The Relationship Between Composition of Undisturbed Grassland Cover and the Presence of the Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) in Northern Ohio

Pheasant research has largely looked at grassland habitat throughout the landscape as an indicator of suitability of ring-necked pheasant habitat. Empirical and anecdotal evidence shows that increased grasslands percentages has a positive affect on pheasant presence or abundance. This study examines the differences in grassland percentages in two study areas in Northern Ohio, Williams/Defiance and Erie/Ottawa/Sandusky, to suggest reasons for the lack of pheasant presence in the Erie, Ottawa, and Sandusky area. The results showed no significant difference between the mean grassland percentages in the two areas (=0.05, d.f.=3, p=.1175), however in comparison to the literature and qualitatively there seems to be a difference. These results will be useful in habitat management recommendations in the area of Erie, Ottawa, and Sandusky counties.Ohio Division of Wildlif

Examination of believability as a mediator of a novel biological intervention for positive psychotic symptoms on symptom-related distress in schizophrenia

Believability refers to the degree of conviction in the validity of one’s subjective experience as reflections of reality. Distress refers to troubling affective reactions to one’s experience, and is likely exacerbated by increased believability. Many standard psychological treatments targeting psychotic symptoms include verbal challenges, reality testing, and thought control techniques, and directly or indirectly involve thought suppression and experiential avoidance. Research has demonstrated, however, that such direct cognitive control strategies may increase the frequency of and distress associated with problematic cognitions. Research has further suggested that novel behavior therapy programs that effectively reduce believability without directly challenging or targeting cognitive content can reduce distress associated with, and the functional impact of, positive psychotic symptoms (i.e., hallucinations and delusions). This pilot study, couched within a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, two-arm parallel study, examined believability and distress associated with psychotic symptoms in a small sample of inpatients (n=6) in the state hospital system. Participants were assessed at baseline/ day 1, mid-treatment, and post-treatment on 4 distinct measures. Due to the smaller than anticipated sample (4 active drug vs. 2 placebo), formal statistical analyses proposed in the hypotheses were not attempted. Findings revealed only modest associations between believability and positive psychotic symptoms. However, due to small sample size, it cannot be determined whether this association is statistically or clinically significant. Distress did not appear to be associated with believability among these patients. Implications and future directions are discussed.M.S., Psychology -- Drexel University, 201

Rhenium-Osmium Age Determinations of Glaciogenic Shales from the Mesoproterozoic Vazante Formation, Brazil

The Vazante Group is a sedimentary package of carbonate interbedded with diamictite and organic-rich shale, potentially representing a Pleistocene-style glacial cycle of Proterozoic age in Brazil. Lacking volcanic ashes, the age of the Vazante strata has eluded researchers. This study applied the Re-Os geochronometer to successive organic-rich horizons, revealing pre- and synglacial ages of ca. 1.35 and 1.13 Ga. Time-series stable isotopic studies were conducted throughout the succession to investigate active metabolisms and depositional redox conditions. Given the radiometric constraints, the Vazante Group contains the only recognized glacial deposit of Mesoproterozoic age, but may be similar to Neoproterozoic events. Vazante strata were deposited on a low-latitude passive margin formed during the diachronous break-up of the supercontinent Rodinia, with local ice-sheets potentially developing on uplifted rift margins. A low-latitude Mesoproterozoic glaciation suggests that the "climate paradox" of the Neoproterozoic extends back further than previously believed

Re–Os age for the Lower–Middle Pennsylvanian Boundary and comparison with associated palynoflora

AbstractThe Betsie Shale Member is a relatively thick and continuous unit that serves as a marker bed across the central Appalachian basin, in part because it includes an organic-rich shale unit at its base that is observable in drill logs. Deposited during a marine transgression, the Betsie Shale Member has been correlated to units in both Wales and Germany and has been proposed to mark the boundary between the Lower and Middle Pennsylvanian Series within North America. This investigation assigns a new Re–Os date to the base of the Betsie and examines the palynoflora and maceral composition of the underlying Matewan coal bed in the context of that date. The Matewan coal bed contains abundant lycopsid tree spores along its base with assemblage diversity and inertinite content increasing upsection, as sulfur content and ash yield decrease. Taken together, these palynologic and organic petrographic results suggest a submerged paleomire that transitioned to an exposed peat surface. Notably, separating the lower and upper benches of the Matewan is a parting with very high sulfur content (28wt.%), perhaps representing an early marine pulse prior to the full on transgression responsible for depositing the Betsie. Results from Re–Os geochronology date the base of the Betsie at 323±7.8Ma, consistent with previously determined age constraints as well as the palynoflora assemblage presented herein. The Betsie Shale Member is also highly enriched in Re (ranging from 319.7 to 1213ng/g), with high 187Re/188Os values ranging from 3644 to 5737 likely resultant from varying redox conditions between the pore water and overlying water column during deposition and early condensing of the section

Designing a Better Day: Adult Day Centers: Comparative Case Studies

The Adult Day Center (ADC) is emerging as a new and important social institution and place type in the continuum of care environments. Nine case studies representing the range of ADC\u27s currently operating in the United States are considered from a holistic, systemic perspective. Each case is presented in terms of place profile, program, physical setting and the place in use. The results are not a matter of ADC best practices or good/bad ways of doing things, but rather a method of identifying characteristics and components that appear to contribute to making a positive difference in the experience of adult day care.https://dc.uwm.edu/caupr_mono/1008/thumbnail.jp

Atmospheric mercury and fine particulate matter in coastal New England : implications for mercury and trace element sources in the northeastern United States

This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. The definitive version was published in Atmospheric Environment 79 (2013): 760–768, doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2013.07.031.Intensive sampling of ambient atmospheric fine particulate matter was conducted at Woods Hole, Massachusetts over a four-month period from 3 April to 29 July, 2008, in conjunction with year-long deployment of the USGS Mobile Mercury Lab. Results were obtained for trace elements in fine particulate matter concurrently with determination of ambient atmospheric mercury speciation and concentrations of ancillary gasses (SO2, NOx, and O3). For particulate matter, trace element enrichment factors greater than 10 relative to crustal background values were found for As, Bi, Cd, Cu, Hg, Pb, Sb, V, and Zn, indicating contribution of these elements by anthropogenic sources. For other elements, enrichments are consistent with natural marine (Na, Ca, Mg, Sr) or crustal (Ba, Ce, Co, Cs, Fe, Ga, La, Rb, Sc, Th, Ti, U, Y) sources, respectively. Positive matrix factorization was used together with concentration weighted air-mass back trajectories to better define element sources and their locations. Our analysis, based on events exhibiting the 10% highest PM2.5 contributions for each source category, identifies coal-fired power stations concentrated in the U.S. Ohio Valley, metal smelting in eastern Canada, and marine and crustal sources showing surprisingly similar back trajectories, at times each sampling Atlantic coastal airsheds. This pattern is consistent with contribution of Saharan dust by a summer maximum at the latitude of Florida and northward transport up the Atlantic Coast by clockwise circulation of the summer Bermuda High. Results for mercury speciation show diurnal production of RGM by photochemical oxidation of Hg° in a marine environment, and periodic traverse of the study area by correlated RGM-SO2(NOx) plumes, indicative of coal combustion sources.We acknowledge support of the USGS Toxic Substances Hydrology Program, the USGS Energy Resources Program, the National Science Foundation Small Grants for Exploratory Research Program, and for initial support, the USGS Mendenhall Postdoctoral Program

Source apportionment of atmospheric trace gases and particulate matter: comparison of log-ratio and traditional approaches

In this paper we compare multivariate methods using both traditional approaches, which ignore issues of closure and provide relatively simple methods to deal with censored or missing data, and log-ratio methods to determine the sources of trace constituents in the atmosphere. The data set examined was collected from April to July 2008 at a sampling site near Woods Hole, Massachusetts, along the northeastern United States Atlantic coastline. The data set consists of trace gas mixing ratios (O3, SO2, NOx, elemental mercury [Hgo], and reactive gaseous mercury [RGM]), and concentrations of trace elements in fine (<2.5 μm) particulate matter (Al, As, Ba, Ca, Cd, Ce, Co, Cs, Fe, Ga, Hg, K, La, Mg, Mn, Na, P, Pb, Rb, Sb, Sr, Th, Ti, V, Y, and Zn) with varying percentages of censored values for each species. The data were separated into two subcompositions: s1, which is comprised by RGM and particulate Hg (HgP), which are both highly censored; and s2 which includes all of the trace elements associated with particulate matter except Hg, and the trace gases O3, SO2, NOx, and Hgo. Principal factor analysis (PFA) was successful in determining the primary sources for constituents in s2 using both traditional and log-ratio approaches. Using the traditional approach, regression between factor scores and RGM and particulate Hg concentrations suggested that none of the sources identified during PFA led to positive contributions of either reactive mercury compound. This finding is counter to most conventional thinking and is likely specious, resulting from removal of censored data (up to >80% of the entire dataset) during the analysis. Log-ratio approaches to find relationships between constituents comprising s2 with RGM and HgP (i.e., s1) focused on log-ratio correlation and regression analyses of alr-transformed data, using Al as the divisor. Regression models accounted for large fractions of the variance in concentrations of the two reactive mercury species and generally agreed with conceptualizations about the formation and behavior of these species. An analysis of independence between the subcompositions demonstrated that the behavior of the two constituents comprising s1 (i.e., RGM and HgP) is dependent on changes in s2. Our findings suggest that although problems related to closure are largely unknown or ignored in the atmospheric sciences, much insight can be gleaned from the application of log-ratio methods to atmospheric chemistry data

Redox heterogeneity of subsurface waters in the Mesoproterozoic ocean

A substantial body of evidence suggests that subsurface water masses in mid-Proterozoic marine basins were commonly anoxic, either euxinic (sulfidic) or ferruginous (free ferrous iron). To further document redox variations during this interval, a multiproxy geochemical and paleobiological investigation was conducted on the approximately 1000-m-thick Mesoproterozoic (Lower Riphean) Arlan Member of the Kaltasy Formation, central Russia. Iron speciation geochemistry, supported by organic geochemistry, redox-sensitive trace element abundances, and pyrite sulfur isotope values, indicates that basinal calcareous shales of the Arlan Member were deposited beneath an oxygenated water column, and consistent with this interpretation, eukaryotic microfossils are abundant in basinal facies. The Rhenium–Osmium (Re–Os) systematics of the Arlan shales yield depositional ages of 1414 ± 40 and 1427 ± 43 Ma for two horizons near the base of the succession, consistent with previously proposed correlations. The presence of free oxygen in a basinal environment adds an important end member to Proterozoic redox heterogeneity, requiring an explanation in light of previous data from time-equivalent basins. Very low total organic carbon contents in the Arlan Member are perhaps the key—oxic deep waters are more likely (under any level of atmospheric O2) in oligotrophic systems with low export production. Documentation of a full range of redox heterogeneity in subsurface waters and the existence of local redox controls indicate that no single stratigraphic section or basin can adequately capture both the mean redox profile of Proterozoic oceans and its variance at any given point in time

A global transition to ferruginous conditions in the early Neoproterozoic oceans

Eukaryotic life expanded during the Proterozoic eon1, 2.5 to 0.542 billion years ago, against a background of fluctuating ocean chemistry2, 3, 4. After about 1.8 billion years ago, the global ocean is thought to have been characterized by oxygenated surface waters, with anoxic and sulphidic waters in middle depths along productive continental margins and anoxic and iron-containing (ferruginous) deeper waters5, 6, 7. The spatial extent of sulphidic waters probably varied through time5, 6, but this surface-to-deep redox structure is suggested to have persisted until the first Neoproterozoic glaciation about 717 million years ago8, 9, 10, 11. Here we report an analysis of ocean redox conditions throughout the Proterozoic using new and existing iron speciation and sulphur isotope data from multiple cores and outcrops. We find a global transition from sulphidic to ferruginous mid-depth waters in the earliest Neoproterozoic, coincident with the amalgamation of the supercontinent Rodinia at low latitudes. We suggest that ferruginous conditions were initiated by an increase in the oceanic influx of highly reactive iron relative to sulphate, driven by a change in weathering regime and the uptake of sulphate by extensive continental evaporites on Rodinia. We propose that this transition essentially detoxified ocean margin settings, allowing for expanded opportunities for eukaryote diversification following a prolonged evolutionary stasis before one billion years ago