Interview of Michael R. Smith

Michael R. Smith is an alumnus of La Salle University, Class of 1982, with a degree in accounting. He was born in 1960 at Nazareth Hospital in the Greater Northeast section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He grew up along the Roosevelt Boulevard of Northeast Philadelphia in the Holmes Circle neighborhood. He attended and graduated from Father Judge Catholic High School in Philadelphia in 1978. He decided upon La Salle University and attended La Salle as an accounting major from 1978 to 1982, the latter being his graduation year. Legacy wise, Michael is one of many La Salle graduates in his family, including his father, sister, brother, two uncles, and two cousins. His sister also taught at La Salle University, as well, and she encouraged Michael to attend here especially. Michael commuted to the La Salle campus and was part of the commuter culture at the school, especially with other students from Northeast Philadelphia. Michael participated in intramural swimming and water polo on campus, and he played a lot of pinochle with his campus friends. Academically, his favorite professor was Pete Sweeney in accounting, who taught Michael principled conservative accounting, as well as professional ethics. Michael also did a quasi-internship while at La Salle at Kay Automotive in Philadelphia, where he worked as an accountant. This was his first full-time career job upon graduation. Michael has since gone on to careers in financial and business management, and he applauds the strong La Salle accounting network for alumni throughout the country. Today, he is the father of a 19-year-old daughter at Bloomsburg University, and he lives vicariously through her, encouraging her to take advantage of aspects of college life that he neglected while an undergraduate. Michael currently resides in Morrisville, Pennsylvania

Long-term performance of Aanderaa optodes and Sea-Bird SBE-43 dissolved-oxygen sensors bottom mounted at 32 m in Massachusetts Bay

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2007. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 24 (2007): 1924-1935, doi:10.1175/JTECH2078.1.A field evaluation of two new dissolved-oxygen sensing technologies, the Aanderaa Instruments AS optode model 3830 and the Sea-Bird Electronics, Inc., model SBE43, was carried out at about 32-m water depth in western Massachusetts Bay. The optode is an optical sensor that measures fluorescence quenching by oxygen molecules, while the SBE43 is a Clark polarographic membrane sensor. Optodes were continuously deployed on bottom tripod frames by exchanging sensors every 4 months over a 19-month period. A Sea-Bird SBE43 was added during one 4-month deployment. These moored observations compared well with oxygen measurements from profiles collected during monthly shipboard surveys conducted by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. The mean correlation coefficient between the moored measurements and shipboard survey data was >0.9, the mean difference was 0.06 mL L−1, and the standard deviation of the difference was 0.15 mL L−1. The correlation coefficient between the optode and the SBE43 was >0.9 and the mean difference was 0.07 mL L−1. Optode measurements degraded when fouling was severe enough to block oxygen molecules from entering the sensing foil over a significant portion of the sensing window. Drift observed in two optodes beginning at about 225 and 390 days of deployment is attributed to degradation of the sensing foil. Flushing is necessary to equilibrate the Sea-Bird sensor. Power consumption by the SBE43 and required pump was 19.2 mWh per sample, and the optode consumed 0.9 mWh per sample, both within expected values based on manufacturers’ specifications.This work was funded by the MWRA and USGS

Downstream Migrations of Juvenile Salmon and Other Fishes in the Upper Yukon River

The Yukon River is the fourth largest river in North America, yet the ecology of its fishes has not been well described. During the spring and summer of 2002– 04, we sampled the downstream migrations of fishes in the Yukon River mainstem near the Canada-U.S. border, using a rotary auger trap. Age-0 juvenile chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, were the most common fish in the catch, and they peaked in abundance in mid-June. Smaller numbers of age-1 chinook salmon and age-0 chum salmon, O. keta, were caught earlier in the season. Over 80% of the remaining catch consisted of young-of-theyear Coregoninae (whitefish), presumably moving from natal areas to summer rearing habitats. Few adult whitefish were captured, probably because our sampling terminated before fall spawning migrations began. Both juveniles and adults were captured for six other winter or spring spawning species that we encountered. Our results indicate that the Yukon River mainstem is used extensively as a migration corridor. This reach of the mainstem has very high suspended sediment levels in summer; its significance as rearing habitat remains unknown. Further studies are required to delineate the extent of migrations and the population structure for the non-anadromous species.Le fleuve Yukon est le quatrième plus grand fleuve de l’Amérique du Nord et pourtant, l’écologie de ses poissons n’a pas été bien décrite. Au printemps et à l’été des années 2002 à 2004, nous avons échantillonné les migrations en aval des poissons du cours principal du fleuve Yukon, près de la frontière canado-américaine et ce, à l’aide d’un piège rotatif. Le saumon quinnat d’âge 0-juvénile, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, était le poisson le plus souvent capturé, et son abondance était à son meilleur à la mi-juin. De plus petits nombres de saumon quinnat d’âge 1 et de saumon kéta d’âge 0, O. keta, ont été attrapés au début de la saison. Plus de 80 % du reste des poissons capturés consistait en des Coregoninae (ciscos) jeunes de l’année, qui étaient sans doute en voie de déplacement, passant de leur secteur natal aux habitats d’élevage d’été. Peu de ciscos adultes ont été capturés, probablement parce que notre échantillonnage a pris fin avant les migrations de reproduction d’automne. Des poissons juvéniles et adultes ont été attrapés dans le cas de six autres espèces de reproduction d’hiver ou de printemps que nous avons rencontrées. Nos résultats indiquent que le cours principal du fleuve Yukon sert énormément de corridor de migration. Dans cette partie du cours principal, les taux de sédiments en suspension sont très élevés l’été; son importance en tant qu’habitat d’élevage demeure inconnue. Des études plus poussées s’imposent dans le but de délimiter l’étendue des migrations et la structure de population des espèces non anadromes

Rapid versus Delayed Stimulation of Feeding by the Endogenously Released AgRP Neuron Mediators GABA, NPY, and AgRP

SummaryAgouti-related peptide (AgRP) neurons of the hypothalamus release a fast transmitter (GABA) in addition to neuropeptides (neuropeptide Y [NPY] and Agouti-related peptide [AgRP]). This raises questions as to their respective functions. The acute activation of AgRP neurons robustly promotes food intake, while central injections of AgRP, NPY, or GABA agonist results in the marked escalation of food consumption with temporal variance. Given the orexigenic capability of all three of these neuroactive substances in conjunction with their coexpression in AgRP neurons, we looked to unravel their relative temporal role in driving food intake. After the acute stimulation of AgRP neurons with DREADD technology, we found that either GABA or NPY is required for the rapid stimulation of feeding, and the neuropeptide AgRP, through action on MC4 receptors, is sufficient to induce feeding over a delayed yet prolonged period. These studies help to elucidate the neurochemical mechanisms of AgRP neurons in controlling temporally distinct phases of eating

What Do Healthy Rural Economies Look Like in the U.S., and How Might Conservation Organizations Help Support Them?

Report of the 2012 Berkley Workshop Held at the Wingspread Conference Center, Racine,WI - July 201

A Method to Assess the Organizing Behaviors Used in Physicians\u27 Counseling of Standardized Parents after Newborn Genetic Screening

Well-organized conversation can improve people’s ability to comprehend and retain information. As part of a long-term effort to adapt Quality Improvement techniques for communication, we developed an explicit criteria method to assess usage of three organizing behaviors (OBs): ‘opening behaviors’ to establish goals; ‘structuring behaviors’ to guide patients through conversation; and ‘emphasizing behaviors’ that signal a need for attention. Pairs of abstractors independently reviewed transcripts in a demonstration sample of conversations between physicians and standardized parents after newborn screening identifies carrier status for sickle cell disease. Criteria for at least one OB were identified in 50/84 transcripts (60%), including 27 with at least one opening behavior (32%), 5 with at least one structuring behavior (6%), and 38 with at least one emphasizing behavior (45%). The limited number of OBs raises concern about communication after newborn screening. Assessment and improvement of OB usage may improve understanding and allow parents to more actively participate in health care

Activity-Based Cost Management Part II: Applied to a Respiratory Protection Program

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/91961/1/Brandt2.pd