No description available.

The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is one of the main components of atmospheric circulation variability within the middle and high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere and largely affects winter weather in northeastern United States. This study examined the most recent decadal trend of the NAO as well as its influence on snowfall totals and storm track variability in the northeast U.S. over the previous 50-year period. Previous research has indicated greater snowfall totals in the Northeast during NAO negative phases due to repeated polar outbreaks. Nonetheless, past research has also shown connections between the NAO positive phase and active winter seasons in this region. This study provides insight on how both positive and negative NAO phases can produce significant snowfall in the Northeast. Statistical and graphical analysis were completed to assess the relationship between the NAO and seasonal snowfall (NDJFM) from 1961-2010 for stations within the Northeast (Virginia to Maine). In addition, two case studies of recent winter events with differing NAO phases were evaluated to provide insight on how both NAO phases can produce significant snowfall in the Northeast. The statistical analysis revealed inverse relationships between the NAO negative phase and seasonal snowfall. The composite analysis indicated an average positive NAO pattern from 1961-2010, yet the NAO negative years produced higher frequency of snowfall in the Northeast. The case studies highlighted variations in storm track and snowfall distribution of the two winter events in differing phases. This study shows that snowfall can occur in particular regions of the Northeast regardless of the NAO phase which has important implications for forecasters. This research also provides the necessary information to complete the most recent decadal trend of the NAO and determine its average pattern. The update of this record will assist climatologists and weather forecasters in predicting future northeast U.S. winter storms. / Department of Geography

No description available.

Growing concerns over climate change is driving research aimed at determining ways of retaining soil carbon (C) within managed northeastern forests. Earthworms are exotic to the state of Vermont and the current extent of earthworm community presence in the state's forests, as well as the long term impact these communities will have on soil C storage, is still unknown. Current research suggests that earthworms have conflicting effects on the C cycle of soils, simultaneously enhancing mineralization through soil mixing, while protecting C through the stabilization of microaggregate (mA) structures. The mA soil fraction represents a pool of physically stable structures capable of maintaining occluded C for long periods of time. To date, studies investigating earthworm effects on mA formation and occluded C have rarely been done in undisturbed forest soils. Earthworms were found in 10 of 18 forest sites utilized in a statewide Vermont earthworm survey, and community presence correlated with thinner forest floor depths. For 8 sites, the impact of earthworm presence on the quantity of C within water stable mA was investigated. Earthworm presence correlated with greater total C in the top 20 cm of mineral soil, highlighting the relocation of the forest floor noted in all 18 sites. A small, but significant, decrease was noted in the proportion of bulk soil mA, however through C enrichment from the forest floor, there was a significant increase in the pool of mA-associated C. A paired mesocosm study was also conducted, utilizing the endogeic earthworm species Aporrectodea tuberculata, placed in an earthworm-free, undisturbed forest soil. Findings from this study corroborated the correlations noted in the field with significant, though small, decreases in the proportion of bulk soil mA. The larger macroaggregate fraction was increased by about 4 times under earthworm influence. The C enrichment of mA structures occluded within the macroaggregate fraction accounted for approximately 95% of the total increase in mA-associated C, and 50% of the total C integrated into the mineral soil. It can be assumed that the C preferentially occluded within the mA structures by earthworm ingestion will experience longer mean residence time relative to bulk soil C. We conclude that, for the forest soils investigated, earthworm communities decreased the proportion of mA slightly but that the pool of physically stabilized C was increased through mA turnover. Forest soils usually experience low soil mixing and therefore typically contain high proportions of mA, though the quantity of C within these structures varies. Due to mA restructuring within the earthworm gut, it is unlikely that earthworm community expansions will alter the proportion of mA in forest soils, however the quantity of C present within these structures is likely to increase. The individual site investigated in the controlled study was particularly low in mineral soil C, and therefore the long-term presence of earthworms would likely result in an increase to mineral C storage. However, this result may not be applicable for forests with high levels of mineral soil C prior to earthworm invasion.

Maps of runoff-depth have been found to be useful tools in a variety of water resource applications. Producing such maps can be a challenging and expensive task. One of the standard methods of producing these maps is to use a manual procedure based on gaged runoff data, topographic and past runoff-depth maps, and the expert opinion of hydrologists. This thesis examined five new automated procedures for producing runoff-depth contour maps to see if the maps produced by these procedures had similar accuracy and characteristics when compared to the manual procedure. An uncertainty analysis was used to determine the accuracy of the automated procedure maps by withholding gaged runoff data from the creation of the contour maps and then interpolating estimated runoff back to these sites from the maps produced. Subtracting gaged runoff from estimated runoff produced interpolation error values. The mean interpolation error was used to define the accuracy of each map and was then compared to a similar study by Rochelle, et al., (1989) conducted on a manual procedure map.

In 1948 Williams subdivided the Jefferson Formation of northeastern Utah into two formations. The upper formation was referred to as the Late Devonian Jefferson Formation and the lower formation the Early Devonian Water Canyon Formation (Williams, 1948, p. 1138). Since that ti.me detailed study of the Water Canyon Formation has not been made . It is the purpose of this investigation to describe in detail the lithology and paleontology of the formation and their implication as to the environment of deposition of Early Devonian time in northeastern Utah.

O Brasil tem na desigualdade regional um tema que historicamente recebe bastante atenção por parte dos pesquisadores e das formulações de políticas públicas. Regiões mais vulneráveis do país são alvos de iniciativas que tentam amenizar o problema da disparidade econômica. Dentre os instrumentos utilizados, o Fundo Constitucional de Financiamento do Nordeste (FNE) foi criado pela Constituição de 1988 com o intuito de combater as desigualdades intra e inter-regionais na região nordestina. O presente estudo se propõe a avaliar a eficácia do FNE como instrumento de política de combate às desigualdades regionais no Brasil aplicando uma metodologia de equilíbrio geral computável. A retirada do FNE e a realocação do montante do fundo em gastos correntes resultariam em queda no PIB e aumento da concentração da atividade e da desigualdade do PIB per capita, indicando que o FNE funcionaria como indutor de crescimento e cumpriria o objetivo de reduzir a desigualdade entre o Nordeste e o Brasil. / Brazil has in regional inequality a subject that historically receives a lot of attention from the researchers and policy makers. The most vulnerable regions in Brazil received initiatives that attempt to attenuate the problem of economic disparity. Among the instruments used, the Northeastern Constitutional Financing Fund was created by the Constitution with the aim of fight against intra and interregional inequalities in the Northeastern region. The present study proposes to evaluate the efficiency of the fund as an instrument of combatant policy of regional inequalities in the Northeast region applying a methodology of computable general equilibrium. The estimation of the scenario with no existence of the fund and its reallocation in government demand implies that income and investment decreases, together with higher concentration of production and inequality of GDP per capita.

This thesis explores the social organization of ‘helping sex workers’ in Northeastern Ontario from the standpoint of sex workers or former sex workers. It is based on twelve (12) qualitative interviews with sex workers and former sex workers between the years 2002-2003. This thesis engages the feminist research framework as developed by Dorothy E Smith, a feminist sociologist. Smiths’ ontological and epistemological framework conceptualizes knowledge as socially produced and mediated by social/power relations. This is a theoretical framework that has the potential to explore the social standpoint of persons labeled ‘sex worker’ by examining social/power relations from their standpoint and by problematizing claims of the universality of knowledge and ‘truth’. Overwhelmingly sex workers identified ‘help’ as a series of stigmatizing processes that were triggered upon the ‘moment of identification’ of being a sex worker. These series of stigmatizing processes were embedded in social courses of action undertaken by social service agencies and the police. This is important research as claims to ‘helping’ sex workers by social service agencies and the subsequent social relations this creates for sex workers are rarely examined in Canada from the standpoint of sex workers.

Thesis (D. Miss.)--Western Seminary, Portland, OR, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 182-191).

Thesis (D. Miss.)--Western Seminary, Portland, OR, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 182-191).