Communications Games

People are often confronted with documents that are too difficult to read, understand, interpret, or use, a Document Design Center brochure says

Let\u27s Keep the Pound Around: A Retort

Let Ham Kenney and his Canadian colleagues be meter greeters. Let the world traders and Olympic weight lifters deal in liters and kilos. As for me, give me inches or give me pounds

Send Us Grants

Lincoln sensed the way to win the war. He realized that enemy armies, rather than places, were the proper objectives

A robust coding scheme for packet video

A layered packet video coding algorithm based on a progressive transmission scheme is presented. The algorithm provides good compression and can handle significant packet loss with graceful degradation in the reconstruction sequence. Simulation results for various conditions are presented

Texas-Oklahoma Producer Cotton Market Summary: 2000/2001

The size of the Texas-Oklahoma spot market analyzed by the Daily Price Estimation System (DPES) for the 2000/2001 marketing year decreased considerably from the previous year. The average price received by producers during the 2000/2001 marketing year was about 50.9 cents/lb. The 2000 crop was generally of good quality, but the averages for the first digit of the color grade and leaf grade detoriated as compared with the 1999 crop. The percentage of bales having level 1 and 2 bark, and level 1 and 2 other extraneous matter decreased in comparison to the 1999 crop. With the exception of the second digit of the color grade price discounts for the 2000 crop decreased for all quality attributes. The premiums for the first digit of the color grade and strength both decreased, while the premium for leaf increased and that of staple remained about the same.Crop Production/Industries,

Texas-Oklahoma Producer Cotton Market Summary: 1999/2000

The size of the Texas-Oklahoma spot market for the 1999/2000 marketing year increased considerably from the previous year and the average producer price declined for the fourth year in a row. The average price received by producers during the 1999/2000 marketing year was about 37.82 cents/lb., which was 13.32 cents/lb. lower than the previous marketing year. The 1999 crop was generally of good quality, but the average for staple length and strength declined compared to the 1998 crop. The percentage of bales having level 2 bark, and level 1 and 2 other extraneous matter also increased marginally when compared to the 1998 crop. With the exception of the first digit of the color grade, level 1 bark, and level 2 other extraneous matter, price discounts for the 1999 crop decreased for all quality attributes. The premiums for the first digit of the color grade and staple both increased, while the premium for strength decreased.Crop Production/Industries,

Coffee Decline Caused by the Kona Coffee Root-knot Nematode

Assaying, preventing, and controlling this economically significant disease of coffee are discussed

A model to extend spectral and multiwavelength UV irradiances time series: Model development and validation

Measurements of spectral and multichannel UV radiation became more common in the middle and late eighties after the discovery of the ‘‘ozone hole,’’ but time series for these measurements are still relatively short for the determination of trends to be applied in geophysical and biological studies. However, systematic measurements of total column ozone have been performed since the late 1950s at several stations, and global coverage has been available since the late 1970s. Also, long-term time series of broadband instruments (Pyranometers, UV and erythemally weighted) are available from many sites around the world. In this paper a multiregressive model that enables the inference of spectral or narrow band UV irradiances from total ozone column and broadband irradiance, in places where relatively short time series of UV spectral irradiances are available, is proposed. To test the model, measurements of irradiances performed at three of the stations in the NSF UV Radiation Monitoring Network, under all weather, solar zenith angle and surface conditions, were used. The model generated very good results over a wide variety of situations. Pyranometer data from the NOAA/CMDL surface radiation budget database for South Pole and Barrow Stations were used to estimate daily integrated narrow band irradiances. A time series of monthly means for the narrowband (303.030–307.692 nm) were then computed, dating back to the late 1970s. INDEXINDEX TERMS: 1630 Global Change: Impact phenomena; 1694 Global Change: Instruments and techniques; 3309 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Climatology (1620); KEYWORDS: UV-B Irradiances, Ozone, Ozone depletion, UV irradiance modeling, Multiregressive modelERMS: 1630 Global Change: Impact phenomena; 1694 Global Change: Instruments and techniques; 3309 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Climatology (1620); KEYWORDS: UV-B Irradiances, Ozone, Ozone depletion, UV irradiance modeling, Multiregressive modelKEYWORDS: UV-B Irradiances, Ozone, Ozone depletion, UV irradiance modeling, Multiregressive modelFil: Diaz, Susana Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Nelson, Don. No especifíca;Fil: Deferrari, Guillermo Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Camilión, María Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentin

Towards a protocol for community monitoring of caribou body condition

Effective ecological monitoring is central to the sustainability of subsistence resources of indigenous communities. For caribou, Arctic indigenous people's most important terrestrial subsistence resource, body condition is a useful measure because it integrates many ecological factors that influence caribou productivity and is recognized by biologists and hunters as meaningful. We draw on experience working with indigenous communities to develop a body condition monitoring protocol for harvested animals. Local indigenous knowledge provides a broad set of caribou health indicators and explanations of how environmental conditions may affect body condition. Scientific research on caribou body condition provides a basis to develop a simple dichotomous key that includes back fat, intestinal fat, kidney fat and marrow¬fat, as measures of body fat, which in autumn to early winter correlates with the likelihood of pregnancy. The dichotomous key was formulated on "expert knowledge" and validated against field estimates of body composition. We compare local indigenous knowledge indicators with hunter documented data based on the dichotomous key. The potential con¬tribution of community body condition monitoring can be realized through the continued comparative analysis of datasets. Better communication among hunters and scientists, and refinement of data collection and analysis methods are recommended. Results suggest that specific local knowledge may become generalized and integrated between regions if the dichotomous key is used as a generalized (semi-quantitative) index and complemented with other science and community-based assessments