Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Virginia Wetlands Report Vol. 17, No. 2, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science

Virginia Wetlands Reports

• Hellgrammites and Their Relatives. Rebecca Jo Thomas
• Book Review Wetlands Explained. Walter I. Priest, III
• GPS Technology Lends Support to the Marsh Project. Marcia Berman and Harry Berquist
• Phragmites australis (Reed Grass) Bane or Beneficence? Kirk Havens
• Impacts of Sea Level Rise Studied in Pamunkey River Marshes. Carl Hershner
• Worldwide Shrimp Farming and Mangrove Wetland Losses: Are the Two Irrevocably Linked? Pam Mason

Characterization Of The Dust/Smoke Aerosol That Settled East Of The World Trade Center (Wtc) In Lower Manhattan After The Collapse Of The Wtc 11 September 2001, Paul J. Lioy, Clifford P. Weisel, Et Al, Robert C. Hale

VIMS Articles

The explosion and collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC) was a catastrophic event that produced an aerosol plume impacting many workers, residents, and commuters during the first few days after 11 September 2001. Three bulk samples of the total settled dust and smoke were collected at weather-protected locations east of the WTC on 16 and 17 September 200 1; these samples are representative of the generated material that settled immediately after the explosion and fire and the concurrent collapse of the two structures. We analyzed each sample, not differentiated by particle Size, for inorganic and organic composition. In the …

Chemical And Toxicological Characterization Of Tidal Freshwater Areas In The James River, Virginia From Jamestown Island To Jordan Point, Morris H. Roberts Jr., Mary Ann Vogelbein, Mark A. Richards, Lou Seivard

Reports

No abstract provided.

The Crest, Summer 2002, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science

Reports

Table of Contents:

• To B or not to B: Pair use trout to study kidney's role in nurturing fish immune cells
• VIMS researchers use sonar to study impact of pound nets on sea turtles
• New findings surprise Perkinsus researchers
• VIMS and Wales scientists initiate study of turbulence and sediment movement

Lancaster County Shoreline Situation Report, Marcia Berman, Tamia Rudnicky, Harry Berquist, Carl Hershner

Reports

No abstract provided.

Stable Carbon And Nitrogen Isotope Composition Of Aquatic And Terrestrial Plants Of The San Francisco Bay Estuarine System, Je Cloern, Elizabeth A. Canuel, D Harris

VIMS Articles

We report measurements of seasonal variability in the C-N stable isotope ratios of plants collected across the habitat mosaic of San Francisco Bay, its marshes, and its tributary river system. Analyses of 868 plant samples were binned into 10 groups (e.g., terrestrial riparian, freshwater phytoplankton, salt marsh) to determine whether C-N isotopes can be used as biomarkers for tracing the origins of organic matter in this river-marsh-estuary complex. Variability of delta(130)C and delta(15)N was high (similar to5-10parts per thousand) within each plant group, and we identified three modes of variability: (1) between species and their microhabitats, (2) over annual cycles …

Monitoring Relative Abundance Of American Shad In Virginia’S Rivers 2001 Annual Report, John E. Olney, Kristin L. Maki

Reports

Concern about the decline in landings of American shad (Alosa sapidissima) along the Atlantic coast prompted the development of an interstate fisheries management plan (FMP) under the auspices of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Management Program (ASMFC 1999). Legislation enables imposition of federal sanctions on fishing in those states that fail to comply with the FMP. To be in compliance, coastal states are required to implement and maintain fishery-dependent and fishery-independent monitoring programs as specified by the FMP. For Virginia, these requirements include spawning stock assessments, the collection of biological data on the spawning run (e.g., age-structure, sex ratio, spawning …

The Crest, Spring 2002, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science

Reports

Table of Contents:

• Computer modelers solve real-world problems
• Scientists take a new look at sources of nitrogen in estuaries
• VIMS beach research reveals erosional hotspots
• Large squid discovered
• VIMS develops new online tools for managers
• Marine industry trends--a tale of two fisheries
• VIMS urges caution in commercial release of non-native oysters
• VIMS scientists part of national study in Antarctica
• Pilot Sam White

Virginia’S Coastal Program: Strategic Mapping Of Management Goals, Jennifer Newton, Pamela Mason, Carl Hershner

Reports

Virginia’s Coastal Resources Management Program is a networked program bringing together the activities of many state agencies and institutions to achieve the overarching mission of coastal zone management. The Program’s objectives were originally set out in a series of 25 goals in the 1986 Executive Order (see Appendix B) that established the Program for the Commonwealth under the federal Coastal Zone Management Act. Beginning in May of 1999, representatives of the Virginia state agencies involved with the networked Coastal Program attended a series of meetings to develop logic maps of these twenty-five goals. This document represents the final results of …

The Virginia Wetlands Report Vol. 17, No. 1, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science

Virginia Wetlands Reports

• Spotted Sandpiper. Walter I. Priest, III
• Book Review Coastal Plants from Cape Cod to Cape Canaveral. David O’Brien
• Natural Resource Agencies Identify GIS Data Necessary to Address Agency Mandates. Marcia Berman
• Update on Virginia’s New and Improved Nontidal Wetlands Program. Ellen Gilinsky
• Studies Document Weaknesses in 404 Compensatory Mitigation. Tom Barnard
• Wetlands Yield Oriental Treats. Pam Mason

Status Of The Major Oyster Diseases In Virginia 2001 A Summary Of The Annual Monitoring Program, Lisa M. Ragone Calvo, Eugene M. Burreson

Reports

Thirty-nine oyster populations were surveyed for disease in fall 2001. Perkinsus marinus was found in all areas sampled and prevalence exceeded 90% at all but 5 sample locations. In the James River P. marinus prevalence ranged from 88-100% at Deepwater Shoal, Horsehead Rock, Point of Shoals, Wreck Shoal, Mulberry Point, Swash, Long Shoal, and Dry Shoal. A lower prevalence was observed down river at Thomas Rock, 72%, and at Nansemond Ridge, 12%. The extremely low prevalence at Nansemond Ridge is likely age and density related; the oyster population was primarily comprised of spat; few small to market oysters were present …

2002 Gloucester Point Station Tide Prediction Calendars, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science, David A. Evans

Miscellaneous

These calendars are produced monthly using David Evans' Tidecal.

2002 Hampton Roads Station Tide Prediction Calendars, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science, David A. Evans

Miscellaneous

These calendars are produced monthly using David Evans' Tidecal.

2002 Wachapreague Station Tide Prediction Calendars, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science, David A. Evans

Miscellaneous

These calendars are produced monthly using David Evans' Tidecal.

Multiyear Increases In Dissolved Organic Matter Inventories At Station Aloha In The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, Mj Church, Hw Ducklow, Dm Karl

VIMS Articles

The inventories and dynamics of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the surface water at Station ALOHA were analyzed from the Hawaii Ocean Time-series (HOT) data set for the period 1989-1999. Euphotic zone, depth-integrated (0-175 m) concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), nitrogen (DON), and phosphorus (DOP) were temporally variable. In particular, during the period 1993-1999, concentrations of DOC and DON increased while inventories of DOP remained unchanged. DOC inventories increased by 303 mmol C m(-2) yr(-1), a value equivalent to approximately 2% of measured primary production (C-14 method) at this site. DON increased at 11 mmol N m(-2) yr(-1), resulting …

Software And Hardware Methods For Memory Access Latency Reduction On Ilp Processors, Zhao Zhang

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

While microprocessors have doubled their speed every 18 months, performance improvement of memory systems has continued to lag behind. to address the speed gap between CPU and memory, a standard multi-level caching organization has been built for fast data accesses before the data have to be accessed in DRAM core. The existence of these caches in a computer system, such as L1, L2, L3, and DRAM row buffers, does not mean that data locality will be automatically exploited. The effective use of the memory hierarchy mainly depends on how data are allocated and how memory accesses are scheduled. In this …

Predicting Metal Interactions With A Novel Quantitative Ion Character -Activity Relationship (Qicar) Approach, David R. Ownby

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Environmental toxicologists adopted QSARs from pharmacology fairly early on to predict organic contaminant toxicity. In contrast, models relating metal ion characteristics to their bioactivity remain poorly explored and underutillized. Quantitative Ion Character-Activity Relationships (QICARs) have recently been developed to predict metal toxicity. The QICAR approach based on metal-ligand binding tendencies has been applied to a wide range of effects, species, and media on a single metal basis. In previous single metal studies, a softness parameter and the ; log of KOH ; were the ion qualities with the highest predictive value for toxicity. Here, QICAR modeling was brought a step …

Photochemical Production Of Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen And Primary Amines From Dissolved Organic Nitrogen In Waters Of Two Estuaries And Adjacent Surficial Groundwaters, Dj Koopmans, Da Bronk

VIMS Articles

Recent studies have shown that in a number of humic-rich surface waters in North America, NH4+ is released when dissolved organic matter (DOM) is exposed to sunlight. However, photochemical NH4+ production has not been observed in all surface waters, and factors that contribute to it are not well understood. We hypothesized that the presence or absence of NH4+ photoproduction may be affected by the light exposure history of DOM, The present study was undertaken to determine whether DOM from surficial groundwaters, with minimal light exposure history, would produce labile nitrogen (N) photoproducts more consistently, In this study, estuarine surface waters …

Photo Synthesis/Irradiance Relationships In The Ross Sea, Antarctica, And Their Control By Phytoplankton Assemblage Composition And Environmental Factors, C. M. Van Hilst, Walker O. Smith Jr.

VIMS Articles

The photosynthetic parameters of natural phytoplankton assemblages from the Ross Sea, Antarctica, as well as unialgal cultures of the diatom Pseudonitzschia sp. and the colonial haptophyte Phaeocystis antarctica were investigated to determine if differential responses to irradiance could explain the distribution of phytoplankton in the Ross Sea. Field assemblages had photosynthetic responses that suggested acclimation to low irradiance levels, and the initial rate of photosynthesis per unit chlorophyll (a) and the theoretical maximum rate of production (p(max)(B)) averaged 0,083 mg C (mg chl a)(-1) h(-1) (mumol m(-2) s(-1))(-1) and 2,40 mg C (mg chl a)(-1) h(-1), respectively. An increase in …

Stated Preference Methods For Environmental Management : Recreational Summer Flounder Angling In The Northeastern United States, Robert L. Hicks

Reports

Environmental managers are becoming increasingly aware that environmental policies must be crafted in a way that incorporates the human dimensions of the ecosystem. Failure to incorporate stakeholder preferences into management measures can lead to policies that fail because people’s preferences, motivations, and behavior concerning their use of the environment were not properly considered even if defensible natural science approaches were incorporated in the management decision. In this paper, we present a new method for quantifying angler preferences for fisheries management. The method, called the Stated Preference Discrete Choice Technique (SPDC) (Louviere et. al) is a particular form of conjoint analysis, …

Meta-Analysis And Modeling Of Benthic Oxygen And Nutrient Fluxes, Tyler Christensen

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

First-Principles Calculations Of Piezoelectricity And Polarization Rotation In Lead Zirconate Titanate, Zhigang Wu

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Recent experimental and theoretical work indicates that polarization rotation via a monoclinic phase at the morphotropic phase boundary in PZT is responsible for its large piezoelectric response. We performed Linearized augmented plane wave with the local orbital extension (LAPW+LO) method within local density approximation (LDA) on B-site [001]1:1 ordered Pb(Zr 0.5Ti0.5)O3 (PZT 50/50). We use a tetragonal super-cell and constrain it with monoclinic Cm space group. Atomic forces following the formulation of Yu et al. are calculated, and the conjugate gradient method is implemented to optimize the internal coordinates. Both the tetragonal (P4mm) and monoclinic (Cm) phases are reproduced, when …

Development Of A Watershed And Stream-Reach Spawning Habitat Model For River Herring Alosa Pseudoharengus And Alosa Aestivalis, Rebecca A. Boger

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

This research develops a model to identify indicators of potential suitable spawning habitat for river herring, Alosa pseudoharengus and A. aestivalis, using watershed and stream-reach metrics. The results of icthyoplankton samples collected from thirty-four streams feeding into the Rappahannock River below the Embree Dam at Fredericksburg indicate where river herring spawning occurred. Watershed and stream-reach metrics were either measured in the field or derived from digital data in a GIS. Benthic macroinvertebrate analysis was used to compare habitat quality among sites. Streams were classified as either absence or presence of herring eggs or larvae based on the results of the …

Estuarine Suspended Aggregate Dynamics And Characteristics, David C. Fugate

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The research presented in this study is motivated by the need to improve prediction of sediment transport in estuaries. A novel application of the Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) in the lower Chesapeake Bay is shown to estimate in-situ particle fall velocity at a single point without affecting the ambient turbulence. Acoustic backscatter from the ADV proved to be the best estimator of mass concentrations due to its apparent insensitivity to the size or density of muddy aggregates. Fall velocities are estimated analytically from a balance of settling and diffusive flux gradients using two methods, one employing Reynolds concentration flux, and …

Organism -Sediment Interactions: The Role Of Seabed Dynamics In Structuring The Mesohaline York River Macrobenthic Community, Elizabeth K. Hinchey

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Estuaries are dynamic physical environments. The stability of the sediment-water interface is influenced by sources and rates of sediment delivery and physical reworking of sediments by currents, tides, waves and biology, but effects of disruption of this interface on benthic biology are poorly resolved. For this study, I investigated effects of prevalent gradients in seabed disturbance processes and associated seabed characteristics on estuarine benthic community structure and function in the mesohaline York River, a tributary of Chesapeake Bay, USA. I used a variety of approaches to characterize the seabed, including sediment grain size, sediment water content, maximum depth of 7Be, …

The Ortho To Para Transition In Muonic Molecular Hydrogen, Jessica Higgins Deseret Clark

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

A precise measurement of the induced weak pseudoscalar coupling constant of the proton, gp, is of interest as a basic test of chiral symmetry breaking. This is the least well-known weak form factor of the nucleon. Muon capture experiments [Jonkmans et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 77(1996)4512] have been used to measure gp. However, the interpretation of these muon capture experiments requires knowledge of the relative population of the muonic atomic and molecular states for muons in liquid hydrogen. In particular, lambda op, the transition rate between the ortho- and para-molecular states of the pmup molecule, needs to be known with …

Virginia Game Fish Tagging Program Annual Report 2001, John A. Lucy, C.M. Bain Iii

Reports

The Virginia Game Fish Tagging Program (VGFTP), in its seventh year during 2001, systematically trains and assists anglers in tagging a select number of species important to Virginia's marine recreational fishery and maintains the resulting tagging database. A cooperative project of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), the program is primarily funded with revenues from Virginia's saltwater recreational fishing license funds (Recreational Fishing Development Fund). In addition, support for the program is provided by Virginia's Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program at VIMS.

Use Of Remote Sensing To Identify Essential Habitat For Aeschynomene Virginica (L) Bsp, A Threatened Tidal Freshwater Wetland Plant, Elizabeth M. Mountz

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

The Fusion And Integration Of Virtual Sensors, Thomas F. Litant

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

There are numerous sensors from which to choose when designing a mobile robot: ultrasonic, infrared, radar, or laser range finders, video, collision detectors, or beacon based systems such as the Global Positioning System. In order to meet the need for reliability, accuracy, and fault tolerance, mobile robot designers often place multiple sensors on the same platform, or combine sensor data from multiple platforms. The combination of the data from multiple sensors to improve reliability, accuracy, and fault tolerance is termed Sensor Fusion.;The types of robotic sensors are as varied as the properties of the environment that need to be sensed. …

Preparation And Characterization Of Polyimide/Organoclay Nanocomposites, Donavon Mark Delozier

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The purpose of this research was to prepare nanocomposite materials comprised of exfoliated clay particles in a polyimide matrix. Poly(amide acid)/organoclay solutions and polyimide/organoclay films were prepared and the clay dispersion was characterized by visual inspection, XRD, and TEM. Mechanical measurements and certain thermal characterization measurements were also obtained. The research began by attempting to repeat the procedures set forth in the literature. Most of the polyimide/organoclay nanocomposites were being prepared by mixing prepared poly(amide acid) solutions with organoclay solutions. This simple mixing technology was used in the preparation of various polyimide/organoclay hybrid formulations. In-situ polymerization, which involved performing the …