Fast RFID counting under unreliable radio channels.

Sze, Wai Kit.Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-83).Abstracts in English and Chinese.Abstract --- p.iAcknowledgement --- p.viChapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1Chapter 2 --- Background and Related Work --- p.8Chapter 3 --- RFID Tag-set Cardinality estimation based on a Two-parameter implicit Channel Model --- p.13Chapter 3.1 --- System Model --- p.14Chapter 3.2 --- Number of Empty Slots Observed by the Reader --- p.16Chapter 3.3 --- Estimator Accuracy and Performance Analysis --- p.25Chapter 3.4 --- Results and Discussions --- p.32Chapter 3.5 --- Chapter Summary --- p.41Chapter 4 --- RFID Tag-set Cardinality estimation over Unknown Channel --- p.42Chapter 4.1 --- System Model --- p.43Chapter 4.2 --- Baseline: The Union-based approach --- p.45Chapter 4.2.1 --- Motivation --- p.46Chapter 4.2.2 --- Union Algorithm --- p.46Chapter 4.2.3 --- Analysis of the Union algorithm --- p.47Chapter 4.3 --- "Probabilistic Tag-counting over Lossy, Unknown channels via the Mh model" --- p.52Chapter 4.3.1 --- "Novel Interpretation of Mh for RFID Counting over Lossy, Unknown Channels" --- p.52Chapter 4.3.2 --- The Moment Estimator --- p.55Chapter 4.3.3 --- Sample Coverage Estimator --- p.57Chapter 4.3.4 --- Estimating the overall Tag population t --- p.59Chapter 4.4 --- Performance Validation and Comparison --- p.62Chapter 4.5 --- Chapter Summary --- p.65Chapter 5 --- Conclusions and Future Work --- p.73Chapter A --- Proof of Equation (3.6) in Chapter 3 --- p.75Bibliography --- p.7

Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) dispersal and life history variations among Humboldt Bay watersheds

The decline of Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) in California is the result of various anthropogenic effects across the landscape, affecting all stages of their anadromous life history. Monitoring a subset of the remaining populations is essential to evaluate the success of management actions and develop new restoration projects. Defining the appropriate spatial scale for this monitoring and restoration depends on the frequency and extent of dispersal of individuals across watershed boundaries. Coho Salmon life-cycle monitoring projects in California estimate the abundance of juveniles and adults over time in selected focal watersheds. If individuals frequently enter or leave the monitored watersheds for rearing or spawning, these abundance estimates might not accurately reflect the production and survival of individuals in the focal watershed. To address this issue, I assessed movement of Coho Salmon among watersheds along Humboldt Bay, including the life-cycle monitoring population in Freshwater Creek. Using individual tags and mark-recapture multi-state modeling, I quantified the frequency of juvenile and adult movement between Freshwater, Wood, Ryan, and Jacoby Creek over two years of life-cycle monitoring (2017-2019). Wood Creek and Ryan Creek are two connected sub-watersheds that share an estuary with Freshwater Creek, while Jacoby Creek is separated from these other watersheds by Humboldt Bay. Straying of adults among watersheds was rare (only 2 individuals out of 51 tagged adult returns strayed into a stream with potential spawning habitat). Movement of juveniles through the full marine habitat in Humboldt Bay (between Jacoby Creek and the three other streams) occurred, but at low rates (3 fish out of 2492 individuals tagged in 2017 and 5 fish out of 2614 individuals tagged in 2018). Movement of juveniles among Freshwater, Wood, and Ryan Creeks was relatively common (ranged from 250 fish out of 2492 individuals tagged in fall 2017 to 354 fish out of 2614 individuals tagged in fall 2018). I developed a multi-state model structure to estimate the probability of individuals moving among watersheds while accounting for survival and imperfect detection, but parameter estimates from the global model were unreliable due to small sample size and violations of mark-recapture assumptions. A reduced model with fewer parameters provided more reliable estimates. Apparent survival in the second interval of the most parsimonious reduced model was 47.5% in 2017-18 and 29.5% in 2018-19. The reduced model estimated that \u3c0.2% of juvenile fish crossed the bay in both years. However, 17% and 23% of juvenile fish moved between Freshwater, Ryan, and Wood Creeks in 2017-18 and 2018-19 respectively. I also performed a power analysis with simulated data to demonstrate that a greater sample size of fall-tagged individuals would likely not provide more accurate model estimates for transition probability, as many of the transition probabilities are very close to zero. These results suggest the importance of scaling up monitoring efforts to include all connected areas upstream of marine habitats and suggest that it is less essential to monitor adjacent watersheds separated by full marine habitat

How much recreational exposure to avalanche terrain is there?

Winter backcountry mountain sport operators, outdoor mountain recreation industry experts, and researchers in Europe and North America commonly report that participation in winter backcountry recreation in mountainous terrain has increased tremendously in recent decades. While increasing numbers of backcountry skiers, mountain snowmobile riders, snowshoers, ice climbers, and mountaineers venture into the backcountry, these activities are not without risks. The primary hazard faced by winter backcountry recreationists is snow avalanches. Every winter over the last decade, between 125 and 150 backcountry recreationists have died in avalanches in the mountainous regions of central Europe, Scandinavia, and North America. To be most effective, avalanche-warning services must be based on an in-depth understanding of the size and the characteristics of the winter backcountry recreation community. Meaningful estimates of the size of the community are important for estimating overall and activity-specific accident and fatality rates. An evidence-based understanding of temporal trends of these rates is critical for assessing the effectiveness of existing avalanche awareness initiatives and identifying particularly-at-risk backcountry user segments for new campaigns. Furthermore, an in-depth understanding of recreationists’ needs, strengths, and weaknesses in information seeking, decision-making, and risk management is essential for the development of avalanche warning products and services that resonate with recreationists and allow them to make meaningful decisions about backcountry travel. While there has been considerable growth in human dimensions research in the avalanche safety community, not all the needs listed above have been addressed adequately. Hence, a coordinated effort is required to develop a comprehensive understanding of the winter backcountry user community. However, there is currently no country implementing a comprehensive system to effectively monitor and characterize winter backcountry users as a whole. Fortunately, there are several research fields that have well-established methods for estimating participation rates and population sizes. These research fields include the management of protected areas and wildlife protection, public health research measuring participation rates in sports and recreation activities, and tourism- and recreation-related economic impact studies. Many of the monitoring methods developed in these fields have the potential to be applicable to winter backcountry recreation contexts and provide useful insights for avalanche-warning services

Marshall Space Flight Center Research and Technology Report 2019

Today, our calling to explore is greater than ever before, and here at Marshall Space Flight Centerwe make human deep space exploration possible. A key goal for Artemis is demonstrating and perfecting capabilities on the Moon for technologies needed for humans to get to Mars. This years report features 10 of the Agencys 16 Technology Areas, and I am proud of Marshalls role in creating solutions for so many of these daunting technical challenges. Many of these projects will lead to sustainable in-space architecture for human space exploration that will allow us to travel to the Moon, on to Mars, and beyond. Others are developing new scientific instruments capable of providing an unprecedented glimpse into our universe. NASA has led the charge in space exploration for more than six decades, and through the Artemis program we will help build on our work in low Earth orbit and pave the way to the Moon and Mars. At Marshall, we leverage the skills and interest of the international community to conduct scientific research, develop and demonstrate technology, and train international crews to operate further from Earth for longer periods of time than ever before first at the lunar surface, then on to our next giant leap, human exploration of Mars. While each project in this report seeks to advance new technology and challenge conventions, it is important to recognize the diversity of activities and people supporting our mission. This report not only showcases the Centers capabilities and our partnerships, it also highlights the progress our people have achieved in the past year. These scientists, researchers and innovators are why Marshall and NASA will continue to be a leader in innovation, exploration, and discovery for years to come

Evaluation of the System Attributes of Timeliness and Completeness of the West Virginia Electronic Disease Surveillance System\u27 NationalEDSS Based System

Despite technological advances in public health informatics, the evaluation of infectious disease surveillance systems data remains incomplete. In this study, a thorough evaluation was performed of the West Virginia Electronic Disease Surveillance System (WVEDSS, 2007-2010) and the West Virginia Electronic Disease Surveillance System NationalEDSS -Based System (WVEDSS-NBS; March 2012 - March 2014) for Category II infectious diseases in West Virginia. The purpose was to identify key areas in the surveillance system process from disease diagnosis to disease prevention that need improvement. Grounded in the diffusion of innovation theory, a quasi-experimental, interrupted, time-series design was used to evaluate the 2 data sets. Research questions examined differences in mean reporting time, the 24-hour standard, and comparison of complete fields (DOB, gender etc.) of the data sets using independent samples t tests. The study found (a) that the mean reporting times were shorter for WVEDSS compared to WVEDSS-NBS (p \u3c .05) for all vaccine-preventable infectious diseases (VPID) in Category II except for mumps; (b) that the 24-hour standard was not met for WVEDSS compared to WVEDSS-NBS (p \u3c .05) for all VPID in Category II except for mumps, and (c) that most fields were complete for WVEDSS compared to WVEDSS-NBS (p \u3c .05) for all VPID in Category II except for meningococcal disease. Healthcare professionals in the state can use the results of this research to improve the system attributes of timeliness and completeness. Implications for positive social change included improved access to public health data to better understand health disparities, which, in turn could reduce morbidity and mortality within the population

Interactions between migrating salmonids and low-head hydropower schemes

The redevelopment of existing riverine barriers with modern hydropower turbines is becoming increasingly prevalent on main stem rivers with valuable stocks of migratory salmonids. This is a concern because these fish rely on longitudinal connectivity to complete their lifecycles, and modifications for hydropower could jeopardize that connectivity by obstructing or injuring migrating fish. In order to exploit very low head hydropower potential, novel turbine types are emerging. The Archimedean screw hydropower turbine is one such technology which is becoming increasingly popular for low-head applications. However the impact of these turbines on fish movements remains largely untested. This thesis aims to provide much needed evidence on the effects that these turbines and schemes may have on migrating salmonids. Fixed radio and passive integrated transponder receivers were used to track the downstream movements of wild migrating juvenile salmonids through a low-head Archimedean screw hydropower scheme. Atlantic salmon smolts were found to pass through the alternative routes of the turbine and main river channel in proportion to flow through these channels. Passage times were generally fast through both routes (median = 17.6, range = 5.1-905.6 minutes over the 350m scheme extent, for radio tagged fish), and longer passage times were associated with daytime presence in both routes. The majority of PIT tagged Atlantic salmon and sea trout smolts that passed through the 100 m long turbine channel, did so in under 27 minutes (median = 6.8 minutes), whilst a few fish had much longer passage times, associated with daytime presence. There were no differences in onward survival (measured as distance survived downstream) between turbine passed and non-turbine passed migrants. Atlantic salmon smolts were passed through an Archimedean screw turbine to test for harmful effects from the turbine, with comparison to equivalently handled non-turbine passed smolts. There was no evidence of visible damage aside from low to moderate scale loss, which was not significantly associated with turbine passage. Blood chemistry parameters were used to test for subtle turbine-induced damage. This novel application of these techniques did not yield conclusive results, but serves as a useful precedent for future studies. Radio and PIT telemetry equipment were used to investigate the movements of upstream migrating adult salmonids at three separate low-head hydropower schemes which may act as obstacles to migration. These schemes each had distinct configurations and flow management regimes. Movements within, and progression beyond these schemes varied substantially between sites, and in some cases were related to flow management parameters. Whilst not conclusive, the results suggest that scheme configuration and the management of flows influence the time that fish spend at such schemes, and the proportion of fish that ascend beyond them. With the global shift towards renewable energy generation, the exploitation of running water for hydropower is likely to become increasingly pervasive. The results of these studies provide valuable information for the informed and ecologically sustainable development of low-head hydropower schemes

Circles within spirals, wheels within wheels; Body rotation facilitates critical insights into animal behavioural ecology

How animals behave is fundamental to enhancing their lifetime fitness, so defining how animals move in space and time relates to many ecological questions, including resource selection, activity budgets and animal movement networks. Historically, animal behaviour and movement has been defined by direct observation, however recent advancements in biotelemetry have revolutionised how we now assess behaviour, particularly allowing animals to be monitored when they cannot be seen. Studies now pair ‘convectional’ radio telemetries with motion sensors to facilitate more detailed investigations of animal space-use. Motion sensitive tags (containing e.g., accelerometers and magnetometers) provide precise data on body movements which characterise behaviour, and this has been exemplified in extensive studies using accelerometery data, which has been linked to space-use defined by GPS. Conversely, consideration of body rotation (particularly change in yaw) is virtually absent within the biologging literature, even though various scales of yaw rotation can reveal important patterns in behaviour and movement, with animal heading being a fundamental component characterising space-use. This thesis explores animal body angles, particularly about the yaw axis, for elucidating animal movement ecology. I used five model species (a reptile, a mammal and three birds) to demonstrate the value of assessing body rotation for investigating fine-scale movement-specific behaviours. As part of this, I advanced the ‘dead-reckoning’ method, where fine-scale animal movement between temporally poorly resolved GPS fixes can be deduced using heading vectors and speed. I addressed many issues with this protocol, highlighting errors and potential solutions but was able to show how this approach leads to insights into many difficult-to-study animal behaviours. These ranged from elucidating how and where lions cross supposedly impermeable man-made barriers to examining how penguins react to tidal currents and then navigate their way to their nests far from the sea in colonies enclosed within thick vegetation

From Psychology to Phylogeny: Bridging Levels of Analysis in Cultural Evolution

Cultural evolution, or change in the socially learned behavior of a population over time, is a fascinating phenomenon that is widespread in humans and present in some non-human animals. In this dissertation, I present an array of cultural evolutionary studies that bridge pattern and process in a wide range of research models including music, extremism, and birdsong. The first chapter is an introduction to the field of cultural evolution, including a bibliometric analysis of its structure. The second and third chapters are studies on the cultural dynamics of music sampling traditions in hip-hop and electronic music communities and far-right extremism in the United States, using social network analysis and epidemiological modeling, respectively. The fourth and fifth chapters are studies on how cultural transmission biases influence population-level changes in music sampling traditions and house finch song, using a combination of agent-based modeling and machine learning. The sixth chapter is a technical report on computerized birdfeeders that were used to remotely collect data on the social network structure of a wild house finch population. Lastly, the seventh chapter applies a novel phylogenetic method based on dynamic community detection to reconstruct the cultural evolution of electronic music