Planet Superman: An ecocritical analysis of the Man of Steel from 1938-2017

Planet Superman is a critical examination of the DC comic book superhero Superman as analyzed through an ecocritical lens. The primary argument is that, within the world of DC Comics, Superman is single-handedly capable of ending all of the Earth’s various ecological crises using his very existence as a solar battery or using his superhuman power to become a totalitarian despot that enforces the law through superior firepower. I calculate Superman’s greatest feat of energy output to prove how much solar energy is actively dormant within the Man of Steel. Using the several “versions” of Superman throughout his 79 year career (Golden Age, Silver/Bronze Age, and Modern/New Age), I argue how DC Comics has changed the character to meet the needs and values of the era he was being written in, but purposefully do not have him solve all of the world’s environmental problems for mankind. Using eco-critical theorists such as Cheryll Glotfelty, Ursula K. Le Guin, Glen Love, and Frederick Turner, this thesis poses and answers the questions of whether or not Superman saving humanity time and time again has actually made him antagonistic to the environment as a whole or if he is simply delaying the inevitable annihilation of man through their own wasteful and ecologically destructive methods—similar to how his own planet Krypton was destroyed. The question answered is whether or not human beings are a species that can save themselves or if they must be helpless bystanders as they wait on a “Superman” to do it for them

A Multi-scale Analysis of Disturbance Dynamics in Hardwood Forest Communities on the Cumberland Plateau, U.S.A.

The purpose of this research was to quantify forest disturbance processes and evaluate the influence of these processes on secondary hardwood forest communities on a section of the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee. The specific objectives of this study were to: (1) reconstruct the disturbance history of a secondary hardwood forest using species composition, stand structure, tree-ring data, and soil charcoal analyses, (2) quantify canopy gap formation mechanisms, (3) document canopy gap characteristics, and (4) determine the forest response to small-scale disturbance events. This information is useful to understand the importance of localized disturbances on stand development and forest successional patterns. With the exception of one stand-wide disturbance in the early 1980s, the disturbance regime of the forest was characterized by localized, asynchronous events that occurred at variable spatial and temporal scales. Gap-scale disturbance events became frequent after about 40 years of forest development. The presence of soil charcoal indicated that fire had occurred in the Pogue Creek Natural Area in the past, but species composition and a lack of fire-scarred trees indicated that fire had not occurred during the development of the current stand. The majority of canopy gaps were caused by treefall (either windthrow or basal-shear) and half of all gaps were caused by the death of a Quercus individual. Gap ages ranged from 1 to 17 years with a mean of 7 years. Seasonality of death could be accurately determined for 17 gap makers and all but one of these trees died during the growing season. Strong wind associated with convective storms is the most probable disturbance agent in the forest. The fraction of land area in expanded gaps and true canopy gaps was 15% and 6%, respectively. The amount of land area in canopy gaps was highest for younger gaps and generally decreased with increased gap age. Most expanded and true canopy gaps had elliptical shapes and the majority of gaps were oriented perpendicular to slope contours. Significant positive relationships were documented between expanded gap size and the density of saplings, trees, and total stems. Only weak relationships existed between stem diversity and expanded gap size. Most of the canopy gaps documented were projected to close by lateral crown expansion rather than height growth of subcanopy individuals, but gaps still provided a means for understory trees to recruit to larger size classes. Over half of all trees located in true canopy gaps with intermediate crown classifications were Acer saccharum, A. rubrum, or Liriodendron tulipifera. Because the gaps documented were relatively small and close by lateral branch growth of perimeter trees, the most shade-tolerant A. saccharum has the greatest probability of becoming dominant in the canopy under the current disturbance regime. This study indicated that gap-scale disturbance processes have an influence on stand development and successional patterns of secondary hardwood forests in the absence of large-scale events

The fertilisation and recruitment dynamics of scleractinian corals on South Africa's high-latitude reefs.

2 The production of coral offspring and their survival through early ontogeny to sexual maturity 3 are both vitally important for the persistence of coral-dominated reefs. Understanding factors 4 which affect these processes is important where limited connectivity occurs. This is the case 5 on the high-latitude Two-mile Reef (TMR) at Sodwana Bay in South Africa. A combination of 6 in situ and ex situ experimental work was conducted, investigating factors which affect the pre7 and post-settlement stages of corals. In vitro experiments conducted on two representative 8 scleractinian broadcast spawning corals, Acropora austera and Hydnophora exesa, revealed 9 that fertilisation success in both species diminishes significantly with a reduction in sperm 10 concentration and water salinity. Fertilisation success was highest for A. austera at 106 sperm 11 ml-1 (56.46% ± 0.83, mean ± SE), and at 105 sperm ml-1 (38.76% ± 1.29) for H. exesa. At 104 12 sperm ml-1 there was a significant reduction in fertilisation of 80% and 58% for the respective 13 species. Additionally, fertilisation success of A. austera and H. exesa decreased significantly 14 by 56% and 79% respectively, when salinity was reduced by 7.06 psu. Ex situ settlement 15 experiments were then conducted to assess the settlement of their larvae in response to the 16 presence of two crustose coralline algae (CCA) a Hydrolithon sp. and Mesophyllum sp. and 17 filtered sea water (FSW) control. Settlement in the presence of Mesophyllum was not 18 significantly different from FSW, but a significant trend was observed in the presence of 19 Hydrolithon, where settlement of both corals peaked. While H. exesa post-settlement success 20 was also greatest in the Hydrolithon treatment (55.00 ± 10.47%), this was not the case for A. 21 austera, which obtained highest post-settlement success in the Mesophyllum treatment (21.67 22 ± 7.23%). However, these trends were not significant. Acropora austera and H. exesa were 23 still capable of settlement 69 and 75 days after fertilisation respectively in FSW. In general, 24 more settlement occurred on container surfaces than on CCA fragments. Results from this 25 study suggest that the inducing effect of CCA is coral and CCA taxon-specific, and that A. 26 austera planulae are more stringent in their settlement requirements. 27 28 In situ experiments were conducted by attaching settlement tiles to concrete Y-frames on TMR 29 for six months to assess how coral recruitment differs according to method of settlement tile 30 attachment onto concrete y-frames and how the exclusion of herbivores and predators affects 31 coral recruitment onto tiles. A new, grooved settlement tile was designed to provide refuge microhabitats on the top surface of the tiles. In total, 32 579 recruits were detected on the 33 settlement tiles, with pocilloporids dominating the recruit composition (64%). 34 35 Grooved tiles were also used to assess whether coral recruit density varied between different 36 microhabitats adjacent to the tile edge (a narrow, 5 mm gap; a wide, 15 mm gap; and tiles raised 37 above the gap). Most recruitment occurred on the vertical edges and towards the edge perimeter 38 of grooved tiles regardless of treatment. The majority of recruitment on the top surface of tiles 39 occurred in the grooves (74.17%). Coral recruit densities differed significantly between the 40 three edge microhabitats, with recruit density significantly less on tiles adjacent to narrow gaps. 41 Raised tiles and tiles with a wide gap had two- and three-fold more recruits (644.33 ± 149.43 42 and 979.29 ± 170.88 recruits m-2) than tiles with a narrow gap (311.05 ± 80.82 recruits m-2). 43 This suggests that the microhabitat associated with the method of tile attachment can have a 44 significant effect on recruitment. Finally, the effect of large herbivores and predators on coral 45 recruitment and the benthic communities was assessed by placing exclusion cages over tiles. 46 Recruit densities had a two-fold reduction when herbivores and predators were excluded. 47 Additionally, CCA cover was also significantly reduced on caged tiles, and the percentage of 48 erect foliose algae, encrusting macroalgae, and turf algae was significantly greater compared 49 to uncaged tiles. This indicates that grazers may assist coral recruitment on TMR. 50 51 This study provided the first assessment of fertilisation success in corals at high-latitude in 52 South Africa and the results are related to information on gene flow and reef resilience. The 53 importance of suitable settlement microhabitats and grazers are also highlighted and stress the 54 need for a multi-faceted management approach to coral conservation. Furthermore, from an 55 experimental point of view, the methodological techniques used to quantify in situ recruitment, 56 such as settlement surface design and attachment technique, may have important implications 57 in quantifying recruit densities and settlement preferences. Such differences must be 58 considered when comparing the results of recruit densities in studies using dissimilar 59 techniques. 6

Phyllidia flava Aradas, 1847 (Mollusca Opisthobranchia), new record for the Azores

Cervera et al. (2006) listed 113 opisthobranch species from the Azores. Since then, several additional coastal opisthobranchs have been reported from the Azores, e.g. Malaquias et al. (2011), Pedro et al. (2011), Cordeiro et al. (2013). We here report yet another previously unrecorded opisthobranch species from the Azores. The observations were made while SCUBA diving at Pico Island, Azores. Two specimens were deposited in the Zoologische Staatssammlung, München, Germany

Automatic Sign Reading and Localization for Semantic Mapping with an Office Robot

Semantic mapping is the task of providing a robot with a map of its environment beyond the open, navigable space of traditional Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) algorithms by attaching semantics to locations. The system presented in this work reads door placards to annotate the locations of offices. Whereas prior work on this system developed hand-crafted detectors, this system leverages YOLOv5 for sign detection and EAST for text recognition. Placards are localized by computing their pose from a point cloud in a RGB-D camera frame localized by a modified ORB-SLAM. Semantic mapping is accomplished in a post-processing step after robot exploration from video recording. System performance is reported in terms of the number of placards identified, the accuracy of their placement onto a SLAM map, the accuracy of the map built, and the correctness transcribed placard text

Quantifying sources of fecal contamination in a coastal system with complex stormwater dynamics

Coastal North Carolina (NC) exhibits complex meteorological and hydrological dynamics that facilitate the delivery of fecal contaminants to downstream receiving waters via stormwater runoff. A quantitative microbial assessment of stormwater in Beaufort, NC was conducted to identify trends and potential sources of fecal contamination. During wet weather, the increase in microbial contaminants in receiving waters was substantial. Short-term rainfall (i.e. less than 12 hours) was predictive of E. coli, Enterococcus spp., and human-specific marker concentrations in receiving water, and strong correlation between 12-hr antecedent rainfall and Enterococcus spp. (r=0.57, p<0.001, n=92) suggests there is potential for a predictive model to be developed that would improve management of water quality impairment. These data will be used to inform ongoing stormwater mitigation projects in this region and serve as a conceptual model for the interaction between complex stormwater dynamics and water quality impairment in coastal NC.Master of Scienc

Deep R-Learning for Continual Area Sweeping

This publication is by UT affiliates that was featured in the October Good Systems Network Digest in 2020.Office of the VP for Researc

Coral recruitment on a high-latitude reef at Sodwana Bay, South Africa: research methods and dynamics.

Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2011.Coral recruitment is a key process that contributes to the community structure and resilience of coral reefs. As such, quantification of this process is important to assist with the management of these threatened ecosystems. While coral recruitment has been the focus of numerous studies over the past 30 years, an understanding of this process on the high-latitude reefs of South Africa is limited. In addition, variations in methods used in recruitment studies make the results difficult to compare. A rapid in-situ method for universal application in the detection of early post-settled recruits would thus be useful. In this study, scleractinian coral recruitment was investigated at three study sites on Two-mile Reef, over two six-month sampling periods, covering summer and winter. Two components were investigated by attaching settlement tiles consisting of ceramic and marble tiles, and ceramic tiles conditioned with crustose coralline algae (CCA) onto the reef in a spatially structured experimental design. Firstly, coral recruitment was compared on the three different tile surfaces and fluorescence photography was investigated as a rapid in situ technique to detect early post-settled recruits. Fluorescence photography was then used to compare recruitment on tiles with the surrounding natural substrata. Secondly, the spatial and temporal variation in the abundance, composition and size of recruits was investigated. Additionally, the percentage cover of biota surrounding each recruit within three millimeters of its corallum was visually estimated to quantify the microhabitat surroundings of coral recruits. Overall recruitment on the three tile types differed, yet spatial variation in coral recruitment, regardless of tile surface, accounted for most of the variance in recruitment. While the highest recruitment occurred on CCA tiles, this was not significantly greater than ceramic tiles, indicating that the conditioning of ceramic tiles with Mesophyllum funafutiense CCA did not enhance coral settlement in this study. Although many recruits were not detected with fluorescent photography (73%), it proved useful to reveal recruits as small as 0.75 mm in corallum diameter, and indicated that recruitment on the tiles and natural substratum differ significantly. Spatially, the abundance and composition of coral recruits differed between study sites, within sites, and predominantly occurred on tile edges. Coral recruitment was lowest at shallower sites, and was dominated by pocilloporids regardless of study site. Additionally, the abundance and composition of recruits differed between the two sampling periods, with a 6.6-fold decrease in the mean abundance of recruits from summer to winter, with only pocilloporid settlement occurring in the latter season. The majority of recruits were <3 mm, and their microhabitat was dominated by bare substrata and crustose coralline algae. The results suggest that, while the choice of artificial settlement surface used in such studies can have a profound influence on the results, spatial variation in recruitment can be greater. The recovery of scleractinian coral taxa on Two-mile Reef in the event of a severe disturbance is expected to differ, with greatest recovery in areas of high levels of recruitment. The microhabitat surrounding recruits is described here for the first time, suggesting that further research into coral-crustose coralline algae interactions is warranted. Finally, while fluorescence photography has its limitations, it shows promise as a useful tool for rapid qualitative, but not quantitative, assessment of recruitment