How elevation affects epiphyte distribution: An analysis in epiphyte distribution changes at different elevations and tree strata in Santa Lucia Cloud Forest Reserve, Ecuador

Cloud forests are unique ecosystems due to their tropical nature, high elevations, and extremely high presence of epiphytes that serve many important roles for the ecosystem’s biotic and abiotic components. As epiphytes can make up anywhere from one-quarter (Foster 2001) to a half (Gómez González et al. 2017) of all local plant species in cloud forests, it is essential to understand how their habitat distributions change with elevation and whether climate change will have a significant effect on that. This study used observational survey methods to record the amount of monocots (separately counted bromeliads and orchids), dicots, ferns, and percent moss cover of thin, medium, and thick mosses on multiple trees at every 50 meters (m) of elevation increase along trails in Santa Lucia Cloud Forest Reserve in Pichincha, Ecuador. These data allowed for results to analyze the microclimatic distributions and overall ecosystem distributions of these epiphytic plants to test whether the changes in their prevalence across an elevation gradient were significant and could be used to predict how they will shift as the climate continues to change due to increased atmospheric Carbon Dioxide (CO2). This study concluded that there were increasing trends in the average numbers of ferns, bromeliads, and medium moss per tree as elevation increased. It also used differences between counts from 0-5 m on tree trunks and 5-10 m on tree trunks to analyze how distributions changed only on tree trunks across the studied elevation range (1,600-2,200 m). The number of ferns on the 0-5 m sections significantly increased (R = 0.7405) and the same for bromeliads, although not significantly. On both sections of the trees, medium moss coverage significantly increased along with elevation which allows for conclusions on water storage potential and the optimization of mosses in more humid environments to be made. The results of this study could be used in conjunction with other studies that research how plant distributions change with climate change in order to predict how certain epiphyte distributions may change as climate change progresses

ALMA data suggest the presence of a spiral structure in the inner wind of CW Leo

(abbreviated) We aim to study the inner wind of the well-known AGB star CW Leo. Different diagnostics probing different geometrical scales have pointed toward a non-homogeneous mass-loss process: dust clumps are observed at milli-arcsec scale, a bipolar structure is seen at arcsecond-scale and multi-concentric shells are detected beyond 1". We present the first ALMA Cycle 0 band 9 data around 650 GHz. The full-resolution data have a spatial resolution of 0".42x0".24, allowing us to study the morpho-kinematical structure within ~6". Results: We have detected 25 molecular lines. The emission of all but one line is spatially resolved. The dust and molecular lines are centered around the continuum peak position. The dust emission has an asymmetric distribution with a central peak flux density of ~2 Jy. The molecular emission lines trace different regions in the wind acceleration region and suggest that the wind velocity increases rapidly from about 5 R* almost reaching the terminal velocity at ~11 R*. The channel maps for the brighter lines show a complex structure; specifically for the 13CO J=6-5 line different arcs are detected within the first few arcseconds. The curved structure present in the PV map of the 13CO J=6-5 line can be explained by a spiral structure in the inner wind, probably induced by a binary companion. From modeling the ALMA data, we deduce that the potential orbital axis for the binary system lies at a position angle of ~10-20 deg to the North-East and that the spiral structure is seen almost edge-on. We infer an orbital period of 55 yr and a binary separation of 25 au (or ~8.2 R*). We tentatively estimate that the companion is an unevolved low-mass main-sequence star. The ALMA data hence provide us for the first time with the crucial kinematical link between the dust clumps seen at milli-arcsecond scale and the almost concentric arcs seen at arcsecond scale.Comment: 22 pages, 18 Figures, Astronomy & Astrophysic

Applying Total Quality Leadership to an aviation squadron

The implementation of Total Quality Leadership has been successful in several Department of Defense organizations. However, an aviation squadron provides an unique environment for the application of TQL. This thesis describes an adaptation of the NPRDC TQM process improvement model for a fleet squadron which includes the Shewart Cycle, customer supplier relationships, and mission deployment. Dr. W. Edwards Deming's 14 points are discussed in the context of the squadron environment. Continuous process improvement tools are explained and demonstrated using squadron examples.http://archive.org/details/applyingtotalqua00knigLieutenant Commander, United States NavyLieutenant, United States NavyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Chandra Observations of ULIRGs: Extended Hot Gas Halos in Merging Galaxies

We study the properties of hot gaseous halos in 10 nearby ultraluminous IRAS galaxies observed with the ACIS instrument on board Chandra. For all sample galaxies, diffuse soft X-ray emissions are found within ~10 kpc of the central region; their spectra are well fitted by a MEKAL model plus emission lines from alpha-elements and other ions. The temperature of the hot gas is about 0.7 keV and metallicity is about 1 solar. Outside the central region, extended hot gaseous halos are found for nine out of the ten ULIRGs. Most spectra of these extended halos can be fitted with a MEKAL model with a temperature of about 0.6 keV and a low metallicity (~ 0.1 solar). We discuss the implications of our results on the origin of X-ray halos in elliptical galaxies and the feedback processes associated with starbursts.Comment: 31 pages, 6 figuers, ApJ in press, accepted versio