Informed Polluters: A Comparison Between Pollutant Sources of Two Lakes and Resulting Remediation Strategies

Excess nutrients are a problem for many lakes and rivers across the country. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires states to monitor polluted waterbodies and provide plans to remediate them. These plans are commonly submitted in a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) report where sources and polluters are identified. These reports have not been successful, however, at solving all nutrient problems. Newman Lake in Washington and Mantua Reservoir in Utah are two lakes that continue to receive excess nutrients, notably phosphorus. High levels of these nutrients lead to increased biological activity and subsequent drops in dissolved oxygen. Many lakes also experience Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) due to these nutrients where cyanobacteria bloom and release cyanotoxins into the water. Cyanotoxins are a threat to public safety and are the main motivator to reducing nutrient loadings. This report identifies and recommends alternatives to apply in remediating the problems caused by excess nutrients. The most effective method of reducing nutrient loadings is often a form of watershed management. If the nutrients can be stopped before reaching the water body, then there is no need for later removal. In Mantua Reservoir’s watershed, this requires a focus on agriculture due to the high potential for agricultural nutrient loadings. Newman Lake, on the other hand, contains no significant agricultural loading. The management efforts to reduce nutrients are therefore quite different. Remediation there focus on forested land and household practices to reduce phosphorus releases into the watershed

Informed Polluters: A Comparison Between Pollutant Sources of Two Lakes and Resulting Remediation Strategies

Excess nutrients are a problem for many lakes and rivers across the country. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires states to monitor polluted waterbodies and provide plans to remediate them. These plans are commonly submitted in a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) report where sources and polluters are identified. These reports have not been successful, however, at solving all nutrient problems. Newman Lake in Washington and Mantua Reservoir in Utah are two lakes that continue to receive excess nutrients, notably phosphorus. High levels of these nutrients lead to increased biological activity and subsequent drops in dissolved oxygen. Many lakes also experience Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) due to these nutrients where cyanobacteria bloom and release cyanotoxins into the water. Cyanotoxins are a threat to public safety and are the main motivator to reducing nutrient loadings. This report identifies and recommends alternatives to apply in remediating the problems caused by excess nutrients. The most effective method of reducing nutrient loadings is often a form of watershed management. If the nutrients can be stopped before reaching the water body, then there is no need for later removal. In Mantua Reservoir’s watershed, this requires a focus on agriculture due to the high potential for agricultural nutrient loadings. Newman Lake, on the other hand, contains no significant agricultural loading. The management efforts to reduce nutrients are therefore quite different. Remediation there focus on forested land and household practices to reduce phosphorus releases into the watershed. Presentation Time: Thursday, 12-1 p.m

An Appeal to Mystery Without Punting : Revisiting Molinism’s Biblical Problem in Light of Ephesians 1:4–11 and Romans 11:33–36

Molinists maintain that middle knowledge is the best candidate for settling the historical debate on God’s sovereignty and man’s free will. The philosophical sophistication of the view can be alluring, and the efforts of Molinists to rationally defend it against criticisms have been impressive. But does Molinism still have a biblical problem? Proponents argue that the doctrine is compatible with the Bible\u27s teaching on God\u27s knowledge of counterfactuals, though admittedly, it is not explicitly taught in Scripture. But this claim is more problematic than advocates for the theory have alleged. The present study maintains that in the absence of a more complete biblical revelation regarding God’s knowledge logically prior to his eternal decree, philosophers of religion should exercise greater caution than is presently being advocated. It is argued that Paul supplies the reader with a necessary constraint to philosophical speculation regarding the deliberations of the divine mind (Rom 11:33–36), and it is John Calvin, not Luis de Molina, who best represents Paul’s appeal to mystery in this respect. Far from being an intellectual punt to mystery, this is an occasion to join Paul in awestruck wonder in the face of the unknowable. Jeff Scott Kennedy, Ph.D. Bible Exposition (Rawlings School of Divinity, Liberty University / 2022

Perspectives on the Information Technologies Being Used in the Battle Against COVID-19

Information technology (IT) has been paramount in the battle against COVID-19. This paper reports the initial findings of a review of 212 research articles on IT-based technologies that were used to help aid in the battle against COVID-19. The study systematically identified 212 research articles and evaluated the technologies that each article reported on. The analysis found 78 unique technologies. Subsequently, the 78 technologies were categorized into five groups. This paper discusses these five groups of technologies and offers perspective on what studies need to be conducted to better guide the use of IT in the fight against COVID-19 and future pandemics

The Effect Of Self-Efficacy And Adaptability On Salesperson Orientation And Customer Orientation And On Job Performance And Customer Satisfaction

The importance of the effect of self-efficacy and adaptability on salesperson orientation and customer satisfaction (SOCO) and on job performance and customer satisfaction is an issue of major importance.  As an application of this issue, the relationships among self-efficacy and adaptability involved with telemarketing customers is utilized.  Self-efficacy is operationalized as the extent to which telemarketers feel confident about their job skills and abilities.  Employee Adaptability is operationalized as the ability of telemarketers to adjust their behavior on the job. The measure is adapted from the 16-item adaptive selling scale.  Job Performance is operationalized as the number of applications filed by the salesperson, the dollar amount of premiums, and the service quality. Customer Satisfaction is operationalized as a post choice evaluative judgment concerning a specific purchase selection. The justifications for eight hypotheses are provided

An Examination of the Deliberate Practice Framework in Quad Rugby

The deliberate practice framework was forwarded to account for the characteristics and developmental experiences of individuals who have acquired exceptional performance in any domain. This framework proposed that experts undergo an extensive acquisition period involving the accumulation of thousands of hours of deliberate practice while overcoming various constraints that serve as functional barriers to the achievement of expertise. Although the deliberate practice framework has been examined in the context of a range of domains, disability sport remains relatively unstudied. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to examine expert disability sport athletes to determine how well their experiences and characteristics were captured by the deliberate practice framework. Quad rugby players were asked to complete a two-part survey to report their recall of the amount of time spent in individual and team practice activities, quad rugby related activities, and daily life activities at the start of their careers and every 2 years since. These activities were then rated with respect to relevance to improving performance, effort and concentration required, and enjoyment of participation. Findings revealed that quad rugby athletes engaged in similar amounts of practice throughout their career to those observed in superior performers across domains, including musicians and expert performers in the able-bodied sport domain (e.g., M = 8,309 h at 9–10 year career mark). Contrary to the original deliberate practice framework and some of the subsequent examinations in sport, disability sport athletes did not rate the most relevant and effortful activities as either low or high on enjoyment. The unique constraints imposed on disabled athletes may reduce the likelihood that clear differences will emerge when considering affective responses such as enjoyment

The domain specificity of intertemporal choice in pinyon jays

When choosing between a piece of cake now versus a slimmer waistline in the future, many of us have difficulty with self-control. Food-caching species, however, regularly hide food for later recovery, sometimes waiting months before retrieving their caches. It remains unclear whether these long-term choices generalize outside of the caching domain. We hypothesized that the ability to save for the future is a general tendency that cuts across different situations. To test this hypothesis, we measured and experimentally manipulated caching to evaluate its relationship with operant measures of self-control in pinyon jays (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus). We found no correlation between caching and self-control at the individual level, and experimentally increasing caching did not influence self-control. The self-control required for caching food, therefore, does not carry over to other foraging tasks, suggesting that it is domain specific in pinyon jays

The domain specificity of intertemporal choice in pinyon jays

When choosing between a piece of cake now versus a slimmer waistline in the future, many of us have difficulty with self-control. Food-caching species, however, regularly hide food for later recovery, sometimes waiting months before retrieving their caches. It remains unclear whether these long-term choices generalize outside of the caching domain. We hypothesized that the ability to save for the future is a general tendency that cuts across different situations. To test this hypothesis, we measured and experimentally manipulated caching to evaluate its relationship with operant measures of self-control in pinyon jays (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus). We found no correlation between caching and self-control at the individual level, and experimentally increasing caching did not influence self-control. The self-control required for caching food, therefore, does not carry over to other foraging tasks, suggesting that it is domain specific in pinyon jays

Asexual propagation of Asparagopsis armata gametophytes: fragmentation, regrowth and attachment mechanisms for sea-based cultivation

The red algal genus Asparagopsis produces secondary metabolites that when fed to ruminants reduce methane production by up to 98%. However, cultivation methods for Asparagopsis are nascent and fundamental information on reproduction, which is essential for large-scale cultivation, is lacking. In this study we examined asexual propagation in Asparagopsis armata, the regrowth of fragments and mechanisms of attachment to assess the potential for fragments to be used in sea-based cultivation. Asparagopsis armata gametophytes grow specialised structures, barbs, that hook fragments onto substrata. Surveys revealed barbs were abundant occurring at ~ 1 barb every 3–4 cm on gametophyte branches. Barbs did not regrow, but fronds did, either when attached to a barb or on their own. In contrast, fronds doubled in size with most developing barbs within 4 weeks. Barbs were, however, critical for the reattachment of fragments: barbs attached to substrata at four times the rate of frond fragments without barbs and they also attached in higher proportions to mussel rope than polypropylene rope, and two types of net. Utilising fragmentation for the propagation of A. armata gametophytes in sea-based cultivation requires that fragments can attach to a substratum and regrow once attached. We have shown that A. armata fragments in Tasmania require barbs for attachment and frond tissue for growth, which has implications for cultivation. Optimising fragmentation, attachment and out-planting methods are important future steps in establishing fragmentation as a method for sea-based cultivation in A. armata

Optical Propagation and Communication

Contains research objectives and reports on two research projects.National Science Foundation (Grant ENG78-21603)U.S. Army Research Office - Durham (Contract DAAG29-80-C-0010)Joint Services Electronics Program (Contract DAAG29-78-C-0020