Effects of increased snow on growth and allocation patterns of Arctic plants

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2014While summer warming in the Arctic has led to an increase in shrub cover on the tundra, winter processes may enhance shrub growth. In particular, greater snow accumulation around shrub patches may alter plant growth by insulating soil and facilitating overwinter nitrogen mineralization by microbes, thereby increasing nutrients available to plants at spring thaw and influencing growth patterns. We used three snow fences located across a gradient of shrub height and density at Toolik Field Station to compare plant growth and nutrient uptake on either side of the fences. Species behaved individualistically, with some showing increased growth and nutrient uptake with snow addition, others showing decreased growth and nutrient uptake, and some showing no effect of snow. The biggest increases in growth were seen in the deciduous shrub Salix pulchra due to increased carbon allocation (compared to nitrogen allocation) to stems, coinciding with increases in secondary growth, which allowed plants to support more branches and thus more leaves. Overall, secondary growth was the most responsive growth trait to snow addition, and facilitated growth of other aboveground plant parts. This provides a preliminary mechanistic explanation for the widespread increase in shrub cover across the northern latitudes. Some species, notably the evergreen shrub Ledum palustre, showed decreased growth under snow addition, but increased nitrogen uptake in stems suggesting storage of nutrients over growth. In addition, species growing in inherently more productive areas responded most strongly to added snow, indicating that larger plants are better able to modify their biomass and nutrient allocation in response to environmental alteration. We conclude that faster-growing species with the ability to respond rapidly to changes in nutrient availability will likely dominate under continued climate change, and may alter important ecosystem processes such as carbon and nitrogen storage and potentially feed back into climate warming

Letter to Mrs. Wm. Hedstrom from Mrs. C. E. Addis, October 24, 1914

Letter to Mrs. Wm. Hedstrom from Mrs. C. E. Addis, Corresponding Secretary, City Federation of Women\u27s Organizations of Spokane, Washington. Mrs. William Hedstrom served as Secretary for the Fathers\u27 Day Association of Spokane, Washington.https://digitalcommons.whitworth.edu/fathers-day-correspondence/1027/thumbnail.jp

A Feature-Augmented Grammar for Automated Media Production

The IST Polymnia project is creating a fully automated system for personalised video generation, including content creation, selection and composition. This paper presents a linguistically motivated solution using context-free feature-augmented grammar rules to describe editing tasks and hence automate video editing. The solution is media and application independent

Individual differences in masculine gender socialization as predictive of men\u27s psychophysiological responses to negative affect

We investigated a long-theorized relationship between individual differences in masculine gender socialization and avoidance of vulnerable negative affect. Participants were thirty-six men (faculty, staff, and students, M age = 21.40, age range 18-30, SD = 3.00, 3% Hispanic, 11% Asian, 86% Caucasian) recruited from a small university in the Northeastern United States. Adherence to masculine norms was positively associated with participants\u27 physiological fear/avoidant responses to a video of a man violating masculine gender norms by expressing vulnerable negative affect (crying, asking for help, showing affection for another man). Results suggest that masculine gender socialization may cause some men to be fearful of expressions of negative affect, potentially limiting some men\u27s ability to experience and express their own negative affect. © 2012 by the Men\u27s Studies Press, LLC. All rights reserved

Peran Kualitas Jasa pada Kepuasan Serta Dampaknya terhadap Loyalitas dan Niat Beralih Nasabah PT Pegadaian di Surabaya

This research examines the effect of service quality on satisfaction and its impact on customer loyalty and intention to switch of the customers of PT. Pegadaian in Surabaya. There were four important variables: service quality, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and intention to switch were discussed for better understanding of consumer behavior. The research employs a structural equation modeling method based on the data collected from105 customers of PT Pegadaian in Surabaya. This research uses purposive sampling technique to determine the sample size. The result shows that Service Quality has significant and positive influence towards customer Satisfaction. In addition, Customer Satisfaction has influence towards Customer Loyalty and Customer Intention to Switch

GaAs solar cells for laser power beaming

Efforts to develop GaAs solar cells for coupling to laser beams in the wavelength range of 800 to 840 nm are described. This work was motivated primarily by interests in space-tp-space power beaming applications. In particular, the Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories is conducting studies of the utilization of power beaming for several future space missions. Modeling calculations of GaAs cell performance were carried out using PC-1D to determine an appropriate design for a p/n cell structure. Epitaxial wafers were grown by MOCVD and cells fabricated at WSU Tri-Cities. Under simulated conditions, an efficiency of 53 percent was achieved for a cell coupled to 806 nm light at 400 mW/sq cm

Personalized Text Categorization Using a MultiAgent Architecture

In this paper, a system able to retrieve contents deemed relevant for the users through a text categorization process, is presented. The system is built exploiting a generic multiagent architecture that supports the implementation of applications aimed at (i) retrieving heterogeneous data spread among different sources (e.g., generic html pages, news, blogs, forums, and databases); (ii) filtering and organizing them according to personal interests explicitly stated by each user; (iii) providing adaptation techniques to improve and refine throughout time the profile of each selected user. In particular, the implemented multiagent system creates personalized press-revies from online newspapers. Preliminary results are encouraging and highlight the effectiveness of the approach