Middle Station Research Articles

Surface-active substances in atmospheric aerosol: an electrochemical approach

ABSTRACTWe characterised surface-active substances (SASs) in aqueous extract of atmospheric aerosols by using phase sensitive alternating current voltammetry. The electrochemical method has mainly been used for the quantification of surfactants in sea water but has not been applied to atmospheric aerosols yet. The advantage of the method is its simplicity and sensitivity that enables direct analysis of aerosol extracts without the need for sample concentration. Aerosol samples were collected at Middle Adriatic Martinska station influenced by different air masses as well as from urban (Zagreb, Croatia) and rural (K-puszta, Hungary) areas from late spring to early autumn in 2010. The highest SAS concentrations, expressed in equivalents of T-X-100, ranging from 0.34 to 0.91 µg m−3 were detected in urban samples. The SAS concentrations obtained for marine, regional and continental samples ranged from 0.14 to 0.31, 0.18 to 0.42 and 0.07 to 0.28 µg m−3, respectively. The SAS concentrations in K-puszta aerosols ranged from 0.13 to 0.46 µg m−3. Investigation of humic-like substances isolated from K-puszta samples (2008) confirmed their significant surfactant nature. Different SAS chemistry was noticed for urban and non-urban samples. Investigations at different pH revealed anionic character of SASs in aerosol samples.

HCV Subtype Characterization among Injection Drug Users: Implication for a Crucial Role of Zhenjiang in HCV Transmission in China

BackgroundHCV transmission is closely associated with drug-trafficking routes in China. However, the transmission route of HCV in Eastern China remains unclear. Here, we investigate the role of Zhenjiang city of Jiangsu province, an important transportation hub linking Shanghai with other regions of China, in HCV transmission.Methodology/Principal FindingsA total of 141 whole blood samples were collected from injection drug users (IDUs) in Zhenjiang and then tested for HCV infection. Of them, 115 HCV positive plasmas were subjected to RNA extraction, RT-PCR amplification, and sequencing. The subtype characterization and the evolutionary origin of HCV strains circulating in Zhenjiang were determined using polygenetic or phylogeographic analyses. Seven HCV subtypes 1b, 2a, 3a, 3b, 6a, 6e and 6n were detected among Zhenjiang IDUs, showing a complex HCV epidemic. The most predominant subtypes were 3a (38%) and 1b (26.8%). Among these subtypes, subtypes 3b, 6n and 6e originated from Southwestern China (i.e., Yunnan and/or Guangxi), subtypes 2a and 6a from Southern China (i.e., Guangdong), subtype 1b from Central (i.e., Henan) and Northwestern (i.e., Xinjiang) China, and subtype 3a from Southwestern (i.e., Yunnan) and Northwestern (i.e., Xinjiang) China. From Zhenjiang, subtypes 1b and 2a were further spread to Eastern (i.e., Shanghai) and Northern (i.e., Beijing) China, respectively.Conclusions/SignificanceThe mixing of seven HCV subtypes in Zhenjiang from all quarters of China indicates that as an important middle station, Zhenjiang plays a crucial role in HCV transmission, just as it is important in population migration between other regions of China and Eastern China.

Golden Horn Estuary: Description of the ecosystem and an attempt to assess its ecological quality status using various classification metrics

In this paper, we describe the pelagic and benthic ecosystem of the Golden Horn estuary opening into the Marmara Sea. To improve the water quality of the estuary, which had long been subject to severe anthropogenic pollution (industrial, chemical, shipping), industrial facilities were moved from the estuary in the 1980s, followed by a rehabilitation plan in the 1990s. Our results, based on chemical parameters and phytoplankton showed some signs of improvement of water conditions in the upper layer. However, macrozoobenthic findings of this study did not reflect such a recovery in bottom life.An approach to the Ecological Quality Status (EQS) assessment was performed by applying the biotic indices BENTIX, AMBI, BOPA, BO2A. Our final assessment was based on 'expert-judgements' and revealed a very disturbed overall ecosystem with 'bad' EQS for the station at the head of the estuary, 'poor' in the rest of the estuary and 'moderate' EQS only in the middle station.

Influence of rub groove on rotordynamics associated with leakage air flow through a labyrinth seal

An extensive investigation of influence of rub grooves on dynamics and stability of the rotor, which is subjected to aerodynamic forcing associated with the leakage flow through 44 straight-through seals, was performed by using numerical calculations based on the single control-volume method and the perturbation analysis. Three cases of different groove configurations were chosen for the comparative study, e.g., the seal without rub groove (case1), the seal with upstream shifting of the seal tooth in respect to the rub groove (case2) and the seal with location of the seal tooth in the middle station of the rub groove (case3). The orifice contract coefficient adopted in reduction of rotordynamic coefficients was provided by using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Influence of rub grooves on the leakage flow was obtained in terms of the close-up view of the flow pattern near the seal tooth, leakage flow rate, distributions of the mean pressure and circumferential velocity in cavities. In comparison to case 1, the leakage flow in case 3 is considerably intensified, while which in case 2 is slightly increased. Dynamics and instability of the rotor in all cases was discussed in terms of the rotordynamic coefficients and the logarithmic decrement, respectively. The results disclosed that the aerodynamic forcing in case 2 intensified the destabilization of the rotor system.

Peripheral moving‐table contrast‐enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (CE‐MRA) using a prototype 18‐channel peripheral vascular coil and scanning parameters optimized to the patient's individual hemodynamics

To demonstrate that with a priori determination of individual patient hemodynamics, peripheral contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (pCE-MRA) can be customized to maximize signal-to noise ratio (SNR) and avoid venous enhancement. Using a 1.5T MRI scanner and prototype 18-channel peripheral vascular (PV) coil designed for highly accelerated parallel imaging, geometry (g)-factor maps were determined. SNR-maximized protocols considering the two-dimensional sensitivity encoding (2D SENSE) factor, TE, TR, bandwidth (BW), and flip angle (FA) were precalculated and stored. For each exam, a small aortic timing bolus was performed, followed by dynamic three-dimensional (3D)-MRA of the calf. Using this information, the aorta to pedal artery and calf arteriovenous transit times were measured. This enabled estimation of the maximum upper and middle station acquisition duration to allow lower station acquisition to begin prior to venous arrival. The appropriately succinct SNR-optimized protocol for each station was selected and moving-table pCE-MRA was performed using thigh venous compression and high-relaxivity contrast material. The protocol was successfully applied in 15 patients and all imaging demonstrated good SNR without diagnosis-hindering venous enhancement. By knowing each patient's venous enhancement kinetics, scan parameters can be optimized to utilize maximum possible acquisition time. Some time is added for the timing scans, but in return time-resolved calf CE-MRA, maximized SNR, and decreased risk of venous enhancement are gained.

APPENDIX: BIOGRAPHIES

Fottrell was born on 6 February 1849 and educated at Belvedere College and the Catholic University, where he was president of the Literary and Historical Society. After training as a solicitor at the King's Inn Law School from 1865, he joined his father's firm of George D. Fottrell & Sons at 46 Fleet Street, Dublin. In 1872, he married Mary Watson, with whom he had one son and five daughters. He quickly established himself within Dublin's emerging Catholic professional class at a time when its influence over Irish public affairs was growing. Recent study of the Catholic elite of this period has demonstrated the importance of the university question to its ‘cultural and political awakening’. In educational matters, Fottrell was a secularist who wished to develop what he described as ‘a free and independent lay Catholic public opinion’. He was critical of reforms that tended to tighten the grip of ecclesiastical schools upon Catholic higher education and argued that sufficient funding for the Catholic University in Dublin was necessary to enable its graduates to compete on an equal footing with the predominately Protestant graduates of Dublin University. Alongside T.D. Sullivan and John Dillon, Fottrell took a leading role in the Catholic University's Bono Club, which aimed to create common ground between the ecclesiastical establishment and the educated laity, and Fottrell was assured by Cardinal Newman thatYou will be doing the greatest possible benefit to the Catholic cause all over the world, if you succeed in making the University a middle station at which clergy and laity can meet, so as to learn to understand and to yield to each other.In 1872, Fottrell tried to formulate reforms that might prove acceptable to both Protestant and Catholic opinion by proposing two universities for Ireland – the Queen's University and an amalgamation of Trinity College, Dublin and the Catholic University. He argued that Gladstone's University Education Bill, which proposed a single university for Ireland, would fatally damage the higher education of Catholics because it would denude the Catholic University of students. In 1879, he advised Gladstone to provide endowments for lay professorships in the Catholic University so as to enable Catholic students to escape the influence of ecclesiastical schools. Fottrell pursued his interest in Irish university education for many years, becoming an organizer of the Catholic Lay Committee of 1903 and publishing an influential tract on the subject two years later.

Effects of a Microcystis aeruginosa bloom and bacterivory on bacterial abundance and activity in a eutrophic reservoir

We investigated the changes in bacterioplankton abundance, composition, and fractions of cells incorporating leucine associated with a Microcystis aeruginosa bloom and enhanced protozoan grazing in a eutrophic reservoir. Bacterial community composition and leucine incorporation were studied by means of fluorescence in situ hybridization and microautoradiography. To alter the levels of protozoan grazing and the interactions of bacteria with the M. aeruginosa bloom, a manipulation experiment using size-fractionation and dialysis bag techniques was conducted. Samples collected from the Microcystis-poor dam area and the Microcystis-rich middle part of the reservoir were incubated as <0.8 μm, <5 μm, and unfiltered treatments in dialysis bags at their collection sites and, in parallel, one of each of the treatments from one site was transferred to and incubated at the other site. The sample transfer from the dam to the middle part induced a decrease in abundances and doubling times of total bacteria, Betaproteobacteria, and of the R-BT065 cluster (a subgroup of Betaproteobacteria), whereas the transfer to the dam station revealed the opposite trends. In the presence of flagellates and the M. aeruginosa bloom, both abundance and fractions of cells incorporating leucine of Betaproteobacteria and of the R-BT065 cluster transferred to the middle station decreased dramatically, while members of the Sphingobacteria-Flavobacteria lineage became the dominant part of the community. While Gammaproteobacteria accounted for a minor proportion of the total community, their relative proportions and activity increased at the middle station, likely being stimulated by the increased resource availability.

IRI slant electron content predictions

Abstract The International Reference Ionosphere model is used to calculate the slant electron content (SEC) encountered by a radio signal emitted from a satellite and received at a middle latitude station. Two cases were considered, namely: a) The satellite and the ground station are in the same meridian; b) the satellite and ground station have different longitudes. For the first case only modelled values for different solar activities, hours and seasons are considered. For the second case a comparison with measurements obtained with a synchronous satellite radio signal during a low solar activity period is done. The results show the solar control and the dependence with the zenithal angle of the satellite. The comparison with measurements shows very good agreement between predictions and measurements for some periods. But, in general, the model underestimates SEC. These results suggest that additional studies covering more stations and conditions are required in order to confirm the need of improvements in IRI model

Disturbance diurnal electric field in Indian and American equatorial electrojet regions

Abstract The yearly mean Disturbance Daily (SD) variation, i.e., solar daily variation on International Disturbed days (Sd) minus that on International Quiet days (Sq) of the geomagnetic H field at Huancayo, an equatorial electrojet station in American zone, for any of the years 1954–61 shows a dawn-maximum and a dusk-minimum as observed at any low and middle latitude station. Contrary to this, the SD(H) variation at Kodaikanal, an equatorial station in the Indian zone, shows a prominent minimum around noon hours besides the usual dawn-maximum and dusk-minimum for any of these years. The amplitude of SD(H) at Huancayo or at Kodaikanal decreases with the decreasing solar activity. Seasonally, SD(H) is larger during equinoctial than during solsticial months. For any particular season, the SD(H) averaged for all hours of the day is lower at Huancayo than at Kodaikanal, while the Sq(H) at Huancayo is always greater than the corresponding amplitude of Sq(H) at Kodaikanal. Thus the sources of electrojet electric fields on quiet and on disturbed days seem to be different and need to be identified.

Phenology and Abundance of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera Caught by Emergence Traps at the Weidlingbach near Vienna, Austria

AbstractA total of 1136 Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera were caught from March 1993 to March 1994 at the Weidlingbach, a first to fourth order forest brook near Vienna. Austria, using pyramid‐type emergence traps at tree sampling stations (390, 360 and 260 m above sea level). Five species comprised 67.1 % of the catch: the ephemeropterans Paraleptophlebia submarginata (Stephens), Habroleptoides confusa Sartori and Jacob and Habrophlebia lauta Eaton, and the plecopterans Nemoura flexuosa Aubert and Leuctra hippopus Kempny. Most taxa emerged from April to August, but the plecopterans Leuctra prima Kempny and Capnia bifrons (Newman) were caught early in the year (January to April), and Leuctra digitata Kempny (Plecoptera), Chaetopteryx fusca Brauer and Chaetopteryx major McLachlan (Trichoptera) emerged in September and October. In Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera, similarities between species groups were highest at the two upstream sampling stations; in Plecoptera and in pooled taxa, however, similarities were highest at the middle and downstream sites. Except in Trichoptera, diversity was highest at the middle station situated at 360 m above sea level.

An algorithm for min-cost edge-disjoint cycles and its applications

The problems of finding minimum-cost and maximum-cost sets of edge-disjoint cycles in a weighted undirected graph are studied. The importance of this problem is that it presents a ‘middle station’ in two reductions for planar graphs — one between the max-cut problem and that of max-weight matching, and the other between the Chinese Postman Problem and max-weight matching. The introduction of negative edge costs makes the reductions simple and efficient. We obtain new simpler algorithms for these two problems for planar graphs (where the max-weight matching problem can be solved very efficiently). We conclude that, in the case of planar weighted graphs (with arbitrary costs), all the three problems are mutually reducible and equivalent in terms of complexity.

不燃物中継・中間処理施設の納入事例（鳥取県西部広域行政管理組合殿納入）

不燃物中継・中間処理施設の納入事例（鳥取県西部広域行政管理組合殿納入）

Biological measurements and related chemical features in Soviet and United States regions of the Bering Sea

The U.S. results of a joint U.S.-U.S.S.R. expedition to the Bering Sea in 1984 investigated the chemical and biological interactions in the south, east, north and west regions. The nutrients, phytoplankton biomass and primary productivity were enhanced near the ends of a north-south transect of stations. The southern end of the transect had characteristics of the North Pacific Ocean with high nutrient and low phytoplankton concentrations and an elevated concentration of peridinin indicative of dinoflagellates. The middle station of the transect, near the shelf break, had low nutrients and phytoplankton in the upper euphotic zone, but a submerged chlorophyll b maximum indicated green algae was located on the upper boundary of high ammonium concentration and pycnocline. The north end of the transect over the shelf at mid-depth on the boundary of high nitrate and ammonium concentrations produced the highest primary production. Pigment analysis (chlorophyll a, diadinoxanthin and fucoxanthin) indicated the dominance of diatoms and was coincidental to oxygen saturation values as large as 150%. The highest phaeophorbide a concentrations were also observed in this area, suggesting relatively high grazing stress. Measurements of low molecular weight hydrocarbons also suggest high microbiological degradation rates of organic matter in the sediments in the north region. Overall, this research strongly relates nutrient, oxygen and pigment concentrations to the production, decomposition and recycling processes in the open ocean and shelf areas of the Bering Sea.

The throughput rate of three-station production lines: a unifying solution

A three-station production line with a Laplace transformable distribution of service time of the middle station and phase-type distribution of service times of the two outside stations is treated. A general formula for the throughput rate is derived. In this formula a system of linear equations with the number of equations equal to the number of stages of the service time of the last station needs to be solved. For some special cases, this formula reduces to simple expressions.

Method of determining the maximum flood inflow to the middle Enisei hydroelectric station

Method of determining the maximum flood inflow to the middle Enisei hydroelectric station

Method of calculating the stability of rock slopes of hydraulic structures

The proposed methods of calculating and analyzing the stability of rock slopes make it possible to obtain reliable results with consideration of the possible character of failure and degree of reliability of the initial information. These methods were widely used in practical calculations of the stability of rock masses and slopes when planning stabilization measures in the reservoirs of the Tolorossy and Zaramag dams (Armenian branch of Gidroproekt), Akhuryan dam (Armenian State Institute for the Design of Water-Management Structures), when investigating and designing the lock of the Dnepr-2 hydroelectric station (Ukrainian branch of Gidroproekt), and when investigating and designing the Middle Enisei hydrostation, Khudofera hydrodevelopment, Konstantinovka hydrostation and Tashlyk pumped-storage station, Southern Ukraine power complex, etc.

The effect of inequality of interstage buffer capacities and operation time variability on the efficiency of production line systems

It has now been generally established that the output rate of balanced production lines having variable operation times can be improved by deliberately unbalancing the line through assigning proportionately lower operation times to the middle station(s). Nevertheless, a production line may be balanced in terms of mean operation times at the respective stations yet unbalanced in the sense that the interstage buffer capacity allocation or the operation time variability are not equal for all stations. This paper attempts to study the effect that the latter types of imbalance have on the output rate and average number of work units in the system for some production line situations. Computer simulation experimentation results confirm that inequality of variability of operation times have the same general effect on output rate as inequality of operation times but little effect on the number of units in the system. Inequality of interstage buffers, on the other hand, affects the average number of units in the system but has little effect on the output rate.

Growth of the Fishes in the Salt River, Missouri

Age-and-growth data are presented for 11 species of fish from three habitats in the Salt River, Missouri; a dredged upstream station, an unmodified lower station and an intermediate middle station. The middle station is 46 stream miles from the upper station and 69 stream miles from the lower station. Compared to growth data from the central United States, carp, (Cyprinus carpio), smallmouth buffalo (Ictiobus bubalus), freshwater drum (Aplodinotus grunniens), green sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus) and white sucker (Catostomus commersoni) grew moderately fast; gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedianum) at an average rate. River carpsucker (Carpiodes carpio) grew very slowly at the upper station and slightly slower than average at the middle and lower stations. Channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), flathead catfish (Pilodictis olivaris), northern redhorse (Moxostoma aureolum), and white crappie (Pomoxis annularis) grew slowly. All but one of the more abundant species showed a trend toward faster growth downstream; a phenomonen also noted in other Missouri streams. The differences in growth indicate little movement between stations. Freshwater drum of the 1947 year class were very abundant and they and all freshwater drum competing with them grew slowly. Minimum desirable length for angling in this stream is reached by carp (14 inches), buffalo (12 inches) and white crappie (7 inches) in the third year; green sunfish (6 inches) in the fourth year; and catfishes (12 inches) in the fifth and sixth years.