Terrestrial Nutrient and Sediment Fluxes to the Coastal Waters of West Maui, Hawai'i

Water-quality degradation is often linked to land use practices in adjacent and upstream areas. Such linkages are here explored for the Lahaina District of Maui, Hawai'i, where severe algae blooms in 1989 and 1991 prompted public concern and a subsequent search for the factors contributing to algal growth. Because we expected that elevated nutrient levels might play a role in the blooms, this study examined the nutrient and sediment budgets from terrestrial sources entering the coastal waters. Although our work did not show any definitive causal relationship between algal growth and terrestrial nutrient and sediment loading, it clearly established that the principal agricultural activities in the area of sugarcane and pineapple cultivation contribute elevated loads of nutrients and sediments to the coastal waters. Likewise, disposal of treated domestic sewage effluent into subsurface injection wells contributes substantial nutrient loads to the coastal waters. Conversely, golf courses appear to have negligible impacts on the nutrient and sediment loading of coastal waters in the area. Finally, although groundwater discharges substantially greater annual nutrient loads than streamflow, the groundwater discharge is fairly evenly distributed in time and is dispersed over nearly 25 km of shoreline. Streamflow, however, often discharges intensely for short periods of time at a few discrete locations, and thus may have substantial impact locally on coastal water quality

Spread of metals through an invertebrate food chain as influenced by a plant that hyperaccumulates nickel

Hyperaccumulation of metals in the shoot system of plants is uncommon, yet taxonomically and geographically widespread. It may have a variety of functions, including defense against herbivores. This study investigated the effects of hyperaccumulation on metal concentrations across trophic levels. We collected plant material, soil, and invertebrates from Portuguese serpentine outcrops whose vegetation is dominated by the nickel hyperaccumulator Alyssum pintodasilvae. Samples were analyzed for nickel, chromium, and cobalt. Grasshoppers, spiders, and other invertebrates collected from sites where A. pintodasilvae was common had significantly elevated concentrations of nickel, compared to nearby sites where this hyperaccumulator was not found. Chromium and cobalt, occurring in high concentrations in the serpentine soil but not accumulated by A. pintodasilvae, were not elevated in the invertebrates. Therefore, it appears likely that a flux of nickel to herbivore and carnivore trophic levels is specifically facilitated by the presence of plants that hyperaccumulate this metal. The results may be relevant to the development of phytoremediation and phytomining technologies, which use plants to extract metals from the soil

Racializing The Discourse of Adult Education

This symposium began in 2002 as a dialogue between Stephen Brookfield, Scipio Colin III and me. The circumstances that brought about the dialogue are indicative of the need for a symposium on race talk among educators and even more specifically among adult educators. At the time, Stephen was at Harvard and because of his work there he was asked to contribute an article to the Harvard Educational Review about racializing the discourse of adult education. As a White male Stephen felt strongly that minority voices should included and proposed inviting several African American academics as well—the topic was important enough to warrant a special issue

Neural network parametrization of spectral functions from hadronic tau decays and determination of QCD vacuum condensates

The spectral function $\rho_{V-A}(s)$ is determined from ALEPH and OPAL data on hadronic tau decays using a neural network parametrization trained to retain the full experimental information on errors, their correlations and chiral sum rules: the DMO sum rule, the first and second Weinberg sum rules and the electromagnetic mass splitting of the pion sum rule. Nonperturbative QCD vacuum condensates can then be determined from finite energy sum rules. Our method minimizes all sources of theoretical uncertainty and bias producing an estimate of the condensates which is independent of the specific finite energy sum rule used. The results for the central values of the condensates $O_6$ and $O_8$ are both negative.Comment: 29 pages, 18 ps figure

Particle Motion and Electromagnetic Fields of Rotating Compact Gravitating Objects with Gravitomagnetic Charge

The exact solution for the electromagnetic field occuring when the Kerr-Taub-NUT compact object is immersed (i) in an originally uniform magnetic field aligned along the axis of axial symmetry (ii) in dipolar magnetic field generated by current loop has been investigated. Effective potential of motion of charged test particle around Kerr-Taub-NUT gravitational source immersed in magnetic field with different values of external magnetic field and NUT parameter has been also investigated. In both cases presence of NUT parameter and magnetic field shifts stable circular orbits in the direction of the central gravitating object. Finally we find analytical solutions of Maxwell equations in the external background spacetime of a slowly rotating magnetized NUT star. The star is considered isolated and in vacuum, with monopolar configuration model for the stellar magnetic field.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, new results in section 2 added, section 3 is revised, 3 references are adde

Active Galaxies in the UV

In this article we present different aspects of AGN studies demonstrating the importance of the UV spectral range. Most important diagnostic lines for studying the general physical conditions as well as the metalicities in the central broad line region in AGN are emitted in the UV. The UV/FUV continuum in AGN excites not only the emission lines in the immediate surrounding but it is responsible for the ionization of the intergalactic medium in the early stages of the universe. Variability studies of the emission line profiles of AGN in the UV give us information on the structure and kinematics of the immediate surrounding of the central supermassive black hole as well as on its mass itself.Comment: 29 pages, 13 figures, Ap&SS in pres

Comparing subjective and objective evaluation of show jumping competition and warm-up arena surfaces

The development of safety and quality standards for equestrian surfaces needs to be based on objective, repeatable measurements which allow comparisons between surfaces. These measurements should incorporate the assessment of surface performance by riders. This study provides data from objective and subjective assessment of functional properties of high-level show jumping competition and warm-up arenas. Twenty-five arenas in nine international show jumping events were evaluated by mechanical insitu testing with a surface tester, rider assessments using visual analogue scales (198 riders provided 749 arena evaluations), descriptions of arena constructions and by laboratory tests of surface material. Mixed models were used to present subjective evaluation of rider perception of the functional properties for each arena while controlling for rider and event. The association between objective and subjective assessments were also explored creating mixed models, controlling for rider and event. Mechanical measurements of impact firmness, and to a lesser extent cushioning and grip, had a significant positive association with the riders’ perception. Responsiveness as assessed by the Orono biomechanical surface tester (OBST) was negatively associated with the riders’ perceptions, which suggests riders and the OBST had different concepts of this functional property and that further developments of the OBST might be necessary. Objectively measured uniformity showed no useful association with riders’ perception. Even though arena assessments were made by top level riders, a substantial inter-rider variation was demonstrated

Cell-based Approaches to Joint Surface Repair : A Research Perspective

The authors are grateful for support to their research from Arthritis Research UK (grants 19271, 19429, 19667, 20050). None of the authors received any funding related to the writing of this manuscript, and the funding bodies did not play any role in the writing of the manuscript or decision to submit the manuscript for publication.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Can forest management based on natural disturbances maintain ecological resilience?

Given the increasingly global stresses on forests, many ecologists argue that managers must maintain ecological resilience: the capacity of ecosystems to absorb disturbances without undergoing fundamental change. In this review we ask: Can the emerging paradigm of natural-disturbance-based management (NDBM) maintain ecological resilience in managed forests? Applying resilience theory requires careful articulation of the ecosystem state under consideration, the disturbances and stresses that affect the persistence of possible alternative states, and the spatial and temporal scales of management relevance. Implementing NDBM while maintaining resilience means recognizing that (i) biodiversity is important for long-term ecosystem persistence, (ii) natural disturbances play a critical role as a generator of structural and compositional heterogeneity at multiple scales, and (iii) traditional management tends to produce forests more homogeneous than those disturbed naturally and increases the likelihood of unexpected catastrophic change by constraining variation of key environmental processes. NDBM may maintain resilience if silvicultural strategies retain the structures and processes that perpetuate desired states while reducing those that enhance resilience of undesirable states. Such strategies require an understanding of harvesting impacts on slow ecosystem processes, such as seed-bank or nutrient dynamics, which in the long term can lead to ecological surprises by altering the forest's capacity to reorganize after disturbance