Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Cooperative Conservation: Increasing Capacity Through Community Partnerships -- Interagency Volunteer Program: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending December 31, 2006, Margaret N. Rees

Get Outdoors Nevada

• Volunteer database increased 8% over last quarter. Database now contains 2,923 records.
• Website activity increased, recording an average of 51,568 hits per month, with an average of 4,985 pages viewed per month (12.4% increase in pages viewed).
• Team charter approved and signed by federal managers and IVP team.
• Volunteer orientation and training in 11 subject areas delivered to 80 volunteers.
• Recognition Banquet and Awards Ceremony recognized 180 volunteers.
• Volunteer event list revised for 2007.

Take Pride In America In Southern Nevada: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending December 31, 2006, Margaret N. Rees

Anti-littering Programs

• Don’t Trash Nevada roll-out event held on October 12, 2006.

• Program website launched.

• 74 people have taken the on-line anti-litter and dumping pledge.

• Public-private partnership with Republic Services of Southern Nevada generated $11,917.97 in donations to Don’t Trash Nevada.

• Conducted 3 volunteer and 1 alternative workforce clean-ups this quarter.

• Fulfilled deliverable of 12 clean-ups for 2006 (9 volunteer / 3 alternative workforce).

• 16 volunteer clean-ups scheduled for 2007. • Two tons of agency-generated paper recycled this quarter, saving 14,000 gallons of water, 34 trees, and almost 8 cubic yards of landfill space.

• …

Interagency Science And Research: Quarterly Progress Report, Period Ending December 31, 2006, Margaret N. Rees

Interagency Science and Research Strategy

• Completed draft review and analysis of 6 interagency and 2 single-agency science strategies.
• Developed an outline for a Southern Nevada Agency Partnership Science Strategy based upon these reviews.
• Initiated a beta-test of a science proposal review process.

Itr/Im: Enabling The Creation And Use Of Geogrids For Next Generation Geospatial Information, Peggy Agouris, Mary-Kate Beard-Tisdale, Chaitanya Baru, Sarah Nusser

University of Maine Office of Research Administration: Grant Reports

The objective of this project is to advance science in information management, focusing in particular on geospatial information. It addresses the development of concepts, algorithms, and system architectures to enable users on a grid to query, analyze, and contribute to multivariate, quality-aware geospatial information. The approach consists of three complementary research areas: (1) establishing a statistical framework for assessing geospatial data quality; (2) developing uncertainty-based query processing capabilities; and (3) supporting the development of space- and accuracy-aware adaptive systems for geospatial datasets. The results of this project will support the extension of the concept of the computational grid to facilitate …

Living In A Land Of Fire, R. J. Whelan, P. Kanowski, M. Gill, A. Andersen

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Fires are an inherent part of the Australian environment. They cannot be prevented, but the risks they pose — to life, health, property and infrastructure, production systems, and to environment values — can be minimised through systematic evaluation and strategic planning and management. Fires have a fundamental and irreplaceable role in sustaining many of Australia’s natural ecosystems and ecological processes, and they are a valuable tool for achieving many land management objectives. However, if they are too frequent or too infrequent, too severe or too mild, or mistimed, they can erode ecosystem ‘health’ and biodiversity and compromise other land management …

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Fall 2006, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Part of every UNLV engineering student’s academic experience, the senior design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. A capstone to the student’s educational career, the senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge.

The senior design competition helps to focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects …

Spatial Analysis Of Substantiated Child Maltreatment In Metro Atlanta, Georgia, Yueqin Zhou

Geosciences Theses

Identifying high-risk areas for child maltreatment to ultimately aid public health agencies for interventions is necessary for protecting children at high risk. Rates of substantiated neglect and physical/emotional abuse in 2000-2002 are computed for the census tracts in the urban area of five counties in Metro Atlanta, Georgia, and analyzed using spatial regression to determine their relationships with twelve risk variables computed from the Vital Records births and the 2000 Census data. After accounting for multicollinearity among risk variables and spatial autocorrelation among observations for neighboring locations, it is found that high percentages of (1) births to non-married mothers, (2) …

Minerva 2006, The Honors College

Minerva

This issue of Minerva includes an article on the course "Honors for All Ages," an Honors course offered at Penobscot Valley Senior College; an interview with notable Honors alum, Bernard Lown; and a celebration of the life of former Honors Program Director, Ulrich Wicks.

Wavelet-Based Functional Mixed Models To Characterize Population Heterogeneity In Accelerometer Profiles: A Case Study. , Jeffrey S. Morris, Cassandra Arroyo, Brent A. Coull, Louise M. Ryan, Steven L. Gortmaker

Jeffrey S. Morris

We present a case study illustrating the challenges of analyzing accelerometer data taken from a sample of children participating in an intervention study designed to increase physical activity. An accelerometer is a small device worn on the hip that records the minute-by-minute activity levels of the child throughout the day for each day it is worn. The resulting data are irregular functions characterized by many peaks representing short bursts of intense activity. We model these data using the wavelet-based functional mixed model. This approach incorporates multiple fixed effects and random effect functions of arbitrary form, the estimates of which are …

Inside Unlv, Diane Russell, Cate Weeks, Shane Bevell, Mamie Peers, Lori Bachand

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

Uv-B Screening Potential Is Higher In Two Cosmopolitan Moss Species Than In A Co-Occurring Antarctic Endemic Moss – Implications Of Continuing Ozone Depletion, J. L. Dunn, Sharon A. Robinson

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Concentrations of UV-B absorbing pigments and anthocyanins were measured in three moss species, over a summer growing season in Antarctica. Pigment concentrations were compared with a range of climatic variables to determine if there was evidence that pigments were induced by UV-B radiation, or other environmental parameters, and secondly if there were differences between species in their pigment responses. Significant seasonal differences in the potential UV-B screening pigments were found, with the two cosmopolitan species Bryum pseudotriquetrum and Ceratodon purpureus appearing better protected from the potentially damaging effects of ozone depletion than the Antarctic endemic Schistidium antarctici. Bryum pseudotriquetrum accumulated …

Implicit Online Learning With Kernels, Li Cheng, S. V. N. Vishwanathan, Dale Schuurmans, Shaojun Wang, Terry Caelli

Kno.e.sis Publications

We present two new algorithms for online learning in reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces. Our first algorithm, ILK (implicit online learning with kernels), employs a new, implicit update technique that can be applied to a wide variety of convex loss functions. We then introduce a bounded memory version, SILK (sparse ILK), that maintains a compact representation of the predictor without compromising solution quality, even in non-stationary environments. We prove loss bounds and analyze the convergence rate of both. Experimental evidence shows that our proposed algorithms outperform current methods on synthetic and real data.

Regression Cubes With Lossless Compression And Aggregation, Yixin Chen, Guozhu Dong, Jiawei Han, Jian Pei, Benjamin W. Wah, Jianyong Wang

Kno.e.sis Publications

As OLAP engines are widely used to support multidimensional data analysis, it is desirable to support in data cubes advanced statistical measures, such as regression and filtering, in addition to the traditional simple measures such as count and average. Such new measures will allow users to model, smooth, and predict the trends and patterns of data. Existing algorithms for simple distributive and algebraic measures are inadequate for efficient computation of statistical measures in a multidimensional space. In this paper, we propose a fundamentally new class of measures, compressible measures, in order to support efficient computation of the statistical models. For …

Cosign: A Parallel Algorithm For Coordinated Traffic Signal Control, Shih-Fen Cheng, Marina A. Epelman, Robert L. Smith

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The problem of finding optimal coordinated signal timing plans for a large number of traffic signals is a challenging problem because of the exponential growth in the number of joint timing plans that need to be explored as the network size grows. In this paper, the game-theoretic paradigm of fictitious play to iteratively search for a coordinated signal timing plan is employed, which improves a system-wide performance criterion for a traffic network. The algorithm is robustly scalable to realistic-size networks modeled with high-fidelity simulations. Results of a case study for the city of Troy, MI, where there are 75 signalized …

Review Of Structure And Basement Control Of The Lapstone Structural Complex, Sydney Basin, Eastern New South Wales, C. L. Fergusson

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

In the western Sydney Basin, the Lapstone Structural Complex is a major north-trending association of monoclines and faults that forms the frontal ridge of the Blue Mountains Plateau. At Kurrajong Heights, the Lapstone Structural Complex is dominated by an east-facing monocline with a gently dipping central limb containing several different homoclinal segments. At the Hawkesbury Lookout section, strata are steeply dipping to near vertical along the main east-facing monocline. The Lapstone Structural Complex has been related to either steep east-dipping extensional faulting or to moderate to steep west-dipping contraction faults. Strike-slip displacement may also have played a role in its …

Bear River Watershed Historical Digital Collection, Cheryl D. Walters, Steve Sturgeon

Cheryl D. Walters

This presentation to the Bear River Water Commission introduced a new digital collection of images and text resources about the Bear River Watershed in Utah and Idaho.

Bear River Watershed Historical Digital Collection, Cheryl D. Walters, Stephen C. Strugeon

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

This presentation to the Bear River Water Commission introduced a new digital collection of images and text resources about the Bear River Watershed in Utah and Idaho.

Ua1b1/7 Wku Centennial Mosaic Dedication, Western Kentucky University

WKU Archives Records

Dedication program for the WKU Centennial Mosaic and fountain, includes sky map for Founders Day, November 16, 2006.

Active Semantic Electronic Medical Record, Amit P. Sheth, Sangeeta Agrawal, Jonathan Lathem, Nicole Oldham, H. Wingate, K. Gallagher

Kno.e.sis Publications

The healthcare industry is rapidly advancing towards the widespread use of electronic medical records systems to manage the increasingly large amount of patient data and reduce medical errors. In addition to patient data there is a large amount of data describing procedures, treatments, diagnoses, drugs, insurance plans, coverage, formularies and the relationships between these data sets. While practices have benefited from the use of EMRs, infusing these essential programs with rich domain knowledge and rules can greatly enhance their performance and ability to support clinical decisions. Active Semantic Electronic Medical Record (ASEMR) application discussed here uses Semantic Web technologies to …

{Ontology: Resource} X {Matching : Mapping} X {Schema : Instance} :: Components Of The Same Challenge, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

Ontologies enable us to elevate syntactic and structural processing in an information system/Web to an information system/Web powered with semantic processing. Experience has shown that monolithic and tightly coupled approaches seldom succeed, and majority of information systems and applications will need to deal with plurality of ontologies in a loosely coupled environment (i.e., independently evolving ontologies and inter-ontology relationships, existence of different contexts for different users/applications etc.) Development of such loosely-coupled multi-ontology environments entails development of techniques for ontology mapping/alignment, multi-ontology query processing, and much more.

Enacting Technology In Networked Governance: Developmental Processes Of Cross-Agency Arrangements, Jane E. Fountain

National Center for Digital Government

This paper discusses the technology enactment framework, an analytical framework to guide exploration and examination of information-based change in governments.1 The original technology enactment framework is extended in this paper to delineate the distinctive roles played by key actors in technology enactment. I then examine institutional change in government by drawing from current initiatives in the U.S. federal government to build cross-agency relationships and systems. The U.S. government is one of the first central states to undertake not only back office integration within the government but also integration of systems and processes across agencies. For this reason its experience during …

Policy Tools For Smart Growth In New England, New England Environmental Finance Center

Smart Growth

Across New England communities have been experiencing a rapid outward surge of development away from our community and downtown centers. Effects of sprawl include a loss of wildlife habitat, farm and timber lands; increased costs of community services and higher taxes; auto-dependency, longer commutes, and increased congestion; increases in air and water pollution; a sedentary lifestyle and increased obesity; and losses to one’s sense of place and social ties.

State-level responses to sprawl have surfaced throughout New England in recent years. This report describes 11 examples of these responses, representing all six New England states and a diversity of recent …

Grundlagen Der Kognition Und Perzeption Für Die Software-Ergonomie, Philipp Schaer, Holger Heuser

Philipp Schaer

Der folgende Arbeitsbericht soll eine kurze Zusammenfassung über die perzeptorischen und kognitiven Fähigkeiten des Menschen geben. Diese Zusammenfassung ist weit davon entfernt, umfassend zu sein. Jedoch bietet sie die Möglichkeit für Informatiker und Computervisualisten, einen kurzen Einblick in kognitionspsychologische Modelle zu gewinnen.

Towards A New Taxation System For Motor Vehicles, Theodoros Zachariadis

Theodoros Zachariadis

No abstract provided.

Inside Unlv, Cate Weeks, Brenda Griego, David Ashley, Mamie Peers, Shane Bevell, Gian Galassi

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

How To Reason With Owl In A Logic Programming System, Markus Krotzsch, Pascal Hitzler, Denny Vrandecic, Michael Sintek

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

Logic programming has always been a major ontology modeling paradigm, and is frequently being used in large research projects and industrial applications, e.g., by means of the F-Logic reasoning engine OntoBroker or the TRIPLE query, inference, and transformation language and system. At the same time, the Web Ontology Language OWL has been recommended by the W3C for modeling ontologies for the Web. Naturally, it is desirable to investigate the interoperability between both paradigms. In this paper, we do so by studying an expressive fragment of OWL DL for which reasoning can be reduced to the evaluation of Horn logic programs. …

On The Complexity Of Horn Description Logics, Markus Krotzsch, Sebastian Rudolph, Pascal Hitzler

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

Horn-SHIQ has been identified as a fragment of the description logic SHIQ for which inferencing is in PT_IME with respect to the size of the ABox. This enables reasoning with larger ABoxes in situations where the TBox is static, and represents one approach towards tractable description logic reasoning. In this paper, we show that reasoning in Horn-SHIQ, in spite of its low datacomplexity, is E_xpT_IME-hard with respect to the overall size of the knowledge base. While this result is not unexpected, the proof is not a mere modification of existing reductions since …

A Framework For Schema-Driven Relationship Discovery From Unstructured Text, Cartic Ramakrishnan, Krzysztof Kochut, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

We address the issue of extracting implicit and explicit relationships between entities in biomedical text. We argue that entities seldom occur in text in their simple form and that relationships in text relate the modified, complex forms of entities with each other. We present a rule-based method for (1) extraction of such complex entities and (2) relationships between them and (3) the conversion of such relationships into RDF. Furthermore, we present results that clearly demonstrate the utility of the generated RDF in discovering knowledge from text corpora by means of locating paths composed of the extracted relationships.

To Evaluate The Effects Of The Introduction Of A Smoke-Free Environment On The Lung Function Of Bar Workers In Dublin, Michele Agnew

Masters

It has long been recognised that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) causes respiratory and cardio-vascular disease. A ban, prohibiting smoking in the workplace, was sanctioned by the Irish government and came into effect on 29 March, 2004. Bar staff were an ideal group to study the health effects of the introduction of this ban. Methods Workers were recruited through their Trade Union, Mandate, and 81 participated in the pre-ban phase of testing between September 2003 and March 2004. They attend the Respiratory Laboratory in St. James’s Hospital and underwent lung function tests and measurement of exhaled carbon monoxide (CO). …

Understanding User Perceptions On Usefulness And Usability Of An Integrated Wiki-G-Portal, Yin-Leng Theng, Yuanyuan Li, Ee Peng Lim, Zhe Wang, Dion Hoe-Lian Goh, Chew-Hung Chang, Kalyani Chatterjea, Jun Zhang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper describes a pilot study on Wiki-G-Portal, a project integrating Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, into G-Portal, a Web-based digital library, of geography resources. Initial findings from the pilot study seemed to suggest positive perceptions on usefulness and usability of Wiki-G-Portal, as well as subjects' attitude and intention to use.