Red Tide Blooms in Casco Bay (2010 State of the Bay Presentation)

https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/cbep-presentations/1048/thumbnail.jp

Petawatt laser absorption bounded

The interaction of petawatt ($10^{15}\ \mathrm{W}$) lasers with solid matter forms the basis for advanced scientific applications such as table-top particle accelerators, ultrafast imaging systems and laser fusion. Key metrics for these applications relate to absorption, yet conditions in this regime are so nonlinear that it is often impossible to know the fraction of absorbed light $f$, and even the range of $f$ is unknown. Here using a relativistic Rankine-Hugoniot-like analysis, we show for the first time that $f$ exhibits a theoretical maximum and minimum. These bounds constrain nonlinear absorption mechanisms across the petawatt regime, forbidding high absorption values at low laser power and low absorption values at high laser power. For applications needing to circumvent the absorption bounds, these results will accelerate a shift from solid targets, towards structured and multilayer targets, and lead the development of new materials

Red Tides in Inshore and Offshore Casco Bay and Their Relationship to Local and Gulf of Maine Physical and Biological Conditions

The objective of this report focuses on the secondary goal of the overall program – to develop a better understanding of A. fundyense bloom dynamics in Casco Bay – by examining bloom origin and development (outside Casco Bay, within Casco Bay or both) and correlations between water quality data, location, and bloom intensity. We analyzed the IPSP monitoring program 2006-2008 data to characterize the blooms (spatially and temporally), and examine correlations between water quality, toxicity and A. fundyense data. Using the IPSP data along with data from other studies, we have examined the role of local and regional physical and biological factors in the larger Gulf of Maine and their potential impact on the onset and temporal and spatial extent of red tide blooms in Casco Bay. We have also examined the role of nutrient availability in the spatial and temporal extent of Casco Bay blooms

By popular demand: what people want from a resource efficient economy

To make a successful transition to a low carbon, resource efficient economy, businesses and governments need to understand what people value and want from the products and services they use. This report presents findings from research carried out by the Centre for Industrial Energy, Materials and Products (CIE-MAP) on public attitudes towards policies intended to improve resource efficiency. The analysis is based on a detailed, representative survey and focus group data collected between 2016 and 2018. Significantly, the research shows that measures offering the biggest carbon savings, and over which the government has most control, are those that are most popular with the public. Here, we demonstrate how government and businesses can make the most of the opportunity offered by resource efficiency for household goods to improve material use and reduce emissions

Rights or containment? The politics of Aboriginal cultural heritage in Victoria

Aboriginal cultural heritage protection, and the legislative regimes that underpin it, constitute important mechanisms for Aboriginal people to assert their rights and responsibilities. This is especially so in Victoria, where legislation vests wide-ranging powers and control of cultural heritage with Aboriginal communities. However, the politics of cultural heritage, including its institutionalisation as a scientific body of knowledge within the state, can also result in a powerful limiting of Aboriginal rights and responsibilities. This paper examines the politics of cultural heritage through a case study of a small forest in north-west Victoria. Here, a dispute about logging has pivoted around differing conceptualisations of Aboriginal cultural heritage values and their management. Cultural heritage, in this case, is both a powerful tool for the assertion of Aboriginal rights and interests, but simultaneously a set of boundaries within which the state operates to limit and manage the challenge those assertions pose. The paper will argue that Aboriginal cultural heritage is a politically contested and shifting domain structured around Aboriginal law and politics, Australian statute and the legacy of colonial history

Cyan Moon crew preparation for the Sydney To Hobart Yacht Race March 2023

The Collaborative Evaluation & Research Centre (formally CERG) evaluated the crew’s experiences pre and post yacht events using a mixed methods approach. The Cyan yacht had a crew of 12 and competed in a number of events in the racing calendar leading up to the Sydney to Hobart race in January 2023. This was the first time that this boat and many of the crew competed in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race

By popular demand: what people want from a resource efficient economy

To make a successful transition to a low carbon, resource efficient economy, businesses and governments need to understand what people value and want from the products and services they use. This report presents findings from research carried out by the Centre for Industrial Energy, Materials and Products (CIE-MAP) on public attitudes towards policies intended to improve resource efficiency. The analysis is based on a detailed, representative survey and focus group data collected between 2016 and 2018. Significantly, the research shows that measures offering the biggest carbon savings, and over which the government has most control, are those that are most popular with the public. Here, we demonstrate how government and businesses can make the most of the opportunity offered by resource efficiency for household goods to improve material use and reduce emissions

110th Congress

This report discusses veterans' benefits issues that are already part of the legislative agenda for the 110th Congress or are likely to be of interest to Congress. These benefits and issues fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA). Also presented in this report are an overview of the benefits and their eligibility requirements, data on both the veteran population and the benefit population, and summary information on the FY2008 budget for veterans' benefits