The Estimation of the Ecological Condition of the City Environment by Methods of Phytoindication (as Applied to the Vasileostrovsky District of St. Petersburg)

The project aimed to use results of contamination of city vegetation with heavy metals and sulphur compounds as the basis for analysing the integral response of trees and shrubs to contamination, through a complex method of phytoindication. The results were used to draw up recommendations on pollution reduction in the city and to develop the method of phytoindication as a means of monitoring environmental pollution in St. Petersburg and other large cities. Field investigations were carried out in August 1996, and 66 descriptions of green areas were made in order to estimate the functional state of plants in the Vasileostrovsky district. Investigations of the spectrum reflecting properties of plants showed considerable variation of albedo meanings of leaves under the influence of various internal and external factors. The results indicated that lime trees most closely reflect the condition of the environment. Practically all the green areas studied were in poor condition, the only exceptions being areas of ash trees, which are more resistant to environmental pollution, and one lime-tree alley in a comparatively unpolluted street. The study identified those types of trees which are more or less resistant to complex environmental pollution and Ms. Terekhina recommends that the species in the present green areas be changed to include a higher number of the more resistant species. The turbidimetric analysis of tree barks for sulphates gave an indication of the level and spatial distribution of each pollutant, and the results also confirmed other findings that electric conductivity is a significant feature in determining the extent of sulphate pollution. In testing for various metals, the lime tree showed the highest contents for all elements except magnesium, copper, zinc, cadmium and strontium, again confirming the species' vulnerability to pollution. Medium rates of concentration in the city and environs showed that city plants concentrate 3 times as many different elements and 10 times more chromium, copper and lead than do those in the suburbs. The second stage of the study was based on the concept of phytoindication, which presupposes that changes in the relation of chemical elements in regional biological circulation under the influence of technogenesis provide a criterion for predicting displacements in people's health. There are certain basic factors in this concept. The first is that all living beings are related ecologically as well as by their evolutionary origin, and that the lower an organism is on the evolutionary scale, the less adaptational reserve it has. The second is that smaller concentrations of chemical elements are needed for toxicological influence on plants than on people and so the former's reactions to geochemical factors are easier to characterise. Visual indicational features of urban plants are well defined and can form the basis of a complex "environment - public health" analysis. Specific plant reactions reflecting atmospheric pollution and other components of urbogeosystems make it possible to determine indication criteria for predicting possible disturbances in the general state of health of the population. Thirdly the results of phytoindication investigations must be taken together with information about public health in the area. It only proved possibly to analyse general indexes of public health based on statistical data from the late 1980s and early 1990s as the data of later years were greatly influenced by social factors. These data show that the rates of illness in St. Petersburg (especially for children) are higher than in Russia as a whole, for most classes of diseases, indicating that the population there is more sensitive to the ecological state of the urban environment. The Vasileostrovsky district had the second highest sick rate for adullts, while the rate of infant mortality in the first year of life was highest there. Ms. Terekhina recommends further studies to more precisely assess the effectiveness of the methods she tested, but has drawn up a proposed map of environmental hazard for the population, taking into account prevailing wind directions.

Comparing remote sensing and ground-based methods of quantifying cover type and carbon storage in an urban forest

Understanding the canopy cover of an urban environment leads to better estimates of carbon storage and more informed management decisions by urban foresters. The most commonly used method for assessing urban forest cover type extent is ground surveys, which can be both timeconsuming and expensive. The analysis of aerial photos is an alternative method that is faster, cheaper, and can cover a larger number of sites, but may be less accurate. The objectives of this paper were (1) to compare three methods of cover type assessment for Los Angeles, CA: handdelineation of aerial photos in ArcMap, supervised classification of aerial photos in ERDAS Imagine, and ground-collected data using the Urban Forest Effects (UFORE) model protocol; (2) to determine how well remote sensing methods estimate carbon storage as predicted by the UFORE model; and (3) to explore the influence of tree diameter and tree density on carbon storage estimates. Four major cover types (bare ground, fine vegetation, coarse vegetation, and impervious surfaces) were determined from 348 plots (0.039 ha each) randomly stratified according to land-use. Hand-delineation was better than supervised classification at predicting ground-based measurements of cover type and UFORE model-predicted carbon storage. Most error in supervised classification resulted from shadow, which was interpreted as unknown cover type. Neither tree diameter or tree density per plot significantly affected the relationship between carbon storage and canopy cover. The efficiency of remote sensing rather than in situ data collection allows urban forest managers the ability to quickly assess a city and plan accordingly while also preserving their often-limited budget.

Analysis of the railway track as a spatially periodic structure

This article presents a new and computationally efficient method of analysis of a railway track modelled as a continuous beam of 2N spans supported by elastic vertical springs. The main feature of this method is its important reduction in computational effort with respect to standard matrix methods of structural analysis. In this article, the whole structure is considered to be a repetition of a single one. The analysis presented is applied to a simple railway track model, i.e. to a repetitive beam supported on vertical springs (sleepers). The proposed method of analysis is based on the general theory of spatially periodic structures. The main feature of this theory is the possibility to apply Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) in order to reduce a large system of q(2N + 1) linear stiffness equilibrium equations to a set of 2N + 1 uncoupled systems of q equations each. In this way, a dramatic reduction of the computational effort of solving the large system of equations is achieved. This fact is particularly important in the analysis of railway track structures, in which N is a very large number (around several thousands), and q = 2, the vertical displacement and rotation, is very small. The proposed method allows us to easily obtain the exact solution given by Samartín [1], i.e. the continuous beam railway track response. The comparison between the proposed method and other methods of analysis of railway tracks, such as Lorente de Nó and Zimmermann-Timoshenko, clearly shows the accuracy of the obtained results for the proposed method, even for low values of N. In addition, identical results between the proposed and the Lorente methods have been found, although the proposed method seems to be of simpler application and computationally more efficient than the Lorente one. Small but significative differences occur between these two methods and the one developed by Zimmermann-Timoshenko. This article also presents a detailed sensitivity analysis of the vertical displacement of the sleepers. Although standard matrix methods of structural analysis can handle this railway model, one of the objectives of this article is to show the efficiency of DFT method with respect to standard matrix structural analysis. A comparative analysis between standard matrix structural analysis and the proposed method (DFT), in terms of computational time, input, output and also software programming, will be carried out. Finally, a URL link to a MatLab computer program list, based on the proposed method, is given

Significance analysis of microarrays applied to the ionizing radiation response

Microarrays can measure the expression of thousands of genes to identify changes in expression between different biological states. Methods are needed to determine the significance of these changes while accounting for the enormous number of genes. We describe a method, Significance Analysis of Microarrays (SAM), that assigns a score to each gene on the basis of change in gene expression relative to the standard deviation of repeated measurements. For genes with scores greater than an adjustable threshold, SAM uses permutations of the repeated measurements to estimate the percentage of genes identified by chance, the false discovery rate (FDR). When the transcriptional response of human cells to ionizing radiation was measured by microarrays, SAM identified 34 genes that changed at least 1.5-fold with an estimated FDR of 12%, compared with FDRs of 60 and 84% by using conventional methods of analysis. Of the 34 genes, 19 were involved in cell cycle regulation and 3 in apoptosis. Surprisingly, four nucleotide excision repair genes were induced, suggesting that this repair pathway for UV-damaged DNA might play a previously unrecognized role in repairing DNA damaged by ionizing radiation.

Living music; a popular introduction to the methods of modern music,

Bibliography: p. 90-91.

Comparisons of physical separation methods of Kunjin virus-induced membranes

The two sets of connected membranes induced in Kunjin virus-infected cells are characterized by the presence of NS3 helicase/protease in both, and by RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) activity plus the associated double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) template in vesicle packets (VP), or by the absence of both the VP-specific markers in the convoluted membranes/paracrystalline arrays (CM/PC). Attempts were made to separate flavivirus-induced membranes by sedimentation or flotation analyses in density gradients of sucrose or iodixanol, respectively, after treatment of cell lysates by sonication, osmotic shock, or tryptic digestion. Only osmotic shock treatment provided suggestive evidence of separation. This was explored by flow cytometry analysis (FCA) of RdRp active membrane fractions from a sucrose gradient, using dual fluorescent labelling via antibodies to NS3 and dsRNA. FCA revealed the presence of a dual labelled membrane population indicative of VP, and in a faster sedimenting fraction a membrane population able to be labelled only in NS3, representative of CM/PC and associated (R)ER. It was postulated that osmotic shock ruptured the bounding membrane of the VP, releasing the enclosed small vesicles associated with the Kunjin virus replication complex characterized previously. Notably, the presence of the full spectrum of nonstructural proteins in some membrane fractions was not a reliable marker for RdRp activity. These experiments may provide the opportunity for isolation of relatively pure flavivirus replication complexes in their native membrane-associated state by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Breast cancer teams:the impact of constitution, new cancer workload and methods of operation on their effectiveness

National guidance and clinical guidelines recommended multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) for cancer services in order to bring specialists in relevant disciplines together, ensure clinical decisions are fully informed, and to coordinate care effectively. However, the effectiveness of cancer teams was not previously evaluated systematically. A random sample of 72 breast cancer teams in England was studied (548 members in six core disciplines), stratified by region and caseload. Information about team constitution, processes, effectiveness, clinical performance, and members' mental well-being was gathered using appropriate instruments. Two input variables, team workload (P=0.009) and the proportion of breast care nurses (P=0.003), positively predicted overall clinical performance in multivariate analysis using a two-stage regression model. There were significant correlations between individual team inputs, team composition variables, and clinical performance. Some disciplines consistently perceived their team's effectiveness differently from the mean. Teams with shared leadership of their clinical decision-making were most effective. The mental well-being of team members appeared significantly better than in previous studies of cancer clinicians, the NHS, and the general population. This study established that team composition, working methods, and workloads are related to measures of effectiveness, including the quality of clinical care. © 2003 Cancer Research UK.

A rationale for the optimisation by computer methods of the efficient use of metals and materials

The aim of the research project was to gain d complete and accurate accounting of the needs and deficiencies of materials selection and design data, with particular attention given to the feasibility of a computerised materials selection system that would include application analysis, property data and screening techniques. The project also investigates and integrates the three major aspects of materials resources, materials selection and materials recycling. Consideration of the materials resource base suggests that, though our discovery potential has increased, geologic availability is the ultimate determinant and several metals may well become scarce at the same time, thus compounding the problem of substitution. With around 2- to 20- million units of engineering materials data, the use of a computer is the only logical answer for scientific selection of materials. The system developed at Aston is used for data storage, mathematical computation and output. The system enables programs to be run in batch and interactive (on-line) mode. The program with modification can also handle such variables as quantity of mineral resources, energy cost of materials and depletion and utilisation rates of strateqic materials. The work also carries out an in-depth study of copper recycling in the U.K. and concludes that, somewhere in the region of 2 million tonnes of copper is missing from the recycling cycle. It also sets out guidelines on product design and conservation policies from the recyclability point of view.

Pre-conception care : current practice and methods of provision

This thesis examines the present provisions for pre-conception care and the views of the providers of services. Pre-conception care is seen by some clinicians and health educators as a means of making any necessary changes in life style, corrections to imbalances in the nutritional status of the prospective mother (and father) and the assessment of any medical problems, thus maximizing the likelihood of the normal development of the baby. Pre-conception care may be described as a service to bridge the gap between the family planning clinic and the first ante-natal booking appointment. There were three separate foci for the empirical research - the Foresight organisation (a charity which has pioneered pre-conception care in Britain); the pre-conception care clinic at the West London Hospital, Hammersmith; and the West Midlands Regional Health Authority. The six main sources of data were: twenty five clinicians operating Foresight pre-conception clinics, couples attending pre-conception clinics, committee members of the Foresight organisation, staff of the West London Hospital pre-conception clinic, Hammersmith, District Health Education Officers working in the West Midlands Regional Health Authority and the members of the Ante-Natal Care Action Group, a sub-group of the Regional Health Advisory Group on Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine. A range of research methods were adopted. These were as follows: questionnaires and report forms used in co-operation with the Foresight clinicians, interviews, participant observation discussions and informal meetings and, finally, literature and official documentation. The research findings illustrated that pre-conception care services provided at the predominantly private Foresight clinics were of a rather `ad hoc' nature. The type of provision varied considerably and clearly reflected the views held by its providers. The protocol which had been developed to assist in the standardization of results was not followed by the clinicians. The pre-conception service provided at the West London Hospital shared some similarities in its approach with the Foresight provision; a major difference was that it did not advocate the use of routine hair trace metal analysis. Interviews with District Health Education Officers and with members of the Ante Natal Care Action Group revealed a tentative and cautious approach to pre-conception care generally and to the Foresight approach in particular. The thesis concludes with a consideration of the future of pre-conception care and the prospects for the establishment of a comprehensive pre-conception care service.

An investigation into the steady state performance of several methods of series compensating electricity transmission lines

There are several methods of providing series compensation for transmission lines using power electronic switches. Four methods of series compensation have been examined in this thesis, the thyristor controlled series capacitor, a voltage sourced inverter series compensator using a capacitor as the series element, a current sourced inverter series compensator and a voltage sourced inverter using an inductor as the series element. All the compensators examined will provide a continuously variable series voltage which is controlled by the switching of the electronic switches. Two of the circuits will offer both capacitive and inductive compensation, the thyristor controlled series capacitor and the current sourced inverter series compensator. The other two will produce either capacitive or inductive series compensation. The thyristor controlled series capacitor offers the widest range of series compensation. However, there is a band of unavailable compensation between 0 and 1 pu capacitive compensation. Compared to the other compensators examined the harmonic content of the compensating voltage is quite high. An algebraic analysis showed that there is more than one state the thyristor controlled series capacitor can operate in. This state has the undesirable effect of introducing large losses. The voltage sourced inverter series compensator using a capacitor as the series element will provide only capacitive compensation. It uses two capacitors which increase the cost of the compensator significantly above the other three. This circuit has the advantage of very low harmonic distortion. The current sourced inverter series compensator will provide both capacitive and inductive series compensation. The harmonic content of the compensating voltage is second only to the voltage sourced inverter series compensator using a capacitor as the series element. The voltage sourced inverter series compensator using an inductor as the series element will only provide inductive compensation, and it is the least expensive compensator examined. Unfortunately, the harmonics introduced by this circuit are considerable.

The analysis of potentiostatic transients applied to the corrosion of steel in concrete

Potentiostatically induced current transients obtained on a range of reinforced concrete specimens were analysed to give estimates of the polarisation resistance and interfacial capacitance. The polarisation resistance was compared with the values obtained using more conventional DC methods of analysis and, while it was consistently lower, it was within the error normally attributed to the polarisation resistance method of corrosion rate determination. The interfacial capacitance values determined increased from 0.44 F m -2 for passive steel (polarisation resistance of 132 Ω m 2) to 26.5 F m -2 for active steel (polarisation resistance of 0.34 Ω m 2). This has a dominant effect on the time required for potentiostatically induced current transients to reach a steady state with a longer time being required by actively corroding steel. By contrast the potential decay time constants describing galvanostatically or coulostatically induced potential transients decrease with an increase in corrosion rate and values less than 25 s for active specimens and greater than 40 s for passive specimens were determined in this work. © 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Tőkeallokációs módszerek és tulajdonságaik a gyakorlatban (Methods of capital allocation and their characteristics in practice)

A pénzügyekben mind elméletileg, mind az alkalmazások szempontjából fontos kérdés a tőkeallokáció. Hogyan osszuk szét egy adott portfólió kockázatát annak alportfóliói között? Miként tartalékoljunk tőkét a fennálló kockázatok fedezetére, és a tartalékokat hogyan rendeljük az üzleti egységekhez? A tőkeallokáció vizsgálatára axiomatikus megközelítést alkalmazunk, tehát alapvető tulajdonságok megkövetelésével dolgozunk. Cikkünk kiindulópontja Csóka-Pintér [2010] azon eredménye, hogy a koherens kockázati mértékek axiómái, valamint a tőkeallokációra vonatkozó méltányossági, ösztönzési és stabilitási követelmények nincsenek összhangban egymással. Ebben a cikkben analitikus és szimulációs eszközökkel vizsgáljuk ezeket a követelményeket. A gyakorlati alkalmazások során használt, illetve az elméleti szempontból érdekes tőkeallokációs módszereket is elemezzük. A cikk fő következtetése, hogy a Csóka-Pintér [2010] által felvetett probléma gyakorlati szempontból is releváns, tehát az nemcsak az elméleti vizsgálatok során merül fel, hanem igen sokszor előforduló és gyakorlati probléma. A cikk további eredménye, hogy a vizsgált tőkeallokációs módszerek jellemzésével segítséget nyújt az alkalmazóknak a különböző módszerek közötti választáshoz. / === / Risk capital allocation in finance is important theoretically and also in practical applications. How can the risk of a portfolio be shared among its sub-portfolios? How should the capital reserves be set to cover risks, and how should the reserves be assigned to the business units? The study uses an axiomatic approach to analyse risk capital allocation, by working with requiring basic properties. The starting point is a 2010 study by Csoka and Pinter (2010), who showed that the axioms of coherent measures of risk are not compatible with some fairness, incentive compatibility and stability requirements of risk allocation. This paper discusses these requirements using analytical and simulation tools. It analyses methods used in practical applications that have theoretically interesting properties. The main conclusion is that the problems identified in Csoka and Pinter (2010) remain relevant in practical applications, so that it is not just a theoretical issue, it is a common practical problem. A further contribution is made because analysis of risk allocation methods helps practitioners choose among the different methods available.

A study of methods used to analyze total oil and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in produced water: steps towards the validation of molecularly imprinted polymers for use in marine environmetns

Produced water is a by-product of offshore oil and gas production, and is released in large volumes when platforms are actively processing crude oil. Some pollutants are not typically removed by conventional oil/water separation methods and are discharged with produced water. Oil and grease can be found dispersed in produced water in the form of tiny droplets, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are commonly found dissolved in produced water. Both can have acute and chronic toxic effects in marine environments even at low exposure levels. The analysis of the dissolved and dispersed phases are a priority, but effort is required to meet the necessary detection limits. There are several methods for the analysis of produced water for dispersed oil and dissolved PAHs, all of which have advantages and disadvantages. In this work, EPA Method 1664 and APHA Method 5520 C for the determination of oil and grease will be examined and compared. For the detection of PAHs, EPA Method 525 and PAH MIPs will be compared, and results evaluated. APHA Method 5520 C Partition-Infrared Method is a liquid-liquid extraction procedure with IR determination of oil and grease. For analysis on spiked samples of artificial seawater, extraction efficiency ranged from 85 – 97%. Linearity was achieved in the range of 5 – 500 mg/L. This is a single-wavelength method and is unsuitable for quantification of aromatics and other compounds that lack sp³-hybridized carbon atoms. EPA Method 1664 is the liquid-liquid extraction of oil and grease from water samples followed by gravimetric determination. When distilled water spiked with reference oil was extracted by this procedure, extraction efficiency ranged from 28.4 – 86.2%, and %RSD ranged from 7.68 – 38.0%. EPA Method 525 uses solid phase extraction with analysis by GC-MS, and was performed on distilled water and water from St. John’s Harbour, all spiked with naphthalene, fluorene, phenanthrene, and pyrene. The limits of detection in harbour water were 0.144, 3.82, 0.119, and 0.153 g/L respectively. Linearity was obtained in the range of 0.5-10 g/L, and %RSD ranged from 0.36% (fluorene) to 46% (pyrene). Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are sorbent materials made selective by polymerizing functional monomers and crosslinkers in the presence of a template molecule, usually the analytes of interest or related compounds. They can adsorb and concentrate PAHs from aqueous environments and are combined with methods of analysis including GC-MS, LC-UV-Vis, and desorption electrospray ionization (DESI)- MS. This work examines MIP-based methods as well as those methods previously mentioned which are currently used by the oil and gas industry and government environmental agencies. MIPs are shown to give results consistent with other methods, and are a low-cost alternative improving ease, throughput, and sensitivity. PAH MIPs were used to determine naphthalene spiked into ASTM artificial seawater, as well as produced water from an offshore oil and gas operation. Linearity was achieved in the range studied (0.5 – 5 mg/L) for both matrices, with R² = 0.936 for seawater and R² = 0.819 for produced water. The %RSD for seawater ranged from 6.58 – 50.5% and for produced water, from 8.19 – 79.6%.