Florida sinkhole index

The following data were compiled from the Florida Sinkhole Research Institute data base. That database, which contains approximately 1900 sinkholes, is available from the Florida Geological Survey upon request. The data are arranged alphabetically by county. The first two digits of the identification number represents the county. These numbers correspond to the Florida Department of Transportation county numbering system. Following the county number are three numbers which represent the sinkhole in the county. The latitude and longitude are measured in degrees, minutes, and seconds, respectively. The T, Rand S represent the township, range and section system of survey, and corresponds to the individual sinkhole. A star indicates where data on a specific site or parameter is missing. (18pp.

An empirical analysis of SNS users and their privacy and security awareness of risks associated with sharing SNS profiles (online identities)

Social networking sites (SNS) like MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn now have hundreds of millions of users. In this paper a quantitative approach was used to analyse primary data collected about SNS users. Our findings show that SNS users are dominated by younger adults, higher education levels and higher income levels. SNSs are more likely to be used for maintaining existing friendships as opposed to establishing new friendships and for building business networks. SNS users either have poor levels of privacy and security awareness or high levels of complacency in relation to SNS profile sharing and sharing their identity online

Late-Holocene Environmental History in the Northeastern Caribbean: Multi-proxy Evidence From Two Small Lakes on the Southern Slope of the Cordillera Central, Dominican Republic

This dissertation presents multi-proxy evidence of paleoenvironmental change preserved in sediment records recovered from two lakes on the southern (Caribbean) slope of the Cordillera Central in the Dominican Republic: Laguna Castilla (18o47\u2751 N, 70o52\u2733 W, 976 m) and Laguna de Salvador (18o47\u2745 N, 70o53\u2713 W, 990 m). The Castilla and Salvador sediment records contain evidence of prehistoric forest clearance and agriculture, including abundant maize pollen, dating back to around A.D. 1060. These pollen grains constitute the earliest evidence of maize agriculture from the interior of Hispaniola, and represent some of the earliest evidence of maize agriculture from the Caribbean as a whole. This finding is significant geographically because it suggests that prehistoric humans that occupied the interior of the island may have relied more on maize than their coastal counterparts. The abundance of maize pollen in the sediment records, and the high rates of sediment accumulation in the lakes, provide an ideal situation for testing the sensitivity of stable carbon isotope signatures of total organic carbon (δ13CTOC) in lake sediments to variations in the spatial scale or intensity of agricultural activities. Close correspondence between δ13CTOC values and maize pollen concentrations in the Castilla sediment record indicates a close relationship between δ13CTOC signatures and the scale of maize cultivation. Correlations between δ13CTOC signatures and mineral influx also highlight the sensitivity of the δ13CTOC record to variations in allochthonous carbon delivery. More detailed multi-proxy analyses of the Castilla and Salvador sediment records indicate extreme shifts in hydrology, vegetation, and disturbance regimes in response to climate change and human activity in the watersheds over the last ~3000 cal yr B.P. Close correspondence between the hydrological history of Castilla, Salvador, and other circum-Caribbean study sites indicates that much of the hydrologic variability was associated with variations in the mean boreal summer position of the Intertropical Convergence Zone. Human occupation of the Castilla and Salvador watersheds appears to be closely linked to severe drought events and may indicate larger scale cultural responses to severe precipitation variability on the island of Hispaniola

POLAR GIGANTISM AND SEA SPIDERS: A STUDY OF RESPIRATORY SCALING

All animals must breathe to survive. The types of primary respiratory structures vary across the metazoa, and the overall size and components of these structures scale with body size. The scaling of respiratory structures has been well studied in vertebrate lungs and gills, but very few, if any studies, have looked at it in terms of cutaneous gas exchange, the process where oxygen moves across the outer integument via diffusion. My dissertation has sought to fill this gap in knowledge by studying animals that use cutaneous respiration, and my work has determined both how the components of their respiratory surfaces function and how they scale with body size. Using sea spiders as a model for cutaneous respiration, I answered these three specific questions: 1) How does a major but poorly studied group of marine arthropods exchange respiratory gases (Ch 1)? 2) How does the physiology and morphology underlying gas exchange scale with body size (Ch 2)? And 3) How do communities of organisms living on the surface of sea spiders (i.e., epibionts) affect their gas exchange and biomechanics (Ch 3 & 4)? Sea spiders (pycnogonids) are a globally distributed group of marine arthropods that span over five orders of magnitude in body size (Arnaud and Bamber, 1987). They lack gills and rely entirely on cutaneous respiration, which may be facilitated by pores in the cuticle (Davenport et al., 1987). The largest species live in the deep sea and around the poles, which also makes them a common and charismatic example of polar gigantism (Dell 1972), a biogeographic pattern describing the observation that taxa living near the poles often reach unusually large sizes. Sea spiders are an excellent group for studying the scaling of respiratory structures and gas exchange because they have a simple, tractable respiratory system, and there is great variation in body size across the group. Sea spiders have been studied for over a century, yet we still do not know the functional aspects of how they breathe nor how their respiratory surfaces have evolved to allow them to reach such large sizes. In chapter one, using a combination of empirical measurements and mathematical modeling, I show conclusively that sea spiders take up oxygen across pores in their cuticle. Furthermore, larger species obtain sufficient fluxes of oxygen not by increasing the number of pores in their cuticle, but rather by increasing the total pore volume across their body. In chapter two, I show that the scaling of respiratory components in sea spiders sets upper limits to body size. Cuticle porosity increases with body size, but it cannot increase indefinitely as a cuticle that is too porous may collapse due to external forces. Additionally, internal oxygen concentration decreases with increasing body size, but this concentration physically cannot go below zero. In addition, when levels of internal oxygen fall low enough, the animal likely fuels metabolism using anaerobic pathways, which is unsustainable for long periods. Therefore, these two variables constrain body size, and the constraints cannot be overcome without some other innovation in the way that sea spiders exchange gases. Finally, in chapters three and four, I show that the costs and benefits of epibionts vary with ambient conditions. When sea spiders are illuminated by sunlight, photosynthetic epibionts increase external oxygen levels, which may benefit their hosts by increasing the rate of oxygen flux into the sea spider’s body. In the dark, encrusting epibionts reduce external oxygen levels and greatly reduce how quickly oxygen can diffuse into the sea spider, which will reduce the total inward flux of oxygen. These epibionts have no effect on host locomotion, but they increase the drag the animals experience, which likely increases the sea spider’s risk of dislodgement or reduces their behavior during periods of high flow. The surface of animals that exchange gases across their outer integument often serves two primary functions: gas exchange and structural support. These animals must balance a trade-off in which the integument is thin and porous enough to allow sufficient gas exchange but strong enough to withstand external forces. My dissertation shows that this trade-off can limit the maximum body size of these animals in multiple ways. Additionally, sea spiders are an important part of the Antarctic benthos and a common model for polar gigantism, yet little is known about their physiology and role in the ecosystem. My research provides an important first step in understanding the physiology of these animals that can help explain their role in the Antarctic ecosystem

The paleoecological significance of stable carbon isotopes in lake sediments from the Chirripo Paramo of Costa Rica

The high elevation paramos of Costa Rica are dominated by C3 grasses (primarily bamboo) and evergreen shrubs; however, the high altitude C4 grass Muhlenbergia flabellata may dominate suitable microhabitats with coarse substrates, such as glacial till. To explore late Pleistocene and Holocene C3-C4 vegetation dynamics, I measured the stable carbon isotope compositions of total organic carbon (o1 3Croc) in two parallel lake sediment cores (core 1: 6 m, core 2: 5.6 m) from Lago de las Morrenas 1 (3477 m) at the foot of Cerro Chirripo. Both sediment records begin in late Pleistocene ( ~ 11,700 cal. yr. BP) glacial silt deposited as the ice last retreated from the Chirrip6 massif. Average o13CTOc values are more positive in the basal glacial silts of both cores than in overlying organic-rich Holocene sediments, possibly suggesting the greater importance of C4 plants during the late Pleistocene. An increase in the proportion of C4 plants in the late Pleistocene may have been the result of decreased atmospheric pCO2, increased aridity (perhaps seasonally), and/or well-drained soil conditions on newly exposed bedrock and glacial till that favored the C4 grass Muhlenbergia flabellata. The lake sediment o13CTOcrecord shows a strong link to fire dynamics. Periods of increased macroscopic charcoal input to the lake sediments are characterized by more depleted o13Croc during the Holocene and more enriched o13Croc values during the late Plefatocene. Relatively enriched average o13CTOc values of~ -20%0 occur throughout the Holocene despite evidence for continued C3 plant dominance. These enriched o13Cmc values may reflect the utilization of HCO3- photosynthesis by aquatic plants and algae, such as Bottryococcus braunii, and/or trophic level fractionations imparted by zooplankton within the lake. Future compound-specific isotopic analyses will assist in isolating the contribution of these various sources to the organic carbon pool

E-survey of current international physiotherapy practice for children with ataxia following surgical resection of posterior fossa tumour.

ObjectiveTo determine current international practice regarding physiotherapy input for children with ataxia following surgery for posterior fossa tumour. Design: An e-survey covering the following domains: participant demographics, treatment/ intervention, virtual training, intensity/timing of treatment, and aims and outcomes of physiotherapy management.ParticipantsPhysiotherapists involved in the management of children with ataxia following surgical resection of posterior fossa tumour. Participants were contacted via 6 key groups; Paediatric Oncology Physiotherapy Network (POPs), Association of Paediatric Chartered Physiotherapists (APCP), European Paediatric Neurology Society (EPNS), International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP)-Europe Brain Tumour Group, Posterior Fossa Society (PFS), and Pediatric Oncology Special Interest Group (SIG) (American Physical Therapy Association).ResultsA total of 96 physiotherapists participated: UK (n =53), rest of Europe (n = 23), USA/ Canada (n = 10), and Australia/NZ (n = 10). The most common physiotherapy interventions used were balance exercises, gait re-education and proximal control activities. The most frequently used adjuncts to treatment were mobility aids and orthotics. Challenges reported regarding physiotherapy treatment were: reduced availability of physiotherapy input following discharge from the acute setting, lack of evidence, impact of adjuvant oncology treatment, and psychosocial impact.ConclusionThis e-survey provides an initial scoping review of international physiotherapy practice in this area. It establishes a foundation for future research on improving rehabilitation of ataxia in this population

Childhood Obesity and Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis

We thank Emma Morely of STEPS Charity Worldwide (www.steps-charity.org.uk), the patient charity that helped direct the research agenda and will assist in the dissemination of results. We also thank the Information Services Division (ISD) of NHS Scotland for the provision of data from ISD Scotland, particularly Andrew Duffy, the research coordinator within National Services Scotland. FUNDING: Dr Perry is funded by a UK National Institute for Health Research Clinician Scientist Award (grant NIHR/CS/2014/14/012). This article presents independent research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, or the Department of Health.Peer reviewedPostprin