A Retrospective Time Series Analysis Of Oyster, Crassostrea Virginica, Recruitment (1946-1993)

Temporal patterns of eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin 1791), spatfall in the Virginia tributary rivers to the Chesapeake Bay showed a decline in all rivers from 1946 through the early 1970s, with a subsequent leveling off. The decline was most severe in the James and less so moving north to the York and Rappahannock Rivers; it was least severe in the Potomac River. Yearling patterns generally mirrored the spat. Cluster analyses grouped the bars naturally by up- and downriver spatfall patterns. They also clustered this way when between-river comparisons were made. Spatfall showed a significant cross-correlation with yearlings a year later in all Virginia rivers, which suggests that the \u27\u27yearling\u27\u27 designation was accurate and that spat counts may be used to predict yearling abundance. The relation of spat to later seed was significant for the James River at 2 and 3 y, but none was found between spat and market oyster. James River seed demonstrated a slightly significant relation to market oyster 4 y later. Regression analyses between spat counts and spring and summer water temperatures and river discharge produced little explanation of spat variation. There was, however, a significant relation between spat count and the Palmer Drought Index. The drought index is a combination of rainfall, soil type, and evapotranspiration. When the period of the greatest change in the drought index was correlated with spatfall, there was found to be a significant 2- to 4-y lag. We suggest that this reflects a response by the ecosystem to changing environmental conditions

Pests of Hemp in Utah

This guide includes information on insect and disease pests of hemp, organized by pest group. Much of the content is a result of a two-year arthropod and plant disease survey of field-grown hemp operations in northern Utah. Some pests included in this guide were not found in that survey but may be likely to occur in the future. Beneficials and natural enemies are also covered, and information on pesticides is included

Fostering success in reading: a survey of teaching methods and collaboration practices of high performing elementary schools in Texas

This study examined reading programs in 68 Texas elementary schools that were identified as successful by their scores on TAAS assessment results in the 1999-2000 school year. These schools student populations had a high proportion of culturally diverse and low-SES students. The purposes of this study were: (1) to determine if and how teaching methods and collaboration (intervention/support teams) were used by effective schools to foster reading success in all students; (2) to identify cohesive patterns (clusters) or models in schools use of collaboration and teaching methods; (3) to examine these clusters of similar schools and see if the patterns differed based on the school/community demography (urban, suburban, or rural). The study was conducted in 68 schools in 33 school districts that represented various demographic settings from 12 different Education Service Centers across Texas. From these original 332 variables, 26 variables were selected that were of medium frequency and strongly correlated with high TAAS scores over a 4- year period. These 26 variables were used to examine the 68 high-performing Texas elementary schools for clusters. K-means analysis and HCA were both applied to the 26 response variables, using them as complementary techniques to arrive at a five cluster solution. Results from correlations of individual characteristics and from identifying school clusters suggested that school community type could possibly be moderately predictive of student performance on the TAAS/TAKS over time

A rapid and efficient isogeometric design space exploration framework with application to structural mechanics

In this paper, we present an isogeometric analysis framework for design space exploration. While the methodology is presented in the setting of structural mechanics, it is applicable to any system of parametric partial differential equations. The design space exploration framework elucidates design parameter sensitivities used to inform initial and early-stage design. Moreover, this framework enables the visualization of a full system response, including the displacement and stress fields throughout the domain, by providing an approximation to the system solution vector. This is accomplished through a collocation-like approach where various geometries throughout the design space under consideration are sampled. The sampling scheme follows a quadrature rule while the physical solutions to these sampled geometries are obtained through an isogeometric method. A surrogate model to the design space solution manifold is constructed through either an interpolating polynomial or pseudospectral expansion. Examples of this framework are presented with applications to the Scordelis–Lo roof, a Flat L-Bracket, and an NREL 5 MW wind turbine blade

Establishment of Requirements and Methodology for the Development and Implementation of GreyMatters, a Memory Clinic Information System

INTRODUCTION: The aim of the paper is to establish the requirements and methodology for the development process of GreyMatters, a memory clinic system, outlining the conceptual, practical, technical and ethical challenges, and the experiences of capturing clinical and research oriented data along with the implementation of the system. METHODS: The methodology for development of the information system involved phases of requirements gathering, modeling and prototype creation, and 'bench testing' the prototype with experts. The standard Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) recommended approach for the specifications of software requirements was adopted. An electronic health record (EHR) standard, EN13606 was used, and clinical modelling was done through archetypes and the project complied with data protection and privacy legislation. RESULTS: The requirements for GreyMatters were established. Though the initial development was complex, the requirements, methodology and standards adopted made the construction, deployment, adoption and population of a memory clinic and research database feasible. The electronic patient data including the assessment scales provides a rich source of objective data for audits and research and to establish study feasibility and identify potential participants for the clinical trials. CONCLUSION: The establishment of requirements and methodology, addressing issues of data security and confidentiality, future data compatibility and interoperability and medico-legal aspects such as access controls and audit trails, led to a robust and useful system. The evaluation supports that the system is an acceptable tool for clinical, administrative, and research use and forms a useful part of the wider information architecture

Publication trends among emergency medicine residents, fellows, and graduates and its relationship to future academic achievement

Purpose: Scholastic activity through research involvement is a fundamental aspect of a physician's training, and may have a significant influence on residency and fellowship match success. Despite this fact, little is known regarding the pursuit of academia and/or fellowships in emergency medicine graduates. In this review, we will (1) describe factors involved in academic research including peer-reviewed publications among emergency medicine residency graduates and (2) determine if a relationship exists between publication rates before, during, and after emergency medicine residency.Methods: Using a cross-sectional study design, we analyzed the research output of emergency medicine graduates and its relationship to future academic involvement from a random sample of 50 emergency medicine programs' graduates. Data were extracted for each graduate and analyzed using STATA 15.1 and Microsoft Excel. A public protocol is available here: https://osf.io/pwa6d/.Results: Using Doximity, we identified 238 emergency medicine residency programs of which we sampled 50. Of the 50 included programs, 6 programs were included, amounting in 154 graduates available for analysis. Of the 154 analyzed graduates, 97 (63.0%) were male, 91 (59.1%) were osteopathic graduates, and 91 (59.1%) had zero publications. Additionally, we found that 26/154 (16.9%) pursued academia and 16/164 (10.4%) pursued a fellowship, with 4/16 (25%) in medical toxicology and 4/16 (25%) in emergency medical services. The mean number of publications for each graduate was 0.87. Of the graduates with research, more research was published on average after graduation from residency (0.42) compared to before residency (0.17) and during residency (0.34).Conclusion: While a majority of psychiatry graduate's publications were post-residency, many publications occurred during residency, with the lowest number of publications occurring pre-residency