RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION AND ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION IN THE UNITED STATES*

ABSTRACT. Levels of alcohol consumption are a major public health issue. This study aims to gain a better understanding of how geographical patterns of religious affiliation in the United States relate to geographical patterns of alcohol consumption. We explored state‐level correlations between alcohol consumption and religious adherence. Although we found no statistically significant correlation between overall religious adherence rates and current or binge drinking rates, states with higher adherence rates were significantly more likely to have high proportions of binge drinking among current drinkers. Yet, regionally, we found a strong inverse correlation in the Southeast and a strong positive correlation in the Midwest and Northeast between adherence rates and current and binge drinking rates. These geographical differences were largely explained after stratifying by major religious denominational groupings. States with high Catholic adherence rates tended to have higher drinking rates, whereas states with high Evangelical Protestant adherence rates tended to have lower drinking rates. These findings suggest that the relationship between religion and alcohol may be denomination‐specific and challenge the lay perception that religious adherence per se is associated with less alcohol consumption and less excessive drinking among those who drink.     

High-redshift QSOs in the FIRST survey

In a pilot search for high-redshift radio quasi-stellar objects (QSOs), we have obtained spectra of 55 FIRST sources     with very red     starlike optical identifications. 10 of the candidates are QSOs with redshifts     (four were previously known), six with     . The remaining 45 candidates comprise: one     broad-absorption-line (BAL) QSO; three low-redshift galaxies with narrow emission lines; 18 probable radio galaxies; and 23 M stars (mainly misidentifications). The success rate (high-redshift QSOs / spectroscopically-observed candidates) for this search is 1/2 for     , and 1/9 for     . With an effective search area of 4030 deg², the surface density of high-redshift     QSOs discovered with this technique is 0.0015 deg⁻².     

Calving retreat and proglacial lake growth at Hooker Glacier,Southern Alps,New Zealand

Hooker Glacier in the central Southern Alps of New Zealand has undergone significant downwasting and recession (～2.14 km) during the last two centuries. High retreat rates (51 m a^?1 1986–2001, 43 m a^?1 2001–2011) have produced a large (1.22 km²) proglacial lake. We present a retreat scenario for Hooker Glacier. A retreat scenario predicts that the glacier terminus will stabilise >3 km up‐valley of the current lake outlet after 2028 when ice velocity equals calving rate.     

Postsettlement patterns of habitat use by sciaenid fishes in subtropical seagrass meadows

Spatial and temporal patterns of distribution and abundance were examined for postsettlement sciaenids collected from seagrass meadows in the Aransas Estuary, Texas. Overall, 5443 sciaenid larvae and early juveniles were identified from biweekly epibenthic sled collections taken from August 1994 to August 1995. Eight species were present in seagrass meadows, with five accounting for over 99.9% of sciaenids collected: silver perch (Bairdiella chrysoura), spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus), spot (Leiostomus xanthurus), Atlantic croaker (Micropogonias undulatus), and red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus). Settlement to seagrass meadows was partitioned temporally with little overlap among the five species. Postsettlers from inshore spawners (B. chrysoura, C. nebulosus, S. ocellatus) inhabited seagrass meadows during the spring and summer, while individuals from offshore spawners (L. xanthurus, M. undulatus) were present in the late fall and winter. Densities ofB. chrysoura, C. nebulosus, S. ocellatus were highest for small individuals (4–8 mm SL) and these taxa remained in seagrass sites through the early juvenile stage. Conversely,L. xanthurus andM. undulatus maintained longer pelagic periods and generally entered seagrass meadows at larger sizes (10–14 mm SL). Moreover, these taxa were only temporary residents of selected seagrass meadows, apparently migrating to alternative habitats shortly after arrival. During peak settlement, mean and maximum densities among species ranged from 0.1 m^?2 to 0.8 m^?2 and 0.7 m^?2 to 23.8 m^?2, respectively. Density and mean size of possettlement sciaenids differed significantly between seagrass species (Halodule wrightii, Thalassia testudinum) and among sites within the estuary.     

Nighttime proton fluxes at Millstone Hill

Incoherent scatter measurements of electron density and vertical O⁺ fluxes over Millstone Hill (42.6°N, 71.5°W) previously have been used to study the exchange of plasma between the ionosphere and the magnetosphere. During the daytime there is usually an upward flux of O⁺ ions above about 450 km that can be measured readily and equated to the escaping proton flux. At night the O⁺ fluxes usually are downwards everywhere owing to the decay of the F-layer, and it becomes difficult to detect effects due an arriving proton flux. In a new study of the nighttime fluxes, appeal was made to the estimated abundance of the H⁺ ions in the upper F-region which can be extracted from the observations. From a study of the behavior on 25 days over the interval 1969–1973, we conclude that in the daytime the flux always is upwards and close to its limiting value. This situation persists throughout the night in summer at times of high sunspot activity (e.g., 1969). There is a period of downward flux prior to ionospheric sunrise on winter nights whose duration increases with decreasing sunspot number. As sunspot minimum is approached (e.g., in 1973) downward fluxes are encountered for a brief period prior to ionospheric sunrise in summer also. Thus, over most parts of sunspot cycle, it appears that the protonosphere supplies ionization to the winter night ionosphere, while being maintained from the summer hemisphere. This helps explain the smallness of the day-to-night variations reported for the electron content of magnetospheric flux tubes near L = 4 in the American sector.     

The propagation of high frequency internal waves in the Celtic Sea

The continental slope to the south of the Celtic Sea is an area of extremely rough topography and tidal currents of the order of 50cm/s (with components both along and across the slope). This is a region of intense and complicated internal wave and internal tide activity. Historical current meter data from moorings close to the shelf-break show bursts of high frequency, large amplitude internal waves occurring, on average, at either once or twice per M2 tidal cycle. Wave packets at 9 moorings along the shelf-break and further on-shelf are identified using conditional sampling. The paths travelled by these wave packets are calculated using their fluctuation orientation, linear wave theory and the low frequency current. The records are up to 60 days long, allowing the ensemble statistics of propagation direction and wave characteristics to be calculated for a large number of wave packets. This analysis shows that only a fraction of the observed wave packets have orientations consistent with generation by the across-slope barotropic tide. This mechanism accounts for 20% of the wave packets in the north-west Celtic Sea and 29% in the southeast Celtic sea. A similar fraction of the wave packets (23% in the north west and 27% in the south east) have orientations clearly consistent with generation by an along-slope flow over the rough topography on the slope. The remaining wave packets are attributed to generation by tidal flow over topography close to the moorings and possibly internal wave resonance within canyons.     

Operational Wave, Current, and Wind Measurements With the Pisces HF Radar

This paper presents results of a trial of a Pisces HF radar system aimed at assessing its use as a component of a wave-monitoring network being installed around the coasts of England and Wales. The radar system has been operating since December 2003 and the trial continued to June 2005. The data have been processed in near-real time and displayed on a website. Radar measurements of the directional spectrum and derived parameters are compared with those measured with a directional waverider and with products from the Met Office, United Kingdom, operational wave model. Radar measurements of currents and winds are also compared with Met Office model products and, in the case of winds, with the QuikSCAT scatterometer. Statistics on data availability and accuracy are presented. The results demonstrate that useful availability and accuracy in wave and wind parameters are obtained above a waveheight threshold of 2 m and at ranges up to 120 km at the radar operating frequencies (7-10 MHz) used. Waveheight measurements above about 1 m can be made with reasonable accuracy (e.g., mean difference of 2.5% during January-February 2004). Period and direction parameters in low seas are often contaminated by noise in the radar signal. The comparisons provide some evidence of wave model limitations in offshore wind and swell conditions     

Radar measurement of rainfall by differential propagation phase: A pilot experiment

Abstract

A pilot project concerning the measurement of rainfall by polarization diversity radar, conducted jointly by the Alberta Research Council and the University of Essex in the summer of 1989, is described. The objective of the experiment was to test the theory that differential propagation phase shift can give a better estimate of rainfall with high rain rates (about 30 mm h^?1 and greater) than reflectivity measurements.

The project comprised a field experiment that was conducted in central Alberta during the period 20 July to 2 August 1989. The field experiment involved observing storms within about a 70‐km radius from Red Deer with the ARC S‐band polarization diversity radar and measuring rainfall at the ground through a network of fixed, volunteer observers and a mobile storm‐chase operation.

Theory describing how differential propagation phase may be extracted from the data recorded by the radar system is given.

Data collected on three days during the experiment (27 July, 29 July and 2 August) have been analysed and the results are presented. A total of 31 samples of total rainfall amount were collected on these days. All but three of the 31 radar rainfall amount predictions obtained from the differential propagation phase are within a factor of 2 of the rainfall observed at the ground. In fact, the average ratio of the total rainfall amount predicted from the differential propagation phase to the total rainfall amount measured at the ground is 1.16 for the 31 samples. This suggests that, on average, the total rainfall amount predicted from the differential propagation phase is only 16% higher than that measured at the ground. Of the 31 events, over a third involved some contamination of the differential propagation phase measurement through hail. Furthermore, because the K_DP technique does not rely on parameters dependent on precipitation characteristics or adjustment factors, the technique can be validated in a convenient location and then applied anywhere.

On the other hand, the radar rainfall amount estimates derived from Z‐R relations represent, in general, a large overestimation of the rainfall amount observed at the ground, especially when hail is present. No attempt was made to adjust or calibrate the radar rainfall estimates with raingauge data.     

Regional scale impacts of distinct CO(2) additions in the North Sea

A marine system model applied to the North West European shelf seas is used to simulate the consequences of distinct CO(2) additions such as those that could arise from a failure of geological sequestration schemes. The choice of leak scenario is guided by only a small number of available observations and requires several assumptions; hence the simulations reported on are engineered to be worse case scenarios. The simulations indicate that only the most extreme scenarios are capable of producing perturbations that are likely to have environmental consequences beyond the locality of a leak event. Tidally driven mixing rather than air-sea exchange is identified as the primary mechanism for dispersal of added CO(2). We show that, given the available evidence, the environmental impact of a sequestration leak is likely to be insignificant when compared to the expected impact from continued non-mitigated atmospheric CO(2) emissions and the subsequent acidification of the marine system. We also conclude that more research, including both leak simulations and assessment of ecological impacts is necessary to fully understand the impact of CO(2) additions to the marine system.