Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Ecotones: The Heartbeat Of Huxley, 2001, Issue 10, Kate Koch, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

Historical Collection of Huxley Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Ecotones: The Heartbeat Of Huxley, 2001, Fall, Issue 09, Kate Koch, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

Historical Collection of Huxley Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Ecotones: The Heartbeat Of Huxley, 2001, November 05, Kate Koch, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

Historical Collection of Huxley Newsletters

No abstract provided.

The Planet, 2001, Spring, Tiffany Campbell, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

The Planet

No abstract provided.

The Planet, 2001, Fall, Levi Pulkkinen, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

The Planet

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Salmon-Derived Nitrogen On Riparian Forest Growth And Implications For Stream Productivity, James M. Helfield, Robert J. Naiman

Environmental Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Anadromous Pacific salmon ( Oncorhynchus spp.) transport marine-derived nitrogen (MDN) to the rivers in which they reproduce. Isotopic analyses indicate that trees and shrubs near spawning streams derive 22-24% of their foliar nitrogen (N) from spawning salmon. As a consequence of this nutrient subsidy, growth rates are significantly in­creased in Sitka spruce ( Picea sitchensis ) near spawning streams. As riparian forests affect the quality of instream habitat through shading, sediment and nutrient filtration, and production of large woody debris (LWD), this fertilization process serves not only to enhance riparian production, but may also act as a positive feedback mechanism …

Seismic And Acoustic Signals Detected At Loihi Seamount By The Hawaii Undersea Geo-Observatory, Jacqueline Caplan-Auerbach, F. Duennebier

Geology Faculty Publications

The Hawai'i Undersea Geo-Observatory (HUGO) is an ocean bottom observatory located on the summit of Lo'ihi seamount, Hawai'i. An electro-optical cable connects the HUGO junction box to a shore station on the Big Island of Hawaii, thereby enabling the first real-time monitoring of a submarine volcano. HUGO was active for 3 months in 1998, collecting nearly continuous, real-time data on a high-rate hydrophone. Signals detected during that time include local as well as teleseismic earthquakes, T phases from Pacific-wide earthquakes, landslides on the submarine flank of Kilauea, and eruption sounds from the current Kilauea eruption. The data do not indicate …

Effects Of Sampling Standardization On Estimates Of Phanerozoic Marine Diversification, J. Alroy, C. R. Marshall, R. K. Bambach, K. Bezusko, M. Foote, F. T. Fürsich, Thor A. Hansen, S. M. Holland, L. C. Ivany, D. Jablonski, D. K. Jacobs, D. C. Jones, M. A. Kosnik, S. Lidgard, S. Low, A. I. Miller, P. M. Novack-Gottshall, T. D. Olszewski, M. E. Patzkowsky, D. M. Raup, K. Roy, J. J. Sepkoski Jr., M. G. Sommers, P. J. Wagner, A. Webber

Thor A. Hansen

Global diversity curves reflect more than just the number of taxa that have existed through time: they also mirror variation in the nature of the fossil record and the way the record is reported. These sampling effects are best quantified by assembling and analyzing large numbers of locality-specific biotic inventories. Here, we introduce a new database of this kind for the Phanerozoic fossil record of marine invertebrates. We apply four substantially distinct analytical methods that estimate taxonomic diversity by quantifying and correcting for variation through time in the number and nature of inventories. Variation introduced by the use of two …

Hydroacoustic Detection Of Submarine Landslides On Kilauea Volcano, Jacqueline Caplan-Auerbach, Christopher G. Fox, Frederick K. Duennebier

Geology Faculty Publications

Landslides produced at the site where lava flows into the ocean at Kilauea volcano have been detected hydroacoustically. Up to 10 landslides per day were detected by a hydrophone on the Hawaii Undersea Geo-Observatory (HUGO), located 50 km south of the entry site. The largest of these landslides, partly subaerial events known as bench collapses, were detected by a network of hydrophones in the eastern Pacific, 5000–7000 km away from the source. The landslides display a characteristic spectral signature easily recognizable among other signals such as earthquake T-phases and anthropogenic noises. The fact that signals are detected at great distances …

Ecotones: The Heartbeat Of Huxley, 2001, Spring, Issue 04, Kate Koch, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

Historical Collection of Huxley Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Ecotones: The Heartbeat Of Huxley, 2001, April 16, Kate Koch, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

Historical Collection of Huxley Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Ecosystem Factors Influencing The Success Of Riparian Restoration In Whatcom County, Crystal Elliot

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Riparian corridors are complex and diverse ecosystems that are essential to the maintenance of global health. The total area occupied by riparian ecosystems in the United States has plummeted in the last 200 years to only 20% of its initial size. The recent movement to restore these fragile and complex ecosystems has produced outcomes of variable success. The Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association’s riparian restoration project at Schell Creek in Femdale, WA provides an example of an effort that exhibits mixed results. Our experiment explored reasons for the variable success of the restoration vegetation and investigated several ecosystem factors that may …

Topics In Extremal Graph Theory: Ramsey Numbers And The Turan Function, Damon J. (Damon John) Gulczynski

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

"Topics in Extremal Graph Theory: Ramsey Numbers and the Turan" Function by Damon J. Gulczynski

A Strategy For Improved Expression Of Permuted Myoglobins, Anna Buser

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Our research is aimed at generating and characterizing topological mutants of sperm whale myoglobin (swMb). The long-term experimental design involves the production of circular permuteins from swMb genes fused by a linker and determination of the effect of linker sequence on protein stability. We have expressed circularly permuted sperm whale myoglobins in E. coli including variants that start at the C helix and end with the B helix (CBLx), and others beginning at the H helix and ending with the G helix (HGLx). Expression yields for mutant myoglobins have been shown to correlate with stabilities of the mutants (Hargrove et …

An Investigation Into The Mechanistic Interplay Between Th1 And Th2 Cells In Allergic Disease, Christine Marie Rose

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

The incidence of allergic disease has increased steadily in western countries over the past few decades. Substantial amounts of research have been geared toward elucidating the mechanisms whereby some people develop allergies and others do not. As with all development theories, the question revolves around the debate of genetics versus environment - attempting to determine the relative contribution from heredity and nurture in the development of an allergic phenotype.

Heredity has long been identified as a risk factor for allergies. Children born of atopic (allergic disease attributed to heredity) parents are at an increased risk for developing atopy themselves. Consequently, …

Molecular Dynamics Simulations Of Large Systems, Patrick B. (Patrick Brian) Kohl, David L. Patrick

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Chiral symmetry breaking in a fluid of achiral molecules at a liquid-solid interface was studied using atomistic molecular dynamics simulation. The molecules were achiral in three dimensions, but left- and right-handed forms could be distinguished in the reduced symmetry environment of an interfacial fluid. The system consisted of a thick fluid film in contact with a crystalline monolayer adsorbed to a solid surface. When molecules in the crystalline monolayer were arranged in uniformly chiral configurations, a homochiral enantiomeric excess developed in the adjacent interfacial fluid. Fluid properties were characterized through measurements of chiral, nematic, and ferroelectric order parameters, and diffusion …

Lake Whatcom Monitoring Project 1999/2000 Report, Robin A. Matthews, Michael Hilles, Joan Vandersypen, Robert J. Mitchell, Geoffrey B. Matthews

Lake Whatcom Annual Reports

This report is part of an on-going series of annual reports and special project reports that document the Lake Whatcom monitoring program.

This work is conducted by the Institute for Watershed Studies and other departments at Western Washington University. The major objective of this program is to provide long-term baseline water quality monitoring in Lake Whatcom and selected tributaries. Each section contains brief explanations about the water quality data, along with discussions of patterns observed in Lake Whatcom.

Park Place Wet Pond Monitoring Project 1994–2000 Summary Report, Robin A. Matthews, Mark R. Saunders, Michael Hilles, Joan Vandersypen

Lake Whatcom Other Reports

The Park Place monitoring program is an on-going study of the effectiveness of storm water treatment in a small wet pond located in the northwestern portion of the Lake Whatcom watershed. Water quality in the Lake Whatcom watershed has been monitored since the 1960’s by researchers at Western Washington University. During this time it has been noted that the some of the streams and storm drains entering the lake contained contaminants associated with residential development. In 1990, a comprehensive storm water runoff monitoring project was undertaken by the Institute for Watershed Studies (IWS) at Western Washington University on behalf of …

A Brunn-Minkowski Inequality For The Integer Lattice, Richard J. Gardner, Paolo Gronchi

Mathematics Faculty Publications

A close discrete analog of the classical Brunn-Minkowksi inequality that holds for finite subsets of the integer lattice is obtained. This is applied to obtain strong new lower bounds for the cardinality of the sum of two finite sets, one of which has full dimension, and, in fact, a method for computing the exact lower bound in this situation, given the dimension of the lattice and the cardinalities of the two sets. These bounds in turn imply corresponding new bounds for the lattice point enumerator of the Minkowski sum of two convex lattice polytopes. A Rogers-Shephard type inequality for the …

The Planet, 2001, Winter, Tiffany Campbell, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

The Planet

No abstract provided.

A Pebble Count Comparison And Rock Magnetism Provenance Study Of Sumas Outwash, Jeff Laub

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Sumas Stade, the last of the Fraser Glaciation advances, occurred between 12,000 and 10,000 ¹⁴C years B.P. This study combines previous mapping (Easterbrook, 1976; Haugerud, written communication, 1999) with three new tests to establish a chronology for events of the Sumas Stade. Comparison of compositions of pebbles from Sumas outwash using multivariate statistics such as hierarchical clustering and k-means clustering revealed three major groups of late Sumas outwash and one earlier deposit. Magnetic susceptibility and Curie temperature analysis determined a general British Columbia provenance for the Sumas outwash. Flow direction measurements substantiated this determination. Taken together, these tests …

Petrology And Geochemistry Of Mafic Lavas Near Glacier Peak, North Cascades, Washington, Dylan D. (Dylan Douglas) Taylor

WWU Graduate School Collection

Major element, trace element, and mineral compositions have been determined for four Quaternary mafic monogenetic cinder cones and flows south of Glacier Peak, a dacitic stratovolcano in the northern Cascade arc. The flows are the Whitechuck basalt, and the basaltic andesites of Indian Pass, Lightning Creek, and Dishpan Gap. Whitechuck has high concentrations of AI₂O₃ (≥ 18 wt.%) and low concentrations of K₂O (≤ 0.45 wt.%) and shares similar trace element characteristics with high alumina olivine tholeiites reported in the central and southern Cascades. The three basaltic andesites are calc-alkaline. Indian Pass and Lighting Creek …

Geology Of The Cooper Mountain Pluton, North Cascade Mountains, Washington Based On Magnetic Fabrics, Magnetic Remanence And Petrography, Tammy C. Fawcett

WWU Graduate School Collection

A study of the 48 Ma Cooper Mountain pluton (CMP) in the North Cascade Mountains of Washington using anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) defined the orientation of magnetic fabrics. Fabrics in limited areas at the margins of the CMP tend to be parallel to the pluton margin and are therefore interpreted to be emplacement-related. The fabrics in the interior of the body, throughout the bulk of the pluton, are discordant with respect to the NW pluton margin. The fabric is manifest by NW-striking, moderately to steeply dipping foliation and NW-SE trending, moderately to shallowly plunging lineation, approximately parallel to regional …

Changes In Mirror Lake, Northwestern Washington, As A Result Of The Diversion Of Water From The Nooksack River, Karel Tracy

WWU Graduate School Collection

Mirror Lake, a small lake in northwest Washington, has been used as a settling pond for water diverted from the Middle Fork of the Nooksack River since 1962. In this thesis, I combine bathymetric data and sediment sampling to document the changes in sedimentation that have resulted from this diversion, and compare these results to a previous study conducted in 1991.

To document the change in the bathymetry of Mirror Lake since 1991, I surveyed the lake in the summer of 2000 using a theodolite and sonar depth gauge. I compared a contour map generated from this survey to the …

Late Pleistocene Littoral Deposits In The Deming Sand At Bellingham Bay, Washington, And Their Implications For Relative Sea Level Changes, Stacy J. (Stacy Joanna) Weber

WWU Graduate School Collection

Recent mass wasting of sea cliffs along Bellingham Bay in Northwest Washington has exposed late Pleistocene littoral deposits in the Deming sand, which is underlain by Kulshan glaciomarine drift (gmd) and overlain by Bellingham glaciomarine drift (Easterbrook 1963). Marine shells in the Kulshan gmd were dated at 12,210 ± 80 ¹⁴C-yrs B. P. and marine shells in the Deming sand were dated at 11,760 ± 85 and 11,685 ± 85 ¹⁴C-yrs B. P. Marine shells in the Bellingham gmd were dated at 12,150 + 210 ¹⁴C-yrs B. P.

Fossiliferous Kulshan glaciomarine drift is overlain by 11.5 m …

The Palaeomagnetism Of Lesbos, Ne Aegean, And The Eastern Mediterranean Inclination Anomaly, Myrl E. Beck Jr., Russ R. Burmester, Despina P. Kondopoulou, Artemios Atzemoglou

Geology Faculty Publications

Palaeomagnetic results for 44 sites in 16-22 Ma volcanic rocks from Lesbos, NE Aegean, yield a mean pole at 81.8ºN, 178.1º E, K = 9.0, A₉₅ = 7.6º. The mean direction for these sites (D =4.3º, I = 48.5º, k = 10.8, α ₉₅ = 6.9º) is 5.9º +/- 6.1º shallower than the reference direction for Miocene Lesbos calculated from Besse & Courtillot (1991). Combining these new data with previous work yields a mean inclination that is 5.6º +/- 4.7º too shallow. Experimental problems, magnetic anisotropy, the magnetic terrain effect, geomagnetic anomalies, and problems with the reference path …

Seismicity And Velocity Structure Of Loihi Seamount From The 1996 Earthquake Swarm, Jacqueline Caplan-Auerbach, F. K. Duennebier

Geology Faculty Publications

The largest earthquake swarm yet recorded on Loihi submarine volcano took place in July and August of 1996. The swarm consisted of two phases of seismic activity and was associated with the formation of a pit crater and additional faulting of Loihi’s summit platform. The first phase of activity was comprised of predominantly high-frequency events scattered over the southern flanks of the volcano. Following a day of seismic quiescence, the second phase of activity began, consisting of lower-frequency earthquakes with strong T-phases. The phase 2 events took place beneath Loihi’s summit, presumably marking the formation of the pit crater, Pele’s …