2017-258
The Pollution Response in Emergencies: Marine Impact Assessment and Monitoring (Premiam) programme was initiated in 2009. It started life as a 3-year government funded developmental programme and has subsequently developed into a UK wide focus for the improvement of post spill monitoring with wide engagement from both government and industry stakeholders.
In this paper an update of the achievements under the initiative is presented including the development of scientific guidelines, processes for managing and coordinating the mobilisation of monitoring expertise and systems for evaluating preparedness. Inclusion of post-spill monitoring into the UK National Contingency Plan and national response exercises are also discussed.
This paper will also reflect on the most challenging aspects of establishing effective post-spill monitoring including accessing skills and expertise, establishing funding, stakeholder support and consistency of approach across all relevant sectors. Finally, experience from the UK will be used to consider the status of post-spill monitoring in the context of the International Oil Spill Conferences four key areas of Prevent, Prepare, Respond and Restore.
For more information see: www.cefas.co.uk/premiam
ARE OXYGENATED HYDROCARBONS IMPORTANT OIL DEGRADATION PRODUCTS AFTER OIL SPILLS?
Authors: Nabi Deedar , Katz Samuel , Aeppli Christoph 
Published: September 2017

ABSTRACT 2017-186
Oxygenated hydrocarbons (OxHC) are major and persistent hydrocarbon degradation products that are formed after oil spills. However, there are still knowledge gaps related to formation, fate and effect of these products. The objective of this study was to find if the OxHCs present in weathered oils are more or less toxic and bioaccumulative than their parent compounds. In this study, we first systematically investigated bioaccumulation potential and toxicity potential of oxygenated oil weathering products, using predictions based on Abraham Solvation Parameters. We then quantified OxHC in select crude and weathered oil samples from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (DHOS). Seawater-dissolved concentrations were calculated using Raoult’s law, and baseline toxicity of the mixtures towards fathead minnow fish were estimated. We found that while OxHC generally had a lower bioaccumulation potential than corresponding n-alkanes, the baseline toxicity of OxHC was higher than that of their n-alkane precursors due to increased water solubility. After 30 days of weathering, toxicity of the oil residue decreased by a factor of ten. However, following six years of weathering, the calculated residual toxicity only dropped by a further factor of two. In the most weathered sample, toxicity was dominated by OxHC and not polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). These preliminary data suggest that further research into OxHC toxicity is necessary. In future, additional factors such as reactive toxicity and biotransformation can be implemented to further explore OxHC toxicity and bioaccumulation in long-term environmental impacts of oil spills.
ASSESSING NATURAL RESOURCE DAMAGES FOR COMMERCIALLY AND RECREATIONALLY HARVESTED POPULATIONS
Authors: Wakefield Jeff , Davis Andrew N. 
Published: September 2017

Abstract
Resource Equivalency Analysis (“REA”) is often used to “right-size” (scale) or calibrate compensatory restoration projects implemented as part of Natural Resource Damage Assessments (“NRDAs”) conducted pursuant to the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (“OPA”). The basic premise underlying REA is that, if a spill results in the loss of individual members of a population, the public can be compensated via a restoration project which creates individuals that otherwise would not exist. This is because the ecological services provided by a population are proportional to the number of individuals in the population. For example, one could compensate the public for spill-related mortality among shrimp by creating wetland terraces which, the literature suggests, would increase the number of shrimp in the population. REA answers the question, “How many wetland terraces need to be created?”
Implicit in the REA construct is the dynamic nature of the population projections. Even with density dependence, population levels fluctuate according to both biological and anthropogenic factors that combine to influence survival, reproductive and growth rates. Thus, if NRDA practitioners are to reliably identify compensatory restoration requirements using REA, it is necessary to: characterize baseline demographic rates; develop a model that uses those baseline demographic rates to project future population levels; and identify the mechanisms that cause post-spill rates to change relative to baseline expectations.
One factor that can cause post-spill demographic rates to vary is a spill-related change in human behavior. For example, if a spill-related fishing closure results in the cancelation of 15,000 recreational shrimping trips, shrimp mortality due to fishing will decrease.
In this paper we use prior OPA NRDA cases to: review the historical treatment of spill-related closures in REA models used by both DOI/USFWS and NOAA; and illustrate that the REA practitioners’ approach to these spill-related changes in human behavior can (and should) change the NRDA liability construct, particularly with respect to species which are commercially and recreationally harvested.
Novel interactors of the Drosophila Survival Motor Neuron (SMN) Complex suggest its full conservation
Authors: Lanfranco Maia , Cacciottolo Rebecca , Borg Rebecca M. , Vassallo Neville , Juge François , Bordonné Rémy , Cauchi Ruben J. 
Published: September 2017

The Spinal Muscular Atrophy disease protein Survival Motor Neuron (SMN) operates as part of a multiprotein complex whose components also include Gemins 2‐8 and Unrip. The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is thought to have a slightly smaller SMN complex comprised of SMN, Gemin2/3/5 and, possibly, Unrip. Based upon in vivo interaction methods, we have identified novel interacting partners of the Drosophila SMN complex with homologies to Gemin4/6/7/8. The Gemin4 and Gemin8 orthologues are required for neuromuscular function and survival. The Gemin6/7/Unrip module can be recruited via the SMN‐associated Gemin8, hence mirroring the human SMN complex architecture. Our findings lead us to propose that an elaborate SMN complex that is typical in metazoans is also present in Drosophila.
The Impact of Urbanization on Temporal Changes in Sediment Transport in a Gravel Bed Channel in Southern Ontario, Canada
Authors: Plumb B. D. , Annable W. K. , Thompson P. J. , Hassan M. A. 
Published: September 2017

AbstractA field investigation has been undertaken to characterize the event‐based bed load transport dynamics of a highly urbanized gravel bed stream. A combination of direct bed load and tracer particle measurements were taken over a 3 year period during which time approximately 30 sediment mobilizing events occurred. Sediment transport measurements were used to calibrate a fractional bed load transport model and combined with hydrometric data which represent four different land use conditions (ranging from rural to highly urbanized) to analyze the differences in discharge magnitude and frequency and its impact on sediment transport. Fractional transport analysis of the bed load measurements indicates that frequent intermediate discharge events can mobilize sand and fine gravel to an approximate equally mobile condition, however, the transport rates at these discharges exhibit greater variability than at discharges above the bankfull discharge. Path lengths of the coarse fraction, measured using tracer clasts, are insensitive to peak discharge, and instead transport at distances less than those reported in other gravel bed channels, which is attributed to the shorter duration discharge events common to urban streams. The magnitude‐frequency analysis reveals that the frequency, time, and volume of competent sediment mobilizing events are increasing with urbanization. Variability in effective discharges suggests that a range of discharges, spanning between frequent, low magnitude events to less frequent, high magnitude events are geomorphically significant. However, trends in the different land use scenarios suggest that urbanization is shifting the geomorphic significance toward more frequent, lower magnitude events.
Increase in Nutrients, Mercury, and Methylmercury as a Consequence of Elevated Sulfate Reduction to Sulfide in Experimental Wetland Mesocosms
Authors: Myrbo A. , Swain E. B. , Johnson N. W. , Engstrom D. R. , Pastor J. , Dewey B. , Monson P. , Brenner J. , Dykhuizen Shore M. , Peters E. B. 
Published: September 2017

AbstractMicrobial sulfate reduction (MSR) in both freshwater and marine ecosystems is a pathway for the decomposition of sedimentary organic matter (OM) after oxygen has been consumed. In experimental freshwater wetland mesocosms, sulfate additions allowed MSR to mineralize OM that would not otherwise have been decomposed. The mineralization of OM by MSR increased surface water concentrations of ecologically important constituents of OM: dissolved inorganic carbon, dissolved organic carbon, phosphorus, nitrogen, total mercury, and methylmercury. Increases in surface water concentrations, except for methylmercury, were in proportion to cumulative sulfate reduction, which was estimated by sulfate loss from the surface water into the sediments. Stoichiometric analysis shows that the increases were less than would be predicted from ratios with carbon in sediment, indicating that there are processes that limit P, N, and Hg mobilization to, or retention in, surface water. The highest sulfate treatment produced high levels of sulfide that retarded the methylation of mercury but simultaneously mobilized sedimentary inorganic mercury into surface water. As a result, the proportion of mercury in the surface water as methylmercury peaked at intermediate pore water sulfide concentrations. The mesocosms have a relatively high ratio of wall and sediment surfaces to the volume of overlying water, perhaps enhancing the removal of nutrients and mercury to periphyton. The presence of wild rice decreased sediment sulfide concentrations by 30%, which was most likely a result of oxygen release from the wild rice roots. An additional consequence of the enhanced MSR was that sulfate additions produced phytotoxic levels of sulfide in sediment pore water.
The Macroseismic Intensity Distribution of the 30 October 2016 Earthquake in Central Italy (Mw 6.6): Seismotectonic Implications
Authors: Galli Paolo , Castenetto Sergio , Peronace Edoardo 
Published: September 2017

AbstractThe central Italy Apennines were rocket in 2016 by the strongest earthquakes of the past 35 years. Two main shocks (Mw 6.2 and Mw 6.6) between the end of August and October caused the death of almost 300 people, and the destruction of 50 villages and small towns scattered along 40 km in the hanging wall of the N165° striking Mount Vettore fault system, that is, the structure responsible for the earthquakes. The 24 August southern earthquake, besides causing all the casualties, razed to the ground the small medieval town of Amatrice and dozens of hamlets around it. The 30 October main shock crushed definitely all the villages of the whole epicentral area (up to 11 intensity degree), extending northward the level of destruction and inducing heavy damage even to the 30 km far Camerino town. The survey of the macroseismic effects started the same day of the first main shock and continued during the whole seismic sequence, even during and after the strong earthquakes at the end of October, allowing the definition of a detailed picture of the damage distribution, day by day. Here we present the results of the final survey in terms of Mercalli‐Cancani‐Sieberg intensity, which account for the cumulative effects of the whole 2016 sequence (465 intensity data points, besides 435 related to the 24 August and 54 to the 26 October events, respectively). The distribution of the highest intensity data points evidenced the lack of any possible overlap between the 2016 earthquakes and the strongest earthquakes of the region, making this sequence a unique case in the seismic history of Italy. In turn, the cross matching with published paleoseismic data provided some interesting insights concerning the seismogenic behavior of the Mount Vettore fault in comparison with other active normal faults of the region.
Minimum Hydraulic Resistance and Least Resistance Path in Heterogeneous Porous Media
Authors: Rizzo Calogero B. , de Barros Felipe P. J. 
Published: September 2017

AbstractThe transport dynamics of a solute plume in porous media are strictly related to the hydrogeological properties. Despite progress in simulation techniques, quantifying transport in strongly heterogeneous geological formations is still a challenge. It is well established that the heterogeneity of the hydraulic conductivity (K) field is one of the main factors controlling solute transport phenomena. Increasing the heterogeneity level of the K‐field will enhance the probability of having preferential paths, that are fundamental in predicting the first time arrivals. In this work, we focus on the relationship between the connectivity structure of the K‐field to transport quantities. We compute connectivity based on the concept of hydraulic resistance and the corresponding least resistance paths. We present a new efficient algorithm based on graph theory that enables us to extract useful information from the K‐field without resorting to the solution of the governing equations for flow and transport. For this reason, an exhaustive and fast analysis can be carried out using a Monte Carlo framework for randomly generated K‐fields which allows the computation of the least resistance path and its uncertainty. We examine the minimum hydraulic resistance for both multi‐Gaussian (MG) and non‐MG
‐fields. The analysis carried out indicates that the expected value of the minimum hydraulic resistance between two points scales exponentially with the standard deviation of the
‐field. Given the strong correlation with plume's first time arrival, our results illustrate how hydraulic resistance and least resistance path can be used as a computationally efficient risk metric.
Weather Typing‐Based Flood Frequency Analysis Verified for Exceptional Historical Events of Past 500 Years Along the Meuse River
Authors: De Niel J. , Demarée G. , Willems P. 
Published: September 2017

AbstractGovernments, policy makers, and water managers are pushed by recent socioeconomic developments such as population growth and increased urbanization inclusive of occupation of floodplains to impose very stringent regulations on the design of hydrological structures. These structures need to withstand storms with return periods typically ranging between 1,250 and 10,000 years. Such quantification involves extrapolations of systematically measured instrumental data, possibly complemented by quantitative and/or qualitative historical data and paleoflood data. The accuracy of the extrapolations is, however, highly unclear in practice. In order to evaluate extreme river peak flow extrapolation and accuracy, we studied historical and instrumental data of the past 500 years along the Meuse River. We moreover propose an alternative method for the estimation of the extreme value distribution of river peak flows, based on weather types derived by sea level pressure reconstructions. This approach results in a more accurate estimation of the tail of the distribution, where current methods are underestimating the design levels related to extreme high return periods. The design flood for a 1,250 year return period is estimated at 4,800 m3 s−1 for the proposed method, compared with 3,450 and 3,900 m3 s−1 for a traditional method and a previous study.
Dosimetric validation of Monaco treatment planning system on an Elekta VersaHD linear accelerator
Authors: Narayanasamy Ganesh , Saenz Daniel L , Defoor Dewayne , Papanikolaou Niko , Stathakis Sotirios 
Published: September 2017

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to perform dosimetric validation of Monaco treatment planning system version 5.1. The Elekta VersaHD linear accelerator with high dose rate flattening filter‐free photon modes and electron energies was used in this study. The dosimetric output of the new Agility head combined with the FFF photon modes warranted this investigation into the dosimetric accuracy prior to clinical usage. A model of the VersaHD linac was created in Monaco TPS by Elekta using commissioned beam data including percent depth dose curves, beam profiles, and output factors. A variety of 3D conformal fields were created in Monaco TPS on a combined Plastic water/Styrofoam phantom and validated against measurements with a calibrated ion chamber. Some of the parameters varied including source to surface distance, field size, wedges, gantry angle, and depth for all photon and electron energies. In addition, a series of step and shoot IMRT, VMAT test plans, and patient plans on various anatomical sites were verified against measurements on a Delta4 diode array. The agreement in point dose measurements was within 2% for all photon and electron energies in the homogeneous phantom and within 3% for photon energies in the heterogeneous phantom. The mean ± SD gamma passing rates of IMRT test fields yielded 93.8 ± 4.7% based on 2% dose difference and 2 mm distance‐to‐agreement criteria. Eight previously treated IMRT patient plans were replanned in Monaco TPS and five measurements on each yielded an average gamma passing rate of 95% with 6.7% confidence limit based on 3%, 3 mm gamma criteria. This investigation on dosimetric validation ensures accuracy of modeling VersaHD linac in Monaco TPS thereby improving patient safety.
Low Hemoglobin and Radiographic Damage Progression in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis: Secondary Analysis From a Phase III Trial
Authors: Möller Burkhard , Everts‐Graber Judith , Florentinus Stefan , Li Yihan , Kupper Hartmut , Finckh Axel 
Published: September 2017

ObjectiveTo study low blood hemoglobin concentrations as a predictor of radiographic damage progression in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).MethodsPost hoc analyses were performed in patients from the PREMIER trial with early RA undergoing 2 years of adalimumab (ADA), methotrexate (MTX), or ADA + MTX combination therapy. Low disease activity was defined as a score <3.2 on the 28‐joint Disease Activity Score using the C‐reactive protein level (DAS28‐CRP), and clinical response by the American College of Rheumatology criteria for 20% improvement at week 24. Baseline or mean hemoglobin concentrations over time, or anemia as defined using sex‐specific World Health Organization criteria, were analyzed in mixed‐effects models for longitudinal data in men and women as predictors of progressive joint damage, as measured by the modified total Sharp/van der Heijde score (ΔSHS). Data were adjusted for treatment and other patient characteristics, including the DAS28‐CRP.ResultsBaseline hemoglobin was inversely associated with ΔSHS in adjusted analyses (P < 0.05 for both sexes). Baseline anemia predicted greater ΔSHS in MTX‐treated patients over 104 weeks, and in ADA‐ and combination‐treated patients over 26 weeks. Lower hemoglobin concentrations over time, as well as time with anemia, were associated with greater damage progression (P < 0.001). The effect of low hemoglobin concentrations on joint damage progression remained significant, even in patients achieving low disease activity.ConclusionLow hemoglobin is a DAS28‐CRP‐independent predictor of radiographic joint damage progression in MTX‐treated patients with early RA. This effect decreases over time in ADA‐ and combination‐treated patients, and in clinical responders irrespective of treatment modality.