Sectionalism in the Peace Convention of 1861

While angry clouds gathered in the southern sky and some southern states enacted ordinances of secession providing for funds and cannons, while the people of the North went their way, declaring that only a sprinkle would come from the angry clouds in the South, the appointed state commissioners of twenty-one states assembled at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D. C., February 4, 1861, at 12 o’clock, pursuant to the resolutions adopted by the General Assembly of Virginia, January 19, 1861

Gavino Gutierrez and his Contributions to Tampa

Seventy three years ago the inhabitants around Hillsborough Bay never dreamed of the vast possibilities hidden in the scrub and native forest about them. They never dreamed that a large city was to be built at their own doors and by their own hands

A Research Study of the Effect of Instruction in the Basal Reader Supplemented by the Language Experience Approach on Comprehension Scores of First Grade Readers

The purpose of this study was to determine whether children enrolled in two first grade classes who did not meet the criterion score for one or more of the seven subtests on a selected readiness test given during the first two weeks of the school year would make higher scores on selected comprehension measures when instruction in a basal reading series is supplemented with instruction in the language experience approach than children who receive instruction only in basal reader materials. Language experience activities were conducted with all reading groups in the experimental class for three days every two weeks. Group experience stories and word bank activities were not done with the control group which used only basal materials. A factorial analysis of variance model was selected to analyze the data on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test on the main effects of type of instruction, sex, and classification of students. No significant difference at the .05 level was found for the null hypotheses tested; however, a slight non-significant difference was found in the mean scores of the target children in both classes with the language experience group having an 80% higher mean score than the control group

Switchgrass establishment and growth for biofuels and carbon sequestration on reclaimed mine lands in Appalachia

Climate change mitigation and the high cost of transportation fuels have created an interest in utilizing biofuels to supplement the nation\u27s energy portfolio. Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) has been suggested as a possible biofuel feedstock because of its ability to produce large amounts of biomass over a wide range of growing conditions and its ability to sequester atmospheric carbon (C) into stable soil organic carbon. Appalachia has the potential to become a center of biofuel production with its large expanses of reclaimed mine land. Switchgrass production on surface mine land offers the opportunity to increase the land resources devoted to energy crops without decreasing land resources devoted to food and livestock feed production. To examine the feasibility of establishing switchgrass as an initial reclamation species, three varieties of switchgrass were planted into 0.4 ha plots at three different surface mines in WV. Each variety was replicated three times for a total of nine plots at each site. Planting was conducted in May of 2008. The varieties Carthage, Cave-in-Rock and Shawnee were chosen for their favorable growing characteristics and adaptation to WV climate. Cover and frequency data from the first growing season showed switchgrass successfully established at all three sites with both broadcast planting and hydroseeding. Cover and biomass data from the second growing season showed that switchgrass performed much better on finer textured soils with higher amounts of soil organic matter, such as was seen with soils reclaimed with municipal biosolids. Biomass averaged 207 kg ha-1 at the Hobet 21 site, 784 kg ha-1 at the Coal-Mac site, and 4,501 kg ha-1 at the Hampshire Hill site. The Cave-in-Rock variety yielded the highest biomass at both Coal-Mac and Hobet 21. Relatively poor performance of switchgrass at Coal-Mac and Hobet 21 indicated that switchgrass, while tolerant of poor soils once established, is unsuited for initial reclamation of nutrient poor and rocky minesoils where good cover and biomass production are expected within one or two years of planting.;Another reclaimed mine site in southwestern PA was selected to study C sequestration under different-aged switchgrass stands on mined and unmined soils. Fourteen stands of switchgrass were measured across a chronosequence of establishment on mined and unmined soils ranging from 1991 to 2008. Soil organic C was 1.7% for the 0-15 cm depth and 0.8% for the 15-30 cm depth and was identical for both mined and unmined soils. Switchgrass biomass was higher on unmined plots than mined plots with yields of 8745 kg ha-1 and 6024 kg ha-1, respectively. Biomass was not correlated with stand age. Soil organic C was not correlated with the age of the established switchgrass stands suggesting that either the soils were in equilibrium with respect to C or that switchgrass was sequestering C at a rate indistinguishable from the previous cool season grass cover. Other factors were correlated to soil organic C. On mined areas, pH was highly correlated with both soil organic C and biomass. This suggests that acidity was a limiting factor and that managing soil fertility through liming treatments was effective at both increasing soil organic C and switchgrass biomass.;The chemi-thermal method of Ussiri and Lal (2008) was used to distinguish between C from soil organic, carbonaceous rock, and inorganic carbonate sources. A methodological evaluation of this method was performed to test the hypothesis that C was being removed from shale and coal mixtures often found in mine soils. The removal of geogenic C with this method would cause an overestimation of soil organic C. The chemi-thermal method was performed on pure coal and three mixtures of coal and shale. The pure coal lost 20% of its original C. The coal and shale mixtures lost between 6 and 25% of their original C. The chemi-thermal method was also compared to two simple thermal oxidation steps (340°C for 3 hr and 360°C for 4 hr) by measuring added geogenic C in manufactured carbonaceous rock:soil standards. Two different groups of standards were used consisting of added pure coal and added coal and shale at known concentrations. For both groups, simple thermal oxidation at 340°C at 3 hr was able to more accurately measure added geogenic C than the chemi-thermal method

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 28: The technical communication practices of Russian and US aerospace engineers and scientists

As part of Phase 4 of the NASA/DoD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project, two studies were conducted that investigated the technical communication practices of Russian and U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists. Both studies had the same five objectives: first, to solicit the opinions of aerospace engineers and scientists regarding the importance of technical communication to their professions; second, to determine the use and production of technical communication by aerospace engineers and scientists; third, to seek their views about the appropriate content of the undergraduate course in technical communication; fourth, to determine aerospace engineers' and scientists' use of libraries, technical information centers, and on-line databases; and fifth, to determine the use and importance of computer and information technology to them. A self administered questionnaire was distributed to Russian aerospace engineers and scientists at the Central Aero-Hydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) and to their U.S. counterparts at the NASA Ames Research Center and the NASA Langley Research Center. The completion rates for the Russian and U.S. surveys were 64 and 61 percent, respectively. Responses of the Russian and U.S. participants to selected questions are presented in this paper

Submarine landslides on the upper southeast Australian passive continental margin – preliminary findings

The southeast Australian passive continental margin is narrow, steep and sediment-deficient, and characterized by relatively low rates of modern sedimentation. Upper slope (\u3c1200m) sediments comprise mixtures of calcareous and terrigenous sand and mud. Three of twelve sediment cores recovered from geologically-recent, submarine landslides located offshore New South Wales/Queensland (NSW/QLD) are interpreted to have sampled failure surfaces at depths of between 85 cm and 220 cm below the present-day seabed. Differences in sediment physical properties are recorded above and below the three slide-plane boundaries. Sediment taken directly above the inferred submarine landslide failure surfaces and presumed to be post-landslide, returned radiocarbon ages of 15.8 ka, 20.7 ka and 20.1 ka. The last two ages correspond to adjacent slide features, which are inferred to be consistent with their being triggered by a single event such as an earthquake. Slope stability models based on classical soil mechanics and measured sediment shearstrengths indicate that the upper slope sediments should be stable. However, multibeam sonar data reveal that many upper slope landslides occur across the margin and that submarine landsliding is a common process. We infer from these results that: a) an unidentified mechanism regularly acts to reduce the shear resistance of these sediments to the very low values required to enable slope failure, and/or b) the margin experiences seismic events that act to destabilise the slope sediments

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 21: Technological innovation and technical communications: Their place in aerospace engineering curricula. A survey of European, Japanese, and US Aerospace Engineers and Scientists

Aerospace engineers and scientists from Western Europe, Japan, and the United States were surveyed as part of the NASA/DoD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Questionnaires were used to solicit their opinions regarding the following: (1) the importance of technical communications to their profession; (2) the use and production of technical communications; and (3) their views about the appropriate content of an undergraduate course in technical communications. The ability to communicate technical information effectively was very important to the aerospace engineers and scientists who participated in the study. A considerable portion of their working week is devoted to using and producing technical information. The types of technical communications used and produced varied within and among the three groups. The type of technical communication product used and produced appears to be related to respondents' professional duties. Respondents from the three groups made similar recommendations regarding the principles, mechanics, and on-the-job communications to be included in an undergraduate technical communications course for aerospace majors

Respiratory Therapists as Physician Extenders: Perceptions of Practitioners and Educators

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of practicing respiratory therapists (RT) and respiratory care educators regarding the role of RTs serving as physician extenders. Methods: The survey instrument was an electronic questionnaire that consisted of 17 questions. Participation was voluntary and participants were selected through random and convenience sampling techniques. Results: Of 506 respondents, 234 were respiratory care educators. Overwhelmingly, the respondents held the Registered Respiratory Therapist credential (92.7%). Respondents were about equally split among three education levels: 31.7% associate degree, 31.7% bachelor’s degree, and 27.3% master’s degree. Of the respondents 62.45% had considered pursing a degree in physician assistant (PA). Respondents expressed a preference for an Advanced Practice Respiratory Therapy (APRT) program (77.9%) rather than a PA program. Nearly two-thirds of the respondents reported they felt that a master’s degree should be the minimum level of education for an APRT. Conclusions: This study suggests that practitioners and educators alike are strongly supportive of advanced practice in the profession of respiratory therapy

Nanoparticle growth following photochemical α‐ and β‐pinene oxidation at Appledore Island during International Consortium for Research on Transport and Transformation/Chemistry of Halogens at the Isles of Shoals 2004

Nanoparticle events were observed 48 times in particle size distributions at Appledore Island during the International Consortium for Atmospheric Research on Transport and Transformation/Chemistry of Halogens on the Isles of Shoals (ICARTT/CHAiOS) field campaign from 2 July to 12 August of 2004. Eighteen of the nanoparticle events showed particle growth and occurred during mornings when peaks in mixing ratios of α‐ and β‐pinene and ozone made production of condensable products from photochemical oxidation probable. Many pollutants and other potential precursors for aerosol formation were also at elevated mixing ratios during these events, including NO, HNO3, NH3, HCl, propane, and several other volatile organic carbon compounds. There were no consistent changes in particle composition, although both submicron and supermicron particles included high maximum concentrations of methane sulfonate, sulfate, iodide, nitrate, and ammonium during these events. Nanoparticle growth continued over several hours with a nearly linear rate of increase of diameter with time. The observed nanoparticle growth rates varied from 3 to 13 nm h−1. Apparent nanoparticle aerosol mass fractions (yields) were estimated to range from less than 0.0005 to almost 1 using α‐ and β‐pinene as the presumed particle source. These apparent high aerosol mass fractions (yields) at low changes in aerosol mass are up to two orders of magnitude greater than predictions from extrapolated laboratory parameterizations and may provide a more accurate assessment of secondary organic aerosol formation for estimating the growth of nanoparticles in global models

Multinuclear ruthenium(II) complexes as anticancer agents

A series of dinuclear ruthenium(ii) complexes that contain labile chlorido ligands, [{Ru(tpy)Cl}2{μ-bbn}]2+ {designated Cl-Rubbn; tpy = 2,2′:6′,2′′-terpyridine, bbn = bis[4(4′-methyl-2,2′-bipyridyl)]-1,n-alkane (n = 7, 10, 12, 14 or 16)} and derivatives containing nitro substituents on the tpy ligand and/or secondary amines within the bbn linking chain have been synthesised and their potential as anticancer agents examined. Some of the Cl-Rubbn species showed good anticancer activity against MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell lines, with the Cl-Rubb12 complex being four-times more active than cisplatin. Inclusion of nitro substituents on the tpy ligands of Cl-Rubb12 resulted in significantly decreased anticancer activity. The incorporation of amine groups into the linking ligand did not increase the anticancer activity of the Cl-Rubbn complexes. The Cl-Rubbn complexes and those containing amine groups in the linking chain aquated at approximately the same rate, with 50% aquation within 120 minutes. By comparison, the complexes containing nitro substituents on the tpy ligand aquated extremely slowly, with 60% of the chlorido complex remaining 24 hours after they were dissolved in water. Cyclic voltammetry with the model mononuclear complex [Ru{(NO2)3tpy}(Me2bpy)Cl] + {(NO2)3tpy = 4,4′,4′′- trinitro-2,2′:6′,2′′-terpyridine} showed that the nitro substituents exerted a strong effect on the ruthenium centre, with the anodic peak corresponding to the Ru(iii/ii) couple shifted positively by 300 mV compared to that from the non-nitrated parent complex [Ru(tpy)(Me 2bpy)Cl]+. 1H NMR studies of the reaction of the Cl-Rubbn complexes with GMP indicated that the ruthenium complexes covalently bound the nucleotide slowly, with 33% bound in 24 hours. However, the results of this study suggest that the cytotoxicity of the dinuclear ruthenium complexes is a combination of covalent and reversible binding with DNA. © the Partner Organisations 2014