Experimental investigations in epitaxial growth of crystalline layers final report

Epitaxial growth of crystalline layer

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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Aspects Of Intentional Explanation

A complete cognitive science will include generalizations explanatory of human behavior which refer to certain internal states of human agents. We investigate various issues in the foundations of cognitive science arising from this observation. In particular, it is argued that the taxonomic descriptions of behavior which occur in generalizations over behavioral types are intentional, i.e. such descriptions of behavior must respect the semantic contents of the mental states which produce behavior. This principle provides the basis for an argument for the ineliminability of a semantic component from a completed psychological theory. The concept of intentional explanation is examined and it is argued that though behavioral explanation must be cast in the intentional format, intentional explanation ought not to be constrained by normative rationality assumptions. Since intentional explanation, in many cases, requires reference to the mental states of the agents of behavior, it is essential to understand how mental states are to be individuated. We argue that functional criteria are inadequate for the individuation of mental states such as propositional attitudes, e.g. the belief that P, the belief that Q, the desire that R, et cetera. Widely known criticisms of the possibility of a concept of the semantic equivalence of beliefs are examined and rejected and semantic criteria for the individuation of beliefs are offered

Eastern Truckee Meadows Groundwater Interactions with the Truckee River

Understanding hydrogeology within the Truckee Meadows is important because its aquifers and the Truckee River supply water to the communities of Reno and Sparks in Washoe County, Nevada. Residents of this area rely solely on these aquifers when surface water from the Truckee River is unavailable for municipal use. Researching the complex groundwater interactions with the Truckee River will help water managers understand how increased pumping might reduce groundwater seepage to the river, while determining how recharge from injection wells may return flow to the river. The objective of this research is to compare the results of several different methods assessing groundwater-surface water interactions with previous studies along the Truckee River in the eastern Truckee Meadows. Several techniques were used; including analyzing temperature changes along the streambed to simulated groundwater flux from a mixing model, applying a stream discharge differencing method to compute a surface water balance and calculate groundwater accretion, comparing river stage with groundwater elevation to identify gradients, creating potentiometric maps to help visualize regional groundwater flow, along with studying groundwater fluctuations and hydrographs to interpret groundwater trends. According to thermal analysis results, the most influential parameters for simulating downstream temperature were upstream temperature and groundwater temperature

Hydrous Manganese Oxide Doped Gel Probe Sampler for Measuring In Situ Reductive Dissolution Rates. 2. Field Deployment

In situ rates of reductive dissolution in submerged shoreline sediments at Lake Tegel (Berlin, Germany) were measured with a novel hydrous manganese (Mn) oxide-doped gel probe sampler in concert with equilibrium gel probe and sequential extraction measurements. Rates were low in the top 8 cm, then showed a peak from 8 to 14 cm, with a maximum at 12 cm depth. This rate corresponded with a peak in dissolved porewater iron (Fe) at 11 cm depth. Below 14 cm, the reductive dissolution rate reached an intermediate steady value. Lower rates at depth corresponded with increases in operationally defined fractions of carbonate-bound and organic- and sulfide-bound Mn and Fe as detected by sequential extraction. Observed rates of reductive dissolution, which reflect a capacity for Mn reduction rather than actual rates under ambient conditions, appear to correlate with porewater chemistry and sequential extraction fractions as expected in early sediment diagenesis, and are consistent with previous measurements of in situ reductive dissolution rates. Significant downward advection in this bank filtration setting depletes the Mn and Fe oxides in the sediments and enhances the transport of dissolved Fe and Mn into the infiltrating water