Contaminants deposited on impermeable surfaces migrate to stormwater following rainfall events, but accurately quantifying their spatial and temporal yields useful for mitigation purposes is ...challenging. To overcome limitations in current sampling methods, a system was developed for rapid quantification of contaminant build-up and wash-off dynamics from different impervious surfaces. Thin boards constructed of concrete and two types of asphalt were deployed at different locations of a large carpark to capture spatially distributed contaminants from dry atmospheric deposition over specified periods of time. Following experimental exposure time, the boards were then placed under a rainfall simulator in the laboratory to generate contaminant runoff under controlled conditions. Single parameter effects including surface roughness and material composition, number of antecedent dry days, rain intensity, and water quality on contaminant build-up and wash-off yields could be investigated. The method was applied to quantify spatial differences in deposition rates of contaminants (TSS, zinc, copper and lead) at two locations varying in their distance to vehicle traffic. Results showed that boards exposed at an unused part of the carpark >50 m from vehicular traffic captured similar amounts of contaminants compared with boards that were exposed directly adjacent to the access route, indicating substantial atmospheric contaminant transport. Furthermore, differences in contaminant accumulation as a function of surface composition were observed. Runoff from asphalt boards yielded higher zinc loads compared with concrete surfaces, whereas runoff from concrete surfaces resulted in higher TSS concentrations attributed to its smoother surfaces. The application of this method enables relationships between individual contaminant behaviour and specific catchment characteristics to be investigated and provides a technique to derive site-specific build-up and wash-off functions required for modelling contaminant loads from impermeable surfaces.
Application of a new method that allows spatial quantification of contaminants deposited on different impermeable urban surfaces under controlled conditions indicates atmospheric transport of heavy metals in urban areas.
eta(c)(2980) production in gammagamma interactions has been detected via its decays into K(s)(0)K(-/+)pi(-/+), K+K-K+K- and K(+)K(-)pi(+)pi(-) in the data taken with the DELPHI detector at LEP1 and ...LEP2 energies. The two-photon radiative width averaged over all observed decay channels is Gammagammagamma=13.9+/-2.0(stat.)+/-1.4(syst.)+/-2.7 (BR) keV. No direct decay channel eta(c)-->pi(+)pi(-)pi(+)pi(-) has been observed. An upper limit Gamma(gammagamma)<5.5 keV at 95% confidence level has been evaluated for this decay mode.
Searches for resonant (ν) over tilde production in e(+)e(-) collisions under the assumption that R-parity is not conserved and that the dominant R-parity violating coupling is lambda(121) or ...lambda(131) used data recorded by DELPHI in 1997 to 2000 at centre-of-mass energies of 183 to 208 GeV. No deviation from the Standard Model was observed. Upper limits are given for the lambda(121) and lambda(131) couplings as a function of the sneutrino mass and total width. The limits are especially stringent for sneutrino masses equal to the centre-of-mass energies with the highest integrated luminosities recorded.
Infrared and collinear events shapes are suited to directly probe properties
of hard QCD. They are traditionally used to measure the strong coupling and to
test the gauge structure of QCD. ...Perturbative predictions exist in several
variations all of which depend on the renormalisation scheme leading to large
theoretical uncertainties in the determination of $alpha_s$. To overcome this
dominating error more and more schemes for setting the renormalisation scale
are investigated. The application of RGI perturbation theory shows an
incredible small spread of $\alpha_s$ indicating a reduced uncertainty and
allows a measurement of the $\beta$-function directly from mean values.
A thermal diffusion probe, with cannulas for intracerebral microinfusion of drugs and an electrode to monitor electroencephalographic (EEG) activity, was used to examine the local effect of ...vasoactive amines in a 4 to 5 mm sphere of caudate nucleus in cats. The results demonstrated that it is possible to alter local cerebral blood flow (CBF) without causing any change in systemic blood pressure or heart rate, or in CBF and the EEG in the opposite caudate. One-microliter intracerebral injections, containing varying amounts of phenylephrine, increased local CBF in proportion to dose. The effect was blocked by intracerebral infusion of phentolamine. However, local alpha-adrenergic blockade did not inhibit vascular responses to blood pressure elevation or to metabolic influences on local blood flow.
A test of the benchmark QED process e(+) e(-) -->gammagamma(gamma) is reported, using the data collected with the DELPHI detector at LEP 2. The data analysed were recorded at centre-of-mass energies ...ranging from 161 GeV to 208 GeV and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 656.4 pb(-1). The Born cross-section for the process e(+) e(-)-->gammagamma(gamma) was determined, confirming the validity of QED at the highest energies ever attained in electron-positron collisions. Lower limits on the parameters of a number of possible deviations from QED, predicted within theoretical frameworks expressing physics beyond the Standard Model, were derived.
Data from Z decays in DELPHI have been searched for <(B-d(o))over bar> --> D*+ l(-) (ν) over bar (l) with the D*+ decaying to D(0)pi(+) and D-0 --> K(-)pi(+), K(-)pi(+)pi(+)pi(-) or K- pi(+)(pi(0)). ...These events are used to measure the CKM matrix element V-cb and the form factor slope, rho(A1)(2): F-D*(1) V-cb = 0.0392 +/- 0.0018 +/- 0.0023; rho(A1)(2) = 1.32 +/- 0.15 +/- 0.33 corresponding to a branching fraction: BR(<(B-d(0))over bar> --> D(*+)l(-)(ν) over bar (l)) = (5.90 +/- 0.22 +/- 0.50)%. Combining these and previous DELPHI measurements gives: FD*(1)V-cb = 0.0377 +/- 0.0011 +/- 0.0019, rho(A1)(2) = 1.39 +/- 0.10 +/- 0.33 and BR(<(B-d(0))over bar> --> D(*+)l(-)(ν) over bar (l)) = (5.39 +/- 0.11 +/- 0.34)% Using F-D*(1) = 0.91 +/- 0.04, yields: V-cb = 0.0414 +/- 0.0012(stat.) +/- 0.0021(syst.) +/- 0.0018 (theory). The b-quark semileptonic branching fraction into a D*+ emitted from higher mass charmed excited states has also been measured to be: BR(b --> D*+ Xl(-)(ν) over bar (l)) = (0.67 +/- 0.08 +/- 0.10)%.
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