Marine Metallic Mineral Resources of the Pacific Basin

In the 1970s and 1980s, the ocean became a focus of attention for mineral producers and consumers. This paper surveys that trend with particular emphasis on several specific metals and types of resource deposit. In particular, the known and speculative details of manganese nodules, cobalt-rich manganese crusts, and polymetallie massive sulfides are discussed and analyzed in an economic context.Environmental Economics and Policy, International Development, International Relations/Trade, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

All Hands on Deck: Bringing Together High School Teachers and Adjunct Instructors for Professional Development in the Teaching of Writing

in June of 2012, two Writing Program Administrators (WPAs) at Rhode Island College collaborated on a one-day professional development opportunity for adjunct instructors of First Year Writing. One of the WPAs was Director of the Rhode Island Writing Project; the other was the Director of Writing. Each saw an opportunity to further the reach of their program and better the quality of instruction in the K-16 landscape of Rhode Island. And, each program was facing real challenges institutionally, politically, and financially. In this article, the two authors outline the exegesis that led to their collaboration and the outcome of that collaboration. They conclude that opportunities for such collaboration--among adjunct faculty and the institutions they represent--while not new, are underutilized. They call for more such professional development opportunities as state- and college-wide mandates are implemented on campuses nationwide

The relationship between heartbeat counting and heartbeat discrimination:a meta-analysis

Interoception concerns the perception of the body’s internal state. Despite the importance of this ability for health and aspects of higher-order cognition, its measurement remains problematic. Most studies of interoception employ one of two tasks: the heartbeat counting or heartbeat discrimination task. These tasks are thought to index common abilities, an assertion often used to justify the use of a single measure of cardiac interoception. However, mixed findings regarding the relationship between performance on these tasks raises the question of whether they can be used interchangeably to assess interoceptive accuracy, confidence and awareness (‘metacognition’). The present study employed a meta-analytical approach to assess the association between these tasks. Pooled findings from 22 studies revealed a small relationship between accuracy scores on the measures. Additional analyses demonstrated a moderate relationship between confidence ratings but no association between measures of interoceptive awareness. These findings question the interchangeable use of the two tasks

Noncompliance

Among challenging behavior, noncompliance has the unique characteristic of describing the failure to engage in, or the absence of, a specific behavior (i.e., compliance). Recognizing that the term “compliance” has negative connotations for many, we propose an alternative term, “cooperation,” to describe the behavior expected of children with autism who exhibit noncompliance. This chapter initially reviews the functional behavior assessment of noncompliance using indirect assessment, descriptive assessment, and functional analysis. Next, we examine antecedent and consequent interventions for active cooperation (i.e., following an instruction to complete a task), such as implementing the high-probability request sequence, reducing response effort, manipulating the delivery of instructions, and providing reinforcement. The third section focuses on interventions designed for passive cooperation (e.g., tolerating a medical device, remaining in the presence of a feared stimulus), which include exposure, noncontingent reinforcement, differential reinforcement of other behavior, and escape extinction. Overall, this chapter provides an overview of research and practices to support individuals who contend with noncompliance in children with autism

Using mobile technology to reduce engagement in stereotypy : a validation of decision-making algorithms

We developed an iOS app, the iSTIM, designed to support parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in reducing common repetitive vocal and motor behavior (i.e., stereotypy). The purpose of our study was to preliminarily test the decision-making algorithms of the iSTIM using trained university students to implement the assessments and interventions. Specifically, we examined the effects of the iSTIM on stereotypy and functional engagement in 11 children with ASD within alternating treatment designs. Using the iSTIM reduced engagement in stereotypy for 8 participants and increased functional engagement in for 4 of those participants. Our results indicate that the iSTIM may decrease engagement in stereotypy, but that some of the decision-making algorithms may benefit from modifications prior to testing with parents

Atomic spectrometry update : a review of advances in environmental analysis

This is the 31st annual review of the application of atomic spectrometry to the chemical analysis of environmental samples. This update refers to papers published approximately between August 2014 and July 2015 and continues the series of Atomic Spectrometry Updates (ASUs) in Environmental Analysis that should be read in conjunction with other related ASUs in the series, namely: clinical and biological materials, foods and beverages; advances in atomic spectrometry and related techniques; elemental speciation; X-ray spectrometry; and metals, chemicals and functional materials. In the field of air analysis, highlights within this review period included: the development of a new laser fluorescence instrument for the ultratrace determination of mercury vapour; single particle ICP-MS studies and the coupling of elemental analysers to mass spectrometers for the improved characterisation of carbonaceous aerosols. In the arena of water analysis, methods continue to be developed: for the extraction and preconcentration of elements, As, Cr, Hg and Sb species and determination of elemental constituents in colloidal and NP fractions. Emerging elements of interest include Gd derived from MRI agents discharged at low level from medical facilities in water courses. Instrumental developments reported included the use of MC-ICP-MS for isotopic tracer studies and a review of TXRF techniques and associated preconcentration procedures for trace element analysis. In the period covered by this update several articles have explored the analysis of soil extracts for geochemical prospecting. There has been widening interest in the use of CS-AAS and in the application of techniques capable of direct sample analysis such as slurry sampling ETAAS and ETV-ICP-AES. Portable XRF instrumentation is now being used in many disciplines to quantify trace elements in soils – bringing a need for better transfer of analytical knowledge to non-specialist users – and the growing use of portable XRF in proximal sensing is also noteworthy. Recent research indicates that geological applications still drive many of the instrumental and methodological advances in LA-ICP-MS. Fundamental studies continued to shed light on the processes involved and hence ways of improving the analysis of laser-produced aerosols and to minimise matrix and fractionation effects. A new technique LA-DOF-MS (distance of flight) was described. The utility of LIBS and portable XRF for in situ survey work continues to show promise but issues such as appropriate calibration regimes and data processing protocols will still need to be addressed

An experimental test of deviant modeling

Objectives: Test the effect of deviant peer modeling on theft as conditioned by verbal support for theft and number of deviant models. Methods: Two related randomized experiments in which participants were given a chance to steal a gift card (ostensibly worth $15) from the table in front of them. Each experiment had a control group, a verbal prompting group in which confederate(s) endorsed stealing, a behavioral modeling group in which confederate(s) committed theft, and a verbal prompting plus behavioral modeling group in which confederate(s) did both. The first experiment used one confederate; the second experiment used two. The pooled sample consisted of 335 undergraduate students. Results: Participants in the verbal prompting plus behavioral modeling group were most likely to steal followed by the behavioral modeling group. Interestingly, behavioral modeling was only influential when two confederates were present. There were no thefts in either the control or verbal prompting groups regardless of the number of confederates. Conclusions: Behavioral modeling appears to be the key mechanism, though verbal support can strengthen the effect of behavioral modeling.UW/SSHRC Seed Gran

A direct comparison of the consequences of plant genotypic and species diversity on communities and ecosystem function

Biodiversity loss is proceeding at an unprecedented rate, yet we lack a thorough understanding of the consequences of losing diversity at different scales. While species diversity is known to impact community and ecosystem processes, genotypic diversity is assumed to have relatively smaller effects. Nonetheless, a few recent studies suggest that genotypic diversity may have quantitatively similar ecological consequences compared to species diversity. Here we show that increasing either genotypic diversity of common evening primrose (Oenothera biennis) or species diversity of old?field plant species resulted in nearly equivalent increases (?17%) in aboveground primary production. The predominant mechanism explaining this effect, niche complementarity, was similar for each type of diversity. Arthropod species richness also increased with both types of plant diversity, but the mechanisms leading to this effect differed: abundance?driven accumulation of arthropod species was important in plant genotypic polycultures, whereas resource specialization was important in plant species polycultures. Thus, similar increases in primary productivity differentially impacted higher trophic levels in response to each type of plant diversity. These results highlight important ecological similarities and differences between genotypic and species diversity and suggest that genotypic diversity may play a larger role in community and ecosystem processes than previously realized.The NSF (DEB- 0950231 to A. A. Agrawal and IGERT small grant in Biogeochemistry and Environmental Biocomplexity to S. H. McArt, S. C. Cook-Patton, and A. L. Parachnowitsch) and USDA-NRI (2006-35302-17431 to J. S. Thaler) supported this wor