Two tributary streams (Fourmile branch and Pen branch) located on the US Department of Energy’s Savannah river site in west-central South Carolina, USA received thermal discharges from nuclear production reactors for over 30 years. Effluent releases produced stream water temperatures of over 50°C and stream flows of ten times above their base level. Consequently, existing plant and animal commu...

Energetic ions and ultrashort X-rays were generated by an intense ultrashort laser interacting with a copper target. Fast ions up to 3 MeV were observed with CR-39 nuclear track detector sheets when 7 TW laser was used. Cu ∼ Cu ions with the energy from 50 keV to 220 keV were detected with a Thomson parabola detector in the case of the laser power of 2.5 TW. Time-resolved X-ray diffraction was ...

Improving canopy photosynthetic light use efficiency instead of leaf photosynthesis holds great potential to catalyze the next "green revolution". However, leaves in a canopy experience different biochemical limitations due to the heterogeneities of microclimates and also physiological parameters. Mechanistic dynamic systems models of canopy photosynthesis are now available which can be used to...

Energetic nonthermal particles (cosmic rays, CRs) are accelerated in supernova remnants, relativistic jets and other astrophysical objects. The CR energy density is typically comparable with that of the thermal components and magnetic fields. In this review we discuss mechanisms of magnetic field amplification due to instabilities induced by CRs. We derive CR kinetic and magnetohydrodynamic equ...

We examined the tradeoffs between stand-level water use and carbon uptake that result when biomass production of trees in plantations is maximized by removing nutrient and water limitations. A Populus trichocarpa Torr. x P. deltoides Bartr. & Marsh. plantation was irrigated and received frequent additions of nutrients to optimize biomass production. Sap flux density was measured continuously ov...

The following study reports on the preliminary results of a novel processing technique for characterizing the three-dimensional distribution of airborne and ground-based LiDAR data for conifer and mixed deciduous forest plots. The frequency of laser returns within 1m x 1m x 1m cubes (voxels) and the plotting of percentile distributions within each column (e.g. 1m x 1m x 25m, x, y, z) may benefi...

We have characterized the structures of two kinds of catalytic nanoparticles of Pt and Pt–Ru, using anomalous small-angle X-ray scattering (ASAXS), anomalous wide-angle X-ray scattering (AWAXS) and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy. With several X-ray energies near the Pt LIII edge, the AWAXS data reveal a face-centered cubic (f.c.c.) crystalline structure for Pt nan...

A streamfunction-vorticity formulation is used to explore the extent to which turbulent and turbulently inviscid solutions to the mean momentum balance explain the mean flow across forest edges and within cavities situated inside dense forested canopies. The turbulent solution is based on the mean momentum balance where first-order closure principles are used to model turbulent stresses. The tu...

The effects of chromium (III) and cadmium on the anaerobic acidogenesis of a simulated dairy waste were examined using serum vials. At Cd dosages less than 20 mg/l, the acidogenesis process was enhanced by the dosage, resulting in a higher degree of acidification, protein conversion, and hydrogen production than the control. At dosages over 20-mg/l, Cd inhibited the acidogenesis. The Cr (III) d...