Does settlement plate material matter? The influence of substrate type on fouling community development

Benthic community composition and ascidian abundance can differ dramatically between adjacent man-made and natural substrates. Although multiple factors, including light exposure, surface orientation, predation exposure, and habitat type, are known to contribute to these patterns, few studies have directly tested the influence of substrate identity on community development. We compared fouling communities on settlement plates composed of commonly occurring natural (granite) and artificial (concrete, high density polyethylene, and PVC) marine materials deployed from late May to mid November 2014 from a floating dock in Newcastle, NH. We sought to determine if observed patterns resulted from differential recruitment onto substrate materials or post-settlement survival and growth. To do this, half of the plates were cleaned during bi-weekly examinations, and half were left un-cleaned. Preliminary analyses indicate that community composition differs between substrate types. These results will help us understand how substrate features contribute to non-native species establishment and habitat dominance, and may inform decisions regarding material usage in marine construction. These findings also underline the importance of settlement substrate choice in scientific studies, as plate material may influence experimental conclusions

Babies in Minnesota: The well-being and vulnerabilities of our youngest children

Summarizes how young children and their parents in Minnesota are faring, including indicators and trends with regard to births, newborns, infants, and toddlers as well as family strengths and stressors. When data are available, differences based on geography, income, and race/ethnicity are also noted. The report concludes with both implications of the major trends and differences and effective strategies for improving the well-being of our most vulnerable young children

Invest Early: 15 Years of Impacts: Evaluation Results

After 15 years of evaluation, this report focused on: 1) The demographic, social, and economic trends in Itasca County since Invest Early's inception; 2) The state of early childhood programming internationally; and 3) What makes Invest Early successful, and what improvements are needed. Wilder Research conducted a literature review, a review of indicators of child and family characteristics and well-being, qualitative interviews with Invest Early parents, an analysis of key evaluation data, and a facilitated discussion with community partners

Experimental In-Field Transfer and Survival of Escherichia coli from Animal Feces to Romaine Lettuce in Salinas Valley, California.

This randomized controlled trial characterized the transfer of E. coli from animal feces and/or furrow water onto adjacent heads of lettuce during foliar irrigation, and the subsequent survival of bacteria on the adaxial surface of lettuce leaves. Two experiments were conducted in Salinas Valley, California: (1) to quantify the transfer of indicator E. coli from chicken and rabbit fecal deposits placed in furrows to surrounding lettuce heads on raised beds, and (2) to quantify the survival of inoculated E. coli on Romaine lettuce over 10 days. E. coli was recovered from 97% (174/180) of lettuce heads to a maximal distance of 162.56 cm (5.33 ft) from feces. Distance from sprinklers to feces, cumulative foliar irrigation, and lettuce being located downwind of the fecal deposit were positively associated, while distance from fecal deposit to lettuce was negatively associated with E. coli transference. E. coli exhibited decimal reduction times of 2.2 and 2.5 days when applied on the adaxial surface of leaves within a chicken or rabbit fecal slurry, respectively. Foliar irrigation can transfer E. coli from feces located in a furrow onto adjacent heads of lettuce, likely due to the kinetic energy of irrigation droplets impacting the fecal surface and/or impacting furrow water contaminated with feces, with the magnitude of E. coli enumerated per head of lettuce influenced by the distance between lettuce and the fecal deposit, cumulative application of foliar irrigation, wind aspect of lettuce relative to feces, and time since final irrigation. Extending the time period between foliar irrigation and harvest, along with a 152.4 cm (5 ft) no-harvest buffer zone when animal fecal material is present, may substantially reduce the level of bacterial contamination on harvested lettuce

Athletic Trainers\u27 Perceptions of the BOC\u27s Testing Over Practical Knowledge and Application in Daily Practice

Please enjoy Volume 7, Issue 1 of the JSMAHS. In this issue, you will find Professional, Graduate, and Undergraduate research abstracts, and case reports. Thank you for viewing this 7th Annual OATA Special Edition

PVCROV : an experimental platform for multi-robot control systems

As the field of multi-robot control systems grows, the demand for flexible, robust and precise multi-robot testbeds increases. Up to this point, the testbeds that do exist for testing multi-robot controllers are often expensive, hard to deploy, and typically constrained to a single plane of motion. These constraints limit the capacity to conduct research which is why team Autonomously Controlled Electromechanical Systems (ACES) has created the PVCROV system. PVCROV is a low cost, underwater platform for testing multi-robot control systems. By utilizing an underwater environment, ACES created a testbed that is not constrained to a single plane of motion. Additionally, the advantage of an underwater testbed is the ability to simulate weightlessness, as if in a space environment. Both of these features make this testbed extremely valuable to multi-robot research as they open the door for conducting experiments that previously could not be performed. ACES final product consisted of four PVCROV\u27s tethered to a surface buoy with wireless command and control via an \u27onshore\u27 control computer. Each system was designed, simulated, manufactured and tested based on requirements developed from a customer needs survey performed with the targeted research team. Although complete functionality was not achieved, a new team of students has started a new iteration of the development process which will bring the system up to full functionality. With graduate student experimenters already involved, ACES has created a testbed that will provide great value to the robotics research program at SCU

Evaluating Postfire Seeding Treatments Designed to Suppress Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) in a Ponderosa Pine Forest on the Colorado Plateau

The restoration of historical fuel conditions and fire regimes is one of the primary land management goals in the Shivwits Plateau region of northwestern Arizona. Fire is the primary tool used in this region to reduce fuel loads and shift landscapes back to historical conditions of a low intensity, 8- 15 year return interval, surface fire regime. However, the invasive plant cheatgrass has become the dominant understory vegetation and fuel type following initial fire treatments in many areas. There is significant concern that repeated burning at historically appropriate fire return intervals for ponderosa pine forest will benefit this invasive plant to the detriment of native species. There is additional concern that the high flammability of cheatgrass fuelbeds will lead to fire return intervals that are more frequent than occurred historically and that are prescribed in the agency fire management plans, potentially preventing recruitment of pine seedlings and leading to type conversion of native forests to alien grasslands. Federal land managers and research scientists have noted that cheatgrass does not typically cooccur with two of the dominant perennial grasses in the Shivwits plateau region, bottlebrush squirreltail (Elymus elymoides) and blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis). This suggests that these natives may be competing with and excluding the establishment of cheatgrass. If these species can be established in postfire landscapes, they may be able to pre-empt the establishment of cheatgrass and promote the restoration of native plant communities and natural fuel characteristics. This report provides results of an experimental seedings of these two perennial grasses. Seeding with or without raking had no detectable effects on any of the species or groups of species in this study as measured by: 1) the density, cover, and species diversity of standing vegetation during the first 5 post-treatment years; or 2) the density and species diversity of the soil seedbank during the first 3 post-treatment years. Blue grama had an overall low standing density and cover, and seedbank density, at the study site, whereas bottlebrush squirreltail had relatively high standing density and cover, and seedbank density, at least during some of the sampling years. Cheatgrass did not differ among treatments, including raked and unraked plots, and only increased from 1.1 seeds per 18 cubic cm of soil immediately following the fire in fall 2003 to 1.5 seeds by the fall of the third postfire year