Paul B. Sears: The Generalist as Teacher

Author Institution: Department of Botany, Duke UniversityPaul B. Sears’ early ecological interests continued to expand over 70 years into such areas as vegetation mapping, paleoecology, climate change and conservation. Few ecologists saw and understood the interactions of the earth’s biosphere in space and time as broadly as he did. He wrote that the laws of human society and those of nature often are not in harmony, and something must be done to ensure that the biosphere remains sustainable. His teaching started with his children; continued in the classroom and in one-to-one sessions with graduate students; and extended to his colleagues and the general public through his work in organizations, his lectures and his writing. Sears set an example for ecologists to act as citizens and teachers, as well as investigators

The plant associations of the Carson Desert Region, western Nevada

Except for scattered references of a generalized nature, little is recorded concerning the structure of vegetation in the arid and semi-arid portions of the western Great Basin. The delineation of the associations\u27 of a part of this area and their particular environments is the prime function of this paper

The Power+ Plan and citizen’s movement for just transition in Appalachia and beyond

In January 2015, President Obama announced a five-year plan to direct over $1 billion into economic transition and reclamation in Appalachia and elsewhere. The proposed POWER+ plan draws funds from the Abandoned Mine Lands Fund and from five federal agencies. Through 2015, the Alliance for Appalachia and other grassroots organizations lobbied local governments to support POWER+. Dozens of county governments across Central Appalachia have passed resolutions in support. This roundtable reflects on this remarkably successful mobilization for just transition policy. It analyzes POWER+ in historical context of past macrostructural shifts in the relationship of the Corporate to the Local State. Many of the panelists have been doing grassroots organizing to mobilize local governments and elected officials to endorse the POWER+ Plan. Others have been involved in earlier struggles to democratize the relationship between federal, state, and local levels of economic planning. The roundtable will seek to apply lessons from earlier eras of struggle to contemporary challenges of neoliberal globalization

Aquilegia, Vol. 37 No. 2 - Special Issue, 2013, Newsletter of the Colorado Native Plant Society

https://epublications.regis.edu/aquilegia/1142/thumbnail.jp

Analytical Simulations of Energy-Absorbing Impact Spheres for a Mars Sample Return Earth Entry Vehicle

Nonlinear dynamic finite element simulations were performed to aid in the design of an energy-absorbing impact sphere for a passive Earth Entry Vehicle (EEV) that is a possible architecture for the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission. The MSR EEV concept uses an entry capsule and energy-absorbing impact sphere designed to contain and limit the acceleration of collected samples during Earth impact without a parachute. The spherical shaped impact sphere is composed of solid hexagonal and pentagonal foam-filled cells with hybrid composite, graphite-epoxy/Kevlar cell walls. Collected Martian samples will fit inside a smaller spherical sample container at the center of the EEV's cellular structure. Comparisons were made of analytical results obtained using MSC.Dytran with test results obtained from impact tests performed at NASA Langley Research Center for impact velocities from 30 to 40 m/s. Acceleration, velocity, and deformation results compared well with the test results. The correlated finite element model was then used for simulations of various off-nominal impact scenarios. Off-nominal simulations at an impact velocity of 40 m/s included a rotated cellular structure impact onto a flat surface, a cellular structure impact onto an angled surface, and a cellular structure impact onto the corner of a step

NASA/CR-2002-211671 Analytical Simulations of Energy-Absorbing Impact Spheres for a Mars Sample Return Earth

Nonlinear dynamic finite element simulations have been performed to aid in the design of an energy-absorbing impact sphere for a highly reliable, passive Earth Entry Vehicle (EEV) that will be used in one possible architecture of the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission. Materials from asteroids, comets, or planets can be returned to Earth for scientific analysis using an EEV. The MSR EEV concept uses an entry capsule and energy-absorbing impact sphere designed to contain and limit the acceleration of collected samples during Earth impact. The spherical shaped impact sphere is composed of solid hexagonal and pentagonal foam-filled cells with hybrid composite, graphite-epoxy/Kevlar cell walls. Collected Martian samples will fit inside a smaller spherical sample container at the center of the EEV's cellular structure. Comparisons were made of analytical results obtained using MSC.Dytran with test results obtained from four impact tests performed at NASA Langley Research Center for impact velocities ranging from 30 to 40 m/s. Acceleration, velocity, and deformation results compared well with the test results. The correlated finite element model was then used for simulations that investigated the cellular structure dynamic response to various off-nominal impact scenarios. Off-nominal simulations included impacting a rotated cellular structure into a flat surface, a cellular structure impact into an angled surface, and a cellular structure impact into the corner of a step, all at an impact velocity of 40 m/s. The analytical results provided increased insight into the dynamic behavior of the cellular structure and identified areas for further study. iv Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Edwin (Ed) Fasanella for his direct input towards my research..

Back Talk from Appalachia: Confronting Stereotypes

Appalachia has long been stereotyped as a region of feuds, moonshine stills, mine wars, environmental destruction, joblessness, and hopelessness. Robert Schenkkan\u27s 1992 Pulitzer-Prize winning play The Kentucky Cycle once again adopted these stereotypes, recasting the American myth as a story of repeated failure and poverty—the failure of the American spirit and the poverty of the American soul. Dismayed by national critics\u27 lack of attention to the negative depictions of mountain people in the play, a group of Appalachian scholars rallied against the stereotypical representations of the region\u27s people. In Back Talk from Appalachia, these writers talk back to the American mainstream, confronting head-on those who view their home region one-dimensionally. The essays, written by historians, literary scholars, sociologists, creative writers, and activists, provide a variety of responses. Some examine the sources of Appalachian mythology in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literature. Others reveal personal experiences and examples of grassroots activism that confound and contradict accepted images of hillbillies. The volume ends with a series of critiques aimed directly at The Kentucky Cycle and similar contemporary works that highlight the sociological, political, and cultural assumptions about Appalachia fueling today\u27s false stereotypes. An exciting and provocative new collection. -- Appalachian Journal An important book. -- Arkansas Historical Quarterly Thought-provoking, admirably accessible to nonspecialist readers, and offers an excellent introduction to Appalachian regional studies. Essential reading for anyone interested in contemporary and historic Appalachia, it is also a model regional study that provides an excellent comparative perspective for scholars and students of other American regions. -- Choice A challenge to \u27monolithic pejorative, and unquestioned\u27 images of Appalachia. -- Chronicle of Higher Education Social theory, history, literature, personal experience, and activism are successfully bound, and issues of race and gender are not neglected. . . . For scholars of the southern Appalachian region the volume is indispensable. -- Contemporary Sociology An interesting and diverse collection. -- Filson Club History Quarterly Presents a broad view of a region diverse in population, social issues, and history. -- Florida Historical Quarterly Addresses the origins and perpetuation of these disparaging stereotypes, and offers writers\u27 personal experiences growing up or living in Appalachia. -- Goldenseal Provides provocative and insightful essays about this much-maligned region of the United States. -- Kentucky Monthly One does come away with a better idea of why Appalachians are seen as they are. -- Lexington Herald-Leader Every subject is covered from AIDS to rednecks to labor activism to the coalfields to race and gender. -- Library Booknotes Addresses the origins of stereotypes of literature from the region, looks at labor and advocacy movements in Appalachia during this century, offers writers\u27 personal glimpses of growing up or living in the region, and ends by highlighting the stereotypes and broad generalizations that characterize \u27The Kentucky Cycle.\u27 -- McCormick (SC) Messenger A book that attempts to do a lot, and succeeds on the whole. -- Mountain Eagle Now we have this thought-provoking collection of essays of the country we northerners knew so little about. -- Oakland (MI) Press The essays, which share the goal of refuting the ongoing stereotyping of the region, are written from a variety of perspectives—anthropologists, sociologists, fiction writers, historians, health care activists, political scientists, to name a few. -- Ohioana Quarterly Poring through the book\u27s pages, readers, Appalachian readers especially, will experience a wide range of reactions—anger, humor and pride foremost among them. -- Paintsville Herald Containing essays written by some of the region’s leading scholars, activists, and artists—the list of contributors itself testifies to the creativity of the people in the region and to the contributions Appalachians have made to the nation. -- Register of the Kentucky Historical Society These important, provocative essays are an outstanding contribution to Appalachian studies scholarship, but they are also quite accessible to non-specialists. -- Tennessee Librarian Gurney Norman was selected as Poet Laureate for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_appalachian_studies/1027/thumbnail.jp

The Telling Takes Us Home: A Panel Responding to the Appalachian “People’s Pastoral”

The groundbreaking 1975 pastoral letter of the Roman Catholic bishops of Appalachia, “This Land is Home to Me,” had a profound impact within the Catholic community and beyond. Unlike most church documents, the pastoral was written “from below,” organized by the Catholic Committee of Appalachia (CCA), a grassroots network of lay people, religious sisters, and activists influenced by liberation theology and the Catholic Worker Movement. The power of the document’s rendering of the Appalachian narrative and its vision of faith and justice was recognized in the Appalachian Studies community, especially in the way it honored the dignity of everyday people by listening to their stories and their hopes for change before daring to suggest possibilities for action. Twenty years later, CCA organized an anniversary bishops’ pastoral on sustainable communities in Appalachia called “At Home in the Web of Life” which anticipated, by two decades, themes present in Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’. In late 2015, CCA published a third pastoral, “The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us.” As a “People’s Pastoral,” this document continues the method of listening first to the stories of the people, but unlike the original documents, CCA did not seek authoritative signatures from the region’s bishops. Instead, the document lifts up the authority of the “magisterium of the poor and of Earth” and urges people of faith to respond. In this session, a diverse panel of academics, ministers, and activists will discuss the new document\u27s message and potential regional impact among religious activists, and the document’s lead author will also offer a response