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Abstract: The Training Range Environmental Evaluation and Characterization System (TREECS™) (http://el.erdc.usace.army.mil/treecs/) is being developed by the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) for the U.S. Army to forecast the fate of munitions constituents (MC) (such as high explosives (HE) and metals) found on firing/training ranges, as well as those subsequently transported to surface water and groundwater. The overall purpose of TREECS™ is to provide environmental specialists with tools to assess the potential for MC migration into surface water and groundwater systems and to assess range management strategies to ensure protection of human health and the environment. The multimedia fate/transport models within TREECS™ are mathematical models of reduced form (e.g., reduced dimensionality) that allow rapid application with less input data requirements compared with more complicated models. Although TREECS™ was developed for the fate of MC from military ranges, it has general applicability to many other situations requiring prediction of contaminant (including radionuclide) fate in multi-media environmental systems. TREECS™ was applied to the Borschi watershed near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Ukraine. At this site, TREECS™ demonstrated its use as a modeling tool to predict the fate of strontium 90 (90Sr). The most sensitive and uncertain input for this application was the soil-water partitioning distribution coefficient (K d) for 90Sr. The TREECS™ soil model provided reasonable estimates of the surface water export flux of 90Sr from the Borschi watershed when using a K d for 90Sr of 200 L/kg. The computed export for the year 2000 was 0.18% of the watershed inventory of 90Sr compared to the estimated export flux of 0.14% based on field data collected during 1999–2001. The model indicated that assumptions regarding the form of the inventory, whether dissolved or in solid phase form, did not appreciably affect export rates. Also, the percentage of non-exchangeable adsorbed 90Sr, which is uncertain and affects the amount of 90Sr available for export, was fixed at 20% based on field data measurements. A Monte Carlo uncertainty analysis was conducted treating K d as an uncertain input variable with a range of 100–300 L/kg. This analysis resulted in a range of 0.13–0.27% of inventory exported to surface water compared to 0.14% based on measured field data. Based on this model application, it was concluded that the export of 90Sr from the Borschi watershed to surface water is predominantly a result of soil pore water containing dissolved 90Sr being diverted to surface waters that eventually flow out of the watershed. The percentage of non-exchangeable adsorbed 90Sr and the soil-water K d are the two most sensitive and uncertain factors affecting the amount of export. The 200-year projections of the model showed an exponential decline in 90Sr export fluxes from the watershed that should drop by a factor of 10 by the year 2100. This presentation will focus on TREECS capabilities and the case study done for the Borschi Watershed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Sunflower is a potential crop for the southeastern United States for production of cooking oil or biodiesel. In 2007, we evaluated the effect of planting date (PD, 20 April, 20 May, and 20 June), nitrogen (N) application rate (0, 67, 134, and 202 kg ha−1), and hybrid (‘DKF3875’, ‘DKF2990’, ‘DKF3510’, and ‘DKF3901’) on sunflower productivity and oil profile in four Mississippi locations, Newton, Starkville, and two sites in Verona. There was a trend of increased oleic acid concentration with earlier planting dates, especially in hybrids with lower oleic acid concentration. Earlier planting dates of ‘DKF3901’ and ‘DKF2990’ (the hybrid with the lowest oleic acid) actually had 200 to 300 g kg−1 higher concentration of oleic acid when grown in Mississippi vs. the original seed of the same hybrids used for planting and produced at a more northern latitude. This and a recent study in Mississippi suggest that modern hybrids could provide ample yields even when the N fertilization is relatively low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is a potential cash crop for the southeastern United States for production of cooking oil or biodiesel. Two years (2006 and 2007) of experiments were conducted at each of five locations in Mississippi to evaluate the effect of planting date (April 20, May 20, and June 20), and hybrid (DKF3875, DKF2990, DKF3510, DKF3901, PR63M80, PR62A91, PR63A21, PR63M91, and PR64H41) on seed yield, oil content, and oil composition of sunflower. Seed oil concentration varied from 25 to 47%. The oleic acid concentration in the oil was greater than 85% for DKF3510 and PR64H41, above 65% for PR63M80 and PR63M91, and intermediate for the other hybrids. Total saturated fatty acids (TSFA) concentration in the oil (the sum of palmitic, stearic, arachidic, behenic, and lignoceric acids) ranged from 6.3 to 13.0%, with DKF3510, PR63M91, and PR64H41 having lower concentration of TSFA than the other hybrids. Mean seed yields ranged from 997 to 2096kgha−1 depending on location. Mean oil yields at the five locations ranged from 380 to 687kgha−1, and calculated biodiesel production ranged from 304 to 550kgha−1. Seed and oil yields in this study suggest sunflower in Mississippi should be planted by the last week of May. Later planting (20 June) may significantly decrease both seed and oil yields in the non-irrigated system in Mississippi and in other areas of the southeastern United States with similar environmental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite major setbacks to its health infrastructure and health workforce capacity, Liberia began its first post-graduate training program for physicians in 2013. Specialty training in Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, General Surgery and Obstetrics and Gynecology were the four inaugural Residency programs that recruited graduates from the country's only medical school, A.M. Dogliotti College of Medicine. The Obstetrics and Gynecology residency program was designed to combat the rising maternal mortality and strengthen health systems to improve maternal care. The program adapted in the face of challenges posed by limited financial support, lack of specialist-faculty and general physician shortages and the Ebola virus outbreak. The manuscript discusses the challenges and successes of the program and demonstrates how the shortage of teaching faculty was addressed by developing a collaboration between local government and educational communities, a United States (US) academic institution and volunteers from the Global Health Service Partnership., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Beddoe, Reis, Benson, Rehwaldt, Mullbah, Johnson, Lieber, Dottino, Maund, Campbell, Kerry, Solomon, Lieb, Brodman, Gharoro, Sayeed, Nuthulaganti, Johnson, Brown, Marshall and Dahn.)