Evaluation of SP1001 (Pelargonic Acid) in Combination with Glyphosate on Cattail and Alligatorweed

Cattail (Typha latifolia L.) is a common and troublesome weed in shallow, freshwater environments throughout the United States. Alligatorweed (Alternanthera philoxeroides (Mart.)Griseb.), in spite of the introduction and success of several insects as biological controls, remains a troublesome we4ed in a a number of locations in the Southeast where there are frequent human disturbances (e.g., insecticide spraying, mechaniceal removal, etc.) and/or weather conditions that affect the life cycle of the insects (Kay1992, Vogt et al. 1992). Both of these weeds routinely are managed by foliar applications of the herbicide, glyphosate [N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine]. Regrowth and reinfestation of previously treated areas usually necessitates additional herbicide application during subsequent years. A new product that could enhance the activity of glyphosate on these weeds would be useful in their management. In 1997, SePRO Corp. initiated t4esting of an experimental compound, SP1001, to determine its efficacy either as a herbicide or as an adjuvant to boost the activity of glyphosate for use in aquatic sites. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential for using SP1001 as an adjuvant to replace surfactants customarily used during application of glyphosate for control of cattail and alligatorweed.

Investigation on the Interaction of Laser Beam and Metal Powders Conveyed by Coaxial Powder Feeder

In order to investigate the transient thermal stress field in wall-shape metal part during laser direct forming, a FEM model basing on ANSYS is established, and its algorithm is also dealt with. Calculation results show that while the wall-shape metal part is being deposited, in X direction, the thermal stress in the top layer of the wall-shape metal part is tensile stress and in the inner of the wall-shape metal part is compressive stress. The reason causing above-mentioned thermal stress status in the wall-shape metal part is illustrated, and the influence of the time and the processing parameters on the thermal stress field in wall-shape metal part is also studied. The calculation results are consistent with experimental results in tendency.

Mollusks taken by Beam Trawl in the vicinity of Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary on the Continental Shelf off Georgia, Southeastern U.S.

Mollusks were sorted from samples of shell hash (obtained as bycatch during NOAA-sponsored studies of larval and juvenile fish distribution), and analyzed to gain qualitative insights on species composition, distribution and habitat affinities of the molluscan fauna on the continental shelf off Georgia. Samples came from beam trawls at 37 stations located in the immediate vicinity and offshore of the Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary (GRNMS) at depths of 4.9 to 103 m. Two hundred sixty-three (263) taxa of mollusks (~58% as dead shells only) were collected, and nearly all (~99%) were identified to the species level. Ninety-seven of these taxa appeared in samples from one or more of the four stations established near the corners of the GRNMS. Samples were highly variable in terms of appearance, volume and species composition of mollusks, reflecting the extreme patchiness of benthic habitats within this region of the continental shelf. With very few exceptions, the mollusks were generally characteristic of either the Carolinian or Caribbean faunal provinces. The Georgia continental shelf, however, was outside the previously reported ranges for at least 16 of the species reported here. Most of these extralimital species were known previously from the East Coast of Florida, and represented northerly range extensions of 1-5° Latitude (110-560 km). One species represented a more significant range extension from the Bahamas and the southern Caribbean, and two represented southerly range extensions, known previously from only as close as off North Carolina. The high incidence of range extensions found in this study and the potential for discovery of additional species are discussed in the context of the diversity and patchiness of benthic habitats on the continental shelf of the region, and the sensitivity of species recruitment to variability in Gulf Stream patterns and global climate change. (PDF contains 52 pages)

Daily scale wintertime sea surface temperature and IPC-Navidad variability in the southern Bay of Biscay from 1981 to 2010

The combination of remotely sensed gappy Sea surface temperature (SST) images with the missing data filling DINEOF (data interpolating empirical orthogonal functions) technique, followed by a principal component analysis of the reconstructed data, has been used to identify the time evolution and the daily scale variability of the wintertime surface signal of the Iberian Poleward Current (IPC), or Navidad, during the 1981-2010 period. An exhaustive comparison with the existing bibliography, and the vertical temperature and salinity profiles related to its extremes over the Bay of Biscay area, show that the obtained time series accurately reflect the IPC-Navidad variability. Once a time series for the evolution of the SST signal of the current over the last decades is well established, this time series is used to propose a physical mechanism in relation to the variability of the IPC-Navidad, involving both atmospheric and oceanic variables. According to the proposed mechanism, an atmospheric circulation anomaly observed in both the 500 hPa and the surface levels generates atmospheric surface level pressure, wind-stress and heat-flux anomalies. In turn, those surface level atmospheric anomalies induce mutually coherent SST and sea level anomalies over the North Atlantic area, and locally, in the Bay of Biscay area. These anomalies, both locally over the Bay of Biscay area and over the North Atlantic, are in agreement with several mechanisms that have separately been related to the variability of the IPC-Navidad, i.e. the south-westerly winds, the joint effect of baroclinicity and relief (JEBAR) effect, the topographic beta effect and a weakened North Atlantic gyre.

Cost effectiveness of a combination of instruments for global warming: a quantitative approach for Spain

Climate change is an important environmental problem and one whose economic implications are many and varied. This paper starts with the presumption that mitigation of greenhouse gases is a necessary policy that has to be designed in a cost effective way. It is well known that market instruments are the best option for cost effectiveness. But the discussion regarding which of the various market instruments should be used, how they may interact and what combinations of policies should be implemented is still open and very lively. In this paper we propose a combination of instruments: the marketable emission permits already in place in Europe for major economic sectors and a CO(2) tax for economic sectors not included in the emissions permit scheme. The study uses an applied general equilibrium model for the Spanish economy to compute the results obtained with the new mix of instruments proposed. As the combination of the market for emission permits and the CO(2) tax admits different possibilities that depend on how the mitigation is distributed among the economic sectors, we concentrate on four possibilities: cost-effective, equalitarian, proportional to emissions, and proportional to output distributions. Other alternatives to the CO(2) tax are also analysed (tax on energy, on oil and on electricity). Our findings suggest that careful, well designed policies are needed as any deviation imposes significant additional costs that increase more than proportionally to the level of emissions reduction targeted by the EU.