Determining Atmospheric Deposition Inputs to Two Small Watersheds at Acadia National Park

Two small upland watersheds have been gauged and monitored at Acadia National Park since 1998. Cadillac Brook watershed burned in a wildfire in 1947. Hadlock Brook watershed has been undisturbed for several centuries, and serves as the reference site. Precipitation and throughfall volume and chemistry data have been collected using wetonly and continuously open collectors. Hydrologic and chemical inputs to the sites have been determined for each site. Differences in watershed and vegetation characteristics control the input of water and major ions to these watersheds. Vegetation type was the dominant control on enhancement of precipitation across the heterogeneous watersheds. Relative annual enhancement of throughfall over wet-only deposition for coniferous stands at Hadlock was 2.0 for NH4 and NO3, 2.7 for SO4, 7.1-7.3 for C1 and Na, 6.8 for Ca, 92 for Mg, and 58 for K. Enhancement was similar for mixed stands, intermediate for deciduous stands, and lowest (except C1 and Na) at scrub and open sites. At Cadillac, enhancement was slightly lower for each ion, but the same pattern, coniferous ≈ mixed \u3e deciduous \u3e scrublopen, was observed. Seasonal differences were important, with highest deposition in fall and summer; however, wet deposition inputs of C1 and Na were highest in winter. Elemental stream flux was calculated using discharge data from the U. S. Geological Survey, combined with periodic water chemistry data. The chemical mass balance in the watersheds was determined from streah outputs minus wet inputs, where negative values indicate retention within the watershed. At Cadillac and Hadlock, H, Mg, K, Na4, and NO3 are retained; Ca and SO4 are lost. Retention of DM (NO3 plus NH4) was 96% at Cadillac and 72% at Hadlock, indicating that differences related to vegetation and/or soils control the relative patterns of retention and release

Collecting Data on Charismatic Mini-Fauna: Public Participation and the Dragonfly Mercury Project

The Dragonfly Mercury Project (DMP) engages citizen scientists in collection of drag­onfly larvae for mercury analysis in national parks, allowing for national-scale assess­ment of this neurotoxic pollutant. DMP goals for citizen scientist engagement are to (1) provide opportunity for biodiversity discovery; (2) connect people to parks; and (3) provide a vehicle for mercury education and outreach. Over 90 parks and 3,000 citizen scientists have participated in the project. Here we summarize information about citizen groups who participated in 2014–2016. High school students (20%), interns and youth groups (24%), and local community groups (15%) comprised the majority of partici­pants. Park liaisons reported that the project achieved internal and external communica­tion that otherwise would not have occurred. Opportunities for improvement included further curriculum and workforce development. Ultimately, citizen scientists gained new perspectives and practiced civic skills while project scientists and resource managers gained data and insights on mercury in foodwebs

Evaluating metabolites in patients with major depressive disorder who received mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and healthy controls using short echo MRSI at 7 Tesla.

ObjectivesOur aim was to evaluate differences in metabolite levels between unmedicated patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and healthy controls, to assess changes in metabolites in patients after they completed an 8-week course of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), and to exam the correlation between metabolites and depression severity.Materials and methodsSixteen patients with MDD and ten age- and gender-matched healthy controls were studied using 3D short echo-time (20 ms) magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) at 7 Tesla. Relative metabolite ratios were estimated in five regions of interest corresponding to insula, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), caudate, putamen, and thalamus.ResultsIn all cases, MBCT reduced severity of depression. The ratio of total choline-containing compounds/total creatine (tCr) in the right caudate was significantly increased compared to that in healthy controls, while ratios of N-acetyl aspartate (NAA)/tCr in the left ACC, myo-inositol/tCr in the right insula, and glutathione/tCr in the left putamen were significantly decreased. At baseline, the severity of depression was negatively correlated with my-inositol/tCr in the left insula and putamen. The improvement in depression severity was significantly associated with changes in NAA/tCr in the left ACC.ConclusionsThis study has successfully evaluated regional differences in metabolites for patients with MDD who received MBCT treatment and in controls using 7 Tesla MRSI

Predicting College Student Gambling Frequency Using the Theory of Planned Behvior: Does the Theory Work Differently for Disordered and Non-Disordered Gamblers?

We examined whether disordered gambling moderates the prediction of gambling behavior via the theory of planned behavior (TPB; i.e., intentions, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and attitudes) among college students. A convenience sample of undergraduate students (N=377) at a large, Southeastern university who gambled in the past year completed a classroom-based survey. Approximately half of participants were male (n = 205; 54.4%), and the majority were Caucasian (n = 310; 83.8%). Gambling frequency, gambling problems and gambling-specific TPB constructs were assessed via a cross-sectional survey. A series of regression analyses were conducted to test the utility of the TPB model to predict gambling behavior (i.e., frequency) among (1) non-disordered gamblers (N=342) and (2) disordered gamblers (N=35). Moderation analyses indicated that disordered gamblers might not proceed through the thought processes that guide gambling in non-disordered gamblers. However, findings should be interpreted cautiously, as our study was limited by a small number of lifetime disordered gamblers

SIVIC: Open-Source, Standards-Based Software for DICOM MR Spectroscopy Workflows

Quantitative analysis of magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) data provides maps of metabolic parameters that show promise for improving medical diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring. While anatomical images are routinely reconstructed on the scanner, formatted using the DICOM standard, and interpreted using PACS workstations, this is not the case for MRSI data. The evaluation of MRSI data is made more complex because files are typically encoded with vendor-specific file formats and there is a lack of standardized tools for reconstruction, processing, and visualization. SIVIC is a flexible open-source software framework and application suite that enables a complete scanner-to-PACS workflow for evaluation and interpretation of MRSI data. It supports conversion of vendor-specific formats into the DICOM MR spectroscopy (MRS) standard, provides modular and extensible reconstruction and analysis pipelines, and provides tools to support the unique visualization requirements associated with such data. Workflows are presented which demonstrate the routine use of SIVIC to support the acquisition, analysis, and delivery to PACS of clinical 1H MRSI datasets at UCSF