Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Itr/Im: Enabling The Creation And Use Of Geogrids For Next Generation Geospatial Information, Peggy Agouris, Mary-Kate Beard-Tisdale, Chaitanya Baru, Sarah Nusser

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

The objective of this project is to advance science in information management, focusing in particular on geospatial information. It addresses the development of concepts, algorithms, and system architectures to enable users on a grid to query, analyze, and contribute to multivariate, quality-aware geospatial information. The approach consists of three complementary research areas: (1) establishing a statistical framework for assessing geospatial data quality; (2) developing uncertainty-based query processing capabilities; and (3) supporting the development of space- and accuracy-aware adaptive systems for geospatial datasets. The results of this project will support the extension of the concept of the computational grid to facilitate …

Information And Data Management Program's Pi Workshop, Peggy Agouris

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

The objective of this workshop is to bring together the PIs and Co-PIs currently funded by the Information and Data Management Program of the National Science Foundation to discuss and exchange ideas on the focus topics of their field, as well as to identify and elaborate on emerging themes and particular emphases for future activities.

More specifically, the researchers, along with selected industry and government invitees, cooperatively focused on:

(1) analyzing research and development issues fundamental in making progress towards new challenges imposed by such diverse data sources as the Internet, embedded and distributed sensors, and satellites;

(2) specifying areas …

Information And Data Management Program's Pi Workshop, Peggy Agouris

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

The objective of this workshop is to bring together the PIs and Co-PIs currently funded by the Information and Data Management Program of the National Science Foundation to discuss and exchange ideas on the focus topics of their field, as well as to identify and elaborate on emerging themes and particular emphases for future activities.

More specifically, the researchers, along with selected industry and government invitees, cooperatively focused on:

(1) analyzing research and development issues fundamental in making progress towards new challenges imposed by such diverse data sources as the Internet, embedded and distributed sensors, and satellites;

(2) specifying areas …

Linking Bioturbation And Sensory Biology: Chemoreception Mechanisms In Deposit-Feeding Polychaetes, Sara M. Lindsay, Paul Rawson

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

Soft-sediment benthic habitats are ubiquitous in the marine environment and typically feature macrofaunal assemblages that include large numbers of deposit-feeding invertebrates such as polychaetes, bivalves, gastropods, crustaceans, holothurians, and hemichordates. Via their feeding, modulated in part by chemoreception, these organisms have profound effects on the ecology, biology, geology, and chemistry of their habitats. Very little is known, however, concerning the physiology and molecular biology of chemoreception in deposit feeders.

This research is a comprehensive investigation of the sensory mechanisms coordinating chemoreception in deposit feeding spionid polychaetes. It directly addresses this lack of information and will therefore have a significant impact …

Tb195: Element Concentrations In Maine Forest Vegetation And Soils, Chandra J. Mcgee, Ivan J. Fernandez, Stephen A. Norton, Constance S. Stubbs

Technical Bulletins

Bioaccumulation of trace metals in plant tissues can present a health risk to wildlife, and potentially to humans. The Passamaquoddy Tribe in Maine was concerned about health risks of cadmium (Cd) because of a health advisory for moose liver and kidney consumption due to high Cd levels. In addition to Cd, this study evaluated concentrations of aluminum (Al), calcium (Ca), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), manganese (Mn), nickel (Ni), phosphorus (P), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn) in four common terrestrial moose-browse species, associated forest soils, and two species of aquatic vegetation on Passamaquoddy tribal land in eastern …

The Aeolian Flux Of Calcium, Chloride And Nitrate To The Mcmurdo Dry Valleys Landscape: Evidence From Snow Pit Analysis, Rebecca A. Witherow, W. Berry Lyons, Nancy A.N. Bertler, Kathleen A. Welch, Paul Andrew Mayewski, Sharon B. Sneed, Thomas Nylen, Michael J. Handley, Andrew Fountain

Earth Science Faculty Scholarship

We have determined the flux of calcium, chloride and nitrate to the McMurdo Dry Valleys region by analysing snow pits for their chemical composition and their snow accumulation using multiple records spanning up to 48 years. The fluxes demonstrate patterns related to elevation and proximity to the ocean. In general, there is a strong relationship between the nitrate flux and snow accumulation, indicating that precipitation rates may have a great influence over the nitrogen concentrations in the soils of the valleys. Aeolian dust transport plays an important role in the deposition of some elements (e.g. C(2+)) into the McMurdo Dry …

The Effects Of Joint Enso-Antarctic Oscillation Forcing On The Mcmurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, Nancy A.N. Bertler, T. R. Naish, H. Oerter, S. Kipfstuhl, P. J. Barrett, Paul Andrew Mayewski, Karl J. Kreutz

Earth Science Faculty Scholarship

Stable oxygen analyses and snow accumulation rates from snow pits sampled in the McMurdo Dry Valleys have been used to reconstruct variations in summer temperature and moisture availability over the last four decades. The temperature data show a common interannual variability, with strong regional warmings occurring especially in 1984/85, 1995/96 and 1990/91 and profound coolings during 1977/78, 1983/84, 1988/89, 1993/94, and 1996/97. Annual snow accumulation shows a larger variance between sites, but the early 1970s, 1984, 1997, and to a lesser degree 1990/91 are characterized overall by wetter conditions, while the early and late 1980s show low snow accumulation values. …

Minerva 2006, The Honors College

Minerva

This issue of Minerva includes an article on the course "Honors for All Ages," an Honors course offered at Penobscot Valley Senior College; an interview with notable Honors alum, Bernard Lown; and a celebration of the life of former Honors Program Director, Ulrich Wicks.

Surface Modification Of Pigments And Its Role In Offset Ink Setting, Wei Gu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ink setting affects offset print quality issues such as print mottle and print gloss. It is known that ink setting depends on many factors, such as the nature of the substrate, the properties of the coating, and the ink formulation. However, the role of pigment surface chemistry in offset ink setting is unknown. From an experimental perspective, it is difficult to determine the role of the surface chemistry as it requires paper coatings that are similar in physical properties and differ only in the pigment surface chemistry. The aim of this study was two-fold. The first was to apply methods …

Yellow Tree: A Distributed Main-Memory Spatial Index Structure For Moving Objects, Hariharan Gowrisankar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mobile devices equipped with wireless technologies to communicate and positioning systems to locate objects of interest are common place today, providing the impetus to develop location-aware applications. At the heart of location-aware applications are moving objects or objects that continuously change location over time, such as cars in transportation networks or pedestrians or postal packages. Location-aware applications tend to support the tracking of very large numbers of such moving objects as well as many users that are interested in finding out about the locations of other moving objects. Such location-aware applications rely on support from database management systems to model, …

Determining Environmental Drivers Of Fish Community Structure Along The Coast Of Maine, Adrian Jordaan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The work presented here was conceived to determine whether structure in marine communities could be related to multiple scaled environmental parameters, as seen in lake and stream systems. Four datasets collected from 2001 to 2005 were used. The datasets ranged from local scale tidepool and estuarine surveys, to more regional intertidal/subtidal surveys and conclude using a coast-wide trawl survey. Initially, a bootstrap program for running principal component analysis (PCA) was developed and tested for utility with additional information from Pearson correlation coefficients. The bootstrap-PC A program was capable of determining confidence limits for correlations amongst species. The results from analysis …

Diel And Tidal Rhythms Of Emercenge Events Based On Acousitc Observations In A Shallow Estuary, Mei Sato

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Field observations of emergence events by epibenthic animals were conducted with two Tracor Acoustic Profiling Systems (TAPS) in the Damariscotta River estuary, Maine, in fall 2005 and summer 2006. Spectral analysis revealed that periodic temporal variability of the acoustic signals was concentrated at four periods. One was the solar day (24 h) and the other three were lunar tidal periods of 25.82 (diurnal or Oi), 12.42 (semidiurnal or M2) and 6.21 h (half the semidiurnal period). The mysid Neomysis americana showed strong nocturnal migration patterns of water-column activity during its peak summer emergence season, regulated by the diel cycle. Toward …

Production Of Ethanol From Hardwood, Jay Mitchell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Diminishing crude oil and natural gas supplies, along with concern about greenhouse gas are major driving forces in the search for efficient renewable energy sources. The conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to energy and useful chemicals is a component of the solution. Ethanol is most commonly produced by enzymatic hydrolysis of complex carbohydrates to simple sugars followed by fermentation using yeast.

C₆H_l0O₅ + H₂O −Enxymes→ C₆H₁₂O₆ −Yeast→ 2CH₃CH₂OH + 2C0₂

In the U.S. corn is the primary starting raw material for commercial ethanol production. …

Satellite Remote Sensing Of Glaciers And Ice Caps In Svalbard, Eurasian High Arctic, Gordon S. Hamilton

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

Recent compilations of climate-related observations show that important changes are now underway in the High Arctic, probably as a response to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions over the last approximately 250 years. These changes include warming of the troposphere, reductions in sea ice cover, decreases in snow cover area, warming of tundra permafrost, and negative mass balances of glaciers and ice caps. In many instances, observations of change are relatively short in duration or sparse in spatial extent. The Principal Investigators will study glacier and ice cap variations over the approximately last 80 years and at a large scale on Svalbard. …

U.S.-Japan-Hong Kong Planning Visit: Long Term Collaborative Research Studying Fe Effects On Ecosystem Structure In The Subarctic Pacific, Mark L. Wells

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

This award supports a short-term U.S-Japan-Hong Kong Planning Visit in preparation for a long-term collaborative research project studying Fe effects on ecosystem structure in the Sub arctic Pacific. The collaborators are Professor Mark Wells at the University of Maine and Professor Shigenobu Takeda at the University of Tokyo in Japan and Professor Paul Harrison at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Virtually the entire Sub arctic Pacific to the Aleutian Islands is a High Nitrate Low Chlorophyll (HNLC) region, characterized by persistently elevated concentrations of macronutrients throughout the year. Independent studies have demonstrated that a shortage of the …

Collaborative Research: The Tectonothermal Evolution Of A Convergent Orogen, Scott E. Johnson

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

Understanding of orogenesis and its relations to mantle convection and plate tectonics relies on integrated studies of the interrelations among processes of deformation, metamorphism and magmatism. A well preserved portion of the northern Appalachian orogen is providing an outstanding laboratory for a truly integrative study of the evolution of mid-crustal processes that strongly influence orogenesis. This project is employing structural, microstructural, petrologic and thermobarometric analyses, and chemical and isotopic dating, to temporally and spatially link deformation, metamorphism and magmatism during the progressive growth of this orogenic belt. This information is being used to set constraints and boundary conditions on coupled, …

An Aquaculture-Based Method For Calibrated Bivalve Isotope Paleothermometry, Alan D. Wanamaker Jr., Karl J. Kreutz, Harold W. Borns Jr., Douglas S. Introne, Scott Feindel, Bruce J. Barber

Earth Science Faculty Scholarship

To quantify species- specific relationships between bivalve carbonate isotope geochemistry ( delta O-18(c)) and water conditions ( temperature and salinity, related to water isotopic composition [delta O-18(w)]), an aquaculture-based methodology was developed and applied to Mytilus edulis ( blue mussel). The four- by- three factorial design consisted of four circulating temperature baths ( 7, 11, 15, and 19 degrees C) and three salinity ranges ( 23, 28, and 32 parts per thousand ( ppt); monitored for delta O-18(w) weekly). In mid- July of 2003, 4800 juvenile mussels were collected in Salt Bay, Damariscotta, Maine, and were placed in each configuration. …

Collaborative Research: Millennial-Scale Fluctuations Of Dry Valleys Lakes: Implications For Regional Climate Variability And The Interhemispheric (A)Synchrony Of Climate Change, Brenda Hall, Glenn Berger

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

This award supports a project to add to the understanding of what drives glacial cycles. Most researchers agree that Milankovitch seasonal forcing paces the ice ages but how these insolation changes are leveraged into abrupt global climate change remains unknown. A current popular view is that the climate of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean leads that of the rest of the world by a couple thousand years at Termination I and by even greater margins during previous terminations. This project will integrate the geomorphological record of glacial history with a series of cores taken from the lake bottoms in the …

Calving Giant Icebergs: Old Principles, New Applications, James P. Kenneally, Terence J. Huges

Earth Science Faculty Scholarship

Earth-orbiting satellites can now monitor calving of large icebergs from ice shelves bordering the marine West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and recent calving events have stimulated interest in calving mechanisms. To advance this interest pioneering work in brittle and ductile fracture mechanics is reviewed, leading to a new application to calving of giant icebergs from Antarctic ice shelves. The aim is to view iceberg calving as more than terminal events for Antarctic ice when glaciologists lose interest. Instead calving launches Antarctic ice into the larger dynamic system of Earth's climate machine. This encourages a holistic approach to glaciology.

Phytoplankton In The Damariscotta River Estuary, Brian Thompson, Mary Jane Perry, Christopher V. Davis

Maine Sea Grant Publications

This research project examined the distribution of phytoplankton in the Damariscotta River, as well as environmental factors, such as nutrients, light, and physical conditions, in order to assess the estuary’s ability to sustain additional farms.

Mt. Piscgah Community Conservation Area Management Plan, Winthrop Conservation Commission, Kennebec Land Trust

Maine Town Documents

The 94-acre Mt. Pisgah Community Conservation Area was established in 2003 when the Maine Forest Service granted a conservation easement to the Kennebec Land Trust and then sold the property to the Town of Winthrop. The successful protection of the Mt Pisgah tower property culminated a community-wide effort to conserve the area for outdoor recreation, water quality protection, and continued access to the lookout tower.

Antarctic Temperatures Over The Past Two Centuries From Ice Cores, David P. Schneider, Eric J. Steig, Tas D. Van Ommen, Daniel A. Dixon, Paul Andrew Mayewski, Julie M. Jones, Cecilia M. Bitz

Earth Science Faculty Scholarship

We present a reconstruction of Antarctic mean surface temperatures over the past two centuries based on water stable isotope records from high-resolution, precisely dated ice cores. Both instrumental and reconstructed temperatures indicate large interannual to decadal scale variability, with the dominant pattern being anti-phase anomalies between the main Antarctic continent and the Antarctic Peninsula region. Comparative analysis of the instrumental Southern Hemisphere (SH) mean temperature record and the reconstruction suggests that at longer timescales, temperatures over the Antarctic continent vary in phase with the SH mean. Our reconstruction suggests that Antarctic temperatures have increased by about 0.2 degrees C since …

Personal Privacy Protection Within Pervasive Rfid Environments, Eeva Kaarina Hedefine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent advancements in location tracking technologies have increased the threat to an individual's personal privacy. Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology allows for the identification and potentially continuous tracking of an object or individual, without obtaining the individual's consent or even awareness that the tracking is taking place. Although many positive applications for RFID technology exist, for example in the commercial sector and law enforcement, the potential for abuse in the collection and use of personal information through this technology also exists. Location data linked to other types of personal information allows not only the detection of past spatial travel and …

Modeling Large Whale Entanglement Injuries: An Experimental Analysis Of The Influence Of Tissue Compliance, Line Tension, And Draw-Length On Epidermal Abrasion Resistance, Jeremy Paul Winn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Two test systems were developed to evaluate the influence of draw-length and tissue compliance on entanglement-induced epidermal abrasion in humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae) and right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) tissue samples. Under straight pull abrasion tests an adult right whale fluke required 3.7 times the load and 15 times the draw-length of a right whale calf flipper to induce epidermal failure while a humpback fluke was intermediate between these extremes. Epidermal thickness did not appear to be the cause of this difference in abrasion resistance. Epidermal thickness averaged 8.0k0.2 mm for the calf flipper, 4.9k0.4 rnrn for the humpback fluke, and 5.1k0.1 …

Semantic Similarity Of Spatial Scenes, Konstantinos A. Nedas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The formalization of similarity in spatial information systems can unleash their functionality and contribute technology not only useful, but also desirable by broad groups of users. As a paradigm for information retrieval, similarity supersedes tedious querying techniques and unveils novel ways for user-system interaction by naturally supporting modalities such as speech and sketching. As a tool within the scope of a broader objective, it can facilitate such diverse tasks as data integration, landmark determination, and prediction making. This potential motivated the development of several similarity models within the geospatial and computer science communities. Despite the merit of these studies, their …

Ice Core Evidence For A Second Volcanic Eruption Around 1809 In The Northern Hemisphere, Kaplan Yalcin, Cameron P. Wake, Karl J. Kreutz, Mark S. Germani, Sallie I. Whitlow

Earth Science Faculty Scholarship

A volcanic signal observed in ice cores from both polar regions six years prior to Tambora is attributed to an unknown tropical eruption in 1809. Recovery of dacitic tephra from the 1809 horizon in a Yukon ice core ( Eclipse) that is chemically distinct from andesitic 1809 tephra found in Antarctic ice cores indicates a second eruption in the Northern Hemisphere at this time. Together with the similar magnitude and timing of the 1809 volcanic signal in the Arctic and Antarctic, this could suggest a large tropical eruption produced the sulfate and Antarctic tephra and a minor Northern Hemisphere eruption …

Collaborative Research: Agulhas-South Atlantic Thermohaline Transport Experiment (Asttex), Deirdre A. Byrne

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

A field experiment is proposed, which will provide multi-year time series of salt, heat, and mass transports from the Agulhas retroflection region into the South Atlantic subtropical gyre. The program will deploy inverted echo sounders, both with and without pressure sensors and near-bottom current meters. The in situ data will be complemented with satellite data, both SST and altimetry. Historical data will also be included in the data analysis. The success of the program is based substantially on a new technique, GEM-ETTA, for analyzing IES (inverted echo sounder) and PIES (pressure and inverted echo sounder) data. Analysis of the field …

Collaborative Research: Biogeochemical Modeling Of Carbon Partitioning In The Pacific: The Role Of Si And Fe In Regulating Production By Siliceous And Calcifying Phytoplankton, Fei Chai

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

Physical and biological interactions play a complex role in the partitioning of carbon between the atmosphere, upper ocean, deep ocean and sediments. At present, interdisciplinary models offer the best means to test hypotheses about how carbon partitioning is regulated in various oceanic regions on time scales of years to centuries. A new interdisciplinary model will integrate advances in several areas to test two related hypotheses: 1) that switches in community and productivity dominance between diatoms and other phytoplankton groups (e.g. non?siliceous picoplankton and calcifying phytoplankton) significantly affect carbon partitioning, vary spatially and temporally and are regulated by a combination of …

Collaborative Research: Globec-01: Tidal Front Mixing And Exchange On Georges Bank: Controls On The Production Of Phytoplankton, Zooplankton, And Larval Fishes, David W. Townsend, Robert Houghton

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

Georges Bank supports a rich fishery because: (1) large portions of the bank are shallow enough that light-limitation of phytoplankton is usually not important; (2) deep waters rich in inorganic nutrients are available for mixing onto the bank; and (3) the Bank's clockwise circulation can retain the planktonic stages of important fish species. The tidally mixed front (TMF) is central to the productivity of Georges Bank through the processes of nutrient injection in the north and retention of larvae on the south flank. These two regions are connected by a circulation pathway along the front in which nutrients lead to …

Collaborative Research: A Glaciochemical Record Of Natural And Anthropengic Environmental Change In The Northwestern North American Arctic, Karl J. Kreutz

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

This is a collaborative proposal between the Universities of New Hampshire and Maine and the Geological Survey of Canada. This Office of International Science and Engineering is contributing to this award. The Principal Investigators will recover two ice cores the Eclipse Icefield (3100 meters) in the St. Elias
Mountains, Yukon Territory, Canada in cooperation with the Geological Survey of Canada in 2002. The core will be analyzed for stable isotopes, major ions, trace elements, rare earth elements and persistent organic pollutants. The Eclipse record will provide, for the first time, detailed depositional histories of a wide variety of pollutants during …