The Outer Banks of Order

The story of life reads as a widening gyre of complexity and functional organization. This chapter rambles along its margins with the focus on mind, particularly human minds, whose productions are even now transforming the entire biosphere. Mind is not a wholly material phenomenon, but neither is it divorced from matter; and it is quite certainly a product of prolonged evolution. Genes have a role to play, but mental activities grow out of a much higher level of organization, where cells (neurons) rather than genes construct elaborate networks of communication. Just how mind (memory, judgment, feelings) emerges from the firings and couplings of neurons is largely unknown, a topic for continued reflection and debate. It has even been argued that our materialistic conception of the world is altogether false. In the meantime we can usefully consider how the human lineage, the primary carriers of mind, evolved its fateful characteristics. And we can speculate about the cosmos: is it a garden buzzing with exotic creatures, or a sterile desert sprinkled with a few pinpoints of life?

Vascular flora of the Outer Banks, North Carolina, U.S.A.

A complete catalogue of the vascular flora of the North Carolina Outer Banks is presented. Rarity, habitat, distribution within the Outer Banks, and earliest and latest specimens are given for each taxon. The flora contains 1020 species and infraspecific taxa, plus an additional 80 taxa that lack voucher specimens. Some 770 taxa are considered native; 250 non-native. Fifty-one taxa reach their northern range limit on the Outer Banks; 11 their southern limit. Fifty-five taxa are listed as rare in North Carolina; one of them also listed Threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Twenty-four natural communities are described and assessed for vulnerabil-ity to sea level rise. Prior botanical research is listed chronologically.

Numerical modelling and computer visualization of the storm surge in and around the Croatan-Albemarle-Pamlico estuary system produced by hurricane Emily of August 1993

Hurricane Emily unleashed its fury on the Outer Banks of North Carolina on 31 August 1993. Storm surge was a major cause of damage along the Outer Banks. The highest flood water (11-11.5ft) occurred in the Buxton area near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. It was reported that this flood water was from storm surges along the sound side of the barrier islands. An experimental forecast was conducted for this event in real time using Croatan-Albemarle-Pamlico estuary systems (CAPES) storm surge prediction model developed at North Carolina State University (NCSU). It uses as input parameters the projected hurricane track, minimum center pressure, maximum sustained wind speed and radius of maximum wind speed provided by the National Hurricane Center (NHC). The forcing of the model also includes fresh water input from sound system rivers, and of coastal waters intruding into the sound via Ocracoke, Hatteras and Oregon inlets. The predicted maximum surge along the sound side of the Outer Banks was within 85-90% of the post-storm highwater-mark survey data provided by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Albeit, an after the fact simulation using the post-storm analysis of the track of Emily provided by the NHC, the maximum storm surge along the sound side of the Outer Bancks predicted by the model was within 95-98% of the maximum highwater mark data. The location of the predicted maximum surge for both pre and first model runs was near Cape Hatteras, which agreed well with USGS's survey data. We conclude that the CAPES storm surge model is capable of providing accurate storm surge forecasts in and around the CAPES, but such forecasts are sensitive to not only the observed storm size and intensity but in particular, the projected storm track.

Two tribes, one island

O Product Placement, estratégia sutil utilizada para apresentar marcas e produtos em produções audiovisuais, mostra-se cada vez mais presente nas atuais narrativas. Sob esse prisma, este trabalho visa identificar e analisar o uso do Product Placement na primeira temporada da série Outer Banks, produzida pela Netflix e disponibilizada ao público em 2020. Para a etapa de coleta de dados, a série foi assistida e, em seguida, foram identificadas as marcas inseridas, sendo que se detectou, ao longo dos dez episódios da primeira temporada, a aparição de 27 marcas; destas, selecionou-se quatro aparições que, em seguida, foram analisadas através da “A Retórica da Imagem” de Barthes (1990). Ao fim do estudo, entende-se que as análises realizadas levam ao entendimento de que um bom posicionamento de marca e uma inserção utilizada de forma correta no meio audiovisual podem trazer resultados significativos, seja no reconhecimento da marca pelo consumidor – gerando identificação – ou, também, convertendo a aparição em vendas através do desejo de consumo.

Description and taxonomic analysis of a tuberculated turtle leech from the Outer Banks, North Carolina, USA, provisionally identified as Placobdella multilineata Moore, 1953 (Hirudinea: Glossiphoniidae)

A tuberculated species of turtle leech is indigenous to the Great Dismal Swamp and environs of northeastern North Carolina, and differs from other known species of Placobdella. This study of hundreds of specimens for more than a decade documents its unexpected taxonomic complexity. In fact, this seemingly innocuous leech undergoes radical transformations in terms of morphology and behaviour, each adapted to a different phase of its life cycle. Biological observations reveal a progressive darkening with age which imposes taxonomic uncertainties. Furthermore, some commonly used characters are found to be unsound for taxonomic diagnosis in that they do not occur in all individuals of this species. The primary objective of this paper is a comprehensive description of this Albemarle turtle leech. The question is then asked, what distinguishes it from allied species? Toward this end, a formal taxonomic diagnosis is proposed based on details of the proboscis complex and crop-related tuberculation. This species is allied to the northern P. rugosa (Verrill, 1874) or its southern counterpart P. multilineata Moore, 1953. However, synonymy to either of these forms is problematical due to inadequacy of type descriptions. Nonetheless, in view of habitat similarity the Albemarle leech is provisionally identified as P. multilineata pending comparable studies of variability and development of other tuberculated Placobdella.

Forecasting oceanfront shoreline position to evaluate physical vulnerability for recreational and infrastructure resilience at Cape Hatteras National Seashore

The Cape Hatteras National Seashore (Seashore) is located along the Outer Banks of eastern North Carolina, and is renowned for its prominent historical landmarks and world-class recreation. Seashore managers maintain hundreds of assets that support visitor use. Additionally, and primary to the mission of the National Park Service (NPS), managers steward natural and cultural resources located on public and protected lands. The portfolio of assets managed by NPS within the Seashore carries a high level of risk due to its exposure to both coastal erosion and storm surge inundation. The impacts of Hurricane Dorian demonstrated the importance of examining the physical vulnerability of the entire portfolio managed by NPS within the Seashore. The purpose of this study was to 1) evaluate the functionality of the beta forecast tool available in the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (v 5.0); and 2) explore options for using the output to assess the potential physical vulnerability of NPS assets. The study determined that using the 10- and 20-year oceanfront shoreline position forecast provides decision makers with a first order screening tool that can be used to prioritize mitigation and adaptation strategies given the unpredictable nature of tropical and extra-tropical cyclones and uncertainty associated with sea level rise.

Tribes and Towns: What Historians Still Get Wrong about the Roanoke Ventures

The Theodor De Bry map of the coast of today’s North Carolina has exerted an unfortunate influence over how historians and anthropologists have described and understood the indigenous Algonquian communities of the Outer Banks and the coast of today’s North Carolina, and so how they have interpreted Sir Walter Ralegh’s colonizing ventures. The map is the bedrock on which many scholars have erected their own interpretations of the indigenous polities of the coastal Carolina region. The “tribes” etched by De Bry and described by subsequent scholars, in other words, seldom appear as meaningful entities in the surviving records. By tracing their imagined course, by adding to and elaborating on a map that reflected the biases and preconceptions of European observers, one risks missing much indeed and imposing on the region’s native peoples frameworks of social organization that most likely would have struck them as utterly foreign and wrong.