Lisa Adams in a Senior Piano Recital

This is the program for the senior piano recital of Lisa Adams. The recital took place on February 15, 1982, in the Mabee Fine Arts Center Recital Hall

An Investigation of the Loss of Planet-Forming Potential in Intermediate Sized Young Embedded Star Clusters

A large fraction of stars forming in our galaxy are born within clusters embedded in giant molecular clouds. In these environments, the background UV radiation fields impinging upon circumstellar disks can often dominate over the radiation fields produced by each disk's central star. As a result, this background radiation can drive the evaporation of circumstellar disks and lead to the loss of planet forming potential within a cluster. This paper presents a detailed analysis of this process for clusters whose stellar membership falls within the range $100 \le N \le 1000$. For these intermediate-sized clusters, the background UV field is often dominated by the most massive stellar member. Due to the steep slope of the initial mass function, the amount of background UV light that bathes clusters of similar size displays significant variance. As a result, we perform a statistical analysis of this problem by calculating distributions of FUV flux values impinging upon star/disk systems for several cluster scenarios. We find that in the absence of dust attenuation, giant planet formation would likely be inhibited in approximately half of systems forming within intermediate-sized clusters regardless of stellar membership. In contrast, the presence of dust can significantly lower this value, with the effect considerably more pronounced in more populated clusters.Comment: Accepted for publication in PAS

Genetic Toolkit for Assessment and Prediction of Population-Level Impacts of Bridge Construction on Birds

Recent studies have highlighted alarming rates of declines in bird populations across the country. The State of California is home to over 650 resident and migrant avian species. Legislation for protecting these species has existed for over a century now, yet tools for identifying populations and understanding seasonal movement remain limited. Recently, genetic and genomic tools have provided a method for understanding population structure, allowing for more informed delineation of management units. The goal of this project was to create a genetic toolkit for identifying breeding populations and assigning individuals to those populations. Ultimately, such tools could be used to assess population-level impacts when there are conflicts with birds at infrastructure construction sites. As a test case, we sequenced entire genomes for 40 individual Anna’s hummingbirds (Calypte anna) from across the state. Based on this initial data, we found low levels of differentiation between sampled locations, suggesting that C. anna in California are not subdivided into different population units. However, there was a weak signal of geography suggesting there may be localized genetic differences in a small proportion of the genome. Follow-up work will focus on a broader sampling across the state of California to clarify any possible population subdivision or geographical patterns of differentiation.View the NCST Project Webpag

The Utilization of Gender, Retention, SES and STEEP Scores to Predict Reading Mastery

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between gender, retention, SES and STEEP scores to predict reading mastery. Second grade students’ records were reviewed to obtain demographic information. SAT 9 scores were used to measure students\u27 reading mastery. SES was measured and defined by approved applications for free or reduced lunch for the 2004-2005 school year. Retention was defined as the number of students previously retained. Logistic regression was used to determine the predictive validity of gender, retention, SES and STEEP scores dependent on SAT 9 reading mastery. Gender, retention, SES and STEEP scores were entered as covariates in SPSS and analyzed for significance in a regression model. Results revealed the model was not as efficient as the use of STEEP by itself. STEEP predicted correctly 90 percent of students who achieved reading mastery on the SAT 9. The model was less accurate in predicting no or partial reading mastery

The Role of Edward VI in the Development of the English Reformation

The implied conclusion is that since the reforms were forced-the connotations of the term make its use questionable, but that is a separate issue-upon the church by the government, and since Edward was a minor, the government being dominated by the dukes of Somerset and Northumberland, Edward himself was therefore a negligible factor in the reforms implemented during his reign. It is not within the scope of this paper to assess the secular politics or military developments of Edward\u27s reign. What does concern us here is the question of the extent to which Edward was a factor in the development of the English Reformation. A fuller elaboration of the common view of Edward\u27s insignificance for the English Reformation might bring together three factors that are sometimes mentioned as the basis for regarding him as a negligible figure

The influence of patient's age on clinical decision-making about coronary heart disease in the USA and the UK

This paper examines UK and US primary care doctors' decision-making about older (aged 75 years) and midlife (aged 55 years) patients presenting with coronary heart disease (CHD). Using an analytic approach based on conceptualising clinical decision-making as a classification process, it explores the ways in which doctors' cognitive processes contribute to ageism in health-care at three key decision points during consultations. In each country, 56 randomly selected doctors were shown videotaped vignettes of actors portraying patients with CHD. The patients' ages (55 or 75 years), gender, ethnicity and social class were varied systematically. During the interviews, doctors gave free-recall accounts of their decision-making. The results do not establish that there was substantial ageism in the doctors' decisions, but rather suggest that diagnostic processes pay insufficient attention to the significance of older patients' age and its association with the likelihood of co-morbidity and atypical disease presentations. The doctors also demonstrated more limited use of ‘knowledge structures’ when diagnosing older than midlife patients. With respect to interventions, differences in the national health-care systems rather than patients' age accounted for the differences in doctors' decisions. US doctors were significantly more concerned about the potential for adverse outcomes if important diagnoses were untreated, while UK general practitioners cited greater difficulty in accessing diagnostic tests

Interferometry search for new forms of matter in A+A collisions

A method allowing studies of the hadronic matter at the early evolution stage in A+A collisions is developed. It is based on an interferometry analysis of approximately conserved values such as the averaged phase-space density (APSD) and the specific entropy of thermal pions. The plateau found in the APSD behavior vs collision energy at SPS is associated, apparently, with the deconfinement phase transition at low SPS energies; a saturation of this quantity at the RHIC energies indicates the limiting Hagedorn temperature for hadronic matter.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, contribution to the Quark Matter 2005 proceedings, minor change

Universal Flow in the First fm/c at RHIC

We will show how both elliptic and radial flow generated during the first fm/c at RHIC can be expressed in a form which is quasi-independent of the state of matter and depends only on the initial energy density profile. Descriptions based on partons or classical fields, thermalized or highly anisotropic, all lead to the same collective velocity given a few easily satisfied conditions. This significantly narrows the uncertainty for initializing hydrodynamic prescriptions.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures - To appear in the conference proceedings for Quark Matter 2009, March 30 - April 4, Knoxville, Tennesse

Describing transverse dynamics and space-time evolution at RHIC in a hydrodynamic model with statistical hadronization

A hydrodynamic model coupled to the statistical hadronization code Therminator is used to study a set of observables in the soft sector at RHIC. A satisfactory description of the pT-spectra and elliptic flow is obtained, similarly to other hydrodynamic models. With the Gaussian initial conditions the transverse femtoscopic radii are also reproduced, providing a possible solution of the RHIC HBT puzzle.Comment: to appear in the conference proceedings for Quark Matter 2009, March 30 - April 4, Knoxville, Tennesse

Enhancing Ocean Literacy Using Real-Time Data

Ocean literacy is the understanding of our relationship with the ocean and the crucial services that the ocean provides to society and other living organisms (Cava et al., 2005). In 2004, a number of ocean science and educational communities adopted seven essential ocean literacy principles1 (Cava et al., 2005). These principles were further broken down into concepts, which were designed to teach science standards using an ocean orientation. Most state science standards do not specifically address these ocean principles but they have been categorized according to the National Science Educational Standards by discipline and overlap with the other traditional science disciplines. Hoffman and Barstow (2007) noted that no state addresses more than 20 of the 35 fundamental ocean concepts. Ten of the 35 concepts that were more biology focused were not included in their study. They also noted that more research needs to be conducted to evaluate whether students learn core science concepts and process skills using ocean literacy as the primary curriculum