Nutrient Criteria Recommendations for Eutrophication Management of New Mexico Reservoirs

Many of the lakes and reservoirs in the world are adversely affected by eutrophication. In order to counter this trend, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEP A) had developed numeric nutrient criteria for use by the States and Tribes. The USEP A has based their criteria on Level III ecoregions and their aggregated ecoregions. This project seeks to determine the validity of using these USEP A recommendations in the State of New Mexico to replace the State\u27s current narrative nutrient criteria. This project will also offer nutrient criteria recommendations for four criteria variables: total nitrogen, total phosphorus, Secchi depth, and chlorophyll-a, based on three other lake classification schemes, the first one based on surface area, the second on elevation, and the third on surface area to drainage area ratio. The water bodies of interest in this study are the mainstem reservoirs of New Mexico with surface areas greater than 1,000 acres. Using the Carlson trophic state index as a guide, this study finds that the Level III ecoregion approach to lake classification has the most potential to preserve, and possibly improve, the current trophic states of the reservoirs in New Mexico. This result and the recommendations for future work will be used by the State of New Mexico as a starting point for the development of numeric nutrient criteria

Attributions for Success and Failure in Athletic Administration Positions

The under-representation of women in senior level athletic administration positions continues to attract the attention of scholars in sports studies. The most glaring lack of female representation occurs at the athletic director (A.D.) position, with women holding only 8.4% of those positions at the Division I level. Using the concept of causal attribution and role congruity theory, this project examined perceptions of success and failure of male and female candidates for either an athletic director or life skills director position. One hundred eleven female and 73 male (n = 191) administrators in athletics at the collegiate level participated. Contrary to previous research, which found that male candidates are attributed success because of internal characteristics, findings from this study indicated that both male and female candidates for A.D. were provided internal attributions for success and external attributions for failure. This may be due to the fact that so few women are represented at the A.D. position at the Division I level that an evaluator may attribute her success to internal characteristics because she “must be” outstanding in order to have achieved such a high position in the world of athletics. Results are discussed in light of causal attribution and role congruity theory in the context of such a rare role combination – being female and being an athletic director

A Researcher's Guide to Ten North Carolina Fiction Writers

This researcher's guide is an annotated bibliography covering works written about ten contemporary North Carolina fiction writers. The writers are David Drake, Julie Edelson, Ann Underwood Grant, William H. Hooks, Kay Hooper, Margaret Maron, John P. McAfee, Patsy O'Leary, Elizabeth Squire, and Julie Andreson Tetel. The guide provides citations to book reviews, criticism, biographical information, and websites about each author. The preface includes details about the process of writing such a reference work, as well as a description of the tools one can use to find contemporary authors. The preface also explains the reasoning behind selective annotations

XPSWMM Analysis of the ORNL Stormwater Collection System Up to Outfall 211

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee, was the site for a number of US Government projects during the 1940s and 1950s including the development of thermonuclear weapons. Chemical processes conducted at the site as part of these projects resulted in contamination of certain building areas at the ORNL. The purpose of this study is to develop a hydraulic-hydrologic computer model via XPSWMM to determine surface water flow rates and water stages within the drainage system during rainfall events and introduce a conservative contaminant into the system to trace peak concentrations of contaminants. The model was calibrated by simulating actual rainfall events over the area of interest. The model results were compared to that of Outfall 211’s monitored data. Trial 1 was most successful, where the cumulative flow rates produced by the model and the monitored data varied only by 0.5 cfs. A sensitivity analysis was completed by varying Manning’s coefficient and infiltration parameters within the area of interest. The sensitivity analysis concluded that the model was responsive to the variations presented; however, only minor differences were determined for the selected range of parameters, indicating robustness of model predictions. A hypothetical conservative contaminant was entered into the system as constant and varied timeseries. The resulting pollutographs produced by XPSWMM aid in the assessment for potential mobilization of contaminants and provide insight to where peak concentrations and loads occur under present conditions. Probability exceedance and probability distribution methods were used to analyze the timeseries of flow and pollutant concentrations collected during this study. Probability exceedance curves determined the percentage of time flooding occurred within the system under various conditions. The flow rates and concentrations produced by the transport analysis were best described by the Generalized Extreme Value, while the loading rates were best described by Log-logistic distribution

Interhomolog polymorphism shapes meiotic crossover within the Arabidopsis RAC1 and RPP13 disease resistance genes

During meiosis, chromosomes undergo DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), which can be repaired using a homologous chromosome to produce crossovers. Meiotic recombination frequency is variable along chromosomes and tends to concentrate in narrow hotspots. We mapped crossover hotspots located in the Arabidopsis thaliana RAC1 and RPP13 disease resistance genes, using varying haplotypic combinations. We observed a negative non-linear relationship between interhomolog divergence and crossover frequency within the hotspots, consistent with polymorphism locally suppressing crossover repair of DSBs. The fancm, recq4a recq4b, figl1 and msh2 mutants, or lines with increased HEI10 dosage, are known to show increased crossovers throughout the genome. Surprisingly, RAC1 crossovers were either unchanged or decreased in these genetic backgrounds, showing that chromosome location and local chromatin environment are important for regulation of crossover activity. We employed deep sequencing of crossovers to examine recombination topology within RAC1, in wild type, fancm, recq4a recq4b and fancm recq4a recq4b backgrounds. The RAC1 recombination landscape was broadly conserved in the anti-crossover mutants and showed a negative relationship with interhomolog divergence. However, crossovers at the RAC1 5'-end were relatively suppressed in recq4a recq4b backgrounds, further indicating that local context may influence recombination outcomes. Our results demonstrate the importance of interhomolog divergence in shaping recombination within plant disease resistance genes and crossover hotspots.11Ysciescopu

Normalisation of brain connectivity through compensatory behaviour, despite congenital hand absence

Previously we showed, using task-evoked fMRI, that compensatory intact hand usage after amputation facilitates remapping of limb representations in the cortical territory of the missing hand (Makin et al., 2013a). Here we show that compensatory arm usage in individuals born without a hand (one-handers) reflects functional connectivity of spontaneous brain activity in the cortical hand region. Compared with two-handed controls, one-handers showed reduced symmetry of hand region inter-hemispheric resting-state functional connectivity and corticospinal white matter microstructure. Nevertheless, those one-handers who more frequently use their residual (handless) arm for typically bimanual daily tasks also showed more symmetrical functional connectivity of the hand region, demonstrating that adaptive behaviour drives long-range brain organisation. We therefore suggest that compensatory arm usage maintains symmetrical sensorimotor functional connectivity in one-handers. Since variability in spontaneous functional connectivity in our study reflects ecological behaviour, we propose that inter-hemispheric symmetry, typically observed in resting sensorimotor networks, depends on coordinated motor behaviour in daily life

Network-level reorganisation of functional connectivity following arm amputation

AbstractOne of the most striking demonstrations of plasticity in the adult human brain follows peripheral injury, such as amputation. In the primary sensorimotor cortex, arm amputation results in massive local remapping of the missing hands' cortical territory. However, little is known about the consequences of sensorimotor deprivation on global brain organisation. Here, we used resting-state fMRI to identify large-scale reorganisation beyond the primary sensorimotor cortex in arm amputees, compared with two-handed controls. Specifically, we characterised changes in functional connectivity between the cortical territory of the missing hand in the primary sensorimotor cortex (‘missing hand cortex’) and two networks of interest: the sensorimotor network, which is typically strongly associated with the hand cortex, and the default mode network (DMN), which is normally dissociated from it. Functional connectivity values between the missing hand cortex and the sensorimotor network were reduced in amputees, and connectivity was weaker in individuals amputated for longer periods. Lower levels of functional coupling between the missing hand cortex and the sensorimotor network were also associated with emerged coupling of this cortex with the DMN. Our results demonstrate that plasticity following arm amputation is not restricted to local remapping occurring within the sensorimotor homunculus of the missing hand but rather produces a cascade of cortical reorganisation at a network-level scale. These findings may provide a new framework for understanding how local deprivation following amputation could elicit complex perceptual experiences of phantom sensations, such as phantom pain

Is It Equitable Online? The Media Coverage of the 2007 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament on Foxsports.com

From the Introduction: Although women’s participation in sport has reached unprecedented highs (Acosta & Carpenter, 2008), research shows that media coverage of female athletes still lags behind that of men’s (Duncan, Messner, & Williams, 1991; Fink, 1998; Fink & Kensicki, 2002; Tuggle & Owen, 1999). Additionally, research has indicated the quality, or ways in which men’s and women’s sport is covered is inequitable (Messner, Duncan, & Cooky, 2003). Since the passage of Title IX in 1972, male and female athletes in collegiate sports were expected to have equal access to equipment and practice facilities, media representation, coaches of the same quality, and scholarship money proportional to participation (Huffman et al., 2004)

Gender Role Stereotyping: A Qualitative Analysis of Senior Woman Administrators’ Perceptions Regarding Financial Decision Making

This study examined the perceptions of Senior Woman Administrators’ (SWA) involvement in financial decisions through the utilization of open-ended questions. Additionally, this research analyzed the actual versus desired level of participation in financial decision making areas by (SWA) utilizing gender role stereotyping as a framework. Prior studies have indicated the importance of experience with financial decisions and budgets for SWA to advance their intercollegiate athletics careers. The qualitative analysis of the perceptions of the SWA indicated partial support for the desire to have increased involvement in key financial decision making. Furthermore, the quantitative analysis revealed in each of the decision areas (operations, budgeting, capital outlay, salary considerations, media broadcast contracts, and sponsorship advertising), a significant main effect was found in which SWA indicated a desire for greater participation in decision making

Artificial limb representation in amputees

The human brain contains multiple hand-selective areas, in both the sensorimotor and visual systems. Could our brain repurpose neural resources, originally developed for supporting hand function, to represent and control artificial limbs? We studied individuals with congenital or acquired hand-loss (hereafter one-handers) using functional MRI. We show that the more one-handers use an artificial limb (prosthesis) in their everyday life, the stronger visual hand-selective areas in the lateral occipitotemporal cortex respond to prosthesis images. This was found even when one-handers were presented with images of active prostheses that share the functionality of the hand but not necessarily its visual features (e.g. a \u27hook\u27 prosthesis). Further, we show that daily prosthesis usage determines large-scale inter-network communication across hand-selective areas. This was demonstrated by increased resting state functional connectivity between visual and sensorimotor hand-selective areas, proportional to the intensiveness of everyday prosthesis usage. Further analysis revealed a 3-fold coupling between prosthesis activity, visuomotor connectivity and usage, suggesting a possible role for the motor system in shaping use-dependent representation in visual hand-selective areas, and/or vice versa. Moreover, able-bodied control participants who routinely observe prosthesis usage (albeit less intensively than the prosthesis users) showed significantly weaker associations between degree of prosthesis observation and visual cortex activity or connectivity. Together, our findings suggest that altered daily motor behaviour facilitates prosthesis-related visual processing and shapes communication across hand-selective areas. This neurophysiological substrate for prosthesis embodiment may inspire rehabilitation approaches to improve usage of existing substitutionary devices and aid implementation of future assistive and augmentative technologies