Northeastern Massachusetts Research Articles

A Clinical Prediction Model to Assess Risk for Chemotherapy-Related Hospitalization in Patients Initiating Palliative Chemotherapy.

Chemotherapy-related hospitalizations in patients with advanced cancer are common, distressing, and costly. Methods to identify patients at high risk of chemotherapy toxic effects will permit development of targeted strategies to prevent chemotherapy-related hospitalizations. To demonstrate the feasibility of using readily available clinical data to assess patient-specific risk of chemotherapy-related hospitalization. Nested case-control study conducted from January 2003 through December 2011 at the Mass General/North Shore Cancer Center, a community-based cancer center in northeastern Massachusetts. The parent cohort included 1579 consecutive patients with advanced solid-tumor cancer receiving palliative-intent chemotherapy. Case patients (n = 146) included all patients from the parent cohort who experienced a chemotherapy-related hospitalization. Controls (n = 292) were randomly selected from 1433 patients who did not experience a chemotherapy-related hospitalization. Putative risk factors for chemotherapy-related hospitalization-including patient characteristics, treatment characteristics, and pretreatment laboratory values-were abstracted from medical records. Multivariable logistic regression was used to model the patient-specific risk of chemotherapy-related hospitalization. Chemotherapy-related hospitalization, as adjudicated by the oncology clinical care team within a systematic quality-assessment program. A total of 146 (9.2%) of 1579 patients from the parent cohort experienced a chemotherapy-related hospitalization. In multivariate regression, 7 variables were significantly associated with chemotherapy-related hospitalization: age, Charlson comorbidity score, creatinine clearance, calcium level, below-normal white blood cell and/or platelet count, polychemotherapy (vs monotherapy), and receipt of camptothecin chemotherapy. The median predicted risk of chemotherapy-related hospitalization was 6.0% (interquartile range [IQR], 3.6%-11.4%) in control patients and 14.7% (IQR, 6.8%-22.5%) in case patients. The bootstrap-adjusted C statistic was 0.71 (95% CI, 0.66-0.75). At a risk threshold of 15%, the model exhibited a sensitivity of 49% (95% CI, 41%-57%) and a specificity of 85% (95% CI, 81%-89%) for predicting chemotherapy-related hospitalization. In patients initiating palliative chemotherapy for cancer, readily available clinical data were associated with the patient-specific risk of chemotherapy-related hospitalization. External validation and evaluation in the context of a clinical decision support tool are warranted.

The paleohydrology of Sluice Pond, NE Massachusetts, and its regional significance

Seismic, pollen, stable isotope and lithologic stratigraphies of Sluice Pond, northeastern Massachusetts, were investigated to reconstruct local climate conditions from the latest Pleistocene to present. We present a new lake-level curve, constrained largely by acoustic reflectors and well-dated sediment cores from the deep basin and margin of the lake. Bulk δ34S data from the basin core provide valuable information regarding anoxia and water-column stratification. The lake-level history is corroborated with pollen-based, transfer-function-derived reconstructions of temperature and precipitation from the basin core. The lower stratigraphy reveals a time of cold/dry climate from ca. 11.7–8.2 ka BP (1 ka = 1,000 cal yr), with a minor lake-level increase centered at ca. 11.0 ka BP. An increase in regional temperature/moisture is apparent in sediments younger than 8.2 ka BP. A warm/dry climate is reconstructed from ca. 5.1–3.5 ka BP, concomitant with the well-established regional Tsuga (eastern hemlock) minimum. Sediments deposited since 3.5 ka BP reveal a general deepening of the pond and organic-rich conditions, with another minor dry episode from ca. 2.0–1.3 ka BP. Uppermost sediments record anthropogenic disturbance. The hydroclimate variability inferred from the Sluice Pond sediment record is consistent with previous reconstructions of lake level and vegetation in the southern portion of the northeastern US. It is not, however, consistent with reconstructions from locations farther north, many of which possess evidence of a dry period ca. 9.0–5.0 ka BP. The likely explanation for this discrepancy lies in air mass distribution associated with the position and amplitude of the circumpolar vortex throughout the Holocene. This new record of Holocene regional hydroclimate variability adds to the spatial coverage of existing reconstructions, and helps constrain forcings associated with such variability.

Map errors that could account for deviations from a uniform intensity of land change

Intensity Analysis is a mathematical framework that compares a uniform intensity to observed intensities of temporal changes among categories. Our article summarizes Intensity Analysis and presents a new method to compute the minimum hypothetical error in the data that could account for each observed deviation from a uniform intensity. A larger hypothetical error gives stronger evidence against a hypothesis that a change is uniform. The method produces results for five groups of measurements, which are organized into three levels of analysis: interval, category, and transition. The method applies generally to analysis of changes among categories during time intervals, because the input is a standard contingency table for each time interval. We illustrate the method with a case study concerning change during three time intervals among four land categories in northeastern Massachusetts, USA. Modelers can perform the analysis using our computer program, which is free.

Causes and Consequences of Ecosystem Service Regionalization in a Coastal Suburban Watershed

The demand for ecosystem services and the ability of natural ecosystems to provide those services evolve over time as population, land use, and management practices change. Regionalization of ecosystem service activity, or the expansion of the area providing ecosystem services to a population, is a common response in densely populated coastal regions, with important consequences for watershed water and nitrogen (N) fluxes to the coastal zone. We link biophysical and historical information to explore the causes and consequences of change in ecosystem service activity—focusing on water provisioning and N regulation—from 1850 to 2010 in a coastal suburban watershed, the Ipswich River watershed in northeastern Massachusetts, USA. Net interbasin water transfers started in the late 1800s due to regionalization of water supply for use by larger populations living outside the Ipswich watershed boundaries, reaching a peak in the mid-1980s. Over much of the twentieth century, about 20 % of river runoff was diverted from reaching the estuary, with greater proportions during drought years. Ongoing regionalization of water supply has contributed to recent declines in diversions, influenced by socioecological feedbacks resulting from the river drying and fish kills. Similarly, the N budget has been greatly perturbed since the suburban era began in the 1950s due to food and lawn fertilizer imports and human waste release. However, natural ecosystems are able to remove most of this anthropogenic N, mitigating impacts on the coastal zone. We propose a conceptual model whereby the amount and type of ecosystem services provided by coastal watersheds in urban regions expand and contract over time as regional population expands and ecosystem services are regionalized. We hypothesize that suburban watersheds can be hotspots of ecosystem service sources because they retain sufficient ecosystem function to still produce services that meet increasing demand from the local population and nearby urban centers. Historical reconstruction of ecosystem service activity provides a perspective that may help to better understand coupled human–natural system processes and lead to more sustainable management of coastal ecosystems.

Long-term nutrient enrichment elicits a weak density response by saltmarsh meiofauna

The effect of chronic nutrient enrichment on benthic meiofauna was examined in a whole-ecosystem experiment conducted in salt marshes in the Plum Island watershed of northeastern Massachusetts, USA. We compared abundances of total meiofauna, nematodes, copepods, ostracods, and annelids including Manayunkia aestuarina, in fertilized (where N and P was increased 159 in incoming tidal water throughout each growing season for 6 years) and reference marsh creeks to test for bottom-up responses. Although some responses to nutri- ent enrichment were evident, results did not match our expectations of strong increases in abundance. Variation in abundance between nutrient-enriched and reference creeks was detected in all three subhabitats but responses were inconsistent and variable over time, suggesting that natural variability was greater than variation induced by fertilization. Our results showed an overall weak negative correlation between meiofauna abundance and benthic microalgae (BMA) biomass partly because the BMA response to nutrient enrichment was relatively small and perhaps limited by grazing macrofauna and nekton. Our results suggest a better mechanistic understanding of the relationship between BMA and meiofaunal abundance is needed to fully understand how nutrient enrichment affects meiofauna.

Intensity analysis to unify measurements of size and stationarity of land changes by interval, category, and transition

This article presents a quantitative method to analyze maps of land categories from several points in time for a single site by considering cross-tabulation matrices, where one matrix summarizes the change in each time interval. There are three levels of analysis, starting from general to more detailed levels, where each level exposes different types of information given the previous level of analysis. First, the interval level examines how the size and speed of change vary across time intervals. Second, the category level examines how the size and intensity of gross losses and gross gains in each category vary across categories for each time interval. Third, the transition level examines how the size and intensity of a category's transitions vary across the other categories that are available for that transition. At each level, the method tests for stationarity of patterns across time intervals. The unique contribution of this article is that it combines all three levels of analysis into one unified framework that we call intensity analysis, where the more detailed levels are conditional on the less detailed levels. The illustrative case study is for seven categories at the Plum Island Ecosystems site in northeastern Massachusetts, USA, where the largest transition is from Forest to Built during 1985, 1991, and 1999. We compare our approach to other established methods such as the Markov approach in order to show how our proposed intensity analysis gives more information concerning five possible reasons to explain why the transitions vary across time and space.

Making Healthy Connections: Introducing Nursing as a Career Choice to Middle School Students

The current economic climate has resulted in many experienced nurses returning to the workforce. Despite this, the nursing shortage is looming in our future and the recruitment of a diverse nursing workforce reflective of the population remains a high priority. The Merrimack Valley in northeastern Massachusetts has two large cities, Lawrence and Lowell, in which the Hispanic and the Southeast Asian populations are disproportionately higher than state and national levels. Through the University of Massachusetts Lowell's Bring Diversity to Nursing Project, partnerships with both city school systems were developed and after-school programs aimed at highlighting nursing as a career choice were initiated. Mr. Thompson's Heart is the focus of a middle school, pre-entry program developed by faculty. Introducing career choices in middle school gives students fundamental information about careers and how to begin investigating them. Mr. Thompson's Heart introduces nursing as a career choice combining career information with a focus on developing healthy lifestyle habits. Multiple hands on activities create excitement and interest in the nursing profession.

Residence time distributions in surface transient storage zones in streams: Estimation via signal deconvolution

Little is known about the impact of surface transient storage (STS) zones on reach‐scale transport and the fate of dissolved nutrients in streams. Exchange with these locations may influence the rates of nutrient cycling often observed in whole‐stream tracer experiments, particularly because they are sites of organic matter collection and lower flow velocities than those observed in the thalweg. We performed a conservative stream tracer experiment (slug of dissolved NaCl) in the Ipswich River in northeastern Massachusetts and collected solute tracer data both in the thalweg and adjacent STS zones at three locations in a fifth‐order reach. Tracer time series observed in STS zones are an aggregate of residence time distributions (RTDs) of the upstream transport to that point (RTDTHAL) and that of the temporary storage within these zones (RTDSTS). Here we demonstrate the separation of these two RTDs to determine the RTDSTS specifically. Total residence times for these individual STS zones range from 4.5 to 7.5 h, suggesting that these zones have the potential to host important biogeochemical transformations in stream systems. All of the RTDSTS show substantial deviations from the ideal prescribed by the two‐state (mobile/immobile) mass transfer equations. The deviations indicate a model mismatch and that parameter estimation based on the mass transfer equations will yield misleading values.

Comparison of Macroinvertebrate Diversity and Community Structure among Perennial and Non-Perennial Headwater Streams

The relationships between stream flow regime and macroinvertebrate diversity, community structure, and functional feeding groups (FFG) were examined to determine if the biodiversity and macroinvertebrate fauna of non-perennial streams are significantly different from those of perennial streams. The study was conducted in northeastern Massachusetts at headwater stream sites of varying flow permanence (perennial, intermittent, and ephemeral). ANOVA confirmed no significant difference in Shannon-Wiener diversity (H′) between stream types, demonstrating that non-perennial streams maintain diverse and even macroinvertebrate communities. Whereas taxa richness was equal among intermittent and perennial sites, ephemeral richness was lower due to their significantly lower riffle richness. Qualitatively, two non-perennial sites were higher in grand total H′ diversity and taxa richness than perennial sites. Community structure was also related to flow regime, as hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) based on taxa presence produced three distinct groups consistent with stream type, and FFG analysis provided further evidence of distinct communities, with a transition in FFGs from perennial to ephemeral sites. This study concludes that non-perennial streams are biologically diverse and maintain distinct benthic communities and therefore contribute to stream biodiversity and river ecosystems.

Is Precipitation in Northern New England Becoming More Extreme? Statistical Analysis of Extreme Rainfall in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine and Updated Estimates of the 100-Year Storm

The objective of this study was to investigate the presence of trends in extreme precipitation (denoted MAXP and defined as the annual maximum daily precipitation depth) time series for coastal northern New England and to assess changes in the magnitude of the so-called 100-year storm. MAXP depths from 48 stations with long, continuous records in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts were analyzed. At those same stations, the number of daily precipitation depths ≥ 2i n: (51 mm, denoted as GT2in) was also quantified for each year. Although the seasonally averaged MAXP was found to be fairly uniform throughout the year, the frequency of MAXP is highest during August through October, the typical hurricane season in New England. The presence of trends in MAXP and GT2in was evaluated over four time frames (1954-2005, 1954-2008, 1970-2005, and 1970-2008) using two statistical methods (linear regression and the Mann-Kendall trend test) and at two scales (at-site and regional). The trend analysis over the time period 1954-2005 indicated that MAXP was amazingly stationary; however, a trend in GT2in was found at some stations. More trends in both MAXP and GT2in were present in the time period 1954-2008. The majority of stations in southern New Hampshire and eastern Massachusetts showed evidence of trends in MAXP (but not GT2in) for the time period 1970-2008. That the number of trends in MAXP increased despite the shorter record length suggests a strong increase in the magnitude of extreme precipitation in northern coastal New England in the last few decades. The stationarity of the 1954-2005 record was confirmed by the regional trend analysis, as was the presence of stronger trends in coastal stations when the record was extended through 2008. Most stations that had trends in MAXP also had trends in GT2in. The generalized extreme value (GEV) distribution was used to estimate 100-year precipitation depth quantiles for the 1954-2005 record, which were then compared with Technical Paper No. 40 (TP-40) 100-year, 24-h precipitation depths. Estimates for stations along coastal Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine all exceeded 7 in. (180 mm) and exceeded TP-40 by 1 in. (25 mm) or more. Stations in northeastern Massachusetts, southeastern New Hampshire, and southern Maine exceeded 8 in. (200 mm) and also exceeded TP-40 estimates by more than 2 in. (51 mm). These findings indicate that TP-40 underrepresents coastal storm depths. This study, as well as recent record-breaking events in northern New England, strongly suggests the need for updating of design storm estimates. Furthermore, extreme precipitation events of longer than one-day duration have caused large-scale flooding in the region over the last decade. The magnitude of longer duration storms (particularly two-day storms) may also be increasing, calling for engineered infrastructure that can accommodate increases in both storm magnitude and duration. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)HE.1943-5584.0000303. © 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.

Uncertainty in the difference between maps of future land change scenarios

It is essential to measure whether maps of various scenarios of future land change are meaningfully different, because differences among such maps serve to inform land management. This paper compares the output maps of different scenarios of future land change in a manner that contrasts two different approaches to account for the uncertainty of the simulated projections. The simpler approach interprets the scenario storyline concerning the quantity of each land change transition as assumption, and then considers the range of possibilities concerning the value added by a simulation model that specifies the spatial allocation of land change. The more complex approach estimates the uncertainty of future land maps based on a validation measurement with historic data. The technique is illustrated by a case study that compares two scenarios of future land change in the Plum Island Ecosystems of northeastern Massachusetts, in the United States. Results show that if the model simulates only the spatial allocation of the land changes given the assumed quantity of each transition, then there is a clearly bounded range for the difference between the raw scenario maps; but if the uncertainties are estimated by validation, then the uncertainties can be so great that the output maps do not show meaningful differences. We discuss the implications of these results for a future research agenda of land change modeling. We conclude that a productive approach is to use the simpler method to distinguish clearly between variations in the scenario maps that are due to scenario assumptions versus variations due to the simulation model.

Salt marsh sediment bacteria: their distribution and response to external nutrient inputs

A primary focus among microbial ecologists in recent years has been to understand controls on the distribution of microorganisms in various habitats. Much less attention has been paid to the way that environmental disturbance interacts with processes that regulate bacterial community composition. We determined how human disturbance affected the distribution and community structure of salt marsh sediment bacteria by using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of 16S rRNA in five different habitats in each of four salt marshes located in northeastern Massachusetts, USA. Two of the four marsh creeks were experimentally enriched 15 x above background by the addition of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers for two or more growing seasons. Our results indicate that extrinsic factors acting at broad scales do not influence the distribution of salt marsh sediment bacteria. Intrinsic factors, controlled by local-scale environmental heterogeneity, do play a role in structuring these sediment microbial communities, although nutrient enrichment did not have a consequential effect on the microbial community in most marsh habitats. Only in one habitat, a region of the marsh creek wall that is heavily colonized by filamentous algae, did we see any effect of fertilization on the microbial community structure. When similar habitats were compared among marshes, there was considerable convergence in the microbial community composition during the growing season. Environmental factors that correlated best with microbial community composition varied with habitat, suggesting that habitat-specific intrinsic forces are primarily responsible for maintaining microbial diversity in salt marsh sediments.

Saving Silver Lake

To improve water quality in Silver Lake, a key recreational amenity, the Town of Wilmington, Massachusetts, implemented several measures that figure in low-impact development in an effort to collect and treat storm water before it enters the lake. Subsequent monitoring indicates that the various storm-water management practices are performing as designed. More broadly, the town’s actions complement a larger effort to restore the health of the troubled Ipswich River in northeastern Massachusetts.

Effects of regular salt marsh haying on marsh plants, algae, invertebrates and birds at Plum Island Sound, Massachusetts

The haying of salt marshes, a traditional activity since colonial times in New England, still occurs in about 400 ha of marsh in the Plum Island Sound estuary in northeastern Massachusetts. We took advantage of this haying activity to investigate how the periodic large-scale removal of aboveground biomass affects a number of marsh processes. Hayed marshes were no different from adjacent reference marshes in plant species density (species per area) and end-of-year aboveground biomass, but did differ in vegetation composition. Spartina patens was more abundant in hayed marshes than S. alterniflora, and the reverse was true in reference marshes. The differences in relative covers of these plant species were not associated with any differences between hayed and reference marshes in the elevations of the marsh platform. Instead it suggested that S. patens was more tolerant of haying than S. alterniflora. Spartina patens had higher stem densities in hayed marshes than it did in reference marshes, suggesting that periodic cutting stimulated tillering of this species. Although we predicted that haying would stimulate benthic chlorophyll production by opening up the canopy, we found differences to be inconsistent, possibly due to the relatively rapid regrowth of S. patens and to grazing by invertebrates on the algae. The pulmonate snail, Melampus bidendatus was depleted in its δ13C content in the hayed marsh compared to the reference, suggesting a diet shift to benthic algae in hayed marshes. The stable isotope ratios of a number of other consumer species were not affected by haying activity. Migratory shorebirds cue in to recently hayed marshes and may contribute to short term declines in some invertebrate species, however, the number of taxa per unit area of marsh surface invertebrates and their overall abundances were unaffected by haying over the long term. Haying had no impact on nutrient concentrations in creeks just downstream from hayed plots, but the sediments of hayed marshes were lower in total N and P compared to references. In sum, haying appeared to affect plant species composition but had only short-term affects on consumer organisms. This contrasts with many grassland ecosystems, where an intermediate level of disturbance, such as by grazing, increases species diversity and may stimulate productivity. From a management perspective, periodic mowing could be a way to maintain S. patens habitats and the suite of species with which they are associated.

Freshwater Fish Mercury Concentrations in a Regionally High Mercury Deposition Area

We sampled and analyzed individually, edible dorsal muscle from largemouth bass (LMB), Micropterus salmoides (n=138) and yellow perch (YP), Perca flavescens (n=97) from 15 lakes to investigate potential local impacts of mercury emis- sion point sources in northeastern Massachusetts (MA), USA. This area was identified in three separate modeling exercises as a mercury deposition hotspot. In 1995, 55% of mercury emissions to the environ- ment from all MA sources came from three municipal solid waste combustors (trash incinerators) and one large regional medical waste incinerator in the study area. We determined the mercury accumulation history in sediments of a lake centrally located in the study area. Recent maximum mercury accumulation rates in the sediment of the lake of ~ 88 μg/m 2 /year were highly elevated on a watershed area adjusted basis compared to other lakes in the Northeast and Minnesota. Fish from the study area lakes had significantly (p=0.05) greater total mercury concen- trations than fish from 24 more rural, non-source- impacted lakes in other regions of the state (LMB n=238, YP n=381) (LMB: 1.5-2.5 x; YP: 1.5 x). The integration of this extensive fish tissue data set, depositional modeling projections, historical record of mercury accumulation in sediments of a lake in the area, and knowledge of substantial mercury emissions to the atmosphere in the area support designation of this area as a mercury depositional and biological concentration hotspot in the late 1990s, and provides further evidence that major mercury point sources may be associated with significant local impacts on fisheries resources.

A Resistant‐Kernel Model of Connectivity for Amphibians that Breed in Vernal Pools

Pool-breeding amphibian populations operate at multiple scales, from the individual pool to surrounding upland habitat to clusters of pools. When metapopulation dynamics play a role in long-term viability, conservation efforts limited to the protection of individual pools or even pools with associated upland habitat may be ineffective over the long term if connectivity among pools is not maintained. Connectivity becomes especially important and difficult to assess in regions where suburban sprawl is rapidly increasing land development, road density, and traffic rates. We developed a model of connectivity among vernal pools for the four ambystomatid salamanders that occur in Massachusetts and applied it to the nearly 30,000 potential ephemeral wetlands across the state. The model was based on a modification of the kernel estimator (a density estimator commonly used in home range studies) that takes landscape resistance into account. The model was parameterized with empirical migration distances for spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum), dispersal distances for marbled salamanders (A. opacum), and expert-derived estimates of landscape resistance. The model ranked vernal pools in Massachusetts by local, neighborhood, and regional connectivity and by an integrated measure of connectivity, both statewide and within ecoregions. The most functionally connected pool complexes occurred in southeastern and northeastern Massachusetts, areas with rapidly increasing suburban development. In a sensitivity analysis estimates of pool connectivity were relatively insensitive to uncertainty in parameter estimates, especially at the local and neighborhood scales. Our connectivity model could be used to prioritize conservation efforts for vernal-pool amphibian populations at broader scales than traditional pool-based approaches.

Building School Partnerships with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Families

After many efforts to lift the achievement of its high numbers of culturally and linguistically diverse students, a district in Massachusetts realized that the missing link was parent involvement. Ms. Colombo describes a program the district created to improve relationships between teachers and families and the enormous difference it has made in each side's understanding of the other. ********** EVEN before the superintendent opened the large, thick envelope containing the standardized test results from the Massachusetts Department of Education, he knew he had a problem. Each year, his mainstream students were scoring just above the state average, but the scores for culturally and linguistically diverse learners lagged far behind. He had no reason to believe this year would be different. This was not a small problem for his district. Approximately 20% of the district's 7,000 students were culturally and linguistically diverse, the majority coming from Caribbean families. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Over the past several years the district had instituted a full-day kindergarten program, committed to a new integrated reading program, and consistently reviewed and updated the curricula for core academic subjects. The superintendent expected teachers and administrators to participate in extensive professional development for each major initiative, and the staff responded to the challenge. All of this effort had resulted in a slight increase in reading achievement for culturally and linguistically diverse children in grades K-3, yet their scores continued to fall far below those of mainstream students. Lower test scores were only part of the problem. In general, teachers reported more instructional and behavioral problems for students from culturally and linguistically diverse families. Teachers identified lack of school preparedness and insufficient family involvement as key factors that interfered with the academic achievement of these students. Though the teachers knew that parent participation was important, and mainstream parents typically attended school activities, the parents from culturally and linguistically diverse families remained conspicuously absent. A few individual teachers had created classroom programs to increase parent participation, but not much had been done system wide. Teachers wanted the children to succeed, they wanted higher test scores, and they remained frustrated with the ongoing lack of parent involvement. The parents needed to take an interest. For many years experts have touted parent/teacher relationships and the resulting shared understandings between home, community, and school as instrumental in creating school environments of acceptance, caring, and high expectations. (1) Family involvement has a powerful influence on educational success, but it's not an equal opportunity practice. Parent/teacher relationships are formed with relative ease when groups share a common culture, language, and background. Relationships that must bridge cultures and languages, however, require more effort to create and sustain. DISCONNECT BETWEEN TEACHERS AND FAMILIES The unopened envelope sat on the superintendent's desk as his mind wandered to the many conversations he'd had with the director of bilingual services. There had been many changes in the district since he had relocated to this midsize northeastern Massachusetts city to accept his position nearly 15 years ago. The population of culturally and linguistically diverse families continued to grow each year, but almost all of the teachers and administrators were from mainstream, middle-class backgrounds. The director of bilingual services had suggested that perhaps this explained the lack of involvement on the part of parents who were new to the district and often to the country. Though the district had implemented extensive professional development, the training offered teachers little more than a cursory reference to cultural and linguistic diversity. …

Effect of historical changes in land use and climate on the water budget of an urbanizing watershed

We assessed the effects of historical (1931–1998) changes in both land use and climate on the water budget of a rapidly urbanizing watershed, Ipswich River basin (IRB), in northeastern Massachusetts. Water diversions and extremely low flow during summer are major issues in the IRB. Our study centers on a detailed analysis of diversions and a combined empirical/modeling treatment of evapotranspiration (ET) response to changes in climate and land use. A detailed accounting of diversions showed that net diversions increased due to increases in water withdrawals (primarily groundwater pumping) and export of sewage. Net diversions constitute a major component of runoff (20% of streamflow). Using a combination of empirical analysis and physically based modeling, we related an increase in precipitation (2.7 mm/yr) and changes in other climate variables to an increase in ET (1.7 mm/yr). Simulations with a physically based water‐balance model showed that the increase in ET could be attributed entirely to a change in climate, while the effect of land use change was negligible. The land use change effect was different from ET and runoff trends commonly associated with urbanization. We generalized these and other findings to predict future streamflow using climate change scenarios. Our study could serve as a framework for studying suburban watersheds, being the first study of a suburban watershed that addresses long‐term effects of changes in both land use and climate, and accounts for diversions and other unique aspects of suburban hydrology.

The value of accurate air quality forecasts

The value of accurate air quality forecasts critically depends upon how the information will be used. This paper proposes a simple model of private firm decision-making under uncertainty to consider potential economic applications and benefits from accurate air quality forecasts. It uses the findings of a survey of employees from five large employers in southern New Hampshire and northeastern Massachusetts to confirm the potential productivity improvements possible from accurate air quality forecasts in the New England region.

Estimating estuarine gross production, community respiration and net ecosystem production: a nonlinear inverse technique

We describe a nonlinear inverse technique to estimate gross primary production (GPP), community respiration (CR), and net ecosystem production in the vertically well mixed Parker River, Plum Island Sound estuarine system located in northeastern Massachusetts, USA. The approach uses a calibrated 1D advection–dispersion model to predict oxygen and salt concentrations along the estuarine length, which are compared to oxygen concentrations measured during high speed transects near dawn and dusk over a 2-day period in June 1995. The spatiotemporal shapes of the GPP and CR surfaces are represented with cubic B-splines that are deformed as needed by an algorithm that seeks to minimize error between oxygen observations and model predictions. The spatially resolving solution shows maximum instantaneous GPP of 1030 mmol O 2 m −3 d −1 and CR of 340 mmol O 2 m −3 d −1 in the upper portions of the estuary; however, the overall estuary is net heterotrophic (−4.8 Mg C d −1). Analysis of the advection–dispersion model reveals that gas invasion and longitudinal dispersion account for up to 21 and 14% of local O 2 accumulation relative to CR, respectively. However, an oxygen balance averaged over the 2-day sampling period shows that the negative net ecosystem productivity is balanced by a loss in estuarine oxygen storage. Carbon budget analysis indicates that terrestrial, marine, and marsh allochthonous inputs account for 2, 27 and 71% of the observed net heterotrophy, respectively.