Management gaps analysis: a case study of groundwater resource management in New Zealand

The primary objective of this project is to identify gaps, whether real or perceived, that hinder effective groundwater management in New Zealand. These gaps show as gaps in information, gaps in implementation, gaps in technological and management tools, and gaps in understanding of fundamental processes. The secondary objective is to propose a management strategy to close the identified gaps. Several methods are used to meet these objectives: surveys distributed to selected staff in each regional council; the review of various written reports; the analysis of land-use databases; and private consultation within each regional council. Results show that groundwater management in New Zealand is generally reactionary with the main gaps being in strategic planning and national guidelines. Most gaps appear to be predominantly information and implementation issues. In some cases there are gaps in the understanding of fundamental processes within an aquifer system, including the long-term effects of land-use on groundwater quality. An adaptive management approach is suggested as a means of closing these gaps.     

Repair of extensive ionizing-radiation DNA damage at 95 degrees C in the hyperthermophilic archaeon Pyrococcus furiosus

We investigated the capacity of the hyperthermophile Pyrococcus furiosus for DNA repair by measuring survival at high levels of 60Co gamma-irradiation. The P. furiosus 2-Mb chromosome was fragmented into pieces ranging from 500 kb to shorter than 30 kb at a dose of 2,500 Gy and was fully restored upon incubation at 95 degrees C. We suggest that recombination repair could be an extremely active repair mechanism in P. furiosus and that it might be an important determinant of survival of hyperthermophiles at high temperatures.     

The Appropriation of the Material of Places in the Landscape: the case of tufa and springs

Springs have long been recognized as being significant places in the landscape, and there is ample evidence of later-prehistoric and Roman activity at spring sites. The Christian appropriation of springs as 'places', either indirectly by assigning their origin to saints, or directly by building chapels and churches on spring-head sites, is also well evidenced. The possibility that the material of petrifying springs - tufa - was both transplanted and appropriated, and that the symbolic properties of the material may go back well into British prehistory, is explored.     

Outcome of treatment for bilateral congenital cataracts

The outcome of treatment for bilateral congenital cataracts was studied retrospectively in a group of 51 patients. Two major categories of lens opacities were identified. In the first category, the opacities were extensive and visual impairment was evident early in the first year. These cataracts often occurred in eyes with small corneal diameters and poorly dilating pupils. Postoperative strabismus was nearly universal; nystagmus developed in over 50%; and late onset open-angle glaucoma developed in 8 of the 29 patients studied. Early surgery did not seem to abort the development of nystagmus in this group of patients. In the second category, the lens opacities were partial, often lamellar in configuration, and visual impairment was less severe. Surgery was usually performed after 3 years of age, with good visual results if the opacities were symmetrical and there was no nystagmus. No deprivation amblyopia developed in this group, even when surgery was delayed into the second decade. Strabismus developed postoperatively in about a third, but so far, no delayed open-angle glaucoma has been identified.     

Morphology of the acetabulum in hip dislocations caused by cerebral palsy

41 heifers of 260-440 kg body weight used in an experiment were polyovulated with PGF2 alpha and PMSG (1000 IU). Animals were slaughtered during luteal phase of ovarian cycle (day 12-15). Shortly before slaughter ovarian structures were defined by rectal palpation und ultrasonographical examination. Post mortem ovaries were collected to compare their structures with previously performed in vivo diagnosis. More follicular structures were detected sonographically (109%) than could be found by morphologic examination (100%). Concerning corpora lutea a right diagnosis was made by palpation in 94% of cases, whereas the rate was only 85% for ultrasonographical examination. Main reasons for false diagnoses of ultrasonographical examination are as follows: multiple ovarian structures, corpora lutea with holes inside, atypical shape of ovaries, atypical ultrasonographical pictures and irregular shape of follicles.     

3-D Reconstruction of the Heart from Few Projections: A Practical Implementation of the McKinnon-Bates Algorithm

The implementation of a method for improving the quality (by reducing artifacts) of images reconstructed from small numbers of projections is described. The technique is based on an algorithm originally proposed by McKinnon and Bates [1] and includes enhancements suggested by Heffernan and Robb [2]. Emphasis is placed on practical aspects of algorithm implementation, including important noise-suppressing refinements not previously incorporated into the algorithm. The efficacy of the method is demonstrated using actual X-ray projection data of the intact beating heart recorded with the Mayo Clinic's dynamic spatial reconstructor. The implications of improved "stop-action" reconstruction of the heart are considered in the context of additional objectives, including automatic object recognition and definition, and improved four-dimensional reconstruction of the beating heart.     

Preparation and characterization of surfactant‐free stimuli‐sensitive microgel dispersions

A surfactant‐free method to produce responsive polymer microgels is introduced. As an example, poly(methacrylic acid) hydrogels with varying crosslinking density have been synthesized in bulk and then chopped using a high shear mechanical cutter to form microgel particles dispersed in water. The mechanical cutting technique enables the concentration and particle size distribution of the microgel suspensions to be easily controlled, therefore making the rheology of the suspensions tuneable. The particle size distribution of the dispersions, characterized using light scattering, was dependent on the speed and duration of mechanical cutting. The particle size distribution also depended on the degree of crosslinking of the hydrogel. The higher the crosslinking density, the lower the average mean diameter of the resulting microgel particles. The lower the crosslinking density of the hydrogel, the larger the difference between the maximum and minimum particle size. The time to complete swelling of the particles upon change in pH was measured to be up to 45 s, depending on the particle size. The rheology of the resulting suspensions as a function of pH was investigated. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 104: 104: 1912–1919, 2007     

N.m.r. studies on the effect of water on the glass transition of polystyrene

These investigations are concerned with water-polymer interactions in polymer latices. It is known that water can act as a plasticizer for many solid polymers and cause a reduction in the glass transition temperature, T_g, of the amorphous regions. Experiments were carried out to determine whether pulsed n.m.r. techniques could be used to study the T_g of a polymer suspension and hence the influence of water and electrolyte on it. From T₁ and T₂ proton relaxation measurements as a function of temperature on polystyrene latex systems it was shown that the presence of water lowers the T_g of the polymer particles (by about 10°C), the effect being slightly greater in the presence of concentrated electrolyte. The extent of electrolyte penetration into the particles was deduced by studying relaxation as a function of particle diameter in latices containing paramagnetic Mn²⁺ ions. Using simple theories of relaxation and spin diffusion it was concluded that for all but the smallest particles electrolyte penetration is restricted to a very thin shell of the order of 1 nm. These conclusions were supported by the results of similar measurements on PTFE particles.     

An algorithm for deducing an effective sieve residue from the rate of powder passage through a sieve

The effect of non-ideal aperture distribution of a sieving surface on the sieve residue has been the object of many experimental studies. Unfortunately, the sieving kinetics of many sieving techniques do not result in a simple probability relationship between the size distribution function of the powder and the sieve aperture distribution function. If one specifies a certain type of sieving kinetics, then one can apply probability theory to the rate of movement of powder through the sieve and the size aperture distribution function of the sieve. Under such specified sieving conditions it can be shown that it is possible to deduce a size characteristic parameter of the powder being sieved, which in this publication is described as the kinetic residue of the sieve. An algorithm for the automatic computation of the kinetic residue from the rate of powder sieving is described. The possible implementation of this algorithm to automate sieve analysis is explored.     

Calculation of refractive indices using Buchdahl's chromatic coordinate

In this paper we have completed an error analysis of the Buchdahl glass model for 813 glasses available from five manufacturers. A quadratic model has a standard deviation of 0.00002 and a maximum absolute error of 0.0001 in the visible spectral region. A cubic model has a standard deviation of 0.00005 and a maximum absolute error of 0.00026 over the full spectral region from 0.365 to 1.014 microm. A table giving the Buchdahl fitting coefficients for all the glasses, as well as the standard deviation and maximum error for each glass, is included for the quadratic model. The results indicate that the Buchdahl model is ideally suited for theoretical studies of refracting optical systems.