Surface transient storage (STS) and hyporheic transient storage (HTS) have functional significance in stream ecology and hydrology. Both provide refugia for aquatic communities and their longer mean residence times (compared to the main flow) increase the potential for biogeochemical reactions that can improve water quality. As STS and HTS have...
In an experimental field study, populations of gray-tailed voles (Microtus canicaudus) were exposed to a commercial formulation of vinclozolin, a fungicide effective for disease control on ornamental plants, turf grasses, and fruits and vegetables. Vinclozolin has been shown in laboratory experiments to behave as an androgen antagonist, impairing the reproductive...
This study evaluated biomass production, water-use efficiency (WUE), biomass allocation, and water use characteristics of common plant species in Owens Valley, California, USA. The species studied were the grasses Distichlis spicata, Leymus triticoides, and Sporobolus airoides, the forbs Glycyrrhiza lepidota, Juncus arcticus, and Salsola tragus (annual), the desert shrubs Artemisia...
Food insecurity is a common issue among college students in the United States with recent research suggesting that between 10-75% of college students are food insecure. In comparison, an estimated 10.2% of U.S. Households are food insecure. Food insecurity is associated with many negative health outcomes. The purpose of this...
Climate change is expected to increase the occurrence of many climate-related natural hazards. Confidence that the risk of heat waves will increase is very high given strong evidence in the peer-reviewed literature, consistency among the projections of different global climate models, and robust scientific principles that explain why temperatures increase...
Mean annual runoff to precipitation (R/P) ratios were generated for 966 watersheds within the contiguous United States. The watersheds were plotted using Arc View GIS and used as part of an overlay analysis with Level 1 U.S. ecoregions. The ratios were statistically evaluated to determine anomalous R/P conditions within the...
There is increasing evidence that the type of land cover surrounding remnant patches of native habitats (the ‘matrix’) can modify effects of landscape change on biodiversity; thus the traditional idea of dichotomous habitat and non-habitat following island biogeography theory is insufficient in complex landscapes. Matrix type can have dramatic influences...
We present a deterministic spectral method to predict equilibrium temperature distributions, heat flux, and thermal conductivity in homogeneous and heterogeneous media. We solve the Boltzmann transport equation in a second order spatial, self-adjoint angular flux formulation. We implemented this method into the radiation transport code Rattlesnake, built using the MOOSE...
Downward flow opposing mixed convection conditions have been studied using the FLUENT CFD code. This work was comprised of two primary objectives. The first was to study core channel flow reversal susceptibility in the Gas Reactor Test Section (GRTS) at low flow conditions. The second objective was the development of...
The Boltzmann transport equation derived in the Self-Adjoint Angular Flux (SAAF) formulation is applied to simulate phonon transport. The neutron transport code Rattlesnake is leveraged in this fashion, slightly modi ed to accept input from variables consistent with phonon transport simulations. Several benchmark problems are modeled to assess the potential...