All We Are is All We Were: the Bridge and Blight of Sandwich Towne

In Windsor, Ontario there is a historic community known as Sandwich Towne that is currently being destroyed by a single man: Matty Moroun. He owns the Ambassador Bridge, the busiest border crossing in North America, as well as a stretch of more than 110 abandoned houses running parallel to the bridge. Moroun plans to knock houses down and building a second bridge to Detroit, despite the fact that the Canadian government is already building their own span. All We Are is All We Were: the Bridge and Blight of Sandwich Towne is a creative nonfiction exploration of this community stricken with urban blight. Through using a combination of prose and comics storytelling, the work not only serves to tell the tale of walking through and talking to residents in Sandwich, but also embodies the conflict between objective and subjective telling of “truth” in a work of creative nonfiction

Shell Shape and Meat Condition in Selectively Bred Sydney Rock Oysters, Saccostrea glomerata (Gould, 1850): The Influence of Grow‐out Methods

The Australian edible oyster industry has been severely impacted by disease and declining yields since the 1970s. Selective breeding of Saccostrea glomerata is one measure addressing these problems by producing fast‐growing, disease‐resistant oysters. Farmers report that selected oysters have different growth characteristics than their wild counterparts using conventional grow‐out methods. This study investigated how different grow‐out methods influence commercially valuable oyster characteristics including shell length, shape, surface growth deformities and meat condition. In June 2015, selectively bred S. glomerata spat were deployed in two estuaries (Hawkesbury River and Georges River) in NSW, Australia, using three grow‐out methods (fixed trays, Stanway cylinders and floating baskets). In November 2015, oysters were transferred among grow‐out methods to test for the effects of changing grow‐out methods on oyster growth patterns. Oysters transferred from baskets to cylinders and from trays to cylinders had, on average, deeper and wider shells, a higher meat condition and fewer shell surface deformities than oysters in other grow‐out method combinations. However, these oysters were smaller than oysters not grown in cylinders. While there were some differences in growth patterns between the estuaries, overall it was the grow‐out methods that most influenced oyster characteristics. This was attributed to differences in the amount and magnitude of movement oysters experienced in the grow‐out methods, as recorded by motion sensors. This study demonstrates how grow‐out methods can be managed to achieve desired growth trajectories and therefore improve marketability among selective bred S. glomerata

Highest Conservation Priority – Other Species

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources published guides to many threatened animals living in the state. This guide gives information about other species, including description, status, habitat, conservation challenges & recommendations, and measures of success

Moderate Conservation Priority – Mountains and Upper Piedmont

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources published guides to many threatened animals living in the state. This guide gives information about Mountains and Upper Piedmont fish, including description, status, habitat, conservation challenges & recommendations, and measures of success

Toward an Empirical Theory of Pulsar Emission XII: Exploring the Physical Conditions in Millisecond Pulsar Emission Regions

The five-component profile of the 2.7-ms pulsar J0337+1715 appears to exhibit the best example to date of a core/double-cone emission-beam structure in a millisecond pulsar (MSP). Moreover, three other MSPs, the Binary Pulsar B1913+16, B1953+29 and J1022+1001, seem to exhibit core/single-cone profiles. These configurations are remarkable and important because it has not been clear whether MSPs and slow pulsars exhibit similar emission-beam configurations, given that they have considerably smaller magnetospheric sizes and magnetic field strengths. MSPs thus provide an extreme context for studying pulsar radio emission. Particle currents along the magnetic polar flux tube connect processes just above the polar cap through the radio-emission region to the light-cylinder and the external environment. In slow pulsars radio-emission heights are typically about 500 km around where the magnetic field is nearly dipolar, and estimates of the physical conditions there point to radiation below the plasma frequency and emission from charged solitons by the curvature process. We are able to estimate emission heights for the four MSPs and carry out a similar estimation of physical conditions in their much lower emission regions. We find strong evidence that MSPs also radiate by curvature emission from charged solitons.Comment: 14 pages, published in Ap

Innovative Tidal Control Successfully Promotes Saltmarsh Restoration

The reduction of saltmarsh habitat at a global scale has seen a concomitant loss of associated ecosystem services. As such, there is a need and a push for habitat rehabilitation. This study examined an innovative saltmarsh restoration project in Australia which sought to address the threats of mangrove encroachment and sea level rise. The project was implemented in 2017, using automated hydraulic control gates, termed“SmartGates,”to lower the tidal regime over one site, effectively reversing sea level rise at a local level. Measured indicators of saltmarsh cover, number of species, seedling counts, and saltmarsh assemblages all showed significant positive development over time, with trends varying based on saltmarsh zone. The saltmarsh, predominantly Sarcocornia quinque flora, developed from remnant supralittoral (previously high) marsh which remained at 45% cover to achieve over 15% coverage across the cleared habitat after 3 years. Slower development in the low marsh (\u3c5%) compared to other zones contrasts with other saltmarsh restoration studies which may be due to the unique nature of the restoration method or the nature of Australian saltmarsh species which favor higher elevations and drier conditions. The development of saltmarsh at the treatment site was found to track toward that at comparison sites over time, becoming similar to some comparison sites by the studies end. This study highlights the usefulness of the novel restoration method used and of the measured indicators for assessing saltmarsh development. This innovative tidal control method could play an important role in the future of saltmarsh restoration worldwide

Social Cognition in Alzheimer's Disease: A Separate Construct Contributing to Dependence

The extent to which social cognitive changes reflect a discrete constellation of symptoms dissociable from general cognitive changes in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is unclear. Moreover, whether social cognitive symptoms contribute to disease severity and progression is unknown. The current multicenter study investigated cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between social cognition measured with six items from the Blessed Dementia Rating Scale, general cognition, and dependence in 517 participants with probable AD. Participants were monitored every 6 months for 5.5 years. Results from multivariate latent growth curve models adjusted for sex, age, education, depression, and recruitment site revealed that social cognition and general cognition were unrelated cross-sectionally and throughout time. However, baseline levels of each were related independently to dependence, and change values of each were related independently to change in dependence. These findings highlight the separability of social and general cognition in AD. Results underscore the relevance of considering social cognition when modeling disease and estimating clinical outcomes related to patient disability

Xyce Parallel Electronic Simulator : users' guide.

This manual describes the use of the Xyce Parallel Electronic Simulator. Xyce has been designed as a SPICE-compatible, high-performance analog circuit simulator, and has been written to support the simulation needs of the Sandia National Laboratories electrical designers. This development has focused on improving capability over the current state-of-the-art in the following areas: (1) Capability to solve extremely large circuit problems by supporting large-scale parallel computing platforms (up to thousands of processors). Note that this includes support for most popular parallel and serial computers; (2) Improved performance for all numerical kernels (e.g., time integrator, nonlinear and linear solvers) through state-of-the-art algorithms and novel techniques. (3) Device models which are specifically tailored to meet Sandia's needs, including some radiation-aware devices (for Sandia users only); and (4) Object-oriented code design and implementation using modern coding practices that ensure that the Xyce Parallel Electronic Simulator will be maintainable and extensible far into the future. Xyce is a parallel code in the most general sense of the phrase - a message passing parallel implementation - which allows it to run efficiently on the widest possible number of computing platforms. These include serial, shared-memory and distributed-memory parallel as well as heterogeneous platforms. Careful attention has been paid to the specific nature of circuit-simulation problems to ensure that optimal parallel efficiency is achieved as the number of processors grows. The development of Xyce provides a platform for computational research and development aimed specifically at the needs of the Laboratory. With Xyce, Sandia has an 'in-house' capability with which both new electrical (e.g., device model development) and algorithmic (e.g., faster time-integration methods, parallel solver algorithms) research and development can be performed. As a result, Xyce is a unique electrical simulation capability, designed to meet the unique needs of the laboratory