2,030 research outputs found

    Assessing the Biological Condition of Maine Streams and Rivers Using Benthic Algal Communities

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    The purpose of this study was to test and develop algal methods of evaluating the condition of Maine streams and rivers. The primary objective was to develop a statistical model to predict attainment of Maine\u27s aquatic life criteria for water quality classes A, B, and C. I collected 298 samples of algae on rocks from 193 locations across the state. The major pattern in species composition related to conversion of forests to urban, residential, and agricultural land uses. I calculated preferred environmental conditions of 236 algal taxa for 1) concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus, and dissolved ions in the water, 2) percent of watershed land cover that is not forested, 3) and percent of watershed land cover that is impervious, such as pavement. I then tested and identified algal community metrics that responded to increasing watershed development. Metrics derived from Maine data performed better than metrics developed in other parts of the world. Five biologists with Maine\u27s Department of Environmental Protection (MDEP) grouped samples based on attainment of aquatic life criteria (i.e., A, B, C, and non-attainment) by interpreting algal species abundances and community metrics. I developed a statistical model to replicate biologist assignments, which correctly classified 95% and 91% of samples used to build and test the model. The second objective was to develop models based on algal community composition to estimate concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus in stream water. A multiple linear regression model and a variation of weighted averaging that weights estimates using localized subsets of data performed the best. The final objective was to use nutrient diffusing substrates to determine if growth of benthic algae in the Sheepscot River was limited by phosphorus or nitrogen. It was co-limited by nitrogen and phosphorus. Although my statistical models have limited transferability to adjacent regions with similar ecological conditions, methods used to build the models have wide transferability. MDEP could use the first model to determine if streams and rivers attain water quality classes A, B, and C. MDEP could then use nutrient inference models and diffusing substrates to better diagnose and manage enrichment of phosphorus and nitrogen

    Junior Recital

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    On the Nature of Winter Cooling and the Recent Temperature Shift on the Northern Gulf of Alaska Shelf

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    [1] In spring 2006 and 2007, northern Gulf of Alaska (GOA) shelf waters were ∼1.5°C below average throughout the similar to ∼250 m deep shelf and the salinity-dependent winter stratification was anomalously weak due to above (below) average surface (bottom) salinities. Spring 2007 and 2008 temperatures were also similar to ∼-1.5°C below average, but the anomalies were confined to the upper 100 m due to moderate salt stratification. Shelf temperatures in these 2 years were among the lowest observed since the early 1970s, thus interrupting an approximately 30-year warming trend. We examined winter cooling processes using historical conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) profiles and mooring data from hydrographic station GAK1. The 2006 and 2007 cooling was associated with anomalously strong atmospheric heat loss in November 2006 and March 2007 and below-average fall runoff, which weakened winter stratification and allowed the late cooling to penetrate throughout the water column. In 2007 and 2008, early winter cooling was weak, fall runoff large, and stratification moderate at 100 m so that spring temperature anomalies were trapped to the upper 100 m. Analysis of the 40 year GAK1 CTD record indicates that winter averaged air-sea heat flux and salinity stratification anomalies explain 81% of the variation in deep (100-250 m) GOA temperatures. Although the timing and magnitude of winter runoff influences the shelf temperature distribution, temperature anomalies are a consequence of three-dimensional circulation and mixing processes. These involve the complex, but poorly understood, interplay among the air-sea heat flux; the ocean heat flux convergences; the stabilizing influence of runoff; and the destabilizing effects of cooling, vertical mixing, and the wind-driven cross-shelf buoyancy flux

    Blood transfusion in patients treated with surgery for necrotizing enterocolitis

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    Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110529/1/pan12485.pd

    Anisotropic dewetting in ultra-thin single-crystal silicon-on-insulator films

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    Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (p. 153-156).The single crystal silicon-on-insulator thin film materials system represents both an ideal model system for the study of anisotropic thin film dewetting as well as a technologically important system for the development of the next generation of MOSFET devices. The scientific community has misinterpreted the mechanism behind SOI dewetting, attributing it to a stress-driven instability. In this work, we characterize and measure the kinetics and geometry of thermally-activated dewetting in ultra-thin SOI films as a function of SOI thickness, crystallographic patterned-edge orientation, and temperature. Using experimental data and physical reasoning, we strongly argue against the previously existing scientific consensus that SOI dewetting is a stress-driven instability and present a 5-step isotropic surface-energy-driven dewetting model based upon the capillary film edge instability and the generalized Rayleigh instability, in which we integrate existing theories and in addition develop an expression for the edge retraction distance during the initial uniform edge thickening and retraction phase of dewetting at a patterned mesa edge for the first time, predicting a square root dependence with time and an inverse power dependence on film thickness. In our study, we observe and quantify the kinetics of the initial edge retraction dewetting mechanism experimentally for the first time and confirm the square root time dependence and inverse power law film thickness dependence predicted by our new model. We also quantify the edge dewetting front propagation velocity in SOI and determine that it depends on the negative third power of the film thickness, agreeing with the prediction of Jiran and Thompson and with our model.(cont.) We also extract an activation energy for the edge dewetting front propagation velocity of 2.9+-0.3eV, in reasonable agreement with reported values for Si surface diffusion on (111) planes. Furthermore, we present for the first time an anisotropic model for void finger propagation that is able to accurately explain the detailed anisotropic dewetting geometries observed in SOI dewetting. A technique for stabilizing ultra-thin SOI films, dielectric layer edge coverage, is also demonstrated that may prove useful to enable the stabilization of ultra-thin SOI films during fully-depleted SOI transistor fabrication. We also report on the effect of Ge coverage on SOI dewetting kinetics.by David T. Danielson.Ph.D

    Algal bioassessment metrics for wadeable streams and rivers of Maine, USA

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    Many state water-quality agencies use biological assessment methods based on lotic fish and macroinvertebrate communities, but relatively few states have incorporated algal multimetric indices into monitoring programs. Algae are good indicators for monitoring water quality because they are sensitive to many environmental stressors. We evaluated benthic algal community attributes along a landuse gradient affecting wadeable streams and rivers in Maine, USA, to identify potential bioassessment metrics. We collected epilithic algal samples from 193 locations across the state. We computed weighted-average optima for common taxa for total P, total N, specific conductance, % impervious cover, and % developed watershed, which included all land use that is no longer forest or wetland. We assigned Maine stream tolerance values and categories (sensitive, intermediate, tolerant) to taxa based on their optima and responses to watershed disturbance. We evaluated performance of algal community metrics used in multimetric indices from other regions and novel metrics based on Maine data. Metrics specific to Maine data, such as the relative richness of species characterized as being sensitive in Maine, were more correlated with % developed watershed than most metrics used in other regions. Few community-structure attributes (e.g., species richness) were useful metrics in Maine. Performance of algal bioassessment models would be improved if metrics were evaluated with attributes of local data before inclusion in multimetric indices or statistical models

    TB208: Biological Water Quality Standards to Achieve Biological Condition Goals in Maine Rivers and Streams: Science and Policy

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    This publication describes the philosophy, history, methodology, and management applications of numeric biological criteria in water quality standards in Maine. The presentation describes the decision-making process used by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (MDEP) for assessing attainment of aquatic life uses in water quality standards using benthic macroinvertebrates in Maine streams and rivers including eight case studies of management applications and the improved environmental outcomes that have resulted. The MDEP, University of Maine, and business and nonprofit stakeholders participated in the development and testing of Maine’s numeric biological criteria. This publication further discusses the broader relevance of numeric biological criteria in water quality management at both the state and federal levels and considers parallels and differences between Maine’s biological criteria and other biological assessment methods in the United States and the European Union.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/aes_techbulletin/1205/thumbnail.jp

    Localised plumes in three-dimensional compressible magnetoconvection

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    Within the umbrae of sunspots, convection is generally inhibited by the presence of strong vertical magnetic fields. However, convection is not completely suppressed in these regions: bright features, known as umbral dots, are probably associated with weak, isolated convective plumes. Motivated by observations of umbral dots, we carry out numerical simulations of three-dimensional, compressible magnetoconvection. By following solution branches into the subcritical parameter regime (a region of parameter space in which the static solution is linearly stable to convective perturbations), we find that it is possible to generate a solution which is characterised by a single, isolated convective plume. This solution is analogous to the steady magnetohydrodynamic convectons that have previously been found in two-dimensional calculations. These results can be related, in a qualitative sense, to observations of umbral dots.Comment: submitted to MNRA

    I've seen enough! Prolonged and repeated exposure to disgusting stimuli increases oculomotor avoidance

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    Disgust motivates avoidance of stimuli associated with pathogens. Although disgust primarily inhibits oral and epidermal contact, it may also inhibit perceptual contact, particularly given the outsize role of sensory qualities in eliciting disgust. To examine perceptual avoidance of disgust, we presented images of bodily products or spoiled food paired with neutral images for 12-s trials and recorded eye movements (Experiment 1; N= 127). We found that overall, these disgusting images were not visually avoided compared to neutral images. However, viewing of disgusting images decreased with prolonged (within-trial) and repeated (between-trial) exposure, and these trends were uniquely predicted by self-reported disgust to the images. In Experiment 2 (N = 84), we replicated Experiment 1 with a novel set of disgusting images, as well as other unpleasant image categories (suicide, threat) and pleasant images. We found that disgusting stimuli were viewed less than the other unpleasant image categories, and we again found that viewing of disgusting images decreased with prolonged and repeated exposure. Further, we replicated the finding that disgust ratings uniquely predicted decreasing viewing of disgusting images, but only for prolonged exposure (within-trial). Unexpectedly, we found that disgust ratings uniquely predicted a similar pattern of decreasing viewing for the suicide and threat images as well. These findings suggest that disgust inhibits perceptual contact, but in competition with motivational processes that steer attention towards pathogen threats. We discuss the implications for measuring disgust with eye tracking
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