Caution: Do Not Bleach!

In this lesson, students will investigate the importance of coral reefs to the Earth as a whole and learn some possible explanations for the phenomenon known as "coral bleaching". They should be able to identify ways that coral reefs benefit human beings, identify major threats to reefs and discuss how they might be reduced or eliminated, describe the Coral Reef Early Warning System, and discuss why corals might expel their zooxanthellae (symbiotic algae) when under stress. Educational levels: High school, Middle school, Undergraduate lower division

Data policy and availability supporting global change research, development, and decision-making: An information perspective

An explosion of information has created a crisis for today's information age. It has to be determined how to use the best available information sources, tools, and technology. To do this it is necessary to have leadership at the interagency level to promote a coherent information policy. It is also important to find ways to educate the users of information regarding the tools available to them. Advances in technology resulted in efforts to shift from Disciplinary and Mission-oriented Systems to Decision Support Systems and Personalized Information Systems. One such effort is being made by the Interagency Working Group on Data Management for Global Change (IAWGDMGC). Five federal agencies - the Department of Commerce (DOC), Department of Energy (DOE), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Library of Medicine (NLM), and Department of Defense (DOD) - have an on-going cooperative information management group, CENDI (Commerce, Energy, NASA, NLM, and Defense Information), that is meeting the challenge of coordinating and integrating their information management systems. Although it is beginning to be technically feasible to have a system with text, bibliographic, and numeric data online for the user to manipulate at the user's own workstation, it will require national recognition that the resource investment in such a system is worthwhile, in order to promote its full development. It also requires close cooperation between the producers and users of the information - that is, the research and policy community, and the information community. National resources need to be mobilized in a coordinated manner to move people into the next generation of information support systems

A systematic approach to defense diversification

The decline in defense spending has resulted in defense dependent companies seeking new markets through re-designing existing products, developing new products and restructuring their businesses. Defense diversification is defined as the process of transitioning a defense company\u27s core capabilities (technologies, products, services) into commercial and non-Department of Defense government markets. A combination of site visits and review of the literature on defense diversification demonstrates the need for diversifying companies to adopt a systematic approach. A concurrent new product development/product redevelopment model is proposed, based on the principles of concurrent engineering. The model consists of an eight phase development cycle and a set of enablers which are the key supporting processes and practices. A phased sales cycle was formulated for a diversifying, defense dependent company. A survey of a sample of successful and unsuccessful companies in the different stages of diversification and a commercial company was performed using a questionnaire developed for this purpose. The survey responses were quantified using a scoring methodology devised as part of this thesis. The higher the score, the better the chances of success for a company in defense diversification. An analysis of the survey responses, together with company specific factors and changes, validated the fundamental applicability of the model

Post-Westgate SWAT : C4ISTAR Architectural Framework for Autonomous Network Integrated Multifaceted Warfighting Solutions Version 1.0 : A Peer-Reviewed Monograph

Police SWAT teams and Military Special Forces face mounting pressure and challenges from adversaries that can only be resolved by way of ever more sophisticated inputs into tactical operations. Lethal Autonomy provides constrained military/security forces with a viable option, but only if implementation has got proper empirically supported foundations. Autonomous weapon systems can be designed and developed to conduct ground, air and naval operations. This monograph offers some insights into the challenges of developing legal, reliable and ethical forms of autonomous weapons, that address the gap between Police or Law Enforcement and Military operations that is growing exponentially small. National adversaries are today in many instances hybrid threats, that manifest criminal and military traits, these often require deployment of hybrid-capability autonomous weapons imbued with the capability to taken on both Military and/or Security objectives. The Westgate Terrorist Attack of 21st September 2013 in the Westlands suburb of Nairobi, Kenya is a very clear manifestation of the hybrid combat scenario that required military response and police investigations against a fighting cell of the Somalia based globally networked Al Shabaab terrorist group.Comment: 52 pages, 6 Figures, over 40 references, reviewed by a reade

Knott\u27s Berry Farm: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow A Consideration

Terry E. Van Gorder commissioned Jack Ryan to write a white paper on Knott\u27s Berry Farm in which the following issues were addressed: what was Knott\u27s Berry Farm?, what is Knott\u27s Berry Farm?, what could Knott\u27s Berry Farm be?, what should Knott\u27s Berry Farm be?, and address issues such as the public\u27s perception of Knott\u27s Berry Farm and Knott\u27s Berry Farm\u27s current communications to the public. The white paper includes the following sections: Introduction, What Knott\u27s was..., What Knott\u27s is..., What Knott\u27s could be..., What Knott\u27s should be..., Knott\u27s and public relations..., And in conclusion..., Appendix I. Demographic projections, and Apendix II. Alternate marketing lines. This pdf. includes handwritten notes in the margins of the white paper, the letter from Terry Van Gorder to Jack Ryan commissioning the white paper , as well as a report titled A Proposal for The California Marketplace at Knott\u27s Berry Farm by Halcyon Ltd., Development Consultants

Spider Community Composition and Structure In A Shrub-Steppe Ecosystem: The Effects of Prey Availability and Shrub Architecture

Habitat structure is an important driver of many ecological patterns and processes, but few studies investigate whether habitat structure interacts with other environmental variables to affect community dynamics. The main objective of this study was to disentangle the relative importance of prey availability and shrub architecture on the distribution, abundance, and biodiversity of spiders of northern Utah, USA. We conducted field experiments which focused on: (1) describing the importance of these factors on spider community organization, (2) specifically evaluating whether prey availability mediates the relationship between shrub architecture and spider abundance and biodiversity, and (3) investigating spider and prey responses to manipulations of surrounding vegetation structures. For the first two experiments, big sagebrush shrubs were randomly assigned to six experimental treatments: two levels of prey attractant (shrubs were either baited or not baited) and three levels of foliage density (low, natural/control, or high). The purpose of manipulating both prey availability and shrub architecture was to delineate their significance to spiders. For the last experiment, changes in these factors were investigated at two different levels of spatial context (a single manipulated shrub surrounded by untreated shrubs vs. a manipulated shrub surrounded by a patch of similarly treated shrubs). We found both prey availability and shrub architecture directly influenced patterns of spider abundance and species richness and that spider species diversity and community composition varied in response to shrub architecture alone. Preferences of some spiders for certain shrub types likely reflect differences in foraging strategies or the substrate required to support different types of webs. We also demonstrate that spider response to shrub architecture is the result of multiple processes (i.e., a combination of direct and indirect effects via prey availability) and that surrounding vegetation structures affect spider abundances on shrubs. In addition, prey composition varied among different shrub foliage density treatments, but only when surrounding vegetation structures were also manipulated. More generally, this study suggests that ecological responses to habitat structure are in part mediated by associated variables and the significance of shrub architecture varies depending on the organisms examined and the spatial scale to which they respond most strongly

Green infrastructure and ecosystem services - is the devil in the detail?

Background - Green infrastructure is a strategic network of green spaces designed to deliver ecosystem services to human communities. Green infrastructure is a convenient concept for urban policy makers, but the term is used too-generically and with limited understanding of the relative values or benefits of different types of green space and how these complement one another. At a finer scale/more practical level– little consideration is given to the composition of the plant-communities, yet this is what ultimately defines extent of service provision. This paper calls for greater attention to be paid to urban plantings with respect to ecosystem service delivery and for plant science to engage more-fully in identifying those plants that promote various services. Scope - Many urban plantings are designed based on aesthetics alone, with limited thought on how plant choice/composition provides other ecosystem services. Research is beginning to demonstrate, however, that landscape plants provide a range of important services, such as helping mitigate floods and alleviating heat islands, but that not all species are equally effective. The paper reviews a number of important services and demonstrates how genotype choice radically affects service delivery. Conclusions – Although research is in its infancy, data is being generated that relates plant traits to specific services; thereby helping identify genotypes that optimise service delivery. The urban environment, however, will become exceedingly bland if future planting is simply restricted to monocultures of a few ‘functional’ genotypes. Therefore, further information is required on how to design plant communities where the plants identified:- a/ provide more than a single benefit (multi-functionality) b/ complement each other in maximising the range of benefits that can be delivered in one location and c/ continue to maintain public acceptance through diversity. The identification/development of functional landscape plants is an exciting and potentially high impact arena for plant science