A multivariate planning model - city structure : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Statistics.

The genesis of this study is post graduate research in Urban Geography at Canterbury University in 1966. At that time a crude multivariate Centroid model of 95 New Zealand towns and cities was constructed. Based upon 60 socio-economic variables two factors for each of the years 1951, 1956 and 1961 were extracted and compared. The present study, which is a considerable refinement upon the earlier research, incorporates not only tremendous advancement in multivariate design methodology and application, but also parallel advancements that have been made in computing facilities over the last five years. The objective of this research is to construct a multivariate statistical planning model that is both statistically precise and meaningful in its application. Particular emphasis is placed upon the need to organise in a systematic and meaningful manner the increasingly greater variety of statistics that portray urban growth. Stress is placed upon the utility of the multivariate technique as a tool in the author's profession of Town Planning. [From Preface

Effects of Aerial LiDAR Data Density on the Accuracy of Building Reconstruction

Previous work has identified a positive relationship between the density of aerial LiDAR input for building reconstruction and the accuracy of the resulting reconstructed models. We hypothesize a point of diminished returns at which higher data density no longer contributes meaningfully to higher accuracy in the end product. We investigate this relationship by subsampling a high-density dataset from the City of Surrey, BC to different densities and inputting each subsampled dataset to reconstruction using two different reconstruction methods. We then determine the accuracy of reconstruction based on manually created reference data, in terms of both 2D footprint accuracy and 3D model accuracy. We find that there is no quantitative evidence for meaningfully improved output accuracy from densities higher than 4 p/m2 for either method, although aesthetic improvements at higher point cloud densities are noted for one method

Confidence in assessing the effectiveness of bath treatments for the control of sea lice on Norwegian salmon farms

The salmon louse Lepeophtheirus salmonis is the most important ectoparasite of farmed salmonids in the Northern hemisphere, having a major economic and ecological impact on the sustainability of this sector of the aquaculture industry. To a large extent, control of L. salmonis relies on the use of topical delousing chemical treatments in the form of baths. Improvements in methods for the administration and assessment of bathtreatments have not kept pace with the rapid modernization and intensification of the salmon industry. Bathtreatments present technical and biological challenges, including best practice methods for the estimation of the effect of licetreatment interventions. In this communication, we compare and contrast methods to calculate and interpret treatmenteffectiveness at pen and site level. The methods are illustrated for the calculation of the percentage reduction in mean abundance of mobile lice with a measure of confidence. Six different methods for the calculation of confidence intervals across different probability levels were compared. We found the quasi-Poisson method with a 90% confidence interval to be informative and robust for the measurement of bathtreatment performance

Numonu/moahau. Red feather coils from the Santa Cruz islands, Temotu Province, Solomon Islands

In the amazing building constructed in the early 19th century to house the Bank of Scotland, in the centre of Edinburgh, you will find the Museum of the Mound, a museum basically dedicated to anything to do with “money”. Its collection contains marvellous pieces of what we may call traditional forms of money from various cultures all over the world. What I would say is arguably the most spectacular and iconic of these objects is what frequently is referred to as “red feather money” from the Solomon islands. It is certainly often used because of this in the museum’s PR material, such as posters and the website, and this object is what this article is about

Developing a Collaborative Qualitative Research Project Across Borders: Issues and Dilemmas

International collaborative research often refers to collaboration among the researchers and the participants. Few studies investigate the collaborative process among the researchers themselves. Assumptions about the qualitative research process, institutional requirements, and even epistemological orientations, are pervasive. Our experience conducting an empirical research study as a collaborative effort amongst a research team in Mexico and the United States challenged and transformed our assumptions about collaborative qualitative research in terms of organizational compatibility: (a) understanding research perspective and themes, (b) interpreting rules and regulations (c) physical travel between countries, and (d) how research products are counted. We address each assumption through a dialogue, including how our collaborative research diverged from the assumption and how this divergence has impacted our own practice

Measuring the masses of the charged hadrons using a RICH as a precision velocity spectrometer

The Selex experiment measured several billion charged hadron tracks with a high precision magnetic momentum spectrometer and high precision RICH velocity spectrometer. We have analyzed these data to simultaneously measure the masses of all the long lived charged hadrons and anti-hadrons from the pi to the Omega using the same detector and technique. The statistical precision achievable with this data sample is more than adequate for 0.1% mass measurements We have used these measurements to develop and understand the systematic effects of a RICH as a precision velocity spectrometer with the goal of measuring 10 masses with precision ranging from 100 KeV for the lightest to 1000 KeV for the heaviest. This requires controlling the radius measurement of RICH rings to the ~10^{-4} level. Progress in the mass measurements and the required RICH analysis techniques developed are discussed.Comment: Submitted to special edition of NIMA, Proceedings of RICh2010. v2 as accepted for publicatio