Wildlife management by habitat units: A preliminary plan of action

Procedures for yielding vegetation type maps were developed using LANDSAT data and a computer assisted classification analysis (LARSYS) to assist in managing populations of wildlife species by defined area units. Ground cover in Travis County, Texas was classified on two occasions using a modified version of the unsupervised approach to classification. The first classification produced a total of 17 classes. Examination revealed that further grouping was justified. A second analysis produced 10 classes which were displayed on printouts which were later color-coded. The final classification was 82 percent accurate. While the classification map appeared to satisfactorily depict the existing vegetation, two classes were determined to contain significant error. The major sources of error could have been eliminated by stratifying cluster sites more closely among previously mapped soil associations that are identified with particular plant associations and by precisely defining class nomenclature using established criteria early in the analysis

Nicotine and Alcohol Interactions

Charles C.J. Frye, a graduate student in the Behavior Analysis program at Utah State University, completed this dissertation as part of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology. Alcohol and Nicotine are the two most commonly abused drugs in the United States, often used at the same time. The goal of the dissertation was to more fully understand how exposure to one drug alters motivation for the other. In Chapter I, we investigated how exposure to nicotine affects relapse for alcohol in rats. Nicotine did not affect relapse for alcohol, possibly due to the method of nicotine delivery used. In Chapter II, we investigated how exposure to nicotine and nicotine combined with MAOI (a drug commonly used as an antidepressant and found in tobacco cigarettes) affects motivation for alcohol in rats. We found that nicotine increased motivation for alcohol, but nicotine combined with MAOI reduced motivation for alcohol. Chapter IV consisted of 3 experiments using hypothetical purchase tasks with human participants. In Experiment 1, we assessed how the hypothetical opportunity to smoke cigarettes at a concert influenced purchasing of hypothetical alcohol. We found that having the opportunity to smoke did not alter purchasing alcohol. In Experiment 2, we assessed the opposite relation: how the hypothetical opportunity to drink alcoholic beverages at a concert altered purchasing of hypothetical tobacco cigarettes. We found that the Maximum Expenditure was greater when participants were told that they could not drink alcohol at the concert. Lastly, in Experiment 3, we assessed how consumption of alcohol and cigarettes was affected by manipulating the price of one of the drugs. Specifically, we assessed how purchasing of tobacco cigarettes changed (despite a constant price) when we increased the cost of alcoholic beverages. We also assessed how the purchasing of alcoholic beverages changed (despite a constant price) when we increased the price of tobacco cigarettes. We found that tobacco cigarette purchasing was independent of alcohol beverage price and alcoholic beverage purchasing was independent of tobacco cigarette price. Each study in this dissertation produced surprising results and has the potential to stimulate new research questions

LOX/GOX mechanical impact tester assessment

The performances of three existing high pressure oxygen mechanical impact test systems were tested at two different test sites. The systems from one test site were fabricated from the same design drawing, whereas the system tested at the other site was of different design. Energy delivered to the test sample for each test system was evaluated and compared. Results were compared to the reaction rates obtained

Stylolites in the Burlington Limestone near Kinderhook, Illinois

Weil developed stylolites showing a peculiar relationship to chert occur in the Burlington limestone north of Kinderhook, Illinois. Specimens were studied by the preparation of insoluble residues of the limestone and clay cap, and by making thin sections of the chert nodules. Stockdale\u27s conclusion of origin by solution in an indurated rock is ascribed to for the stylolites in question because, (1) crinoid stems are fluted along the sides of prongs the same as the mass of the rock, (2) the suite of minerals occurring in the clay cap\u27\u27 represents nearly a true average of the suites of minerals from the residues above and below the stylolite, (3) the chert in every case examined was prior to the stylolite formation as shown by fluting along the sides and pitting of upper and lower surfaces, and (4) the presence of systems of subsidiary stylolites which crosscut the prongs of the earlier and larger system. The thickness of the clay cap has little relation to the amount of material removed, as it varied up to 75 per cent soluble

A Robust 43-GHz VCO in CMOS for OC-768 SONET Applications

In this paper, we present a 43-GHz LC-VCO in 0.13-/spl mu/m CMOS for use in SONET OC-768 optical networks. A tuned output buffer is used to provide 1.3 V/sub p-p/ (single-ended) into a 90-fF capacitive load as is required when the VCO is used in typical clock and data recovery (CDR) circuits. Phase noise is -90 dBc/Hz at a 1-MHz offset from the carrier; this meets SONET jitter specifications. The design has a tune range of 4.2%. The VCO, including output buffers, consumes 14 mA from a 1-V supply and occupies 0.06 mm/sup 2/ of die area. Modern CMOS process characteristics and the high center frequency of this design mean that the tank loss is not dominated by the integrated inductor, but rather by the tank capacitance. An area-efficient inductor design that does not require any optimization is used

Preliminary design study of a quiet, high flow fan (QHF) stage

Concepts selected to reduce fan generated noise in a turbofan are presented. Near-sonic flow at the fan inlet to reduce upstream propagated noise and the use of long-chord vanes to reduce downstream noise is discussed. The near-sonic condition at the rotor inlet plane was achieved by designing for high specific mass flow and by maintaining the high flow at reduced power by variable stators and variable fan exhaust nozzle. The long-chord vanes reduce response to unsteady flow. The acoustic design showed that long-chord stators would significantly reduce turbofan source noise and that other stator design parameters have no appreciable effect on noise for the spacing and chord length of the turbofan design. Four rig flow paths studied in the aerodynamic preliminary design are discussed. Noise prediction results indicate that a turbofan powered aircraft would be under federal air regulations levels without any acoustic treatment

Mitochondrial Dysfunction Is Inducible in Lymphoblastoid Cell Lines From Children With Autism and May Involve the TORC1 Pathway

We previously developed a lymphoblastoid cell line (LCL) model of mitochondrial dysfunction in autism spectrum disorder (ASD); some individuals with ASD showed mitochondrial dysfunction (AD-A) while other individuals (AD-N) demonstrated mitochondrial respiration similar to controls (CNT). To test the hypothesis that mitochondrial dysfunction could be a consequence of environmental exposures through chronic elevations in reactive oxygen species (ROS), we exposed LCLs to prolonged ROS. We also examined expression of metabolic regulatory genes and the modulating effect of the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway. Prolonged ROS exposure induced or worsened mitochondrial dysfunction in all LCL groups. Expression of genes associated with ROS protection was elevated in both AD-N and AD-A LCLs, but mitochondrial fission/fusion and mitoplasticity gene expression was only increased in AD-N LCLs. Partial least squares discriminant analysis showed that mTOR, UCP2 (uncoupling protein 2), SIRT1 (sirtuin 1), and MFN2 (mitofusin-2) gene expression differentiated LCL groups. Low-dose rapamycin (0.1 nM) normalized respiration with the magnitude of this normalization greater for AD-A LCLs, suggesting that the mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) pathway may have a different dynamic range for regulating mitochondrial activity in individuals with ASD with and without mitochondrial dysfunction, potentially related to S6K1 (S6 kinase beta-1) regulation. Understanding pathways that underlie mitochondrial dysfunction in ASD may lead to novel treatments.Arkansas Biosciences Institute (Little Rock, AR); Jonty Foundation (St. Paul, MN); Autism Research Institute (San Diego, CA); Gupta Family Foundation (Atherton, CA); Jane Botsford Johnson Foundation (New York, NY); Jager Family Foundation (Chicago, IL); Phoenix Children's Hospital Foundation (Phoenix, AZ)Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]