Intrabasin Floral Differences in the Sonoran Desert; a case study from the Casa Grande Valley

10.7287/peerj.preprints.207v2 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Gabriela Garcia ◽

Sarah Gabriele ◽

Benjamin Cowgill ◽

Xavier Rodriguez ◽

Robert J Gay

Keyword(s):

Community Composition ◽

Soil Ph ◽

Sonoran Desert ◽

Mineral Content ◽

Controlling Factors ◽

Floral Variation ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Elevation Data ◽

Expected Values

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine what floral differences exist in North Mountain Park and Casa Grande Mountain Park which are both located on opposite sides of the Casa Grande Valley, Pinal County, Arizona and to attempt to explain any measured differences. Previous authors have proposed several explanations for floral variation within the Sonoran Desert including elevation, soil pH, and mineral content. This study explicitly tests several of these proposed mechanisms for determining community composition. Methods: The floral composition was measured in both North Mountain Park and Casa Grande Mountain Park through a series of transects which were sampled by multiple times in 2012 and 2013. Elevation data soil pH were also sampled. Results: The data recovered from North Mountain Park differed from the expected values in Casa Grande Mountain Park by 22%. This indicates a significant difference in the flora between these two localities that was not predicted by earlier studies. Elevation and soil pH differences between sampled localities were not significant. This suggests that mineral composition of the soil may play an important role within this basin in determining community composition. Discussion: Many factors that have been proposed in prior studies do not appear to play a significant role within the Casa Grande Valley in determining community composition. This indicates that the composition of a community is influenced by different factors in different locations within the Sonoran Desert. This makes determining overall controlling factors across an ecosystem difficult.

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Intrabasin Floral Differences in the Sonoran Desert; a case study from the Casa Grande Valley

10.7287/peerj.preprints.207v1 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Robert J Gay ◽

Gabriela Garcia ◽

Sarah Gabriele ◽

Benjamin Cowgill ◽

Xavier Rodriguez

Keyword(s):

Community Composition ◽

Soil Ph ◽

Sonoran Desert ◽

Mineral Content ◽

Controlling Factors ◽

Floral Variation ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Elevation Data ◽

Expected Values

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine what floral differences exist in North Mountain Park and Casa Grande Mountain Park which are both located on opposite sides of the Casa Grande Valley, Pinal County, Arizona and to attempt to explain any measured differences. Previous authors have proposed several explanations for floral variation within the Sonoran Desert including elevation, soil pH, and mineral content. This study explicitly tests several of these proposed mechanisms for determining community composition. Methods: The floral composition was measured in both North Mountain Park and Casa Grande Mountain Park through a series of transects which were sampled by multiple times in 2012 and 2013. Elevation data soil pH were also sampled. Results: The data recovered from North Mountain Park differed from the expected values in Casa Grande Mountain Park by 22%. This indicates a significant difference in the flora between these two localities that was not predicted by earlier studies. Elevation and soil pH differences between sampled localities were not significant. This suggests that mineral composition of the soil may play an important role within this basin in determining community composition. Discussion: Many factors that have been proposed in prior studies do not appear to play a significant role within the Casa Grande Valley in determining community composition. This indicates that the composition of a community is influenced by different factors in different locations within the Sonoran Desert. This makes determining overall controlling factors across an ecosystem difficult.

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Intrabasin Floral Differences in the Sonoran Desert; a case study from the Casa Grande Valley

10.7287/peerj.preprints.207 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Gabriela Garcia ◽

Sarah Gabriele ◽

Benjamin Cowgill ◽

Xavier Rodriguez ◽

Robert J Gay

Keyword(s):

Community Composition ◽

Soil Ph ◽

Sonoran Desert ◽

Mineral Content ◽

Controlling Factors ◽

Floral Variation ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Elevation Data ◽

Expected Values

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine what floral differences exist in North Mountain Park and Casa Grande Mountain Park which are both located on opposite sides of the Casa Grande Valley, Pinal County, Arizona and to attempt to explain any measured differences. Previous authors have proposed several explanations for floral variation within the Sonoran Desert including elevation, soil pH, and mineral content. This study explicitly tests several of these proposed mechanisms for determining community composition. Methods: The floral composition was measured in both North Mountain Park and Casa Grande Mountain Park through a series of transects which were sampled by multiple times in 2012 and 2013. Elevation data soil pH were also sampled. Results: The data recovered from North Mountain Park differed from the expected values in Casa Grande Mountain Park by 22%. This indicates a significant difference in the flora between these two localities that was not predicted by earlier studies. Elevation and soil pH differences between sampled localities were not significant. This suggests that mineral composition of the soil may play an important role within this basin in determining community composition. Discussion: Many factors that have been proposed in prior studies do not appear to play a significant role within the Casa Grande Valley in determining community composition. This indicates that the composition of a community is influenced by different factors in different locations within the Sonoran Desert. This makes determining overall controlling factors across an ecosystem difficult.

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Changes of Walking Activity During the First Cycle Phases of COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of Seoul, Korea

HERD Health Environments Research & Design Journal ◽

10.1177/19375867211026571 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 193758672110265

Author(s):

Youngjun Park ◽

Haekwon Chung ◽

Sohyun Park

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Physical Inactivity ◽

Voluntary Participation ◽

Walking Activity ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Before And After ◽

Acceleration And Deceleration ◽

Preliminary Study ◽

The Government

Aim: This study explores the changes in regular walking activities during the phases of the pandemic. Background: With the spread of COVID-19 transmission, people are refraining from going out, reducing their physical activity. In South Korea, COVID-19 broke out in the 4th week of 2020 and experienced the first cycle phases of the pandemic, such as outbreak, widespread, and decline. In response to the pandemic, the government encouraged voluntary participation in social distancing campaigns, and people reduced their outside activities. Methods: This article examines the decrease and increase of the Prevalence of Regular Walking (≥30 min of moderate walking a day, on ≥5 days a week) by the COVID-19 phases. This study is based on weekly walking data for 15 weeks in 2020, via the smartphone healthcare app, which is managed by 25 public health offices of the Seoul government. Results: According to the findings, the level of prevalence of regular walking (PRW) has a significant difference before and after the outbreak, and every interval of the four-stage COVID-19 phases, that is, pre-pandemic, initiation, acceleration, and deceleration. The level of PRW sharply decreased during initiation and acceleration intervals. In the deceleration interval of COVID-19, the PRW kept increasing, but it has not yet reached the same level as the previous year when the COVID-19 did not exist. Conclusions: As a preliminary study, this study explains empirically how COVID-19 changed PRW in Seoul. It would be helpful to enhance our understanding of the changes in physical inactivity in the pandemic period.

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Integration of Dental Implants in Conjunction with EDTA-Conditioned Dentin Grafts: An Experimental Study

Dentistry Journal ◽

10.3390/dj9060063 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (6) ◽

pp. 63

Author(s):

Payam Farzad ◽

Ted Lundgren ◽

Adel Al-Asfour ◽

Lars Andersson ◽

Christer Dahlin

Keyword(s):

Direct Contact ◽

Mineral Content ◽

X Rays ◽

X Ray ◽

Dentin Surface ◽

Significant Difference ◽

C And N ◽

Micro Implants ◽

Demineralized Dentin

This study was undertaken to investigate the integration of titanium micro-implants installed in conjunction with previously dentin-grafted areas and to study the morphological appearance, mineral content, and healing pattern of xenogenic EDTA-conditioned dentin blocks and granules grafted to cavities in the tibial bone of rabbits. Demineralized and non-demineralized dentin blocks and granules from human premolars were implanted into cavities prepared on the lateral aspects of the tibias of rabbits. After a healing period of six months, micro-implants were installed at each surgical site. Histological examinations were carried out after 24 weeks. Characterization of the EDTA-conditioned dentin blocks was performed by means of light microscopy, dental X-rays, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). No implants were found to be integrated in direct contact with the dentin particles or blocks. On the EDTA-conditioned dentin surface, the organic marker elements C and N dominated, as revealed by EDX. The hydroxyapatite constituents Ca and P were almost absent on the dentin surface. No statistically significant difference was observed between the EDTA-conditioned and non-demineralized dentin, as revealed by BIC and BA. The bone-inductive capacity of the dentin material seemed limited, although demineralization by means of EDTA indicated higher BIC and BA values in conjunction with the installed implants in the area. A 12 h EDTA treatment did not fully decalcify the grafts, as revealed by X-ray analysis.

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Spatial patterns, controlling factors, and characteristics of landslides triggered by strike-slip faulting earthquakes: case study of Lefkada island, Greece

Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment ◽

10.1007/s10064-021-02181-x ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 80 (5) ◽

pp. 3747-3765 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

George Papathanassiou ◽

Sotiris Valkaniotis ◽

Athanassios Ganas

Keyword(s):

Spatial Patterns ◽

Strike Slip ◽

Controlling Factors ◽

Lefkada Island

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Artificial life and ‘nature’s purposes’: The question of behavioral autonomy

Human Affairs ◽

10.1515/humaff-2020-0052 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (4) ◽

pp. 587-596

Author(s):

Elena Popa

Keyword(s):

Artificial Life ◽

Life Forms ◽

Behavioral Traits ◽

Ethical Implications ◽

Autonomous Behavior ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Behavioral Autonomy ◽

Synthetic Life ◽

Biological Organisms

AbstractThis paper investigates the concept of behavioral autonomy in Artificial Life by drawing a parallel to the use of teleological notions in the study of biological life. Contrary to one of the leading assumptions in Artificial Life research, I argue that there is a significant difference in how autonomous behavior is understood in artificial and biological life forms: the former is underlain by human goals in a way that the latter is not. While behavioral traits can be explained in relation to evolutionary history in biological organisms, in synthetic life forms behavior depends on a design driven by a research agenda, further shaped by broader human goals. This point will be illustrated with a case study on a synthetic life form. Consequently, the putative epistemic benefit of reaching a better understanding of behavioral autonomy in biological organisms by synthesizing artificial life forms is subject to doubt: the autonomy observed in such artificial organisms may be a mere projection of human agency. Further questions arise in relation to the need to spell out the relevant human aims when addressing potential social or ethical implications of synthesizing artificial life forms.

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Application of a Novel Hybrid Method for Flood Susceptibility Mapping with Satellite Images: A Case Study of Seoul, Korea

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs13142786 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (14) ◽

pp. 2786

Author(s):

Roya Narimani ◽

Changhyun Jun ◽

Saqib Shahzad ◽

Jeill Oh ◽

Kyoohong Park

Keyword(s):

High Risk ◽

Hybrid Method ◽

Satellite Images ◽

Controlling Factors ◽

Susceptibility Mapping ◽

Low Risk ◽

Flood Susceptibility ◽

Flood Susceptibility Mapping ◽

Flood Maps

This paper proposes a novel hybrid method for flood susceptibility mapping using a geographic information system (ArcGIS) and satellite images based on the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Here, the following nine multisource environmental controlling factors influencing flood susceptibility were considered for relative weight estimation in AHP: elevation, land use, slope, topographic wetness index, curvature, river distance, flow accumulation, drainage density, and rainfall. The weight for each factor was determined from AHP and analyzed to investigate critical regions that are more vulnerable to floods using the overlay weighted sum technique to integrate the nine layers. As a case study, the ArcGIS-based framework was applied in Seoul to obtain a flood susceptibility map, which was categorized into six regions (very high risk, high risk, medium risk, low risk, very low risk, and out of risk). Finally, the flood map was verified using real flood maps from the previous five years to test the model’s effectiveness. The flood map indicated that 40% of the area shows high flood risk and thus requires urgent attention, which was confirmed by the validation results. Planners and regulatory bodies can use flood maps to control and mitigate flood incidents along rivers. Even though the methodology used in this study is simple, it has a high level of accuracy and can be applied for flood mapping in most regions where the required datasets are available. This is the first study to apply high-resolution basic maps (12.5 m) to extract the nine controlling factors using only satellite images and ArcGIS to produce a suitable flood map in Seoul for better management in the near future.

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