Eagle Vision : new directions in K-12 GIS

Eagle Vision is an NSF-funded three-year project that instructs High School teachers working in tribal schools in GIS and GIT, and in GIS-based curriculum design. Integration of GIS into the secondary level classroom has faced many barriers, and despite extensive efforts on the part of Eagle Vision to circumvent these hurdles, many of them appeared. An additional problem regarding spatial literacy became apparent. Overall, however, the program was successful in increasing use of GIS and GIT, and provided crucial information that will help improve teacher professional training in the area of GIS

Modeling Third Party Effects of Water Rights Transfers in a Hypothetical Middle Rio Grande Irrigation Community

Water is a vital resource that is under pressure from increasing demands. The pressures are further aggravated by the potential of decreases or changes in supplies, which may result from climate change. The pressures are especially acute in dry climates such as New Mexico. Leases and markets are means of efficiently reallocating this resource. However, these transfers do not function well under uncertainty. Yet the current NM water rights system, based on the prior appropriations doctrine, has a high degree of uncertainty due to the interlocking spatiotemporal nature of water rights and the possibilities of third party effects occurring subsequent to changes in one or more of the elements of a water right. Flow constraints exacerbate the problem and are likely to be ongoing in light of increasing demand and changing supplies. One means of reducing uncertainty is to model the situation. Very few models incorporate the ability to model water rights transfers, however. For example, a dynamic systems model of the Middle Rio Grande (MRG) has been created and is used in public input and education processes. This model includes physical factors but does not, as of yet, address the uncertainties generated by water rights transfers. This professional project will model a set of hypothetical transfer scenarios based in the MRG basin, within a dynamic systems modeling program. This should demonstrate the feasibility of modeling water rights transfers to reduce uncertainty. Addition of this aspect to the full MRG model will also be discussed

The North American Cordilleran Anatectic Belt

The North American Cordilleran Anatectic Belt (CAB) is a ~3,000 km long region in the hinterland of the Cordillera that comprises numerous exposures of Late Cretaceous to Eocene intrusive rocks and anatectic rocks associated with crustal melting. As such, it is comparable in size and volume to major anatectic provinces including the Himalayan leucogranite belt. The CAB rocks are chiefly peraluminous, muscovite-bearing leucogranite produced primarily by anatexis of Proterozoic to Archean metasedimentary rocks. The CAB rocks lack extrusive equivalents and were typically emplaced as thick sheets, laccoliths, and dike/sill complexes. The extent, location, and age of the CAB suggests that it is integral to understanding the tectonic evolution of North America, however, the belt is rarely considered as a whole. This paper reviews localities associated with crustal melting in the CAB and compiles geochemical, geochronologic, and isotopic data to evaluate the melt conditions and processes that generated these rocks. The geochemistry and partial melting temperatures (ca. 675–775 °C) support water-absent muscovite dehydration melting and/or water-deficient melting as the primary melt reactions and are generally inconsistent with water-excess melting and high-temperature (biotite to amphibole) dehydration melting. The CAB rocks are oldest in the central U.S. Cordillera and become younger towards both the north and south. At any single location, partial melting appears to have been a protracted process (≥10 Myr) and evidence for re-melting and remobilization of magmas is common. End-member hypotheses for the origin of the CAB include decompression, crustal thickening, fluid-flux melting, and increased heat flux from the mantle. Different parts of the CAB support different hypotheses and no single model may be able to explain the entirety of the anatectic event. Regardless, the CAB is a distinct component of the Cordilleran orogenic system

Use of Sirolimus in a Premature Neonate With Kaposiform Hemangioedema

Kaposiform hemangioendothelioma (KHE) is a rare, vascular malignancy that is often associated with coagulopathies and thrombocytopenia secondary to platelet trapping. Typically, a person diagnosed with KHE with Kasabach-Merritt phenomenon (KMP) presents with a reddish-purplish lesion, thrombocytopenia, and elevated D-dimer, which can lead to high morbidity and mortality. Sirolimus has been identified as a treatment option for KHE with or without KMP for reduction in lesion size and hematologic parameters. In this case report, a female born at 26.5 weeks was noted at birth to have a purpuric lesion on her right upper back and flank area. She was diagnosed with biopsy-confirmed KHE with KMP. She was started on sirolimus 0.01 mg (0.02 mg/kg; 0.14 mg/m2) once a day, and because of high trough concentrations treatment was held until concentrations decreased. Sirolimus was then microdiluted to a 0.01 mg/mL concentration in medium-chain triglyceride oil for administration. Prior to discharge from the hospital the commercially available product was dispensed for home use. After 6 months of treatment, she achieved a reduction in lesion size and improvement in hematologic parameters, and treatment was stopped at 9 months.</jats:p

Stability Testing of Sirolimus in Medium-Chain Triglyceride Oil Using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

OBJECTIVE Recently, a premature neonate, born at 26.5 weeks, was treated with sirolimus for kaposiform hemangioendothelioma with Kasabach-Merritt phenomenon at the University of New Mexico Children's Hospital. Because of the lipophilic properties of the drug and an inability to draw the correct dose needed for the neonate with the standard 1 mg/mL concentration, sirolimus was diluted to 0.01 mg/mL (10 mg/L) in medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil. The objective of this study was to evaluate the stability of sirolimus diluted in MCT oil. METHODS Commercially available sirolimus oral solution was diluted with MCT oil from 1 mg/mL to 10 mg/L. The diluted samples were prepared by measuring 0.1 mL of the commercial product in an oral syringe and mixing with 9.9 mL of MCT oil. The 3 diluted samples were placed in amber glass vials, stored at 10°C, and analyzed over 14 days. RESULTS The initial concentration of the 3 samples ranged from 8.5 to 10.8 mg/L sirolimus, or 85% to 108% of the target value. No significant differences were seen between average concentrations on the days tested. However, the average drug concentration fell to approximately 90% of the theoretical 10 mg/L target concentration between days 7 and 10. CONCLUSIONS This study shows that sirolimus oral solution diluted with MCT oil to a final concentration of 10 mg/L was stable for at least 7 days when stored at 10°C, suggesting that the beyond-use date should be 7 days. </jats:sec

Spray drying Eudragit® E-PO with acetaminophen using 2- and 3-fluid nozzles for taste masking

Conventional spray drying using a 2-fluid nozzle forms matrix microparticles, where drug is distributed throughout the particle and may not effectively mask taste. In contrast, spray drying using a 3-fluid nozzle has been reported to encapsulate material. The objective of this study was to spray dry Eudragit® E-PO (EE) with acetaminophen (APAP), a water-soluble model drug with a bitter taste, using 2- and 3-fluid nozzles for taste masking. Spray drying EE with APAP, however, resulted in yields of ≤ 13 %, irrespective of nozzle configuration. Yields improved when Eudragit® L 100-55 (EL) or Methocel® E6 (HPMC) was used in the inner fluid stream of the 3-fluid nozzle or in place of EE for the 2-fluid nozzle. Drug release from microparticles prepared with the 2-fluid nozzle was relatively rapid. Using EE in the outer fluid stream of the 3-fluid nozzle resulted in comparatively slower drug release, although drug release was observed, indicating that encapsulation was incomplete. Results from these studies also show that miscible polymers used in the two fluid streams mix during the spray drying process. In addition, findings from this study indicate that the polymer used in the inner fluid stream can impact drug release