The degree of mine burial is a crucial factor in Mine Counter Measure (MCM) mission planning, having a significant effect on sensor range and effectiveness. The ultimate goal of this project is to provide an mine burial prediction fleet aid for operational Navy MCM decision making that incorporates recent research in burial mechanisms and seafloor sediment behavior. This predictive tool should ...

We have used ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to detect UXO and non-ordnance on the 40-acre site (lot 54) of Jefferson Proving Ground, Indiana. The UXO are buried within about 1 m deep in a clayey silt for which the soil water content ranged from moist near the surface to near saturation at about 1 m. We used a 16-bit radar to profile along previously established lines, and transects over artific...

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are progressive neurodegenerative diseases and include bovine spongiform encephalopathy of cattle, chronic wasting disease (CWD) of deer and elk, scrapie in sheep and goats, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. An abnormally folded form of the prion protein (designated PrP(TSE)) is typically associated with TSE infectivity and may constitute ...

The design of a new laboratory facility for evaluating the structural response of small-diameter buried pipes (e.g., leachate collection pipes in landfills) is presented. The pipe is tested within a 2.0 m wide, 2.0 m long, and 1.6 m high prism of soil, subject to large vertical pressures (1000 kPa), with only minimal roughness and deflection of the lateral boundaries. Results from finite elemen...

Core body temperature cooling during avalanche burial results in hypothermia, and further core temperature cooling during extrication and evacuation of an avalanche burial victim may result in more severe hypothermia. We performed two studies measuring the rate of core body temperature cooling during snow burial and after extrication from snow burial. Subjects were completely buried in a large ...

Pre-dispersal seed predation can greatly reduce crop size affecting recruitment success. In addition, non-fatal damage by seed predators may allow infection by fungi responsible for post-dispersal seed losses. The objectives of this study were (1) to quantify pre-dispersal seed predation and fungal infection in a Neotropical tree species, Luehea seemannii, that produces dehiscent fruits and win...

The effects of agricultural-improvement treatments on the chitinolytic activity and diversity of a microbial community were investigated within an upland pasture. The treatments of interest were lime and treated sewage sludge, both commonly applied to pasture land to improve fertility. Burial of chitin-containing litter bags at the field site resulted in enrichment of bacteria according to 16S ...

Radioactive waste containing a few grams of plutonium (Pu) was disposed between 1960 and 1968 in trenches at the Little Forest Burial Ground (LFBG), near Sydney, Australia. A water sampling point installed in a former trench has enabled the radionuclide content of trench water and the response of the water level to rainfall to be studied. The trench water contains readily measurable Pu activity...

The foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreak that occurred in the United Kingdom in 2001 was of an unprecedented scale and severity and presented a massive logistical challenge to Government. Over 6.5 million animals were slaughtered and disposed of, over 4 million as a direct result of disease and a further 2.5 million on welfare grounds. On-farm burial and on-farm burning were the principal rout...