Geologic interpretation of Skylab photographs

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Policing Slavery: Order and the Development of Early Nineteenth-Century New Orleans and Salvador

My dissertation explores the development of policing and slavery in two early nineteenth-century Atlantic cities. This project engages regionally distinct histories through an examination of legislative and police records in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Salvador, Bahia. Through these sources, my dissertation holds that the development of the theories and practices that guided “public order” emerged in similar ways in these Atlantic slaveholding cities. Enslaved people and their actions played an integral role in the evolution of “good order” and its policing. Legislators created laws and institutions to police enslaved people and promote order. In these instances, local government policed slavery through the surveilling and arresting of enslaved people. By mid-century, the prerogative of policing slavery created a comprehensive bureaucratic structure that policed many individuals within the community, not just slaves. In New Orleans and Salvador, slavery was an important part of policing, but not just in the sense we sometimes assume: as a panicked reaction to real or imagined slave rebellions. As the commercial and demographic development of cities created opportunities for enslaved people, local legislation and institutions formed an important part of policing slavery in New Orleans and Salvador. Local government officials—regional and municipal legislators—responded by passing laws that restricted not only where and how enslaved people worked and lived, but also the police that enforced these laws. Police forces, once created, interpreted and applied the laws passed by legislators. They surveilled and arrested individuals, and their actions sometimes triggered further legislative reforms. Thusly, police forces became representations of public well-being, particularly in relation to slavery. By mid-century, new conceptions of public order made the police an accepted part of urban slavery and urban life more generally in New Orleans and Salvador. At the same time, the police surveilled and arrested free people, not just enslaved people, in the name of promoting orderly slavery

Microbial communities in salt lakes: Phylogenetic diversity, metabolic diversity, and in situ activities

A roundtable discussion was held on Monday, 12 May 2008, following the sessions on \u27Microorganisms in Hypersaline Environments\u27 at the 10th Conference on Salt Lake Research & 2008 FRIENDS of Great Salt Lake Issues Forum, University of Utah, Salt Lake City. Among the aspects discussed were: 1. The gap between our knowledge of the microorganisms isolated in culture and the true microbial diversity as apparent when using culture-independent techniques, in most cases based on the characterization of small subunit ribosomal RNA genes; 2. The metabolic diversity of the microorganisms inhabiting saline and hypersaline lakes and the lack of information to what extent the metabolic potential of the microbiota as apparent from culture studies or detection of functional genes is realized in the environment; 3. The limited understanding of the diversity of algae, bacteriophages and protozoa in hypersaline lakes and their relative importance of such microbial predators and grazing animals on the regulation of the microbial community sizes in such lakes; 4. The impact of high throughput -omics technologies for assessing the diversity and metabolism of hypersaline environments. In recent years a number of comprehensive studies were performed in selected hypersaline environments. In recent years a number of comprehensive studies were performed in selected hypersaline environments by large interdisciplinary teams of scientists. Such studies contribute invaluable information to define the nature and function of the microbial communities in such environments. However, the inability to independently grow specific organisms compared to the genetic diversity revealed by non-cultivation techniques indicates that additional work is needed to develop and define in vitro cultivation conditions. More of such studies are needed, with the appropriate funding, to solve the basic questions relating to the importance of microorganisms in saline lakes and other hypersaline ecosystems

Geologic and mineral and water resources investigations in western Colorado, using Skylab EREP data

The author has identified the following significant results. Skylab photographs are superior to ERTS images for photogeologic interpretation, primarily because of improved resolution. Lithologic contacts can be detected consistently better on Skylab S190A photos than on ERTS images. Color photos are best; red and green band photos are somewhat better than color-infrared photos; infrared band photos are worst. All major geologic structures can be recognized on Skylab imagery. Large folds, even those with very gentle flexures, can be mapped accurately and with confidence. Bedding attitudes of only a few degrees are recognized; vertical exaggeration factor is about 2.5X. Mineral deposits in central Colorado may be indicated on Skylab photos by lineaments and color anomalies, but positive identification of these features is not possible. S190A stereo color photography is adequate for defining drainage divides that in turn define the boundaries and distribution of ground water recharge and discharge areas within a basin

Testing for Budget Constraint Effects in a National Advisory Referendum Survey on the Kyoto Protocol

In contrast to providing standard reminders about remembering household budgets, does asking survey respondents about their discretionary income and its use affect their voting responses in a national advisory referendum survey? We explore this question using U.S. household data from a unique set of multi-mode random samples (telephone and Internet surveys), and an advisory referendum concerning the Kyoto Protocol. The contingent valuation method is applied to estimate household willingness to pay (WTP) for a split-sample treatment: respondents who only received a standard reminder of household budgets (control group) versus respondents who received two mental accounting-type questions on discretionary income and its uses (treatment group). Results indicate that the treatment significantly influences voting responses and lowers estimated household WTP.budget constraint, contingent valuation, Kyoto Protocol, mental accounts, referendum, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Exploring the Beta Model Using Proportional Budget Information in a Contingent Valuation Study

Using a set of random telephone and Internet (web-based) survey samples for a national advisory referendum, we implement Beta models to handle proportional budget information, and allow for consistency in modeling assumptions and the calculation of estimated willingness to pay (WTP). Results indicate significant budget constraint effects and demonstrate the potential for Beta models in handling mental-accounting type information.Beta model