1,531 research outputs found
A Historical Survey of Water Utilization in the Cook Inlet - Susitna Basin, Alaska
Completion Report
OWRT Agreement No. 14-34-0001-6002
Project No. A-056-ALASThe objectives of the study encompassed a scholarly investigation
of the appropriate archival and published literature on the Cook-Inlet-Susitna
Basin, and the publication of the articles and a book-length
history of the utilization of water resources.
There are many aspects of Alaskan history to which historians have
not given serious attention. Certainly there has been no historical
consideration of the importance of water resources in Alaska. Issues
that have involved water use have either been treated journalistically
or have been the subject of scientific monographs. The understanding of
the public can sometimes be confused by the journalistic treatment of
events while scientific reports are seldom read. There is a definite
need for a well-researched, lively survey of an important spect of
Alaska's history.
Many years passed before systematic scientific work was carried out
in the Cook Inlet-Susitna region but the uses of its water resources for
sanitation, transport, food, and power were intensified as time passed.
The region has had significance for well over 200 years to the western
peoples who settled there and, of course, for much longer to its aboriginal
inhabitants. There has never been a substantial history written
of the region, although some aspects of its past have been surveyed in a
few pub1ished works, and there has never been a historical survey of
water utilization for any region of Alaska.
Increasingly, the development of the region will involve political
decision. The public scrutiny of the environmental impact of new dam
and other construction is not likely to decline. Further petroleum
leasing in the outer continental shelf areas will raise questions of the
best uses which can be made of the water and other resources. The
wisdom of these decisions depends upon our knowledge of all of the
factors involved. An understanding of what has happened in the past as
people have made use of the water resources could contribute to the
effectiveness of judgments made in the future.The work upon which this completion report is based was supported
by funds provided by the U. S. Department of the Interior, Office of
Water Research and Technology as authorized under the Water Resources
Research Act of 1964, Public Law 88-379, as amended
The Politics of Hydroelectric Power in Alaska: Rampart and Devil Canyon -- A Case Study
Originally published January 1978, revised October 1978. OWRT Agreement No. 14-34-0001-7003 Project No. A-060-ALAS. Completion Report.Hydroelectric power in Alaska has had a curious history--and an
instructive one. This study focuses on three separate projects:
Eklutna, Rampart, and Devil Canyon. The Eklutna project functions
today; Rampart was not constructed; and the Devil Canyon project is
still in the planning stage. Yet for all their differences in location,
goals, and fate, the projects were related; and, taken together, their
histories highlight all the essential political elements involved in
hydroelectric power construction. There is still a fourth project which
is functioning today--the Snettisham installation near Juneau which is
not considered in this paper.
A complex decision-making process determines the progress of such
large projects. In following these three Alaskan projects, we can gain
a better perspective on the roles of the several government agencies and
the public; thus we can assess some of the inherent complexities. Such
an assessment fully substantiates the conclusion that it takes more than
moving dirt to build a dam.The work upon which this completion report is based was supported
by funds provided by the U. S. Department of the Interior, Office of
Water Research and Technology as authorized under the Water Resources
Research Act of 1964, Public Law 88-379, as amended
FERAL HOGS IN THE ROLLING PLAINS OF TEXAS: PERSPECTIVES, PROBLEMS, AND POTENTIAL
Feral hogs (Sus scrofa) have expanded their territory in Texas and are now found in all but the extreme western portions of the state. Perhaps the most dramatic expansion has occurred in the Rolling Plains of northwest Texas. Perspectives on feral hogs range from definitely for to adamantly against. Problems encountered with feral hogs include: (1) damage to crops and livestock, or facilities and equipment, (2) transmission of disease to humans and livestock, or (3) interaction with native wildlife including competition for available resources, depredation and destruction of habitat. The feral hog is also an animal with economic potential. Revenue can be generated by selling or hunting them. Is the feral hog an ecological unknown, an economic liability, or an under-utilized asset? The answer remains to be determined and may depend upon one\u27s individual perspective
Expression and genomic organization of zonadhesin-like genes in three species of fish give insight into the evolutionary history of a mosaic protein
BACKGROUND: The mosaic sperm protein zonadhesin (ZAN) has been characterized in mammals and is implicated in species-specific egg-sperm binding interactions. The genomic structure and testes-specific expression of zonadhesin is known for many mammalian species. All zonadhesin genes characterized to date consist of meprin A5 antigen receptor tyrosine phosphatase mu (MAM) domains, mucin tandem repeats, and von Willebrand (VWD) adhesion domains. Here we investigate the genomic structure and expression of zonadhesin-like genes in three species of fish. RESULTS: The cDNA and corresponding genomic locus of a zonadhesin-like gene (zlg) in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) were sequenced. Zlg is similar in adhesion domain content to mammalian zonadhesin; however, the domain order is altered. Analysis of puffer fish (Takifugu rubripes) and zebrafish (Danio rerio) sequence data identified zonadhesin (zan) genes that share the same domain order, content, and a conserved syntenic relationship with mammalian zonadhesin. A zonadhesin-like gene in D. rerio was also identified. Unlike mammalian zonadhesin, D. rerio zan and S. salar zlg were expressed in the gut and not in the testes. CONCLUSION: We characterized likely orthologs of zonadhesin in both T. rubripes and D. rerio and uncovered zonadhesin-like genes in S. salar and D. rerio. Each of these genes contains MAM, mucin, and VWD domains. While these domains are associated with several proteins that show prominent gut expression, their combination is unique to zonadhesin and zonadhesin-like genes in vertebrates. The expression patterns of fish zonadhesin and zonadhesin-like genes suggest that the reproductive role of zonadhesin evolved later in the mammalian lineage
XMM-Newton Observation of an X-ray Trail Between the Spiral Galaxy NGC6872 and the Central Elliptical NGC6876 in the Pavo Group
We present XMM-Newton observations of a trail of enhanced X-rayemission
extending along the 8'.7 X 4' region between the spiral NGC6872 and the
dominant elliptical NGC6876 in the Pavo Group,the first known X-ray trail
associated with a spiral galaxy in a poor galaxy group and, with projected
length of 90 kpc, one of the longest X-ray trails observed in any system. The
X-ray surface brightness in the trail region is roughly constant beyond ~20 kpc
of NGC6876 in the direction of NGC6872. The trail is hotter (~ 1 keV) than the
undisturbed Pavo IGM (~0.5 keV) and has low metal abundances (0.2 Zsolar). The
0.5-2 keV luminosity of the trail, measured using a 67 X 90 kpc rectangular
region, is 6.6 X 10^{40} erg/s. We compare the properties of gas in the trail
to the spectral properties of gas in the spiral NGC6872 and in the elliptical
NGC6876 to constrain its origin. We suggest that the X-ray trail is either IGM
gas gravitationally focused into a Bondi-Hoyle wake, a thermal mixture of ~64%
Pavo IGM gas with ~36% galaxy gas that has been removed from the spiral NGC6872
by turbulent viscous stripping, or both, due to the spiral's supersonic motion
at angle xi ~ 40 degrees with respect to the plane of the sky, past the Pavo
group center (NGC6876) through the densest region of the Pavo IGM. Assuming xi
= 40 degrees and a filling factor eta in a cylindrical volume with radius 33
kpc and projected length 90 kpc, the mean electron density and total hot gas
mass in the trail is 9.5 X 10^{-4}*eta^{-1/2} cm^{-3} and 1.1 X
10^{10}*eta^{1/2} Msolar, respectively.Comment: typos corrected in Eq. 7 & 8, figures and discussion unchanged, 39
pages, 11 postscript figures, submitted to Ap
Handling qualities of a wide-body transport airplane utilizing Pitch Active Control Systems (PACS) for relaxed static stability application
Piloted simulation studies have been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of two pitch active control systems (PACS) on the flying qualities of a wide-body transport airplane when operating at negative static margins. These two pitch active control systems consisted of a simple 'near-term' PACS and a more complex 'advanced' PACS. Eight different flight conditions, representing the entire flight envelope, were evaluated with emphasis on the cruise flight conditions. These studies were made utilizing the Langley Visual/Motion Simulator (VMS) which has six degrees of freedom. The simulation tests indicated that (1) the flying qualities of the baseline aircraft (PACS off) for the cruise and other high-speed flight conditions were unacceptable at center-of-gravity positions aft of the neutral static stability point; (2) within the linear static stability flight envelope, the near-term PACS provided acceptable flying qualities for static stabilty margins to -3 percent; and (3) with the advanced PACS operative, the flying qualities were demonstrated to be good (satisfactory to very acceptable) for static stabilty margins to -20 percent
Universal Features in Phonological Neighbor Networks
Human speech perception involves transforming a countinuous acoustic signal into discrete linguistically meaningful units (phonemes) while simultaneously causing a listener to activate words that are similar to the spoken utterance and to each other. The Neighborhood Activation Model posits that phonological neighbors (two forms [words] that differ by one phoneme) compete significantly for recognition as a spoken word is heard. This definition of phonological similarity can be extended to an entire corpus of forms to produce a phonological neighbor network (PNN). We study PNNs for five languages: English, Spanish, French, Dutch, and German. Consistent with previous work, we find that the PNNs share a consistent set of topological features. Using an approach that generates random lexicons with increasing levels of phonological realism, we show that even random forms with minimal relationship to any real language, combined with only the empirical distribution of language-specific phonological form lengths, are sufficient to produce the topological properties observed in the real language PNNs. The resulting pseudo-PNNs are insensitive to the level of lingustic realism in the random lexicons but quite sensitive to the shape of the form length distribution. We therefore conclude that âuniversalâ features seen across multiple languages are really string universals, not language universals, and arise primarily due to limitations in the kinds of networks generated by the one-step neighbor definition. Taken together, our results indicate that caution is warranted when linking the dynamics of human spoken word recognition to the topological properties of PNNs, and that the investigation of alternative similarity metrics for phonological forms should be a priorit
An acoustic navigation system
This report describes a system for underwater acoustic
navigation developed, and in use, at the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution. It includes a brief discussion of the electronic
components, operation, mathematical analysis, and available computer
programs. There is a series of supplementary Technical Memoranda
containing more information on various aspects of the system. We believe that this kind of documentation is more
flexible and better meets the needs of potential users than including
all technical details in one large volume. These are not final or
definitive reports; acoustic navigation capabilities will continue
to evolve at W.H.O.I. for some time.
Acoustic navigation provides a method of tracking a ship, and an
underwater vehicle or instrument package (âfishâ), in the deep ocean.
Acoustic devices attached to the ship and fish measure the length of
time it takes a sound pulse to travel to acoustic transponders moored
on the ocean floor. If the transponder positions and the average
speed of sound are known, the ship or fish position can be found.Prepared for the Office of Naval Research
under Contracts N00014-71-C0284; NR 293-008
N00014-70-C0205; NR 263-103 and the National
Science Foundation/International Decade of
Ocean Exploration Grant GX-36024 and the
Applied Physics Laboratory of The Johns
Hopkins University Contract 372111
Ethical Approaches to Mandating Influenza Vaccinations for Local Health Department Workforce in Georgia
Background: The seasonal influenza illness occurs every year in the United States during the cooler months from October to April, sometimes lasting longer. Although certain populations are more susceptible to this condition, data have shown that otherwise healthy individuals have experienced alarming rates of morbidity and mortality associated with these infections. Despite the CDCâs recommendation for influenza vaccination for all HCWs, compliance have been lagging among local health departmentsâ workforce. This practice arguably exposes a wide cross section of the U.S. population to the flu, while being served in these facilities. The utilitarian approach provides a framework to examine the ethical implications to the public of mandating influenza vaccination for these employees.
Methods: A systematic review of peer-reviewed literature was conducted to address the following research questions: 1) Do local public health departments in Georgia mandate annual influenza vaccinations? âŻ2) What are the ethical considerations for mandating influenza vaccinations for public health employees? and 3) What are the ethical considerations for mandating influenza vaccinations for the community? Twenty-five articles were included in the review.
Results: Descriptive analysis shows that there is no mandatory vaccination policy in place for state or local departments in health in the state of Georgia. Most of the literature available relates to policy implementation within acute or long-term care facilities. A systematic review of mandatory influenza vaccination for public health workers focused on four areas: theoretical approaches to increase influenza vaccination coverage and support of, opposition to, and alternative strategies for influenza vaccinations.
Conclusions: The utilitarian approach is sufficient for the influenza vaccination policy- making strategies and in the ethical approaches of mandating influenza vaccinations for local health department workforce in Georgia if need be, for vaccination targets are to be achieved
Bostonia. Volume 4
Founded in 1900, Bostonia magazine is Boston University's main alumni publication, which covers alumni and student life, as well as university activities, events, and programs
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