Human Powered Vehicle Team Challenge

Design and build a Human Powered Vehicle in a team of five. Compete at the ASME HPVC competition in March of 2022. Re-establish the Human Powered Vehicle Team at the University of Akron

The future of the northeast Atlantic benthic flora in a high CO₂ world

Seaweed and seagrass communities in the northeast Atlantic have been profoundly impacted by humans, and the rate of change is accelerating rapidly due to runaway CO2 emissions and mounting pressures on coastlines associated with human population growth and increased consumption of finite resources. Here, we predict how rapid warming and acidification are likely to affect benthic flora and coastal ecosystems of the northeast Atlantic in this century, based on global evidence from the literature as interpreted by the collective knowledge of the authorship. We predict that warming will kill off kelp forests in the south and that ocean acidification will remove maerl habitat in the north. Seagrasses will proliferate, and associated epiphytes switch from calcified algae to diatoms and filamentous species. Invasive species will thrive in niches liberated by loss of native species and spread via exponential development of artificial marine structures. Combined impacts of seawater warming, ocean acidification, and increased storminess may replace structurally diverse seaweed canopies, with associated calcified and noncalcified flora, with simple habitats dominated by noncalcified, turf-forming seaweeds.</p

Sulfur isotopes in rivers : insights into global weathering budgets, pyrite oxidation, and the modern sulfur cycle

This research was funded by a Foster and Coco Stanback postdoctoral fellowship and a Marie Curie Career Integration Grant (CIG14-631752) to AB. JFA acknowledges the support of NSF-OCE grant 1340174 and NSF-EAR grant 1349858. WF acknowledges the support of a grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.The biogeochemical sulfur cycle is intimately linked to the cycles of carbon, iron, and oxygen, and plays an important role in global climate via weathering reactions and aerosols. However, many aspects of the modern budget of the global sulfur cycle are not fully understood. We present new δ34S measurements on sulfate from more than 160 river samples from different geographical and climatic regions—more than 46% of the world's freshwater flux to the ocean is accounted for in this estimate of the global riverine sulfur isotope budget. These measurements include major rivers and their tributaries, as well as time series, and are combined with previously published data to estimate the modern flux-weighted global riverine δ34S as 4.4 ± 4.5‰ (V-CDT), and 4.8 ± 4.9‰ when the most polluted rivers are excluded. The sulfur isotope data, when combined with major anion and cation concentrations, allow us to tease apart the relative contributions of different processes to the modern riverine sulfur budget, resulting in new estimates of the flux of riverine sulfate due to the oxidative weathering of pyrites (1.3 ± 0.2 Tmol S/y) and the weathering of sedimentary sulfate minerals (1.5 ± 0.2 Tmol S/y). These data indicate that previous estimates of the global oxidative weathering of pyrite have been too low by a factor of two. As pyrite oxidation coupled to carbonate weathering can act as a source of CO2 to the atmosphere, this global pyrite weathering budget implies that the global CO2 weathering sink is overestimated. Furthermore, the large range of sulfur isotope ratios in modern rivers indicates that secular changes in the lithologies exposed to weathering through time could play a major role in driving past variations in the δ34S value of seawater.PostprintPostprintPostprintPeer reviewe

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

Inorganic carbon physiology underpins macroalgal responses to elevated CO2

Beneficial effects of CO2 on photosynthetic organisms will be a key driver of ecosystem change under ocean acidification. Predicting the responses of macroalgal species to ocean acidification is complex, but we demonstrate that the response of assemblages to elevated CO2 are correlated with inorganic carbon physiology. We assessed abundance patterns and a proxy for CO2:HCO3- use (\u3b413C values) of macroalgae along a gradient of CO2 at a volcanic seep, and examined how shifts in species abundance at other Mediterranean seeps are related to macroalgal inorganic carbon physiology. Five macroalgal species capable of using both HCO3- and CO2 had greater CO2 use as concentrations increased. These species (and one unable to use HCO3-) increased in abundance with elevated CO2 whereas obligate calcifying species, and non-calcareous macroalgae whose CO2 use did not increase consistently with concentration, declined in abundance. Physiological groupings provide a mechanistic understanding that will aid us in determining which species will benefit from ocean acidification and why

Aging, working memory capacity and the proactive control of recollection:An event-related potential study

The present study investigated the role of working memory capacity (WMC) in the control of recollection in young and older adults. We used electroencephalographic event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine the effects of age and of individual differences in WMC on the ability to prioritize recollection according to current goals. Targets in a recognition exclusion task were words encoded using two alternative decisions. The left parietal ERP old/new effect was used as an electrophysiological index of recollection, and the selectivity of recollection measured in terms of the difference in its magnitude according to whether recognized items were targets or non-targets. Young adults with higher WMC showed greater recollection selectivity than those with lower WMC, while older adults showed nonselective recollection which did not vary with WMC. The data suggest that aging impairs the ability to engage cognitive control effectively to prioritize what will be recollected

Science Priorities for Seamounts: Research Links to Conservation and Management

Seamounts shape the topography of all ocean basins and can be hotspots of biological activity in the deep sea. The Census of Marine Life on Seamounts (CenSeam) was a field program that examined seamounts as part of the global Census of Marine Life (CoML) initiative from 2005 to 2010. CenSeam progressed seamount science by collating historical data, collecting new data, undertaking regional and global analyses of seamount biodiversity, mapping species and habitat distributions, challenging established paradigms of seamount ecology, developing new hypotheses, and documenting the impacts of human activities on seamounts. However, because of the large number of seamounts globally, much about the structure, function and connectivity of seamount ecosystems remains unexplored and unknown. Continual, and potentially increasing, threats to seamount resources from fishing and seabed mining are creating a pressing demand for research to inform conservation and management strategies. To meet this need, intensive science effort in the following areas will be needed: 1) Improved physical and biological data; of particular importance is information on seamount location, physical characteristics (e.g. habitat heterogeneity and complexity), more complete and intensive biodiversity inventories, and increased understanding of seamount connectivity and faunal dispersal; 2) New human impact data; these shall encompass better studies on the effects of human activities on seamount ecosystems, as well as monitoring long-term changes in seamount assemblages following impacts (e.g. recovery); 3) Global data repositories; there is a pressing need for more comprehensive fisheries catch and effort data, especially on the high seas, and compilation or maintenance of geological and biodiversity databases that underpin regional and global analyses; 4) Application of support tools in a data-poor environment; conservation and management will have to increasingly rely on predictive modelling techniques, critical evaluation of environmental surrogates as faunal “proxies”, and ecological risk assessment

Coralline Algae in a Changing Mediterranean Sea: How Can We Predict Their Future, if We Do Not Know Their Present?

In this review we assess the state of knowledge for the coralline algae of the Mediterranean Sea, a group of calcareous seaweeds imperfectly known and considered highly vulnerable to long-term climate change. Corallines have occurred in the Mediterranean area for ∼140 My and are well-represented in the subsequent fossil record; for some species currently common the fossil documentation dates back to the Oligocene, with a major role in the sedimentary record of some areas. Some Mediterranean corallines are key ecosystem engineers that produce or consolidate biogenic habitats (e.g., coralligenous concretions, Lithophyllum byssoides rims, rims of articulated corallines, maerl/rhodolith beds). Although bioconstructions built by corallines exist virtually in every sea, in the Mediterranean they reach a particularly high spatial and bathymetric extent (coralligenous concretions alone are estimated to exceed 2,700 km2 in surface). Overall, composition, dynamics and responses to human disturbances of coralline-dominated communities have been well-studied; except for a few species, however, the biology of Mediterranean corallines is poorly known. In terms of diversity, 60 species of corallines are currently reported from the Mediterranean. This number, however, is based on morphological assessments and recent studies incorporating molecular data suggest that the correct estimate is probably much higher. The responses of Mediterranean corallines to climate change have been the subject of several recent studies that documented their tolerance/sensitivity to elevated temperatures and pCO2. These investigations have focused on a few species and should be extended to a wider taxonomic set

An examination of multiple factors affecting community structure in an aquatic amphibian community

The potential effects of multiple factors structuring certain larval amphibian communities were studied using a pen experiment in a natural pond. Potential factors (predation and competition from other species) were allowed to act in a stepwise fashion such that their relative importance could be evaluated. Based on a previous study, it was hypothesized that predation by Ambystoma salamander larvae on other larval amphibian species would be the most important factor. Survival of Ambystoma jeffersonianum salamander larvae and Rana sylvatica tadpoles was significantly depressed only by Ambystoma opacum predation. Survival of Ambystoma maculatum salamander larvae was significantly greater in the absence of both A. opacum and A. jeffersonianum predators. The virtual elimination of Hyla chrysoscelis larvae in all treatments also can be largely attributed to Ambystoma predation. Thus, Ambystoma predation was the dominant factor determining larval survival of four amphibian prey species in the experimental communities.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47785/1/442_2004_Article_BF00324643.pd