Nutrient Loadings Into Conesus Lake

A nutrient loading study utilizing field measurements has not been performed on Conesus Lake tributaries since the construction of a perimeter sewer. The database from this study includes many parameters and is quite large. This report details the results of measurements for stream nutrient loadings, effects of the Inlet wetland on nutrient dynamics and road salt loadings. N0 3 -N loading upstream of the Conesus Inlet Wetland that was consistently about 2.5 times higher than downstream suggests nitrogen removal by denitrification in the wetland. Hanna\u27s and Wilkins Creeks were found to be sources of high sodium and chloride loadings on an areal basis (kgjha). A statistically significant multiple regression (r 2 = 0.51, p = 0.001) was found which describes decreasing temperature, increasing precipitation and increased sodium loadings during the winter months, November to March. Soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) and nitrate-nitrite nitrogen (N03 -N) loadings of 2,444 kg and 47,870 kg, respectively, were estimated for eight tributaries to Conesus Lake for the period April 1985 March 1986. Intense precipitation in November 1985 and the March 1986 snowmelt resulted in these two months combining for 72% of the total SRP load and 65% of the total N0 3 -N load. Two streams located in the northwest quadrant of the watershed, (Long Point Gully and Hanna\u27s Creek) were identified as major sources of nutrient 1 oads, combining for 41% of the total SRP load and 40% of the total N0 3 -N load. Collectively, the northern streams exported about twice as much N0 3 -N ·and SRP than the southern streams. This suggests that remedial efforts for decreasing nutrient loss from the Conesus Lake watershed should be aimed toward the northern streams in general, and Hanna\u27s and Long Point in particular. A strong, direct relationship between stream nutrient load and the percent of the watershed in cropland has been found. This has implications for watershed management if there is a desire to mitigate the nutrient load from the tributaries. Fertilization practices could become more conservative, crops requiring less fertilizer could be grown, and strategies to decrease direct runoff are discussed and could be implemented

An Empirical Study Of The Ability Of Canadian Oil And Gas Companies\u27 Reserves Disclosures To Account For Relative Changes In Common Stock Prices

The purpose of this study is to determine which of these alternative annual report disclosures of oil and gas reserves, namely historic capitalized costs, quantities and discounted cash flows, contributes the most information content. Information content is defined as the ability of a reserves disclosure to account for relative changes in common stock prices.;It has been proposed by the events approach to accounting theory that a role of the annual financial report is to report on the economic events of the accounting period that influenced the expected stream of future cash flows of a corporation. As a corporation\u27s common stock prices are considered to be a rational measure of the present value of investors\u27 expected stream of future cash flows from investing in the stock, then common stock returns can be viewed as a proxy for the change in a corporation\u27s perceived value. To the extent that the annual report effectively reports the economic events which account for changes in a corporation\u27s common stock prices, the disclosed data should exhibit an association with common stock returns.;Multiple correlation/regression analysis was used to evaluate the extent that each of the three alternative reserves disclosures account for common stock returns after first recognizing the information provided by an industry variable and by an earnings per share or cash flow per share variable. The annual reports of 67 Canadian oil and gas exploration and development corporations were used to gather the data for each of the years 1982, 1983 and 1984.;The results indicated that the earnings per share provides significant information content while the cash flow per share consistently provides no significant evidence of information content. The capitalized costs reserves disclosure did not provide consistent evidence of information content, while the quantities disclosure and the discounted cash flows disclosure do provide significant incremental information content.;The study concludes that the alternative reserves disclosures of quantities and discounted cash flows are more informative to users when accounting for changes in a corporation\u27s common stock prices than the disclosure of reserves in historic capitalized costs

Communication in a Virtual World - Best Staff Practices for Generating the Greatest Student Engagement in Virtual Learning

Research and experience show that for students to learn, they must be engaged, and the need to be engaged in learning has been underscored this past year as many schools have shifted to virtual or remote learning. Join leaders from Berrien Springs Public Schools for an interactive discussion that shares research, tools, and best practices that are proven to be effective in engaging students, helping them to thrive in virtual learning environments

The Critical Nature of Innovation in Education Today

Berrien Springs Public Schools has been recognised as one of the most innovative school districts in the State of Michigan. Join the Link Learning administrative team in taking a 5 year journey through what innovation in today\u27s educational environment requires. The team will illustrate the decision making process and creative methods used in practice to develop solution-oriented approaches while working with students in a fully virtual school supporting at-risk youth - a growing population for most school districts today

Multilateral Environmental Agreements and the Compliance Continuum

This paper responds to the observation that despite the high number of multilateral environment agreements (“MEAs”), and relatively high compliance rate, the global commons are continuing to deteriorate. I review the contemporary literature addressing the question: why nations comply with international law, focusing specifically on MEAs. The competing schools of thought are organized along a compliance continuum, – bordered at one end by the Chayesian approach advocating managing compliance, and the Downsian view at the other, arguing for enforcement when there are high incentives to defect. In sum, my conclusions are (1) adequately responding to global environmental problems requires increasing the obligations assumed by the Parties to MEAs; (2) ensuring compliance with these obligations will require strong enforcement mechanisms; and (3) the effectiveness of any enforcement mechanism will be determined by its measure of legitimacy, as illegitimacy emerged as one of the principal rationales against the use of coercive enforcement in international law

Crack closure and enhanced autogenous healing of structural concrete using shape memory polymers

Self-healing concrete has the potential to significantly reduce the life cycle cost of concrete structures. The ability for concrete to undergo autogenous self-healing is largely dependent upon the width of the cracks in the material. Shape memory polymers (SMP) can be used to close cracks in concrete and produce a compressive stress across crack faces, enhancing the load recovery associated with this healing process. Previous proof of concept studies used commercially available SMP strips to close cracks within small scale mortar beams. Within this thesis, specifically manufactured high shrinkage polymer samples are refined and tested. An SMP tendon system is developed which is capable of activation via electrical heating. This system is incorporated into structural concrete beam samples with and without steel reinforcement. Crack closure is successfully achieved and the system’s performance assessed with suggestions for future development. Enhanced autogenous healing of structural concrete using SMP strips is confirmed by comparing the mechanical load recovery of samples cured for one, three and six months. The SMP tendons are applied at full-scale, alongside three other self-healing techniques investigated as part of the Materials 4 Life project, to assess their performance in the field. A life cycle cost assessment of self-healing concrete is undertaken using a bridge deck slab as a case study, concluding that a self-healing concrete capable of repeated healing cycles has the potential to significantly reduce costs over a 120-year design life

Risk-Taking Behavior in the U.S. Thrift Industry: Ownership Structure and Regulatory Changes

This paper is concerned with the relationship between ownership structure and risk taking in the U.S. thrift industry along with the impact of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA) on this relationship. Our results, based on balance sheet and market measures of risk, suggest that insider controlled thrifts were more likely to engage in risk taking behavior prior to 1989 than were diversely held institutions. FIRREA seems to have curtailed much of the risk taking behavior of these institutions; in fact, some evidence suggests that insider controlled thrifts may have actually engaged in less risk taking behavior than their diversely held counterparts after 1989. We find inverse relationships between risk-taking behavior and levels of institutional shareholdings during all periods. This finding, along with the finding that increased risk-taking does not increase returns to thrift shareholders, suggests that the motive for risk-taking behavior on the part of insider held thrifts may not have been the maximization of the “option” value associated with shares as reported elsewhere. We do find evidence that entrenched managers may have generated significant private benefits for themselves