Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Alternative Principal Components Regression Procedures For Dendrohydrologic Reconstructions, Hugo G. Hidalgo, Thomas C. Piechota, John A. Dracup

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Faculty Research

Streamflow reconstruction using tree ring information (dendrohydrology) has traditionally used principal components analysis (PCA) and stepwise regression to form a transfer function. However, PCA has several procedural choices that may result in very different reconstructions. This study assesses the different procedures in PCA-based regression and suggests alternative procedures for selection of variables and principal components. Cross-validation statistics are presented as an alternative for independently testing and identifying the optimal model. The objective is to use these statistics as a measure of the model's performance to find a conceptually acceptable model with a low prediction error and the fewest number of …

Using 'Drop-Biasing' To Stabilize The Occupancy Of Random-Drop Queues With Tcp Traffic, Archan Misra, Teunis Ott, John Baras

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The paper describes how the use of ‘drop-biasing’, a technique to control the distribution of the gap between consecutive packet losses in random drop queues (such as RED) can be used to reduce the variability of the queue occupancy with TCP traffic. Reducing the variance of the queue occupancy reduces delay jitter for buffered packets, as well as decreases the likelihood of buffer underflow. We find that modifying the packet drop probabilities to ensure a minimum separation between consecutive packet drops serves to decrease the variability in the queue occupancy. This is really achieved as a result of the increased …

Profiting From Adversity - Meeting The Challenge Of Salinity Through New Industry Development, Andrew Quinn, Tamara Law, Peter Rowe

Natural resources published reports

Salinity in the Wheatbelt of Western Australia is one of the most significant challenges facing the State's agricultural sector.

Efforts to manage the increasing effect of salt influenced and threatened farming land requires not only the implementation of new farming systems, but a new way of thinking and attitude to production more in tune with environmental and technological limitations.

While past environment lobby pressures have significantly focused on other production activities such as mining and forestry, the future is likely to see increased community interest in agricultural production systems.

Consumers World wide are becoming more environmentally sensitive, with global media …

Information Retrieval And Mining In High Dimensional Databases, Xiong Wang

Dissertations

This dissertation is composed of two parts. In the first part, we present a framework for finding information (more precisely, active patterns) in three dimensional (3D) graphs. Each node in a graph is an undecoraposable or atomic unit and has a label. Edges are links between the atomic units. Patterns are rigid substructures that may occur in a graph after allowing for an arbitrary number of whole-structure rotations and translations as well as a small number (specified by the user) of edit operations in the patterns or in the graph. (When a pattern appears in a graph only after the …

Control Of High-Harmonic Generation And Laser-Assisted X-Ray-Atom Scattering With Static Electric And Magnetic Fields, D. B. Milošević, Anthony F. Starace

Anthony F. Starace Publications

We consider the use of strong static fields to control two related atomic processes: laser-assisted x-ray-atom scattering (XAS) and high-harmonic generation (HHG). We first analyze the laser field intensity dependence of the differential cross section (DCS) plateau structures for the laser-assisted XAS process in the presence of a static electric field as a function of the number of photons exchanged with the laser field. Besides the recently discovered (Milošević, D.B. and Starace, A.F., 1998, Phys. Rev. Lett., 81, 5097) extended plateau for absorbed photons, which indicates a substantial increase of the scattered x-ray energies, a new plateau, having many …

Metallic Nanoscale Fibers From Stable Iodine-Doped Carbon Nanotubes, Peter C. Eklund, Leonid Grigorian, Keith A. Williams, Gamini U. Sumanasekera, Shaoli Fang

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Patents

A method of doping involves soaking single-walled carbon nanotubes in molten iodine. Excess physisorbed iodine may then be removed by annealing.

Immaccs: An Experimental Multi-Agent C2 System, Jens G. Pohl, Anthony A. Wood, Kym Jason Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

The Integrated Marine Multi-Agent Command and Control System (IMMACCS) is a multi-agent, distributed software system, designed to provide a Common Tactical Picture (CTP) with integrated and meaningful decision-support facilities to authorized operators at any access node. IMMACCS has been implemented as a three-tier architecture that distinguishes between information, logic and presentation. It utilizes an object-serving communication facility with subscription and multi-casting capabilities that is based on the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA). With an emphasis on application, IMMACCS was designed and implemented in concert with its military users as an integral component of experiments conceived by the Marine Corps …

Observational Constraints On The Internal Velocity Field Of Quasar Emission-Line Clouds, Mark Bottorff, Gary J. Ferland, Jack Baldwin, Kirk Korista

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

This paper addresses the question, what does the spectrum of a typical quasar reveal about the velocity structure within its broad emission line region clouds? Turbulent (i.e., nonthermal) broadening of spectral lines can be due to macroturbulence or microturbulence. Microturbulence affects line formation and the emitted spectrum and may be required to account for the observed smoothness of the line profiles. The velocity field is crucial since it addresses the fundamental nature of the individual clouds and the global structure of the active galactic nuclei (AGNs) environment. For example, stellar winds or magnetically confined blobs might be highly microturbulent, requiring …

Photochemical Production Of Gas Phase No X From Ice Crystal No3 −, R E. Honrath, S Guo, Matthew C. Peterson, M P. Dziobak, Jack E. Dibb, Matthew Arsenault

Earth Sciences

Recent measurements have demonstrated that sunlight irradiation of snow results in the release of significant amounts of gas phase NO_x (NO+NO₂). We report here the results of a series of experiments designed to test the hypothesis that the observed NO_x production is the result of nitrate photolysis. Snow produced from deionized water with and without the addition of nitrate was exposed to natural sunlight in an outdoor flow chamber. While NO_x release from snow produced without added NO⁻₃ was minimal, the addition of 100 µM NO⁻₃resulted in the release …

Direct Measurement Of The W Boson Width In Pp̅ Collisions At √S = 1.8 Tev, T. Affolder, Kenneth A. Bloom, Collider Detector At Fermilab Collaboration

Kenneth Bloom Publications

This Letter describes a direct measurement of the W boson total decay width, Γ _W, using the Collider Detector at Fermilab. The measurement uses an integrated luminosity of 90 pb^-1, collected during the 1994–1995 run of the Fermilab Tevatron pp̅ collider. The width is determined by normalizing predicted signal and background distributions to 49 844 W→ eν candidates and 21 806 W→μν candidates in the transverse-mass region M_T < 200 GeV and then fitting the predicted shape to the 438 electron events and 196 muon events in the high-M_T region, 100<M_T < 200 GeV. The result is G Γ _W= 2.04 ± 0.11(stat) ± 0.09(syst) GeV.

Semi-Regular Mesh Extraction From Volumes, Z. J. Wood, M. Desbrun, P. Schroder, D. Breen

Computer Science and Software Engineering

We present a novel method to extract iso-surfaces from distance volumes. It generates high quality semi-regular multiresolution meshes of arbitrary topology. Our technique proceeds in two stages. First, a very coarse mesh with guaranteed topology is extracted. Subsequently an iterative multi-scale force-based solver refines the initial mesh into a semi-regular mesh with geometrically adaptive sampling rate and good aspect ratio triangles. The coarse mesh extraction is performed using a new approach we call surface wavefront propagation. A set of discrete iso-distance ribbons are rapidly built and connected while respecting the topology of the iso-surface implied by the data. Subsequent multi-scale …

Lava And Ice Interaction At Stratovolcanoes: Use Of Characteristic Features To Determine Past Glacial Extents And Future Volcanic Hazards, David T. Lescinsky, Jonathan H. Fink

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Structures resulting from lava and ice interaction are common at glaciated stratovolcanoes. During summit eruptions at stratovolcanoes, meltwater is produced and travels freely down steep slopes and thin permeable valley glaciers, eroding the ice and enlarging preexisting glacial drainages. As a result, in this environment have produced few catastrophic floods. Lava flowing into the open channels and voids in the glaciers becomes confined and grows thicker, filling the available space and producing steep-sided bodies with smooth, bulbous contact surfaces. Quenching of lava against ice or by water forms small-scale features such as tensional fractures and glass. As the amount of …

Measurement Of J/Ψ And Ψ(2s) Polarization In Pp̅ Collisions At √S = 1.8 Tev, T. Affolder, Kenneth A. Bloom, Collider Detector At Fermilab Collaboration

Kenneth Bloom Publications

We have measured the polarization of J/ψ and ψ(2S) mesons produced in pp̅ collisions at √s= 1.8 TeV, using data collected at the Collider Detector at Fermilab during 1992–1995. The polarization of promptly produced J/ψ[ψ(2S)] mesons is isolated from those produced in B-hadron decay, and measured over the kinematic range 4 [5.5] < P_T < 20 GeV/c and |y| < 0.6. For P_T≥ 12 GeV/c we do not observe significant polarization in the prompt component.

Basaltic Lava Domes, Lava Lakes, And Volcanic Segmentation On The Southern East Pacific Rise, Scott M. White, Ken C. Macdonald, Rachel M. Haymon

Faculty Publications

Meter-scale DSL-120 sonar mapping and coregistered Argo II photographic observations reveal changes in eruptive style that closely follow the third-order structural segmentation of the ridge axis on the southern East Pacific Rise, 17^o11'-18^o37'S. Near segment ends we observe abundant basaltic lava domes which average 20 rn in height and 200 rn in basal diameter and have pillow lava as the dominant lava morphology. The ubiquity of pillow lava suggests low effusion rate eruptions. The abundance of lava domes suggests that the fissure eruptions were of sufficient duration to focus and produce a line of volcanic edifices. …

Inhomogeneous Nucleation In A Quark-Hadron Pphase Transition, P. Shukla, A. K. Mohanty, S. K. Gupta, Marcelo Gleiser

Dartmouth Scholarship

The effect of subcritical hadron bubbles on a first-order quark-hadron phase transition is studied. These subcritical hadron bubbles are created due to thermal fluctuations, and can introduce a finite amount of phase mixing (quark phase mixed with hadron phase) even at and above the critical temperature. For reasonable choices of surface tension and correlation length, as obtained from the lattice QCD calculations, we show that the amount of phase mixing at the critical temperature remains below the percolation threshold. Thus, as the system cools below the critical temperature, the transition proceeds through the nucleation of critical-size hadron bubbles from a …

Nonadiabatic Heat-Capacity Measurements Using A Superconducting Quantum Interference Device Magnetometer, A.I. Kharkovski, Christian Binek, Wolfgang Kleeman

Christian Binek Publications

Nonadiabatic measurements of the heat capacity involving sample-inherent thermometry are proposed. The method is realized with superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry and applied to FeBr₂ single crystals by using the magnetization for both thermometry and relaxation calorimetry. When heating with a step pulse of laser light, the magnetization relaxes on a characteristic time scale Ί = RC, where C is the heat capacity and R is the heat resistance between the sample and the bath. R is independently determined from the temperature dependence of the magnetic moment measured with and without stationary light irradiation. ©2000 American Institute of …

Closing - Conference Summary, James E. Miller

Wildlife Damage Management Conference Proceedings

It has been a distinct pleasure for me to have attended and participated in each of the previous eight Eastern Wildlife Damage Management Conferences, dating back to 1983, as a member of the planning committees, as well as for this first Wildlife Damage Management Conference. I have enjoyed participating, learning from each conference, as well as visiting with old friends and colleagues and meeting new colleagues. Although I have been around long enough to know that no matter how hard you try you can't please everyone, I ask those of you who enjoyed participating in this Conference to join me …

Search For New Physics In Eμx Data At Dø Using Sleuth: A Quasi-Model-Independent Search Strategy For New Physics, B. Abbott, Gregory R. Snow, D0 Collaboration

Gregory Snow Publications

We present a quasi-model-independent search for the physics responsible for electroweak symmetry breaking. We define final states to be studied, and construct a rule that identifies a set of relevant variables for any particular final state. A new algorithm (“SLEUTH”) searches for regions of excess in those variables and quantifies the significance of any detected excess. After demonstrating the sensitivity of the method, we apply it to the semi-inclusive channel ℯμX collected in 108 pb^-1 of pp̅ collisions at √s = 1.8 TeV at the DØ experiment during 1992–1996 at the Fermilab Tevatron. We find no evidence of …

Communicating About Suburban Deer Management: Tailoring The Message To The Stakeholders, T. Bruce Lauber, Barbara A. Knuth

Wildlife Damage Management Conference Proceedings

Public input plays an important role in selecting suburban deer management alternatives. Agencies often communicate with the public to ensure that citizens have accurate information when judging management alternatives. Research has shown that suburban residents evaluate deer management alternatives on the basis of different sets of criteria (e.g., effectiveness, humaneness, etc.). We explored whether people's attitudes were more likely to be influenced by information if it addressed the criteria about which they were concerned. We conducted our research through two mail surveys of randomly selected residents of Irondequoit, New York, implemented 20 months apart. Some 512 people responded to both …

Turkey Damage Survey: A Wildlife Success Story Becoming Another Wildlife Damage Problem, James E. Miller, Brain C. Tefft, Robert E. Eriksen, Mike Gregonis

Wildlife Damage Management Conference Proceedings

Wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) populations have been restored and enhanced through introductions and reintroductions in 49 of the 50 states to huntable populations within the last 30 years. Populations are presently estimated to exceed 4 million birds within the United States. In many states, wild turkey habitat includes woodlots interspersed with agricultural lands, and some of the highest known population densities of wild turkeys are found in such areas. This paper will report on existing research, examining perceived versus actual damage caused by wild turkeys. It will also provide information based on a recent survey of biologists from the State …

Seven Years Of White-Tailed Deer Immunocontraceptive Research At Penn State University: A Comparison Of Two Vaccines , Lowell A. Miller, Gary J. Killian

Wildlife Damage Management Conference Proceedings

PZP and GnRH immunocontraceptive vaccines were each tested in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Vaccination with PZP produced reversible infertility lasting 1 to 4 years. The first two years of active immunization resulted in an 89% reduction in fawning. Reduction in fawning for the 7-year study containing 4 years of no boosting was 72%. PZP immunization resulted in multi-estrus behavior, with contracepted deer returning to estrus up to 7 times. A five year study of GnRH immunization was conducted in both male and female deer. Treatment of does led to reduced fawning rates, reduced estrus behavior and reduced concentrations of progesterone. …

Evaluation Of Moderate And Low-Powered Lasers For Dispersing Double-Crested Cormorants From Their Night Roosts, James F. Glahn, Greg Ellis, Paul Fioranelli, Brian S. Dorr

Wildlife Damage Management Conference Proceedings

The double-crested cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) is the primary avian predator on the southern catfish industry, estimated to cause $5 million in damage per year. To date, the most effective strategy for alleviating cormorant depredations in areas of intensive catfish production is coordinated dispersal of cormorant night roosts with pyrotechnics. Many of these night roosts are located in waterfowl refuges or wetland habitat leased for waterfowl hunting. Thus, there is an increasing concern about the effects of cormorant harassment efforts on waterfowl and other wildlife inhabiting these sites in cypress-swamp habitat. To address the need for a roost harassment device that …

What Will The Disease Issues Of The Future Be?, Robert G. Mclean

Wildlife Damage Management Conference Proceedings

The major categories of diseases of the future involving wildlife are zoonotic diseases of public health importance, domestic animal diseases of economic importance, and wildlife diseases and health of wildlife importance. The existing patterns of these diseases include exotic, introduced diseases (West Nile virus - WNV), emerging diseases (Lyme disease), re-emerging diseases (animal rabies), and continuing diseases (leptospirosis). Some significant emerging public health diseases are WNV, hantavirus, Lyme disease, hemorrhagic E. coli 0157:H7, and antibiotic resistant bacteria. Emerging domestic animal diseases also include WNV, E. coli 0157:H7, salmonella enterica, and spongiform encephalopathies. Whereas, emerging wildlife diseases are WNV, particularly in …

The Use Of Border Collies In Avian And Wildlife Control Programs, Nicholas B. Carter

Wildlife Damage Management Conference Proceedings

Airports attract large numbers of wildlife primarily because they offer immense tracts of foraging and nesting habitats free from the threat of predation. Border collies can serve as an effective means of wildlife control in these environments by introducing a predator into the ecosystem. Many wildlife dispersal methods seek to imitate predators or the effect of predators and become increasingly ineffective as wildlife habituate to the stimuli. However, border collies are true predators, representing an actual, not perceived, threat to wildlife thereby eliminating the problems of habituation. Six airports and military bases have initiated use of border collies at their …

Is Translocation Effective For Reducing Raptor Strikes?, Laurence M. Schafer

Wildlife Damage Management Conference Proceedings

From March 1996 to 31 December 1999, Wildlife Services (WS) personnel trapped and relocated 316 raptors from one of the nation's busiest airports: 147 American kestrels (Falco sparverius), 158 red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis), 5 rough-legged hawks (Buteo lagopus), 4 peregrine falcons (Falcoper-egrinus), 1 northern harrier (Circus cyaneus), and 1 eastern screech owl (Otus asio). On 1 January 1999, the Federal Aviation Administration sponsored a 2-year study, in conjunction with the National Wildlife Research Center and WS-Illinois, to evaluate the efficacy of raptor relocation at the airport. This study began in September 1999 and (1) monitors the post release activity of …

Aversive And Disruptive Stimulus Applications For Managing Predation, John A. Shivik, Daniel J. Martin

Wildlife Damage Management Conference Proceedings

The range expansion and reintroduction of mammalian predators (e.g., wolves, coyotes and bears) coupled with growing disfavor for traditional tools of wildlife management creates an immediate need for alternative, non-lethal, but effective techniques for managing predation on livestock. Scientists at the National Wildlife Research Center are using advanced technology and animal behavior concepts (e.g., aversive and disruptive stimuli) to develop new tools for the prevention of damage by large mammalian predators, and this paper is a review of our pilot studies investigating these techniques. Recently tested tools include behavior contingent disruptive stimulus devices for wolves and coyotes. Experiments indicate the …

Coding Spreadsheets For Intervention Decisions In Wildlife Damage Management, Ray T. Sterner, H. Nicole Lorimer

Wildlife Damage Management Conference Proceedings

Sterner (In press) described the use of a priori, theoretical analyses of crop/resource savings and benefit:cost ratios as a way of making intervention decisions in wildlife damage management. Iterative (1-variable-changed-at-a-time) calculations of these economic indices were computed for the use of zinc phosphide baits to control vole {Microtus spp.) populations in alfalfa (Medicago sativa). Results showed that indices displayed transitive effects — greater net savings and benefit:cost ratios were related to larger field-size, crop-damage and bait-effectiveness variables, but smaller bait-application fees. Ratios varied between 0.40 and 6.45, with -5-10% vole-caused damage required to produce returns on investments equal to the …

Community Bat Management, Jerry D. Hassinger, Calvin M. Butchkoski, Harold S. Korber

Wildlife Damage Management Conference Proceedings

When a house bat colony (primarily Myotis lucifugus) is excluded from a traditional maternity roost, surviving bats add to nearby roosts or access new roosts in other buildings. To prevent this and the potential for attendant nuisance, and to conserve bats, the Pennsylvania Game Commission recommends using one or more bat boxes to attract the displaced colony. The "standard-sized" bat box used in Pennsylvania will house up to 250 little brown bats. This reactive technique has proved useful for managing single, small colonies (< 1,000 bats) in rural areas. We are, however, trying a different, proactive technique to manage large colonies or multiple colonies in a community. Newport, PA, for example, has multiple colonies in buildings within 200 meters of riparian habitat along the Juniata River. Over 7,000 bats were counted exiting a single building. To begin the process of managing these bats, the high school conservation club and town leaders were engaged and presented information about the value of bats. Programs were also presented to a school assembly and to the community. As a result, the conservation club was provided with a site at the community's water treatment plant to erect a bat condo. This site is within 1 km of at least 2 large bat colonies in old buildings. The condo is a 2.4 m square box on posts. It's 2.4 m tall with its bottom 3 m above the ground. Inside, 80 sheets of plywood provide roosting crevices for at least 2,500 bats. Supervised by the Wildlife Diversity Section of the Game Commission, the condo was built in late spring, 1999. A chain-link fence helps protect it from vandalism.

A Private Lands Approach To Controlling New Jersey's Deer Population, David Drake

Wildlife Damage Management Conference Proceedings

In New Jersey, annual losses from white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) depredation to agricultural crops have been estimated as high as $10 million. Additional problems caused by the state's overabundance of deer include increasing vehicle/deer collisions, possible human health concerns regarding increasing incidences of Lyme disease, and a loss of flora and fauna diversity. In an effort to reduce deer numbers and minimize damage, both non-lethal and lethal management practices have been used with limited success. Hunter access to private lands remains the biggest impediment to effective deer management in New Jersey. I propose an incentive-based program to increase lease and …

Efforts To Enhance Stakeholder Communications In North Carolina's Wildlife Damage Control Agent System, Peter T. Bromley, Carl W. Betsill

Wildlife Damage Management Conference Proceedings

In 1995, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) established policy and rules for handling of nuisance wildlife by Wildlife Damage Control Agents (WDCA). The policy required a one-day long training session, culminating in an open book, certification examination. The North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service (NCCES) conducted the training and administered the examination. The certification-training program covered principles of wildlife damage management, wildlife laws and regulations, humane handling of animals and euthanasia, human health risks from exposure to wildlife, professional ethics, and sources of technical information. Between Octoberl995 and March 2000,7 certification-training sessions were held and 289 WDCA's were certified, with …