MJO Influence in Continental United States Temperatures

Heat and cold episodes in the continental United States (U.S.) affect millions of people each year. Severe episodes can cause crop damage, power failure, heat stress and hypothermia. The predictability of these extreme events decreases significantly after one week. It is, therefore, essential for scientists to discover new ways to forecast these events weeks in advance, which will provide society ample of prior warning to prepare. The Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) is one of the largest drivers of weather in the tropics (Madden and Julian 1971, 1994). Previous studies have found relationships between the MJO and midlatitude modes of climatic variability, such as the Pacific-North American mode (PNA), the Arctic Oscillation (AO), and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) (Zhou and Miller 2005; L’Heureux and Higgins 2008). Little work has been done on the relationship between the magnitude of cold (warm) events and the MJO amplitude. This study will focus in looking into what type of MJO events lead to a strong cold (warm) events over the Continental United States

Transposed Hinge Structures in Lamellibranchs

In the course of study of a collection of Eocene fossils from Claiborne Bluff, Alabama, the senior author of this paper noticed two valves, one right and one left, of the lamellibranch Venericardia parva Lea, in which the dentition is partially transposed. Subsequently, the authors made an examination of more than five thousand lamellibranch valves, representing both recent and fossil shells, in search of further examples of hinge-transposition. We have found a total number of twenty-six valves exhibiting this variation. Study of these specimens has revealed some hitherto unreported facts regarding the principles of hinge-transposition. Therefore in this paper, we shall describe and discuss these specimens, and shall present such conclusions as seem justified by the data assembled. Citations to the literature are made by author, date, and page, referring to the list at the end of the paper

Research Notes : Soybean cultivar response to manganese

Manganese deficiency of soybeans, Glycine max (L.) Merr., commonly oc-curs in southwestern Ontario. Observation of soybean fields indicated that cultivars differed in degree of Mn-deficiency symptoms. To test this obser-vation, \u27Harosoy 63\u27 and \u27Harman\u27 were grown in 3-replicate tests at six lo-cations in 1963; and, in 1964 and 1965, these cultivars were grown along with \u27Hawkeye 63\u27 and \u27Lindarin 63\u27 in 4-replicate tests at one location

STS-9 BET products

The final products generated for the STS-9, which landed on December 8, 1983 are reported. The trajectory reconstruction utilized an anchor epoch of GMT corresponding to an initial altitude of h 356 kft, selected in view of the limited tracking coverage available. The final state utilized IMU2 measurements and was based on processing radar tracking from six C-bands and a single S-band station, plus six photo-theodolite cameras in the vicinity of Runway 17 at Edwards Air Force Base. The final atmosphere (FLAIR9/UN=581199C) was based on a composite of the remote measured data and the 1978 Air Force Reference Atmosphere model. The Extended BET is available as STS9BET/UN=274885C. The AEROBET and MMLE input files created are discussed. Plots of the more relevant parameters from the AEROBET (reel number NL0624) are included. Input parameters, final residual plots, a trajectory listing, and data archival information are defined

Classification of osteosarcoma T-ray responses using adaptive and rational wavelets for feature extraction

Copyright 2007 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. This paper was published in Complex Systems II, edited by Derek Abbott, Tomaso Aste, Murray Batchelor, Robert Dewar, Tiziana Di Matteo, Tony Guttmann, Proc. of SPIE Vol. 6802, 680211 and is made available as an electronic reprint with permission of SPIE. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic or multiple reproduction, distribution to multiple locations via electronic or other means, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper are prohibited.In this work we investigate new feature extraction algorithms on the T-ray response of normal human bone cells and human osteosarcoma cells. One of the most promising feature extraction methods is the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT). However, the classification accuracy is dependant on the specific wavelet base chosen. Adaptive wavelets circumvent this problem by gradually adapting to the signal to retain optimum discriminatory information, while removing redundant information. Using adaptive wavelets, classification accuracy, using a quadratic Bayesian classifier, of 96.88% is obtained based on 25 features. In addition, the potential of using rational wavelets rather than the standard dyadic wavelets in classification is explored. The advantage it has over dyadic wavelets is that it allows a better adaptation of the scale factor according to the signal. An accuracy of 91.15% is obtained through rational wavelets with 12 coefficients using a Support Vector Machine (SVM) as the classifier. These results highlight adaptive and rational wavelets as an efficient feature extraction method and the enormous potential of T-rays in cancer detection.Desmond Ng, Wong Fu Tian, Withawat Withayachumnankul, David Findlay, Bradley Ferguson and Derek Abbot

Discovery of three z>6.5 quasars in the VISTA Kilo-degree Infrared Galaxy (VIKING) survey

Studying quasars at the highest redshifts can constrain models of galaxy and black hole formation, and it also probes the intergalactic medium in the early universe. Optical surveys have to date discovered more than 60 quasars up to z~6.4, a limit set by the use of the z-band and CCD detectors. Only one z>6.4 quasar has been discovered, namely the z=7.08 quasar ULAS J1120+0641, using near-infrared imaging. Here we report the discovery of three new z>6.4 quasars in 332 square degrees of the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy Kilo-degree Infrared Galaxy (VIKING) survey, thus extending the number from 1 to 4. The newly discovered quasars have redshifts of z=6.60, 6.75, and 6.89. The absolute magnitudes are between -26.0 and -25.5, 0.6-1.1 mag fainter than ULAS J1120+0641. Near-infrared spectroscopy revealed the MgII emission line in all three objects. The quasars are powered by black holes with masses of ~(1-2)x10^9 M_sun. In our probed redshift range of 6.44<z<7.44 we can set a lower limit on the space density of supermassive black holes of \rho(M_BH>10^9 M_sun) > 1.1x10^(-9) Mpc^(-3). The discovery of three quasars in our survey area is consistent with the z=6 quasar luminosity function when extrapolated to z~7. We do not find evidence for a steeper decline in the space density of quasars with increasing redshift from z=6 to z=7.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures. Published in Ap

Reclamation: Managing Water in the West, A.V. Watkins Dam Safety of Dams Modification Draft Environmental Assessment PRO-EA-07-002

This document is an environmental assessment (EA) of the proposal to modify A.V. Watkins Dam under the Safety of Dams (SOD) Act of 1978 (Public Law 95-578, as amended). The proposed SOD modifications would correct safety deficiencies of the dam without affecting the purpose or benefits of the dam. Specifically, the embankment and foundation of the dam need to be repaired. The repairs are needed to restore the reservoir to full function and to incorporate state-of-the-art defensive measures of controlling seepage within the foundation and embankment. On November 13, 2006, emergency remedial actions were taken at A.V. Watkins Dam when it was discovered that a foundation seepage erosion failure mode was in progress. There was a high probability of failure of the dam which could have resulted in the uncontrolled release of the reservoir and which could have resulted in loss of life. It is now critical to the Weber Basin Project (Project) that A.V. Watkins Dam be permanently repaired to allow the reservoir to fill to full capacity and restore Project benefits

Reclamation: Managing Water in the West, Steinaker Reservoir Normal Water Surface Elevation Increase Final Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact

This document is an environmental assessment (EA) of the proposal to raise the normal water surface elevation from 5517.8 feet above mean sea level (msl) to 5520.5 msl for Steinaker Reservoir in Uintah County, Utah. The Uintah Water Conservancy District (UWCD) has requested Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) authorization for this action. The Steinaker State Park, managed by the Utah Division of Parks and Recreation, maintains several campgrounds, an entrance station and other associated buildings and associated infrastructure. Modifications or relocations of some of these facilities would be needed in conjunction with an increase in the reservoir’s normal water surface elevation