In the Shadow of the Fleet: The Development of American Submarines Between the World Wars

At the close of the First World War, American submarines compared most unfavorably with those of Germany and Great Britain. German submarines sank over 5000 ships, while the British submarine campaign, much less ambitious by design, was still credited with sinking 54 warships and 274 other vessels. Standing in stark contrast, American submarines did not sink a single ship. However, by the end of the Second World War, American submarines would sink over 1300 Japanese merchantmen and warships. This ultimate success was hard won, for attempts to modernize American submarine designs between the wars were continually stifled by advocates of the U.S. Navy\u27s battleship-dominated fleet doctrine, particularly in the 1920s. The major technological obstacle to submarine growth was the development of reliable diesel engines, and an analysis of diesel technology is a cornerstone of this study. The American choice of all-electric propulsion for submarines, unique among major navies of the Second World War, is also explored. Four major factors that shaped American submarine development are identified. They are naval doctrine, technology, organizational dynamics, and the free market

Population and Harvest Trends of Big Game and Small Game Species

This technical document supports the Forest Service’s requirement to assess the status of renewable natural resources as mandated by the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (RPA). It updates past reports on national and regional trends in population and harvest estimates for species classified as big game and small game. The trends reported here were derived from State Wildlife Agency biologists and supplemented with data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey for those bird species that are commonly sought by upland game hunters. Big game populations and harvests have generally increased over the 1975-2000 period. Small game populations and harvests, particularly those associated with grassland and agricultural systems, show strong patterns of decline. However, population and harvest trends for both groups need to be interpreted with caution because: (1) not all state agencies reported both population and harvest statistics for all species that are commonly sought by recreational hunters, and (2) there were cases of inconsistent reporting at the species level within RPA reporting regions that necessitated aggregating across species. The trends documented here are consistent with trends documented in past RPA reports completed in 1989 and 1999, although those data were also qualified by the same interpretational caveats that apply to the current report. Trends observed generally among big game species were encouraging, but the continual decline in small game populations and harvest remains an important wildlife resource management issue. Until population and harvest monitoring is improved among institutions that share the stewardship responsibility for recreationally important wildlife, national and regional trends will have to be interpreted carefully

Population and Harvest Trends of Big Game and Small Game Species

This technical document supports the Forest Service’s requirement to assess the status of renewable natural resources as mandated by the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 (RPA). It updates past reports on national and regional trends in population and harvest estimates for species classified as big game and small game. The trends reported here were derived from State Wildlife Agency biologists and supplemented with data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey for those bird species that are commonly sought by upland game hunters. Big game populations and harvests have generally increased over the 1975-2000 period. Small game populations and harvests, particularly those associated with grassland and agricultural systems, show strong patterns of decline. However, population and harvest trends for both groups need to be interpreted with caution because: (1) not all state agencies reported both population and harvest statistics for all species that are commonly sought by recreational hunters, and (2) there were cases of inconsistent reporting at the species level within RPA reporting regions that necessitated aggregating across species. The trends documented here are consistent with trends documented in past RPA reports completed in 1989 and 1999, although those data were also qualified by the same interpretational caveats that apply to the current report. Trends observed generally among big game species were encouraging, but the continual decline in small game populations and harvest remains an important wildlife resource management issue. Until population and harvest monitoring is improved among institutions that share the stewardship responsibility for recreationally important wildlife, national and regional trends will have to be interpreted carefully

Correlates of Northern Bobwhite Distribution and Abundance with Land-Use Characteristics in Kansas

County-level agricultural statistics were correlated with Rural Mail Carrier Survey reports and Breeding Bird Survey data for northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) in Kansas. Results indicate statewide analysis is feasible when temporally congruent data exist for both agricultural land-use characteristics and bobwhite distribution and abundance. Interpretations of these results can be useful in state or regional analysis and in the development of habitat management strategies for bobwhite. The Multiple Response Permutation Procedure identified 16 land-use variables, 3 soil variables, and 1 spatial variable that were significantly different in counties where bobwhite were present from counties where they were absent. Sixteen land-use variables, 5 soil variables, and 3 spatial variables distinguished between counties where bobwhite abundance was classified as high or low. Spearman\u27s rank correlation identified 8 soil variables, 14 land-use variables, and 3 spatial variables that were significantly correlated with bobwhite abundance. Least absolute deviation regression analysis revealed 4 land-use variables that were significantly correlated (Agreement= 0.48, P = 0.0001) with bobwhite abundance

Reference design and operations for deep borehole disposal of high-level radioactive waste.

A reference design and operational procedures for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste in deep boreholes have been developed and documented. The design and operations are feasible with currently available technology and meet existing safety and anticipated regulatory requirements. Objectives of the reference design include providing a baseline for more detailed technical analyses of system performance and serving as a basis for comparing design alternatives. Numerous factors suggest that deep borehole disposal of high-level radioactive waste is inherently safe. Several lines of evidence indicate that groundwater at depths of several kilometers in continental crystalline basement rocks has long residence times and low velocity. High salinity fluids have limited potential for vertical flow because of density stratification and prevent colloidal transport of radionuclides. Geochemically reducing conditions in the deep subsurface limit the solubility and enhance the retardation of key radionuclides. A non-technical advantage that the deep borehole concept may offer over a repository concept is that of facilitating incremental construction and loading at multiple perhaps regional locations. The disposal borehole would be drilled to a depth of 5,000 m using a telescoping design and would be logged and tested prior to waste emplacement. Waste canisters would be constructed of carbon steel, sealed by welds, and connected into canister strings with high-strength connections. Waste canister strings of about 200 m length would be emplaced in the lower 2,000 m of the fully cased borehole and be separated by bridge and cement plugs. Sealing of the upper part of the borehole would be done with a series of compacted bentonite seals, cement plugs, cement seals, cement plus crushed rock backfill, and bridge plugs. Elements of the reference design meet technical requirements defined in the study. Testing and operational safety assurance requirements are also defined. Overall, the results of the reference design development and the cost analysis support the technical feasibility of the deep borehole disposal concept for high-level radioactive waste

The scope of the Kalman filter for spatio-temporal applications in environmental science

The Kalman filter is a workhorse of dynamical modeling. But there are challenges when using the Kalman filter in environmental science: the complexity of environmental processes, the complicated and irregular nature of many environmental datasets, and the scale of environmental datasets, which may comprise many thousands of observations per time-step. We show how these challenges can be met within the Kalman filter, identifying some situations which are relatively easy to handle, such as datasets which are high-resolution in time, and some which are hard, like areal observations on small contiguous polygons. Overall, we conclude that many applications in environmental science are within the scope of the Kalman filter, or its generalizations

Impairment of early fracture healing by skeletal muscle trauma is restored by FK506

BACKGROUND: Heightened local inflammation due to muscle trauma or disease is associated with impaired bone regeneration. METHODS: We hypothesized that FK506, an FDA approved immunomodulatory compound with neurotrophic and osteogenic effects, will rescue the early phase of fracture healing which is impaired by concomitant muscle trauma in male (~4 months old) Lewis rats. FK506 (1 mg/kg; i.p.) or saline was administered systemically for 14 days after an endogenously healing tibia osteotomy was created and fixed with an intermedullary pin, and the overlying tibialis anterior (TA) muscle was either left uninjured or incurred volumetric muscle loss injury (6 mm full thickness biopsy from middle third of the muscle). RESULTS: The salient observations of this study were that 1) concomitant TA muscle trauma impaired recovery of tibia mechanical properties 28 days post-injury, 2) FK506 administration rescued the recovery of tibia mechanical properties in the presence of concomitant TA muscle trauma but did not augment mechanical recovery of an isolated osteotomy (no muscle trauma), 3) T lymphocytes and macrophage presence within the traumatized musculature were heightened by trauma and attenuated by FK506 3 days post-injury, and 4) T lymphocyte but not macrophage presence within the fracture callus were attenuated by FK506 at 14 days post-injury. FK506 did not improve TA muscle isometric torque production CONCLUSION: Collectively, these findings support the administration of FK506 to ameliorate healing of fractures with severe muscle trauma comorbidity. The results suggest one potential mechanism of action is a reduction in local T lymphocytes within the injured musculoskeletal tissue, though other mechanisms to include direct osteogenic effects of FK506 require further investigation