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Comment On Faa Rule Revision - Transport Category Aircraft, Paul F. Eschenfelder, Valter Battistoni Nov 2015

Comment On Faa Rule Revision - Transport Category Aircraft, Paul F. Eschenfelder, Valter Battistoni

Paul F. Eschenfelder

No abstract provided.


Toxicodynamic Modeling Of 137cs To Estimate White-Tailed Deer Background Levels For The Department Of Energy's Savannah River Site, Karen F. Gaines, James M. Novak, Christopher W. Bobryk, Susan A. Blas Jan 2014

Toxicodynamic Modeling Of 137cs To Estimate White-Tailed Deer Background Levels For The Department Of Energy's Savannah River Site, Karen F. Gaines, James M. Novak, Christopher W. Bobryk, Susan A. Blas

Karen F. Gaines

The U.S. Department of Energy's (USDOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) is a former nuclear weapon material production and current research facility adjacent to the Savannah River in South Carolina, USA. The purpose of this study was to determine the background radiocesium (137Cs) body burden (e.g., from global fallout) for white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) inhabiting the SRS. To differentiate what the background burden is for the SRS versus 137Cs obtained from SRS nuclear activities, data were analyzed spatially, temporally and compared to other off-site hunting areas near the SRS. The specific objectives of this study were: to compare SRS and offsite …


Burglary Crime Analysis Using Logistic Regression, Daniel Antolos, Dahai Liu, Andrei Ludu, Dennis Vincenzi Jul 2013

Burglary Crime Analysis Using Logistic Regression, Daniel Antolos, Dahai Liu, Andrei Ludu, Dennis Vincenzi

Andrei Ludu

This study used a logistic regression model to investigate the relationship between several predicting factors and burglary occurrence probability with regard to the epicenter. These factors include day of the week, time of the day, repeated victimization, connectors and barriers. Data was collected from a local police report on 2010 burglary incidents. Results showed the model has various degrees of significance in terms of predicting the occurrence within difference ranges from the epicenter. Follow-up refined multiple comparisons of different sizes were observed to further discover the pattern of prediction strength of these factors. Results are discussed and further research directions …


New Peril + Old Promises = Bad Results, Paul Eschenfelder Feb 2013

New Peril + Old Promises = Bad Results, Paul Eschenfelder

Paul F. Eschenfelder

No abstract provided.


A Spatially Explicit Model To Predict Radiocesium Body Burdens Of White- Tailed Deer On The U.S. Department Of Energy's Savannah River Site, Christopher W. Bobryk, Karen F. Gaines, James M. Novak, Susan A. Blas Jan 2013

A Spatially Explicit Model To Predict Radiocesium Body Burdens Of White- Tailed Deer On The U.S. Department Of Energy's Savannah River Site, Christopher W. Bobryk, Karen F. Gaines, James M. Novak, Susan A. Blas

Karen F. Gaines

We developed a spatially explicit exposure model to interpolate and predict radiocesium (137Cs) body burdens found in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) on the U.S. Department of Energy’s (USDOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) to gain insight into and differentiate between the main contributing sources of this radionuclide for use in harvest management strategies that focus on minimizing human risk. Hunting has been allowed from permanent stands as a mechanism to manage the deer herd since 1965. All animals are monitored in the field for gross beta and gamma activity levels, providing a spatially explicit dataset. The models described here use the …


Assessing Multiple Endpoints Of Atrazine Ingestion On Gravid Northern Watersnakes (Nerodia Sipedon) And Their Offspring, Lorin A. Neuman-Lee, Karen F. Gaines, Kyle A. Baumgartner, Jayme R. Voorhees, James M. Novak, Stephen J. Mullin Jan 2013

Assessing Multiple Endpoints Of Atrazine Ingestion On Gravid Northern Watersnakes (Nerodia Sipedon) And Their Offspring, Lorin A. Neuman-Lee, Karen F. Gaines, Kyle A. Baumgartner, Jayme R. Voorhees, James M. Novak, Stephen J. Mullin

Karen F. Gaines

Ecotoxicological studies that focus on a single endpoint might not accurately and completely represent the true ecological effects of a contaminant. Exposure to atrazine, a widely used herbicide, disrupts endocrine function and sexual development in amphibians, but studies involving live-bearing reptiles are lacking. This study tracks several effects of atrazine ingestion from female Northern Watersnakes (Nerodia sipedon) to their offspring exposed in utero. Twenty-five gravid N. sipedon were fed fish dosed with one of the four levels of atrazine (0, 2, 20, or 200 ppb) twice weekly for the entirety of their gestation period. Endpoints for the mothers included blood …


Southwest's Acquisition Of Airtran: An Analysis Of Short-Term Stock Performance, Dawna Rhoades Jan 2013

Southwest's Acquisition Of Airtran: An Analysis Of Short-Term Stock Performance, Dawna Rhoades

Dawna L Rhoades PhD

This paper examines the short-term stock performance of Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways using time series data consisting of daily and cumulative abnormal returns ± 60 trading days around the merger announcement and merger completion dates. The impact of Southwest’s announcement to acquire AirTran is positive. The daily abnormal returns of Southwest and AirTran, using the S&P 500 as index, are highly significant on the merger announcement date. The impact of the merger completion is mixed, however. Southwest’s share price drifted lower up to the merger date, underperforming the S&P 500, while the share price of AirTran generally drifted higher …


Erau Spring 2013 Newsletter, Paul Eschenfelder Jan 2013

Erau Spring 2013 Newsletter, Paul Eschenfelder

Paul F. Eschenfelder

No abstract provided.


High-Speed Rail: Will It Change The Dynamics Of Us Intercity Passenger Travel, Dawna Rhoades Jan 2013

High-Speed Rail: Will It Change The Dynamics Of Us Intercity Passenger Travel, Dawna Rhoades

Dawna L Rhoades PhD

As both the skies and highways become more crowded, travellers continue to look for cheaper and efficient alternatives. The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, commonly known as Amtrak, faces increased pressure to meet this need. Notorious for failing to meet on-time standards as well as operating consistently at a loss, discussions of the implementation of high-speed rail (HSR) projects has caused increased optimism in the future of US intercity passenger rail. This study reports on research conducted in 2009 comparing US air carriers and highway travel with current Amtrak service. A discussion of HSR is included with an examination of the …


Is The Lcp Superfund Site An Ecological Trap For Clapper Rails?, Karen F. Gaines, Jay W. Summers, James C. Cumbee Jr., Warren L. Stephens Jr., Gary L. Mills Jan 2011

Is The Lcp Superfund Site An Ecological Trap For Clapper Rails?, Karen F. Gaines, Jay W. Summers, James C. Cumbee Jr., Warren L. Stephens Jr., Gary L. Mills

Karen F. Gaines

Rallus longirostris (Clapper Rail) is considered a good indicator species for toxicants because of its strong site fidelity and predictable diet of benthic organisms. High levels of the rare PCB Aroclor 1268 have been found in Clapper Rail adults, chicks, and eggs from the marshes associated with the Linden Chemical Plant (LCP) in Brunswick, GA. Recently, sampling and testing feathers has successfully been used as a non-lethal tool to trace exposure and assimilation of Aroclor 1268 in rails from the LCP site. This approach allows us to infer how and when these birds are exposed to contaminants in the marsh …


Erau Aviation Wildlife Hazard Newsletter, Paul Eschenfelder Jan 2011

Erau Aviation Wildlife Hazard Newsletter, Paul Eschenfelder

Paul F. Eschenfelder

No abstract provided.


A Non-Autonomous Second Order Boundary Value Problem On The Half-Line, Gregory S. Spradlin Oct 2010

A Non-Autonomous Second Order Boundary Value Problem On The Half-Line, Gregory S. Spradlin

Greg S. Spradlin Ph.D.

By variational arguments, the existence of a solution to a nonautonomous second-order boundary problem on the half-line is proven. The corresponding autonomous problem has no solution, revealing significant differences between the autonomous and the non-autonomous case.


Birdstrike Mitigation - Beyond The Airport, Paul Eschenfelder, Russ Defusco Aug 2010

Birdstrike Mitigation - Beyond The Airport, Paul Eschenfelder, Russ Defusco

Paul F. Eschenfelder

No abstract provided.


Feathers As Bioindicators Of Pcb Exposure In Clapper Rails, Jay W. Summers, Karen F. Gaines, N. Garvin, Warren L. Stephens Jr., James C. Cumbee Jr., Gary L. Mills Jan 2010

Feathers As Bioindicators Of Pcb Exposure In Clapper Rails, Jay W. Summers, Karen F. Gaines, N. Garvin, Warren L. Stephens Jr., James C. Cumbee Jr., Gary L. Mills

Karen F. Gaines

In this study we used feathers to biomonitor exposure to the polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) Aroclor 1268 congener mixture in clapper rails (Rallus longirostris). This species has been used as an indicator species of environmental damage for the LCP superfund site located in Brunswick, GA, USA which is contaminated with Aroclor 1268, a congener mixture that has been used in limited amounts elsewhere and therefore can be used as a contaminant marker. The Aroclor 1268 congener mixture, including congener profiles, were quantified in feathers using gas chromatography (GC). Concurrently, each sample was quantified for the total Aroclor 1268 congener mixture using …


Responses Of Bats To Forest Fragmentation In The Mississippi River Alluvial Valley, Arkansas, Usa, Rex E. Medlin Jr., Matthew B. Connior, Karen F. Gaines, Thomas S. Risch Jan 2010

Responses Of Bats To Forest Fragmentation In The Mississippi River Alluvial Valley, Arkansas, Usa, Rex E. Medlin Jr., Matthew B. Connior, Karen F. Gaines, Thomas S. Risch

Karen F. Gaines

Intense conversion of bottomland hardwood forests to rice and soybeans in the Mississippi River Valley of Arkansas has restricted the remaining forest to isolated fragments. Habitat fragmentation has proven to be detrimental to population sustainability of several species, and is the subject of intense study with often species and latitude specific responses. We compared both coarse land area classes and landscape fragmentation metrics from six 30 km × 30 km subsets centered on publicly owned management areas to bat captures obtained from a 2005 population study. Patch density was the strongest predictor of total captures (R 2 = 0.801, p …


Tissue-Diet Discrimination Factors And Turnover Of Stable Carbon And Nitrogen Isotopes In White-Footed Mice (Peromyscus Leucopus), Rachel L. Demots, James M. Novak, Karen F. Gaines, Aaron J. Gregor, Christopher S. Romanek, Daniel A. Soluk Jan 2010

Tissue-Diet Discrimination Factors And Turnover Of Stable Carbon And Nitrogen Isotopes In White-Footed Mice (Peromyscus Leucopus), Rachel L. Demots, James M. Novak, Karen F. Gaines, Aaron J. Gregor, Christopher S. Romanek, Daniel A. Soluk

Karen F. Gaines

Stable isotope analysis has become an increasingly valuable tool in investigating animal ecology. Here we document the turnover rates for carbon in the liver, muscle, and whole blood tissue, as well as the tissue-diet discrimination values for carbon and nitrogen isotopes in the liver, whole blood, muscle, and hair, of the white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus (Rafinesque, 1818)). A 168-day diet-switching experiment was conducted with a laboratory population of white-footed mice. The δ13C values for all tissues deviated less than 1‰ from those of the diet except for whole blood, which had a slightly higher tissue-diet discrimination factor of 1.8‰. All …


Dna Double-Strand Breakage As An Endpoint To Examine Metal And Radionuclide Exposure Effects To Water Snakes On A Nuclear Industrial Site, Stephanie M. Murray, Karen F. Gaines, James M. Novak, Michael Gochfeld, Joanna Burger Jan 2010

Dna Double-Strand Breakage As An Endpoint To Examine Metal And Radionuclide Exposure Effects To Water Snakes On A Nuclear Industrial Site, Stephanie M. Murray, Karen F. Gaines, James M. Novak, Michael Gochfeld, Joanna Burger

Karen F. Gaines

This study examined metal levels (especially U and Ni) in the tail tissues of water snakes from contaminated (Tim’s Branch) and reference areas on the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site (SRS). Home ranges of snakes were quantified to determine the ratio of the habitat that they use in relation to the contaminated areas to better estimate exposure Compared to conventional methods that do not. The exposure assessment indicated that water snakes in the contaminated areas could expect U exposure at 3–4 orders of magnitude greater than the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry’sMinimum Risk Level (MRL) from ingestion …


Was A Long-Lived, High Velocity Gas Jet Produced By The Comet Tempel 1 Deep Impact Event: Evidence From High Spectral Resolution [Oi] 630 Nm Interference Spectra, J. B. Corliss, F. L. Roesler, E. J. Mierkiewicz, R. J. Oliversen, W. M. Harris Jul 2008

Was A Long-Lived, High Velocity Gas Jet Produced By The Comet Tempel 1 Deep Impact Event: Evidence From High Spectral Resolution [Oi] 630 Nm Interference Spectra, J. B. Corliss, F. L. Roesler, E. J. Mierkiewicz, R. J. Oliversen, W. M. Harris

Edwin J. Mierkiewicz

Results from high impact spectral resolution observations of comet P/Tempel 1.


Raccoon (Procyon Lotor) Harvesting On And Near The U.S. Department Of Energy’S Savannah River Site, Karen F. Gaines, James M. Novak Jan 2008

Raccoon (Procyon Lotor) Harvesting On And Near The U.S. Department Of Energy’S Savannah River Site, Karen F. Gaines, James M. Novak

Karen F. Gaines

Understanding the toxicodynamics of wildlife populations in contaminated ecosystems is one of the greatest challenges in ecotoxicology today. The goal is to manage these populations to minimize risk to ecosystem integrity as well as human health. Ecological risk assessments (ERAs) in the United States are designed to meet the regulatory mandates of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, an ERA evaluates the potential adverse effects that human activities have on the ' ora and fauna that de( ne an ecosystem (U.S. Environmental Protection …


Exposure And Exposure Modeling, Karen F. Gaines, T. E. Chow, S. A. Dyer Jan 2008

Exposure And Exposure Modeling, Karen F. Gaines, T. E. Chow, S. A. Dyer

Karen F. Gaines

Exposure to contaminants in the environment is quantified through the ecological risk assessment (ERA) process which provides a framework for the development and implementation of environmental management decisions. The ERA uses available toxicological and ecological information to estimate the probability of occurrence for a specified undesired ecological event or endpoint. The level for these endpoints depends on the objectives and the constraints imposed upon the risk assessment process; therefore, multiple endpoints at different scales may be necessary. ERAs Ecotoxicology | Exposure and Exposure Assessment 1527Author's personal copy often rely on the link between these undesired endpoints to a threshold of …


Clapper Rails As Indicators Of Mercury And Pcb Bioavailability In A Georgia Saltmarsh System, James C. Cumbee Jr., Karen F. Gaines, Gary L. Mills, N. Garvin, Warren L. Stephens Jr., James N. Novak, I. L. Brisbin Jr. Jan 2008

Clapper Rails As Indicators Of Mercury And Pcb Bioavailability In A Georgia Saltmarsh System, James C. Cumbee Jr., Karen F. Gaines, Gary L. Mills, N. Garvin, Warren L. Stephens Jr., James N. Novak, I. L. Brisbin Jr.

Karen F. Gaines

Clapper rails (Rallus longirostris) were used as an indicator species of estuarine marsh habitat quality because of their strong site fidelity and predictable diet consisting of mostly benthic organisms. Mercury (Hg) and the polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) Aroclor 1268 concentrations were determined for sediments, crabs, as well as clapper rail adults and chicks collected from salt marshes associated with the LCP Superfund site in Brunswick, Georgia. Home ranges were established for adult rails, and sediment and crab samples were taken from each individual’s range. The study was designed to minimize the spatial variability associated with trophic transfer studies by choosing an …


Scattered Homoclinics To A Class Of Time-Recurrent Hamiltonian Systems, Gregory S. Spradlin Jul 2007

Scattered Homoclinics To A Class Of Time-Recurrent Hamiltonian Systems, Gregory S. Spradlin

Greg S. Spradlin Ph.D.

A second-order Hamiltonian system with time recurrence is studied. The recurrence condition is weaker than almost periodicity. The existence is proven of an infinite family of solutions homoclinic to zero whose support is spread out over the real line.


An Elliptic Equation With No Monotonicity Condition On The Nonlinearity, Gregory S. Spradlin Oct 2006

An Elliptic Equation With No Monotonicity Condition On The Nonlinearity, Gregory S. Spradlin

Greg S. Spradlin Ph.D.

An elliptic PDE is studied which is a perturbation of an autonomous equation. The existence of a nontrivial solution is proven via variational methods. The domain of the equation is unbounded, which imposes a lack of compactness on the variational problem. In addition, a popular monotonicity condition on the nonlinearity is not assumed. In an earlier paper with this assumption, a solution was obtained using a simple application of topological (Brouwer) degree. Here, a more subtle degree theory argument must be used.


Effect Of In Ovo Exposure To Pcbs And Hg On Clapper Rail Bone Mineral Chemistry From A Contaminated Salt Marsh In Coastal Georgia, Alejandro Rodriquez-Navarro, Christopher S. Romanek, Pedro Alvarez-Lloret, Karen F. Gaines Jan 2006

Effect Of In Ovo Exposure To Pcbs And Hg On Clapper Rail Bone Mineral Chemistry From A Contaminated Salt Marsh In Coastal Georgia, Alejandro Rodriquez-Navarro, Christopher S. Romanek, Pedro Alvarez-Lloret, Karen F. Gaines

Karen F. Gaines

The effect of Hg and PCBs (Aroclor 1268) on bone characteristics was investigated in a population of Clapper Rails (Rallus longirostris) inhabiting contaminated and unimpacted estuarine marsh systems in coastal Georgia. Exposure to contaminants did not affect the length or weight of leg bones, but it significantly altered the chemical composition of the bone. Specifically, bone in the contaminated site had a higher Ca to P, and lower carbonate and acid phosphate content. These characteristics are typical of more mature bone mineral and indicate that toxicants have accelerated bone maturation. FTIR spectroscopy data revealed a dose dependent change in the …


The Clapper Rail As An Indicator Species Of Estuarine Marsh Health, James N. Novak, Karen F. Gaines, James C. Cumbee Jr., Gary L. Mills, Alejandro Rodriguez-Navarro, Christopher S. Romanek Jan 2006

The Clapper Rail As An Indicator Species Of Estuarine Marsh Health, James N. Novak, Karen F. Gaines, James C. Cumbee Jr., Gary L. Mills, Alejandro Rodriguez-Navarro, Christopher S. Romanek

Karen F. Gaines

Clapper Rails (Rallus longirostris) can potentially serve as an indicator species of estuarinemarsh health because of their strong site fi delity and predictable diet consisting predominantly of benthic organisms. These feeding habits increase the likelihood of individuals accumulating signifi - cant amounts of contaminants associated with coastal sediments. Moreover, since Clapper Rails are threatened in most of their western range, additional study of the effects of potential toxins on these birds is essential to conservation programs for this species. Here we present techniques (DNA strand breakage, eggshell structure, and human-consumption risk) that can be used to quantify detrimental effects to …


Rodents As Receptor Species At A Tritium, Angel Kelsey-Wall, John C. Seaman, Charles H. Jegoe, Cham E. Dallas, Karen F. Gaines Jan 2005

Rodents As Receptor Species At A Tritium, Angel Kelsey-Wall, John C. Seaman, Charles H. Jegoe, Cham E. Dallas, Karen F. Gaines

Karen F. Gaines

New methods are being employed on the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site to deal with the disposal of tritium, including the irrigation of a hardwood/pine forest with tritiated water from an intercepted contaminant plume to reduce concentrations of tritium outcropping into Fourmile Branch, a tributary of the Savannah River. The use of this system has proven to be an effective means of tritium disposal. To evaluate the impact of this activity on terrestrial biota, rodent species were captured on the tritium disposal site and a control site during two trapping seasons in order to assess tritium exposure resulting from …


A Spatially Explicit Model Of The Wild Hog For Ecological Risk Assessment Activities At The Department Of Energy's Savannah River Site, Karen F. Gaines, Dwayne E. Porter, Tracy Punshon, I. Lehr Brisbin Jr. Jan 2005

A Spatially Explicit Model Of The Wild Hog For Ecological Risk Assessment Activities At The Department Of Energy's Savannah River Site, Karen F. Gaines, Dwayne E. Porter, Tracy Punshon, I. Lehr Brisbin Jr.

Karen F. Gaines

In North America, wild hogs (Sus scrofa) are both sought after as prime game and despised due to their detrimental impacts to the environment from their digging and rooting behavior. They are also a potentially useful indicator species for environmental health for both ecological- and human-based risk assessments. An inductive approach was used to develop probabilistic resource selection models using logistic regression to quantify the likelihood of hogs being in any area of the Department of Energy’s 805 km2 Savannah River Site (SRS) in west-central South Carolina. These models were derived by using available SRS hog hunt data from 1993–2000 …


The Development Of A Spatially Explicit Model To Estimate, Karen F. Gaines, C. Shane Boring, Dwayne E. Porter Jan 2005

The Development Of A Spatially Explicit Model To Estimate, Karen F. Gaines, C. Shane Boring, Dwayne E. Porter

Karen F. Gaines

A spatially explicit model of raccoon (Procyon lotor) distribution for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) in west-central South Carolina was developed using data from a raccoon radio-telemetry study and visualized within a Geographic Information System (GIS). An inductive approach was employed to develop three sub-models using the ecological requirements of raccoons studied in the following habitats: (1) man-made reservoirs, (2) bottomland hardwood/ riverine systems, and (3) isolated wetland systems. Logistic regression was used to derive probabilistic resource selection functions using habitat compositional data and landscape metrics. The final distribution model provides a spatially explicit probability …


Habitat And Exposure Modelling For Ecological Risk Assessment: A, T. Edwin Chow, Karen F. Gaines, Michael E. Hodgson, Machelle D. Wilson Jan 2005

Habitat And Exposure Modelling For Ecological Risk Assessment: A, T. Edwin Chow, Karen F. Gaines, Michael E. Hodgson, Machelle D. Wilson

Karen F. Gaines

Contamination has a dramatic impact on the health of ecosystem and habitat suitability for the inhabited flora and fauna. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandates an ecological risk assessment (ERA) that evaluates the potential adverse impact of any anthropogenic activities on the ecosystem (US Environmental Protection Agency, 1997. Ecological Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund: Process for Designing and Conducting Ecological Risk Assessment. EPA/630/R-021011, Washington, DC). This study provides a general framework and specific procedures to predict the contaminant exposure of midsized mammals using a geographical information system (GIS)-based Monte Carlo simulation model. The model was applied to the raccoons (Procyon …


Effects Of Cooking On Radiocesium In Fish From The Savannah River: Exposure Differences For The Public, Joanna Burger, Karen F. Gaines, C. Shane Boring, J. Snodgrass, W. L. Stephens Jr., M. Gochfeld Jan 2004

Effects Of Cooking On Radiocesium In Fish From The Savannah River: Exposure Differences For The Public, Joanna Burger, Karen F. Gaines, C. Shane Boring, J. Snodgrass, W. L. Stephens Jr., M. Gochfeld

Karen F. Gaines

Understanding the factors that contribute to the risk from fish consumption is an important public health concern because of potential adverse effects of radionuclides, organochlorines, other pesticides, and mercury. Risk from consumption is normally computed on the basis of contaminant levels in fish, meal frequency, and meal size, yet cooking practices may also affect risk. This study examines the effect of deep-frying on radiocesium (137Cs) levels and risk to people fishing along the Savannah River. South Carolina and Georgia have issued consumption advisories for the Savannah River, based partly on 137Cs. 137Cs levels were significantly higher in the cooked fish …