The Effects of Invasive Earthworm Species on Salamanders in the Grand Valley State University Ravine Ecosystem

Earthworms are an invasive species that are causing ecological damage to northern forest ecosystems. The disruption to soil nutrient cycling and litter decomposition can negatively impact organisms that live within the leaf litter, such as salamanders. To test this hypothesis, we sampled earthworms within three ravines at thirty-six sites using the mustard extraction method. We surveyed salamander populations on two dates in 2015 at each site using cover boards. We also collected data on slope aspect, altitude, soil moisture, leaf litter coverage, canopy cover, and coarse woody debris at each site to determine their effects on earthworm and salamander populations. Unexpectedly, our results show that total earthworm populations did not decrease salamander abundance. However, epigeic earthworms in north facing, low elevation sites did have a negative effect on salamanders. We also found that anecic earthworm species had a negative impact on leaf litter in south facing, low elevation sites. Using a GLIMMIX model, we found that epigeic earthworms had a negative effect on salamander populations, while anecic earthworms had a positive effect on salamander populations

Vanishing Fe 3d orbital moments in single-crystalline magnetite

We show detailed magnetic absorption spectroscopy results of an in situ cleaved high quality single crystal of magnetite. In addition the experimental setup was carefully optimized to reduce drift, self absorption, and offset phenomena as far as possible. In strong contradiction to recently published data, our observed orbital moments are nearly vanishing and the spin moments are quite close to the integer values proposed by theory. This very important issue supports the half metallic full spin polarized picture of magnetite.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Disorder-induced microscopic magnetic memory

Using coherent x-ray speckle metrology, we have measured the influence of disorder on major loop return point memory (RPM) and complementary point memory (CPM) for a series of perpendicular anisotropy Co/Pt multilayer films. In the low disorder limit, the domain structures show no memory with field cycling--no RPM and no CPM. With increasing disorder, we observe the onset and the saturation of both the RPM and the CPM. These results provide the first direct ensemble-sensitive experimental study of the effects of varying disorder on microscopic magnetic memory and are compared against the predictions of existing theories.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters in Nov. 200

Observation of a multiply ionized plasma with index of refraction greater than one

Includes bibliographical references (pages 035005-4).We present clear experimental evidence showing that the contribution of bound electrons can dominate the index of refraction of laser-created plasmas at soft x-ray wavelengths. We report anomalous fringe shifts in soft x-ray laser interferograms of Al laser-created plasmas. The comparison of measured and simulated interferograms shows that this results from the dominant contribution of low charge ions to the index of refraction. This usually neglected bound electron contribution can affect the propagation of soft x-ray radiation in plasmas and the interferometric diagnostics of plasmas for many elements

Time-Resolved Single-State Measurements of the Electronic Structure of Isochoric Heated Copper

Time-resolved x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy is used to probe the non-steady-state evolution of the valence band electronic structure of laser heated ultra-thin (50 nm) Cu. Single-shot x-ray laser induced time-of-flight photoelectron spectroscopy with picosecond time resolution is used in conjunction with optical measurements of the disassembly dynamics that have shown the existence of a metastable liquid phase in fs-laser heated Cu foils persisting 4-5 ps. This metastable phase is studied using a 527 nm wavelength 400 fs laser pulse containing 0.1-2.5 mJ laser energy focused in a large 500 x 700 {micro}m{sup 2} spot to create heated conditions of 0.07-1.8 x 10{sup 12} W cm{sup -2} intensity. Valence band photoemission spectra showing the changing occupancy of the Cu 3d level with heating are presented. These are the first picosecond x-ray laser time-resolved photoemission spectra of laser-heated ultra-thin Cu foil showing changes in electronic structure. The ultrafast nature of this technique lends itself to true single-state measurements of shocked and heated materials

Observation of multiply ionized plasmas with dominant bound electron contribution to the index of refraction

Includes bibliographical references.We report anomalous fringe shifts observed in soft X-ray laser interferograms of laser-created Al plasmas. This clear experimental evidence shows that the contribution of bound electrons can dominate the index of refraction of laser-created plasmas at soft X-ray wavelengths, resulting in values greater than 1. The comparison of measured and simulated interferograms shows that this results from the dominant contribution of low-charge ions to the index of refraction. This usually neglected bound electron contribution can affect the propagation of soft X-ray radiation in plasmas and the interferometric diagnostics of plasmas for many elements.This work was sponsored by the National Nuclear Security Administration under the Stewardship Science Academic Alliances program through DOE Research Grant # DE-FG03-02NA00062. Part of this work was performed under the auspices of the US Department of Energy by the University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory through the Institute of Laser Science and Application, under Contract No. W-7405-Eng-48. The CSU researchers also gratefully acknowledge the partial support of the NSF ERC Center for Extreme Ultraviolet Science and Technology, award EEC-0310717

Observation of multiply ionized plasmas with dominant bound electron contribution to the index of refraction

Includes bibliographical references.We report anomalous fringe shifts observed in soft X-ray laser interferograms of laser-created Al plasmas. This clear experimental evidence shows that the contribution of bound electrons can dominate the index of refraction of laser-created plasmas at soft X-ray wavelengths, resulting in values greater than 1. The comparison of measured and simulated interferograms shows that this results from the dominant contribution of low-charge ions to the index of refraction. This usually neglected bound electron contribution can affect the propagation of soft X-ray radiation in plasmas and the interferometric diagnostics of plasmas for many elements.This work was sponsored by the National Nuclear Security Administration under the Stewardship Science Academic Alliances program through DOE Research Grant # DE-FG03-02NA00062. Part of this work was performed under the auspices of the US Department of Energy by the University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory through the Institute of Laser Science and Application, under Contract No. W-7405-Eng-48. The CSU researchers also gratefully acknowledge the partial support of the NSF ERC Center for Extreme Ultraviolet Science and Technology, award EEC-0310717

Explaining individual differences in infant visual sensory seeking

Individual differences in infants’ engagement with their en-vironment manifest early in development and are noticed by parents. Three views have been advanced to explain differ-ences in seeking novel stimulation. The optimal stimulation hypothesis suggests that individuals seek further stimulation when they are under-responsive to current sensory input. The processing speed hypothesis proposes that those capable of processing information faster are driven to seek stimulation more frequently. The information prioritization hypothesis suggests the differences in stimulation seeking index variation in the prioritization of incoming relative to ongoing informa-tion processing. Ten-month-old infants saw 10 repetitions of a video clip and changes in frontal theta oscillatory amplitude were measured as an index of information processing speed. Stimulus-locked P1 peak amplitude in response to checker-boards briefly overlaid on the video at random points during its presentation indexed processing of incoming stimulation. Parental report of higher visual seeking did not relate to re-duced P1 peak amplitude or to a stronger decrease in fron-tal theta amplitude with repetition, thus not supporting either the optimal stimulation or the processing speed hypotheses. Higher visual seeking occurred in those infants whose P1 peak amplitude was greater than expected based on their theta amplitude. These findings indicate that visual sensory seeking in infancy is explained by a bias toward novel stimulation, thus supporting the information prioritization hypothesis

Hydrodynamic Simulations and Soft X-ray Laser Interferometric Studies of Energy Transport in Tightly Focused Laser-Heated Aluminum Plasmas

Contains the benefits of short wavelength ps probes for measuring plasmas

Bursts of terahertz radiation from large-scale plasmas irradiated by relativistic picosecond laser pulses

Powerful terahertz (THz) radiation is observed from large-scale underdense preplasmas in front of a solid target irradiated obliquely with picosecond relativistic intense laser pulses. The radiation covers an extremely broad spectrum with about 70% of its energy located in the high frequency regime over 10 THz. The pulse energy of the radiation is found to be above 100  μJ per steradian in the laser specular direction at an optimal preplasma scale length around 40–50  μm. Particle-in-cell simulations indicate that the radiation is mainly produced by linear mode conversion from electron plasma waves, which are excited successively via stimulated Raman scattering instability and self-modulated laser wakefields during the laser propagation in the preplasma. This radiation can be used not only as a powerful source for applications, but also as a unique diagnostic of parametric instabilities of laser propagation in plasmas