INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY IMPACTS OF LARGE CORPORATIONS IN ARCTIC COMMUNITIES: SPECIFIC FOCUS ON SOCIAL JUSTICE AND SUSTAINABILITY FOR THE SWEDISH SAMI

In recent decades more global attention has focused on the Arctic. This can be seen in the both the development of industries as well as the expansion of the Arctic Council’s membership.  Countries with at least some part located above the Arctic Circle are; Norway, Greenland, Canada, United States, Russia, Finland, and Sweden. The focus on the indigenous people, specifically the Sami of Sweden, presents a good case for assessing impacts of development on northern, Arctic, communities. Population density in Sweden is recorded as 21.4 people per square kilometer, with a higher population density in southern Sweden. The majority of the Sami people live in small to medium-sized communities, in remote regions, resulting in a disconnect with the modern world. One industry that is already present in the Swedish Arctic is mining, especially for ore and carbon. However, now other industries, including multinational enterprises (MNE’s), such as Facebook, which recently built a new five acre data center near the Arctic Circle, are beginning to realize the opportunities the Arctic region and its environment have to offer. The question of how sustainable business can be conducted in the Arctic will be answered by analyzing the impacts on the Sami communities and how people react and should react to these changes within their communities. This study analyzed current events through literature review and interviews of representatives from the impacted Arctic regions. The increased development has resulted in both negative and positive impacts such as reduction of land use, but increased employment opportunities

Outdoor Recreation Participation of Pennsylvanians with Disabilities

Abstract Approximately 16% of United States residents report having some sort of physical disability that limits their recreation participation. Many of these individuals may have an abundance of free time due to unemployment, part-time work status, or retirement, and therefore recreation and leisure have the potential to provide great meaning in their lives. Qualitative and quantitative data from a State Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan was used to better understand the outdoor recreation habits and perceptions of Pennsylvania residents with disabilities. Using descriptive, chi square, and ANOVA statistics, results indicate that these individuals perceive fewer benefits from outdoor activities, experience different types of constraints to participation, and have different perceptions of accessibility compared to individuals without disabilities. Results of this data analysis provide a better understanding of the perceptions that Pennsylvanians with disabilities have regarding future outdoor recreation participation, benefits of participation, and accommodations to facilitate participation

Comparison of Nest Defense Behaviors of Goshawks (Accipiter gentilis) from Finland and Montana

As human impacts on wildlife have become a topic of increasing interest, studies have focused on issues such as overexploitation and habitat loss. However, little research has examined potential anthropogenic impacts on animal behavior. Understanding the degree to which human interaction may alter natural animal behavior has become increasingly important in developing effective conservation strategies. We examined two populations of northern goshawks (Accipiter gentilis) in Montana and Finland. Goshawks in Finland were not protected until the late 1980s, and prior to this protection were routinely shot, as it was believed that shooting goshawks would keep grouse populations high. In the United States, Goshawk were not managed as predator control. Though aggressive nest defense has been characterized throughout North America, goshawks in Finland do not show this same behavior. To quantify aggression, we presented nesting goshawks with an owl decoy, a human mannequin, and a live human and recorded their responses to each of the trial conditions. We evaluated the recordings for time of response, duration of response, whether or not an active stimulus was present to elicit the response (i.e., movement or sound), and the sex of the bird making the response. We used t-Test with unequal variance to compare mean number of responses and response duration. Our results suggested that goshawks in Montana exhibit more aggressive nest defense behaviors than those in Finland. While this could be due to some biotic or abiotic factor that we were not able to control for in a study on such a small scale, it is also possible that the results from this study suggest another underlying cause, such as an artificial selection pressure created by shooting goshawks

Tailwater Recovery Systems for Irrigation: Benefit/Cost Analysis and Water Resource Conservation Technique in Northeast Arkansas

Water, one of the earth\u27s most vital resources, is particularly significant in the Arkansas Delta agricultural landscape. While both surface and groundwater are extremely important, 94% of the 26.9 billion L (7.1 billion gal) of water pumped daily from the Alluvial Aquifer is used for agricultural purposes. This common property is subsequently being depleted and sustainable conservation methods are being pursued. State and federal incentive programs encourage the use of a tailwater recovery system in agricultural irrigation. With the use of a complete recovery system, benefits include not only government incentives for wetland habitat, but reduced groundwater use and decreased agricultural runoff entering receiving streams. Costs incurred to the farm manager include crop loss due to reservoir storage, additional ditch construction, and the cost of a liftpump. Use of these systems offers not only economic benefits associated with aquifer preservation but also ecological benefits including reduced nutrient and sediment loading to receiving streams concurrent with ecosystem services. The overall benefit/cost analysis ofthese systems shows that the economic benefits of using a tailwater recovery system exceed the cost. Other positive features include the ecological benefits of surface water protection and ecosystem services

Predictors of Participant Development Through Adventure Programs: Replication and Extension of Previous Findings from NOLS

This study continues the examination of one of the largest and most established adventure education programs in the world, the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). Founded in 1965, NOLS has developed 11 branches worldwide and has graduated over 75,000 students. NOLS was originally known as a wilderness skills school, but quickly expanded their program goals and emphases to include leadership training, communication skills, expedition behavior, environmental awareness, and safety and judgment. NOLS courses include those for youth, adults, and intact groups who contract with NOLS for topic-specific courses. Courses range from eight days to months long semester courses. College credit is also available for some courses. As part of an on-going relationship between the University of Utah and NOLS, the study reported here is part of a series of efforts to develop and test a predictive model that would increase understanding of the relationships between participant characteristics, program components, and program outcomes for NOLS specifically. Such a predictive model would help explain how the NOLS process produces outcomes and how that process might be modified to produce additional or different outcomes. The model may also assist other adventure programs in better understanding how their programs produce outcomes

Reduction in hospital-wide mortality after implementation of a rapidresponse team: a long-term cohort study

Introduction: Rapid response teams (RRTs) have been shown to reduce cardiopulmonary arrests outside the intensive care unit (ICU). Yet the utility of RRTs remains in question, as most large studies have failed to demonstrate a significant reduction in hospital-wide mortality after RRT implementation. Methods: A cohort design with historical controls was used to determine the effect on hospital-wide mortality of an RRT in which clinical judgment, in addition to vital-signs criteria, was widely promoted as a key trigger for activation. All nonprisoner patients admitted to a tertiary referral public teaching hospital from 2003 through 2008 were included. In total, 77, 021 admissions before RRT implementation (2003 through 2005) and 79, 013 admissions after RRT implementation (2006 through 2008) were evaluated. The a priori primary outcome was unadjusted hospital-wide mortality. A Poisson regression model was then used to adjust for hospital-wide mortality trends over time. Secondary outcomes defined a priori were unadjusted out-of-ICU mortality and out-of-ICU cardiopulmonary-arrest codes. Results: In total, 855 inpatient RRTs (10.8 per 1, 000 hospital-wide discharges) were activated during the 3-year postintervention period. Forty-seven percent of RRTs were activated for reasons of clinical judgment. Hospital-wide mortality decreased from 15.50 to 13.74 deaths per 1, 000 discharges after RRT implementation (relative risk, 0.887; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.817 to 0.963; P = 0.004). After adjusting for inpatient mortality trends over time, the reduction in hospital-wide mortality remained statistically significant (relative risk, 0.825; 95% CI, 0.694 to 0.981; P = 0.029). Out-of-ICU mortality decreased from 7.08 to 4.61 deaths per 1, 000 discharges (relative risk, 0.651; 95% CI, 0.570 to 0.743; P < 0.001). Out-of-ICU cardiopulmonary-arrest codes decreased from 3.28 to 1.62 codes per 1, 000 discharges (relative risk, 0.493; 95% CI, 0.399 to 0.610; P < 0.001). Conclusions: Implementation of an RRT in which clinical judgment, in addition to vital-signs criteria, was widely cited as a rationale for activation, was associated with a significant reduction in hospital-wide mortality, out-of-ICU mortality, and out-of-ICU cardiopulmonary-arrest codes. The frequent use of clinical judgment as a criterion for RRT activation was associated with high RRT utilization

Advanced Abrasive Waterjet for Multimode Machining

Abrasive waterjet (AWJ) possesses inherent technological and manufacturing advantages unmatched by most machine tools. Recent advancements in AWJ processes have enhanced those merits. Multidisciplinary advancements include process automation, position accuracy, cutting models, range of part dimensions, ergonomics, user and environmental friendliness, feature recognition, and others. Among the technological merits, AWJ is material independent and a cold cutting tool, capable of preserving the structural and chemical integrity of parent materials. For heat sensitive materials, AWJ often cuts over 10 times faster than thermal cutting tools such as lasers and electrode discharge machining. Unlike photochemical etching, AWJ is environmentally friendly, producing no toxic byproducts. Additionally, AWJ requires only a single tool assisted with accessories to qualify for multimode machining; it is cost effective with fast turnaround for small and large lots alike. Recent advancements together with relevant R&D, engineering, and industrial applications will be presented for precision multimode machining from macro to micro scales

Targeting Antibodies to Carbon Nanotube Field Effect Transistors by Pyrene Hydrazide Modification of Heavy Chain Carbohydrates

Many carbon nanotube field-effect transistor (CNT-FET) studies have used immobilized antibodies as the ligand binding moiety. However, antibodies are not optimal for CNT-FET detection due to their large size and charge. Their size can prevent ligands from reaching within the Debye length of the CNTs and a layer of charged antibodies on the circuits can drown out any ligand signal. In an attempt to minimize the antibody footprint on CNT-FETs, we examined whether pyrene hydrazide modification of antibody carbohydrates could reduce the concentration required to functionalize CNT circuits. The carbohydrates are almost exclusively on the antibody Fc region and this site-specific modification could mediate uniform antibody orientation on the CNTs. We compared the hydrazide modification of anti-E. coli O157:H7 polyclonal antibodies to pyrenebutanoic acid succinimidyl ester-coated CNTs and carbodiimide-mediated antibody CNT attachment. Our results show that the pyrene hydrazide modification was superior to those methods with respect to bacteria detection and less than 1 nM labeled antibody was required to functionalize the circuits

A dynamic soil chamber system coupled with a tunable diode laser for online measurements of delta-13C, delta-18O, and efflux rate of soil respired CO2

High frequency observations of the stable isotopic composition of CO(2) effluxes from soil have been sparse due in part to measurement challenges. We have developed an open-system method that utilizes a flow-through chamber coupled to a tunable diode laser (TDL) to quantify the rate of soil CO(2) efflux and its delta(13)C and delta(18)O values (delta(13)C(R) and delta(18)O(R), respectively). We tested the method first in the laboratory using an artificial soil test column and then in a semi-arid woodland. We found that the CO(2) efflux rates of 1.2 to 7.3 micromol m(-2) s(-1) measured by the chamber-TDL system were similar to measurements made using the chamber and an infrared gas analyzer (IRGA) (R(2) = 0.99) and compared well with efflux rates generated from the soil test column (R(2) = 0.94). Measured delta(13)C and delta(18)O values of CO(2) efflux using the chamber-TDL system at 2 min intervals were not significantly different from source air values across all efflux rates after accounting for diffusive enrichment. Field measurements during drought demonstrated a strong dependency of CO(2) efflux and isotopic composition on soil water content. Addition of water to the soil beneath the chamber resulted in average changes of +6.9 micromol m(-2) s(-1), -5.0 per thousand, and -55.0 per thousand for soil CO(2) efflux, delta(13)C(R) and delta(18)O(R), respectively. All three variables initiated responses within 2 min of water addition, with peak responses observed within 10 min for isotopes and 20 min for efflux. The observed delta(18)O(R) was more enriched than predicted from temperature-dependent H(2)O-CO(2) equilibration theory, similar to other recent observations of delta(18)O(R) from dry soils (Wingate L, Seibt U, Maseyk K, Ogee J, Almeida P, Yakir D, Pereira JS, Mencuccini M. Global Change Biol. 2008; 14: 2178). The soil chamber coupled with the TDL was found to be an effective method for capturing soil CO(2) efflux and its stable isotope composition at high temporal frequency

Borane-Catalysed Hydroboration of Alkynes and Alkenes

Simple, commercially available borane adducts, H 3 B·THF and H 3 B·SMe 2, have been used to catalyse the hydroboration of alkynes and alkenes with pinacolborane to give the alkenyl and alkyl boronic esters, respectively. Alkynes and terminal alkenes underwent highly regioselective hydroboration to give the linear boronic ester products. Good functional group tolerance was observed for substrates bearing ester, amine, ether and halide substituents. This catalytic process shows comparable reactivity to transition-metal-catalysed hydroboration protocols