Analysis of information systems for hydropower operations

The operations of hydropower systems were analyzed with emphasis on water resource management, to determine how aerospace derived information system technologies can increase energy output. Better utilization of water resources was sought through improved reservoir inflow forecasting based on use of hydrometeorologic information systems with new or improved sensors, satellite data relay systems, and use of advanced scheduling techniques for water release. Specific mechanisms for increased energy output were determined, principally the use of more timely and accurate short term (0-7 days) inflow information to reduce spillage caused by unanticipated dynamic high inflow events. The hydrometeorologic models used in predicting inflows were examined to determine the sensitivity of inflow prediction accuracy to the many variables employed in the models, and the results used to establish information system requirements. Sensor and data handling system capabilities were reviewed and compared to the requirements, and an improved information system concept outlined

Application of ERTS-1 data to integrated state planning in the state of Maryland

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

L-band radar sensing of soil moisture

The performance of an L-band, 25 cm wavelength imaging synthetic aperture radar was assessed for soil moisture determination, and the temporal variability of radar returns from a number of agricultural fields was studied. A series of three overflights was accomplished over an agricultural test site in Kern County, California. Soil moisture samples were collected from bare fields at nine sites at depths of 0-2, 2-5, 5-15, and 15-30 cm. These gravimetric measurements were converted to percent of field capacity for correlation to the radar return signal. The initial signal film was optically correlated and scanned to produce image data numbers. These numbers were then converted to relative return power by linear interpolation of the noise power wedge which was introduced in 5 dB steps into the original signal film before and after each data run. Results of correlations between the relative return power and percent of field capacity (FC) demonstrate that the relative return power from this imaging radar system is responsive to the amount of soil moisture in bare fields. The signal returned from dry (15% FC) and wet (130% FC) fields where furrowing is parallel to the radar beam differs by about 10 dB

Dynamic Transitions for Quasilinear Systems and Cahn-Hilliard equation with Onsager mobility

The main objectives of this article are two-fold. First, we study the effect of the nonlinear Onsager mobility on the phase transition and on the well-posedness of the Cahn-Hilliard equation modeling a binary system. It is shown in particular that the dynamic transition is essentially independent of the nonlinearity of the Onsager mobility. However, the nonlinearity of the mobility does cause substantial technical difficulty for the well-posedness and for carrying out the dynamic transition analysis. For this reason, as a second objective, we introduce a systematic approach to deal with phase transition problems modeled by quasilinear partial differential equation, following the ideas of the dynamic transition theory developed recently by Ma and Wang

Global Waste Management Outlook

The Global Waste Management Outlook, a collective effort of the United Nations Environment Programme and the International Waste Management Association, is a pioneering scientific global assessment on the state of waste management and a call for action to the international community. Prepared as a follow up to the Rio+20 Summit and as a response to UNEP Governing Council decision GC 27/12, the document establishes the rationale and the tools for taking a holistic approach towards waste management and recognizing waste and resource management as a significant contributor to sustainable development and climate change mitigation. To complement the Sustainable Development Goals of the Post-2015 Development Agenda, the Outlook sets forth Global Waste Management Goals and a Global Call to Action to achieve those goals

Stability of complex hyperbolic space under curvature-normalized Ricci flow

Using the maximal regularity theory for quasilinear parabolic systems, we prove two stability results of complex hyperbolic space under the curvature-normalized Ricci flow in complex dimensions two and higher. The first result is on a closed manifold. The second result is on a complete noncompact manifold. To prove both results, we fully analyze the structure of the Lichnerowicz Laplacian on complex hyperbolic space. To prove the second result, we also define suitably weighted little H\"{o}lder spaces on a complete noncompact manifold and establish their interpolation properties.Comment: Some typos in version 2 are correcte

Lifespan theorem for constrained surface diffusion flows

We consider closed immersed hypersurfaces in $\R^{3}$ and $\R^4$ evolving by a class of constrained surface diffusion flows. Our result, similar to earlier results for the Willmore flow, gives both a positive lower bound on the time for which a smooth solution exists, and a small upper bound on a power of the total curvature during this time. By phrasing the theorem in terms of the concentration of curvature in the initial surface, our result holds for very general initial data and has applications to further development in asymptotic analysis for these flows.Comment: 29 pages. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1201.657

INFIMA leverages multi-omics model organism data to identify effector genes of human GWAS variants.

Genome-wide association studies reveal many non-coding variants associated with complex traits. However, model organism studies largely remain as an untapped resource for unveiling the effector genes of non-coding variants. We develop INFIMA, Integrative Fine-Mapping, to pinpoint causal SNPs for diversity outbred (DO) mice eQTL by integrating founder mice multi-omics data including ATAC-seq, RNA-seq, footprinting, and in silico mutation analysis. We demonstrate INFIMA\u27s superior performance compared to alternatives with human and mouse chromatin conformation capture datasets. We apply INFIMA to identify novel effector genes for GWAS variants associated with diabetes. The results of the application are available at http://www.statlab.wisc.edu/shiny/INFIMA/

Loss of MITF expression during human embryonic stem cell differentiation disrupts retinal pigment epithelium development and optic vesicle cell proliferation

Microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) is a master regulator of pigmented cell survival and differentiation with direct transcriptional links to cell cycle, apoptosis and pigmentation. In mouse, Mitf is expressed early and uniformly in optic vesicle (OV) cells as they evaginate from the developing neural tube, and null Mitf mutations result in microphthalmia and pigmentation defects. However, homozygous mutations in MITF have not been identified in humans; therefore, little is known about its role in human retinogenesis. We used a human embryonic stem cell (hESC) model that recapitulates numerous aspects of retinal development, including OV specification and formation of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and neural retina progenitor cells (NRPCs), to investigate the earliest roles of MITF. During hESC differentiation toward a retinal lineage, a subset of MITF isoforms was expressed in a sequence and tissue distribution similar to that observed in mice. In addition, we found that promoters for the MITF-A, -D and -H isoforms were directly targeted by Visual Systems Homeobox 2 (VSX2), a transcription factor involved in patterning the OV toward a NRPC fate. We then manipulated MITF RNA and protein levels at early developmental stages and observed decreased expression of eye field transcription factors, reduced early OV cell proliferation and disrupted RPE maturation. This work provides a foundation for investigating MITF and other highly complex, multi-purposed transcription factors in a dynamic human developmental model syste