Columbia Basin College

ABSTRACTIn large river basins, migratory fish populations are threatened by the combination of hydropower and climate change. With river temperatures rising and hydropower development increasing globally, the longstanding monitoring programs for threatened Pacific salmon populations in the Columbia River Basin present an opportunity to study these impacts over extended time scales. We fit a statistical model to 20 years of PIT‐tagging data to jointly model the effects of temperature and dam operations (spill management) on the movement of Steelhead (anadromous Oncorhynchus mykiss) during their adult pre‐spawn migration. We modeled the relationship between these factors and behaviors that pose mortality risks, including natal tributary overshoot (ascending a dam upstream of a natal tributary) and non‐natal tributary use. We then used the posterior distributions of model‐estimated parameters to predict the homing success of fish to natal tributaries under different climate and hydropower scenarios. Across the populations in our study, movement decisions were consistently thermally influenced, with temperature having a negative relationship with natal homing and a positive relationship with both natal tributary overshoot and non‐natal tributary use. Another consistent finding across the populations in our study was that higher overshoot rates were associated with lower homing rates. Despite data limitations associated with the PIT‐tag array network, we found evidence for population‐specific benefits of winter spill on natal homing success, which is currently being implemented to assist the downstream migration of overshooting Steelhead. We demonstrate how integrating the effects of climate and hydropower management actions with movement ecology provides powerful insights into how species may respond to future scenarios. In our case study, we found that pre‐spawn mortality of Steelhead is likely to increase with future climate change due to temperature‐driven interactions with the hydrosystem, but there is potential for hydropower managers to partially offset these impacts.

Abstract Objective Low survival of emigrating salmonid smolts through the interior regions of California's Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta (hereafter, “Delta”) and large-scale water extraction from that region have prompted managers to seek to predict and manipulate smolt route use through the tidal Delta. The local flow variables previously used in modeling are not the metrics used in management. Here, I investigate the predictive utility of variables representing both localized flow conditions and remote management metrics to predict routing of juvenile steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss at two river junctions on the San Joaquin River in the south Delta. Methods Individual-based generalized linear models were used with detections of over 4000 acoustic-tagged juvenile hatchery-reared steelhead to relate routing to the presence of a rock barrier, simulated localized flow conditions from a hydrodynamic model, and daily management metrics, including upstream river discharge and water pumping rates elsewhere in the Delta. Models were developed for the first two diffluences encountered by smolts entering the Delta (head of Old River and Turner Cut). Result Exclusive use of the management metrics in routing models underestimated the subdaily, tidally dominated fluctuations in fish routing compared to localized flow covariates. The daily rate of water extraction 20–30 km away contributed to use of non-main-stem routes, but the effect was small compared to subhourly flow conditions at the river junctions themselves. Conclusion Water resource and fish managers are advised to monitor conditions at the locations of interest rather than depending solely on remote metrics. In the Delta, use of a flow barrier and reduction of water pumping operations when smolts are migrating should be combined with habitat improvement in interior Delta regions to optimize migratory survival through this complex and heavily modified system.

This project sets up a website to support the nascent Muon Catalyzed Fusion collaboration including development of particle accelerators and transport beamlines for muon beams. The website is envisioned as having the general public information pages and private pages for collaboration members. Multimedia elements like images, text animations, and video lectures, covering a broad spectrum of topics will populate the educational site, covering muon facilities, to comprehensive explorations and seminal documents that define the science of Muon Catalyzed Fusion, Acceleration, Applications, Instrumentation, Beamline Design, and beam dynamics design codes. Ensuring compatibility across devices and operating systems, it also features integration with Google Docs for collaboration, a code repository (GitHub), a blog platform with comments (WordPress), the potential for ChatGPT integration and interactive graph plotting with Python Plotty to enhance data visualization. This project will maintain public and protected private pages, due to the proprietary nature of the work or research in progress. The public sections will be built to foster dissemination of information and highlight recent work within the NK Labs collaboration, including lectures, published papers, and regular blog posts with open commenting. The private section will support unpublished or nonpublic research, by facilitating collaborative efforts through integrated Google Docs and Python Plotty for shared graphing work. Ultimately, this project strives to make complex scientific knowledge more accessible to the public, foster enhanced collaboration, and serve as a platform for sharing cutting-edge research in Muon Catalyzed Fusion and Accelerators.

Cannabis has been cited as the most frequently used drug in this country, and intolerance toward substance use is a recognized concern in nursing. The twofold purpose of this descriptive study was to determine (a) what, if any, were the differences between nurses' attitudes of patient cannabis use in states in which cannabis was legal versus illegal and (b) how do nurses working in diverse care settings differ in their attitudes regarding patient cannabis use. A sample of 809 registered nurses from across the United States were recruited to take part in this study in October 2018. A previously validated 20-question survey was used to collect participants' perceptions of and attitudes toward patient cannabis use. Demographic information collected included age, gender, educational level, years in practice, primary area of practice, and legal status of cannabis in state of practice. An independent t test and analysis of variance were used to analyze group differences. Findings from this study indicated that there was no significant difference in attitudes of nurses in states in which cannabis use was legal (M = 28.76, SD = 7.83) and states in which it was illegal (M = 29.43, SD = 7.65), t(807) = 1.202, p = .230. In addition, no significant differences were found in attitudes across six areas of practice, F(5) = 1.531, p = .178. Furthermore, nursing attitudes were largely positive toward patient cannabis use (M = 29.04, SD = 7.762; range: 20-100). Findings from this study indicate that cannabis use may not carry the same perceived stigma as other illicit substances for nurses and unbiased care may be provided regardless of personal beliefs.

Cybersecurity camps provide participants with an opportunity to learn about cybersecurity in a fun and safe environment. Traditionally, such camps, like many others, are held in-person. However, the COVID-19 pandemic created unique challenges and also an opportunity to counter those challenges—holding a cybersecurity camp virtually. While countless other camps, both cybersecurity-related and others, moved to a virtual environment so that such camps could continue to be held, this paper presents some lessons learned and suggestions that may be helpful to others deciding to hold a virtual camp in the future. Some of the lessons learned may be specific to a cybersecurity camp, but most would be applicable to a broad audience.

We compare two generalizations of Tate homology to the realm of associative rings: stable homology and the J-completion of Tor, also known as complete homology. For finitely generated modules, we show that the two theories agree over Artin algebras and over commutative noetherian rings that are Gorenstein, or local and complete.

Abstract Survival studies of juvenile Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. implanted with acoustic tags have been conducted at hydroelectric dams within the Federal Columbia River Power System in the Columbia and Snake rivers between 2010 and 2014 to assess compliance with the dam passage survival standards stipulated in the 2008 Biological Opinion. For juvenile yearling Chinook Salmon O. tshawytscha and steelhead O. mykiss that migrate downstream in the spring, dam passage survival (defined as survival from the upstream dam face to the tailrace mixing zone) must be ≥ 96%, and for subyearling Chinook Salmon that migrate downstream in summer, dam passage survival must be ≥ 93%. Precision requirement stipulates a standard error ≤ 1.5% (i.e., a 95% confidence interval of ± 3%). A total of 29 compliance tests have been conducted at six of eight main-stem dams in the Federal Columbia River Power System, using over 109,000 acoustic-tagged salmonid smolts. Of these 29 compliance studies, 23 met the survival standards and 26 met the precision requirements. Of the six dams evaluated to date, individual survival estimates range from 0.9597 to 0.9868 for yearling Chinook Salmon, from 0.9534 to 0.9952 for steelhead, and from 0.9076 to 0.9789 for subyearling Chinook Salmon. Averages across the six dams exceed the survival standards for all three migrant populations. Received November 9, 2015; accepted February 16, 2016 Published online June 27, 2016