Circular 53

The regeneration of interior Alaska’s commercial forest lands is mandated by Alaska’s Forest Resources and Practices Act (1979). This act requires that regeneration be established adequate to ensure a sustained yield on forested lands from which the timber has been harvested. Post-logging regeneration efforts now are aimed at exposing mineral soil for the natural seeding of white spruce. Soil exposure has been accomplished by blade scarifying with a crawler tractor which provides large seed sites or by using a Bracke-type patch scarifier which produces small seed sites of about 2 ft2. Arlidge (1967) reports that larger seedbeds have greater regeneration success than smaller ones. Some researchers have found that the regeneration of the larger plots may be too successful, requiring weeding and precommercial thinning to bring stocking to satisfactory levels (Zasada and Grigal 1978). The Alaska Division of Forestry (DOF) has not been satisfied with the cost or effectiveness of either of these site-preparation practices.Introduction -- Methods -- Results and Discussion: Contractor #2, Contractor #3 -- Comparisons -- Conclusions -- Resources Cite

Three approaches to the classification of inland wetlands

In the Dismal Swamp project, seasonal, color-infrared aerial photographs and LANDSAT digital data were interpreted for a detailed analysis of the vegetative communities in a large, highly altered wetland. In Western Tennessee, seasonal high altitude color-infrared aerial photographs provided the hydrologic and vegetative information needed to map inland wetlands, using a classification system developed for the Tennessee Valley Region. In Florida, color-infrared aerial photographs were analyzed to produce wetland maps using three existing classification systems to evaluate the information content and mappability of each system. The methods used in each of the three projects can be extended or modified for use in the mapping of inland wetlands in other parts of the United States

Gender identity and childhood experiences : an introductory quantitative study of the relationship between gender identity and adverse childhood experiences

It has been established that individuals with transgender* identities experience abuse and trauma at higher frequencies than individuals with non-transgender identities (Mascis, 2011). Gender dysphoria currently exists as a mental health diagnosis, perpetuating stigma as well as pathologizing gender variance. Clinical social workers have preserved a harmful formulation that gender dysphoria is a disorder caused by trauma. There has been scarce quantitative research to date exploring a relationship between transgender identities and adverse childhood experiences. This study aims to: (1) contribute to a foundation of introductory quantitative research on how childhood experiences interact with gender identity, (2) examine the frequency of ACE scores relative to current gender identity, and (3) provide insight to topics with acute need of further clinical exploration. Although this study does not yield statistically significant findings, it does offer sound evidence in support of continued attention to gender identity and childhood experiences within clinical social work research

PRETA Air: Hazardous Air Pollutants

This report shows that people living in a 10-county region of southwestern Pennsylvania have a significantly higher than acceptable risk of developing cancer due to exposure to toxic air pollution released by manufacturing processes, energy production and diesel combustionThe Pittsburgh Regional Environmental Threats Analysis Report -- funded by The Heinz Endowments -- analyzes publicly available data on hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), also known as air toxics. Air toxics include approximately 200 pollutants identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as known or suspected to cause cancer or other serious health effects, such as respiratory, neurological and reproductive disorders. The report is the third in a series as part of a project examining major threats to human health and the environment in southwestern Pennsylvania

A realistic evaluation : the case of protocol-based care

Background 'Protocol based care' was envisioned by policy makers as a mechanism for delivering on the service improvement agenda in England. Realistic evaluation is an increasingly popular approach, but few published examples exist, particularly in implementation research. To fill this gap, within this paper we describe the application of a realistic evaluation approach to the study of protocol-based care, whilst sharing findings of relevance about standardising care through the use of protocols, guidelines, and pathways. Methods Situated between positivism and relativism, realistic evaluation is concerned with the identification of underlying causal mechanisms, how they work, and under what conditions. Fundamentally it focuses attention on finding out what works, for whom, how, and in what circumstances. Results In this research, we were interested in understanding the relationships between the type and nature of particular approaches to protocol-based care (mechanisms), within different clinical settings (context), and what impacts this resulted in (outcomes). An evidence review using the principles of realist synthesis resulted in a number of propositions, i.e., context, mechanism, and outcome threads (CMOs). These propositions were then 'tested' through multiple case studies, using multiple methods including non-participant observation, interviews, and document analysis through an iterative analysis process. The initial propositions (conjectured CMOs) only partially corresponded to the findings that emerged during analysis. From the iterative analysis process of scrutinising mechanisms, context, and outcomes we were able to draw out some theoretically generalisable features about what works, for whom, how, and what circumstances in relation to the use of standardised care approaches (refined CMOs). Conclusions As one of the first studies to apply realistic evaluation in implementation research, it was a good fit, particularly given the growing emphasis on understanding how context influences evidence-based practice. The strengths and limitations of the approach are considered, including how to operationalise it and some of the challenges. This approach provided a useful interpretive framework with which to make sense of the multiple factors that were simultaneously at play and being observed through various data sources, and for developing explanatory theory about using standardised care approaches in practice

Unmixing Detrital Zircon U-Pb Ages Reveals Tectonic and Climatic Depositional Influences on the Carboniferous Ansilta Formation, Calingasta-Uspallata Basin, Western Argentina

The Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA) was a principal control of sedimentation across Gondwana from the late Devonian through early Permian. We assess the hypothesis that glacial to interglacial transitions in western Argentina were the primary control influencing sediment routing patterns among the various Carboniferous-Permian basins in western Argentina. The Carboniferous Ansilta Formation consists of glaciomarine, nearshore, and fluvial systems deposited during the LPIA along the eastern margin of the Calingasta-Uspallata Basin in Argentina. The lower, glacially influenced succession of the Ansilta Formation records at least five glacial advances; the upper succession of consists of progradational shallow marine, deltaic, and fluvial strata. We combine 1225 new U–Pb zircon ages from six samples of the Carboniferous Ansilta Formation in the Calingasta-Uspallata Basin with 5864 U–Pb ages from 147 published samples in the detritalPy-mix forward mixture model to characterize provenance shifts. For the glacially influenced lower Ansilta Formation, sediment was derived locally from the Protoprecordillera, which was a prominent highland with alpine glaciers flowing west and east into the CalingastaUspallata and Paganzo basins, respectively. Thus, there was little or no connection between these two basins during Serpukhovian-Bashkirian glaciation. The fluvial/deltaic upper Ansilta had distal sediment sources in the Sierras Pampeanas. Furthermore, our results support the collapse of the Protoprecordillera topographic barrier, enabling drainage patterns connecting the Paganzo and Calingasta-Uspallata basins by late Pennsylvanian-early Permian time