AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIORS AND THEIR EFFECT ON RESOURCE USE BY MALE LITTLE BROWN SKINKS, SCINCELLA LATERALIS

The aggressive behaviors of adult male Little Brown Skinks, Scincella lateralis, and their effects on access to an important resource (a single retreat) were the subject of a study consisting of 10 laboratory trials in which the behavioral interactions between a pair of individuals was recorded. Analysis of these interactions made it possible to identify a dominant and a subordinate male in each trial; the male with the greater bulk was dominant in 9 of the 10 trials. Aggressive behaviors recorded include lunging, chasing, and biting; the dominant male performed lunging significantly more often than the subordinate male and was the only individual to exhibit chasing. The most common behavior recorded was avoidance which was shown almost exclusively by the subordinate male. Both dominant and subordinate males exhibited tail twitching which we hypothesize to be a sign of agitation. The two males spent significantly more time on opposite sides of the observation chamber than on the same side and almost never occupied the single retreat simultaneously because the subordinate male repeatedly moved to avoid the dominant male. The implications of these results on spacing patterns and resource use of Scincella lateralis in the wild are discussed

Star Cluster Formation in Turbulent, Magnetized Dense Clumps with Radiative and Outflow Feedback

We present three Orion simulations of star cluster formation in a 1000 Msun, turbulent molecular cloud clump, including the effects of radiative transfer, protostellar outflows, and magnetic fields. Our simulations all use self-consistent turbulent initial conditions and vary the mean mass-to-flux ratio relative to the critical value over 2, 10, and infinity to gauge the influence of magnetic fields on star cluster formation. We find, in good agreement with previous studies, that magnetic fields of typically observed strengths lower the star formation rate by a factor of 2.4 and reduce the amount of fragmentation by a factor of 2 relative to the zero-field case. We also find that the field increases the characteristic sink particle mass, again by a factor of 2.4. The magnetic field also increases the degree of clustering in our simulations, such that the maximum stellar densities in the strong field case are higher than the others by again a factor of 2. This clustering tends to encourage the formation of multiple systems, which are more common in the rad-MHD runs than the rad-hydro run. The companion frequency in our simulations is consistent with observations of multiplicity in Class I sources, particularly for the strong field case. Finally, we find evidence of primordial mass segregation in our simulations reminiscent of that observed in star clusters like the Orion Nebula Cluster.Comment: 21 pages, 17 figures, accepted by MNRA

Coal Mechanization and Migration from McDowell County, West Virginia, 1932-1970.

The economy and population of McDowell County, West Virginia, drastically decreased between 1950 and 1970. The increased reliance of the coal industry, McDowell County\u27s primary industry, on labor saving machinery resulted in a loss of employment opportunities. This study seeks to investigate the reasons for the reliance on coal and the results of the mechanization movement in the coal industry on McDowell County. Using production and employment data of two representative McDowell County coal companies, it is clear that the introduction of continuous mining machines, which combined the cutting and loading of coal into one step, allowed companies to mine more coal with fewer workers. Because the economy of McDowell County was so coal-intensive, the increased unemployment caused by mechanization forced many miners to migrate to such midwestern industrial centers as Cleveland or Columbus

Unique Lifting to a Functor

We develop a functorial approach to quotient constructions, defining morphisms quotient relative to a functor and the dual concept of unique liftings relative to a functor. Various classes of epimorphism are given detailed analysis and their relationship to quotient morphisms characterized. The behavior of unique lifting morphisms with respect to products, equalizers, and general limits in a category are studied. Applications to generalized covering space theory, coreflective subcategories of topological spaces, topological groups and rings, and Galois theory are explored. Finally, we give conditions for the product of two quotient morphisms to be quotient in a braided monoidal closed category

Floral Resource Availability and Butterfly Community Characteristics in CP-42 Pollinator Habitat Plantings

Prairies once covered approximately 85% of Iowa, but due to extensive habitat loss less than 0.1% of native prairies remain (Smith 1998). Habitat loss in Iowa has been driven by agricultural expansion and intensification, and has resulted in the decline of many native insect pollinators. To curb habitat loss and restore habitat for pollinators, USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) provides private landowners incentives to enroll agricultural land into the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Pollinator Habitat (CP-42) practice. The CP-42 conservation practice requires landowners to seed at least 9 species of pollinator friendly wildflowers, legumes, or shrubs on enrolled lands. CP-42 seed mixes must include least three species during each of three bloom periods (April-June 15, June 15- July, and August-October) (USDA 2011). About 50% of all CP42 acres are seeded in Iowa (USDA 2018). We have developed methods for evaluating floral resources and habitat quality for butterflies at CP-42 sites in central Iowa. Our study will produce data to assess the quality of habitat produced by the CP-42 program and to provide information about the effectiveness of the CP-42 program to Farm Service Agency

Simulation of Abnormal/Normal Brain States Using the KIV Model

Recent studies have focused on the phenomena of abnormal electrical brain activity which may transition into a debilitating seizure state through the entrainment of large populations of neurons.Starting from the initial epileptogenisis of a small population of abnormally firing neurons, to the mobilization of mesoscopic neuron populations behaving in a synchronous manner, a model has been formulated that captures the initial epileptogenisis to the semi-periodic entrainment of distant neuron populations.The normal non-linear dynamic signal captured through EEG, moves into a semi-periodic state, which can be quantified as the seizure state.Capturing the asynchronous/synchronous behavior of the normal/pathological brain state will be discussed.This model will also demonstrate how electrical stimulation applied to the limbic system restores the seizure state of the brain back to its original normal condition.Human brain states are modeled using a biologically inspired neural network, the KIV model.The KIV model exhibits the noisy, chaotic attributes found in the limbic system of brains of higher forms of organisms, and in its normal basal state, represents the homogeneous activity of millions of neuron activations.The KIV can exhibit the ’unbalanced state’ of neural activity, whereas when a small cluster of abnormal firing neurons starts to exhibit periodic neural firings that eventually entrain all the neurons within the limbic system, the network has moved into the ‘seizure’ state.These attributes have been found in human EEG recordings and have been duplicated in this model of the brain.The discussion in this dissertation covers the attributes found in human EEG data and models these attributes.Additionally, this model proposes a methodology to restore the modeled ‘seizure’ state, and by doing so, proposes a manner for external electrical titration to restore the abnormal seizure state back to a normal chaotic EEG signal state.Quantification measurements of normal, abnormal, and restoration to normal brain states will be exhibited using the following approaches:Analysis of human EEG dataQuantification measurements of brain states.Development of models of the different brain states, i.e. fit parameters of the model on individual personal data/history.Implementation of quantitative measurements on “restored” simulated seizure state

A Unified Approach to State and Municipal Tort Liability in Washington

This Comment examines and analyzes the two judicially created limitations on governmental tort liability in Washington. It concludes that the discretionary governmental acts immunity is a proper limitation on governmental tort liability, but that the public duty doctrine should be abandoned

Evolution of late Cretaceous-early Tertiary depositional sequences in the Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin, Canada

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 1994The Maastrichtian to Lower Eocene rocks of the Fish River and Aklak sequences of Arctic Canada's Beaufort-Mackenzie basin were deposited during the northward migration of a fold and thrust belt across a north-facing passive margin. Detailed outcrop analysis performed in this study has resulted in delineation of the depositional processes, environments and history of systems tracts contained within the Fish River sequence. The Fish River sequence contains Maastrichtian to Lower Paleocene rocks of the Tent Island and Moose Channel Formations of the Fish River Group. This 1900 m thick terrigenous clastic succession consists of channelized conglomerate, sandstone and siltstone overlain by mudstone and capped by a large scale coarsening-upward package of interbedded mudstone, sandstone and conglomerate. Regional unconformities separate the Fish River Group from both the underlying shale of the Cenomanian to Turonian Boundary Creek Formation and the overlying conglomerate, sandstone, mudstone, and coal of the Paleocene to Eocene Aklak Member of the Reindeer Formation. The Fish River Group records a systematic vertical succession of depositional environments including submarine canyon, slope to outer shelf, prodelta, delta front and lower and upper delta plain. The succession of paleoenvironments, regional stratigraphic correlations and relationships, thickness and age control, and bounding unconformities suggest that the Fish River Group records the evolution of a complete type-1, second order, depositional sequence. The Cuesta Creek Member at the base of the Fish River sequence consists of stacked fining-upward channel fills consisting of conglomerate, sandstone and siltstone. The channel fills contain a complex assemblage of high and low density turbidites, current deposits, debris flows, slumps, and slide blocks. These deposits record the complex fill history of a coarse-grained lowstand submarine canyon system. The internal stratigraphic organization of the Fish River sequence records alternating periods of uplift and subsidence in the Beaufort-Mackenzie basin. The scale and timing of these episodes, combined with the environments of deposition and lithologic character of the rocks, suggests that the driving mechanism was alternating episodes of subsidence due to thrusting followed by flexural rebound

Deindustrialization and the decline of community in the coalfields: McDowell County, West Virginia, 1950--2000

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the coal industry entered McDowell County, a predominantly rural county in southern West Virginia. Because of common experiences working and living in the coalfields, workers of significantly different backgrounds created a unique, working-class community in McDowell County. Although the coal industry experienced numerous downturns during the first half of the twentieth century, there was a long-term rise in the number of workers employed by the industry. By 1950, McDowell County had a population of almost 100,000, most of which was impacted by the coal industry.;After World War II, however, the industry began to change. Competition from alternative fuels, such as oil, natural gas, and nuclear power, forced coal companies to cut costs in order to survive in a tight market. Companies first tried mechanization to cut labor costs, a phenomenon that had roots well before the post-war period. For those companies that could not, or would not, implement machinery, the only true alternative was to close the mines.;I argue that deindustrialization, the combination of mechanization and disinvestment in McDowell County, contributed to the loss of the unique coalfield community that flourished in the county during much of the twentieth century. This occurred in two ways. First, many former miners left the county in an attempt to find work; most migrated either to the Midwest or to Maryland. Second, those who remained found a county much different than before. The lack of diversification in the county\u27s economy limited the employment prospects of the people remaining, leading to a significant increase in poverty. The decline in coal employment and the increase in poverty created a society of contrasts, where some residents succeeded, while many more struggled to survive