Continuous Campaign Research Articles

Socio-Economic Analysis of Soyabeanutilization in Akure South Local Government Area, Ondo State

This study was carried out for the purpose of analyzing the socio-economic of soyabean inAkure South Local Government Area of Ondo state with the objective of examining the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents Data were collected from one hundred (100) respondents drawn from five communities using well structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using frequency distribution, percentages and regression model while gross margin was used to determined the profitability of the utilization operators. The outcome of the study revealed that 76% of the respondents involved in utilization were females, about 82% of the respondents were married and 87% were educated. All 100% of the respondent reported that utilization increase their annual incomes. The gross margin result revealed that N11, 877 accrued to a respondent per month in the study area. The outcome of regression analysis revealed that the level of education, occupation, family size, experience and annual income had positive correlation with quantity of utilization whereas, the negative correlation in the storage, inadequate finance, lack of producing farmers, inadequate enlightenment campaign programme by extension workers were emphasized as the problems confronting the utilization in the area. It is recommended that the government should put in place adequate and efficient credit facility to enhance operational activities, provide regular and continuous enlightenment campaign programme by extension workers to the respondents and assist in the regular provision of adequate storage facilities and power supply for preservation of the products.

EL MODELO DEL FORUM AUGUSTUM EN LOS PROGRAMAS DECORATIVOS DE LOS RECINTOS SAGRADOS DE LAS CAPITALES HISPANAS E ITALICA

The continuous archaeological campaigns realized in the three provincial capitals of the ancient Hispaniaand Italica, have shown a numerous group of architectural and sculptural materials that help us to set up their originals sacred places. Through a select and meaningful group of pieces, this study aims to address the differences and similarities between the iconographical and decorative programs of the main religious centers of these cities and the Forum Augustum in Roma, presented as the constructive and symbolical main reference.

Ion chromatographic separation and quantitation of alkyl methylamines and ethylamines in atmospheric gas and particulate matter using preconcentration and suppressed conductivity detection

Two methods based on ion chromatography (IC) were developed for the detection of methyl and ethyl alkyl amines (methylamine (MA), ethylamine (EA), dimethylamine (DMA), diethylamine (DEA), trimethylamine (TMA) and triethylamine (TEA)) and NH3/NH4+ in online atmospheric gas-particle and size-resolved particulate samples. The two IC methods were developed to analyze samples collected with an ambient ion monitor (AIM), an online gas-particle collection system, or with a Micro Orifice Uniform Deposit Impactor (MOUDI) for size-resolved particle samples. These methods enable selective and (semi-) quantitative detection of alkyl amines at ambient atmospheric concentrations (pptv and pgm−3) in samples where significant interferences can be expected from Na+ and NH4+, for example marine and rural air masses. Sample pre-concentration using a trace cation column enabled instrumental detection limits on the order of pmol (sub-ng) levels per sample, an improvement of up to 102 over current IC methods. Separation was achieved using a methanesulfonic acid gradient elution on Dionex CS12A and CS17 columns. The relative standard deviations in retention times during 3weeks continuous (hourly) sampling campaigns ranged from 0.1 to 0.5% and 0.2 to 5% for the CS12A and CS17 across a wide dynamic range of atmospheric concentrations. Resolution of inorganic and organic cations is limited to 25min for online samples. Mass-dependent coelution of NH4+/MA/EA occurred on the CS12A column and DEA/TMA coeluted on both columns. Calibrations of ammonium show a non-linear response across the entire calibration range while all other analytes exhibit high linearity (R2=0.984–0.999), except for EA and TEA on the CS12A (R2=0.960 and 0.941, respectively). Both methods have high analytical accuracy for the nitrogenous bases ranging from 9.5 to 20% for NH3 and <5–15% for the amines. Hourly observations of amines at Egbert, ON in October 2010 showed gaseous DMA and TMA+DEA at 1–10pptv in air, while particulate DMA and TMA+DEA were present at 0.5–4ngm−3. A size-resolved particulate sample collected over 23h was found to contain DMA, TMA+DEA and MEA at 1.78, 8.15 and 0.03ngm−3 mass loadings, with the amine mass enhanced in particle sizes between 100 and 1000nm. These results highlight a need for very sensitive and selective detection of methyl and ethyl amines in addition to NH3 in continuous online monitoring strategies.

Effects and disturbances on GPS-derived zenith tropospheric delay during the CONT08 campaign

The zenith total delay (ZTD) can be retrieved from space geodetic techniques, e.g., Global Positioning System (GPS) and Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), which plays a key role in climatological and atmospheric sciences. However, ZTD estimates still have lots of effects and uncertainties, particularly in GPS model errors. The continuous VLBI observations provide an opportunity to assess GPS ZTD estimates during the Continuous VLBI Campaign 2008 (CONT08) at 11 co-located stations from August 12 to 26, 2008. In this paper, the effects on GPS ZTD estimate and its disturbances are investigated using different mapping function models (GMF, NMF, and VMF1), Phase Center Variation (PCV) models (AZEL and ELEV) and Ocean Tide Loading (OTL) models (FES2004, CSR4.0 and GOT00). It has shown that the ZTDs from VLBI and GPS have an agreement in –3.88–3.74mm with correlation coefficients of higher than 0.87. For mapping function models, there are no obvious differences, while the PCV model of ELEV is always a little better than AZEL for large scale network with mixed antenna types. For stations near to the coastlines, ocean loading effects must be corrected. While for short period, the effects with OTL models of FFES2004, CSR4.0 and GOT00 are always at the same level. In addition, significant diurnal cycles S1 (24h period) and semidiurnal cycles S2 (12h period) of GPS ZTD are found with amplitudes between 0.82 and 13.84mm and 0.30 and 5.23mm, respectively, which are closer to VLBI ZTD estimates. The correlation coefficients between VLBI and GPS ZTD are 0.85 and 0.95 in S1 and S2, respectively.

Development and Scale-Up of a Continuous, High-Pressure, Asymmetric Hydrogenation Reaction, Workup, and Isolation

A fully continuous process including an asymmetric hydrogenation reaction operating at 70 bar hydrogen, aqueous extraction, and crystallization was designed, developed, and demonstrated at pilot scale. This paper highlights safety, quality, and throughput advantages of the continuous reaction and separations unit operations. Production of 144 kg of product was accomplished in laboratory fume hoods and a laboratory hydrogenation bunker over two continuous campaigns. Maximum continuous flow vessel size in the lab hoods was 22 L glassware, and maximum plug flow tube reactor (PFR) size in the bunker was 73 L. The main safety advantages of running the hydrogenation reaction continuous rather than batch were that the flow reactor was smaller for the same throughput and, more importantly, the tubular hydrogenation reactor ran 95% liquid filled at steady state. Therefore, the amount of hydrogen in the reactor at any one time was less than that of batch. A two-stage mixed suspension–mixed product removal (MSMPR) cascade was used for continuous crystallization. Impurity rejection by continuous crystallization was superior to that by batch because scalable residence time and steady-state supersaturation enabled robust and repeatable control of enantiomer rejection in a kinetic regime, although this is a nonstandard approach, debatable as an impurity control strategy. The fully continuous wet-end process running in a laboratory infrastructure achieved the same weekly throughput that would be expected from traditional batch processing in a plant module with 400 L vessels.

Application of the AERMOD modeling system for environmental impact assessment of NO 2 emissions from a cement complex

We applied the model of American Meteorological Society-Environmental Protection Agency Regulatory Model (AERMOD) as a tool for the analysis of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2) emissions from a cement complex as a part of the environmental impact assessment. The dispersion of NO 2 from four cement plants within the selected cement complex were investigated both by measurement and AERMOD simulation in dry and wet seasons. Simulated values of NO 2 emissions were compared with those obtained during a 7-day continuous measurement campaign at 12 receptors. It was predicted that NO 2 concentration peaks were found more within 1 to 5 km, where the measurement and simulation were in good agreement, than at the receptors 5 km further away from the reference point. The Quantile-Quantile plots of NO 2 concentrations in dry season were mostly fitted to the middle line compared to those in wet season. This can be attributed to high NO 2 wet deposition. The results show that for both the measurement and the simulation using the AERMOD, NO 2 concentrations do not exceed the NO 2 concentration limit set by the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) of Thailand. This indicates that NO 2 emissions from the cement complex have no significant impact on nearby communities. It can be concluded that the AERMOD can provide useful information to identify high pollution impact areas for the El A guidelines.

Assessment of periodic sub-diurnal Earth rotation variations at tidal frequencies through transformation of VLBI normal equation systems

We present an empirical model for periodic variations of diurnal and sub-diurnal Earth rotation parameters (ERPs) that was derived based on the transformation of normal equation (NEQ) systems of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observing sessions. NEQ systems that contain highly resolved polar motion and UT1-TAI with a temporal resolution of 15 min were generated and then transformed to the coefficients of the tidal ERP model to be solved for. To investigate the quality of this model, comparisons with empirical models from the Global Positioning System (GPS), another VLBI model and the model adopted by the conventions of the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) were performed. The absolute coefficients of these models agree almost completely within 7.5 μ as in polar motion and 0.5 μs in UT1-TAI. Several bigger differences exist, which are discussed in this paper. To be able to compare the model estimates with results of the continuous VLBI campaigns, where signals with periods of 8 and 6 h were detected, terms in the ter- and quarter-diurnal band were included in the tidal ERP model. Unfortunately, almost no common features with the results of continuous VLBI campaigns or ERP predictions in these tidal bands can be seen.

Fall in the Indian population after the arrival of the Spaniards. Diseases or exploitation?

In 1492, the same year that Christopher Columbus discovered America, the last Muslim stronghold in Spain was taken. Spain emerged then as the most important defender of the catholic faith in the world. At the same time, because of the continuous military campaigns, the Spanish Crown had an immense economic deficit (Díaz López 1994:25). In these circumstances, the discovery, conquest and colonization of America helped to attain a double goal, to fight for the Catholic religion and to obtain new financial resources.

Post-fire soil respiration in relation to burnt wood management in a Mediterranean mountain ecosystem

After a wildfire, the management of burnt wood may determine microclimatic conditions and microbiological activity with the potential to affect soil respiration. To experimentally analyze the effect on soil respiration, we manipulated a recently burned pine forest in a Mediterranean mountain (Sierra Nevada National and Natural Park, SE Spain). Three representative treatments of post-fire burnt wood management were established at two elevations: (1) “salvage logging” (SL), where all trees were cut, trunks removed, and branches chipped; (2) “non-intervention” (NI), leaving all burnt trees standing; and (3) “cut plus lopping” (CL), a treatment where burnt trees were felled, with the main branches lopped off, but left in situ partially covering the ground surface. Seasonal measurements were carried out over the course of two years. In addition, we performed continuous diurnal campaigns and an irrigation experiment to ascertain the roles of soil temperature and moisture in determining CO 2 fluxes across treatments. Soil CO 2 fluxes were highest in CL (average of 3.34 ± 0.19 μmol m −2 s −1) and the lowest in SL (2.21 ± 0.11 μmol m −2 s −1). Across seasons, basal values were registered during summer (average of 1.46 ± 0.04 μmol m −2 s −1), but increased during the humid seasons (up to 10.07 ± 1.08 μmol m −2 s −1 in spring in CL). Seasonal and treatment patterns were consistent at the two elevations (1477 and 2317 m a.s.l.), although respiration was half as high at the higher altitude. Respiration was mainly controlled by soil moisture. Watering during the summer drought boosted CO 2 effluxes (up to 37 ± 6 μmol m −2 s −1 just after water addition), which then decreased to basal values as the soil dried. About 64% of CO 2 emissions during the first 24 h could be attributed to the degasification of soil pores, with the rest likely related to biological processes. The patterns of CO 2 effluxes under experimental watering were similar to the seasonal tendencies, with the highest pulse in CL. Temperature, however, had a weak effect on soil respiration, with Q 10 values of ca. 1 across seasons and soil moisture conditions. These results represent a first step towards illustrating the effects of post-fire burnt wood management on soil respiration, and eventually carbon sequestration.

Knowledge and attitude towards swine influenza (2009) among dental practitioners in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, India

Background: The practice of dentistry exposes dentists to a variety of micro-organisms that are transmittable via blood, oral or respiratory secretions. Recent outbreak of swine flu virus has posed a greater risk of occupational transmission to dentists as it can spread through the aerosols. In our study, we assessed the knowledge and attitude of dentists regarding swine flu (2009) in Nellore, India. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted during November and December 2009 in the south Indian district of Nellore in Andhra Pradesh. Self-administered, anonymous, multiple-choice type study questionnaire elicited information from 220 Dentists across the district. Results: The Mean (±Standard Deviation, S.D) scores of knowledge and attitude were 37.92 (±5.63) and 11.34 (±2.51) from the maximum scores of 52 and 20 respectively. After adjusting for other variables, multivariable linear regression analysis showed gender, location and qualification of the participant contributing significantly to the knowledge score indicating a male participant, who is from urban area with higher qualification, had better knowledge. Attitude scores were not associated with any of the variables at significant level. Conclusion: Although the knowledge level seems to be moderately high, there were some note-worthy yet disturbing gaps in knowledge. This study showed that the dentists' attitude towards swine flu was satisfactory. Emphasis during undergraduate teaching and continuous dental educational campaigns regarding infectious diseases are recommended for the dentists, as preparedness for future disease outbreaks.

Magma flux at Okmok Volcano, Alaska, from a joint inversion of continuous GPS, campaign GPS, and interferometric synthetic aperture radar

Volcano deformation is usually measured using satellite geodetic techniques including interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR), campaign GPS, and continuous GPS. Differences in the spatial and temporal sampling of each system mean that most appropriate inversion scheme to determine the source parameters from each data set is different. Most studies either compare results from independent inversions or subsample the data sets to the lowest common factor. It is unclear whether differences in the solution reflect differences in source behavior, differences in measurement bias, or differences in inversion technique. Here we develop a single inversion procedure that captures the benefits of each system, especially the daily sampling of continuous GPS and the high spatial resolution of InSAR. Okmok Volcano, Alaska, is an ideal target for such a test because a long series (&lt;15 years) of InSAR and continuous GPS measurement exists and the source is almost continuously active and in a stable location.

Investigation of stronger diurnal ERP signals in summer derived from the VLBI CONT08 campaign

A series of very successful Continuous Very Long Baseline Interferometry Campaigns (CONT) have been carried out at irregular intervals since 1994. One of the goals is to support high-resolution earth rotation studies. The most recent CONT08 campaign was conducted with a network of 11 observatories at an increased recording rate of 512 Mbit per second over a fortnightly time span, from which stronger diurnal variations of the Earth Rotation Parameters (ERP) have been detected. We compared the high-frequency ERP from VLBI and GPS observations during CONT02, CONT05 and CONT08 with the atmospheric angular momentum functions derived from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric (NCEP/NCAR) during these periods. We attribute the detected diurnal discrepancies between the theoretical models and the CONT08 observations to atmospheric excitations.

The Influence of a Big Enough City on the Chemical and Disperse Composition of Atmospheric Aerosols

The influence of the Tomsk city on the chemical and disperse composition of surface atmospheric aerosols has been estimated by means of carrying out several continuous measurement campaigns at two different sites (urban and rural). It is shown that the determining factors in formation of aerosol field over a big enough city are the prehistory of air masses and the activity of erosion processes in summer.

The twenty-first century Armed Forces of the Philippines: orphan of counter-insurgency or military geared for the long war of the century?

This article examines the factors that account for the Armed Forces of the Philippines's (AFP) never-ending involvement in many wars of the third kind. It discusses the essence of counter-insurgency warfare or low-intensity conflict in the Philippine setting. The article then notes that the disruption in the US military assistance after 1992, the AFP's inability to modernize, and its continuous campaign against communist and secessionist insurgents have adversely affected its structure and overall combat efficiency. It also analyzes the impact of the global war on terror on the Philippine military's counter-insurgency operations and the reforms undertaken by the Philippine defense establishment to address these issues. In conclusion, the article argues that reforms will not lead to a significant transformation of the AFP as it will continue to be an orphan of counter-insurgency in the near future. However, if wars of the third kind will persist, this situation will paradoxically make the AFP the only military in Southeast Asia aptly geared for the long war of this century.

Impact of atmospheric turbulence on geodetic very long baseline interferometry

We assess the impact of atmospheric turbulence on geodetic very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) through simulations of atmospheric delays. VLBI observations are simulated for the two best existing VLBI data sets: The continuous VLBI campaigns CONT05 and CONT08. We test different methods to determine the magnitude of the turbulence above each VLBI station, i.e., the refractive index structure constant Cn2. The results from the analysis of the simulated data and the actually observed VLBI data are compared. We find that atmospheric turbulence today is the largest error source for geodetic VLBI. Accurate modeling of atmospheric turbulence is necessary to reach the highest accuracy with geodetic VLBI.

Black power in Dixie: a political history of African Americans in Atlanta

Atlanta stands out among southern cities for many reasons, not least of which is the role African Americans have played in local politics. Black Power in Dixie offers the first comprehensive study of black politics in the city.From Reconstruction to recent times, the middle-class black leadership in Atlanta, while often subordinating class and gender differences, to forge a continuous campaign for equality, successfully maintained its mantle of racial leadership for more than a century through a deft combination of racial advocacy and collaboration with local white business and political elites.Alton Hornsby provides an analysis of how one of the most important southern cities managed, adapted, and coped with the struggle for racial justice, examining both traditional electoral politics as well as the roles of non-elected individuals influential in the community. Highlighting the terms of Maynard Jackson and Andrew Young, the city's first two black mayors, Hornsby concludes by raising important questions about the success of black political power and whether it has translated into measurable economic power for the African American community.

Population dynamics of live-attenuated virus vaccines

Viruses contained in live-attenuated virus vaccines (LAVV) can be transmitted between individuals, resulting in secondary or contact vaccinations. This fact has been exploited successfully in the use of the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) to better control wild-type polio viruses. In this work we analyze general LAVV vaccination models for infections that confer lifelong immunity. We consider both standard (continuous) vaccination strategies and pulse vaccination programs (where mass vaccination is carried out at regular intervals). For continuous vaccination, we provide a complete global analysis of a very general compartmental ordinary differential equation LAVV model. We find that the threshold vaccination level required for the eradication of wild-type virus depends on the basic reproduction numbers of both the wild-type and vaccine viruses, but is otherwise independent of the distributions of the durations in each of the sequence of stages of disease progression (e.g., latent, infectious, etc.). Furthermore, even for vaccine viruses with reproduction numbers below one, which would naturally fade from the population upon cessation of vaccination, there can be a significant reduction in the threshold vaccination level. The dependence of the threshold vaccination level on the virus reproduction numbers largely generalizes to the pulse vaccination model. For shorter pulsing periods there is negligible difference in threshold vaccination level as compared to continuous vaccination campaigns. Thus, we conclude that current policy in many countries to employ annual pulsed OPV vaccination does not significantly diminish the benefits of contact vaccination.

Perceived Contributions Of Health Extension Programme On Women In A South Western State In Nigeria

The study examines perceived contributions of health extension programme on women in a south western state in Nigeria. Data for the study was collected with the aid of a structured questionnaire which was administered to 85 randomly selected women from Ona – Ara Local Government area of Oyo State, Nigeria. Data analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics. It was found that respondents perceived the immunization programme favourably. This was further stressed as 100% of the respondents indicated that the immunization has been helpful to them by reducing rate of sicknesses in their children. Also some of the women explained that having them immunized during pregnancy helped them stop convulsion. Based on the findings of the study, the study recommends that continuous awareness campaign be emphasized to achieve 100% participation. There is need to upgrade rural community health facilities. There is the urgent need to establish grassroots health care committees to further strengthen the involvement of the people in health care practices.

Observation of local tidal variability and instability, along with dissipation of diurnal tidal harmonics in the mesopause region over Fort Collins, Colorado (41°N, 105°W)

During the 9‐day continuous campaign in September 2003, the Colorado State University sodium lidar observed significant short‐term tidal variability in both diurnal and semidiurnal tides above 85 km on days 265–268. Both diurnal and semidiurnal amplitudes dramatically increased on day 267 with a continuous phase advance in diurnal tidal harmonics, causing local atmosphere to become dynamically unstable. Following the dynamical instability associated with tides, we observed an equally dramatic decrease in diurnal amplitude, which was accompanied by rapid and continuous phase retardation at 87 km on day 268; the accompanying diurnal phase profiles changed from propagating mode to evanescent mode. Since the time scale of the observed variability during days 265–268 is less than 1 day, gravity wave/tidal interaction at least is partially responsible for the observed variability. The observed changes in tidal wind amplitudes and phases were observed to correlate with gravity wave (GW) activities and the direction of GW momentum, exhibited and discerned concurrently by an OH all‐sky imager at nearby Yucca Ridge station, consistent with well‐known models of tidal/GW interactions. The stability analysis in the night of 267, when both diurnal and semidiurnal reached the maximum amplitudes, revealed that the running daily tidal waves alone, superimposed with the associated mean state, could force the atmosphere into local dynamical instability near 90–95 km. The eddy diffusion associated with the instability is believed to have caused a strong dissipation of diurnal tide as observed on day 268.

Sexual risk-taking in the general population of Sweden (1989 - 2007)

The aim of the study was to assess changes in sexual attitudes and sexual behaviour related to HIV/sexually transmissible infections (STI) during a long period of intensive efforts by the Swedish authorities to curb the spread of HIV. We conducted mailed questionnaire surveys in random samples of the Swedish general population in 1989, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2003 and 2007 (total n = 16773). Each sample consisted of some 4000-6000 participants aged 16-44 years, stratified by age: 16-17, 18-19, 20-24, 25-34 and 35-44 years. The overall participation rate was 61.6% (for men, 53.5%; for women, 69.9%). Between 1989 and 1994, the proportion of participants holding a restrictive view on sexual intercourse outside a stable relationship decreased significantly. The surveys since 1994 do not show any change in that respect. The prevalence of several sexual partners increased significantly throughout the period of study. The prevalence of casual sexual intercourse without the use of a condom also increased significantly from 1989 until 2003, but decreased slightly between 2003 and 2007. This change in sexual behaviour was more prominent in women than among men. The prevalence of several sexual partners and casual sexual intercourse without the use of a condom was significantly higher for the younger than for the older age cohorts. The study demonstrates the need for a continuous preventive campaign against HIV/STI in the general population in Sweden, particularly among young people.