University of Colorado 1974 Field Season in Eastern Baffin Island

The summer of 1974 saw one of the largest research parties the University of Colorado has been able to mount operating along the eastern coast of Baffin Island. The early and widespread break-up of sea ice greatly assisted in the completion of the field programme in which a total of sixteen persons were involved. In addition to members of the University staff, the following individuals from other institutions also participated. In the programme: a member of the Department of Micropalaeontology of the University of Aarhus, Denmark; a soil scientist from the University of Pennsylvania, U.S.A.; a Quaternary geologist from Brock University, Ontario, Canada; and a Quaternary geologist from Grand Valley State College, Michigan, U.S.A. ... Raised marine sediments and tills were investigated on Broughton Island and northwards along the coast to Quajon Fiord. Specific attention was focused on collecting samples for micro-faunal analysis and delimiting different marine episodes. In addition, a number of sites were revisited on Broughton Island and northwards along the coast to Kivitoo and Quajon Fiord. Large (1000-g and over) samples of marine shells were collected from sites previously given dates of over 30,000 years BP. ... One field party mapped the southern part of the Baffin Island National Park, giving particular attention to (a) the delimitation of glacial periods on the basis of surface weathering of boulders, and (b) determining the elevation of local marine limits and lower strandlines. The latter research was concentrated on the mapping of the southern shore of Cumberland Peninsula, from outer Kingnait Fiord westward to the head of Cumberland Sound. ... Soil scientists established a soil chronosequence, and investigated the range of soil types existing within the southern part of Cumberland Peninsula. They sent samples south from laboratory analysis. Plant collection: Specimens of vascular plants, mosses and lichens were collected from Broughton Island and from the head of Maktak Fiord, and sent to the University of Colorado Museum. By December 1974, a total of 86 vascular plants had been identified. Climatological studies in relation to fast ice: Work done during the summer of 1974 concludes the field-measurement phase of the University of Colorado's study of the surface energy budgets of fast ice at Broughton Island. A micrometeorological station was operated at a site approximately one kilometre south of Broughton settlement, from late May until local break-up in early July. The programme of observation consisted of the periodic taking of profiles of wind, temperature and relative humidity; the continuous measurement of temperature at two metres, and net radiation over both saturated and unsaturated surfaces; and transects of surface short-wave albedo. Salinity and temperature profiles in the ice and water were taken every 304 days. Comparative analysis of the data for 1972-74 is now in progress in relation to the observed ice regime. The 1974 data should provide better estimates of the turbulent flux components of the energy budget than it was possible to make in previous summers. Meteorological observations were continued near the base of the Broughton Island operations through mid-August. Results are now available of four summers and two winters of standard meteorological observations, and global solar and net radiation measurements as well. The Atmospheric Environment Service Cooperative Observer station, with its twice-daily measurements of maximum and minimum temperatures and of precipitation, is now into its fourth calendar year of operation. The summer of 1974 was unusually mild. The mean ablation seasonal temperature was 3.9°C at the Broughton DEW line weather station. In contrast, 1972 was the coldest (-1.2 C°). The early part of June 1974 was dominated by anticyclonic synoptic weather patterns which greatly accelerated the fast ice ablation rate to give the earliest break-up in five years. Satellite-observed conce ntrations of pack ice in Davis Strait in late May were less than at the same time in 1973. With the resurvey of the "Boas" Glacier (67 35 N, 65 16 W) in August 1974, the mass balance measurements were extended to five balance years. Accurate measurements were not possible, because most ablation poles melted out during the warm summer of 1974. However, it is estimated that the net specific balance for the 1973-74 budget year was approximately -0.5 m water equivalent (w.e.). ... Analysis of the past five budget years shows that (a) the "Boas" Glacier exhibited a two-year alternation of large mass gains and losses during the first four years, and (b) the estimated net specific mass balance for the five-year period was -0.16 m w.e., in spite of the total net mass gains of 0.38 m w.e. during the first four years. ..

Distinct patterns of ΔFosB induction in brain by drugs of abuse

The transcription factor ΔFosB accumulates and persists in brain in response to chronic stimulation. This accumulation after chronic exposure to drugs of abuse has been demonstrated previously by Western blot most dramatically in striatal regions, including dorsal striatum (caudate/putamen) and nucleus accumbens. In the present study, we used immunohistochemistry to define with greater anatomical precision the induction of ΔFosB throughout the rodent brain after chronic drug treatment. We also extended previous research involving cocaine, morphine, and nicotine to two additional drugs of abuse, ethanol and Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC, the active ingredient in marijuana). We show here that chronic, but not acute, administration of each of four drugs of abuse, cocaine, morphine, ethanol, and Δ9-THC, robustly induces ΔFosB in nucleus accumbens, although different patterns in the core vs. shell subregions of this nucleus were apparent for the different drugs. The drugs also differed in their degree of ΔFosB induction in dorsal striatum. In addition, all four drugs induced ΔFosB in prefrontal cortex, with the greatest effects observed with cocaine and ethanol, and all of the drugs induced ΔFosB to a small extent in amygdala. Furthermore, all drugs induced ΔFosB in the hippocampus, and, with the exception of ethanol, most of this induction was seen in the dentate. Lower levels of ΔFosB induction were seen in other brain areas in response to a particular drug treatment. These findings provide further evidence that induction of ΔFosB in nucleus accumbens is a common action of virtually all drugs of abuse and that, beyond nucleus accumbens, each drug induces ΔFosB in a region-specific manner in brain

Can forest management based on natural disturbances maintain ecological resilience?

Given the increasingly global stresses on forests, many ecologists argue that managers must maintain ecological resilience: the capacity of ecosystems to absorb disturbances without undergoing fundamental change. In this review we ask: Can the emerging paradigm of natural-disturbance-based management (NDBM) maintain ecological resilience in managed forests? Applying resilience theory requires careful articulation of the ecosystem state under consideration, the disturbances and stresses that affect the persistence of possible alternative states, and the spatial and temporal scales of management relevance. Implementing NDBM while maintaining resilience means recognizing that (i) biodiversity is important for long-term ecosystem persistence, (ii) natural disturbances play a critical role as a generator of structural and compositional heterogeneity at multiple scales, and (iii) traditional management tends to produce forests more homogeneous than those disturbed naturally and increases the likelihood of unexpected catastrophic change by constraining variation of key environmental processes. NDBM may maintain resilience if silvicultural strategies retain the structures and processes that perpetuate desired states while reducing those that enhance resilience of undesirable states. Such strategies require an understanding of harvesting impacts on slow ecosystem processes, such as seed-bank or nutrient dynamics, which in the long term can lead to ecological surprises by altering the forest's capacity to reorganize after disturbance

A Measurement of Psi(2S) Resonance Parameters

Cross sections for e+e- to hadons, pi+pi- J/Psi, and mu+mu- have been measured in the vicinity of the Psi(2S) resonance using the BESII detector operated at the BEPC. The Psi(2S) total width; partial widths to hadrons, pi+pi- J/Psi, muons; and corresponding branching fractions have been determined to be Gamma(total)= (264+-27) keV; Gamma(hadron)= (258+-26) keV, Gamma(mu)= (2.44+-0.21) keV, and Gamma(pi+pi- J/Psi)= (85+-8.7) keV; and Br(hadron)= (97.79+-0.15)%, Br(pi+pi- J/Psi)= (32+-1.4)%, Br(mu)= (0.93+-0.08)%, respectively.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

All-particle cosmic ray energy spectrum measured with 26 IceTop stations

We report on a measurement of the cosmic ray energy spectrum with the IceTop air shower array, the surface component of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole. The data used in this analysis were taken between June and October, 2007, with 26 surface stations operational at that time, corresponding to about one third of the final array. The fiducial area used in this analysis was 0.122 km^2. The analysis investigated the energy spectrum from 1 to 100 PeV measured for three different zenith angle ranges between 0{\deg} and 46{\deg}. Because of the isotropy of cosmic rays in this energy range the spectra from all zenith angle intervals have to agree. The cosmic-ray energy spectrum was determined under different assumptions on the primary mass composition. Good agreement of spectra in the three zenith angle ranges was found for the assumption of pure proton and a simple two-component model. For zenith angles {\theta} < 30{\deg}, where the mass dependence is smallest, the knee in the cosmic ray energy spectrum was observed between 3.5 and 4.32 PeV, depending on composition assumption. Spectral indices above the knee range from -3.08 to -3.11 depending on primary mass composition assumption. Moreover, an indication of a flattening of the spectrum above 22 PeV were observed.Comment: 38 pages, 17 figure

An improved method for measuring muon energy using the truncated mean of dE/dx

The measurement of muon energy is critical for many analyses in large Cherenkov detectors, particularly those that involve separating extraterrestrial neutrinos from the atmospheric neutrino background. Muon energy has traditionally been determined by measuring the specific energy loss (dE/dx) along the muon's path and relating the dE/dx to the muon energy. Because high-energy muons (E_mu > 1 TeV) lose energy randomly, the spread in dE/dx values is quite large, leading to a typical energy resolution of 0.29 in log10(E_mu) for a muon observed over a 1 km path length in the IceCube detector. In this paper, we present an improved method that uses a truncated mean and other techniques to determine the muon energy. The muon track is divided into separate segments with individual dE/dx values. The elimination of segments with the highest dE/dx results in an overall dE/dx that is more closely correlated to the muon energy. This method results in an energy resolution of 0.22 in log10(E_mu), which gives a 26% improvement. This technique is applicable to any large water or ice detector and potentially to large scintillator or liquid argon detectors.Comment: 12 pages, 16 figure

Measurement of the B0-anti-B0-Oscillation Frequency with Inclusive Dilepton Events

The $B^0$-$\bar B^0$ oscillation frequency has been measured with a sample of 23 million \B\bar B pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric B Factory at SLAC. In this sample, we select events in which both B mesons decay semileptonically and use the charge of the leptons to identify the flavor of each B meson. A simultaneous fit to the decay time difference distributions for opposite- and same-sign dilepton events gives $\Delta m_d = 0.493 \pm 0.012{(stat)}\pm 0.009{(syst)}$ ps$^{-1}$.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Physical Review Letter

Just a guy in pajamas? Framing the blogs in mainstream US newspaper coverage (1999—2005)

When new technologies are introduced to the public, their widespread adoption is dependent, in part, on news coverage (Rogers, 1995).Yet, as weblogs began to play major role in the public spheres of politics and journalism, journalists faced a paradox: how to cover a social phenomenon that was too large to ignore and posed a significant threat to their profession. This article examines how blogs were framed by US newspapers as the public became more aware of the blogging world. A content analysis of blog-related stories in major US newspapers from 1999 to 2005 was conducted. Findings suggest that newspaper coverage framed blogs as more beneficial to individuals and small cohorts than to larger social entities such as politics, business and journalism. Moreover, only in the realm of journalism were blogs framed as more of a threat than a benefit, and rarely were blogs considered an actual form of journalism.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline