Evidence of late Quaternary environmental change in a continental east Antarctic lake from lacustrine sedimentary pigment distributions

A sediment core from Progress Lake, one of the oldest lacustrine sequences in East Antarctica, contains distinct zones dating from a previous interglacial (most likely Marine Isotope Stage 5e, c. 125-115 kyr BP) and the present interglacial (Marine Isotope Stage 1), separated by a transition zone representing when the lake became sub-glacial. Profiles of fossil pigments, determined using high performance liquid chromatography and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, show distinct differences in the photoautotrophic community during these two interglacial periods. The first was dominated by algae and purple phototrophic bacteria, with periods of photic zone euxinia indicated by pigments from anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria. Specific chlorophyll a derivatives reveal periods when grazing pressure impacted significantly on the phytoplankton community. The virtual absence of pigments in the transition zone reflects severe restriction of photoautotrophic activity, consistent with the take having become sub-glacial. Retreat of snow and ice in the late Holocene (3345 C-14 yr Bp) allowed establishment of a less diverse primary producer community, restricted to algae and cyanobacteria. Grazers were severely restricted and oxidative transformation was more important than during the previous interglacial. The pigment data provide a unique and detailed insight in to the evolution of the lake ecology over an interglacial-glacial-interglacial transition and strong evidence that the Marine Isotope Stage 5e interglacial in this region of coastal East Antarctica was several degrees warmer than at present

Presentations of higher dimensional Thompson groups

In a previous paper, we defined a higher dimensional analog of Thompson's group V, and proved that it is simple, infinite, finitely generated, and not isomorphic to any of the known Thompson groups. There are other Thompson groups that are infinite, simple and finitely presented. Here we show that the new group is also finitely presented by calculating an explicit finite presentation.Comment: 35 pages, to appear in J. Algebr

Design and Operational Challenges and Solutions for Solid Waste Management in Northern Alaska

Presented to the Faculty of the University of Alaska Anchorage in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN ARCTIC ENGINEERINGThis paper examined the challenges of designing, constructing, operating, and maintaining an effective solid waste management system in northern Alaska. Northern Alaska presents unique challenges for developing an effective solid waste management plan. The communities in the region are not connected to the road system and the main strategy for disposing of solid waste is by developing aboveground landfills. This strategy has been used for many years, but as communities are increasing in size and the effects of climate change are becoming apparent, an adjustment in this strategy may be required. This research examined the current solid waste practices in northern Alaskan, reviews the regulatory requirements, isolates difficulties in current solid waste practices, identifies the unique challenges of working in the region, and anticipates operational practices that may create problems in the future. A main topic of study was the effect of the heat generated by exposed and decomposing waste in landfills and how this could affect the stability of the permafrost below and around the landfill. After accounting for all of the aspects identified, design and operational recommendations and strategies for solid waste management in northern Alaska were outlined. This paper considered solutions not only for current problems facing northern Alaska, but tried to anticipate what problems may occur decades or centuries in the future when conditions may be vastly different than they are today. An effective solid waste management strategy was found to be essential for a healthy community for current and future generations.Signature Page / Title Page / Abstract / Table of Contents / List of Figures / List of Tables / List of Abreviations / Introduction / Current Solid Waste Practices / Landfill Types / Solid Waste Regulations / Permafrost and Landfills / Heat Generation from Municipal Solid Waste / Design Challenges and Solutions / Landfill Operational Considerations and Solutions / Community Challenges and Solutions / Landfill Closure and Post-Closure Considerations / Conclusion / Reference

Ocular sensory dominance and viewing distance

Abstract Purpose: It is not clear as to whether sensory dominance is affected by test distance. Jiang et al previously reported that that the sensory dominant eyes may be affected by refractive error; however this study was done at a near distance only (60 cm). In this study, we investigated the effect of two different test distances (near, 60 cm vs distance, 6 meters) on the laterality of ocular dominance. Methods: Ocular sensory dominance was quantified in 60 subjects with a technique that involves the dichoptic presentation of a Mondrian noise and a Gabor patch. The threshold to detect the Gabor patch was measured in the presence of decreasing contrast in the Mondrian stimulus. Each eye was tested 50 times and thresholds from two eyes were compared with t-test. If the difference between the two eyes was significant, a subject was classified as having clear ocular sensory dominance and the eye that had lower thresholds was defined as the dominant one. If difference between the two eyes was not significant, a subject was classified as having unclear ocular sensory dominance. Ocular sensory dominance was measured at two different viewing distances, one for near at 60cm away and the other one for far at 6m away. Results: In 31 subjects (51.7 %), dominant eyes remained the same for near and distance viewing. In 15 (25.0 %) subjects, who showed clear ocular sensory dominance at distance, ocular sensory dominance became unclear at near. In 11 (18.3 %) subjects, that had unclear ocular sensory dominance at distance, showed clear ocular sensory dominance at near. In 3 (5.0 %) subjects, the laterality of the dominant eye switched between far and near distance. Conclusions: The effect of viewing distance on ocular sensory dominance is a continuous spectrum. In majority of the population, ocular sensory dominance is not affected. In 43.3 % of the population, ocular sensory dominance varies between unclear and clear status. Only in very rare cases, laterality of dominant eyes switches between near and distance

The Women of Helamb: Life After the 2015 Earthquake

Disasters exacerbate inequalities that are already present in the society, put particular groups of individuals at risk, specifically women. The vulnerabilities of women shape the way they experience disasters as well as their ability to recover from them. Although it has now been over a year since the earthquake that occurred in Nepal on April 25, 2015, the recovery has been slow, and the destruction that it has caused is still greatly visible. For this project, women in the Helambu region of Nepla were interviewed to learn about how their lives were affected by the earthquake and the challenges that they faced over the past year. As time passes, society tends to forget about disasters and the people they greatly affect, but individuals are still struggling from last year’s earthquake and it is important that they not be forgotten. As in the case with other disaster, the experiences of women during and after the earthquake in Nepal have been different from those of men. The women of Helambu opened up to me about the obstacles they faced after the earthquake, the troubles they are still facing now, and the issues in their communities that have been present long before the earthquake. By understanding some of the specific difficulties faced by these women after the earthquake, we can gain a better understanding of their needs during the recovery process and learn about better ways in which to assist them in future disasters

The Influence of Herbivory on Macrophyte Community Structure and Nitrogen Retention in Created Wetlands

Wetlands are frequently created to mitigate the loss of natural wetlands due to commercial expansion. However, wetland ecosystem function is determined by complex abiotic and biotic interactions that are not well understood in natural wetlands, and even less so in created wetlands. This lack of understanding may lead to shortcomings in meeting desired restoration outcomes. Key abiotic drivers in wetlands include hydrology and nutrient availability, while herbivory provides both direct and indirect controls on plant communities and biogeochemical cycling. I hypothesized that by decreasing emergent plant biomass and shifting plant community structure to favor submerged plants, large grazers such as geese would promote cascading impacts on nitrogen immobilization, denitrification, nitrogen fixation and sediment nutrient regeneration. To assess these effects, paired caged and uncaged plots were established in three created emergent freshwater wetlands in Western New York State. At the site with high waterfowl abundance, emergent macrophyte cover was reduced and there was a shift towards submerged plants. More complex impacts were observed at other sites where grazing pressure was lower: grazer exclusion substantially increased emergent growth at one site and had no effect where the dominant macrophyte Nymphea odorata covered the water surface. Potential denitrification was lowest in the fall, with significantly higher values where submerged plant cover was higher. While sediment nitrogen fixation was consistently below detection limits, periphyton nitrogen fixation, which was dominated by heterotrophs, was slightly higher in caged plots. Sediment nutrient fluxes exhibited some seasonality, with higher rates in spring than summer or fall. These results suggest that grazers have a significant impact on vascular plant community structure, leading to shifts in nitrogen cycling and a reduction of nitrogen fixation. Exclusion of grazers may be a management tool to protect wetland plants during the early stages of wetland development

Searching the World-Wide-Web using nucleotide and peptide sequences

*Background:* No approaches have yet been developed to allow instant searching of the World-Wide-Web by just entering a string of sequence data. Though general search engines can be tuned to accept ‘processed’ queries, the burden of preparing such ‘search strings’ simply defeats the purpose of quickly locating highly relevant information. Unlike ‘sequence similarity’ searches that employ dedicated algorithms (like BLAST) to compare an input sequence from defined databases, a direct ‘sequence based’ search simply locates quick and relevant information about a blunt piece of nucleotide or peptide sequence. This approach is particularly invaluable to all biomedical researchers who would often like to enter a sequence and quickly locate any pertinent information before proceeding to carry out detailed sequence alignment. 

*Results:* Here, we describe the theory and implementation of a web-based front-end for a search engine, like Google, which accepts sequence fragments and interactively retrieves a collection of highly relevant links and documents, in real-time. e.g. flat files like patent records, privately hosted sequence documents and regular databases. 

*Conclusions:* The importance of this simple yet highly relevant tool will be evident when with a little bit of tweaking, the tool can be engineered to carry out searches on all kinds of hosted documents in the World-Wide-Web.

*Availability:* Instaseq is free web based service that can be accessed by visiting the following hyperlink on the WWW
http://instaseq.georgetown.edu 
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Improving Patient Satisfaction with Quietness at Night: An Integrative Review

Despite the efforts to improve the environment of care in hospital settings by noise reducing interventions, building redesigns, and quiet hours, research maintains patients continue to report noise is problematic across all specialties in acute care settings. Patient satisfaction correlates to their perception of quality care and hospitals are economically impacted by their feedback on hospital rating surveys. Stagnant Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey results across the country indicate “Quiet at Night” is in need of attention to be prioritized, as it continues to be the lowest scoring line item on hospital rating surveys since its inception for incentivized reform. A national standard of best practices will improve patient satisfaction and ultimately change the culture of the hospital setting toward a quieter environment for rest and healing. The framework used to develop this review of literature was Melnyk’s Leveling of Evidence, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) and the methodology of Cooper. The multimodal intervention approach was found to be an effective best practice, as it addresses the issues related to poor “Quiet at Night” outcomes comprehensively. However, the intervention approach ought to incorporate pre-intervention preparations, such as a dissemination and implementation plan, to include multidiscipline stakeholder involvement

Drawing Monsters with Emil Ferris and Lynda Barry: An Exploration of the Drawing Process as Part of Graphic Medicine

This essay explores the role of drawing as a mode of processing intersectional violence, a strategy that I argue links Emil Ferris’s comic, My Favorite Thing is Monsters (2018) to Lynda Barry’s pedagogical graphic narratives What It Is (2008) and Making Comics (2019). I argue that My Favorite Thing is Monsters embodies an enhanced version of graphic medicine that shifts the scale of analysis from the individual to the collective, revealing the health impact of intersectional oppressions. In its titular preoccupation with monsters, especially the Medusa, and its materialization of the protagonist’s sketch book, I further argue that Ferris’s work of fiction recalls Barry’s exercise of drawing monsters. Continuing its exploration of the healing process of drawing, and drawing monsters, the essay concludes with an experiment in ethnographic criticism, reflecting on my own experience of drawing my way through the global pandemic of Covid-19 during the first six months of 2020