A Boolean complete neural model of adaptive behavior

A multi-layered neural assembly is developed which has the capability of learning arbitrary Boolean functions. Though the model neuron is more powerful than those previously considered, assemblies of neurons are needed to detect non-linearly separable patterns. Algorithms for learning at the neuron and assembly level are described. The model permits multiple output systens to share a common memory. Learned evaluation allows sequences of actions to be organized. Computer simulations demonstrate the capabilities of the model

The Structure of the Retail and Service Industries of Jefferson County

The intent of this study is to review the current strengths and weaknesses of the retail and services industries of Jefferson County. We use historical data to look for overall trends and 2004 county sales tax data to provide detailed insights.

A search model of optimal pricing and production

This paper presents an overview of the application of the mathematical theory of 'high-Iow' search to firms' pricing and production decisions. We show how this methodology can be used to determine an optimal sequence of price-quantity decisions by a firm through time. We suppose that the firm chooses a sequence of prices and quantities supplied over time not only with a view to earning current profit (given the current information about the demand curve) but also in order to acquire information about the demand curve by observing its inventory stocks as a result of these price and quantity decisions. We compare and contrast the high-Iow model with the conventional microeconomic model of pricing and production. We show how the firm uses its pricing and production decisions to partition the uncertainty interval it faces and thereby influence the value of the information which it receives

Insects and arachnids associated with musk thistle, Carduus thoermeri, in Tennessee

Musk thistle, Carduus thoermeri (Weinmann) (Compositae: Cynareae: Carduinae), is native to Europe and was introduced into North America in the late 1800\u27s along the eastern seaboard of Canada and the United States and in Alabama (Batra et al. 1981). Musk thistle spread quickly from the mid- Atlantic States, where it was considered to be a weed by the early 1900\u27s, to the Midwest, and became an economically important pest by 1950 (Batra et al. 1981). Cultural controls, including mowing, reduced grazing, minimization of erosion, and periodic reseeding of grass, are important in maintaining low numbers of thistle seedlings (Trumble and Kok 1982). Although chemical herbicides achieve a measure of control against thistles, rough terrain and the potential of groundwater contamination limit their use. These two limitations, as well as the threat of reintroduction of thistle from untreated areas, provided the impetus for the evaluation of alternative control techniques (Trumble and Kok 1982) . In 1968, the head weevil, Rhinocyllus conicus (Froelich) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), was introduced into the United States for biological control of thistles, particularly musk thistle (Hodgson and Rees 1976). Rhinocyllus conicus reduces the number of seeds produced by infested thistle plants (Roberts and Kok 1979). Another biological control agent of musk thistle, the rosette weevil, Trichosirocalus horridus (Panzer) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), was introduced into the United States in 1974 (Batra et al. 1981). Trichosirocalus horridus feeds on the crown tissue (Kok and trumble 1979). In 1989, R. conicus and T. horridus were introduced into Tennessee to assess their potential for biological control of musk thistle (Lambdin and Grant 1989). The natural enemies of musk thistle that coexisted with and helped to suppress this plant pest in its native habitat are not present to help suppress the population of this weed in Tennessee (Lambdin and Grant 1989) . A two-year study was initiated in conjunction with this research to better understand the diversity and specialization of the arthropod fauna that is associated with musk thistle in Tennessee. The specific objectives were to determine the species composition and seasonality of insects and arachnids associated with musk thistle and to observe the impact of selected arthropods on the plant. This introduced plant provides numerous established arthropod species with food or protection during its growing season. This research should provide preliminary information on the potential impact that R. conicus and T. horridus may have on the established arthropod fauna due to the resulting increase in competition for the resources of musk thistle and the eventual decrease in musk thistle populations. During this two-year study, approximately 103 arthropod species or groups were found on musk, thistle in Tennessee. Fifty-seven families, representing thirteen orders of insects, as well as eight families of arachnids, were collected from musk thistle. The most extensive arthropod diversity was found during the flowering stage of musk thistle. The most frequently encountered orders of insects were Coleoptera, Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, and Homoptera. The two most frequently encountered families of spiders were Salticidae and Thomisidae. Only a few of the established arthropods in Tennessee were observed to cause significant damage to musk thistle. When present in large numbers, the nymphs and adults of two species of froghoppers (Homoptera: Cercopidae), Lepyronia quadrangularis (Say) and the meadow spittlebug, Philaenus spumarius (L.), apparently stunted the growth of the plant. Froghopper nymphs were most numerous during April and early May, while the greatest number of adults were observed from early May until early June. During the bud stage, the fourlined plant bug (Hemiptera: Miridae), Poecilocapsus lineatus (F.), caused foliar damage, but was not frequently found on the plant. Poecilocapsus lineatus was observed on musk thistle between the middle of May and late June. The larva of the pyralid moth, Dicymolomia julianalis (Walker), was observed to feed on developing seeds within the seed head of musk thistle. Infestation levels of D. julianalis on musk thistle seed heads during the summer of 1990 at sites in middle Tennessee averaged 10 to 15%, while those in eastern Tennessee averaged 20 to 25%. Most of the adults of this pyralid moth emerged between late July and late September. Arthropods were found on musk thistle throughout its growing season. Stem and leaf feeders (e.g., grasshoppers and froghoppers) were found in large numbers before plant flowering, which attracted the greatest variety of arthropods. A number of arthropods, such as assassin bugs, minute pirate bugs, ambush bugs, and spiders, were predaceous upon many of the insects found within the flower. Although many established arthropods utilize the resources of musk thistle, few of these arthropods cause serious damage to the reproductive capabilities of the plant

Spacecraft design project: High latitude communications satellite

The spacecraft design project was part of AE-4871, Advanced Spacecraft Design. The project was intended to provide experience in the design of all major components of a satellite. Each member of the class was given primary responsibility for a subsystem or design support function. Support was requested from the Naval Research Laboratory to augment the Naval Postgraduate School faculty. Analysis and design of each subsystem was done to the extent possible within the constraints of an eleven week quarter and the design facilities (hardware and software) available. The project team chose to evaluate the design of a high latitude communications satellite as representative of the design issues and tradeoffs necessary for a wide range of satellites. The High-Latitude Communications Satellite (HILACS) will provide a continuous UHF communications link between stations located north of the region covered by geosynchronous communications satellites, i.e., the area above approximately 60 N latitude. HILACS will also provide a communications link to stations below 60 N via a relay Net Control Station (NCS), which is located with access to both the HILACS and geosynchronous communications satellites. The communications payload will operate only for that portion of the orbit necessary to provide specified coverage

Assessing the Lifetime Performance of the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS): Implications for the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM)

Project motivation is to analyze the performance of the Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) over its 13 years in orbit and examine implications for the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM)

The Use of the Deep Convective Cloud Technique (DCCT) to Monitor On-Orbit Performance of the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM): Use of Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) Data as Proxy

The Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) on the next generation Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R (GOES-R) will not have onboard calibration capability to monitor its performance. The Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) onboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite has been providing observations of total lightning over the Earth's Tropics since 1997. The GLM design is based on LIS heritage, making it a good proxy dataset. This study examines the performance of LIS throughout its time in orbit. This was accomplished through application of the Deep Convective Cloud Technique (DCCT) (Doelling et al., 2004) to LIS background pixel radiance data. The DCCT identifies deep convective clouds by their cold Infrared (IR) brightness temperatures and using them as invariant targets in the solar reflective portion of the solar spectrum. The GLM and LIS operate in the near-IR at a wavelength of 777.4 nm. In the present study the IR data is obtained from the Visible Infrared Sensor (VIRS) which is collocated with LIS onboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. The DCCT is applied to LIS observations for July and August of each year from 1998-2010. The resulting distributions of LIS background DCC pixel radiance for each July August are very similar, indicating stable performance. The mean radiance of the DCCT analysis does not show a long term trend and the maximum deviation of the July August mean radiance for each year is within 0.7% of the overall mean. These results demonstrate that there has been no discernible change in LIS performance throughout its lifetime. A similar approach will used for monitoring the performance of GLM, with cold clouds identified using IR data from the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) which will also be located on GOES-R. Since GLM is based on LIS design heritage, the LIS results indicate that GLM should also experience stable performance over its lifetime

The K2 Ecliptic Plane Input Catalog (EPIC) and Stellar Classifications of 138,600 Targets in Campaigns 1-8

The K2 Mission uses the Kepler spacecraft to obtain high-precision photometry over ~80 day campaigns in the ecliptic plane. The Ecliptic Plane Input Catalog (EPIC) provides coordinates, photometry and kinematics based on a federation of all-sky catalogs to support target selection and target management for the K2 mission. We describe the construction of the EPIC, as well as modifications and shortcomings of the catalog. Kepler magnitudes (Kp) are shown to be accurate to ~0.1 mag for the Kepler field, and the EPIC is typically complete to Kp~17 (Kp~19 for campaigns covered by SDSS). We furthermore classify 138,600 targets in Campaigns 1-8 (~88% of the full target sample) using colors, proper motions, spectroscopy, parallaxes, and galactic population synthesis models, with typical uncertainties for G-type stars of ~3% in Teff, ~0.3 dex in log(g), ~40% in radius, ~10% in mass, and ~40% in distance. Our results show that stars targeted by K2 are dominated by K-M dwarfs (~41% of all selected targets), F-G dwarfs (~36%) and K giants (~21%), consistent with key K2 science programs to search for transiting exoplanets and galactic archeology studies using oscillating red giants. However, we find a significant variation of the fraction of cool dwarfs with galactic latitude, indicating a target selection bias due to interstellar reddening and the increased contamination by giant stars near the galactic plane. We discuss possible systematic errors in the derived stellar properties, and differences to published classifications for K2 exoplanet host stars. The EPIC is hosted at the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST): http://archive.stsci.edu/k2/epic/search.php.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figures, 5 tables, accepted for publication in ApJS. An electronic version of Table 5 is available as an ancillary file (sidebar on the right), and source codes are available at https://github.com/danxhuber/k2epic and https://github.com/danxhuber/galclassify v3: minor text changes and updated uncertainties in Table 5; v4: minor text changes to match published versio