A partnership-based, whole-watershed approach to climate adaptation in Acadia National Park

Changes in climate and associated changes in seasonality, invasive plants and insects, and visitation are stressing ecosystems and infrastructure in Acadia National Park. Over the past five years, park staff and partners have begun taking an interdisciplinary, partnership-based approach to assessing baseline conditions, identifying stresses, developing climate change scenarios, and restoring the ecological and cultural integrity and resilience of whole watersheds. The approach contrasts with past resource management in which managers frequently tackled problems with minimal coordination between disciplines (e.g., water, wildlife, cultural resources, and maintenance) and locations. The result has been a series of projects that have begun to measurably improve the health of one of the park’s most visited and iconic watersheds: the Cromwell Brook watershed, which includes Sieur de Monts (Acadia began in 1916 as Sieur de Monts National Monument) and the Great Meadow, and whose namesake waterway flows through the gateway town of Bar Harbor. Projects (inside and out of the park) have included rehabilitating a historic spring pool, replacing undersized culverts with open-bottom bridges, removing a poorly sited septic system, removing invasive plants, restoring native wetland, establishing monitoring to assess changes in watershed health, and working with the town and other stakeholders to plan future projects that would further improve the health of Great Meadow and downstream areas in Bar Harbor. The combination of planning; monitoring; restoring healthy, functioning ecological communities; and minimizing stresses from human infrastructure and visitation offer the best chance of main- taining Acadia National Park for the enjoyment of future generations

WHO classification of tumors of the nervous system: preview of the upcoming 5th edition

SummaryIdentification of the underlying genetic and epigenetic alterations in an increasing number of tumors of the nervous system is contributing to a more clinically relevant classification. In the following article, the 7 cIMPACT-NOW publications, which adumbrate the upcoming 5th edition of the WHO Classification of Tumours of the Central Nervous Sytem are summarized

Reflections on the Strong Growth of Citizen Science: An Interview with Abe Miller-Rushing

Abe Miller-Rushing shares his thoughts on the growth of citizen science, which he thinks is driven by a happy set of coincidences—developments in technology, computing, communication, and data analysis; growing interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) education; growing recognition that volunteers can contribute meaningfully to science (after more than 100 years of science trending in the opposite direction, towards professionalization); and an emphasis on making science more relevant to society and translating science to action

Tale Of A Non-Interacting Additive In A Lithium-Ion Electrolyte: Effect On Ionic Speciation And Electrochemical Properties

New lithium electrolytes compatible with high energy density cells are critical for lithium metal battery applications, but dendrite formation associated with the use of dilute organic electrolytes complicates their realization. High-concentration electrolytes mitigate some of the issues of the electrolytes but introduce additional problems, such as low conductivity and high cost. Hence, pseudo-concentrated electrolytes, wherein a co-solvent is added to a dilute electrolyte, have been presented as a possible alternative to both dilute and concentrated electrolytes. However, the effect that the co-solvent has on the electrolyte properties at both macroscopic and microscopic levels is unknown. Here, a study of the structure and electrochemical properties of two electrolytes as a function of co-solvent concentration is presented using an array of spectroscopies (FTIR, ATR-FTIR, and nuclear magnetic resonance) and computational methods (density functional theory calculations). The chosen electrolytes comprised two different lithium salts (LiPF6 and LiTFSI) in a mixture of dimethyl carbonate (DMC) with 1,1,1,3,3-pentafluorobutane (PFB) as the co-solvent. Our results show that in the case of the LiPF6/DMC electrolyte, the addition of a co-solvent (PFB) with a larger dielectric constant results in the strengthening of the lithium-anion interaction and the formation of aggregate species since PFB does not interact with the anion. Conversely, in the LiTFSI/DMC electrolyte, the co-solvent appears to interact with the anion via hydrogen bonds, which leads to the dissociation of contact ion pairs. The change in ionic speciation of the electrolytes upon addition of PFB provides a reasonable framework to explain the different trends in both the bulk and interfacial macroscopic properties, such as conductivity, viscosity, and electrochemical stability. Overall, our findings demonstrate that the interactions between the anion and the co-solvent must be taken into consideration when adding a co-solvent because they play a major role in determining the final electrolyte properties

Creating the Workforce of the Future: A Requirements Analysis

This paper focuses on the theme of workforce preparation

Grazing Cover Crops for Soil Health in an Integrated Crop-Livestock System

. Optimizing soil health requires building an environment that creates conditions which allow for best function of the chemical, biological, and physical properties of the soil to thrive as an organism and an ecosystem. Integrated crop-livestock systems (ICLS) use a systems approach to provide improvements to soil health parameters. In the fall of 2021, a randomized complete block study was conducted at the Coastal Plain Branch Experiment Station (CPBES) in Newton, Mississippi and at the Prairie Research Unit (PRU) in Prairie, Mississippi to observe the soil health effects of grazing cereal rye cover crops in a soybean production system. Three treatments were replicated three times across nine paddocks at each location. Treatments included: conventional soybean production respective for each location (CS); cereal rye established as a cover crop for a no-till soybean system (CC); and cereal rye established as a cover crop for a notill soybean system and grazed (GC). Soil health was measured by soil sample analysis and forage production. Soil samples were evaluated for soil respiration, total carbon (TC), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). All paddocks were stocked at approximately 2000 lb ac1 using replacement beef heifers. Forage samples were collected throughout grazing periods and were analyzed for forage mass (FM) and nutritive value (crude protein – CP, total digestible nutrients - TDN) using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Mean FM from CG paddocks was 999 lb DM ac-1 at CPBES compared to 705 lb DM ac-1 at PRU. CP concentration was 25.6% from CPBES and 15.8% from PRU. Mean TDN was 56.3% at CPBES compared to 57.5% at PRU. Change in mean soil respiration from pre-grazing to post grazing at CPBES was 0.327mg CO2/g soil, 0.308 mg CO2/g soil, and 0.464 mg CO2/g soil in CS, GC, and CC treatments respectively. Change in mean soil respiration from pre-grazing to post grazing at PRU was -0.159 mg CO2/g soil, -0.034 mg CO2/g soil, and -0.072 mg CO2/g soil in CS, GC, and CC treatments respectively. Total carbon mean differences were 0.791mg C/kg soil, 0.953mg C/kg soil, and 1.01mg C/kg soil in CS, GC, and CC treatments at CPBES and were 0.595mg C/kg soil, 0.438mg C/kg soil, and 0.476mg C/kg soil in CS, GC, and CS treatments at PRU. Changes in mean N, P, and K were 0.06 mg N/kg soil, -12.141 mg P/kg soil, and 34.555mg K/kg soil at CPBES and 0.052 mg N/kg soil, 0.518 mg P/kg soil, and 17.409 mg K/kg soil at PRU in CS treatments, 0.082 mg N/kg soil, -3.899 mg p/kg soil, and 29.699 mg K/kg soil at CPBES, 0.032 mg N/kg soil, 0.325 mg P/kg soil, and 9.877 mg K/kg soil at PRU in GC treatments, and 0.082 mg N/kg soil, -3.217 mg P/kg soil, and 36.767 mg K/ kg soil at CPBES, 0.041 mg 0.357 mg P/kg soil, and 7.267 mg K/kg soil at PRU in CC treatments. Differences in nutrient concentrations can be attributed to nutrient cycling of residue from previous growing season and nutrient cycling from grazing heifers. A second year of grazing combined with additional soil sample analysis will help determine the effects grazing a cereal rye cover crop has on soil health of two distinct soils in eastern Mississippi

Verifications Of The Kalman Conjecture Based On Locus Curvature

The Kaiman conjecture is verified for certain transfer functions with only negative real poles and no numerator dynamics. The results are based on the off-axis circle criterion of Cho and Narendra and a consideration of the curvature of the Nyquist locus of the transfer function. Copyright © 1974, IEEE. All rights reserved

Chemical and Thermal Analysis

Thermal decomposition activation energies have been determined using two methods of Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), with good correlation being obtained between the two techniques. Initial heating curves indicated a two-component system for Coflon (i.e. polymer plus placticizer) but a single component system for Tefzel. Two widely differing activation energies were for Coflon supported this view, 15 kcl/mol being associated with plasticizer, and 40 kcal/mol with polymer degradation. With Tefzel, values were 40-45 kcal/mol, the former perhaps being associated with a low molecular weight fraction. Appropriate acceleration factors have been determined. Thermomechanical Analysis (TMA) has shown considerable dimensional change during temperature cycles. For unaged pipe sections heating to 100 C and then holding the temperature resulted in a stable thickness increase of 2%, whereas the Coflon thickness decreased continuously, reaching -4% in 2.7 weeks. Previously strained tensile bars of Tefzel expanded on cooling during TMA. SEM performed on H2S-aged Coflon samples showed significant changes in both physical and chemical nature. The first may have resulted from explosive decompression after part of the aging process. Chemically extensive dehydrofluorination was indicated, and sulfur was present as a result of the aging. These observations indicate that chemical attack of PVDF can occur in some circumstances

Chemical and Thermal Analysis

Work during the past three years has included significant research in several areas aimed at further clarification of the aging and chemical failure mechanism of thermoplastics (PVDF or Tefzel) for pipes. Among the areas investigated were the crystallinity changes associated with both the Coflon and Tefzel after various simulated environmental exposures using X-Ray diffraction analysis. We have found that significant changes in polymer crystallinity levels occur as a function of the exposures. These crystallinity changes may have important consequences on the fracture, fatigue, tensile, and chemical resistance of the materials. We have also noted changes in the molecular weight distribution and the increased crosslinking of the Coflon material using Gel Permeation Chromatographic Analysis. Again these changes may result in variations in the mechanical and chemical properties in the material. We conducted numerous analytical studies with methods including X-ray Diffraction, Gel Permeation Chromatography, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, and Differential Scanning Calorimetry. We investigated a plethora of aged samples of both Tefzel and Coflon that were forwarded from MERL. Pressurized tests were performed on powdered PVDF in a modified Fluid A, which we will call A-2. In this case the ethylene diamine concentration was increased to 3 percent in methanol. Coflon pipe sections and powdered Coflon were exposed in pressure cells at 1700 psi at three separate test temperatures