49,796 research outputs found
Development of an integrated data base for land use and water quality planning
To help understand the role played by different land resources in water quality management a computer based data system was created. The Land Resource Information System (LRIS) allows data to be readily retrieved or statistically analyzed for a variety of purposes. It is specifically formatted to perform coordination of water quality data with logy, etc. New understanding of the region gained through the use of LRIS has gone well beyond the initial purpose of assessing water quality conditions. The land use and natural features information has provided a well defined starting point for a systematic evaluation of proposed land uses, transportation, housing, and other public investments. It has laid the foundation for a comprehensive and integrated approach to many different planning and investment programs presently underway
Linear Relationship Statistics in Diffusion Limited Aggregation
We show that various surface parameters in two-dimensional diffusion limited
aggregation (DLA) grow linearly with the number of particles. We find the ratio
of the average length of the perimeter and the accessible perimeter of a DLA
cluster together with its external perimeters to the cluster size, and define a
microscopic schematic procedure for attachment of an incident new particle to
the cluster. We measure the fractal dimension of the red sites (i.e., the sites
upon cutting each of them splits the cluster) equal to that of the DLA cluster.
It is also shown that the average number of the dead sites and the average
number of the red sites have linear relationships with the cluster size.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
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Interface Microstructures and Bond Formation in Ultrasonic Consolidation
The quality of ultrasonically consolidated parts critically depends on the bond quality
between individual metal foils. This necessitates a detailed understanding of interface
microstructures and ultrasonic bonding mechanism. There is a lack of information on interface
microstructures in ultrasonically consolidated parts as well as a lack of consensus on the
mechanism of metal ultrasonic welding, especially on matters such as plastic deformation and
recrystallization. In the current work, interface microstructures of an ultrasonically consolidated
multi-material Al 3003-Ni 201 sample were analyzed in detail using optical microscopy,
scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and orientation imaging
microscopy. Based on the results of microstructural studies, the mechanism of metal ultrasonic
welding has been discussed. The reasons for formation of defects/unbonded regions in
ultrasonically consolidated parts have also been identified and discussedMechanical Engineerin
On evaluating parallel computer systems
A workshop was held in an attempt to program real problems on the MIT Static Data Flow Machine. Most of the architecture of the machine was specified but some parts were incomplete. The main purpose for the workshop was to explore principles for the evaluation of computer systems employing new architectures. Principles explored were: (1) evaluation must be an integral, ongoing part of a project to develop a computer of radically new architecture; (2) the evaluation should seek to measure the usability of the system as well as its performance; (3) users from the application domains must be an integral part of the evaluation process; and (4) evaluation results should be fed back into the design process. It is concluded that the general organizational principles are achievable in practice from this workshop
Orbital Response of Evanescent Cooper Pairs in Paramagnetically Limited Al Films
We report a detailed study of the pairing resonance via tunneling density of
states in ultra-thin superconducting Al films in supercritical magnetic fields.
Particular emphasis is placed on effects of the perpendicular component of the
magnetic field on the resonance energy and magnitude. Though the resonance is
broadened and attenuated by as expected, its energy is shifted upward
linearly with . Extension of the original theory of the resonance to
include strong perpendicular fields shows that at sufficiently large
the overlap of the broadened resonance tail with the underlying degenerate
Fermi sea alters the spectral distribution of the resonance via the exclusion
principle. This leads to the shift of the the resonance feature to higher
energy.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure
Observation of discrete energy levels in a quantum confined system
Low temperature scanning tunneling microscope images and spectroscopic data
have been obtained on subnanometer size Pb clusters fabricated using the
technique of buffer layer assisted growth. Discrete energy levels were resolved
in current-voltage characteristics as current peaks rather than current steps.
Distributions of peak voltage spacings and peak current heights were consistent
with Wigner-Dyson and Porter-Thomas distributions respectively, suggesting the
relevance of random matrix theory to the description of the electronic
eigenstates of the clusters. The observation of peaks rather than steps in the
current-voltage characteristics is attributed to a resonant tunneling process
involving the discrete energy levels of the cluster, the tip, and the states at
the interface between the cluster and the substrate surface.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Valuing Catastrophic Citrus Losses
Courts are often required to estimate changes in welfare to agricultural operations from catastrophic events. For example, courts must assign damages in lawsuits, such as with pesticide drift cases, or determine "just compensation" when the government takes private land for public use, as with the removal of dairy farms from environmentally sensitive land or destruction of canker-contaminated citrus trees. In economics, the traditional method of quantifying producer losses is estimating changes in producer welfare, but courts rarely use this method. Instead, they turn to substitute valuation methods that may not fully capture welfare changes, such as changes in land value, tree replacement value, and total revenue. This study examines various measures for valuing the back-to-back catastrophic freezes that occurred in the Florida citrus industry in the 1980s. We first use the traditional method to determine the welfare change due to a freeze (1) for a citrus grove that loses one crop and is able to return to full production the next year, and (2) the lower measure of welfare loss due to a citrus grove that loses all of its trees and is abandoned or is replanted. The lower measure is used to simulate the legal doctrine of avoidable consequences. These measures are then compared to substitute valuation measures that have been used by courts to determine welfare changes. For case 1, total revenue overestimates losses by 35.6%. For case 2, total revenue overestimates losses by 55.3%, tree replacement value underestimates losses by 93.6%, and changes in land value underestimates losses by 13.2%.citrus, perennial crops, catastrophic loss, damages, freeze, Crop Production/Industries,
A retrospective study of the prevalence of the canine degenerative myelopathy associated superoxide dismutase 1 mutation (SOD1: c. 118G> A) in a referral population of German Shepherd dogs from the UK
BACKGROUND: Canine degenerative myelopathy (CDM) is an adult onset, progressive neurodegenerative disease of the spinal cord. The disease was originally described in the German Shepherd dog (GSD), but it is now known to occur in many other dog breeds. A previous study has identified a mutation in the superoxide dismutase 1 gene (SOD1:c.118G > A) that is associated with susceptibility to CDM. In the present study, restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis was used to genotype GSD for SOD1:c.118G > A in order to estimate the prevalence of the mutation in a referral population of GSD in the UK. RESULTS: This study demonstrated that the RFLP assay, based on use of PCR and subsequent digestion with the Eco571 enzyme, provided a simple genotyping test for the SOD1:c.118G > A mutation. In a young GSD population (i.e. dogs less than 6 years of age, before clinical signs of the disease usually become apparent), 8 of 50 dogs were found to be homozygous and a further 19 were heterozygous for the mutation. In dogs over 8 years of age, 21 of 50 dogs admitted to a tertiary referral hospital with pelvic limb ataxia as a major clinical sign were homozygous for the mutation, compared to none of 50 dogs of similar age, but where no neurological disease was reported on referral. CONCLUSIONS: This data suggests that genotyping for the SOD1:c.118G > A mutation is clinically applicable and that the mutation has a high degree of penetrance. Genotyping might also be useful for screening the GSD population to avoid mating of two carriers, but since the allele frequency is relatively high in the UK population of GSD, care should be taken to avoid reduction in genetic diversity within the breed
Valuing Catastrophic Losses for Perennial Agricultural Crops
Courts are often required to estimate changes in welfare to agricultural operations from catastrophic events. For example, courts must assign damages in lawsuits, such as with pesticide drift cases, or determine 'just compensation' when the government takes private land for public use, as with the removal of dairy farms from environmentally sensitive land or destruction of canker-contaminated citrus trees. In economics, the traditional method of estimating changes in producer welfare is the computation of lost producer surplus, but courts rarely use this method. Instead, they turn to substitute valuation methods that may not fully capture welfare change, such as changes in land value, tree replacement value, and total revenue. This study examines various measures for valuing the back-to-back catastrophic freezes that occurred in the Florida citrus industry in the 1980s. We first use the traditional method to determine the welfare change due to a freeze (1) for a citrus grove that loses one crop and is able to return to full production the next year (simulating destruction of annual crops), and (2)the lower measure of welfare loss due to a citrus grove that loses all of its trees and is abandoned or is replanted. The lower measure is used to simulate the legal doctrine of avoidable consequences. These measures are then compared to substitute valuation measures that have been used by courts to determine welfare changes. For case 1, total revenue overestimated losses by 35.6%. For case 2, total revenue overestimates losses by 55.3%, tree replacement value underestimates losses by 93.6%, and changes in land value underestimates losses by 13.2%.citrus, perennial crops, catastrophic loss, damages, freeze, Crop Production/Industries,
Properties of particle production at large transverse momentum in Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at RHIC
We present the incident energy and system size dependence of the pT spectra
for charged pions, protons, and anti-protons using Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions
at Sqrt(sNN) = 62.4 and 200 GeV in STAR experiment at RHIC. Through these
measurements in the pT range of 0.2 < pT < 10 GeV/c we conduct a systematic
study of the beam energy, system size and particle species dependence of
nuclear modification factors and address specific predictions from the quark
coalescence models regarding the beam energy dependence of baryon enhancement
in the intermediate pT (2 < pT < 6 GeV/c) region.Comment: Talk given at 19th International Conference on Ultra-relativistic
Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions: Quark Matter 2006 (QM 2006), Shanghai, China,
14-20 Nov. 200
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