PHYTOPLANKTON RESPONSES TO GROUND WATER ADDITION IN CENTRAL FLORIDA LAKES1

ABSTRACT: Phytoplankton were studied in lakes augmented with water from the Floridan aquifer and in control lakes. Augmented lakes exhibited enhanced phytoplankton diversity which was believed to be related to chemical changes in the lakes brought about as a result of ground water addition. In particular, elevated concentrations of inorganic carbon appeared to influence phytoplankton populations.     

CAPACITY EXPANSION PLANNING MODEL FOR WASTE WATER TREATMENT AND I/I CONTROL1

ABSTRACT: A dynamic programming model is presented for planning the optimal capacity expansion sequence of waste water treatment plants servicing sewerage systems with infiltration/inflow. The model employs a nonlinear deterministic demand function for waste water treatment plant capacity. Model output provides the optimal timing, size, and sequence for treatment plant capacity expansion projects and infiltration/inflow removal projects. An example problem is presented and solved.     

THE LIMNOLOGY OF LAKE WABUKAYNE,A STORM-WATER IMPOUNDMENT1

ABSTRACT The limnology of a 1.9-ha storm-water detention pond is described. The eutrophic nature of this impoundment is attributed to the nutrients in runoff from the surrounding residential area. During the summer, photosynthetic activity of the phytoplankton caused surface waters to become super-saturated with oxygen, while decomposing organic material greatly reduced dissolved oxygen concentrations in the deeper water. Sediment derived from construction activity within the drainage basin caused the impoundment to be turbid. The use of road deicing salts within the drainage basin produced high chloride concentrations and a temporary meromixis during the winter and early spring. The benthic fauna consisted primarily of oligochaetes, chironomids, and chaoborids. High densities of oligochaetes were present in the settling basin. Chaoborid larvae were abundant in the deep basin where low oxygen concentrations reduced the numbers of other benthic macroinvertebrates.     

The Inhibition and Variability of Two Different RT-qPCR Assays Used for Quantifying SARS-CoV-2 RNA in Wastewater

Food and Environmental Virology - Faecal shedding of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its subsequent detection in wastewater turned the spotlight onto...     

Isolation of single circulating trophoblasts from maternal circulation for noninvasive fetal copy number variant profiling

Objective

To develop a multi-step workflow for the isolation of circulating extravillous trophoblasts (cEVTs) by describing the key steps enabling a semi-automated process, including a proprietary algorithm for fetal cell origin genetic confirmation and copy number variant (CNV) detection.

Methods

Determination of the limit of detection (LoD) for submicroscopic CNV was performed by serial experiments with genomic DNA and single cells from Coriell cell line biobank with known imbalances of different sizes. A pregnancy population of 372 women was prospectively enrolled and blindly analyzed to evaluate the current workflow.

Results

An LoD of 800 Kb was demonstrated with Coriell cell lines. This level of resolution was confirmed in the clinical cohort with the identification of a pathogenic CNV of 800 Kb, also detected by chromosomal microarray. The mean number of recovered cEVTs was 3.5 cells per sample with a significant reverse linear trend between gestational age and cEVT recovery rate and number of recovered cEVTs. In twin pregnanices, evaluation of zygosity, fetal sex and copy number profiling was performed in each individual cell.

Conclusion

Our semi-automated methodology for the isolation and single-cell analysis of cEVTS supports the feasibility of a cell-based noninvasive prenatal test for fetal genomic profiling.     

Hardworking coworkers: A multilevel cross‐national look at group work hours and work–family conflict

This study investigates the relationship between coworker work hours and perceived work‐to‐family conflict (WFC) in a multinational sample of professional service employees. Building on recent research on the ways in which workgroups influence individual WFC, we demonstrate that the average hours worked by coworkers has a significant relationship to reported WFC independent of an employee's own work hours. Although this finding is universal across the multinational sample, national cultural differences were found to moderate the relationship, such that employees in more collectivist countries are more strongly influenced by average coworker hours than their counterparts in less collectivist countries. The multilevel analysis was conducted using a sample of 7,600 professional service employees in 497 different workgroups across 20 countries. The results provide support for the effect of culture on the relationship between group average hours and perceptions of WFC. We conclude with a discussion of how national culture affects WFC.     

Analysis of a two-layer cloud system with RAMS model and comparison to airborne observations

A three-dimensional numerical model (Regional Atmospheric Modeling System—-RAMS) was used to study the formation and evolution of water forms in a two-layer cloud structure observed during a field campaign over Brest (France). The model performance in regular operations, using conventional meteorological data as initial and lateral boundary conditions, was also examined. Remote sensing observations of the cloud system and in-situ aircraft data, selected during the campaign, were used to validate the model outputs. The model simulations showed that the lower cloud formation was characterized by high number concentration of pristine ice and snow, while the concentration of aggregates, graupel and hail were considerably lower. Hydrometeors in liquid phase appeared demonstrating high number concentration and water content on the top of this layer. The upper cloud layer consisted only of frozen water substances in lower amounts. The qualitative and quantitative comparison of the model-calculated meteorological and microphysical fields to the available observational data revealed that the model reflected fairly well the cloud structure (e.g., the spatio-temporal variability of the cloud parameters, the geometry of the cloud system). However, there were deviations as far as the model underestimating the ice water content (IWC) and number concentration (N_t) fields is concerned, especially at the atmospheric layer between 2.5 and 4 km of altitude. These deviations of the model simulated quantities from the measured ones may be attributed either to the performance of the model’s microphysics scheme, to instrument inaccuracies and to the local disturbance caused by the aircraft.