Letter, 1969 November 9, from J.T. Williams to Eva Jessye

1 page, Williams was the president of Maryland State College. This letter was sent in the form of a telegram

A hybrid neuro--wavelet predictor for QoS control and stability

For distributed systems to properly react to peaks of requests, their adaptation activities would benefit from the estimation of the amount of requests. This paper proposes a solution to produce a short-term forecast based on data characterising user behaviour of online services. We use \emph{wavelet analysis}, providing compression and denoising on the observed time series of the amount of past user requests; and a \emph{recurrent neural network} trained with observed data and designed so as to provide well-timed estimations of future requests. The said ensemble has the ability to predict the amount of future user requests with a root mean squared error below 0.06\%. Thanks to prediction, advance resource provision can be performed for the duration of a request peak and for just the right amount of resources, hence avoiding over-provisioning and associated costs. Moreover, reliable provision lets users enjoy a level of availability of services unaffected by load variations

Radiocarbon Date List X: Baffin Bay, Baffin Island, Iceland, Labrador Sea, and the Northern North Atlantic

Date List X contains an annotated listing of 213 radiocarbon dates determined on samples from marine and terrestrial environments. The marine samples were collected from the East Greenland, Iceland, Spitzbergen, and Norwegian margins, Baffin Bay, and Labrador Sea. The terrestrial samples were collected from Vestfirdir, Iceland and Baffin Island. The samples were submitted by INSTAAR and researchers affiliated with INSTAAR\u27s Micropaleontology Laboratory under the direction of Dr.’s John T. Andrews and Anne E. Jennings. All of the dates from marine sediment cores were determined from either shells or foraminifera (both benthic and planktic). All dates were obtained by the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) method. Regions of concentrated marine research include: Baffin Bay, Baffin Island, Labrador Sea, East Greenland fjords, shelf and slope, Denmark Strait, the southwestern and northwestern Iceland shelves, and Vestfirdir, Iceland. The non-marine radiocarbon dates are from peat, wood, plant microfossils, and mollusc. The radiocarbon dates have been used to address a variety of research objectives such as: 1. determining the timing of northern hemisphere high latitude environmental changes including glacier advance and retreat, and 2. assessing the accuracy of a fluctuating reservoir correction. Thus, most of the dates constrain the timing, rate, and interaction of late Quaternary paleoenvironmental fluctuations in sea level, glacier extent, sediment input, and changes in ocean circulation patterns. Where significant, stratigraphic and sample contexts are presented for each core to document the basis for interpretations

Avian use of anthropogenic and natural habitats in a small island developing state

Avian species on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are at particular risk from agricultural and urban expansion and climate change. However, creating appropriate management and mitigation actions for SIDS is challenging because ecological and conservation data are often unavailable. To better understand natural and anthropogenic habitat use by resident bird species in a small Neotropical SIDS, we conducted a systematic, community-wide survey of the distribution, diversity, and abundance of Grenada's land birds. Higher densities of most species were found in anthropogenic cultivated and secondary grasslands, while cloud and secondary forests had lower densities of most species. Nonetheless, cloud and secondary forests were selected by some species of conservation concern, such as the regionally endemic Lesser Antillean Tanager (Tangara cucullata), Grenada Flycatcher (Myiarchus nugator), and all nectarivores. Nectarivores tended to avoid urban habitats. Our results suggest that many avian species in Grenada make significant use of low-intensity agricultural and rural landscapes, and such habitats should be considered in the conservation of avian communities. Conservation of resident land- bird communities across this region will require maintaining a habitat mosaic of natural and anthropogenic habitat types, and collaboration among a wide range of government and non-governmental stakeholders

A Controlled Study on the Characterisation of Bioaerosols Emissions from Compost

Bioaerosol emissions arising from biowaste treatment are an issue of public concern. To better characterise the bioaerosols, and to assess a range of measurement methods, we aerosolised green waste compost under controlled conditions. Viable and non-viable Andersen samplers, cyclone samplers and a real time bioaerosol detection system (Spectral Intensity Bioaerosol Sensor (SIBS)) were deployed simultaneously. The number-weighted fraction of fluorescent particles was in the range 22–26% of all particles for low and high emission scenarios. Overall fluorescence spectral profiles seen by the SIBS exhibited several peaks across the 16 wavelength bands from 298 to 735 nm. The size-fractionated endotoxin profile showed most endotoxin resided in the 2.1–9 μm aerodynamic diameter fraction, though up to 27% was found in a finer size fraction. A range of microorganisms were detected through culture, Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption and Ionisation Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF) and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), including Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1. These findings contribute to our knowledge of the physico-chemical and biological characteristics of bioaerosols from composting sites, as well as informing future monitoring approaches and data interpretation for bioaerosol measurement

Probing the interplay between factors determining reaction rates on silica gel using termolecular systems

In this study we have compared energy and electron transfer reactions in termolecular systems using a nanosecond diffuse reflectance laser flash photolysis technique. We have previously investigated these processes on silica gel surfaces for bimolecular systems and electron transfer in termolecular systems. The latter systems involved electron transfer between three arene molecules with azulene acting as a molecular shuttle. In this study we present an alternative electron transfer system using trans β-carotene as an electron donor in order to effectively immobilise all species except the shuttle, providing the first unambiguous evidence for radical ion mobility. In the energy transfer system we use naphthalene, a structural isomer of azulene, as the shuttle, facilitating energy transfer from a selectively excited benzophenone sensitiser to 9-cyanoanthracene. Bimolecular rate constants for all of these processes have been measured and new insights into the factors determining the rates of these reactions on silica gel have been obtained

Checklist of the shore and epipelagic fishes of Tonga

A checklist is given below of 1162 species of shore and epipelagic fishes belonging to 111 families that occur in the islands of Tonga, South Pacifie Ocean; 40 of these are epipelagic species. As might be expected, the fish fauna of Tonga is most similar to those of Samoa and Fiji; at least 658 species of the fishes found in Tonga are also known from Fiji and the islands of Samoa. Twelve species of shore fishes are presently known only from Tonga. Specimens of Tongan fishes are housed mainly in the fish collections of the National Museum ofNatural History, Washington D.C.; Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu; Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris; and the Australian Museum, Sydney. Native Tongan names offishes, when known, are presented afterspecies names

Amplification of evanescent waves in a lossy left-handed material slab

We carry out finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations, with a specially-designed boundary condition, on pure evanescent waves interacting with a lossy left-handed material (LHM) slab. Our results provide the first full-wave numerical evidence for the amplification of evanescent waves inside a LHM slab of finite absorption. The amplification is due to the interactions between the evanescent waves and the coupled surface polaritons at the two surfaces of the LHM slab and the physical process can be described by a simple model.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Global research on underutilized crops: An assessment of current activities and proposals for enhanced cooperation

This report has been produced to provide a succinct overview of the global research activities on underutilized crops. It is aimed at policy-makers, funding agencies and research administrators but it is hoped that it will also be of use to the scientific community. The report results from a request from a workshop convened by the Genetic Resources Policy Committee for the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. The workshop was held at the M.S.S. Research Foundation, Chennai, India in 1999. It will be seen that the number of countries with dedicated research programmes on underutilized crops is very small. Much of the current activity is carried out through networking arrangements. An analysis suggests that there is a need to re-think the current networks and a strategy for expanded research cooperation should include due attention to information and enhancing research priority setting and cooperative research