CANSAT: Design of a Small Autonomous Sounding Rocket Payload

CanSat is an international student design-build-launch competition organized by the American Astronautical Society (AAS) and American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). The competition is also sponsored by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), AGI, Orbital Sciences Corporation, Praxis Incorporated, and SolidWorks. Specifically, the 2009 Virginia Tech CanSat Team is funded by BAE Systems, Incorporated of Manassas, Virginia. The objective of the 2009 CanSat competition is to complete remote sensing missions by designing a small autonomous sounding rocket payload. The payload designed will follow and perform to a specific set of mission requirements for the 2009 competition. The competition encompasses a complete life-cycle of one year which includes all phases of design, integration, testing, reviews, and launch

Habitat alteration in coastal and marine habitats following dam removal on the Elwha River

The ongoing removal of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams on the Elwha River have mobilized a massive amount of sediment that has accumulated and altered habitats throughout the watershed. Accumulation has been particularly high in the estuaries and nearshore, significantly altering physical and biological conditions. We have been measuring a suite of parameters since 2010 to better understand how sediment accumulation and suspended sediment alter physical and biological conditions, and how those changes alter habitat conditions. In estuarine and nearshore habitats we are measuring salinity, temperature, turbidity, primary productivity, light availability, and nutrient concentration. In the estuary we are additionally measuring pH, dissolved oxygen concentration; in the nearshore we are additionally measuring current direction and speed, wave height and direction, and sediment deposition and residence time. Our data show that conditions in the estuary changed from a tidally influenced, brackish estuary to a freshwater estuary that is episodically isolated from the river within one year of dam removal. In addition to the fine sediment that has accumulated in the estuary, this hydrologic change has resulted in ecological changes to the estuary, including a shift in species composition of fish and invertebrates. In the nearshore, light availability has decreased during the dam removal process, and the incidence of seafloor sedimentation has increased, which is ephemeral owing to winnowing from periodic strong currents. Burial, scouring, and reduced light availability caused by increased sedimentation are likely negatively impacting algal communities in the nearshore that are within the Elwha River plume. This study advances our understanding of how the timing and magnitude of sediment delivery affects habitat availability, species persistence, and community composition change with implications to future land-use changes

Changes in Kelp and Other Seaweeds Following Elwha Dam Removal

Kelps are ecologically important seaweeds that dominated the nearshore vegetation community prior to dam removal on the Elwha River. Dam removal is expected to trigger a shift from kelps to vegetation types that are characteristic of soft-sediment communities through restoring natural sediment supply. This study is investigating how nearshore vegetation responds to restoration of the natural sediment regime, both initially when large amounts of sediment entrained in the reservoirs are released and over longer time periods. We assessed vegetation at multiple spatial scales using three approaches. First, we measured floating kelp canopy area using aerial photography. Second, we assessed the abundance of understory kelp and seagrasses with towed videography along 50 km of shoreline. Third, scuba divers recorded density of kelp species and other seaweeds along 10 km of shoreline bracketing the river mouth. Results show profound changes in vegetation and a strong gradient in magnitude of impact related to distance from the river mouth. Floating kelp canopy area decreased 74% in the Elwha Drift Cell in the first year following project initiation (year 1), with lower magnitude losses throughout the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Area of prostrate kelps decreased by 45% (400 ha) and of stipitate kelps by 30% (130 ha) in the Elwha Drift Cell in year 1. Mean kelp density near the river mouth decreased 77% in year 1 and 95% in year 2. While all 10 kelp species declined, annuals were more impacted than perennials. In contrast to the general decline, juveniles of several kelp species appeared in late August of year 2, a substantial delay compared to typical spring timing of juvenile growth. What caused the large kelp losses and apparent delay of juvenile growth? Likely candidates include light reduction from the river plume and scour, burial or settlement inhibition from deposition. These candidates will be explored using physical data from the multidisciplinary research effort

Lodgepole pine management guidelines for land managers in the wildland-urban interface

As a consequence of the current mountain pine beetle epidemic, many landowners and land managers are concerned about how to actively manage lodgepole pine stands. The following guidelines cover treating the dead standing trees killed by the insects, protecting homes and communities from wildfire, and ensuring that the future forest is better structured to prevent widespread mortality from insect epidemics and wildfire

Planning, implementation, and monitoring Pacific salmonid recovery following the removal of two hydroelectric dams on Washington\u27s Elwha River

The removal of Elwha and Glines Canyon dams on the Elwha River is the largest existing dam removal project in the United States. Project planning, implementation, and monitoring have occurred over 30 years and has required diverse technical expertise. Because of the size and nature of the project—two high-head dams releasing massive amounts of sediment into the river, estuary, and nearshore ecosystem—the project was unprecedented and required a great deal of technical expertise to plan, execute, and monitor. The relative success of this project required effective collaboration among individuals and organizations with varying missions. Individuals with diverse technical expertise (i.e., engineering, geomorphology, hydrology, botany, wildlife, fisheries, stream ecology, ecological monitoring) have successfully collaborated to develop several technical plans ensuring dam removal was completed, while at the same time protecting a city water supply, infrastructure, and listed and unlisted salmonids in the basin. This collaboration has continued following dam removal through the implementation of a monitoring and adaptive management plan. Our monitoring strategy often uses multiple scientific methods to evaluate metrics or performance indicators to create multiple lines of evidence, reduce uncertainty, and ensure data availability. Employing such diverse methods would not have been possible without multidisciplinary and multiagency collaboration. Collaboration and extensive monitoring has allowed project partners to identify potential barriers, assess the rate and extent of recolonization, estimate abundance, life history attributes, and productivity. This collaborative multidisciplinary approach has allowed us to monitor salmonid recovery, while also improving our understanding of ecosystem response and linkages. This has resulted in the Elwha River being one of the best studied dam removal projects in history

Meeting Report: Consensus Statement—Parkinson’s Disease and the Environment: Collaborative on Health and the Environment and Parkinson’s Action Network (CHE PAN) Conference 26–28 June 2007

BackgroundParkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder. People with PD, their families, scientists, health care providers, and the general public are increasingly interested in identifying environmental contributors to PD risk.MethodsIn June 2007, a multidisciplinary group of experts gathered in Sunnyvale, California, USA, to assess what is known about the contribution of environmental factors to PD.ResultsWe describe the conclusions around which they came to consensus with respect to environmental contributors to PD risk. We conclude with a brief summary of research needs.ConclusionsPD is a complex disorder, and multiple different pathogenic pathways and mechanisms can ultimately lead to PD. Within the individual there are many determinants of PD risk, and within populations, the causes of PD are heterogeneous. Although rare recognized genetic mutations are sufficient to cause PD, these account for < 10% of PD in the U.S. population, and incomplete penetrance suggests that environmental factors may be involved. Indeed, interplay among environmental factors and genetic makeup likely influences the risk of developing PD. There is a need for further understanding of how risk factors interact, and studying PD is likely to increase understanding of other neurodegenerative disorders

HE-LHC: The High-Energy Large Hadron Collider: Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 4

In response to the 2013 Update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics (EPPSU), the Future Circular Collider (FCC) study was launched as a world-wide international collaboration hosted by CERN. The FCC study covered an energy-frontier hadron collider (FCC-hh), a highest-luminosity high-energy lepton collider (FCC-ee), the corresponding 100 km tunnel infrastructure, as well as the physics opportunities of these two colliders, and a high-energy LHC, based on FCC-hh technology. This document constitutes the third volume of the FCC Conceptual Design Report, devoted to the hadron collider FCC-hh. It summarizes the FCC-hh physics discovery opportunities, presents the FCC-hh accelerator design, performance reach, and staged operation plan, discusses the underlying technologies, the civil engineering and technical infrastructure, and also sketches a possible implementation. Combining ingredients from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the high-luminosity LHC upgrade and adding novel technologies and approaches, the FCC-hh design aims at significantly extending the energy frontier to 100 TeV. Its unprecedented centre-of-mass collision energy will make the FCC-hh a unique instrument to explore physics beyond the Standard Model, offering great direct sensitivity to new physics and discoveries

FCC-ee: The Lepton Collider: Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 2

In response to the 2013 Update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics, the Future Circular Collider (FCC) study was launched, as an international collaboration hosted by CERN. This study covers a highest-luminosity high-energy lepton collider (FCC-ee) and an energy-frontier hadron collider (FCC-hh), which could, successively, be installed in the same 100 km tunnel. The scientific capabilities of the integrated FCC programme would serve the worldwide community throughout the 21st century. The FCC study also investigates an LHC energy upgrade, using FCC-hh technology. This document constitutes the second volume of the FCC Conceptual Design Report, devoted to the electron-positron collider FCC-ee. After summarizing the physics discovery opportunities, it presents the accelerator design, performance reach, a staged operation scenario, the underlying technologies, civil engineering, technical infrastructure, and an implementation plan. FCC-ee can be built with today’s technology. Most of the FCC-ee infrastructure could be reused for FCC-hh. Combining concepts from past and present lepton colliders and adding a few novel elements, the FCC-ee design promises outstandingly high luminosity. This will make the FCC-ee a unique precision instrument to study the heaviest known particles (Z, W and H bosons and the top quark), offering great direct and indirect sensitivity to new physics

FCC Physics Opportunities: Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 1

We review the physics opportunities of the Future Circular Collider, covering its e+e-, pp, ep and heavy ion programmes. We describe the measurement capabilities of each FCC component, addressing the study of electroweak, Higgs and strong interactions, the top quark and flavour, as well as phenomena beyond the Standard Model. We highlight the synergy and complementarity of the different colliders, which will contribute to a uniquely coherent and ambitious research programme, providing an unmatchable combination of precision and sensitivity to new physics