Importance of Spending Time in Nature

In this honors project, the author explores the benefits of forest schools and forest bathing in education

Photolytic ozonation for protection and rehabilitation of ground-water resources; a mechanistic study

The cleanup of ground-water resources which have been contaminated by anthropogenic organic compounds is difficult and expensive. Furthermore, most treatment methods merely transfer the contaminant to another phase, such as an adsorbant or the atmosphere. A treatment process which produces harmless by-products, could be set up on-site, and does not require the transport of hazardous materials is very desirable for such cleanup operations. Photolyticozonation, the combination of ozone treatment and ultraviolet irradiation, is an oxidative water treatment process which is capable of convert ing virtually any organic pollutant completely to carbon dioxide and water. Thus, it is potentially a very "clean" solution to many contamination problems. There has, however, been disagreement in the scientific literature concerning the effectiveness of the process, due largely to a lack of understanding of the chemistry which is involved. In this project, photolytic ozonation was studied at the laboratory scale, to better understand and, if possible, model the complex chemical reaction mechanism, so that the process can be more easily optimized from an economic stand point. It was shown that hydroxyl radical, the active species responsible for the destruction of organic pollutants, is not generated directly by ozone photolysisas has generally been speculated, but is produced by secondary reactions. A model has been developed which explains the behavior of the process under a variety of conditions and is useful for the prediction of process performance. The model includes parameters, the values of which may be inferred from the chemical structure of the organic pollutant. The reaction system is seen to be "versatile" in that it has alternate pathways by which pollutant destruction may proceed, depending on conditions in the water being treated.U.S. Department of the InteriorU.S. Geological Surve

The Campaigns of Alexander: How Arrian’s Character of Alexander Influences How He is Portrayed in Writing

Historians have long been discussing and analyzing Arrian\u27s The Campaigns of Alexander, and not just for it\u27s valuable and rare insights on the life of Alexander the Great. In his books, Arrian appears to have a more apologetic approach when writing about Alexander. It leads the reader into thinking Alexander was a better man than he actually might have been. In this paper, I take a look at five different authors-- both fictional and nonfictional-- and how they portrayed Alexander the Great as a person. Each of the authors wrote Alexander as a noble and just person, highlighting his good deeds and actions. Based on these findings, it\u27s clear that because Arrian is one of our last primary sources on Alexander, he is shown as better than he might have been

Developments in electromagnetic tomography instrumentation.

A new EMT sensor and instrumentation is described which combines the best features of previous systems and has a modular structure to allow for future system expansion and development

Application of tunable diode lasers as local oscillators in an Infrared Heterodyne Radiometer (IHR)

The utility of diode lasers as local oscillators (LOs) in a heterodyne receiver application was investigated. The CW power, spectral tunability, spectral stability, and spatial intensity distribution of the TDL outputs were measured. A tunable diode laser LO was incorporated into a laboratory Dicke-switched infrared heterodyne setup and used to measure radiometer sensitivity as well as spectroscopic characteristics of selected absorption lines of ammonia. The test results on one of the two tunable diode lasers are emphasized in an attempt to provide a comprehensive data package which may be useful for future planning purposes. The second tunable diode laser exhibits characteristics similar to the fully tested TDL with the exception that some changes in its performance characteristics as it was temperature cycled between room temperature and the operating temperature of approximately 50K occurred

Snowy Plover Nesting at Lake McConaughy in 2004 and 2005

The Snowy Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus) is a small shore bird that upon casual observation resembles the Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus). The most obvious differences are in the dark beak and legs of the Snowy Plover in contrast to the orange bill with the black tip and orange legs of the Piping Plover. The two also have strikingly different calls (pers. obs.). In Nebraska the Piping Plover can be found along the Missouri, Platte, Niobrara, Loup, and Elkhorn Rivers and the sandpits associated with those rivers (Haig and Plissner 1993). Piping Plovers are also common along the shore of Lake McConaughy (Peyton 2004). The Snowy Plover, in contrast, has been recorded from only a few locations in Nebraska, and the only reported areas for successful breeding within the state are Harlan County Reservoir (Silcock 2004) and Lake McConaughy, where breeding has been documented since 2000 (Silcock 2000, 2001b, and 2003). In Nebraska the Snowy Plover was listed as Casual until the designation was changed to Regular in 2003 (NOU Records Committee 2004). This change is reflective of the increase in sightings reported in The Nebraska Bird Review and the documentation of nesting within the state. The first report of nesting Snowy Plovers in Nebraska was in 1998 from the Missouri River near Santee, Nebraska (Silcock 200la). This nest was apparently lost. The second and third reports for the state, and the first reports of successful nesting, were of adults with young at Lake McConaughy in 2000 and 2001 (Silcock 2001b). Adult birds were sighted at Lake McConaughy in 2002, but it wasn\u27t until June 2003 that a Snowy Plover nest with eggs was located at Lake McConaughy (Silcock 2003a). Later that summer three additional broods were located, two of which eventually fledged chicks (Silcock 2003b). Thus, between 2000 and 2003, there was one nest with eggs and four broods of Snowy Plovers documented at Lake McConaughy. Starting in 2004, the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District added the monitoring of nesting Snowy Plovers at Lake McConaughy to its annual Piping Plover monitoring plan. Presented here are the nesting data for Snowy Plovers at Lake McConaughy in 2004 and 2005

Consider Propensity Scores to Compare Treatments

The underlying question when comparing treatments is usually whether an individual would do better with treatment X than they would with treatment Y. But there are often practical and theoretical problems in giving people both treatments and comparing the data. This paper presents the use of propensity score matching as a methodology that can be used to compare the effectiveness of different treatments. The method is applied to answer two questions: (1) “Should examinees take a college admissions test near or a few years after graduation?” and (2) “Do accommodated students receive an unfair advantage?” Data from a large admission testing program is used. Accessed 18,071 times on https://pareonline.net from November 17, 2006 to December 31, 2019. For downloads from January 1, 2020 forward, please click on the PlumX Metrics link to the right

Bald Eagle Counts at Two Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District Facilities

Since 1988, the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District (Central) has provided free access to the public at its Johnson #2 (J-2) Hydroelectric Plant south of Lexington, Dawson County, and the use of spotting scopes and binoculars to view Bald Eagles foraging and perching along the tailrace of the plant. Central also provided a small trailer from 1990-95 for viewing Bald Eagles near the outlet of the Kingsley Hydroelectric Plant at Lake Ogallala in Keith County. In 1996, Central completed construction of a permanent viewing facility at this location. Central provides personnel at both locations to answer questions and provide assistance with the viewing scopes. These individuals also conducted daily eagle surveys from these locations. Methods Central personnel, using binoculars and/or spotting scopes, counted the number of Bald Eagles visible from each viewing site. Counts were made at 8:00 a.m. local time, noting age of the birds and weather conditions at the time of the counts

A Phase I Cultural Resources Survey of the 8-Mile Project, Brazoria County, Texas

Perennial Environmental Services, LLC (Perennial), on behalf of Phillips 66 Pipeline LLC (P66), conducted an intensive cultural resources survey of the proposed 8-Mile Project located in Brazoria County, Texas . The proposed Project will consist of an approximately 1,275.3-acre (ac) (516.1-hectare [ha]) facility designed to service the transportation of Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs) and will include a railroad track loop, storage, railcar offloading tracks, an administrative building, and other structures necessary for operation of the facility. The proposed Project is located within the jurisdictional boundary of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Galveston District. The Project may require the usage of a Nationwide Permit (NWP) issued by the USACE, and as such, a cultural resources survey was conducted for the 1275.3 ac (516.1 ha) Project area in accordance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) (36 CFR Part 800). The survey was designed to inventory and assess cultural resources across the Project. These efforts involved both surface and subsurface archaeological survey. The area of potential effect (APE) is considered the entirety of the Project area. The APE measures approximately 1275.3 ac (516.1 ha). Perennial conducted the intensive Phase I cultural resources survey within the boundary of the Project APE. Zachary Overfield served as the Principal Investigator (PI) for the Project and supervised all aspects of the cultural resources survey. The fieldwork was conducted by Tessa Noble, Mary Noell, Jacob Cumberland, Patrick Gainey, Anne Marie Fraley, and Allyson Walsh on December 4-12, 2014 and Amy Goldstein, Kirsten Atwood, and Zachary Overfield on February 22-24, 2016. The background review identified two National Register listed properties (Marmion’s gazebo and Palapa table) northwest of the Project area. Both properties are located upon the historic James Richard Marmion Estate, which has not been evaluated in its entirety for its NRHP eligibility (Atlas 2016). The gazebo and Palapa table were created by noted sculptor Dionicio Rodriguez and qualify under criterion C as the work of a master. The gazebo is located 0.4 mi (0.7 km) northwest of the Project area and the table is located 0.6 mi (1.0 km) northwest of the Project area. The properties do not lie in the Project viewshed as bottomland hardwood forest obscures the northwestern boundary. Additionally, rail facilities will not drastically alter the character of the viewshed due to the prior establishment of a railroad and rail facilities in the immediate area. These properties are a sufficient distance outside of the Project APE and will not be impacted by Project construction activities. The field survey resulted in entirely negative findings with no cultural resources observed along the ground surface or within any of the 395 shovel tests excavated across the Project. Overall, the Project area was found to be dominated by cleared pastureland that was once bottomland hardwood forests. Multiple pipeline corridors bisect the property, and inundation was widespread during the 2014 and 2016 investigations. Based on the extent of the survey efforts and the entirely negative results of the investigation, it is the professional opinion of the Principal Investigator that the Project will have no adverse effect on significant cultural resources listed on or considered eligible for listing on the NRHP. No further work is recommended for the Project

Effects of Perceived Audiences on Discrimination Learning in Pigeons ( Columbia livia )

The social facilitation effect is a phenomenon frequently discussed in the subfield of social psychology. Some studies have examined the social facilitation or inhibition effects in nonhuman animals, though few have examined the effect of perceived audiences on their cognitive functioning. In order to study this effect, three different video stimuli were presented to one subject while solving a memorization discrimination task. It was hypothesized that the pigeon would learn a task at different rates based on the type of perceived audience presented. No significant results were found due to the fact that the subject was unable to learn the task to criterion