Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Fabrication Of Multilayered Structure For Coherent Random Lasing, John Rauchenstein, Young L. Kim

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

High powered lasers have many applications, including medical treatment and surgery. However, these lasers are extremely expensive and are therefore not widely available. The aim of this study was to demonstrate a method to create such a laser with significantly decreased overall cost and increased efficiency. In order to do this, we explored a phenomenon called random lasing which is a light amplification process. To start with, a low-cost pumping laser is directed at normal incidence toward a multi-layered sample with two alternating layers. At first pearl, a naturally found material that has many organic nano-scale layers (similar to the …

Kentucky Forage Spokesperson Contest, Kentucky Forage And Grassland Council

Kentucky Grazing Conference

No abstract provided.

Can We Graze 300+ Days?, Glen Aiken

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Dependence on stored feeds during the winter months has been necessary in order to maintain body condition and meet nutrient requirements of cattle herds; unfortunately, cost of stored feeds typically are a major part of the farm budget. We know, all too well, that hay shortages and unstable feed ingredient markets have reduced profit potential in cattle production. This has further placed higher demands on supplies of co-product feeds to cause prices of these alternative feeds to rise and make them less cost effective. There will likely be less reliance on concentrate and co-product feeds as the forage-based livestock industry …

Pastures For Horses, Robert Coleman

Kentucky Grazing Conference

The horse evolved as a grazing animal. In order to consume enough forage to meet the horses’ nutritional needs a significant amount of time would be spent each day grazing. The pattern of selecting forage-moving to the next area starting to graze again can easily translate into 14 to 16 hours of grazing activity each day. The level of grazing activity will also be affected by the available forage and the daily access to pasture.

Pastures For Goats And Sheep, Greg Brann

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Pasture for sheep is not that different than that for cattle but pasture for goats is very different. Sheep are grazers like cattle whereas goats are browsers like deer. Even though grass and clover are not a goats preference if all of the forage present is grass and clover goats will eat it. Due to goats and sheep being more prey animals than cattle they don’t like to wade off into tall vegetation, also it takes more energy for them to move through tall growth. Many plants that we traditionally consider weeds become desirable forbs when goats or sheep are …

The Role Of Weed Control In Profitable Pastures, Scott Flynn, Pat Burch

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Pasture weeds compete for resources such as space, water, and nutrients. This competition reduces forage yield which in turn reduces the carrying capacity of a pasture. Although herbicide applications are needed to gain a quick upper hand on weed control most producers are deterred due to cost, the potential loss of pasture legumes, labor, or the belief that herbicide applications are required frequently to keep weed population under control. However, herbicide use in pastures should not be looked at in this manner but instead as an investment that can pay for itself very quickly and easily, and be long-term especially …

Role Of Legumes In Pastures, Garry D. Lacefield

Kentucky Grazing Conference

Successful livestock production is dependent on forage programs which supply large quantities of adequate quality, homegrown feed. A major percentage of the feed units for beef (83%) and dairy (61%) cattle come from forages. In addition, forages supply an estimated 91%, 72%, 15% and 99% of the nutrients consumed by sheep and goats, horses, swine and ruminant wildlife, respectively.

(How I Think About) Kentucky's Pastures: One Of Kentucky's Untapped Resources, Jimmy C. Henning

Kentucky Grazing Conference

One of the privileges of old(er) age is the prerogative to take liberties with assigned tasks. At the risk of confusing producers and offending more scientifically-current forage scientists, the topic of pasture as an untapped resource presented an opportunity to address task from an unexpected angle. Certainly, Kentucky’s pastures are a resource with untapped potential. But the idea that their value as a resource depends on how we think about them is one worth pursuing.

Foreword And Kfgc Award Winners [2013], Garry D. Lacefield, Christi L. Forsythe

Kentucky Grazing Conference

No abstract provided.

Incorporating Satellite Derived Cloud Climatologies To Improve High Resolution Interpolation Of Daily Precipitation., Adam M. Wilson, Benoit Parmentier, Brian Mcgill, Rob Guralnick, Walter Jetz

Yale Day of Data

Conservation of biodiversity demands comprehension of evolutionary and ecological patterns and processes that occur over vast spatial and temporal scales. A central goal of ecology is to understand the factors that control the spatial distribution of species and this has become even more important in the face of climate change. However, at global scales there can be enormous uncertainty in environmental data used to model species distributions. Even ‘simple’ metrics such as mean annual precipitation are difficult to estimate in areas with few weather stations and available data sets do not quantify uncertainty in these surfaces. We are developing a …

Why I Love Grasshopper Sparrows, Michele Patenaude

UVM Libraries Conference Day

Since 2001, Michele (a library circulation supervisor in her day job) has conducted a summer breeding-bird survey of Grasshopper Sparrows at Camp Johnson in Colchester, VT. Named Grasshopper Sparrows because their breeding call sounds like a grasshopper, this little brown bird is endemic to certain types of scrubby grasslands which are becoming more scarce in the Northeast. The Grasshopper Sparrow is also declining and the species is not on the list of Vermont Endangered Birds. Come to this presentation and learn about the bird, how Michele surveys them, why they are endangered, and why Michele loves these quiet, little brown …

An Alternative Ribozyme For The Rna Hypercycle, Ishak Elkhal

Student Research Symposium

In the quest to forward understanding of the prebiotic world (specifically, the RNA World Hypothesis), one of the most interesting paradigms to consider is the potential for cooperative networks that may have driven molecular evolution forward. Such a network may exist as an RNA hypercycle, as proposed by Eigen (1977). Much progress has been made towards an RNA hypercycle-like system, especially using the Azoarcus ribozyme system demonstrated by Vaidya et al. (2012). The current work is dedicated to constructing a second model as a cooperative RNA network, utilizing a group I intron from Coxiella burnetii (Cbu1917). The intron was constructed …

Using Functional Data Analysis To Evaluate Effect Of Shade On Body Temperature Of Feedlot Heifers During Environmental Heat Stress, F. Yang, A. M. Parkhurst, C. N. Lee, T. M. Brown-Brandl, P. E. Hillman

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

Heat stress can be a serious problem for cattle. Body temperature (Tb) is a good measure of an animal’s thermo-regulatory response to an environmental thermal challenge. Previous studies found that Tb increases in response to increasing ambient temperature in a controlled chamber. However, when animals are in an uncontrolled environment, Tb is subject to many uncontrolled environmental factors, such as sunshade, wind, and humidity, that increase variation in the data. Hence, functional data analysis (FDA) was applied to analyze the data with uncontrolled environmental factors as curves in the whole series of days in this study. Breed (Angus, MARCIII, MARC-I, …

Detecting Factors Associated With Springwheat Yield Stability In South Dakota Environments, Jixiang Wu, Karl Glover, William Berzonsky

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

Conventional yield stability analyses are focused on yield stability itself by using single linear regression method and/or additive main effect and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) analysis. It is likely that yield stability for a genotype is associated with many factors such as fertilizer level, soil types, weather conditions, and/or yield components. Detection of factors highly associated with yield stability, therefore, will help breeders develop cultivars adapted to diverse environments or to specific environments. In this study, we conducted correlation analysis based on both environments and genotypes for a data set with 22 spring wheat genotypes, which were evaluated in 18 environments …

Estimation Of Dose Requirements For Extreme Levels Of Efficacy, Mark West, Guy Hallman

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

The objective of this paper is to explore the extent of how dose-response models may be used to estimate extreme levels of efficacy for controlling insect pests and possibly other uses. Probit-9 mortality (99.9968% mortality) is a standard for treatment effectiveness in tephritid fruit fly research, and has been adopted by the United States Department of Agriculture for fruit flies and other pests. Data taken from the phytosanitary treatment (PT) literature are analyzed. These data are used to fit dose-response models with logit, probit and complimentary log-log links. The effectiveness of these models for predicting extreme levels of efficacy is …

A Simulation Study Of The Small Sample Properties Of Likelihood Based Inference For The Beta Distribution, Kevin Thompson, Edward Gbur

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

Researchers often collect proportion data that cannot be interpreted as arising from a set of Bernoulli trials. Analyses based on the beta distribution may be appropriate for such data. The SAS® GLIMMIX procedure provides a tool for these analyses using a likelihood based approach in the context of generalized linear mixed models. Since the t and F-distribution based inference employed in this approach relies on asymptotic properties, it is important to understand the sample sizes required to obtain reasonable approximate answers to inference questions. In addition, the complexity of the likelihood functions can lead to numerical issues for optimization algorithms …

Non-Normal Data In Agricultural Experiments, W. W. Stroup

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

Advances in computers and modeling over the past couple of decades have greatly expanded options for analyzing non-normal data. Prior to the 1990’s, options were largely limited to analysis of variance (ANOVA), either on untransformed data or after applying a variance stabilizing transformation. With or without transformations, this approach depends heavily on the Central Limit Theorem and ANOVA’s robustness. The availability of software such as R’s lme4 package and SAS® PROC GLIMMIX changed the conversation with regard to non-normal data. With expanded options come dilemmas. We have software choices – R and SAS among many others. Models have conditional and …

Multivariate Statistical Analysis Of Terrestrial Invertebrate Index Of Biotic Integrity, Bahman Shafii, William J. Price, Norm Merz, Timothy D. Hatten

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

The Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) is designed to measure the changes in ecological and environmental conditions as affected by human disturbances. In practice, the IBI is used in various ecological applications to detect divergence in biological integrity attributable to human actions. Last year during this conference, methodologies for developing an Avian Index of Biotic Integrity (A-IBI) were presented and discussed. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the construction and statistical evaluation of a multi-metric terrestrial Invertebrate Index of Biotic Integrity (I-IBI) using the same multivariate statistical techniques. Canonical correlation analyses were utilized to select pertinent invertebrate metrics …

Characterizing Benthic Macroinvertebrate Community Responses To Nutrient Addition Using Nmds And Baci Analyses, Bahman Shafii, William J. Price, G. Wayne Minshall, Charlie Holderman, Paul J. Anders, Gary Lester, Pat Barrett

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) is an ordination technique which is often used for information visualization and exploring similarities or dissimilarities in ecological data. In principle, NMDS maximizes rank-order correlation between distance measures and distance in the ordination space. Ordination points are adjusted in a manner that minimizes stress, where stress is defined as a measure of the discordance between the two kinds of distances. Before and After Control Impact (BACI) is a classical analysis of variance method for measuring the potential influence of an environmental disturbance. Such effects can be assessed by comparing conditions before and after a planned activity. …

Thou Shall Not Brush Your Teeth While Eating Breakfast: A 7- Step Program For Researchers Previously Hurt In Data Analysis, Edzard Van Santen

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

After years of providing statistical advice to fellow faculty members and graduate students, I have come to realize that it is not necessarily the big issues, but lack of knowledge of basic data analysis principles that get my clients into trouble. My claim is that if researchers and students internalized two basic definitions they would not have any problems analyzing most of their experiments. The definitions of Experimental Unit (EU) as the smallest physical unit to which a treatment may be applied and Experimental Error (Exp. Err.) as the variation among EUs treated alike are the basis for successful data …

Comparing Functional Data Analysis And Hysteresis Loops When Testing Treatments For Reducing Heat Stress In Dairy Cows, S. Maynes, A. M. Parkhurst, J. B. Gaughan, T. L. Mader

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

Various techniques are commonly used to reduce heat stress, including sprayers and misters, shading, and changes in feed. Oftentimes studies are performed where researchers do not control the times when animals use shading or other means available to reduce heat stress, making it hard to test differences between treatments. Two methods are used on data from a study where Holstein cows were given free access to weight activated “cow showers.” Functional data analysis can be used to model body temperature as a function of time and environmental variables such as the Heat Load Index. Differences between treatment groups can be …

Five Things I Wish My Mother Had Told Me, About Statistics That Is, Philip M. Dixon

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

I present five short stories, each describing something I wish I had known and appreciated earlier in my statistical life. The five are Simpson's paradox is everywhere, numerical optimization algorithms can be deceived, you can't always trust the Satterthwaite approximation, BLUP's are wonderful things, and It's good to know Reverend Bayes.

On The Small Sample Behavior Of Generalized Linear Mixed Models With Complex Experiments, Julie Couton, Walt Stroup

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

Generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs), regardless of the software used to implement them (R, SAS, etc.), can be formulated as conditional or marginal models and can be computed using pseudo-likelihood, penalized quasi-likelihood, or integral approximation methods. While information exists about the small sample behavior of GLMMs for some cases- notably RCBDs with Binomial or count data- little is known about GLMMs for continuous proportions (e.g. Beta) or time-to-event (e.g. Gamma) data or for more complex designs such as the split-plot. In this presentation we review the major model formulation and estimation options and compare their small sample performance for cases …

Editor's Preface And Table Of Contents, Weixing Song

Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture

These proceedings contain papers presented in the twenty-fifth annual Kansas State University Conference on Applied Statistics in Agriculture, held in Manhattan, Kansas, April 28 - April 30, 2013.

12th Annual Undergraduate Student Symposium, Farquhar Honors College

Undergraduate Student Symposium

The Undergraduate Student Symposium, sponsored by the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences, presents student projects through presentations, papers, and poster displays. The event serves as a “showcase” demonstrating the outstanding scholarship of undergraduate students at NSU. The Symposium is open to undergraduate students from all disciplines. Projects cover areas of student scholarship ranging from the experimental and the applied to the computational, theoretical, artistic, and literary. They are taken from class assignments as well as from independent projects. The projects do not have to be complete; presentations can represent any stage in the concept’s evolution, from proposal and literature …

Measuring The Eco-Hydrological Performance Of The Lower Bear River Basin Through Experiential Learning – The Bear River Fellows Program, Liisa Piiparinen, Russell Babb, Sarah Stander, Ayman Alafifi, David E. Rosenberg

Spring Runoff Conference

Measuring and evaluating the performance of river systems necessarily requires understanding the variety of environmental and ecological variables driving the decision-making process in managing river basins. Such variables are best understood with field measurements, data analysis and computational modeling. The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Utah State University (USU), through a National Science Foundation project, has partnered with the Outdoor Recreation, and Parks and Recreation programs at USU to offer the Bear River Fellows Program - a new, unique river-based experiential learning opportunity for 5 freshmen Fellows to receive first-hand experience in collecting, synthesizing and analyzing environmental and …

Poster Session, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute, University Of Kentucky

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

• The New Kentucky Nitrogen and Phosphorus Risk Assessment Tool to Protect Water Quality, Tibor Horvath and others, USDA-NRCS, Lexington, KY
• Groundwater Phosphorus in Kentucky Relative to Karst, Groundwater Sensitivity, and Groundwater Physiographic Region, Caroline Chan, Kentucky Division of Water, Frankfort, KY
• Comparison of Irrigation Scheduling Based on Daily Water Use or Plant Water Demand of Container Grown Nursery Plants, Susmitha Nambuthiri and others, Dept of Horticulture, UK
• Arsenic Species in Broiler (Gallus gallus domesticus) Litter, Soils, Maize (Zea mays L.), and Groundwater from Litter-Amended Fields, Georgia Zeigler and others, Dept Plant and Soil Science, UK
• Cyberinfrastructure …

Session 2d, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute, University Of Kentucky

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

• A Stability Index for Northern Kentucky Streams, Bob Hawley and others, Sustainable Streams, LLC, Louisville, KY
• The Gunpowder and Woolper Creek Watershed Initiatives, Local Cases of a National Problem, Mark Jacobs and others, Boone County Conservation District, Burlington, KY
• Watershed-Scale Model of Carbon and Nitrogen Cycles in Streams, William Ford and Jimmy Fox, Dept of Civil Engineering, UK
• Sensor Network for Suspended Sediment Monitoring, Robert Stewart and others, Dept of Civil Engineering, UK

Session 2c, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute, University Of Kentucky

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

• Mercury Bioaccumulation and the Impact of Stream Basin Characteristics on Susceptible Populations: Policy Implications for Kentucky, Caroline Chan, Kentucky Division of Water, Frankfort, KY
• Asian Carp in Kentucky Waters: An Ecological Disaster? Ron Brooks, Kentucky Dept of Fish and Wildlife Resources, Frankfort, KY
• Effects of Streambed Sediments on the Fate of Selenium in Eastern Kentucky Watersheds Contaminated with Surface Coal Mining Operations, Edward Fisher and Yi-Tin Wang, Dept of Civil Engineering, UK
• Thermal Dependence of Solvation Geometries in Aqueous Nitrate Ion Solutions, Matthew Nee, Dept of Chemistry, WKU, Bowling Green, KY
• The Combined Effects of Atrazine and …

Session 2b, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute, University Of Kentucky

Kentucky Water Resources Annual Symposium

• Developing a Vegetation-Based Index of Biotic Integrity for Assessing the Ecological Condition of Wetlands in Kentucky, Tanner Morris and others, Dept of Biological Sciences, EKU, Richmond, KY
• Using Vegetation and Landscape Analysis to Validate a Wetland Rapid Assessment Method for Kentucky's Forested Riparian Wetlands, JohnRyan Polascik and others, Dept of Biological Sciences, EKU, Richmond, KY
• Improving Overall Stream Function Beyond the Channel (Opportunity Meets Necessity), Oakes Routt and Wanda Lawson, Stantec Consulting Services Inc., Louisville, KY
• The Effects of Prescribed Fire Restoration on Amphibian and Reptile Diversity, Robert Knopp and others, Murray State University, Murray, KY …