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Chiton II: The Undervalued Chiton as a Shellfish Resource on the Northwest Coast of North America
Full text linkIn the Spring of 2015, I wrote my first article on the cultural use of chiton mollusks. I explored their sometimes-substantial infra-structural contribution to the shellfish diet as found in archaeological shell middens on the Northern and Central Pacific Northwest Coast (Figure 2, left map). Some recent research reflects high chiton-use data from the South- ern Northwest Coast, along the Oregon coast, with similar patterns emerging (Figure 2, right map). I begin this new research article (Chiton II) summarizing the Chiton I piece and then briefly explore the preliminary research on the Southern Northwest Coast. Also, I elaborate further on ethnographic research on the critical importance of chiton in a book, Entering Time, covering the Haida Creation of Humans story. This small book explores Haida Master Artist Charles Edenshaw’s argillite platters depicting culture hero/trickster Raven hunting supernatural chitons (Chiton/Vulvas) in order to establish and perpetuate humans through the capturing of female Tsaw, the Haida word for female reproductive organs (Browne 2016). Therefore, on a very super-structural level, we continue to see chitons playing a key role in the actual existence of people and their ability to continue themselves and their cultural developments in this world (see one of his argillite platters, Figure 3, below)
TASOPT.jl: A Julia package for conceptual commercial transport aircraft design
Full text linkAircraft design is a multidisciplinary field that spans aerodynamics, structures, thermodynamics and propulsion. Prior approaches to this problem have consisted of historical correlations, empirical drag and simplified propulsion system models (Raymer, 2018; Roskam, 2002; Torenbeek, 1982).TASOPT, originally written in FORTRAN and developed by Mark Drela (Drela, 2011; Greitzer et al., 2010), took the approach of basing the aerodynamic, propulsion, and weight estimates on low-order models built on first-principles structural, aerodynamic, thermodynamic theory to the extent possible. This approach gives confidence that optimized aircraft designs generated by the program are not spurious artifacts of inappropriately extrapolated empirical data.This package, TASOPT.jl, is a modern, Julia based implementation of the same principles, written with the goal of extensibility in mind. The current package leverages open source Julia packages where useful to provide an easy-to-read and maintain software. TASOPT.jl also introduces additional functionality such as capability to model some forms of hydrogen fuel aircraft. In addition, the software allows users to connect it with other aircraft propulsion system tools (such as NPSS) and aircraft environmental impact assessment tools (such as Aviation Emissions Inventory Codes) (Simone et al., 2013)
ASSESSING THE POTENTIAL OF DIVERSIFIED FARMING SYSTEMS FOR IMPROVED SUSTAINABILITY ON THE PALOUSE
Full text linkDiverse farming systems aim to leverage both environmental and economic benefits through strategies that promote soil health, improve resource-use efficiency, and reduce risk by diversifying revenue and stabilizing yields. Yet, widespread adoption beyond practices like reduced or no-till and temporally diversified crop rotations remains limited. More complex systems that incorporate livestock, annual and perennial forage crops, intercrops, and/or organic management for system diversification face practical barriers and uncertainty around regional variability in long-term agronomic and economic performance. It remains that transformative socio-economic change at the policy level is likely required to overcome our current model of agriculture and the associated structural barriers that constrain broader adoption of diversified farming strategies. To achieve this, there is a need for more comprehensive, long-term field studies that move beyond productivity and provide a broader assessment of the potential for these strategies to succeed across varied contexts that have not yet been explored. Throughout three chapters, this research investigates the long-term impacts of conventional no-till, organic, and mixed crop-livestock systems on economic and soil health outcomes. The dataset produced was robust and was curated for future use by researchers. Intercropping has been heavily studied globally and may fit into each studied farming system. However, little information is available on its utility and impact on the soil microbiome in the Palouse watershed. The research presented gives insight into the utility and impact of two intercropping systems. In Chapter 2, we examine the potential of several diversification strategies for improved system sustainability in the annual cropping zone of the Palouse River watershed region of eastern Washington by summarizing 12 years of productivity, profitability, and soil quality outcomes. The four systems were as follows: (i) a no-till system with a three-year crop rotation of grains and conventional fertilizer and chemicals (NT); (ii) a no-till mixed crop-livestock system with a similar rotation but incorporating livestock and green manures with reduced inputs (MIX); (iii) an organic mixed crop-livestock system that utilized livestock, green manure crops, and intercropping in a mainly annual crop-focused rotation (ORGcrop); and (iv) an organic hay system based on perennial hay crop production and livestock integration (ORGhay). In Chapter 3, the data set produced from the long-term agroecosystem field study is summarized. The dataset produced spans over a decade (2012–2023) of observations and contains data from nearly 4,000 soil samples, 1,172 harvest samples, and economic metrics from 192 individual enterprise budgets. Finally, in Chapter 4, we evaluate the agronomic and microbial responses to intercropped versus sole cropped spring canola, peas, and chickpeas in a small-plot assessment of a potential intercrop combination for the region. The sole cropped and intercropped treatments were followed by winter wheat to determine the impact this cropping system could have on the region’s most prominent grain crop
UNDERSTANDING AND MINIMIZING REPORTING DISCREPANCY OF ANXIETY SYMPTOMS IN AUTISTIC YOUTH
Full text linkThe caregiver- and self-reporting process is an essential component of clinical assessment and intervention for youth. Whereas research consistently supports differences in reporting (i.e., discrepancy) between youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their caregivers when rating internalizing symptoms, the nature of the discrepancy (e.g., which informant reports more or less symptoms, extent of agreement) remains mixed. Certain demographic and family factors may impact the nature of discrepancy. Currently, there is no known literature on how psychoeducation with facilitated discussion impacts the gaps in perception between caregivers and autistic youth. Thus, the current study aimed to assess the efficacy of a psychoeducational intervention program on reducing anxiety-related informant reporting discrepancy. The study also aimed to assess demographic/non-demographic variables that may contribute to parent-child discrepancy and factors that may be relevant to consider when developing a discrepancy-reducing intervention. The discrepancy-intervention condition included a pamphlet that provided information on discrepancy and offered tips for talking to youth about anxiety symptoms. Additionally, one Zoom-based joint outreach session with the youth and caregiver was provided to facilitate discussion about differences in perception, with the goal of helping families to collaboratively approach emotional challenges that youth are experiencing. The current study replicated the overall finding that caregivers tend to report more internalizing symptoms compared to autistic youth. Generally speaking, ASD social behavior and caregiver distress positively related to parent-child discrepancy, whereas child verbal IQ negatively related to discrepancy. Specific to the BASC anxiety outcome measure, families in the discrepancy-intervention condition exhibited significant decreases in their reporting discrepancy compared to families in the discrepancy-control condition. There is evidence to suggest that some variables such as caregiver distress, ASD social behavior, and child race may impact treatment efficacy. The current study aimed to continue to build upon evidence-based knowledge about the nature of informant discrepancy, with the hope of being better able to provide quality care to families and children with ASD