The Long-term Impact of Dam Removals on Penobscot River Migratory Fishes

Dams interrupt river connectivity and disrupt fish migrations. We used telemetry to study the migratory movement patterns of adult American shad, sea lamprey, and Atlantic salmon on the Penobscot River, Maine after dam removals and other passage improvements had occurred. We also studied scale formation of marine-stage Atlantic salmon raised in marine net pens, the findings from which could be relevant to captive rearing efforts. American shad now have access to the majority of their historic spawning habitat, contingent on passage the first main-stem dam (Milford Dam). We found that habitat upstream of dams was infrequently accessed, and first time spawners were most likely to pass Milford, suggesting that passage motivation may be related to downstream spawning habitat saturation. Sea lampreys provide important ecological services within their native range. Passage success of tagged lampreys at Milford was relatively high, but passage success at upstream dams was variable. The insights provided by this study are an important first step towards ensuring that lampreys will persist in their native habitats. Although fish passage exists at Milford Dam, it does not appear to be efficient for Atlantic salmon. Most salmon experienced extended delays at Milford Dam. Salmon also had low passage efficiencies when approaching dams elsewhere in the system. Most adults in the Penobscot are hatchery-origin fish stocked into the river as smolts, and current stocking practices release smolts downstream of Milford. This may prevent smolts from imprinting on upstream waters. We also found that fish that searched for passage at Milford near the fishway entrance experienced shorter delays compared to fish that searched throughout the river channel. Many study fish passed the dam on the same day as entering the fishway, suggesting that attraction to the fishway is a major factor leading to delays. The rate at which scale circuli are formed can yield valuable information about fish growth. Scales were collected from Atlantic salmon raised in marine net pens to characterize circulus deposition and scale growth in relation to time and water temperature during the early marine phase. Deposition and growth rates were variable through time and when related to temperature

Investigating The Relationship Between Elementary Students\u27 Motivation To Read And Academic Achievement In Reading

Researchers have found that motivation has a significant positive effect on the success students experience in reading. A concern is that students are not finding reading pleasurable; and therefore, are not motivated to read. This, in turn, may be affecting their academic achievement in reading. The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the relationship between a student’s motivation to read and their academic achievement in reading. First, the level of elementary students’ motivation to read, along with factors affecting this motivation were examined. Additionally, the relationship between a student’s motivation to read and their academic achievement in reading was tested, along with grade and gender differences related to these relationships. The Reading Survey portion of Gambrell, Martin Palmer, Codling, and Anders Mazzoni’s (1996) Motivation to Read Profile was used to assess 383 students from Grades 3-5 residing in a midwestern city. Students’ Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment scores (Minnesota Department of Education, 2014a) and Fountas and Pinnell’s Reading Benchmark Assessment levels (Fountas & Pinnell, 2008) were used to measure reading achievement. As an additional measure, teacher rating scales were utilized to evaluate students’ reading motivation and achievement levels. The Motivation to Read Profile (MRP) indicated that students displayed a high level of motivation to read. In addition, their levels of competence and value related to their reading motivation were comparable. Teacher ratings of student motivation displayed more varied responses related to their motivational levels. The analysis also showed positive correlations between a child’s motivation to read and the following four factors: student choice, social interaction, teacher modeling, and home literacy. Results confirmed positive correlations between reading motivation and academic achievement in reading. On average, girls displayed higher reading motivation and achievement than boys. Students from lower grade levels placed higher values on reading than older students. Third grade students displayed greater means than fourth grade students on the self-concept subscale. Students from higher grades displayed greater means related to how their teacher rated their reading motivation. In addition, fifth grade students on average displayed better reading achievement than third and fourth grade students. In relation to the motivation scales (self-concept and value subscale from the MRP, along with the teacher rating scale of motivation), most gender and grade level groups significantly correlated with the three indices of achievement (with the exception of the value subscale). Results have several implications for theory, research, and practice. First, this study expands the connection between the expectancy-value theory and reading by displaying the impact they have on one another. Second, it helps advance the methodology commonly utilized to examine these topics, as a combination of assessment techniques were included to measure reading motivation and achievement. The results of this study also have implications to help teachers and administrators make appropriate curricular and instructional decisions. Lastly, results may benefit education programs at the university level. By bridging the gap between theory and practice, pre-service teachers will be able to see how learned theories are applied in a classroom setting

Synthetic landmine scene development and validation in DIRSIG

Detection and neutralization of surface-laid and buried landmines has been a slow and dangerous endeavor for military forces and humanitarian organizations throughout the world. In an effort to make the process faster and safer, scientists have begun to exploit the ever-evolving passive electro-optical realm of detectors, both from a broadband perspective and a multi or hyperspectral perspective. Carried with this exploitation is the development of mine detection algorithms that take advantage of spectral features exhibited by mine targets, only available in a multi or hyperspectral data set. Difficulty in algorithm development arises from a lack of robust data, which is needed to appropriately test the validity of an algorithm\u27s results. This paper discusses the development of synthetic data using the Digital Imaging and Remote Sensing Image Generation (DIRSIG) model. A synthetic landmine scene has been modeled representing data collected at an arid US Army test site by the University of Hawaii\u27s Airborne Hyperspectral Imager (AHI). The synthetic data has been created and validated to represent the surrogate minefield thermally, spatially, spectrally, and temporally over the 7.9 to 11.5 micron region using 70 bands of data. Validation of the scene has been accomplished by direct comparison to the AHI truth data using qualitative band to band visual analysis, radiance curve comparison, Rank Order Correlation comparison, Principle Components dimensionality analysis, Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix and Spectral Co-occurrence Matrix analysis, and an evaluation of the R(x) algorithm\u27s performance. This paper discusses landmine detection phenomenology, describes the steps taken to build the scene, modeling methods utilized to overcome input parameter limitations, and compares the synthetic scene to truth data

Invertebrate Prey Selectivity of Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) in Western South Dakota Prairie Streams

Benthic invertebrates are an important resource for aquatic consumers and should be considered in management of sportfish populations as a factor influencing fishery health. Our study seeks to draw a relationship between invertebrate prey availability and the Channel Catfish Ictalurus punctatus fishery of western South Dakota through diet analysis, but invertebrate surveys in the area have not focused on invertebrates as a prey source. Our objectives were to characterize patterns in availability of the invertebrate prey base in five major river basins, and to evaluate the effects of availability on Channel Catfish prey selectivity and condition. Invertebrates were collected at 47 stream sites between the summers of 2015 and 2016, but Channel Catfish were collected only at the 23 mainstem sites. Seventy-four families and 181 genera of invertebrates were encountered. Insecta was the richest taxonomic group, with 162 genera. Diptera, which was composed of 11 families and 83 genera, was the most diverse order. The most numerically abundant genus collected was Cheumatopsyche spp. (Trichoptera: Hydropsychidae), comprising 23.6% of all individuals. Clinging genera contributed 42.1% of the biovolume by habit guild, and biovolume of collector-filterers was the highest of all functional feeding groups (39.2%). Overall, prey biovolume was not uniform. The Grand and Cheyenne had a decreasing longitudinal trend in biovolume, while the Bad showed an increasing trend. There were no consistent patterns in biovolume for the Moreau or White, but sites in all basins with high biovolume typically also had a high abundance of clingers, which require stable surfaces for attachment. Across all sites, Hydropsychidae, Simuliidae, and Chironomidae had the highest biovolumes (35.8 mL, 8.3 mL, and 8.1 mL, respectively), and were also among the most important prey families in each basin (Prey-Specific Index of Relative Importance, %PSIRI). These families also tended to be preyed upon in greater proportion than their availability in the environment (Chesson’s selectivity index, α). Patterns in condition within and among basins mirrored patterns in prey biovolume in the Grand, Cheyenne, and Bad Rivers, indicating that availability may be driving condition. These results are important because two of the preferred prey families, Hydropsychidae and Simuliidae, are clingers, and the non-uniformity in biovolume of this habit guild among sites suggests that stable habitats are limiting abundance. The links drawn between Channel Catfish and their prey can be used by biologists to focus management activities on projects that will enhance the invertebrate prey base that Channel Catfish use, such as the restoration of riparian areas to increase instream structure, or the placement of artificial stable substrates

Dangers in Justifying A Means for an End: U.S. Supreme Court Faces Risky Interpretation Question with PPACA, Exchanges, and Premium Tax Credits

This Note examines the text of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to determine whether Congress intended for premium tax credits to be available on only state Exchanges, or on both state and federal Exchanges. This Note argues that strict textualism reveals that Congress clearly intended to limit premium tax credits to what the text defines as an Exchange established by the State under section 1311 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which does not include federal Exchanges. However, this interpretation of the text nearly eliminates an essential function of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act because all qualified individuals governed under the authority of federal Exchanges would lose access to premium tax credits. This drastic consequence of millions of Americans losing access to affordable healthcare has made this strict interpretation highly unpopular and a major political question within the federal courts. This Note argues why these courts should emphasize the use of strict textualism when faced with highly political interpretation questions, as the interpretation device prevents biased judges from unlawfully rewriting otherwise unambiguous legislation

Structural modeling and functional analysis of the essential ribosomal processing protease Prp from Staphylococcus aureus

In Firmicutes and related bacteria, ribosomal large subunit protein L27 is encoded with a conserved N-terminal extension that is removed to expose residues critical for ribosome function. Bacteria encoding L27 with this N-terminal extension also encode a sequence-specific cysteine protease, Prp, which carries out this cleavage. In this work, we demonstrate that L27 variants with an un-cleavable N-terminal extension, or lacking the extension (pre-cleaved), are unable to complement an L27 deletion in Staphylococcus aureus. This indicates that N-terminal processing of L27 is not only essential but possibly has a regulatory role. Prp represents a new clade of previously uncharacterized cysteine proteases, and the dependence of S. aureus on L27 cleavage by Prp validates the enzyme as a target for potential antibiotic development. To better understand the mechanism of Prp activity, we analyzed Prp enzyme kinetics and substrate preference using a fluorogenic peptide cleavage assay. Molecular modeling and site-directed mutagenesis implicate several residues around the active site in catalysis and substrate binding, and support a structural model in which rearrangement of a flexible loop upon binding of the correct peptide substrate is required for the active site to assume the proper conformation. These findings lay the foundation for the development of antimicrobials that target this novel, essential pathway

Economic Efficiency of Short-Term Versus Long-Term Water Rights Buyouts

Because of the decline of the Ogallala Aquifer, water districts, regional water managers, and state water officers are becoming increasingly interested in conservation policies. This study evaluates both short-term and long-term water rights buyout policies. This research develops dynamic production functions for the major crops in the Texas Panhandle. The production functions are incorporated into optimal temporal allocation models that project annual producer behavior, crop choices, water use, and aquifer declines over 60 years. Results suggest that long-term buyouts may be more economically efficient than short-term buyouts.dynamic production function, nonlinear optimization, Ogallala Aquifer, water rights buyout, Agribusiness, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q30, Q32, Q38,

Previously Identified Genetic Variants in ADGRL3 Are not Associated with Risk for Equine Degenerative Myeloencephalopathy across Breeds.

Equine neuroaxonal dystrophy/equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy (eNAD/EDM) is a neurologic disease that has been reported in young horses from a wide range of breeds. The disease is inherited and associated with vitamin E deficiency during the first two years of life, resulting in bilateral symmetric ataxia. A missense mutation (chr3:71,917,591 C > T) within adhesion G protein-coupled receptor L3 (ADGRL3) was recently associated with risk for EDM in the Caspian breed. In order to confirm these findings, genotyping of this missense mutation, along with the three other associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the genomic region, was carried out on 31 postmortem-confirmed eNAD/EDM cases and 43 clinically phenotyped controls from various breeds. No significant association was found between eNAD/EDM confirmed cases and genotype at any of the four identified SNPs (P > 0.05), including the nonsynonymous variant (EquCab2.0 chr3:71,917,591; allelic P = 0.85). These findings suggest that the four SNPs, including the missense variant in the ADGRL3 region, are not associated with risk for eNAD/EDM across multiple breeds of horses

State of the States 2005

Summarizes major state policy developments in 2004 and projects likely trends for 2005. Includes health care, education, homeland security, tax and budget policy, the same-sex marriage controversy, and profiles of governors elected in November 2004