Iowa Department of Transportation Major Items - Preliminary Quantity Report, September 20, 2016; With Addendums

Weekly letting report

Iowa Department of Transportation Major Items - Preliminary Quantity Report, October 18, 2016; With Addendums

Weekly letting report

Iowa Department of Transportation Major Items - Preliminary Quantity Report, November 15, 2016; With Addendums

Weekly letting report

Iowa Department of Transportation Major Items - Preliminary Quantity Report, December 20, 2016; With Addendums

Weekly letting report

Unexpected seasonality in quantity and composition of Amazon rainforest air reactivity.

The hydroxyl radical (OH) removes most atmospheric pollutants from air. The loss frequency of OH radicals due to the combined effect of all gas-phase OH reactive species is a measureable quantity termed total OH reactivity. Here we present total OH reactivity observations in pristine Amazon rainforest air, as a function of season, time-of-day and height (0?80 m). Total OH reactivity is low during wet (10 s1) and high during dry season (62 s1). Comparison to individually measured trace gases reveals strong variation in unaccounted for OH reactivity, from 5 to 15% missing in wet-season afternoons to mostly unknown (average 79%) during dry season. During dry-season afternoons isoprene, considered the dominant reagent with OH in rainforests, only accounts for B20% of the total OH reactivity. Vertical profiles of OH reactivity are shaped by biogenic emissions, photochemistry and turbulent mixing. The rainforest floor was identified as a significant but poorly characterized source of OH reactivity.

Climate, Land Use and Hydrologic Sensitivities of Stormwater Quantity and Quality in Complex Coastal Urban Watersheds

The study analyzed hydro-climatic and land use sensitivities of stormwater runoff and quality in the complex coastal urban watershed of Miami River Basin, Florida by developing a Storm Water Management Model (EPA SWMM 5). Regression-based empirical models were also developed to explain stream water quality in relation to internal (land uses and hydrology) and external (upstream contribution, seawater) sources and drivers in six highly urbanized canal basins of Southeast Florida. Stormwater runoff and quality were most sensitive to rainfall, imperviousness, and conversion of open lands/parks to residential, commercial and industrial areas. In-stream dissolved oxygen and total phosphorus in the watersheds were dictated by internal stressors while external stressors were dominant for total nitrogen and specific conductance. The research findings and tools will be useful for proactive monitoring and management of storm runoff and urban stream water quality under the changing climate and environment in South Florida and around the world.

Edge centrality via the Holevo quantity

In the study of complex networks, vertex centrality measures are used to identify the most important vertices within a graph. A related problem is that of measuring the centrality of an edge. In this paper, we propose a novel edge centrality index rooted in quantum information. More specifically, we measure the importance of an edge in terms of the contribution that it gives to the Von Neumann entropy of the graph. We show that this can be computed in terms of the Holevo quantity, a well known quantum information theoretical measure. While computing the Von Neumann entropy and hence the Holevo quantity requires computing the spectrum of the graph Laplacian, we show how to obtain a simplified measure through a quadratic approximation of the Shannon entropy. This in turns shows that the proposed centrality measure is strongly correlated with the negative degree centrality on the line graph. We evaluate our centrality measure through an extensive set of experiments on real-world as well as synthetic networks, and we compare it against commonly used alternative measures.

Iowa Department of Transportation Major Items - Preliminary Quantity Report, December 20, 2016; With Addendums

Weekly letting report

Iowa Department of Transportation Major Items - Preliminary Quantity Report, January 18, 2017; With Addendums

Weekly letting report

Iowa Department of Transportation Major Items - Preliminary Quantity Report, February 21, 2017; With Addendums

Weekly letting report

Iowa Department of Transportation Major Items - Preliminary Quantity Report, April 25, 2017; With Addendums

Weekly letting report

The Semen Quantity and Quality of Two Fowl Strains Supplemented with Vitamin E (α–Tocopherol)

The study on semen quantity and quality of Kampung and Arab fowl under various levels of vitamin E supplementation was conducted, using 2x4 factorial Completely Randomized Design with 4 replicates.  Analysis of variance followed by Duncan New Multiple Range Test were used to analyze the data.  Levels  of vitamin E given orally were 0 IU (control); 2 IU (t1); 4 IU (t2) and 8 IU (t3) per bird daily.  The results showed that semen volume was not affected by genotype (Kampung: 0.26 ± 0.05 ml Vs.  Arab: 0.22 ± 0.05 ml) while the vitamin E treatments significantly (P<0.05) affected the semen volume i.e. 0.16 ± 0.06 ml (control); 0.27 ± 0.04 ml (t1); 0.28 ± 0.03 ml (t2) and 0.23 ± 0.03 ml (t3).  Semen viscosity was not affected by genotype, but was substantially affected by vitamin E treatments.  The semen pH was not influenced by all treatments given, spermatozoa concentration of Kampung (1.80 ± 0.39 billion/ml) was not significantly different with that of Arab (1.86 ± 0.16 billion/ml).  Vitamin E treatments resulted in different (P<0.05) spermatozoa concentration among control (1.50 ± 0.16 billion/ml), t1 (1.98 ± 0.14 billion/ml), t2 (2.01 ± 0.09 billion/ml) and t3 (1.87 ± 0.18 billion/ml).  No significant different found on semen mass movement between Kampung and Arab, also among vitamin E treatments.  The spermatozoa motility of Kampung and Arab was not statistically different, however vitamin E improved motility significantly (P<0.05); control (2.90 ± 0.59); t1 (3.5 ± 0.16); t2 (3.54 ± 0.25) and t3 (3.44 ± 0.48).  Percentage of dead spermatozoa of Kampung and Arab were 18.24 ± 1.98% and 17.35 ± 2.74%, while vitamin E supplementation results were as follows 18.10 ± 3.03% (control); 18.54 ± 2.01% (t1); 17.72 ± 1.47% (t2) and 16.82 ± 2.87% (t3) no significant different was found.  Percentage of abnormal spermatozoa of Kampung (4.35 ± 0.80%) and Arab (4.64 ± 0.87%) was not different statistically.  Among the vitamin E treatments the results was as follows 4.31 ± 1.40% (control); 4.75 ± 0.69% (t1); 4.94 ± 1.91% (t2) and 3.97 ± 1.14% (t3).  However, significant (P<0.05) interaction effects were found in Kampung males at treatment t2 (4 IU) and t3 (8 IU). (Animal Production 7(2): 67-73 (2005) Key Words: Kampung, Arab, Fowl, Semen, Vitamin E

Hydrazine-hydrate intercalated halloysite under controlled-rate thermal analysis conditions

The thermal behaviour of halloysite fully expanded with hydrazine-hydrate has been investigated in nitrogen atmosphere under dynamic heating and at a constant, pre-set decomposition rate of 0.15 mg min-1. Under controlled-rate thermal analysis (CRTA) conditions it was possible to resolve the closely overlapping decomposition stages and to distinguish between adsorbed and bonded reagent. Three types of bonded reagent could be identified. The loosely bonded reagent amounting to 0.20 mol hydrazine-hydrate per mol inner surface hydroxyl is connected to the internal and external surfaces of the expanded mineral and is present as a space filler between the sheets of the delaminated mineral. The strongly bonded (intercalated) hydrazine-hydrate is connected to the kaolinite inner surface OH groups by the formation of hydrogen bonds. Based on the thermoanalytical results two different types of bonded reagent could be distinguished in the complex. Type 1 reagent (approx. 0.06 mol hydrazine-hydrate/mol inner surface OH) is liberated between 77 and 103°C. Type 2 reagent is lost between 103 and 227°C, corresponding to a quantity of 0.36 mol hydrazine/mol inner surface OH. When heating the complex to 77°C under CRTA conditions a new reflection appears in the XRD pattern with a d-value of 9.6 Å, in addition to the 10.2 Ĺ reflection. This new reflection disappears in contact with moist air and the complex re-expands to the original d-value of 10.2 Å in a few h. The appearance of the 9.6 Å reflection is interpreted as the expansion of kaolinite with hydrazine alone, while the 10.2 Å one is due to expansion with hydrazine-hydrate. FTIR (DRIFT) spectroscopic results showed that the treated mineral after intercalation/deintercalation and heat treatment to 300°C is slightly more ordered than the original (untreated) clay.

Influence of host plant structure and microclimate on the abundance and behaviour of Tephritid fly

Microclimate and host plant architecture significantly influence the abundance and behavior of insects. However, most research in this field has focused at the invertebrate assemblage level, with few studies at the single-species level. Using wild Solanum mauritianum plants, we evaluated the influence of plant structure (number of leaves and branches and height of plant) and microclimate (temperature, relative humidity, and light intensity) on the abundance and behavior of a single insect species, the monophagous tephritid fly Bactrocera cacuminata (Hering). Abundance and oviposition behavior were signficantly influenced by the host structure (density of foliage) and associated microclimate. Resting behavior of both sexes was influenced positively by foliage density, while temperature positively influenced the numbers of resting females. The number of ovipositing females was positively influenced by temperature and negatively by relative humidity. Feeding behavior was rare on the host plant, as was mating. The relatively low explanatory power of the measured variables suggests that, in addition to host plant architecture and associated microclimate, other cues (e.g., olfactory or visual) could affect visitation and use of the larval host plant by adult fruit flies. For 12 plants observed at dusk (the time of fly mating), mating pairs were observed on only one tree. Principal component analyses of the plant and microclimate factors associated with these plants revealed that the plant on which mating was observed had specific characteristics (intermediate light intensity, greater height, and greater quantity of fruit) that may have influenced its selection as a mating site.