Outer Cape Cod (Massachusetts) is dominated by active and stabilizing parabolic and transverse dunes interspersed with numerous inter-dune wetlands. Dune migration has been significantly affected by human activities; conversely, current dune movements are affecting local populations. The objective of the reported research was to assess, using remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) technologies, migration of the Cape Cod dunes and the effect of dune movement on distribution of associated wetlands. Aerial photographs from 1938 through 2003 were analyzed to track individual dune movements and subsequent wetland propagation and expansion. Absolute dune movement rates during this period were computed, with a plot of dune movement as a cumulative function. One sub-problem of this study was to quantify `white' areas of active moving sand and `dark' areas of vegetation, in order to quantify changes in vegetative cover with wetland propagation and, conversely, vegetative disappearance with dune movement. Attempts were made to correlate the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) with dune migration. Based on review of aerial photographs, parabolic dunes have migrated 150 to 250 m since 1938, with 60% of the movement occurring between 1938 and 1977. The relation between absolute parabolic dune migration and corresponding PDSI is approximately logarithmic. Maximum dune migration is associated with PDSI values lower than -2 and reflects moderate drought conditions. Wetlands consistently trailed the dunes, and the distance of wetland movement was related to dune movement distances. Wetland migration was particularly marked from the 1950s to the 1980s. Based on review of georeferenced aerial photographs, it is concluded that marked stabilization of Cape Cod dunes occurred in the 1980s and 1990s, with renewed movement in the 21st Century. This study provides a practical application for assessment of dune migration and vegetative transformations over time using remote sensing and GIS technologies. / Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Rhode Island, 2009. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 125-135).

Thesis advisor: Gail Kineke / Thesis advisor: Noah Snyder / Salt marshes are some of the world’s richest ecosystems and provide a plethora of benefits to coastlines and bays in terms of storm protection and chemistry. To ensure salt marsh survival under increasing rates of sea level rise, management practices have been trending towards natural sustainability measures to increase marsh resilience. To benefit these efforts, it is necessary to understand how natural salt marshes respond to environmental change in terms of sediment deposition and evolution of vegetation and open water. This study uses aerial image digitization to understand how Nauset Marsh in Cape Cod MA, a protected salt marsh on Cape Cod National Seashore, has responded to sea level rise and half a century of inlet migration. Digitized images from 1974-2019 were used to track changes to vegetation extent and open water features during study periods of different inlet migration stages. Observed changes were used to ascertain trends of marsh loss or adaptation based on previous research on ponding cycles and vegetation extent. Results indicate that Nauset Marsh has been relatively stable over the last half century, with the most significant change observed in Vegetated Marsh loss of 6.71% ± 3.19 primarily due to edge erosion near the present-day inlet. Despite net feature stability, significant differences in feature evolution trends were observed during different stages of inlet migration. Most notably, inlet breaching and migration correlated with dynamic feature changes throughout the marsh, while the static inlet period correlated with expansion of open water features near the inlet location. The evolution of Nauset Marsh suggests that inlet migration improves marsh resilience through periodic increases in sediment deposition in a natural salt marsh with sufficient sediment supply. / Thesis (MS) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Earth and Environmental Sciences.

No description available.

In present thesis we study and describe a stochastic loss reserve model for individual insurers. Specifically, it is the model based on the three following features. Modelling of expected claims depends on unknown parameters which estimates need to be the most accurate. Aggregated occurred and paid losses for particular years are modelled by a collective risk model. The final reserve is estimated by Bayesian methodology that uses a prior information from a significant number of insurers. Part of the thesis is also an implementation of the program that calculates reserves by using our model and its testing on simulated data.

<p>The ultimate goal of wildlife recovery is abundance growth of a species, though it must also involve the reestablishment of the species’ ecological role within ecosystems frequently modified by humans. Reestablishment and subsequent recovery may depend on the species’ degree of adaptive behavior as well as the duration of their functional absence and the extent of ecosystem alteration. In cases of long extirpations or extensive alteration, successful reestablishment may entail adjusting foraging behavior, targeting new prey species, and encountering unfamiliar predatory or competitive regimes. Recovering species must also increasingly tolerate heightened anthropogenic presence, particularly within densely inhabited coastal zones. In recent decades, gray seals (Halichoerus grypus) recovered from exploitation, depletion, and partial extirpation in the Northwest Atlantic. On Cape Cod, MA, USA, gray seals have reestablished growing breeding colonies and seasonally interact with migratory white sharks (Carcarodon carcharias). Though well-studied in portions of their range due to concerns over piscivorous impacts on valuable groundfish, there are broad knowledge gaps regarding their ecological role to US marine ecosystems. Furthermore, there are few studies that explicitly analyze gray seal behavior under direct risk of documented shark predation. </p><p> In this dissertation, I apply a behavioral and movement ecology approach to telemetry data to understand gray seal abundance and activity patterns along the coast of Cape Cod. This coastal focus complements extensive research documenting and describing offshore movement and foraging behavior and allows me to address questions about movement decisions and risk allocation. Using beach counts of seals visible in satellite imagery, I estimate the total regional abundance of gray seals using correction factors from haul out behavior and demonstrate a sizeable prey base of gray seals locally. Analyzing intra-annual space use patterns, I document small, concentrated home ranges utilizing nearshore habitats that rapidly expand with shifting activity budgets to target disperse offshore habitats following seasonal declines in white sharks. During the season of dense shark presence, seals conducted abbreviated nocturnal foraging trips structured temporally around divergent use of crepuscular periods. The timing of coastal behavior with different levels of twilight indicate risk allocation patterns with diel cycles of empirical white shark activity. The emergence of risk allocation to explain unique behavioral and spatial patterns observed in these gray seals points to the importance of the restored predator-prey dynamic in gray seal behavior along Cape Cod.</p> / Dissertation

Predominantly darker than his other works, Cape Cod depicts Henry David Thoreau's interpretation of life as a struggle for survival and a search for salvation in a stark New England setting. Representing Thoreau's greatest test of the goodness of God and nature, the book illustrates the centrality of the subject of death to Thoreau's philosophy of life. Contending that Thoreau's journey to the Cape originated from an intensely personal transcendental impulse connected with his brother's death, this study provides the first in-depth examination of Thoreau's use of the five senses in Cape Cod to reveal both the eccentricities inherent in his relationship with nature and his method of resolving his fears of mortality. Some of the sense impressions in Cape Cod--particularly those that center around human death and those that involve tactile sensations--suggest that Thoreau sometimes tried to master his fears by subconsciously altering painful historical facts or by avoiding the type of sensual contact that aggravated the repressed guilt he suffered from his brother's death. Despite his personal idiosyncrasies, however, Thoreau persisted in his search for truth, and the written record of his journey in Cape Cod documents how his dedication to the transcendental process enabled him to surmount his inner turmoil and reconfirm his intuitive faith. In following this process to spiritual renewal, Thoreau begins with subjective impressions of nature and advances to knowledge of objective realities before ultimately reaching symbolic and universal truth. By analyzing nature's lessons as they evolve from Thoreau's use of his senses, this dissertation shows that Cape Cod, rather than invalidating Thoreau's faith, actually expands his transcendental perspective and so rightfully stands beside Walden as one of the fundamental cornerstones of his canon. In addition, the study proffers new support for previous psychoanalytical interpretations of Thoreau and his writings, reveals heretofore unrecognized historical inaccuracies in his account of the shipwreck that frames the book's opening, and provides the first detailed consideration of the linguistic implications of Cape Cod.

The thesis is about the arrangement of the last known claim values into the run-off triangle. This diagram is used in non-life insurance, mainly in methods for calculating technical claims reserves. Individual methods will be described in detail and consecutively applied on real data. The real data are a set of data with long tail. We are differentiating between easier deterministic and stochastic methods, which are more demanding for calculation. The results will be compared by basic statistical parameter of the analyzed data and at the end the best method will be chosen for the data.

This document focuses on background and performance practice of various musical styles encountered in Paquito D'Rivera's The Cape Cod Files. More specifically, the musical styles examined include: boogie-woogie, Argentine milonga, classical and popular Cuban music, American twelve-bar blues, contemporary atonal music, and Cuban danzón. A brief biography of Paquito D'Rivera is included to establish context of the composer's musical background. Each chapter examines one of the four movements and the musical styles found within that movement. A brief history of each musical style is provided to inform appropriate performance practice decisions.

Thesis (M.S.)--Joint Program in Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), February 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 144-149). / A bi-weekly seasonal study was conducted in Ashumet Pond (Cape Cod, Massachusetts). The Redfield Ratio (106C:16N:1P) and alkaline phosphatase activity (APA) were utilized in tandem as nutrient deficiency indicators (NDIs) for phytoplankton. The study objective was to evaluate the limiting nutrient status of the pond throughout the growing season. The development of a high throughput method for fluorometrically measuring APA allowed for a large quantity of pond-water samples to be analyzed. The new method utilized a cytofluor, a fluorescence multi-well plate reader, which increased sample throughput by 75% compared to a standard filter fluorometer method. The detection limit, capability to measure APA at different time intervals, and performance at sea were tested. APA measurements made using the cytofluor were comparable to those made using a standard filter fluorometer, thus indicating that the cytofluor is a suitable and preferred replacement to the fluorometer for APA measurements. The presence of alkaline phosphatase, an inducible phospho-hydrolytic enzyme, is commonly used as an NDI diagnostic for phosphate limitation. A nutrient enrichment incubation re-affirmed the use of APA as a robust indicator of phosphate limitation in phytoplankton. APA data indicate that the system experienced episodic periods of phosphate-deficiency, implying that the limiting nutrient regime was not static, but was changeable throughout the growing season. Seasonal trends in dissolved N:P and particulate C:P ratios often contradict the APA results, however, suggesting that the Redfield Ratio is an unreliable indicator of the overall nutrient limitation regime of the pond. The observed discrepancies between C:N:P and APA can be reconciled by taking into account seasonal changes in species composition, which played an important role in driving seasonal APA trends. / by Christie Lynn Haupert. / M.S.