Annual Report: 2013

I submit herewith the annual reports from the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, for the period ending December 31, 2013. This is done in accordance with an act of Congress, approved March 2, 1887, entitled, “An act to establish agricultural experiment stations, in connection with the agricultural college established in the several states under the provisions of an act approved July 2, 1862, and under the acts supplementary thereto,” and also of the act of the Alaska Territorial Legislature, approved March 12, 1935, accepting the provisions of the act of Congress. The research reports are organized according to our strategic plan and by broad subject, focusing on geography, high-latitude agriculture, forest sciences, and the interaction of humans and the environment. Research conducted by our graduate and undergraduate students plays an important role in these grants and the impact they make on Alaska.Financial Statement -- Funding & Grants -- Students -- Research at SNRAS & AFES -- Publications -- Facult

The Interaction of Motivational Orientation and Social Context in a Flight Setting

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of motivational orientation and social context on decisions made during flight. Cultural dimensions such as power distance, uncertainty avoidance and individualism have been found to correlate with aviation accident rates. Self-determination theory provides a schedule of social contexts and cues that support, control or thwart individual motivation, with the task-focused properties of intrinsic motivation and the external (group) focus of extrinsic motivation similar to descriptions of the cultural dimensions of individualism and collectivism. In addition, studies have demonstrated contextual cues may be used to prime cognitive goals, behaviors and strategies. The motivational orientation of 48 instrument pilots was measured prior to their participation in a simulated flight exercise that contained contextual primes to continue into or turn away from adverse weather conditions. Extrinsically motivated participants were observed to be vulnerable to external suggestions. This vulnerability has the potential to affect decisions made in flight. Risk assessment programs and reducing controlling factors in the flight environment can be used to mitigate this phenomenon

Depart and approach procedures for UAS in a VFR environment

This paper assesses the depart and approach operations of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in one of the most challenging scenarios: when flying under Visual Flight Rules (VFR). Inspired by some existing procedures for (manned) general aviation, some automatic and predefined procedures for UAS are proposed. Hence, standardized paths to specific waypoints close to the airport are defined for depart operations, just before starting the navigation phase. Conversely, and for the approach maneuvers, it is foreseen a first integration into a holding pattern near the landing runway (ideally above it) followed by a standard VFR airfield traffic pattern. This paper discusses the advantages of these operations which aim at minimizing possible conflicts with other existing aircraft while reducing the Pilot-in-Command workload. Finally, some preliminary simulations are shown where these procedures have been successfully tested with simulated surrounding traffic

The TASAR Project: Launching Aviation on an Optimized Route Toward Aircraft Autonomy

The Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Request (TASAR) concept applies onboard automation for the purpose of advising the pilot of route modifications that would be beneficial to the flight. Leveraging onboard computing platforms with connectivity to avionics and diverse data sources on and off the aircraft, TASAR introduces a new, powerful capability for in-flight trajectory management to the cockpit and its flight crew that is anticipated to induce a significant culture change in airspace operations. Flight crews empowered by TASAR and its derivative technologies could transform from todays flight plan followers to proactive trajectory managers, taking an initial critical step towards increasing autonomy in the airspace system. TASAR was developed as a catalyst for operational autonomy, a future vision where the responsibilities and authorities of trajectory management reside with the aircraft operator and are distributed among participating aircraft, thus fulfilling a vision dating back decades and enabling a fully scalable airspace system. This NASA Technical Paper maps TASAR to its foundational vision and traces its research and development from initial concept generation to an operational evaluation by a U.S. airline in revenue service, the final stage before technology transfer and commercialization

The Past, Present and Future of Conservation in the Maine Lobster Fishery

Understanding both the social and biological factors surrounding conservation is important for informing effective fisheries management. This dissertation examines conservation in the American lobster (Homarus americanus) fishery in a changing Gulf of Maine (GOM) using computer simulations informed by interviews with lobster fishers. In this fishery, v-notching, an important conservation measure intended to protect the spawning stock, has been hypothesized to have contributed to the dramatic increase in lobster landings and stock biomass since the 1990s in the GOM. Semi-structured and oral history interviews were analyzed to understand v-notching compliance and lobster fishers’ perceptions of v-notching. All lobster fishers interviewed described v-notching as important for the lobster fishery’s sustainability, while also reporting that the v-notching practice has been declining in recent years. Interviews suggest that the decline in v-notching was due to a decrease in the net benefits of v-notching resulting from increased lobster abundance. Given this decline in v-notching practice, evaluating the effect of v-notching on the fishery is important. An individual-based lobster simulator (IBLS), which can capture complex processes with a flexible probabilistic approach, was modified, parameterized, and applied to the fishery. To evaluate the impact of v-notching, scenarios examining different v-notching compliance rates and v-notch definitions were simulated using the IBLS with different recruitment dynamics scenarios. These simulation results suggest that the lobster fishery would not have experienced the observed large positive increases in biomass and landings without a high v-notching compliance rate (i.e. 90 or 100% compliance) or a strict definition of the notch. Although v-notching has contributed to the increases in the fishery and population, to fully understand the role of conservation, the stock-recruitment relationship (SRR) in a changing GOM needs to be better understood. The GOM bottom water temperatures have increased at a rate of 0.2°C per decade, which caused lobster settlement area to expand and size at maturity to change, adding to the complexity of understanding recruitment dynamics. To give more effective advice for fisheries management, the SRR for lobster was further investigated by including bottom water temperature as a covariate. The results showed that temperature had a strong effect on recruitment resulting in a temporal shift in productivity in the SRR in 2009. This dissertation also used a size-structured stock assessment model to assess the effect of a decrease in size at maturity and the resulting change in growth on the American lobster stock assessment model and SRR. Projections of the lobster fishery under different v-notching scenarios show that in the near future, although v-notching does not increase landings, v-notching still preserves the spawning stock. These results show that the v-notching conservation measure is a valuable tool for precautionary management. Overall, these results suggest that input controls, such as protecting the spawning stock, can provide benefits to both the fish population and fishery. The implications of a decline in the v-notching practice may have negative impacts for the future sustainability of the fishery if the spawning stock and productivity were to decline. Additionally, this dissertation demonstrates that climate driven SRRs and biological reference points should be considered for American lobster management. This dissertation highlights the importance of considering changes in compliance and productivity and the interactions between the two factors. The framework proposed in this study can be extended to evaluate the protection of spawning females in many other commercial fisheries influenced by climate change

Panic Development Mechanisms And Preventive Methods Analysis

Panic Development (PD) is one of the most important areas of Human Factors research due to its debilitating effects during high stress operating conditions in extreme environments. High levels of anxiety and panic evoke incidents that are a real threat to mission success and may result in fatalities. A delicate balance of crew selection, training, and systems\u27 design is critical for mission success and human survival. This research investigates possible panic development profiles and methods for preventing panic through realistic training. This research focuses on realistic training scenarios during the intense military flying exercise Red-Flag Alaska at Eielson AFB, AK. The high-paced scenario-based training environment is ideally suited for the testing of a pilot\u27s understanding, familiarity, and coping mechanisms during induced panic states. The survey questionnaire centers on how realistic training techniques improve the pilot\u27s ability to deal with a stressful environment, recognize and control panic in future situations

Numerical study of water coning control with Downhole Water Sink (DWS) completions in vertical and horizontal wells

Approximately 2.5 billion dollars is spent annually to solve the problem of produced water in oil and gas wells. Downhole Water Sink (DWS) technology is one industry solution to control water coning in oil wells. DWS technology involves the segregated production of oil and water through separate completions with zonal isolation packer. However, several problems have been experienced in the application of the technology in watered-out oil wells. This study identified two factors that could aid in a better modeling of the technology in old vertical wells – inclusion of capillary transition pressures and relative permeability hysteresis. It also identified a pressure enhanced capillary transition zone enlargement around the wellbore as responsible for the concurrent production of contaminated fluid from both completions. Another widely recommended industry solution to the problem of produced water is horizontal well technology. However, field reports indicates that water breakthrough into horizontal wells could be quite dramatic and tend to erode the merit of high deliverability. This study analyzed the problem of water cresting in horizontal wells and developed a “generalized compound friction pressure loss relation” for horizontal wells and pipes. The new relation includes factors such as perforations, oil-water emulsions, and radial influx of fluid into the wellbore as well as phase inversion. It also shows the results of the application of this relation in the modeling of water cresting in horizontal wells subject to bottom water drive. These results reveal an asymmetrical distribution of water influx skewed toward the heel in line with field observations. Finally, the study presents two innovative dual-completion concepts for controlling water cresting in horizontal wells adapting the principles of the Downhole Water Sink technology. The results of the initial studies shows that oil recovery could be improved by as much as 7 percent over conventional horizontal wells

\u3ci\u3eThe Conference Proceedings of the 1999 Air Transport Research Group (ATRG) of the WCTR Society, Volume 3\u3c/i\u3e

UNOAI Report 99-7https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/facultybooks/1149/thumbnail.jp

Wildland Fire Smoke in the United States

This open access book synthesizes current information on wildland fire smoke in the United States, providing a scientific foundation for addressing the production of smoke from wildland fires. This will be increasingly critical as smoke exposure and degraded air quality are expected to increase in extent and severity in a warmer climate. Accurate smoke information is a foundation for helping individuals and communities to effectively mitigate potential smoke impacts from wildfires and prescribed fires. The book documents our current understanding of smoke science for (1) primary physical, chemical, and biological issues related to wildfire and prescribed fire, (2) key social issues, including human health and economic impacts, and (3) current and anticipated management and regulatory issues. Each chapter provides a summary of priorities for future research that provide a roadmap for developing scientific information that can improve smoke and fire management over the next decade

Aeronautical Engineering: A special bibliography with indexes, supplement 48

This special bibliography lists 291 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in August 1974