Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Quantify Erosion Control Measures on a Reclaimed Central Utah Coal Mine

For certain landscape reclamation efforts surrounding, the Utah Division of Oil Gas and Mining (UDOGM) utilizes a surface roughing technique called “pocking”. The process of pocking establishes closely spaced gouges approximately 1.2 meters in diameter and 0.5 meters deep across a reclaimed landscape in order to reduce surface erosion and promote plant growth on steep terrain in arid regions. Pocks are designed as a series of micro watersheds that trap water to aid in plant establishment and reduces overland flow of water. Over time vegetation grows within the pocks as they infill with sediment. While this method is considered an effective reclamation technique, its effectiveness has, to date, relied on observation only. This research will utilize consumer grade unmanned aerial systems (UASs) commonly known as “drones”, to develop a technique by which pocks can be monitored and the effectiveness of pocking can be quantified. To this end, UAS overflights spanning two years (2019-2020) resulted in high-resolution (2.5cm) ortho imagery as well as digital terrain data at the same resolution. A comparison of the data collected across these two years identified erosion and deposition within and between pocks as well as the establishment and spread of seeded vegetation. The results also identified a spatial pattern of landscape subsidence as the reclaimed landscape settled. We found that, with effective geographic control, low-cost, off-the-shelf, consumer grade drones are an effective tool to monitor and quantify changes in reclaimed landscapes

The Krapina Occipital Bones

The Krapina fossils are the largest collection of Neandertals known, representing a unique opportunity to examine Neandertal variation at a single place and time. Because of the nature of the assemblage, knowledge about the collection as a whole must be obtained from the analyses of the individual skeletal elements. In this work I present a summary of a subset of the Krapina fragments, the occipital remains. I review their variation and briefly discuss them in the context of Neandertal posterior cranial vault anatomy

Duct coupling for single-handed operation Patent

Quick disconnect duct coupling device for single-handed operatio

Battery-buffered alkaline water electrolysis powered by photovoltaics

The combination of an alkaline water electrolyzer (AWE) with a battery system powered by photovoltaics (PV) for the production of green hydrogen is investigated. A model describes the power distribution between these three subsystems (AWE, battery and PV). Variation of AWE and battery power and capacity is carried out for two locations, to identify the most appropriate setup, where the highest energy usage and operating time can be reached. The battery helps to reduce the power level of the AWE. However, an estimation of the costs indicates that further optimization is necessary

Molecular Genetics of S. thermonitrificans ISP5579

The majority of commercially important antibiotic producing Streptomyces are mesophiles, grown at 25-3

Designing a dexterous reconfigurable packaging system for flexible automation

This paper presents a design for a reconfigurable packaging system that can handle cartons of different shape and sizes and is amenable to ever changing demands of packaging industries for perfumery and cosmetic products. The system takes structure of a multi-fingered robot hand, which can provide fine motions, and dexterous manipulation capability that may be required in a typical packaging-assembly line. The paper outlines advanced modeling and simulation undertaken to design the packaging system and discusses the experimental work carried out. The new packaging system is based on the principle of reconfigurability, that shows adaptability to simple as well as complex carton geometry. The rationale of developing such a system is presented with description of its human equivalent. The hardware and software implementations are also discussed together with directions for future research

Speech Functions Used by Speakers in Allison L. Randall's Short Story “End of the Line”

. Conversation is a process of exchanging two variables, there are speech role and commodity exchange, the combination between them is called speech function. This thesis is entitled “Speech Function Used by All Speaker In Allison L. Randall‘s Short Story End of The Line”. This study aims at describing the kinds of speech function and interpersonal role created by all speakers in Allison L. Randall's short story “End of The Line”. They are Liza, Frank, Noah Crawford, Postmaster, Zedekiah Smith and Caleb. This study used qualitative research method. Qualitative research method was used to collect and analyze data that cannot be represented by number. Descriptive research was used in the literal sense of describing situation and event. The result of this study shows that there are 10 kinds of speech functions produced by all characters (Liza, Frank, Noah Crawford, Postmaster, Zedekiah Smith and Caleb). They are 11 statements, 8 commands, 5 offers, 7 questions, 2 acknowledgements, 3 contradictions, 2 acceptances, 2 rejections, 2 answers, and 2 disclaimers. The highest speech function is ‘command' produced by Liza because she demands the bank robber to release her from the captive. She also produced highest speech function ‘question', because she is the main character. She is a talkative who wants to know everything. The highest speech function produced by Zedekiah Smith is ‘statement' because he is bank robber who comes back again to release Liza