Synthesis of Aromatic Compounds

Abstract Not Provided

An Integrated Evaluation of the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program in South Dakota

Grassland restoration efforts in North America typically share the goal of improving ecological conditions for wildlife; however, it is unclear in many cases if goals are met. The South Dakota Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) was initiated to alleviate agriculturally-related environmental degradation by converting 40,469 hectares of eligible cropland and marginal pastureland to perennial vegetation. The program aims to provide habitat for obligate grassland breeding songbirds, while producing an additional 285,000 pheasants and 60,000 ducks annually. As part of a collaborative comprehensive evaluation effort, my research assessed the response of grassland-dependent breeding birds to CREP implementation at varying spatial scales between May 2013 and August 2015. My study highlighted both field and landscape scale variables are critical to understanding the interconnected ecological network and meeting program goals. Competitive model variables presented variability between avian demographics and our species groups (i.e., other species, song bird species, CREP focal species, and waterfowl species) related to the ecology of species and functional groups; emphasizing that implementation of conservation programs with broad and noncollaborative objectives may receive undesired outcomes. In addition to the biological assessment, I integrated a human dimensions study to evaluate CREP landowner motivations for program enrollment. My study highlighted three themes of motivation for CREP enrollment. First, the requirement of providing public access with CREP enrollment delivered additional financial and non-financial incentive for enrollees. Second, based on demographics data, landowner age represented a potential shift of producers towards retirement and decisions to reduce active production fields. Third, CREP landowners conceptualized their own personal motivations within the program that would provide greater benefit to their family, community, and local fish and wildlife. Implementation of an integrated stepwise platform based on biological and socioeconomic data will benefit resource managers’ and policy makers’ understanding of conservation program effectiveness and future success

A profile of the chief student affairs officers of the California State University system

The purpose of this quantitative study was to establish a current profile of the chief student affairs officers (CSAOs) of the 23 campuses that comprise the California State University (CSU) system. This study provides descriptive data on CSAO (a) demographics and characteristics; (b) roles; (c) functions; (d) career patterns; and (e) leadership styles. The data was obtained using a 20 item questionnaire designed to address each of the five research questions, which included: (a) What are the current characteristics of the CSAO?; (b) What are the roles of the CSAO?; (c) What are the functional areas of the CSAO?; (d) What are the career patterns of the CSAO?; and (e) What leadership style do CSAOs perceive to be the most effective for their position? The population for this study included the 23 CSAOs in the CSU system during the 2014-2015 academic year. A total of 23 surveys were electronically mailed with a 70% response rate. With more than 436,000 students and 44,000 faculty and staff, the CSU system is the largest university in the United States, making the CSU a significant employer of student affairs professionals. The CSAO serves 19,650 students, reports to the president, and operates with the title of vice president for student affairs. The CSAO has served in their current position as well as their present institution for less than 5 years. This implies that the CSAO is likely to be an external appointee. The majority of CSAOs have been in the student affairs profession for more than 20 years and were first appointed to a CSAO position, at any institution, between the age of 45 to 49.9 years. An aspiring CSAO should expect to (a) acquire an earned doctorate in an educational field; (b) gain at least 10 years of professional experience in various student affairs functional areas; (c) serve as either an assistant or associate vice president of student affairs; (d) serve at the director-level of a functional area within student affairs; and (f) possess an understanding for the full range of characteristics, roles, functions, career patterns, and leadership styles most valued in the CSAO

Development of PSPP Map for Stainless Steel Alloys Used in a Marine Environment

A process-structure-properties-performance map will be created for these alloys focusing on the modification of the structure or composition and outlining the processes required and the affected properties. A thorough review of different chemical alloys, grain refining methods, and grain boundary compositions for several alloys and their corresponding property effects. Also plan to review material treatment processes and standard refining methods for stainless steels. The performance of these metals will be evaluated for property requirements in regards to strength, toughness, with an emphasis on corrosion resistance.https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/metallurgy/1017/thumbnail.jp

Groups of dwarf galaxies in the Local supercluster

We present a project on study of groups composed of dwarf galaxies only. We selected such structures using HyperLEDA and NED databases with visual inspection on SDSS images and on digital copy of POSS. The groups are characterized by size of few tens of kpc and line-of-sight velocity dispersion about 18 km/s. Our groups similar to associations of nearby dwarfs from Tully et al. (2006). This specific population of multiple dwarf galaxies such as IZw18 may contain significant amount of dark matter. It is very likely that we see them at the stage just before merging of its components.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures; the proceedings of the conference "A Universe of dwarf galaxies" (Lyon, June 14-18, 2010

Economies of the Internet

The papers in this issue of First Monday were originally presented as a series of panels at the Association of Internet Researchers 2015 conference in Phoenix, Arizona. This short introduction explains the impetus behind the organization of these panels-- which was to document diversity in approaches to the study of internet economies-- and briefly introduces each paper by locating them in the nexus between political economy and cultural studies

Particle Computation: Complexity, Algorithms, and Logic

We investigate algorithmic control of a large swarm of mobile particles (such as robots, sensors, or building material) that move in a 2D workspace using a global input signal (such as gravity or a magnetic field). We show that a maze of obstacles to the environment can be used to create complex systems. We provide a wide range of results for a wide range of questions. These can be subdivided into external algorithmic problems, in which particle configurations serve as input for computations that are performed elsewhere, and internal logic problems, in which the particle configurations themselves are used for carrying out computations. For external algorithms, we give both negative and positive results. If we are given a set of stationary obstacles, we prove that it is NP-hard to decide whether a given initial configuration of unit-sized particles can be transformed into a desired target configuration. Moreover, we show that finding a control sequence of minimum length is PSPACE-complete. We also work on the inverse problem, providing constructive algorithms to design workspaces that efficiently implement arbitrary permutations between different configurations. For internal logic, we investigate how arbitrary computations can be implemented. We demonstrate how to encode dual-rail logic to build a universal logic gate that concurrently evaluates and, nand, nor, and or operations. Using many of these gates and appropriate interconnects, we can evaluate any logical expression. However, we establish that simulating the full range of complex interactions present in arbitrary digital circuits encounters a fundamental difficulty: a fan-out gate cannot be generated. We resolve this missing component with the help of 2x1 particles, which can create fan-out gates that produce multiple copies of the inputs. Using these gates we provide rules for replicating arbitrary digital circuits.Comment: 27 pages, 19 figures, full version that combines three previous conference article

The Bulk Motion of Flat Edge-On Galaxies Based on 2MASS Photometry

We report the results of applying the 2MASS Tully-Fisher (TF) relations to study the galaxy bulk flows. For 1141 all-sky distributed flat RFGC galaxies we construct J, H, K_s TF relations and find that Kron $J_{fe}$ magnitudes show the smallest dispersion on the TF diagram. For the sample of 971 RFGC galaxies with V_{3K} < 18000 km/s we find a dispersion $\sigma_{TF}=0.42^m$ and an amplitude of bulk flow V= 199 +/-61 km/s, directed towards l=301 degr +/-18 degr, b=-2 degr +/-15 degr. Our determination of low-amplitude coherent flow is in good agreement with a set of recent data derived from EFAR, PSCz, SCI/SCII samples. The resultant two- dimensional smoothed peculiar velocity field traces well the large-scale density variations in the galaxy distributions. The regions of large positive peculiar velocities lie in the direction of the Great Attractor and Shapley concentration. A significant negative peculiar velocity is seen in the direction of Bootes and in the direction of the Local void. A small positive peculiar velocity (100 -- 150 km/s) is seen towards the Pisces-Perseus supercluster, as well as the Hercules - Coma - Corona Borealis supercluster regions.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures. A&A/2003/3582 accepted 15.05.200