Lucius Chittenden\u27s journey to the inside of the earth transcribed and annotated by Michael N. Stanton.

Occasional paper (University of Vermont. Center for Research on Vermont) ; #17. Introduction -- A note on the text -- [ To the inside of the Earth! ] -- The nebular hypothesis -- Chambers makes planets -- They plan the expedition -- Las diablos del Volcan -- A discussion concerning air and heat -- Appendix : the discussion -- A note on the transcriber and annotater

Master\u27s Project: Assessing Unpaved Road Runoff in the Mad River Watershed of Central Vermont

Over half of the local town roads in Vermont are unpaved (VBB, 2009). In the Mad River Watershed of central Vermont, 58% of the roads are unpaved. These compacted surfaces, despite their lack of tar, provide hundreds of miles of impermeable surfaces that extend the stream network, and transport runoff and pollutants to our water bodies. In this project, 12 sites within the Mad River watershed were monitored with the goal of evaluating the amount of runoff that is generated on the road surface itself as compared to flow that enters roadside ditches via groundwater seeps and overland flow from adjacent land. Each site was monitored for stage using an ISCO 6712 Automated Water Sampling Unit with an attached pressure transducer, and rating curves were developed from manual volume measurements in order to connect stage values with runoff volumes. Each site was mapped to determine the contributing road surface drainage area, and these values were compared to the slope of linear regressions developed for storm precipitation and runoff totals. Modeled road surface hydrographs were developed for 11 of the 12 sites, using the rational method, and were compared to hydrographs developed using measured runoff. One-quarter of the sites appear to have regular runoff contributions that originate outside of the bounds of the mapped drainage area. Five of the eleven sites also displayed seasonal variations where runoff originated outside of the mapped road surface area during times of greater land saturation. These results indicate that roads can sometimes contribute far more than just the runoff that is generated on their surface alone, and that the quantity and occurrence of these external contributions may increase with an increase in the drainage source area that can be seen in seasons when the ground is saturated

Ecoenzymes as Indicators of Compost to Suppress Rhizoctonia solani

Reports of disease suppression by compost are inconsistent likely because there are no established standards for feedstock material, maturity age for application, and application rate. The overall goal of the study was to evaluate a suite of biological indicators for their ability to predict disease suppression. Indicators included both commercial available methods for compost stability (Solvita™, respiration) and metrics of soil ecology not yet adopted by the compost industry (e.g., ecoenzymes, nematode community index). Damping-off by Rhizoctonia solani on radish was chosen as a model system given its global importance, competitiveness affected by carbon quality, and lack of disease management options for organic production. Biological indicators were evaluated for their ability to consistently differentiate among curing process, maturity, and feedstock material as a function of disease severity of a seedling bioassay and a compost extract assay to test competition with R. solani growth. Compost processed as vermicompost and anaerobic digestate were more suppressive against R. solani than windrow or aerated static pile. Mature composts were more suppressive than immature components. Feedstocks containing dairy manure and/or hardwood bark tended to have suppressive qualities. In contrast, poultry manure-based components were conducive to disease. Microbial ecoenzymes active on chitin and cellulose and nematode community indices were better predictors of disease suppressiveness than microbial respiration. These indicators are quicker than plant bioassays and could be adopted as tools to certify commercial products

Rates of erosion and landscape change along the Blue Ridge escarpment, southern Appalachian Mountains, estimated from in situ cosmogenic 10Be

The Blue Ridge escarpment, located within the southern Appalachian Mountains of Virginia and North Carolina, forms a distinct, steep boundary between the lower-elevation Piedmont and higher-elevation Blue Ridge physiographic provinces. To understand better the rate at which this landform and the adjacent landscape are changing, we measured cosmogenic 10Be in quartz separated from sediment samples (n = 50) collected in thirty-two streams and from three exposed bedrock outcrops along four transects normal to the escarpment, allowing us to calculate erosion rates integrated over 104–105 years. These basin-averaged erosion rates (5.4–49 m My-1) are consistent with those measured elsewhere in the southern Appalachians and show a positive relationship between erosion rate and average basin slope. Erosion rates show no relationship with basin size or relative position of the Brevard fault zone, a fundamental structural element of the region. The cosmogenic isotopic data, when considered along with the distribution of average basin slopes in each physiographic province, suggest that the escarpment is eroding on average more rapidly than the Blue Ridge uplands, which are eroding more rapidly than the Piedmont lowlands. This difference in erosion rates by geomorphic setting suggests that the elevation difference between the uplands and lowlands adjacent to the escarpment is being reduced but at extremely slow rates

Ski areas, weather and climate: Time series models for New England case studies

Wintertime warming trends experienced in recent decades, and predicted to increase in the future, present serious challenges for ski areas and whole regions that depend on winter tourism. Most research on this topic examines past or future climate-change impacts at yearly to decadal resolution, to obtain a perspective on climate-change impacts. We focus instead on local-scale impacts of climate variability, using detailed daily data from two individual ski areas. Our analysis fits ARMAX (autoregressive moving average with exogenous variables) time series models that predict day-to-day variations in skier attendance from a combination of mountain and urban weather, snow cover and cyclical factors. They explain half to two-thirds of the variation in these highly erratic series, with no residual autocorrelation. Substantively, model results confirm the backyard hypothesis that urban snow conditions significantly affect skier activity; quantify these effects alongside those of mountain snow and weather; show that previous-day conditions provide a practical time window; find no monthly effects net of weather; and underline the importance of a handful of high-attendance days in making or breaking the season. Viewed in the larger context of climate change, our findings suggest caution regarding the efficacy of artificial snowmaking as an adaptive strategy, and of smoothed yearly summaries to characterize the timing-sensitive impacts of weather (and hence, high-variance climate change) on skier activity. These results elaborate conclusions from our previous annual-level analysis. More broadly, they illustrate the potential for using ARMAX models to conduct integrated, dynamic analysis across environmental and social domains

New England Has the Highest Increase in Income Disparity in the Nation

New England is a generally prosperous region and its residents are doing relatively well economically (see Table 1). Yet, between 1989 and 2004, the region experienced the largest increase in income inequality in the country. Much of this widening gap between rich and poor was driven by growth among the top earners, but the changes are not simply the "rich getting richer." Rather, they reflect the hollowing out of the middle caused by significant changes in the nation's economy. The loss of manufacturing employment for low-skilled workers has been coupled with increased demand, and rewards, for high-skilled and high tech employment. These shifts were more pronounced in New England because of the region's highly educated population, strong research and development base, and relatively high cost of business operations, which pushes low-skilled jobs elsewhere

A comparison of presettlement and modern forest composition along an elevation gradient in central New Hampshire

Tree species composition is influenced not only by edaphic and climatic factors but also by natural and human-caused disturbances. To understand interactions among these influences, we compared forest species composition data from the time of European settlement with modern data. We derived elevation data for 2529 trees mapped by early land surveys (1770–1850) across a 1000 m elevation gradient in central New Hampshire and compared these with modern data (2004–2009) from the Forest Inventory and Analysis program (123 plots containing 2126 trees) and from permanent plots representing case studies of different land-use histories. Spruce and beech are much less abundant today at all elevations than they were prior to settlement, while maples and birches have increased. Fir, hemlock, pines, and oaks have changed little in distribution, although pines and oaks increased in abundance somewhat. Land-use history (agriculture below 500 m and cutting of various intensities at all elevations) is likely the primary explanation for these shifts, although climate change is also an important factor for some. A clearer understanding of presettlement forest composition improves our ability to separate the relative importance of natural and human-driven influences on the species composition of today’s forests

The Greening of Social Capital: An Examination of Land-Based Groups in Two Vermont Counties

By undertaking a census of all agricultural, outdoor recreational, and environmental groups (land-based groups) in two adjacent counties in Vermont, we demonstrate the dramatic increase of local environmental groups in the last 15 years. Building on the methodologies of Kempton et al. (2001), we first show that official lists of nonprofit groups-from the Vermont Secretary of State, the Internal Revenue Service, and local grassroots directories-significantly undercount local environmental groups. Second, we show that since the mid-1980s, the number and membership roles of local autonomous environmental groups have grown rapidly relative to all other types of local and non-local land-based groups in these counties. This article provides preliminary evidence of the recent "greening of social capital."civic engagement, social capital, environmental policy

Can Comparative Risk Be Used to Develop Better Environmental Decisions?

This thesis investigates the design of atria for daylighting in large scale buildings. Athree dimensional test building with a central atrium was constructed and various parameters of the atrium altered. The impact of these changes was studied through computer simulations of annual daylight distribution by implementing state of theart software. Daylight autonomy is simulated for an annual climate file for Stockholm, Sweden. In the thesis, notion is made of basic daylighting concepts, the importance of bringing daylight into buildings is argued, and the daylighting criteria of three environmental certification tools introduced. Furthermore, a detailed comparison is made on several well known daylight simulation tools. A newly developed, state of the art, daylight simulation tool called Honeybee, is used in the simulation process. The tool utilizes the calculation engines of wellknown daylight simulation software Radiance and Daysim, which apply backward ray-tracing to reach accurate results. Honeybee is coupled to the graphical algorithmeditor Grasshopper for Rhinoceros 3D, which allows for an efficient way of parametric modelling. The comparison of five different daylight simulation tools showed that Honeybee outweighs the capabilities of many of them by offering a wast range of simulation capabilities and also giving the user exceptional control of result data within multiple zones of the test building. The results of the daylight study have been compiled into a document which purpose is to serve as early stage design guidelines of atria for architects. Many factors have been shown through simulation to have a dramatic impact on daylighton an annual basis, and several suggestions have been made on how to maximize the quantity of daylight within buildings containing atria

Closing the Loop: Creating Deliverables That Add Value

As special collections librarians and liaison librarians work together to create in­novative experiences working with primary source material, it is important to remember students have much to offer in the collaborative design process. In this case study, Prudence Doherty, a special collections librarian, and Daniel DeSanto, an instruction librarian, describe a project they initiated and implemented with upper-level education majors at the University of Vermont (UVM). The students were pre-service teachers (student teachers working toward degree and licensure) enrolled in Social Education and Social Studies, a course that focuses on teaching methods, assessment alternatives, and resources used in the elementary (K–4) classroom. The project gave the pre-service teachers an opportunity to work with three digital collections in order to design lesson plans for elementary-aged stu­dents. The project closed the loop of learn, create, and teach by requiring students to learn evaluative approaches to working with historical material and then create lesson plans based on those approaches. By creating professional resources for other teachers, the students added value to the digital collections