Impact of mid-successional dominant species on the diversity and progress of succession in regenerating temperate grasslands

(i) Which species dominate mid-successional old-fields in Hungary? How does the identity of these species relate to local (patch-scale) diversity and to the progress of succession? (ii) Which species have the strongest negative impact on diversity in spontaneous old-field succession and what generalizations are possible about traits of these species? (iii) Are these species dominant or subordinate components in mature target communities? (iv) Do native or alien species have stronger effects on the diversity and progress of succession

Predicting Air Concentration from Source Concentrations: An Evaluation of Benzene Emissions from a Benzene Hazardous Waste Stream

Benzene is a common chemical in hazardous waste streams. Benzene contaminated wastes may come in the form of a liquid, solid, or sludge. The amount of benzene seen in waste streams depends upon the generator. The generator in this study has a steady supply of benzene wastes. The waste stream has the same consistency as waste streams from other generators; however there is variability in the concentration of benzene. As a result due to the lack of a consistent concentration, additional respiratory protection is in use to mitigate any additional risk from benzene. The waste is processed on average within of week of receiving the shipment from the waste generator. A full service laboratory, located on site, is devoted to testing all incoming waste. However, the lab is not set up to process or analyze any environmental testing samples. All environmental testing media is sent to another laboratory for testing. The facility uses passive badge testing to measure atmospheric benzene concentrations. These values are used to determine what form of respiratory protection is needed. On average, it takes 2-3 weeks to receive the results from the badges which is well after the waste has been processed. This report investigated the potential relationship between the benzene values seen in the waste as compared to the values seen from the results of the badge testing. It is hypothesized that a factor based calculation from a comparison of benzene in the waste and atmosphere, similar to what is used in Method 1311: Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure may predict what atmospheric concentrations of benzene would be for certain concentrations seen in waste. Statistical analysis, including a Pearson correlation, indicated significant variability and a lack of linearity for the waste stream benzene concentration and the atmospheric concentration datasets. Factor calculated atmospheric benzene concentrations displayed a difference of 28% from the observed atmospheric value. This report showed the difficulty in attempting to predict the atmospheric concentration of a chemical for the basis of determining the proper amount of respiratory protection

Living Up to the Legacy

A Montana Public Radio Commentary by Evan Barrett. Published newspaper columns written by Evan Barrett on this topic, which vary somewhat in content from this commentary, appeared in the following publications: Missoulian, April 18, 2014 Havre Daily News, April 21, 2014 Montana Standard, April 21, 2014 Independent Record, April 23, 2014 Billings Gazette, April 23, 101

Formats for Section Safety Messages in Printed Manuals

This study compared four formats for safety messages in printed manuals based on layouts found in a new standard of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI Z535.6, 2006). These four designs are specifically for use as section safety messages. Two used a signal word panel, and two used a safety alert symbol (exclamation in a triangle). The four formats were rated by 55 college students from three different classes using a five-point scale for hazardousness. All four messages were presented on the same page of a test booklet, with order balanced using a Latin Square. Results of a Friedman test indicated significant differences in ratings. The ranked order of the formats based on estimated median was yellow safety alert symbol left of the text (3.37), signal word in black panel above text (3.13), signal word in black panel imbedded in first line of text (2.87), and black hazard alert symbol left of the text (2.13). Post-hoc analyses of ratings using a Bonferroni test indicated the signs fit into three groups: the two highest rated signs, the second and third rated signs, and the lowest rated sign

Montana Canvas Tent Structure Design

Montana Canvas is one of the premier tent building companies in the world. Their product line includes backcountry tents, wall tents, and large scale shipping tarps. Currently they are looking to expand their product line to include large party tents of up to 60’ in width. Eric Schowengerdt and Nick Morales, both Mechanical Engineering students at Montana Tech, have both designed fixtures and verified several of the fixtures already in use by Montana Canvas. These fixtures were put through finite element analysis on a computer and many static hand calculations, which simulated the loading on them from 120 mph to 85 mph wind conditions. This report will outline the processes used to determine the max loading area, alternative solutions to the structure, and finite element analysis on the structure

Comparison of Two Surface Contamination Sampling Techniques Conducted for the Characterization of Two Pajarito Site Manhattan Project National Historic Park Properties

Technical Area-18 (TA-18), also known as Pajarito Site, is located on Los Alamos National Laboratory property and has historic buildings that will be included in the Manhattan Project National Historic Park. Characterization studies of metal contamination were needed in two of the four buildings that are on the historic registry in this area, a “battleship” bunker building (TA-18-0002) and the Pond cabin (TA-18-0029). However, these two buildings have been exposed to the elements, are decades old, and have porous and rough surfaces (wood and concrete). Due to these conditions, it was questioned whether standard wipe sampling would be adequate to detect surface dust metal contamination in these buildings. Thus, micro-vacuum and surface wet wipe sampling techniques were performed side-by-side at both buildings and results were compared statistically. A two-tail paired t-test revealed that the micro-vacuum and wet wipe techniques were statistically different for both buildings. Further mathematical analysis revealed that the wet wipe technique picked up more metals from the surface than the microvacuum technique. Wet wipes revealed concentrations of beryllium and lead above internal housekeeping limits; however, using an yttrium normalization method with linear regression analysis between beryllium and yttrium revealed a correlation indicating that the beryllium levels were likely due to background and not operational contamination. PPE and administrative controls were implemented for National Park Service (NPS) and Department of Energy (DOE) tours as a result of this study. Overall, this study indicates that the micro-vacuum technique may not be an efficient technique to sample for metal dust contamination

Vise Assembly

This poster illustrates the assembly of an engineer\u27s vise, also known as a metal working bench vise or a fitter\u27s vise. The purpose of this project is to enhance the student\u27s ability to understand a basic engineering process.https://digitalcommons.mtech.edu/stdt_rsch_day_2013/1007/thumbnail.jp

Induction Furnace Smelting of Montana Chromite

In 1939 the total world production of crude chromite was approximately 1,167,000 metric tons; of which the United States produced only 3,672 metric tons and imported over 317,500 metric tons. Imports came mostly from the Philippine Islands, Cuba, South Africa, and Rhodesia

A Geological Report on Several Localities in the Northwestern Tobacco Root Mountains

To better acquaint seniors in Geology and mining with actual field practice, the Montana School of Mines offer a course in Geologic Field Mapping, during the three weeks preceding the opening of the fall semester. The first two weeks are spent in actual field mapping of the geologic formations near Whitehall, Montana, while the third week is spent back on the campus compiling data and finishing maps started in the field

America’s Newest Citizen - John Q. Corporation

A Montana Public Radio Commentary by Evan Barrett. Published newspaper columns written by Evan Barrett on this topic, which vary somewhat in content from this commentary, appeared in the following publications: Ravali Republic, July 19, 2014 Missoulian, July 11, 2014 Independent Record, July 16, 2014 Flathead Beacon, July 17, 201