Stations In Washington Research Articles

Bikeshare–Metrorail Integration in Washington, D.C.: What are the Characteristics of Neighborhoods that Encourage Capital Bikeshare Trips to and from the Metrorail?

Bikeshare has gained popularity worldwide and can serve as a first mile/last mile feeder for public transport. In many bikeshare systems, docking stations near a metrorail station are popular trip origins and destinations and bikeshare can help increase the ridership of the metrorail system as well. The goal of this study is to identify the determinants of bikeshare trips between neighborhood stations and bikeshare docking stations near the metrorail in Washington, D.C. For this study, we divided the bikeshare stations in Washington, D.C., into two categories: docking stations near a metrorail station (defined as bikeshare docking stations within a quarter mile radius of metrorail stations) and neighborhood stations (bikeshare docking stations outside the quarter mile radius of metrorail stations). We used two stepwise linear regression models of bikeshare trips between neighborhoods and metrorail stations stratifying the analysis by the determinants of neighborhood docking stations into four categories: socio-demographic conditions, transportation related, land use, and points of interests. In the backward elimination model, expanding the bike trail supply by an additional 100 m was associated with an increase in 70 annual bikeshare trips between a neighborhood station and a docking station near the metrorail. The forward selection model showed that a 1% increase in the poverty rate of the neighborhood stations was associated with 52 fewer annual such bikeshare trips. This study also found that adding bikeshare docking stations near national parks and neighborhoods with higher population density can promote bikeshare that starts/ends near metrorail stations.

Infestation of cultivated Pacific oysters by shell-boring polychaetes along the US West Coast: Prevalence is associated with season, culture method, and pH

Shell-boring polychaetes have contributed to the collapse of several mariculture operations around the world. These pests burrow into the shells of bivalves, creating mud blisters that are unappealing to consumers and which make oysters less valuable on the half-shell market. The US Pacific region produces 38% of the farmed shellfish in the US, making it important to understand the prevalence and drivers of parasite infestation in this region. We sampled Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas; n = 4158) from 35 shellfish farms over four seasons (two winters and two summers) in four states (northern California (CA), Oregon (OR), Washington (WA), and Alaska (AK)) to document the prevalence of shell-boring polychaetes. We extracted worms from infested oysters and used mitochondrial (CO1, n = 139) and nuclear (18S rRNA, n = 224) markers to determine species identities. To identify the environmental correlates that were associated with infestation, we pooled environmental data from seven monitoring stations in Washington. We assessed whether seawater surface temperature (SST), salinity, and pH were associated with shell-boring polychaete infestation. Our sampling confirmed the presence of Polydora websteri in the study region, in addition to four other species of shell-boring polychaetes and seven unidentified haplotypes. The mean prevalences across all shell-boring polychaete species ranged from 23 to 45% across seasons between states. In general, prevalence was higher in the winter and among oysters cultured on the bottom versus in tumbled bags, but these results varied across states. We also found greater infestation by shell-boring polychaetes at less acidified sites (pH = 8–8.2). This work is the most comprehensive dataset to characterize shell-boring polychaetes along the US West Coast, providing an important baseline of prevalence, species distribution, and environmental associations.

Hobo Economicus*

AbstractThe central implication of maximising behaviour amid competition is that rates of return tend toward equality. We test that implication in a market whose participants have the traits that behavioural economics suggests should make it hardest to find evidence of maximisation: the market for panhandling at Metrorail stations in Washington, District of Columbia. We find that stations with more panhandling opportunities attract more panhandlers and that cross-station differences in hourly panhandling receipts are statistically indistinguishable from zero. Panhandling rates of return thus tend toward equality. Extreme ‘behavioural’ traits do not prevent maximisation in this market.

Business and Bikeshare User Perceptions of the Economic Benefits of Capital Bikeshare

This study investigated potential economic benefits of bikesharing in commercial areas immediately adjacent to bikeshare docking stations. With the use of a sample of five Capital Bikeshare (CaBi) stations in Washington, D.C., an intercept survey of 333 bikeshare users at five CaBi stations at commercial activity centers and a door-to-door survey of 140 local businesses within 1/10 mi of those five CaBi stations were conducted. It was found that many CaBi riders were motivated to use the system because of savings in travel time (73% of users) and cost (25% of users). In addition, 16% of riders reported making new or induced trips because of CaBi, and 23% of users reported spending more money because of it. Income level was positively associated with new trips, spending levels, and spending during new trips. Joining CaBi to save money had a significant positive association with new trips. The business survey showed that 20% of the businesses in the sample reported a positive impact of bikesharing on sales, and 70% identified a positive impact on the area. In addition, 61% would have either a positive or a neutral reaction to replacing car parking in front of their business with a bikeshare station. Businesses that perceived a positive impact on sales from the bikeshare system were more likely to support the expansion of the system and the replacement of car parking with bikeshare stations. Overall, the findings from five CaBi stations in commercial business areas suggests that bikesharing may generate benefits among both users and businesses.

Discharge Rating Curve Extension – A New Approach

It is often necessary to have stage discharge curve extended (extrapolated) beyond the highest (and sometimes lowest) measured discharges, for river forecasting, flood control and water supply for agricultural/industrial uses. During the floods or high stages, the river may become inaccessible for discharge measurement. Rating curves are usually extended using log–log axes, which are reported to have a number of problems. This paper suggests the use of Support Vector Machine (SVM) in the extrapolation of rating curves, which works on the principle of linear regression on a higher dimensional feature space. SVM is applied to extend the rating curves developed at three gauging stations in Washington, namely Chehalis River at Dryad and Morse Creek at Four Seasons Ranch (for extension of high stages) and Bear Branch near Naselle (for extension of low stages). The results obtained are significantly better as compared with widely used logarithmic method and higher order polynomial fitting method. A comparison of SVM results with ANN (Artificial Neural Network) indicates that SVM is better suited for extrapolation.

Eduard Mark on Venona's ‘Ales’: A note

One of the most notable messages in 'Venona' is No.1822, which the NKGB's Washington station sent to Moscow on 30 March 1945. As the message describes an agent of the GRU who circumstantially resembles Alger Hiss, it has strengthened the position of those scholars who have argued that Hiss was a Soviet spy. John Lowenthal, Hiss's lawyer, urges that an alternative reading of No.1822 exonerates his client. A review of the evidence shows that factual considerations exclude Lowenthal's reading of the cable. 'Venona' also contains another cable, hitherto unnoticed, that further strengthens the case against Hiss.

Who was ‘Venona's’ ‘Ales’? cryptanalysis and the Hiss case

One of the most notable messages in ‘Venona’ is No.1822, which the NKGB's Washington station sent to Moscow on 30 March 1945. As the message describes an agent of the GRU who circumstantially resembles Alger Hiss, it has strengthened the position of those scholars who have argued that Hiss was a Soviet spy. John Lowenthal, Hiss's lawyer, urges that an alternative reading of No.1822 exonerates his client. A review of the evidence shows that factual considerations exclude Lowenthal's reading of the cable. ‘Venona’ also contains another cable, hitherto unnoticed, that further strengthens the case against Hiss.

Seismic structure using body wave arrivals at SOSUS hydrophone arrays

Body wave arrivals at SOSUS hydrophone arrays are used to determine the seismic velocity structure of the Juan de Fuca ridge and Cascadia subduction zone regions. Since 1991 NOAA has been recording data from the Navy’s SOSUS hydrophone arrays. This has provided a unique set of continuously recorded hydrophone data from oceanic stations. Body wave or P-phase arrivals from large earthquakes are detected by the SOSUS hydrophones. Using body wave arrivals Pn velocities of 8.0 km/s are measured for paths purely beneath the oceanic plates and for paths originating beneath the North American continental plate the Pn velocity is 7.7 km/s. For paths along the subduction zone velocities of 7.6–7.7 km/s are measured. The data from the SOSUS arrays are combined with data from the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network (PNSN), a network of seismic stations in Washington, Oregon and northern California, to construct a tomographic image of the crust and uppermost mantle for the Cascadia subduction zone. The model extends from the oceanic plate (131°W) to the North American continental plate (120°W) and from 40°N to 45°N. The tomographic inversion is a joint inversion for seismic structure and epicenter location using both the body wave and T-phase data. The model images the transition from oceanic to continental plate and the initiation of subduction of the Gorda plate. The discrepancy between event epicenters located using T-phase arrivals alone with the same epicenters located with P- and T-phase arrivals are analyzed to learn more about the process of T-phase generation.

The Life and Times of W. O. Atwater (1844–1907)

Wilbur Atwater, the son of a Methodist minister, grew up in New England and was an undergraduate during the Civil War. He obtained his Ph.D. in agricultural chemistry at Yale in 1869, and spent the next two years in post-graduate study in Germany. In 1874 he was appointed to the Faculty of Wesleyan University, and was their first Professor of Chemistry. For two years (1875-77) he directed the first agricultural experiment station in the U.S. at Wesleyan. When it was transferred to Yale he gradually changed his interest to human nutrition, and how the poor could make more economical food choices, though he believed that they needed to maintain high-protein intakes if they were to remain productive. In 1887, with the passage of the Hatch Act, a second experiment station was established in Connecticut with Atwater as director. He also served for nearly 3 years as the first director of the Office of Experiment Stations in Washington, DC. His next ambition was to have the first human calorimeter in the U.S. This was operating at Wesleyan by 1893, and his team was able to compare the net energy values of carbohydrates, fats and alcohol in sparing body tissues. He compiled data from many sources for the composition and digestibility of foods, and also organized the setting up of cooperative programs of nutritional studies, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in many States. His active life ended with a stroke in 1904.

Assessing the impacts of urban rail transit on local real estate markets using quasi-experimental comparisons

A number of studies have concluded that recent rail transit investments have impacted the form and land use character of American cities far less than their counterparts a century or so ago. This study compares a number of measures of market performance between office submarkets located at selected rail transit stations in Washington, DC and Atlanta, with otherwise similar office submarkets lacking transit service. Comparisons are made over the period between 1978 and 1989. Although there were notable exceptions, the research finds that office projects located at or near transit stations enjoyed a slight office rent premium over their freeway-oriented competitors. In addition, office projects near rail stations tended to be slightly larger, and lease up somewhat more rapidly than office projects at the nonrail control sites. Other comparisons of office market performance tended to be more equivocal. These results suggest that although rail transit service does generate some benefits for the owners of commercial properties near transit stations, such benefits tend to be quite small.

Specification of Monthly Precipitation in the Western United States from Monthly Mean Circulation

The ability to specify monthly precipitation at 36 stations in Washington, Oregon and California by various indices of monthly mean circulation has been investigated. Most of the circulation indices were derived from eigenvector analyses of 700 mb geopotential height or relative vorticity for 1951–76 or 300 mb relative vorticity for 1963–76. The results indicate that an average up to 60% of the rainfall variance may be specified by same-month average circulation parameters. The 700 mb parameters analyzed within a limited domain in the vicinity of the rainfall network result in the best specification ability. Indices derived from larger domains or from the 300 mb vorticities result in generally poorer specifications. Considerable spatial variation in specification ability is apparent with greatest skills evident in the coastal region of northern California and Oregon and lowest skills in the eastern regions of all three states.

Solutions to Environmental and Economic Problems (STEEP)

This article describes one model for organizing and mobilizing scientific resources to address the highly complex and costly problem of soil erosion in the Pacific Northwest. With a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to the agricultural experiment stations in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, as well as supplementary state and federal funds, STEEP awards intermediate-term (15 year) grants for research in five areas: tillage and plant management, plant design, erosion and runoff predictions, pest management, and socioeconomics of erosion control. Most of the research projects require collaboration across disciplines and, in some instances, across state boundaries. After 6 years of effort the results obtained with STEEP indicate that the model might be applicable to other regions and problems.

Prospecting for dead slabs

At subduction zones that have only recently ceased to be active, the lithospheric slab may retain a seismic velocity greater than that of the surrounding mantle even after the slab becomes seismically dead. To seek the subduction zone thought to have been recently active along the western margin of North America, we examined the variation with propagation direction of P-wave travel time residuals from sources at various distances and azimuths to seismograph stations in Washington and California. The uncertainty in source location and origin time was removed by referring the travel-time delay to a nearby station overlying presumably more uniform mantle. An eastward-dipping band of anomalously early arrivals at several stations on the western flank of the Sierra Nevada and California Cascades may imply that a dead slab is present beneath northern California, though a definitive conclusion is premature at present because of a paucity of seismic sources in eastern North America. The position of the dead slab speculatively suggested by the travel-time data is roughly consistent with that predicted by others on the basis of heat flow and geochemistry in the Sierra Nevada, and the southward decrease in the magnitude of the travel-time advance associated with such a slab is in agreement with the history of subduction of the Farallon plate as reconstructed from ocean floor magnetic anomalies and continental tectonic activity.

Discussion: “Fuels Performance at Port Washington Station” (Pollock, W. A., 1949, Trans. ASME, 71, pp. 97–104)

Discussion: “Fuels Performance at Port Washington Station” (Pollock, W. A., 1949, Trans. ASME, 71, pp. 97–104)

Fuels Performance at Port Washington Station

Abstract This paper contains recent operating data, a discussion of relevant design features, and information comparing prewar and postwar coals as affecting operation of the Port Washington Station of the Wisconsin Electric Power Company. In order to make the report complete, fuels and station performances are presented.

Closure to “Discussion of ‘Fuels Performance at Port Washington Station’” (1949, Trans. ASME, 71, pp. 104–105)

Closure to “Discussion of ‘Fuels Performance at Port Washington Station’” (1949, Trans. ASME, 71, pp. 104–105)

Sawdust in Purified Chick Rations

Davis and Briggs (1947) found that the addition of cellulose to a purified experimental chick ration resulted in a significant increase in growth. In order to find a readily available and inexpensive source of cellulose for use in such diets, studies with sawdust were undertaken.Spruce wood flour was fed to chicks at a level of 20.2 percent of the diet by Washington Station workers, as quoted by Ewing (1947), in a practical-type ration without detrimental effects and with reported slight increases of growth at 28 weeks of age when compared with the control group. Guisti (1940) reported that the digestibility of the cellulose of sawdust by chickens averaged 2.33 percent.In the experiments reported herewith, screened (10 mesh) white and yellow pine mixed sawdust was fed at various supplemental levels in a purified diet. Day-old New Hampshire chicks were uniformly divided into groups of 10 birds each and reared .

Gravimeter ties between gravity base stations in Washington, D.C.

Relative gravity observations in the United States and international gravity ties have been referred to several base stations in Washington, D.C. Correlation of these data has been based on gravity differences between the base stations determined by pendulum observations, some of which date back to 1893. The results of recent gravitational ties between the principal gravity base stations in Washington, D.C., using a modern high‐precision gravimeter are reported and discussed. The gravimeter results indicate that the previous pendulum connections between the base stations in Washington contain errors of about 2 mg.

Mt. Washington Station Begins Work for Winter

Mt. Washington Station Begins Work for Winter

Rate of lonisation of the Atmosphere

THE calculation of the rate of ionisation of the atmosphere on the basis of the well-known Schweidler recombination law, by G. R. Wait1 and J. J. and P. J. Nolan,2 has shown a large variation in the rate, in the course of the day, at observing stations in Washington, D.C., in the United States, and near Dublin, Ireland. It is of interest to note that the maxima of the diurnal variation curves for these stations agree closely when plotted on Greenwich Mean Time.