Southern Nevada Water Authority

The arid Southwest of the United States is confronted with increasing water demands. Past efforts to meet water demand have been directed toward development of scarce water resources. Now the times are changing and conservation programs are being instituted to expand supplies for the growing population. In Las Vegas, the tides are shifting to conservation programs. The Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA), an agency comprised of the local water utilities, have united to find new sources of water to feed the growing city. SNWA has invested a great deal of money into the conservation programs as an alternative to developing new water supplies. This research studied a conservation program’s effect on the water consumption after residential customers participated in a site review. The site review program can also be referred to as an irrigation audit. Irrigation audits systematically evaluate an irrigation system and matches the scheduling of the system to the plant requirements, soil type, shade, sun exposure, and slope. The homeowner is then provided with a new water schedule and often their irrigation clock is reprogrammed. The condition of the system is reviewed to inform the owner of any broken parts or maintenance needed. Improving the system’s maintenance increases watering efficiency, which in turn reduces the amount of water required to irrigate. The evaluation of these water conservation programs is limited and relatively unknown. This research analyzes the effectiveness of this program in reducing water consumption

Multifractal formalism for Benedicks-Carleson quadratic maps

For a positive measure set of nonuniformly expanding quadratic maps on the interval we effect a multifractal formalism, i.e., decompose the phase space into level sets of time averages of a given observable and consider the associated {\it Birkhoff spectrum} which encodes this decomposition. We derive a formula which relates the Hausdorff dimension of level sets to entropies and Lyapunov exponents of invariant probability measures, and then use this formula to show that the spectrum is continuous. In order to estimate the Hausdorff dimension from above, one has to "see" sufficiently many points. To this end, we construct a family of towers. Using these towers we establish a large deviation principle for empirical distributions, with Lebesgue as a reference measure.Comment: 25 pages, no figure, Ergodic Theory and Dynamical Systems, to appea

The Shortcomings of Contemporary Political Rhetoric

This article examines some important trends in American political discourse. In tracing the problems present in contemporary debates back to their rhetorical roots, it argues that our political discourse is harried not only by party schisms, but also by inefficient modes of speech and debate

Practice-led: designing through making

This paper has investigated a design method for furniture designers in Malaysia to allow users to express their needs and aspirations through place making or creation of meaningful office workspaces. During the field work, we discovered that there were problems in getting the users to explain their ideas through verbal explanations. They did not have the proper techniques and tools to express their ideas. From there we started to use mock-ups as tools to communicate and engage with the respondents in our investigation. In the research, we have identified a promising participatory design approach, role-play with mock-ups. The study revealed that, by using role-play with mock-ups directly with the users, allowed the designers to quickly become aware of arising issues without the need to do a potentially time-consuming, normative and tedious observational study. This research approach is primarily leads to new understanding about practice and described as “practice-led” approach to research. This project had investigated, demonstrated and opened the possibility that these approaches could be turned into a practical participatory process toward design and place making in furniture industry practice in Malaysia

Fractals and dynamical chaos in a random 2D Lorentz gas with sinks

Two-dimensional random Lorentz gases with absorbing traps are considered in which a moving point particle undergoes elastic collisions on hard disks and annihilates when reaching a trap. In systems of finite spatial extension, the asymptotic decay of the survival probability is exponential and characterized by an escape rate, which can be related to the average positive Lyapunov exponent and to the dimension of the fractal repeller of the system. For infinite systems, the survival probability obeys a stretched exponential law of the form P(c,t)~exp(-Ct^{1/2}). The transition between the two regimes is studied and we show that, for a given trap density, the non-integer dimension of the fractal repeller increases with the system size to finally reach the integer dimension of the phase space. Nevertheless, the repeller remains fractal. We determine the special scaling properties of this fractal.Comment: 40 pages, 10 figures, preprint for Physica

Re-examining the Ethical Considerations in Liver Transplants

Liver transplantation is one of the most debated topics in healthcare. It is important to understand the step processes involved prior to transplant as well as the treatment in follow-up, and how ethical decisions are made in who will make the transplant list. Alcoholism is also a common medical condition that plagues many people, and these people are often the recipients of liver transplants. When considering who is eligible for a transplant, healthcare professionals should not only consider medical history such as lab work, imaging, MELD scores, Child-Pugh scores, and post-op complications, but also social implications such as willingness to quit, social support, and medical compliance. It is not only an ethical dilemma of who should receive a liver transplant but when, by weighing the pros and cons of waiting a 6-month long alcohol abstinence period or proceeding quickly prior to 6 months. How and why decisions are made for liver transplants for alcoholic liver disease patients will affect the care and outlook healthcare professionals offer to patients, therefore, the significance of educating the public on this dilemma will provide a better informed and empathetic approach to healthcare

Social Construct Consent Theory: why we fought in Vietnam

This project examines the motivational structures of military service, focusing on the Vietnam War. By plumbing the minds of the war’s veterans, it seeks to identify the process by which soldiers consent to military service both before and during their service, and if differences in Military Operational Specialty correlate with different motivations for consent

É possível simplificar o monitoramento ambiental? Abordagens com o zooplâncton em um reservatório hidroelétrico

Objetivo: a fim de contribuir para o conhecimento a respeito da simplificação de levantamentos biológicos, o presente estudo avaliou o uso de grupos substitutos, resolução taxonômica e numérica para os três principais grupos da comunidade zooplanctônica (cladóceros, copépodes e rotíferos) em uma Usina Hidrelétrica (UHE). As seguintes questões foram abordadas: (i) Os padrões de ordenação espacial e/ou temporal gerados entre cada grupo zooplanctônico são concordantes? (ii) A concordância se mantém utilizando dados de presença e ausência em substituição a dados de densidade? (iii) A identificação dos organismos em nível de espécie pode ser substituída por gênero ou família? Métodos: foram realizadas coletas em sete unidades amostrais ao longo de cinco campanhas entre os anos de 2009 e 2010 na UHE de Serra da Mesa (Goiás, Brasil). Para avaliar a correlação entre cada par de matrizes foi utilizado o teste de Mantel. Resultados: não se deve realizar substituições entre os grupos zooplanctônicos, sendo necessário o monitoramento dos três grupos (copépodes, cladóceros e rotíferos). Além disso, sugerimos a utilização de dados de densidade de indivíduos ao invés de apenas dados de presença/ausência de espécies. Por fim, os resultados deste estudo indicam a possibilidade de dados em nível de espécies serem substituídos por dados em nível de gênero ou família. Conclusão: para fins de monitoramento da comunidade zooplanctônica, apenas o uso da resolução taxonômica mostrou-se eficiente para esta área de estudo, não sendo recomendado o uso de substitutos nem resolução numérica entre os grupos.Aim: in order to contribute to the knowledge about the simplification of biological surveys, this study evaluated the use of substitute groups, numeric and taxonomic resolution for the three main groups of zooplankton (cladocerans, copepods and rotifers) in a Hydropower Plant (UHE). The following issues were addressed: (i) the patterns of spatial and/or temporal ordering generated between each zooplankton group are in concordance? (ii) The concordance is maintained using presence/absence data instead of density data? (iii) The identification of organisms to the species level can be replaced by genus or family level? Methods: samples were taken in seven sample units over five campaigns between 2009 and 2010 in the UHE Serra da Mesa (Goiás, Brazil). To evaluate the correlation between each pair of matrices was used the Mantel test. Results: the results demonstrate that the replacements should not be made among the zooplanktonic groups, requiring the monitoring of three groups (copepods, cladocerans and rotifers). Furthermore, the results suggest the use of density data of individuals rather than just presence/absence of species. Finally, the results of this study indicate the possibility to use data at species level instead of data at genus or family level. Conclusion: for zooplankton community monitoring purposes only the use of taxonomic resolution showed to be efficient for this area of study, not being recommended the use of surrogate groups or numerical resolution