Eye Movements of Highly Identified Sport Fans

Individuals who are highly identified with a sport team have a strong psychological connection with the team (Wann et al., 2001). Sport team identification can be beneficial to communities and individuals. It provides entertainment, helps form group affiliation, and improves self-esteem. Because team identification is important to people, they notice environmental cues related to the team. Individuals are more likely to attend to a stimulus that is liked or one that is familiar. When an individual has accessible attitudes toward an object, he or she is more likely to attend to and notice the object (Roskos-Ewoldsen & Fazio, 1992). The current study examined the relationship between sport team identification and attention. Participants (n = 31) were presented with 64 displays of college team logos, which were shown in sequential order. While viewing the displays, participants’ eye movements were monitored by the SR Research Eyelink II, an eye-tracking recording system. The participants then completed a questionnaire designed to determine their level of team identification with an indicated team. Higher scores on the questionnaire indicated a higher level of identification. The first hypothesis under study states that highly identified UK fans detect the UK logo faster than the UT logo when each logo appears without the other, whereas low identified UK fans detect both the UK and UT logos equally quickly when each logo appears without the other. A mixed-model ANOVA was conducted to examine the impact of set type on total time to identify the target. The ANOVA yielded no main effects or interactions. The second hypothesis under study states that highly identified UK fans detect the UT logo more slowly when the UK logo is present than the low identified UK fans. A mixed-model ANOVA was conducted to examine how distractible the UK logo was when detecting the UT logo. The ANOVA yielded no main effects or interactions

Geology of the Weston Canyon Area, Bannock Range, Idaho

The Weston Canyon area comprises the southern part of the Bannock Range and northwestern part of the Malad Range in southern Idaho. Geologic investigations of adjacent areas date from 1871. These investigations have led to detailed geologic reports that cover much of the Wasatch Range, Bear River Range, Malad Range, Portneuf Range, and Cache Valley. The geology of the southern part of the Bannock Range, however, has not been studied in detail, and it is the purpose of this investigation to map and describe the geology of the Weston Canyon area and to correlate it with previously described geology of the region

Beyond Goldwater-Nichols

This report culminated almost two years of effort at CSIS, which began by developing an approach for both revisiting the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 and for addressing issues that were beyond the scope of that landmark legislation

Experimental Tests of Charge Symmetry Violation in Parton Distributions

Recently, a global phenomenological fit to high energy data has included charge symmetry breaking terms, leading to limits on the allowed magnitude of such effects. We discuss two possible experiments that could search for isospin violation in valence parton distributions. We show that, given the magnitude of charge symmetry violation consistent with existing global data, such experiments might expect to see effects at a level of several percent. Alternatively, such experiments could significantly decrease the upper limits on isospin violation in parton distributions.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figure

Periphyton responses to nutrient and atrazine mixtures introduced through agricultural runoff

Agricultural runoff often contains pollutants with antagonistic impacts. The individual influence of nutrients and atrazine on periphyton has been extensively studied, but their impact when introduced together and with multiple agricultural pollutants is less clear. We simulated a field-scale runoff pulse into a riverine wetland that mimicked pollutant composition typical of field runoff of the Mississippi River Alluvial Plain. Periphyton biomass and functional responses were measured for 2 weeks along a 500 m section. Additionally, laboratory chamber assays were used to identify potential periphyton changes due to nutrients, atrazine, and their interactions. Generally, nutrients stimulated, and atrazine reduced chlorophyll a (Chl a) in chambers. In the wetland, nutrient and atrazine relationships with periphyton were weaker, and when found, were often opposite of trends in chambers. Total nitrogen (TN) was inversely related to Chl a, and total phosphorus was inversely related to respiration (R) rates. Atrazine (10–20 lg L-1 in the wetland) had a positive relationship with ash-free dry mass (AFDM), and weakened the relationship between TN and AFDM. Wetland periphyton biomass was better correlated to total suspended solids than nutrients or atrazine. Periphyton function was resilient as periphyton gross primary production (GPP)/R ratios were not strongly impacted by runoff. However, whole-system GPP and R decreased over the 2-week period, suggesting that although periphyton metabolism recovered quickly, whole-system metabolism took longer to recover. The individual and combined impacts of nutrients and atrazine in complex pollutant mixtures can vary substantially from their influence when introduced separately, and non-linear impacts can occur with distance downstream of the pollutant introduction point

Regulators of stream ecosystem recovery from disturbance

Doctor of PhilosophyDepartment of BiologyWalter K. DoddsStreams exist in a state of dynamic equilibrium with frequent floods and drought. The frequency and intensity of stream disturbances are projected to increase with greater water withdrawal for agriculture and biofuel production, watershed development, and altered climate. Changes in the hydrologic regime may alter stream ecosystems. I studied how stream communities return after disturbances and how nutrients, consumers, and substrata heterogeneity influence recovery trajectories. Large consumers were excluded from pools following a severe drought to assess how community structure and function returned in their absence. Large consumers reduced algal biomass, primary productivity, and nutrient uptake rates, and delayed macroinvertebrate recolonization. However, grazer effects were temporary and their influence weakened after five weeks. In a second experiment, I assessed the relative influence of grazer density and nutrient loadings on algal recovery from flood. Nutrients had a stronger effect on recovery than grazers, but the strength of each varied temporally. Grazer control decreased and nutrient control increased over time. A third experiment addressed the physical properties of stream substrata on algal development. The relationship among algal accumulation and substrata surface topography was assessed by growing algae on substrata with varying orientation and roughness. Total algal biomass decreased on surfaces with angles > 45 degrees, and peaked at an intermediate roughness (pit depth of [similar to]17 [Mu]m). Rougher surfaces collected more tightly attached (grazer resistant) forms and less loosely attached (grazer susceptible) forms. Individual algal forms responded differently to grazing pressure, nutrient availability, and surface features. I developed a method using Fourier-transform infrared microspectroscopy to measure single-cell physiological responses in benthic algae. Nutrients and consumers were strong regulators of ecosystem succession following disturbance, but nutrient influence was stronger. The influence of nutrients and consumers were context dependent, and changed over the course of recovery. Rougher surfaces increase algal growth and shifted algal assemblages to more grazer resistant forms, which may decrease the influence of large consumers on stream function. Altering the severity and frequency of disturbances can change the trajectory of stream recovery and ultimately change community composition and stream metabolic activity, which may alter ecosystem services such as water purification and recreation

Consumer Return Chronology Alters Recovery Trajectory of Stream Ecosystem Structure and Function Following Drought

Consumers are increasingly being recognized as important drivers of ecological succession, yet it is still hard to predict the nature and direction of consumer effects in nonequilibrium environments. We used stream consumer exclosures and large outdoor mesocosms to study the impact of macroconsumers (i.e., fish and crayfish) on recovery of intermittent prairie streams after drying. In the stream, macroconsumers altered system recovery trajectory by decreasing algal and macroinvertebrate biomass, primary productivity, and benthic nutrient uptake rates. However, macroconsumer influence was transient, and differences between exclosures and controls disappeared after 35 days. Introducing and removing macroconsumers after 28 days resulted mainly in changes to macroinvertebrates. In mesocosms, a dominant consumer (the grazing minnow Phoxinus erythrogaster) reduced macroinvertebrate biomass but had little effect on algal assemblage structure and ecosystem rates during recovery. The weak effect of P. erythrogaster in mesocosms, in contrast to the strong consumer effect in the natural stream, suggests that both timing and diversity of returning consumers are important to their overall influence on stream recovery patterns. Although we found that consumers significantly altered ecosystem structure and function in a system experiencing rapid changes in abiotic and biotic factors following disturbance, consumer effects diminished over time and trajectories converged to similar states with respect to primary producers, in spite of differences in consumer colonization history. Thus, consumer impacts can be substantial in recovering ecosystems and are likely to be dependent on the disturbance regime and diversity of the consumer community

FRESHWATER MACROINVERTEBRATE COMMUNITIES IN BALDWIN COUNTY, GEORGIA

Freshwater ecosystems are critical habitats for maintaining biodiversity, often providing refuge for organisms especially in urban settings. Baldwin County, GA is home to many freshwater lakes that are part of the Oconee River watershed. Despite ongoing water quality monitoring, aquatic macroinvertebrates are under studied in the area. Aquatic macroinvertebrate diversity of one forested and one residential lake in Milledgeville, GA was documented for the first time. Despite low sample size, community composition was significantly different between lakes, with 27 families in Lake Laurel (forested), 44 families in Lake Oliver Hardy (residential), and only 19 families collected from both lakes. Seasonal trends revealed the highest diversity in the summer. These data provide a baseline for the potential use of monitoring aquatic ecosystem health using aquatic macroinvertebrates in Milledgeville, GA