Digital Commons Network^™

A Review Of Phytoplankton Composition Within Chesapeake Bay And Its Tidal Estuaries, Harold G. Marshall, Lubomira Burchardt, Richard Lacouture

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Based on a continuous 20-year data base ofmonthly sampling in Chesapeake Bay and tidal regions of its major tributaries, 1454 phytoplankton taxa have been identified in these waters. They represent a diverse assemblage of species with a dominant diatom flora throughout the year, in addition to large seasonal representation by chlorophytes, cyanobacteria, cryptophytes and dinoflagellates. Included among this flora were 34 potential harmful or toxin producing species. The phytoplankton compositions associated with the seasonal successional patterns are discussed, in addition to characterizing the dominant floral relationships, with comparison to early composition records within the Bay. Several of the present day …

Feeding Ecology Of Juvenile Spiny Lobster, Panulirus Interruptus, On The Pacific Coast Of Baja California Sur, Mexico, Verónica Castañeda‐Fernández‐De‐Lara, Elisa Serviere‐Zaragoza, Sergio Hernández‐Vázquez, Mark J. Butler Iv

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Many aspects of the early life history of the red lobster Panulirus interruptus are little known, including the relationship between habitat structure, food resource availability, and nutrition of juveniles. We investigated the spatial and temporal differences in food intake, diet composition, and nutritional condition of juveniles at two sites along the Pacific coast of the Baja California Peninsula (Mexico) with contrasting oceanographic and biological conditions. One site (Arvin) is located inside a protected bay, Bahia Tortugas, where the waters are cooler and temperate seagrasses and macroalgae are the dominant benthic flora. The second site (Queen) in Bahia Sebastian Vizcaino was …

Population Dynamics Of Oryzomys Palustris And Microtus Pennsylvanicus In Virginia Tidal Marshes, Christopher P. Bloch, Robert K. Rose

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Oryzomys palustris (marsh rice rat) and Microtus pennsylvanicus (meadow vole) cohabit coastal marshes in the mid-Atlantic US. Both were live-trapped for 23 months at two tidal marsh sites in Virginia to assess their demography near the margins of their distributions. In the presence of dense vegetation, population dynamics of the two species were seasonal and positively correlated, with densities declining through the winter. At the more sparsely vegetated site, densities of both species were lower, and densities of M. pennsylvanicus were negatively correlated with those of O. palustris. Patterns of reproduction differed between the species. O. palustris was reproductively …

High-Temperature Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization For Detecting Escherichia Coli In Seawater Samples, Using Rrna-Targeted Oligonucleotide Probes And Flow Cytometry, Ying Zhong Tang, Karina Yew Hoong Gin, Tok Hoon Lim

OES Faculty Publications

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is a widely used method to detect environmental microorganisms. The standard protocol is typically conducted at a temperature of 46°C and a hybridization time of 2 or 3 h, using the fluorescence signal intensity as the sole parameter to evaluate the performance of FISH. This paper reports our results for optimizing the conditions of FISH using rRNA-targeted oligonucleotide probes and flow cytometry and the application of these protocols to the detection of Escherichia coli in seawater spiked with E. coli culture. We obtained two types of optimized protocols for FISH, which showed rapid results with …

Hydrographic And Biological Changes In The Taiwan Strait During The 1997-1998 El Niño Winter, S. Shang, C. Zhang, H. Hong, Q. Liu, G. T. F. Wong, C. Hu, B. Huang

OES Faculty Publications

During the 1997–1998 El Niño event, the average sea surface temperature (SST) in the Taiwan Strait (TWS) in the winter was ~1.4°C higher than that of the winter climatological mean. The areal ratio of the warm water (≥2°C above the regional mean) to the cold water (≥2°C below the regional mean) in the TWS increased by 25% while the area of the eutrophic water (chlorophyll a >1 mg m^-3) was halved. Field observations also indicate that the mixed layer in the TWS became more nutrient-poor during this winter. These observations are consistent with a diminished advection of the …

Do Viruses Affect Fecundity And Survival Of The Copepod Acartia Tonsa Dana?, Lisa A. Drake, Fred C. Dobbs

OES Faculty Publications

Naturally occurring viruses are extremely abundant in aquatic systems, and they infect bacteria, cyanobacteria, prokaryotic and eukaryotic phytoplankton, heterotrophic nanoflagellates, fish and mammals. Viral infections of single-celled organisms have been studied intensively in the past decade, but little is known about the effects of viruses on aquatic metazoans, other than for some economically important species. Because zooplankton assemblages are often dominated in number and biomass by copepods, we used them as model organisms to study the effects of naturally occurring viruses on higher trophic levels. We attempted to induce viral infection in laboratory-reared cultures of the estuarine copepod Acartia tonsa …

Variability Of Sea Ice Cover In The Chukchi Sea (Western Arctic Ocean) During The Holocene, Anne De Vernal, Claude Hillaire-Marcel, Dennis A. Darby

OES Faculty Publications

Dinocysts from cores collected in the Chukchi Sea from the shelf edge to the lower slope were used to reconstruct changes in sea surface conditions and sea ice cover using modern analogue techniques. Holocene sequences have been recovered in a down-slope core (B15: 2135 m, 75°44'N, sedimentation rate of ~1cm kyr-¹) and in a shelf core (P1: 201 m, 73°41'N, sedimentation rate of ~22 cm kyr^-1). The shelf record spanning about 8000 years suggests high-frequency centennial oscillations of sea surface conditions and a significant reduction of the sea ice at circa 6000 and 2500 calendar (cal) …

Burial Of Terrestrial Organic Matter In Marine Sediments: A Re-Assessment, David J. Burdige

OES Faculty Publications

Calculations based on recent observations indicate that approximately one third of the organic matter presently being buried in marine sediments may be of terrestrial origin, with the majority of this terrestrial organic matter (TOM) burial occurring in muddy, deltaic sediments. These calculations further suggest that the remineralization of terrestrial organic matter in the oceans is also much less efficient than that of marine organic matter. These two underappreciated observations have important implications in terms of our understanding of the controls on the global carbon cycle. From a paleoceanographic perspective, the results presented here also suggest that changes in TOM burial …

Iron In The Sargasso Sea (Bermuda Atlantic Time-Series Study Region) During Summer: Eolian Imprint, Spatiotemporal Variability, And Ecological Implications, Peter N. Sedwick, T. M. Church, A. R. Bowie, C. M. Marsay, S. J. Ussher, K. M. Achilles, P. J. Lethaby, R. J. Johnson, M. M. Sarin, D. J. Mcgillicuddy

OES Faculty Publications

We report iron measurements for water column and aerosol samples collected in the Sargasso Sea during July-August 2003 (summer 2003) and April-May 2004 (spring 2004). Our data reveal a large seasonal change in the dissolved iron (dFe) concentration of surface waters in the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study region, from ∼1-2nM in summer 2003, when aerosol iron concentrations were high (mean 10 nmol/m^-3), to ∼0.1-0.2nM in spring 2004, when aerosol iron concentrations were low (mean 0.64 nmol/m^-3). During summer 2003, we observed an increase of ∼0.6nM in surface water dFe concentrations over 13 days, presumably due to …

Chemistry Of Surface Waters: Distinguishing Fine-Scale Differences In Sea Grass Habitats Of Chesapeake Bay, Emmanis Dorval, Cynthia M. Jones

OES Faculty Publications

We tested the hypothesis that the physical and chemical processes acting in sea grass habitats of the lower Chesapeake Bay are spatially structured and that dissolved elemental chemistry of sea grass-habitat surface waters have their own unique identity. We sampled surface waters from July to September 2001 in five sea grass habitats of the lower bay: Potomac, Rappahannock, York, Island (Tangier-Bloodsworth), and Eastern Shore. Dissolved Mg, Mn, Sr, and Ba concentrations were measured by sector field inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. As expected, Mg, Sr, and Ba exhibited conservative behavior, but Mn exhibited nonconservative behavior along the salinity gradient. Spatial differences …

A Conceptual Model For Determining Career Choice Of Chrome Alumna Based On Farmer's Conceptual Models, Lisa Simmons Moore

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

This qualitative program evaluation examines the career decision-making processes and career choices of nine, African American women who participated in the Cooperating Hampton Roads Organization for Minorities in Engineering (CHROME) and who graduated from urban, rural or suburban high schools in the year 2000. The CHROME program is a nonprofit, pre-college intervention program that encourages underrepresented minority and female students to enter science, technically related, engineering, and math (STEM) career fields. The study describes career choices and decisions made by each participant over a five-year period since high school graduation. Data was collected through an Annual Report, Post High School …

Business And Industry Training Employment Opportunities In Chesapeake, Virginia, Jessica E. Ingram

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The purpose of this study was to determine the number of business and industry training opportunities in Chesapeake, Virginia. To answer this problem, the following questions were established: 1. What are the employment opportunities available in the business and industry training field? 2. What are the job title categories that companies are advertising? 3. In each category of advertised positions, how many people were currently needed at this time and what were the needs projected to 2010? 4. What are the business and industry training employment opportunities for undergraduate degree completers in the Chesapeake, Virginia region?

Technology Education In Virginia's Private School System, Cara Kimball

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The problem of this study was to determine the extent that Virginia's private schools have incorporated technology education courses into their curriculum.

Correlation Between Sol Scores And Personal Computer Ownership With Internet Access, Christy Yaple

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

This study was used to gain information about the success of underrepresented high school students with regard to SOL scores and having a personal computer with internet access. The following hypothesis was developed to guide this study: Magna Vista High School Educational Talent Search students having a personal computer with internet access will have a higher pass rate on Virginia Standards of Learning mathematics tests.

Attitudes Of Potential Employers In Southwestern Virginia Toward Hiring Newly Licensed Physical Therapist Assistants Who Are Graduates Of The Wytheville Community College Physical Therapist Assistant Program, Julia S. Jackson King

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The research goals included: 1. Did employers of physical therapist assistants feel positively toward graduates of the Wytheville Community College Physical Therapist Assistant program? 2. Would an employer prioritize a new graduate from Wytheville over a new graduate from any other program if all other applicable experience was equal? 3. What did employers identify as the strengths and weaknesses of the Wytheville program?

Gender And Programming Language Preferences Of Computer Programming Students At Moraine Valley Community College, Dawn Patitucci

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The objectives of this study were to answer the following questions: 1. Are female programming students more likely to pursue study in certain programming languages than in other languages? 2. Are females more or less likely to pursue study in multiple programming languages than males? 3. As compared with the percentage of females working as computer programmers nationwide, are females over- or under-represented in certain language tracks at Moraine Valley Community College? 4. Which language(s) might be useful in attracting more females to computer programming and software development?

Student Reaction To The Use Of Classroom Performance And Personal Response Systems In College Level Courses, Edmund A. Donato

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The goals of this study were established to determine: 1. How do students perceive the effectiveness of the Classroom Performance System and Personal Response Systems in engaging them in the learning process? 2. How do students perceive the effectiveness of the Classroom Performance System and Personal Response Systems in aiding educators with evaluating their learning?

Effects Of Technology Education On Middle School Language Arts (Reading) Achievement, Mark A. Bolt

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The purpose of this study was to compare eighth grade students at Rachel Carson Middle School who took eighth grade Technology Education and the effect it had on student achievement on the reading section of the Virginia English Standards of Learning test.

Modeling Of Commercial Maritime Port Recoverability From Security Disruptions: Work-In-Progress, C. Ariel Pinto, Wayne K. Talley

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

This article describes active research in commercial maritime port's recovery from security disruptions which explores the synergy of economic and simulation models in investigating the recoverability of ports after security incidents. Previous study has identified decision variables and throughput simulation models of port operation. However, none of these models have been utilized to investigate port's recovery from a security disruption and in evaluating recoverability investments. The method of research includes analysis of recorded disruptions, identification of impediments to recovery and investment criteria for recoverability. This article provides managers insight into including security and continuity of operation in managing various types …

Software Development Project Risk Management: A Literature Review, Kevin Macg. Adams, C. Ariel Pinto

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The rapid and unprecedented growth in software has brought with it some of the most spectacular and costly project failures in modern history. How risk management is presented in the scholarly journals may give insight into the risk management methods and techniques in use on software development projects. This paper provides a glimpse into the risk management methods, methodologies and techniques available to those who are responsible for software development projects by conducting a non-experimental content analysis. The findings reveal that risk management has not received sufficient attention and does not appear to be widely accepted within the software engineering …

A Template Functional-Gage Design Using Parameter-File Table In Autodesk Inventor, Cheng Lin, Moustafa Moustafa

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

A systematic approach using Autodesk Inventor to design the functional gages of Geometric Dimensioning & Tolerancing (GD&T) is presented. The gages can be used to check straightness, angularity, perpendicularity, parallelism, and position tolerances of a part when geometric tolerances are specified with Maximum Material Condition (MMC). Four steps are proposed to accomplish the task: (1) creation of two-dimensional (2-D) initial template files, (2) generation of hierarchical folders for the template files, (3) creation a 3-D gage model from a specific template file, and (4) dimensioning and generation of the gage drawing. Results show that, by following this approach, students can …

Recommender Systems For Multimedia Libraries: An Evaluation Of Different Models For Datamining Usage Data, Raquel Oliveira Araujo

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Many recommender systems exist today to help users deal with the large growth in the amount of information available in the Internet. Most of these recommender systems use collaborative filtering or content-based techniques to present new material that would be of interest to a user. While these methods have proven to be effective, they have not been designed specifically for multimedia collections. In this study we present a new method to find recommendations that is not dependent on traditional Information Retrieval (IR) methods and compare it to algorithms that do rely on traditional IR methods. We evaluated these algorithms using …

Social Engineering In The Age Of Ai, Mohammad A. Saleh

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

The next great invention is artificial intelligence. AI has grown rapidly over the last 15 years and has brought both advantages and disadvantages to everyday society. One of the most concerning disadvantages highlighted in recent years is the rise of social engineering attacks. Social engineering comes in many different forms, making it difficult to identify at times. With the development of AI, these attacks have become even harder to detect, prevent, and stop. This research essay explores the different types of AI-driven social engineering attacks, how they occur, why they happen, and the impact they have on individuals and organizations.

Correction [To Maurakis And Grimes Article, V. 54, #3&4]

Virginia Journal of Science

This page is a correction to an article by Eugene G. Maurakis and David V. Grimes: Predicting Fish Species Diversity in Lotic Freshwaters of Greece, published in Virginia Journal of Science Volume 54, numbers 3 and 4. Amended table 2a owed to a printing corruption.

Subterranean Loss And Gain Of Water In Mountain Lake, Virginia: A Hydrologic Model, Martin Jansons, Bruce C. Parker, Jacob E. Waller

Virginia Journal of Science

Mountain Lake, Virginia is a small, unique, oligotrophic, subalpine ecosystem in the southern Appalachians. Previous studies have disclosed that this lake has manifested periodic prolonged low water levels during the several thousand years of its existence. The most recent low water level occurred during the drought years of 1999-2002. Measurements of lake level, precipitation, and other meteorological data including calculated evapotranspiration in the lake basin from 2/19/02 to 8/31/03 have enabled estimation of net subterranean water losses presumably through cracks between Clinch sandstone boulders and/or the recently discovered deep hole at the northwest end of Mountain Lake. These net losses …

Abstracts Of Papers, 82nd Annual Meeting Of The Virginia Academy Of Science, 2004

Virginia Journal of Science

Abstracts of papers presented at the 82nd Annual Meeting of the Virginia Academy of Science on May 26-28th, 2004, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.

Virginia Junior Academy Of Science 2004 Award Winners

Virginia Journal of Science

Virginia Junior Academy of Science 2004 Awards were presented at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, May 27, 2003. Includes Special Awards and Election Results.

Vas Best Student Paper Awards

Virginia Journal of Science

List of the Best Student Paper Awards by section from the 2004 Virginia Academy of Science Annual Meeting.

Benthic Biological Monitoring Program Of The Elizabeth River Watershed (2003), Daniel M. Dauer

Elizabeth River Reports

Executive Summary

Macrobenthic communities of the Elizabeth River watershed have been quantitatively sampled since summer 1999. This report presents the data from the fifth year of sampling in 2003. The three objectives of the Benthic Biological Monitoring Program of the Elizabeth River watershed are: (1) To characterize the health of the tidal waters of the Elizabeth River watershed as indicated by the structure of the benthic communities. ( 2) To conduct trend analyses on long-term data at 14 fixed-point stations to relate temporal trends in the benthic communities to changes in water and/or sediment quality. Trend analyses will be updated …

On Thacker's Biomedia (2004), Nicholas Ruiz Iii

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

Only we could have done it. The Code (DNA and its analogs, etc.) that we perhaps only narrate, never forgetting all of the fictions that narration portends, today consciously edits the text that evolution has edited unconsciously for eons. Thacker considers how humans -- perhaps little more than interactive Code, manipulate the Code -- with the technology of the Code. No other faction of Code has yet to make such heady ‘gains.’ Where posthumanity was always a literary endeavor, a literary bypass, out of instrumental science and into fictive states, it now is a technical endeavor, encompassing a …