The classification of LANDSAT data for the Orlando, Florida, urban fringe area

Procedures used to map residential land cover on the Orlando, Florida, Urban fringe zone are detailed. The NASA Bureau of the Census Applications Systems Verification and Transfer project and the test site are described as well as the LANDSAT data used as the land cover information sources. Both single-date LANDSAT data processing and multitemporal principal components LANDSAT data processing are described. A summary of significant findings is included

Active clearance control system for a turbomachine

An axial compressor is provided with a cooling air manifold surrounding a portion of the shroud, and means for bleeding air from the compressor to the manifold for selectively flowing it in a modulating manner axially along the outer side of the stator/shroud to cool and shrink it during steady state operating conditions so as to obtain minimum shroud/rotor clearance conditions. Provision is also made to selectively divert the flow of cooling air from the manifold during transient periods of operation so as to alter the thermal growth or shrink rate of the stator/shroud and result in adequate clearance with the compressor rotor

Calibrated Stochastic Dynamic Models for Resource Management

In this paper we develop a positive calibrated approach to stochastic dynamic programming. Risk aversion, discount rate, and intertemporal substitution preferences of the decision-maker are calibrated by a procedure that minimizes the mean squared error from data on past decisions. We apply this framework to managing stochastic water supplies from Oroville Reservoir, located in Northern California. The calibrated positive SDP closely reproduces the historical storage and releases from the dam and shows sensitivity of optimal decisions to a decision-maker's risk aversion and intertemporal preferences. The calibrated model has average prediction errors that are substantially lower than those from the model with an expected net present value objective.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

The Cold and Hot Gas Content of Fine-Structure E and S0 Galaxies

We investigate trends of the cold and hot gas content of early-type galaxies with the presence of optical morphological peculiarities, as measured by the fine-structure index (Sigma). HI mapping observations from the literature are used to track the cold-gas content, and archival ROSAT PSPC data are used to quantify the hot-gas content. We find that E and S0 galaxies with a high incidence of optical peculiarities are exclusively X-ray underluminous and, therefore, deficient in hot gas. In contrast, more relaxed galaxies with little or no signs of optical peculiarities span a wide range of X-ray luminosities. That is, the X-ray excess anticorrelates with Sigma. There appears to be no similar trend of cold-gas content with either fine-structure index or X-ray content. The fact that only apparently relaxed E and S0 galaxies are strong X-ray emitters is consistent with the hypothesis that after strong disturbances such as a merger hot-gas halos build up over a time scale of several gigayears. This is consistent with the expected mass loss from stars.Comment: 12 pages, latex, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in A

Optimised patient information materials and recruitment to a study of behavioural activation in older adults : an embedded study within a trial [version 1; peer review: awaiting peer review]

YesPrinted participant information about randomised controlled trials is often long, technical and difficult to navigate. Improving information materials is possible through optimisation and user-testing, and may impact on participant understanding and rates of recruitment. Methods: A study within a trial (SWAT) was undertaken within the CASPER trial. Potential CASPER participants were randomised to receive either the standard trial information or revised information that had been optimised through information design and user testing. Results: A total of 11,531 patients were randomised in the SWAT. Rates of recruitment to the CASPER trial were 2.0% in the optimised information group and 1.9% in the standard information group (odds ratio 1.027; 95% CI 0.79 to 1.33; p=0.202). Conclusions: Participant information that had been optimised through information design and user testing did not result in any change to rate of recruitment to the host trial. Registration: ISRCTN ID ISRCTN02202951; registered on 3 June 2009.UK National Institute of Health Research Health Technology Assessment Programme (project number 08/19/04)This article is included in the Studies Within A Trial (SWAT) collection (https://f1000research.com/collections/swat

The interweaving roles of mineral and microbiome in shaping the antibacterial activity of archaeological medicinal clays

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Medicinal Earths (MEs), natural aluminosilicate-based substances (largely kaolinite and montmorillonite), have been part of the European pharmacopoeia for well over two millennia; they were used generically as antidotes to ‘poison’. Aim of the study: To test the antibacterial activity of three Lemnian and three Silesian Earths, medicinal earths in the collection of the Pharmacy Museum of the University of Basel, dating to 16th-18th century and following the methodology outlined in the graphical abstract. To compare them with natural clays of the same composition (reference clays) and synthetic clays (natural clays spiked with elements such as B, Al, Ti and Fe); to assess the parameters which drive antibacterial activity, when present, in each group of samples. Materials and methods: a total of 31 samples are investigated chemically (ICP-MS), mineralogically (both bulk (XRD) and at the nano-sized level (TEM-EDAX)); their organic load (bacterial and fungal) is DNA-sequenced; their bioactivity (MIC 60) is tested against Gram-positive, S. aureus and Gram-negative, P. aeruginosa. Results: Reference smectites and kaolinites show no antibacterial activity against the above pathogens. However, the same clays when spiked with B or Al (but not with Ti or Fe) do show antibacterial activity. Of the six MEs, only two are antibacterial against both pathogens. Following DNA sequencing of the bioactive MEs, we show the presence within of a fungal component, Talaromyces sp, a fungus of the family of Trichocomaceae (order Eurotiales), historically associated with Penicillium. Talaromyces is a known producer of the exometabolite bioxanthracene B, and in an earlier publication we have already identified a closely related member of the bioxanthracene group, in association with one of the LE samples examined here. By linking fungus to its exometabolite we suggest that this fungal load may be the key parameter driving antibacterial activity of the MEs. Conclusions: Antibacterial activity in kaolinite and smectite clays can arise either from spiking natural clays with elements like B and Al, or from an organic (fungal) load found only within some archaeological earths. It cannot be assumed, a priori, that this organic load was acquired randomly and as a result of long-term storage in museum collections. This is because, at least in the case of medicinal Lemnian Earth, there is historical evidence to suggest that the addition of a fungal component may have been deliberate