Yearly Archives: 2021

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Rocky Point Co-Captain Celine Singh digs one out against Sayville in a league IV game Mar. 13. Photo by Bill Landon

The Eagles of Rocky Point opened their season with a nail-biting win against Hills West that went 5 sets but had all they could handle against Sayville in a league IV matchup March 13 at home falling to the Golden Flashes 25-13, 25-18, 25-14.

Rocky Point edged ahead early in the second set but Sayville had the upper hand at net to win their first game of the season.

The loss drops the Eagles to 1-2 where they’ll look to regain their winning ways on the road against Harborfields March 18 before returning home to host Kings Park the following day. Game time for both is 4 p.m. 

 

The pedigree that is Kings Park girls’ volleyball continued its winning ways with a road win against Comsewogue where they swept the Warriors 25-11, 25-9 and 25-13 March 12.

Comsewogue briefly took the lead early in the third set before Kings Park slammed the door for a League IV win. Jackie Wolf had seven kills with nine digs, teammate Liv Benard killed nine, had one ace and four blocks.

The game was met with several spectators as Section XI has allowed two people per player remaining socially distanced to attend home games. Both teams are back in action March 16 where the Lady Kingsmen host Westhampton. First service is 5:45 p.m. The Warriors travel to Hills West with a 4:00 p.m. start. 

The Art League of Long Island’s 14th annual “Go APE” Advanced Placement Student Exhibition features 2-D and 3-D works by 124 AP and IB Art Students from 37 Long Island High Schools. This is an opportunity for what may be the first of many times these promising young art students will show their artwork in a professional gallery setting, albeit virtual for 2021.

The virtual exhibit, on view at the Art League’s website at www.artleagueli.org from March 15 to April 2, allows the viewer to “stroll the gallery” in the virtual rooms. Awards of Excellence and Honorable Mentions to be announced.

Sloths, rodents and primates – some of the largest and smallest mammals on Caribbean islands – are among those most vulnerable to extinction. Image from David Rini, Johns Hopkins University

A new study by a team of international scientists jointly led by Stony Brook University Professor Liliana M. Dávalos, PhD, and Professor Samuel Turvey of the Zoological Society of London, reveals that the largest and smallest mammals in the Caribbean have been the most vulnerable to extinction. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, help predict future extinction risk and inform the conservation strategies needed to prevent future biodiversity loss.

Most past studies find that larger mammals go extinct more often, so this study’s findings are unusual. Titled “Where the Wild Things Were,” the paper looked at past extinction patterns across the Caribbean mammal fauna in order to help scientists understand the factors that predispose species to extinction. With mammal extinction, what they found is that size does indeed matter in life.

The islands of the Caribbean have long been a source of fascination for scientists and conservationists. They were once home to a diverse array of land mammals including sloths, primates, unusual insectivores, and giant rodents, but the arrival of different waves of human colonists from around 6000 years ago onwards instigated the largest series of human-caused mammal extinctions since the end of the last Ice Age.

Only 11 native Caribbean rodents and two insectivores still survive today – including the two solenodons, large shrew-like mammals that have the unique ability to inject venom into their prey using modified grooved teeth. Both solenodon species are the only representatives of an ancient mammalian lineage that diverged from the ancestors of all other living mammals during the time of the dinosaurs, approximately 76 million years ago.

Dávalos, a Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution in the College of Arts and Sciences, designed and completed the statistical analyses that led to the findings. By carrying out the study at the level of mammal populations instead of species, the team’s methods were able to account for the effect of varying environmental conditions across different islands on species’ chances of survival.

Conducting a huge-scale analysis that included records of extinction patterns for 219 land mammal populations across 118 Caribbean islands, the study went beyond previous research into Caribbean mammal extinctions, which has largely focused on reconstructing last-occurrence dates for extinct species and matching them with specific historical events. This study instead sought to identify wider ecological patterns – such as the relationship between body mass and extinction risk – that influence a mammal’s chance of survival in response to human activities.

They found that medium-sized Caribbean mammals – like the solenodons – have been less sensitive to extinction compared to both their smaller and larger counterparts.

According to Dávalos and co-authors, this overall discovery is likely to reflect the fact that larger species were more vulnerable to past human hunting, whereas smaller species were more vulnerable to predation or competition by introduced species such as mongooses and rats.

“To answer questions such as ‘what traits predispose species to survival?’ Or ‘what island features are associated with extinction?,’ we studied each population on an island as a natural experiment,” says Dávalos. “With enough of them, patterns that have often been discussed but couldn’t quantify start to emerge. Without the large database of many natural experiments in the Caribbean and powerful computing approaches, there is no way to answer these questions.

“The analyses also showed that Caribbean mammals of all sizes were less likely to survive on the earliest-colonized islands by humans and more likely to survive on tiny, low-elevation offshore islands, meaning that their future survival could be at risk from climate change and rising sea levels unless measures are put in place to protect these vital natural refuges.”

“Preventing the extinction of highly endangered species requires an awareness of not only the immediate risks to their survival, but also the history of human-caused biodiversity loss – and the unique insights that the past can provide about species’ vulnerability or resilience under differing conditions,” adds Professor Samuel Turvey of ZSL’s Institute of Zoology.

“The Caribbean islands are home to unique mammalian biodiversity, which has tragically been almost completely wiped out by past human activities. Our study clearly highlights the importance of learning from the past to make the future better – we must use information from the historical, archaeological and recent fossil records to inform current-day conservation, or else we risk losing these remarkable species forever.”

Research for this study was supported in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF). For Professor Dávalos, grant numbers DEB 1442142 and 1838273, DGE 1633299. Additional funding by the NSF (OAC 1531492) enabled analyses by the SeaWulf computing system at the Institute for Advanced Computational Science at Stony Brook University.

Photo from Doherty Enterprises

Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar representatives presented a check for $12,091 to Toys for Tots on Feb. 24. The funds were raised during Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar’s 22nd annual fundraising campaign in support of the Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program, which distributes new toys to as many underprivileged children as possible to provide a tangible sign of hope during the Christmas season. 

This year, Applebee’s also introduced its own “Tots for Tots” program, offering guests an additional way to donate by adding tater tots to any order for just $3, with each sale going directly to the organization. Since its inception, Applebee’s locations owned and operated by Doherty Enterprises have raised $4.9 million through its Toys for Tots fundraising campaign to benefit local communities in Florida, Georgia, Long Island and New Jersey. In just 2020 alone, Toys for Tots distributed 20.2 million toys to 7.4 million children. 

Owned and operated by Doherty Enterprises, participating Suffolk County Applebee’s locations included Bohemia, Brentwood, Commack, East Farmingdale, East Islip, Farmingville, Huntington, Lake Grove, Lindenhurst, Miller Place, Patchogue, Riverhead and Shirley.

Pictured from left, John Antosiewicz, area director, Applebee’s New Jersey; Meredith Free, general manager, Applebee’s; David Fox, sergeant, United States Marine Corps Reserve; and Nick D’Andrea, chief warrant officer 4, Toys for Tots Coordinator. 

Screenshot from HACK@CEWIT

By Harry To

The Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology at Stony Brook University hosted its 5th annual Hack@CEWIT “hackathon” featuring student-made inventions, Feb. 26-28.

Usually this showcase takes place in person, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic this year’s event was hosted online. In place of the usual format, the over-200 competitors communicated through Zoom or Discord.

Satya Sharma, executive director of CEWIT, emphasized the abnormal circumstances weren’t a problem.

“This year’s 5th annual Hack@CEWIT had over 200 registered undergrad and graduate hackers from across the U.S.,” he said. “And though it was held virtually due to the pandemic, it did not diminish the quality of projects submitted by these bright and motivated students. It’s opportunities like this hackathon that builds confidence in their creativity and grows their entrepreneurial spirit.”

According to Sharma, this year’s theme, Innovating Through the Pandemic, reminds people that though there are sudden and unknown challenges, they can seize the opportunities those challenges create and harvest ideas never before imagined.

Students Mohammad Elbadry, 23 (left) and Aaron Gregory, 23 (right). Photo from event

A standout project was R-AGI: Radiology Artificial General Intelligence, created by Stony Brook University graduate students Mohammed Elbadry, Joshua Leeman and Aaron Gregory.

“According to a survey, radiologists only have about 3-4 seconds to look over an X-ray and determine if there are any anomalies,” said Elbadry, a Ph.D. student with over 20-plus hackathons under his belt. “They don’t have much time, so if they had an AI that could help them that would be very useful.”

The limited time for scanning X-rays may result in a higher frequency of errors or discrepancies, with some studies citing an average 3% to 5% error rate, he said. That’s about 40 million radiologist errors every year, mistakes that could potentially cost hundreds of lives.

With the problem in mind, the team of three went to work to create AI that would offer a solution — a program that automatically scans X-rays and detects anomalies. This is something that could save not only time, but human lives.

By using an existing dataset of labelled X-rays, the team trained its AI to detect the presence of pneumonia as well as its specific manifestation. The AI then labels and informs the user of any further anomalies.

The SBU team ended up with an impressive showing, including Top-Tier Graduate Best in Show and Best Healthcare Innovation.

Another award winning project was DarkWebSherlock, created by Andrew Zeoli, Colin Hamill, Donald Finlayson and Ian Costa from Johnson & Wales University,  Providence, R.I.

The sale of personal information on the dark web, a hidden part of the internet accessible through the TOR Browser, is a problem that has persisted for years, and DarkWebSherlock aims to create a solution.

The program allows users to scan through online marketplaces on the dark web to see if their data is up for sale anywhere.

This enables victims to be proactive by updating their passwords or changing their credit card numbers to better secure their information.

Costa said the program will be an invaluable asset. “Searching for usernames on the dark web is something our team does on a daily basis,” he said. “Our project will save valuable time for investigators and with some extra work will become a staple tool for dark web investigations.”

DarkWebSherlock won Top-Tier: Undergrad Best in Show.

Another award-winning project, Vaccine-Finder, aims to help speed up COVID-19 vaccine distribution for 65-year-old-plus vaccine seekers.

The interface allows the elderly, also people with disabilities, to plug in their zip codes and view the appointment availability of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Joshua Muckey started this project only recently, and it won Best Pandemic Innovation.

In all, the event hosted 15 projects, many of which showcased student ingenuity in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This year is a reminder of why innovation is key to our success and our survival as a region, as a state and as a society,” said Marc Alessi, a judge for the event, CEO of SynchroPET and executive director of Tesla Science Center. “This weekend’s hackathon at Stony Brook University’s CEWIT center is an example of bringing together emerging innovators from very diverse backgrounds for the purpose of celebrating and practicing innovation in its most raw form. This is essential to foster an environment of innovation.”

All of the participants’ projects can be found online here.

Stock photo

By Nancy Marr

Climate change is the most important threat we face, as one of the three greatest threats imperiling the Earth, in addition to the loss of biodiversity and global pollution. Reducing the carbon dioxide that we release into the atmosphere into the atmosphere is critical. The mantra — reduce, reuse, recycle — has become more important as incomes rise and consumption increases, particularly in urbanizing communities where local government must find ways to deal with the waste stream. 

Leftover food is a major component of landfill waste. It has been estimated that only 40% of the food that is produced is consumed, due partly to overproduction on farms and poor distribution methods. The EPA estimates that food waste comprises about 22% of our entire waste stream.

In 2022 the Food Donation and Food Scraps/Recycling Law will take effect in New York State. It will require businesses that generate an average of two tons of excess edible food per week to donate it to food banks and charities. All remaining food scraps, if the business is within 25 miles of an organics recycler, must be recycled instead of ending up in a landfill. 

One method is feeding it to an anaerobic digester, in which microorganisms break down organic materials in a closed space where there is no air (or oxygen). The material that is left over following the anaerobic digestion process, called digestate, can be made into soil amendments and fertilizers, improving soil characteristics and facilitating plant growth. 

Biogas, which is produced throughout the anaerobic digestion process, is a renewable energy source that can be used in a variety of ways, depending on its quality. Biogas treated to meet pipeline quality standards can be distributed through the natural gas pipeline and used in homes and businesses.  However, on the controversial side of this positive energy gain, remains the fact that anaerobic digesters generate an inordinate amount of methane (CH4), an enemy in our effort to combat climate change. 

Our waste stream includes packaging materials and paper goods. Bill S1185 has been introduced by Senator Todd Kaminski and it will be followed by A5801, to be introduced by Assemblyman Steve Englebright. They require producers and manufacturers to finance the recycling of their packaging materials and plastics, with incentives for finding ways of making recycling easier. Within three years of the bill’s implementation, producers will have to comply with the provisions of the bill or work with a producer responsibility organization. 

Very good news is that agronomists have found that improved soil management can reduce the carbon that is released into the atmosphere and can increase the amount of carbon that is drawn down into the soil through photosynthesis. Led by Suffolk County Cooperative Extension, many farmers are using the methods of no-till farming, cover crops, and natural fertilizers, recognizing the importance of the biodiversity of the soil. Farming can transition from a net carbon emitter to a carbon sink.

In order to reduce the amount of methane coming from landfills, New York State passed a law in 1990 that prohibited municipalities from retaining household waste in their landfills.  (Construction and yard waste and recyclables can remain.)  

In the case of Brookhaven Town, which built a landfill in 1974 in Yaphank, the waste is currently transported to a waste-to-energy facility in Hempstead for incineration. The ash by-product is then returned to Brookhaven (along with the ash from four other  municipalities) to be deposited in the Brookhaven landfill, which will be closed in 2024.  There is a question of how that ash will be stored, recycled, or disposed of. Until we can get to zero waste that question will remain. Can we do so in a timely way? Can we do so at all?

The League of Women Voters of New York State supports policies that protect food production and distribution while diverting food waste from landfills, incinerators and other waste treatment facilities. 

One thing we already know: we will only achieve zero waste conditions when everyone participates.   Look for ways to make easy changes at home – using imperfect fruits and vegetables and organizing your pantry can help reduce waste. Plan to re-use and repair your goods, recycle, and compost your food waste.  Regenerative farming methods will improve the soil in suburban gardens and lawns as well as farms.  Let your state legislators know that you support the EPR bill to require end-of-life recycling by producers.

Nancy Marr is vice-president of the League of Women Voters of Suffolk County, a nonprofit nonpartisan organization that encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government and influences public policy through education and advocacy. Visit www.lwv-suffolkcounty.org or call 631-862-6860.

Last week, Leg. Caracappa spoke at Stagecoach Elementary School in Selden proposing the removal of polling stations at elementary schools. Photo by Iryna Shkurhan

By Iryna Shkurhan

Suffolk County Legislator Nick Caracappa (R-Selden) announced the first step in an ambitious effort to remove polling sites from all schools in the county. 

At a press conference March 5, Caracappa announced that Stagecoach Elementary School in Selden would be the first school in his district to be eliminated as a voting site starting in April. 

“Today marks the day that we strike a better balance between the safety of our school children and logistical needs of our voters,” said Nick LaLota, commissioner of the Suffolk County Board of Elections. 

Suffolk has more than one million voters, with over 333 polling sites. Two thirds of sites are currently schools. Logistically, schools are highly accessible sites for voting given their sizable parking lots, handicap access and large open spaces for voting machines.

As local alternatives, nonschool buildings will be used as polling sites to accommodate voters. Up for consideration are the Selden Fire Department’s main station and substation, as well as the New Village Recreation Center in Centereach. Utilizing high and middle schools have also been proposed as alternatives to elementary schools. 

“Eliminating schools as polling sites has been a high priority in this community since I sat on the Middle Country school board over 10 years ago, which makes today such a special day,” Caracappa said. 

The proposed overhaul comes after reports that school leaders and parents are worried about voters interacting with young students on voting days, potentially putting them in harm’s way. That’s in addition to the costly increased security required for schools on voting days, which comes out of the school district budget. 

Shaun Rothberg, principal of Stagecoach Elementary School, said, “This was a collaborative effort over many years of hard work and dedication to bring awareness to the safety concerns of using schools as voting sites, and I hope is the beginning of removing school voting out of all three buildings.”

Voters will at minimum receive a postcard in the mail alerting them of a polling place change along with the effective date. 

“We want to ensure that when we make this change, we’re not only doing it on the focus of the safety of the kids, but we also want to ensure that votersw are fully aware and how they can participate in our great democracy,” LaLota said. 

Jadon Turner takes a handoff from Tyquell Fields during Saturday’s season opener against Villanova.

The Stony Brook football team waited 470 days to return to game action.

Unfortunately for the Seawolves, they fell to fifth-ranked Villanova, 16-13, in the opener to the six-game spring CAA Football season on Saturday, March 6 at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium.

Trailing by nine points late in the fourth quarter, Stony Brook received life when Anthony Del Negro blocked a punt and Oniel Stanbury scooped it up, placing the Seawolves at the Villanova 13 with 3:29 remaining. Forty seconds later, Jayden Cook scored from two yards out to pull Stony Brook within three points.

Angelo Guglielmello then attempted an onside kick that Villanova’s Christian Benford caught and returned to the Stony Brook 15. Villanova ran out the clock from there.

Earlier, down 13-0, quarterback Tyquell Fields scampered in from seven yards out to move Stony Brook within a score in the third quarter.

Villanova had opened a 16-7 lead early in the fourth quarter on a 33-yard field goal from Cole Bunce that was set up by play that included a completion from Daniel Smith to TD Ayo-Durojaiye for 33 yards and a roughing-the-passer call that tacked on an additional 15 yards.

 

Preservation Long Island in Cold Spring Harbor has announced the gift of a group of important early American portraits from descendants of the Nelson and Lloyd families of Boston and Long Island. 

For over three hundred years, portraits of Elizabeth Tailer Nelson (1667–1734), John Nelson (1654–1734), Henry Lloyd I (1685–1763), and James Lloyd III (1769–1831) remained in the possession of the same family that commissioned them centuries ago. The artworks, an extraordinary gift from the collection of Orme Wilson III and Elsie Wilson Thompson, in memory of Alice Borland Wilson, have joined Preservation Long Island’s collection and are now available for the public to view in a new digital exhibition titled Facing Slavery: The Lloyd Family Portraits in Context.

“We are honored to be the new stewards of these important pieces of American history and to make them available to the public for the first time,” said Alexandra Wolfe, Preservation Long Island Executive Director. 

In gifting the paintings, the donors wrote, “After being in family care all these years, we believe that these portraits are going to the right place with you and your colleagues at Preservation Long Island, where we hope that they will be useful in your development of a deeper historical understanding and contextualization of the issues and events that swirled around the Long Island area in colonial times and later”.

This gift coincided with the launch of the first phase of the Jupiter Hammon Project, a long-term initiative that will transform how Preservation Long Island engages future visitors to Joseph Lloyd Manor (1767) with the entangled stories of the Lloyd family and the individuals they enslaved for more than a century at the Manor of Queens Village on Long Island (Lloyd Neck today), among them, Jupiter Hammon (1711–before 1806) one of our nation’s first published Black American writers.

This multi-generational collection of portraits is a visual reminder of the region’s colonial and early national history, but the individuals they represent reflect only a fraction of the people, both enslaved and free, who lived, formed families, and established communities on Long Island and New England during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries.

“We are grateful to the descendants for recognizing the important work of the Jupiter Hammon Project and for giving the portraits a new, permanent home with Preservation Long Island,” said Lauren Brincat, Curator, Preservation Long Island. 

“There are no known portraits of Jupiter Hammon or any of the men, women, and children the Lloyds enslaved. By interrogating the hidden history behind these painted surfaces, however, we can uncover a complex story of one family forcibly bound to another across generations,” she said.

Facing Slavery: The Lloyd Family Portraits in Context is now on view at www.preservationlongisland.org. For more information, call 631-692-4664.

In photo, from left:

Elizabeth Tailer Nelson (1667–1734) by an unknown American artist, ca. 1685. Oil on canvas. Preservation Long Island, 2020.5.2.

John Nelson (1654–1734) attributed to James Frothingham (1786–1685) after John Smibert (1688–1751), before 1824. Oil on panel. Preservation Long Island, 2020.5.3.

Henry Lloyd I (1685–1763) by John Mare (1739–ca. 1803) after John Wollaston (active ca. 1742–1775), 1767. Oil on canvas. Preservation Long Island, 2020.5.1.

James Lloyd III (1769–1831) by an unknown American artist, 1800-50. Oil on canvas. Preservation Long Island. 2020.5.4.