Eighteenth-Century New England Climate Variation and its Suggested Impact on Society

This article discusses the impact of weather extremes on the people of New England in the eighteenth century

MP731: New England Killing Frost Records by Zone

This publication provides a deeper look at the killing frost data that is analyzed and summarized in Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station Bulletin 846. The presentation in Bulletin 846 is designed to help planners and analysts. Individual readers, historians, botanists, agronomists, ecologists, and others may find a deeper look at the materials useful. Miscellaneous Publication 731 provides those data by climate zone on a yearly basis.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/aes_miscpubs/1026/thumbnail.jp

Book Reviews

Reviews of the following books: Ordinary People and Everyday Life edited by James B. Gardner and George Rollie Adams; Those Who Stayed Behind: Rural Society in Nineteenth Century New England by Hal S. Barro

B846: Growing Season Parameter Reconstructions for New England Using Killing Frost Records, 1697-1947

In New England, killing frosts in the late spring and early fall mark the limits of the region\u27s growing seasons. Over the years, farmers have tried to anticipate when to plant and when to harvest to safely prevent their crops from experiencing the harmful effects of freezing. As a hedge against failing memory, some farmers kept notes on when killing frosts occurred so that they could more readily calculate in the years to come when to sow and when to reap. Some of these notes have survived and are now preserved in archives and libraries across the region, or remain the proud possessions of later generations of the same families. The growing season records reconstructed for this bulletin are based on data taken from these diaries, farm journals, notebooks, and scraps of paper and represent the observations of several generations of New England farmers.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/aes_bulletin/1039/thumbnail.jp

Frost-Free Record Reconstruction for Eastern Massachusetts, 1733-1980

A reconstruction methodology utilizing such varied documents as diaries, agricultural journals, U.S. Weather Bureau killing frost records and instrumental records is discussed. A resultant 248-year frost record for eastern Massachusetts exhibits marked variations in the length of the growing season, that occur on a time scale of approximately 70 years. There is an apparent systematic long-term relationship between the timing of spring and fall killing frosts and the last 100 years of record reveals a decline in year-to-year variability

B771: Long-Time Series Temperature and Precipitation Records for Maine, 1808-1978

The purpose of this Bulletin is to reconstruct a series of long run temperature and precipitation instrumental records for Maine (monthly means and accumulations). We hope that the data tables and graphs produced here will be of use to climatologists and other researchers and to Maine residents who are interested in the climatic history of the state. To aid in reconstruction, regional records were formed by grouping records from several geographical locations. Much of the data reproduced here have been published elsewhere in a wide variety of publications. Some are found easily in libraries while others are not readily available. A small number of records are published here for the first time. A bibliography of source materials, organized by region and then location is provided for those wishing to consult the original records.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/aes_bulletin/1132/thumbnail.jp

Climate Fluctuation and Agricultural Change in Southern and Central New England, 1765-1880

This article discusses the theory that previous discussions of the decline of Maine population in the period 1765-1880 failed the address the impact of weather fluctuations on the society of Maine

The Ritvo Autism Asperger Diagnostic Scale-Revised (RAADS-R): A Scale to Assist the Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder in Adults: An International Validation Study

The Ritvo Autism Asperger Diagnostic Scale-Revised (RAADS-R) is a valid and reliable instrument to assist the diagnosis of adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The 80-question scale was administered to 779 subjects (201 ASD and 578 comparisons). All ASD subjects met inclusion criteria: DSM-IV-TR, ADI/ADOS diagnoses and standardized IQ testing. Mean scores for each of the questions and total mean ASD vs. the comparison groups’ scores were significantly different (p < .0001). Concurrent validity with Constantino Social Responsiveness Scale-Adult = 95.59%. Sensitivity = 97%, specificity = 100%, test–retest reliability r = .987. Cronbach alpha coefficients for the subscales and 4 derived factors were good. We conclude that the RAADS-R is a useful adjunct diagnostic tool for adults with ASD

Self-Affirmation Improves Problem-Solving under Stress

High levels of acute and chronic stress are known to impair problem-solving and creativity on a broad range of tasks. Despite this evidence, we know little about protective factors for mitigating the deleterious effects of stress on problem-solving. Building on previous research showing that self-affirmation can buffer stress, we tested whether an experimental manipulation of self-affirmation improves problem-solving performance in chronically stressed participants. Eighty undergraduates indicated their perceived chronic stress over the previous month and were randomly assigned to either a self-affirmation or control condition. They then completed 30 difficult remote associate problem-solving items under time pressure in front of an evaluator. Results showed that self-affirmation improved problem-solving performance in underperforming chronically stressed individuals. This research suggests a novel means for boosting problem-solving under stress and may have important implications for understanding how self-affirmation boosts academic achievement in school settings. © 2013 Creswell et al

The 2012 Interferometric Imaging Beauty Contest

We present the results of the fifth Interferometric Imaging Beauty Contest. The contest consists in blind imaging of test data sets derived from model sources and distributed in the OIFITS format. Two scenarios of imaging with CHARA/MIRC-6T were offered for reconstruction: imaging a T Tauri disc and imaging a spotted red supergiant. There were eight different teams competing this time: Monnier with the software package MACIM; Hofmann, Schertl and Weigelt with IRS; Thi\'ebaut and Soulez with MiRA ; Young with BSMEM; Mary and Vannier with MIROIRS; Millour and Vannier with independent BSMEM and MiRA entries; Rengaswamy with an original method; and Elias with the radio-astronomy package CASA. The contest model images, the data delivered to the contestants and the rules are described as well as the results of the image reconstruction obtained by each method. These results are discussed as well as the strengths and limitations of each algorithm