Urban Water Conservation and Efficiency Potential in California

Improving urban water-use efficiency is a key solution to California's short-term and longterm water challenges: from drought to unsustainable groundwater use to growing tensions over limited supplies. Reducing unnecessary water withdrawals leaves more water in reservoirs and aquifers for future use and has tangible benefits to fish and other wildlife in our rivers and estuaries. In addition, improving water-use efficiency and reducing waste can save energy, lower water and wastewater treatment costs, and eliminate the need for costly new infrastructure

Tool facilitates sealing of metal fill tubes

A hand tool is designed for sealing metal fill tubes containing corrosive or inflammable liquids without the use of heat or open flame. The tool aligns the fill tube into which a tapered sealing pin is dropped and driven below the neck of tube

A Study of Plant Distribution Patterns at a Mid-Altitude Location in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Introduction: Travelers in the Great Smoky Mountains are often impressed by the striking contrasts between the evergreen and deciduous vegetation types exposed to view along the mountain slopes. In the springtime one can look across the valley formed by the West Prong of the Little Pigeon River, toward the north-facing slopes of Sugarland Mountain, and see the intricate mosaic pattern of the vegetation as the new leaves of the deciduous trees unfold, spreading out in a wide fan in the lower coves and extending, tongue fashion, up the mountain slopes into the high coves between lead ridges. These deciduous forest patterns extend up the established drainage systems to the ridge top a 4000 feet. Contrasting to these splashes of new green are the dark, somber colors of the hemlock and rhododendron on the ridges and covering the steep slopes within the drainage troughs. This general picture is duplicated time and again along he mountain road from Park Headquarters to Newfound Gap. At about 3800 feet the hemlocks on the ridges have become interspersed with spruce. Along the North Carolina-Tennessee state line between Newfound Gap and Clingmans Dome, occurring in the gaps between peaks and on the upper slopes of coves, are found stands of northern hardwoods, often of orchard type (Cain 1935). These high altitude gaps and coves are of the beech type with spruce and fir on the ridges surrounding them (Russell 1953). When one walks through these gaps and coves in the spring he finds certain constant species, forming, in places, a mat of ground cover. From 2000 to 4000 feet Phacelia fimbriata so completely blankets the sunny floor under the naked deciduous canopy in certain areas that it is impossible to avoid crushing innumerable fragile, white petals. Associated with the Phacelia are Claytonia, Caulophyllum, Dicentra, Erythronium, Houstonia, and various species of Trillium and Dryopteris. Most of these plants are not found under the evergreen canopy. It is like stepping into a new world - a world that is sometimes barren, other times a dense tangle of rhododendron and fallen trees. This is true on the steeper slopes of the cove floor as well as on the ridge leads. Since this pattern seemed to be so consistent, not only in the park but in other places in the Appalachians, such as described by D. M. Brown (1941) on Roan Mountain and by Coile (1938) in Randolph County, West Virginia, an attempt was made by the author to make a comprehensive study of plant distribution pattern at a mid-altitude location near the Alum Cave parking area in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This study began in the spring of 1950 with a general reconnaissance from the Chimneys Camp Ground up one of the valley to the top of Sugarland Mountain with the idea of using this area for such an investigation. The region used for the most extensive part of this survey occupies about eleven acres of cove and adjacent ridges south of Tennessee Highway Number 71, one-half mile east of the Alum Cave parking area (Fig. 1). The site was originally chosen because it included an isolated stand of spruce and fir unusual for such a low elevation. A study was made of this spruce-fir island to find out if its floristic composition was the same as that of its high altitude counterpart, how it came to be there, and if it would persist. A survey of the relationship of this community to the surrounding vegetation was made, and the problem expanded to include consideration of the pertinent geologic, edaphic, and climatic factors

A Treatise on the Constitutional Limitations Which Rest upon the Legislative Power of the States of the American Union

“At the request of the late Judge Cooley I have undertaken the preparation of this edition of the Constitutional Limitations. It seemed desirable, in view of all the circumstances, that the text of the last edition should stand as the text for this, and the work of the present editor has been confined to the bringing of the book down to date, by the addition of such matter to the notes as will fairly present the development of this branch of the law since the publication of the last edition.” --Preface to the Seventh Edition, Victor H. Lane, Ann Arbor, September 1903https://repository.law.umich.edu/books/1094/thumbnail.jp

Free Radicals in Superfluid Liquid Helium Nanodroplets: A Pyrolysis Source for the Production of Propargyl Radical

An effusive pyrolysis source is described for generating a continuous beam of radicals under conditions appropriate for the helium droplet pick-up method. Rotationally resolved spectra are reported for the $\nu_1$ vibrational mode of the propargyl radical in helium droplets at 3322.15 cm$^{-1}$. Stark spectra are also recorded that allow for the first experimental determination of the permanent electric dipole moment of propargyl, namely -0.150 D and -0.148 D for ground and excited state, respectively, in good agreement with previously reported ab initio results of -0.14 D [1]. The infrared spectrum of the $\nu_1$ mode of propargyl-bromide is also reported. The future application of these methods for the production of novel radical clusters is discussed

Teacher expectations of student's classroom behavior across the grade span: Which social skills are necessary for success?

This is the publisher's version, also found here: http://cec.metapress.com/content/63820428261730n7/?p=82097d4b932443728efac908538b9810&pi=1This study explored teachers' (N = 717) expectations of student behavior along school level (elementary vs. middle vs. high), pro-am type (general vs. special education), and school type (high risk vs. low risk). Results indicated that all elementary and middle school teachers shared similar views regarding the importance of self-control skills, whereas high school special education teachers viewed self-control skills as significantly more important than did high school general education teachers. High school teachers rated assertion skills as significantly less important relative to elementary or middle school teachers. Results also indicated that teachers at high-risk schools viewed self-control and assertion skills as more critical for success than did teachers at low-risk schools