Visualization Tools for Visual Impact Assessments: A Study of Existing Technologies

In the last few decades, digital technology has dramatically altered how visual resource management and visual impact assessments (VIAs) are conducted. The recent emergence of low-cost immersive technology offers a suite of tools that could facilitate the VIA process. However, to date there is limited empirical evidence evaluating how these emerging technologies could influence VIA. The research presented here begins to fill this gap by comparing immersive virtual environments to existing 2D photo-based methods for assessing the visual impacts of development. 23 participants familiar with VIAs rated the visual qualities of different scenes presented as 360° images, Google Earth and 2D images. Results show a high similarity in perceived impacts between 2D images and Google Earth; 360° images were rated consistently lower. Overall, participants indicated that immersive visualization may have a role in VIAs, but it is critical these technologies be evaluated against on-site assessments before being adopted

Supermode suppression to below-130 dBc/Hz in a 10 GHz harmonically mode-locked external sigma cavity semiconductor laser

We demonstrate supermode suppression to levels below - 125 dBc/Hz and - 132 dBc/Hz using Fabry-Perot etalons with finesse values of 180 and 650, respectively, for a 10 GHz harmonically mode-locked external sigma cavity semiconductor laser. The laser was hybridly mode-locked using direct electrical modulation in a compact package without the need for an external modulator

Comparative study of combustion product emissions of Pakistani coal briquettes and traditional Pakistani domestic fuels

A comparative emissions study was conducted on combustion products of various solid domestic cooking fuels; the objective was to compare relative levels of organic and inorganic toxic emissions from traditional Pakistani fuels (wood, wood charcoal, and dried animal dung) with manufactured low-rank coal briquettes (Lakhra and Sor- Range coals) under conditions simulating domestic cooking. A small combustion shed 12 m[sup 3] internal volume, air exchange rate 14 h[sup [minus]1] was used to simulate south Asian cooking rooms. 200-g charges of the various fuels were ignited in an Angethi stove located inside the shed, then combusted to completion; effluents from this combustion were monitored as a function of time. Measurements were made of respirable particulates, volatile and semi-volatile organics, CO, SO[sub 2], and NO[sub x]. Overall it appears that emissions from coal briquettes containing combustion amendments (slaked lime, clay, and potassium nitrate oxidizer) are no greater than emissions from traditional fuels, and in some cases are significantly lower; generally, emissions are highest for all fuels in the early stages of combustion

Improved reference genome for the domestic horse increases assembly contiguity and composition

Theodore Kalbfleisch et al. present an improved genome assembly for the domestic horse by combining short- and long-read data, as well as proximity ligation data. They improve contiguity of the assembly by 40-fold, with a 10-fold reduction in gaps

Improved reference genome for the domestic horse increases assembly contiguity and composition

Recent advances in genomic sequencing technology and computational assembly methods have allowed scientists to improve reference genome assemblies in terms of contiguity and composition. EquCab2, a reference genome for the domestic horse, was released in 2007. Although of equal or better quality compared to other first-generation Sanger assemblies, it had many of the shortcomings common to them. In 2014, the equine genomics research community began a project to improve the reference sequence for the horse, building upon the solid foundation of EquCab2 and incorporating new short-read data, long-read data, and proximity ligation data. Here, we present EquCab3. The count of non-N bases in the incorporated chromosomes is improved from 2.33 Gb in EquCab2 to 2.41 Gb in EquCab3. Contiguity has also been improved nearly 40-fold with a contig N50 of 4.5 Mb and scaffold contiguity enhanced to where all but one of the 32 chromosomes is comprised of a single scaffold

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Chloroplast genomes as a tool to resolve red algal phylogenies: a case study in the Nemaliales

Obtaining strongly supported phylogenies that permit confident taxonomic and evolutionary interpretations has been a challenge in algal biology. High-throughput sequencing has improved the capacity to generate data and yields more informative datasets. We sequenced and analysed the chloroplast genomes of 22 species of the order Nemaliales as a case study in the use of phylogenomics as an approach to achieve well-supported phylogenies of red algae.Australian Research Council/[FT110100585]/ARC/AustraliaAustralian Biological Resources Study/[RFL213-08]/ABRS/AustraliaMillennium Scientific Initiative/[NC120030]/MSI/Nueva JerseyUniversity of Melbourne///AustraliaUCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Básicas::Centro de Investigación en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología (CIMAR

External-Cavity Semiconductor Diode Ring Laser For Application In Hybrid Optoelectronic Analog-To-Digital Converter

Current state-of-the-art electronic analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) operating at multigigahertz sampling frequencies are known to exhibit fairly limited resolution (∼4 bits at room temperature and ∼6 bits when superconducting). These high-frequency restrictions stem primarily from the response time of the constituent transistors that make up the ADC\u27s comparators (also known as comparator ambiguity). In an effort to improve the resolution of ADCs operating at ultrahigh sampling frequencies, several areas of investigation are currently underway regarding the capabilities of hybrid optoelectronic systems. High-power optical pulses can be used as sampling windows and high-bandwidth electro-optic modulators as voltage-to-intensity transducers to provide a means for digitizing ultrafast voltage waveforms with much greater accuracy than conventional (purely electronic) ADCs. When optical sampling is employed, the primary limiting factors determining ADC conversion accuracy (now that comparator ambiguity is no longer an issue) become the noise in the sampling pulsetrain and the extent of the sampling time (optical pulsewidth). Detrimental pulsetrain noise is associated with either phase modulation (PM noise) or amplitude modulation (AM noise), and recent measurements of AM and residual PM noise on our 10 Ghz ring laser show the best results to date for an actively-modelocked semiconductor diode system. Carrier offset integration bands extending from 10 Hz to 10 MHz exhibit RMS levels of AM and PM noise as low as 0.12% and 43 fs, respectively. In addition, linear dispersion compensation has successfully reduced the optical pulsewidth from 13 ps to 1.2 ps. Based on these experimental numbers, this laser could form the front end for an optoelectronic ADC capable of a theoretical resolution as high as 8.6 bits (10 Ghz sample rate)