The ecology of an insular population of northern quoll Dasyurus hallucatus

The northern quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus) is the smallest of the four quoll species endemic to Australia, and has suffered significant recent declines due to the spread of a number of threatening processes including ingestion of the toxic cane toad, altered fire regimes, and habitat loss and modification. In many areas, the species has survived by persisting in rocky country but populations are fragmented and isolated. In the recent mining boom of Western Australia many areas where the northern quoll has persisted were targeted for mining, and there have been an increasing number of mining projects needing to manage and mitigate impacts to populations of this species. There are also a number of conservation initiatives in progress that aim to buffer the northern quoll from the continuing threat of exotic species and habitat modification. However, the northern quoll is a cryptic species that occurs in remote areas and research to date has been limited by logistic constraints and sampling difficulty. On Koolan Island, the northern quoll has persisted despite a long history of mining for iron ore (1934 – 1940; 1965 - 1993; 2006 - present). Therefore, this thesis aimed to study the ecology of Koolan Island northern quolls to better understand the population dynamics, diet and habitat use of an island population, and examine any interactions with modified areas. Fieldwork undertaken between 2014 and 2017 on Koolan Island was combined with a mark-recapture dataset spanning 13 years (2006 - 2018). The dataset was analysed using both spatial and non-spatial capture recapture methods to examine the population dynamics of northern quolls on Koolan Island. Using both methods aided in circumventing the analytical constraints of the study design, which was typical of many long-term monitoring programs in that it was spatially inconsistent (trap location varied) between years. Females were rarely captured between years, with no male recaptures suggesting a near-complete male die-off before the next breeding season. Apart from a decline in 2010-2011 following a cyclone, the population remained relatively stable and was not in continuous decline between 2006-2018 (~12.65 individuals/ km2). Using estimates of seniority (the probability that an individual present in year t was also present in year t – 1), recruitment was found to drive population change (seniority = 0.18; 95% CI 0.12–0.27). Dietary analysis was conducted using scats collected across the island from 2014 - 2017, with a total 448 scats from both anthropogenic and native habitat types. Closed capture models were used to examine differences in diet between anthropogenic and native habitat to contrast the wet and dry season, and Fisher’s Exact Tests were used to determine if prey were consumed relative to their availability. A total of 32 food items were detected in the northern quoll diet, with the most commonly consumed foods including invertebrates (beetles/cockroaches, crickets/grasshoppers, centipedes, crustaceans), skinks, and major fruiting plants found on the island (Ficus sp. and fruit of the stinking passionflower Passiflora foetida). Closed capture analysis indicated that diet composition was influenced by both season and habitat type. Invertebrates were the most commonly consumed food type by far, in particular beetles/cockroaches which were consumed more often than would be expected based on their availability in the environment (P < 0.001). Fruits were consumed in moderate amounts (found in 43.1% of scats), and vertebrates were consumed the least in both modified and unmodified habitats and across seasons. Given population dynamics are driven by recruitment, juvenile survival is likely to be critical to the persistence of the northern quoll. The northern quoll is dependent on its mother for the first stage of life, and young are deposited in dens while the female forages at night. Therefore, this thesis also investigated the characteristics of dens selected by females during the young in den phase to better understand den attributes that may influence selection by this species. A total of 22 dens were located by tracking females captured in both anthropogenic and native habitats. The structural and habitat attributes of these dens were compared with similar available ‘dens’ in the surrounding area using logistic regression. Temperature and humidity of used dens (n = 22), available dens (n = 24) and ambient sites (n = 12) were also measured to determine the microclimatic properties of selected dens. Dens were found in trees (n = 4), rock crevices (n = 12), and underground (n = 6), with no dens found in anthropogenic areas. One den was located in an area with commenced but not complete rehabilitation (earthworks undertaken). Using generalised additive mixed models (GAMM), used dens appeared to provide a more stable temperature and humidity throughout the day than both available den sites and ambient conditions. Rocky dens had more stable microclimates than dens in trees or earth. Aerial cover (canopy and/or rocky cover) and number of entrances best predicted female den selection during the young in den period. Overall, my findings indicate that northern quolls on Koolan Island currently exist in a stable population and take advantage of certain resources available in modified areas, appearing relatively resilient to the anthropogenic habitat modification that has occurred to date. Of particular interest is their use of the stinking passionflower, which is the subject of weed control programs on the island. The high level of invertebrate consumption across seasons and habitats, particularly beetles and cockroaches, indicates the importance of this food item to island populations. Low vertebrate consumption may be due to prey availability on the island, or reflect the smaller body size compared to mainland populations. While northern quolls appear to forage in both modified and unmodified environments, maternal den use seems heavily reliant on native habitat, indicating that suitable denning habitat in undisturbed areas must be preserved for a population to persist. Denning habitats that provide a stable microclimate, aerial cover and multiple entry/exit points are likely to be preferred by females during the young in den period and may support juvenile survival at a critical life stage. Collectively, the research detailed in this thesis contains pertinent information on population dynamics, diet, and den site selection to inform conservation efforts across northern Australia and worldwide that target cryptic, rare and endangered mammals

Totimorphic structures for space application

We propose to use a recently introduced Totimorphic metamaterial for constructing morphable space structures. As a first step to investigate the feasibility of this concept, we present a method for morphing such structures autonomously between different shapes using physically plausible actuations, guaranteeing that the material traverses through valid configurations only while morphing. With this work, we aim to lay a foundation for exploring a promising and novel class of multi-functional, reconfigurable space structures.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, presented at the XXVII Italian Association of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIDAA) Congress, 4-7 September 2023, Padova Ital

Enhancing Treatment Integrity Through Systematic Fading with Indiscriminable Contingencies

Frequently school psychologists are asked to develop treatments for teachers to remediate students' academic skills or social behaviors. When teachers implement them with high levels of treatment integrity they are beneficial to students. Treatment integrity has been increased by using direct training, performance feedback, and negative reinforcement procedures. Still, treatment integrity maintenance has not received the same amount of systematic inquiry. This study investigated treatment integrity maintenance over time after a systemic fading procedure with indiscriminable contingencies was implemented. The results showed that the teachers continued to implement treatment protocols at a high level after performance feedback was faded out. Students also fared better when treatment integrity was high.Educatio

Subsurface Flow Management and Real-Time Production Optimization using Model Predictive Control

One of the key challenges in the Oil & Gas industry is to best manage reservoirs under different conditions, constrained by production rates based on various economic scenarios, in order to meet energy demands and maximize profit. To address the energy demand challenges, a transformation in the paradigm of the utilization of "real-time" data has to be brought to bear, as one changes from a static decision making to a dynamical and data-driven management of production in conjunction with real-time risk assessment. The use of modern methods of computational modeling and simulation may be the only means to account for the two major tasks involved in this paradigm shift: (1) large-scale computations; and (2) efficient utilization of the deluge of data streams. Recently, history matching and optimization were brought together in the oil industry into an integrated and more structured approach called optimal closed-loop reservoir management. Closed-loop control algorithms have already been applied extensively in other engineering fields, including aerospace, mechanical, electrical and chemical engineering. However, their applications to porous media flow, such as - in the current practices and improvements in oil and gas recovery, in aquifer management, in bio-landfill optimization, and in CO2 sequestration have been minimal due to the large-scale nature of existing problems that generate complex models for controller design and real-time implementation. Their applicability to a realistic field is also an open topic because of the large-scale nature of existing problems that generate complex models for controller design and real-time implementation, hindering its applicability. Basically, three sources of high-dimensionality can be identified from the underlying reservoir models: size of parameter space, size of state space, and the number of scenarios or realizations necessary to account for uncertainty. In this paper we will address type problem of high dimensionality by focusing on the mitigation of the size of the state-space models by means of model-order reduction techniques in a systems framework. We will show how one can obtain accurate reduced order models which are amenable to fast implementations in the closed-loop framework .The research will focus on System Identification (System-ID) (Jansen, 2009) and Model Predictive Control (MPC) (Gildin, 2008) to serve this purpose. A mathematical treatment of System-ID and MPC as applied to reservoir simulation will be presented. Linear MPC would be studied on two specific reservoir models after generating low-order reservoir models using System-ID methods. All the comparisons are provided from a set of realistic simulations using the commercial reservoir simulator called Eclipse. With the improvements in oil recovery and reductions in water production effectively for both the cases that were considered, we could reinforce our stance in proposing the implementation of MPC and System-ID towards the ultimate goal of "real-time" production optimization

Atomic position localization via dual measurement

We study localization of atomic position when a three-level atom interacts with a quantized standing-wave field in the Ramsey interferometer setup. Both the field quadrature amplitude and the atomic internal state are measured to obtain the atomic position information. It is found that this dual measurement scheme produces an interference pattern superimposed on a diffraction-like pattern in the atomic position distribution, where the former pattern originates from the state-selective measurement and the latter from the field measurement. The present scheme results in a better resolution in the position localization than the field-alone measurement schemes. We also discuss the measurement-correlated mechanical action of the standing-wave field on the atom in the light of Popper's test.Comment: 6.5 pages and 5 figure

Polarization-Engineering in III-V Nitride Heterostructures: New Opportunities For Device Design

The role of spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization in III-V nitride heterostructure devices is discussed. Problems as well as opportunities in incorporating polarization in abrupt and graded heterojunctions composed of binary, ternary, and quaternary nitrides are outlined.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Multi-Industry Simplex : A Probabilistic Extension of GICS

Accurate industry classification is a critical tool for many asset management applications. While the current industry gold-standard GICS (Global Industry Classification Standard) has proven to be reliable and robust in many settings, it has limitations that cannot be ignored. Fundamentally, GICS is a single-industry model, in which every firm is assigned to exactly one group - regardless of how diversified that firm may be. This approach breaks down for large conglomerates like Amazon, which have risk exposure spread out across multiple sectors. We attempt to overcome these limitations by developing MIS (Multi-Industry Simplex), a probabilistic model that can flexibly assign a firm to as many industries as can be supported by the data. In particular, we utilize topic modeling, an natural language processing approach that utilizes business descriptions to extract and identify corresponding industries. Each identified industry comes with a relevance probability, allowing for high interpretability and easy auditing, circumventing the black-box nature of alternative machine learning approaches. We describe this model in detail and provide two use-cases that are relevant to asset management - thematic portfolios and nearest neighbor identification. While our approach has limitations of its own, we demonstrate the viability of probabilistic industry classification and hope to inspire future research in this field.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figure

Child and Parent Report of Parenting as Predictors of Substance Use and Suspensions from School

This study examined how child and parent reports of parenting were related to early adolescent substance use and school suspensions. Data were from two time points six months apart on 321 families with an eighth grade student attending one of five schools in the Pacific Northwest. Child- and parent-report measures of family management practices were moderately correlated (r = .29). Child report, but not parent report, of more positive family management practices uniquely predicted a lower likelihood of adolescent substance use. Also, discrepancies between child and parent report of parenting predicted substance use, with child positive report of family management losing its protective association with adolescent substance use when parents had negative reports of their parenting. Parent report, but not child report, of better parenting predicted lower likelihood of suspensions, suggesting that the salience of child and parent report may depend on the type of behavioral outcome

Child and Parent Report of Parenting as Predictors of Substance Use and Suspensions from School

This study examined how child and parent reports of parenting were related to early adolescent substance use and school suspensions. Data were from two time points six months apart on 321 families with an eighth grade student attending one of five schools in the Pacific Northwest. Child- and parent-report measures of family management practices were moderately correlated (r = .29). Child report, but not parent report, of more positive family management practices uniquely predicted a lower likelihood of adolescent substance use. Also, discrepancies between child and parent report of parenting predicted substance use, with child positive report of family management losing its protective association with adolescent substance use when parents had negative reports of their parenting. Parent report, but not child report, of better parenting predicted lower likelihood of suspensions, suggesting that the salience of child and parent report may depend on the type of behavioral outcome

Quasi-biweekly mode of the Asian summer monsoon revealed in Bay of Bengal surface observations

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2020. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 125(12),(2020): e2020JC016271, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JC016271.Asian summer monsoon has a planetary‐scale, westward propagating “quasi‐biweekly” mode of variability with a 10–25 day period. Six years of moored observations at 18°N, 89.5°E in the north Bay of Bengal (BoB) reveal distinct quasi‐biweekly variability in sea surface salinity (SSS) during summer and autumn, with peak‐to‐peak amplitude of 3–8 psu. This large‐amplitude SSS variability is not due to variations of surface freshwater flux or river runoff. We show from the moored data, satellite SSS, and reanalyses that surface winds associated with the quasi‐biweekly monsoon mode and embedded weather‐scale systems, drive SSS and coastal sea level variability in 2015 summer monsoon. When winds are calm, geostrophic currents associated with mesoscale ocean eddies transport Ganga‐Brahmaputra‐Meghna river water southward to the mooring, salinity falls, and the ocean mixed layer shallows to 1–10 m. During active (cloudy, windy) spells of quasi‐biweekly monsoon mode, directly wind‐forced surface currents carry river water away to the east and north, leading to increased salinity at the moorings, and rise of sea level by 0.1–0.5 m along the eastern and northern boundary of the bay. During July–August 2015, a shallow pool of low‐salinity river water lies in the northeastern bay. The amplitude of a 20‐day oscillation of sea surface temperature (SST) is two times larger within the fresh pool than in the saltier ocean to the west, although surface heat flux is nearly identical in the two regions. This is direct evidence that spatial‐temporal variations of BoB salinity influences sub‐seasonal SST variations, and possibly SST‐mediated monsoon air‐sea interaction.The authors thank the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) institutes NIOT and INCOIS, and the Upper Ocean Processes (UOP) group at WHOI for design, integration, and deployment of moorings in the BoB. The WHOI mooring was deployed from the ORV Sagar Nidhi and recovered from the ORV Sagar Kanya—we thank the officers, crew and science teams on the cruises for their support. Sengupta, Ravichandran and Sukhatme acknowledge MoES and the National Monsoon Mission, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, for support; Lucas and Farrar acknowledge the US Office of Naval Research for support of ASIRI through grants N00014‐13‐1‐0489, N0001413‐100453, N0001417‐12880. We thank S. Shivaprasad, Dipanjan Chaudhuri and Jared Buckley for discussion on ocean currents and Ekman flow, and Fabien Durand for discussion on sea level. JSL would like to thank the Divecha Center for Climate Change, IISc., for support. DS acknowledges support from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), New Delhi, under the Indo‐Spanish Programme.2021-05-1