The use of ERTS/LANDSAT imagery in relation to airborne remote sensing for terrain analysis in Western Queensland, Australia

The author has identified the following significant results. LANDSAT 1 and 2 imagery contrast the geology of the Cloncurry-Dobbyn and the Gregory River-Mt. Isa areas very clearly. Known major structural features and lithological units are clearly displayed while, hitherto unknown lineaments were revealed. Throughout this area, similar rock types produce similar spectral signatures, e.g. quartzites produce light signatures, iron rich rocks produce dark signatures. More geological data are discernible at the 1:50,000 scale than on the 1:250,000 scale. Ore horizons may be identified at the 1:50,000 scale, particularly where they are associated with iron rich rocks. On the level plains north of Cloncurry, distinctive spectral signatures produced by the combined reflectances of plant cover, soils, and geology, distinguish different types of superficial deposits. Existing and former channels of the Cloncurry and Williams Rivers are distinguished at the 1:50,000 scale on both the LANDSAT 1 and 2 imagery. On the Cloncurry Plains, fence lines are discernible on the 1:50,000 LANDSAT 2 imagery

Do structured methods help eco-innovation: An evaluation of the product ideas tree diagram

This paper reports on the first test of the Product Ideas Tree diagram (PIT): a structured method aimed to help Eco-innovation. The PIT diagram structures ideas output from chaotic idea generating sessions. This study compared four ways of conducting an Eco-innovation workshop. The results show that structured methods help Eco-innovation by improving the constructive communication between the participants. Further development of the PIT diagram promises to contribute several new approaches to sustainable product and process design

Reinforcement Learning Produces Dominant Strategies for the Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma

We present tournament results and several powerful strategies for the Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma created using reinforcement learning techniques (evolutionary and particle swarm algorithms). These strategies are trained to perform well against a corpus of over 170 distinct opponents, including many well-known and classic strategies. All the trained strategies win standard tournaments against the total collection of other opponents. The trained strategies and one particular human made designed strategy are the top performers in noisy tournaments also

The use of LANDSAT imagery in relation to air survey imagery for terrain analysis in northwest Queensland, Australia, volume 3

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Unbiased Comparative Evaluation of Ranking Functions

Eliciting relevance judgments for ranking evaluation is labor-intensive and costly, motivating careful selection of which documents to judge. Unlike traditional approaches that make this selection deterministically, probabilistic sampling has shown intriguing promise since it enables the design of estimators that are provably unbiased even when reusing data with missing judgments. In this paper, we first unify and extend these sampling approaches by viewing the evaluation problem as a Monte Carlo estimation task that applies to a large number of common IR metrics. Drawing on the theoretical clarity that this view offers, we tackle three practical evaluation scenarios: comparing two systems, comparing $k$ systems against a baseline, and ranking $k$ systems. For each scenario, we derive an estimator and a variance-optimizing sampling distribution while retaining the strengths of sampling-based evaluation, including unbiasedness, reusability despite missing data, and ease of use in practice. In addition to the theoretical contribution, we empirically evaluate our methods against previously used sampling heuristics and find that they generally cut the number of required relevance judgments at least in half.Comment: Under review; 10 page

Economics, Behavioral Biology, and Law

This article compares the relevance to law of two unexpectedly similar fields: economics and behavioral biology. It first examines the assumptions, core concepts, methodological tenets, and emphases of the two fields. It then compares the interdisciplinary fields of law and economics, on one hand, with law and behavioral biology, on the other-highlighting not only important similarities but also important differences. The article subsequently explores ways that biological perspectives on human behavior may, among other things, improve economic models and the behavioral insights they generate. The article concludes that although there are important differences between the two fields, the overlaps between economics and biology warrant even greater congress between these two disciplines, and expanded exchange between the legal thinkers interested in each of them

Effect of hyperon bulk viscosity on neutron-star r-modes

Neutron stars are expected to contain a significant number of hyperons in addition to protons and neutrons in the highest density portions of their cores. Following the work of Jones, we calculate the coefficient of bulk viscosity due to nonleptonic weak interactions involving hyperons in neutron-star cores, including new relativistic and superfluid effects. We evaluate the influence of this new bulk viscosity on the gravitational radiation driven instability in the r-modes. We find that the instability is completely suppressed in stars with cores cooler than a few times 10^9 K, but that stars rotating more rapidly than 10-30% of maximum are unstable for temperatures around 10^10 K. Since neutron-star cores are expected to cool to a few times 10^9 K within seconds (much shorter than the r-mode instability growth time) due to direct Urca processes, we conclude that the gravitational radiation instability will be suppressed in young neutron stars before it can significantly change the angular momentum of the star.Comment: final PRD version, minor typos etc correcte

Survey of the Illinois Endangered Kankakee Mallow, Iliamna remota, in Kankakee County

Iliamna remota Greene (Malvaceae), endemic only to Langham Island in the Kankakee River, Kankakee County, Illinois, is a state endangered species. During the present study, the size of the population was determined, the habitat structure in and around the individual colonies analyzed, and management recommendation made to potentially increase the size of the population. During the summer of 2005, the I remota population consisted of 1,074 stems in 12 colonies, located along the northwest side of the island. In late June, flowering appeared to be prolific, where means and standard deviations of floral buds and open flowers were 1.6 :t 1.2 and 2.1 :t 1.7 per stem, respectively. By late July, however, flowering was sporadic, but many flowering stems had set seed with the mean number of fruits being 1.2 :t 0.9 per stem. Forty percent of sampled seeds germinated after being treated in hot water (80°C) for 10 seconds. Common species associated with I remota colonies were the cool-season Eurasian grass, Poa pratensis, and the East Asian shrub Lonicera maackii, along with 22 native species and a few other exotics. Previous management included cutting and burning of the shrubby vegetation in and around the l remota colonies. A return to these management practices is suggested

Survey of the Illinois Endangered Kankakee Mallow, Iliamna remote, in Kankakee County

Iliamna remota Greene (Malvaceae), endemic only to Langham Island in the Kankakee River, Kankakee County, Illinois, is a state endangered species. During the present study, the size of the population was determined, the habitat structure in and around the individual colonies analyzed, and management recommendation made to potentially increase the size of the population. During the summer of 2005, the I remota population consisted of 1,074 stems in 12 colonies, located along the northwest side of the island. In late June, flowering appeared to be prolific, where means and standard deviations of floral buds and open flowers were 1.6 :t 1.2 and 2.1 :t 1.7 per stem, respectively. By late July, however, flowering was sporadic, but many flowering stems had set seed with the mean number of fruits being 1.2 :t 0.9 per stem. Forty percent of sampled seeds germinated after being treated in hot water (80°C) for 10 seconds. Common species associated with I remota colonies were the cool-season Eurasian grass, Poa pratensis, and the East Asian shrub Lonicera maackii, along with 22 native species and a few other exotics. Previous management included cutting and burning of the shrubby vegetation in and around the l remota colonies. A return to these management practices is suggested

Survey of the Illinois Endangered Kankakee Mallow, Iliamna remote, in Kankakee County

Iliamna remota Greene (Malvaceae), endemic only to Langham Island in the Kankakee River, Kankakee County, Illinois, is a state endangered species. During the present study, the size of the population was determined, the habitat structure in and around the individual colonies analyzed, and management recommendation made to potentially increase the size of the population. During the summer of 2005, the I remota population consisted of 1,074 stems in 12 colonies, located along the northwest side of the island. In late June, flowering appeared to be prolific, where means and standard deviations of floral buds and open flowers were 1.6 :t 1.2 and 2.1 :t 1.7 per stem, respectively. By late July, however, flowering was sporadic, but many flowering stems had set seed with the mean number of fruits being 1.2 :t 0.9 per stem. Forty percent of sampled seeds germinated after being treated in hot water (80°C) for 10 seconds. Common species associated with I remota colonies were the cool-season Eurasian grass, Poa pratensis, and the East Asian shrub Lonicera maackii, along with 22 native species and a few other exotics. Previous management included cutting and burning of the shrubby vegetation in and around the l remota colonies. A return to these management practices is suggested