Measuring the Stable Isotope Composition of Water in Brine from Halite Fluid Inclusions and Borehole Brine Seeps Using Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy.

Naturally occurring bedded salt deposits are considered robust for the permanent disposal of heat-generating nuclear waste due to their unique physical and geological properties. The Brine Availability Test in Salt (BATS) is a US-DOE Office of Nuclear Energy funded project that uses heated borehole experiments underground (∼655 meters depth) at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in the bedded salt deposits of the Salado Formation to investigate the capacity for safe disposal of high-level, heat generating nuclear waste in salt. Uncertainties associated with brine mobility near heat-generating waste motivates the need to characterize the processes and sources of brine in salt deposits.

Vacancy-Mediated Increases in Brine-Salt Surface Energies.

Salt formations have been explored for the permanent isolation of spent nuclear fuel based on their high thermal conductivity, self-healing nature, and low hydraulic permeability to brine flow. Vacancy defect concentrations in salt complicate fracture mechanics not driven by dislocation dynamics and can influence the resulting surface structure. Classical molecular dynamic simulations were used to simulate tensile testing of salt crystals (halite) with vacancy defect concentrations of up to 0.

Salivary cortisol and affective responses to acute psychosocial stress among adolescents.

Background: Acute psychosocial stress activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and triggers the release of cortisol, a commonly used biomarker of stress reactivity. Yet only 25 % of studies have reported a correlation between cortisol and affective responses to stress. This study aimed to examine whether cortisol reactivity following an acute psychosocial stressor in the laboratory correlated with concurrent positive and negative affect in adolescents, and whether early life adversity (ELA) moderated this relationship.

Semi-Analytical Modeling of Transient Stream Drawdown and Depletion in Response to Aquifer Pumping.

Analytical and semi-analytical models for stream depletion with transient stream stage drawdown induced by groundwater pumping are developed to address a deficiency in existing models, namely, the use of a fixed stream stage condition at the stream-aquifer interface. Field data are presented to demonstrate that stream stage drawdown does indeed occur in response to groundwater pumping near aquifer-connected streams. A model that predicts stream depletion with transient stream drawdown is developed based on stream channel mass conservation and finite stream channel storage.

Salivary CRP predicts treatment response to virtual reality exposure therapy for social anxiety disorder.

Background: Social anxiety disorder (SAD) places a profound burden on public health and individual wellbeing. Systemic inflammation may be important to the onset and maintenance of SAD, and anti-inflammatory treatments have shown promise in relieving symptoms of SAD. In the present study, we conducted secondary analyses on data from a randomized clinical trial to determine whether C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations and social anxiety symptoms decreased over the course of virtual reality exposure therapy, and whether changes in social anxiety symptoms as a function of treatment varied as a function of CRP.