Flexible arms provide constant force for pressure switch calibration

In-place calibration of a pressure switch is provided by a system of radially oriented flexing arms which, when rotated at a known velocity, convert the centrifugal force of the arms to a linear force along the shaft. The linear force, when applied to a pressure switch diaphragm, can then be calculated

Short and long distance translocations: Movement and survival in eastern box turtles (_Terrapene carolina carolina_)

*Background/Question/Methods*

Human development represents a serious threat to wildlife populations through continued habitat loss and incidental mortality from construction activities. Resource managers responsible for protecting species with legal status or high public profile are faced with difficult decisions on how to best manage populations located in construction zones. One approach to mitigate mortalities is to relocate individuals. The effectiveness of translocation for reptiles and amphibians has been questioned, with studies often reporting higher mortality and increased movements of translocated individuals. Translocations of reptiles and amphibians have primarily involved moving animals long distances, well beyond an individual’s home range. For reptiles this means finding new nesting, foraging, and overwintering sites, which may be problematic. Moving individuals only short distances, within their home range, may reduce those problems. As part of the mitigation plan for a highway construction project in central Maryland, groups of eastern box turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina) were translocated both short distances (<0.5km), and long distances (~5km). To investigate differences in survival and movement patterns among long distance translocation, short distance translocation, and non-translocation groups, I tracked 94 turtles (31 long distance translocation, 29 short distance translocation, and 34 non-translocation) using radio telemetry. 

*Results/Conclusions*

Eleven animals died during the first activity season after translocation (April through November 2008). The mortalities included two long distance translocation, six short distance translocation, and three non-translocation animals. The causes of mortality included road kill, construction activity, and unknown (1, 4, and 6 mortalities respectively). All construction related mortalities were a result inadequate exclusion fencing to keep turtles from trespassing back onto the construction site. All mortalities due to construction were either non-translocation or short distance translocation animals. Eleven other individuals were located at least once within the construction zone, suggesting that without our intervention mortality rates would have been much higher. Preliminary results for movement show that turtles in the non-translocation group had the lowest average movements while long distance translocation animals had the greatest average movements. Long distance translocation turtles also chose overwintering sites farther away from their initial overwintering sites than either short distance translocation or non-translocation turtles (average distance from original site of 261.8m, 155.6m, and 124.3m respectively). This suggests that movement patterns of short distance translocation turtles are more like native turtles.
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The Ranger 4 Flight Path and Its Determination from Tracking Data

The ranger iv flight path and its determination from tracking dat

The American Dream Deferred: Family Separation and Immigrant Visa Adjudications at U.S. Consulates Abroad

In the mid 1990’s, Congress passed a series of punitive immigration laws designed to ramp up enforcement and deter illegal immigration. Among these measures are provisions know as unlawful presence bars, which prohibit immigrant visa applicants who have been unlawfully present in the United States for certain periods of time from obtaining an immigrant visa for up to ten years or more. These bars frequently result in the protracted separation of undocumented applicants from their U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident family members. After more than ten years since the passage of the unlawful presence bars, it is now appropriate to look closely at their impact and examine whether they constitute sound public policy. This Comment argues that they do not. Furthermore, it explains how the system puts families through unnecessary and unjustifiable hardship by imposing a punishment that is disproportionate to the seriousness of the immigration violation. This Comment points to the lack of evidence that the unlawful presence bars significantly deter illegal immigration, and the fact that they tear families apart or force them to move abroad. For these reasons, this Comment recommends that Congress make sensible changes that will promote family unity while imposing penalties that are more proportionate to the seriousness of being unlawfully present in the United States. Specifically, Congress should eliminate the unlawful presence bars while still requiring undocumented applicants for immigrant visas to process at a consulate in their home country. This would reduce the periods of family separation while maintaining a penalty for entering the country without permission. Concomitantly, Congress should pass a new law that would allow applicants who were minors when they entered the United States, and thus had no choice in the matter, to apply for lawful permanent residence without leaving the United States

The Effect of Welfare Policies and Hardships on Participation Rates Among the Poor

For several decades, a new political prospective has emerged in the Political Science literature - Policy Feedback Theory. Put simply, Policy Feedback Theory looks at the way public policy affects politics. Existing policies can define the political environment, shaping the capacities, interests, and beliefs of political elites and states, which in tum influence the next round of policy-making. However, does public policy only change the politics of elites and states? Can public policy also change the politics of mass publics? Recent Political Science researchers are now examining this question. Even though much ground has been gained in examining this question, some outstanding problems still remain. Specifically, much of the research on policy feedbacks deals with targeted populations of the citizenry, e.g. the elderly, the poor, and veterans. Of grave importance to political scientists, and policy feedback researchers specifically, is the political participation of low-income Americans, particularly those afflicted with serious economic, personal, or health related hardships. Though Policy Feedback Theory can help explain much of how and why populations affected by policies engage politically and civically, it is important to consider other factors that can increase and decrease political participation. In addition to traditional Policy Feedback Theory, can other factors like serious economic, personal, or health related hardships help explain political participation, or the lack thereof, among targeted groups? In this paper, I will expand on the Political Science literature by examining this important question. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a national, longitudinal study that follows the lives of families on welfare and documents their hardships, welfare usage, and political activities, I will examine the political participation of low-income Americans who experience economic, personal, or health related hardships, as well as examining their political beliefs and experiences to further shed light on how the poor participate politically in America. By also testing policy usage among the poor, I will also add to the policy feedback literature as well as the literature on political participation. I find that the three tested public policies do indeed influence political and civic participation, and that some hardships affect participation rates while others do not

A three-dimensional simulation of transition and early turbulence in a time-developing mixing layer

The physics of the transition and early turbulence regimes in the time developing mixing layer was investigated. The sensitivity of the mixing layer to the disturbance field of the initial condition is considered. The growth of the momentum thickness, the mean velocity profile, the turbulence kinetic energy, the Reynolds stresses, the anisotropy tensor, and particle track pictures of computations are all examined in an effort to better understand the physics of these regimes. The amplitude, spectrum shape, and random phases of the initial disturbance field were varied. A scheme of generating discrete orthogonal function expansions on some nonuniform grids was developed. All cases address the early or near field of the mixing layer. The most significant result shows that the secondary instability of the mixing layer is produced by spanwise variations in the straining field of the primary vortex structures

A global magnetic anomaly map

A subset of POGO satellite magnetometer data has been formed that is suitable for analysis of crustal magnetic anomalies. Using a thirteenth order field model, fit to these data, magnetic residuals have been calculated over the world to latitude limits of plus 50 deg. These residuals averaged over one degree latitude-longitude blocks represent a detailed global magnetic anomaly map derived solely from satellite data. Preliminary analysis of the map indicates that the anomalies are real and of geological origin