Treesearch

A number of essentially healthy 5- and 6-year old children were studied to determine their interests in, anxieties about, attitudes toward, and reactions to fire. The relationships of particular personality characteristics of the children and the socialization techniques and teaching strategies of the mothers to the children's perceived attitudes about and observed performances with fire materials were determined. The findings suggest that fire play in very young children is common—more a function of curious, exploratory play than a function of psychologically driven, psychopathological...

Problems being encountered in implementing fire prevention programs were explored by studying the organization for fire prevention at the Fish Lake, Uinta, and Wasatch National Forests in Utah. The study focused on role congruency in fire prevention activities and on the social and organizational obstacles to effective programs. The problems identified included lack of consistency and lack of adequate measures in determining success in fire prevention performance; limited career advancement potential based on fire prevention work; need for improvement in fire prevention technology particula...

In direct-seeding trials on the Challenge Experimental Forest, Yuba County, California, 27 combinations of seeding rates, aspect, and site treatment were tested. The best results were obtained on northerly aspects on unburned mechanically disturbed seedbeds with a high proportion of exposed mineral soil when seed application rates were high. Sowing at least 1 pound of seed per acre (1.12 kg per ha) consistently resulted in 400 or more seedlings per acre (988 seedlings per ha). Baiting for rodent control and attempted seed covering by "dragging" did not improve results. If regeneration...

Whether the pyrolysis of cellulose is conducted in an inert medium or in air, partial pyrolysis at a lower temperature increases the char yield subsequently obtained after 1 hour at 370°C. The results are consistent with a pyrolysis scheme in which two competing sequences of cellulose pyrolysis reactions are initiated by (1) an intermolecular dehydration leading to char formation and, in air, to glowing combustion; and (2) a char-free depolymerization leading, in air, to flaming combustion.

Although 1,6-anhydro-3,4-dideoxy-β-D-glycero-hex-3-enopyranos-2-ulose (2) is produced by the acid-catalyzed pyrolysis of both cellulose and 1,6-anhydro-β-D-glucopyranose (1), data presented here show that the principal mechanism of its formation in the pyrolysis of cellulose is not via 1. Furthermore, the data provide evidence that 1 itself is not a primary product of cellulose pyrolysis, so that the principal mechanism of its formation must involve a precursor as yet unidentified.

The project was initiated in May, 1972. the initial effort involved mapping of forest soils on the islands of Oahu and Kawaii, and collection of relevant literature for preparing the study plan. The detailed study plan (el-Swaify, 1972) was prepared after cooperative discussions with staff of the Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, Honolulu, Hawaii, and set forth the following three objectives: Evaluate alternative methods for measuring water infiltration and its contribution to deep percolation in selected tropical soils for the purposed of developing a simple technique for field...

The pines and other groups of temperate forest trees often fail to conform to widely accepted principles of plant evolution that are based primarily on observations of herbaceous plants. For example, interpreters of plant evolution tend to equate the fertility or sterility of inter specific hybrids with the magnitude of the genetically controlled reproductive barriers limiting the production of hybrids. This tendency has been articulated by Grant (1958, p. 353): "This is assuming that incompatibility barriers and sterility barriers, two distinct phenomena in the physiological sense, tend...

A number of factors have been suggested as affecting reproductive success in gulls. In this study we have attempted to isolate the effect of human disturbance on breeding success. We held other factors such as age of birds, terrain, and density of colony as constant as was practicable with a varied colony environment. There have been several previous discussions of the possible effect of human disturbance on the breeding success of birds. However, no study has documented this effect with controls. Reid (1968) found that in the Adélie Penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) "banding and close observati...

Timely and appropriate use of air tankers in firefighting can bring high returns, but their misuse can be expensive when measured in operating and other costs. An allocation model has been developed for identifying superior strategies-for air tanker initial attack, and for choosing an optimum set of allocations among airbases. Data are presented for a representative initial attack allocation area and strategies are computed for alternative budget levels. Although designed for determining day-to-day operating rules, the model is flexible enough to be applied to policy questions concerning...

The winter home of a bird, although vitally important in the study of adaptations, has received little attention as compared to various aspects of breeding. During the fall and winter much mortality occurs and may be the limiting factor in many populations (Mac Arthur 1971). We will explore the process of site fixation onto the winter quarters and its implications to the population.