Problems in merging Earth sensing satellite data sets

Satellite remote sensing systems provide a tremendous source of data flow to the Earth science community. These systems provide scientists with data of types and on a scale previously unattainable. Looking forward to the capabilities of Space Station and the Earth Observing System (EOS), the full realization of the potential of satellite remote sensing will be handicapped by inadequate information systems. There is a growing emphasis in Earth science research to ask questions which are multidisciplinary in nature and global in scale. Many of these research projects emphasize the interactions of the land surface, the atmosphere, and the oceans through various physical mechanisms. Conducting this research requires large and complex data sets and teams of multidisciplinary scientists, often working at remote locations. A review of the problems of merging these large volumes of data into spatially referenced and manageable data sets is presented

Topological structure of the SU(3) vacuum and exceptional eigenmodes of the improved Wilson-Dirac operator

We present a study of the instanton size and spatial distributions in pure SU(3) gauge theory using under-relaxed cooling. We also investigate the low-lying eigenmodes of the (improved) Wilson-Dirac operator, in particular, the appearance of zero-modes and their space-time localisation with respect to instantons in the underlying gauge field.Comment: Contribution to Lattice97 proceedings: 3 pages, LaTeX2e, 4 postscript figures, uses espcrc2.st

Individual differences in pain sensitivity are associated with cognitive network functional connectivity following one night of experimental sleep disruption.

Previous work suggests that sleep disruption can contribute to poor pain modulation. Here, we used experimental sleep disruption to examine the relationship between sleep disruption-induced pain sensitivity and functional connectivity (FC) of cognitive networks contributing to pain modulation. Nineteen healthy individuals underwent two counterbalanced experimental sleep conditions for one night each: uninterrupted sleep versus sleep disruption. Following each condition, participants completed functional MRI including a simple motor task and a noxious thermal stimulation task. Pain ratings and stimulus temperatures from the latter task were combined to calculate a pain sensitivity change score following sleep disruption. This change score was used as a predictor of simple motor task FC changes using bilateral executive control networks (RECN, LECN) and the default mode network (DMN) masks as seed regions of interest (ROIs). Increased pain sensitivity after sleep disruption was positively associated with increased RECN FC to ROIs within the DMN and LECN (F(4,14) = 25.28, pFDR = 0.05). However, this pain sensitivity change score did not predict FC changes using LECN and DMN masks as seeds (pFDR > 0.05). Given that only RECN FC was associated with sleep loss-induced hyperalgesia, findings suggest that cognitive networks only partially contribute to the sleep-pain dyad

Estimating the Price Elasticity of Demand for Water with Quasi Experimental Methods

There is a growing recognition in both the professional and popular literatures that water scarcity is a key policy issue that is especially important in arid, urban settings with the prospects for shortfalls in water availability due to the effects of climate change. Those evaluating these types of water problems usually conclude prices must be reformed so that incentives facing water users change to reflect this scarcity. Demand functions provide the basic economic relationships required to understand how water use will respond to such changes. This paper proposes a new method for estimating the price elasticity of demand that meets policy needs and can accommodate the presence of increasing block pricing structures.Water Demand Elasticity, Quasi Experiment, Climate Change, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Studies on Nucleic Acid Reassociation Kinetics: Retarded Rate of Hybridization of RNA with Excess DNA

The rate of reaction of excess double-stranded bacteriophage phi X174 and plasmid RSF2124 DNA drivers with enzymatically synthesized asymmetric RNA tracers was measured. Other reactions were carried out with excess Escherichia coli DNA and E. coli RNA labeled in vivo. RNA and DNA fragment lengths were held approximately equal. For each case it was shown that in DNA excess the rate constant for RNA· DNA hybridization is 3- to 4.5-fold lower than that of the renaturation rate constant for the driver DNA. This retardation was also observed in pseudo-first-order hybridization reactions driven by excess strand-separated RSF2124 DNA. It was concluded that the rate constant for RNA· DNA hybridization depends partially on which species is in excess

Establishing a baseline: Ecological monitoring for Panama Rock and Stones remnant, Le Bons Bay, Banks Peninsula

The eastern side of Banks Peninsula was created by eruptions and subsequent erosion of the Akaroa volcano which was active between 9 and 8 million years ago. Banks Peninsula was completely forested but due to human settlement approximately one percent of the forested area was left by the early 1900s. This large-scale removal of forest and the introduction of exotic mammals created a mass extinction of New Zealand’s native biota. The present day landscape is a mixture of bush occupying gullies which either escaped clearance or have regenerated due to more ideal moisture conditions and less disturbance from farming stock. The forested areas consist of either kanuka canopy or a mixed canopy of Fuchsia, mahoe, fivefinger, lemonwood, lacebark, ribbonwood, pigeonwood, kowhai and kaikomako. Within the eastern side of Banks Peninsula, inland from Le Bons Bay, is an area called Panama Rock, also known as Keller’s Peak. This peak is a trachyte dome with a feeder dike trending away south westwards. An invertebrate study on 19 covenant and reserves on eastern Banks Peninsula found that the Panama Rock remnant had high diversity compared to the others. The Panama Rock remnant was bought by the Joseph Langer Trust to conserve the native flora and fauna of the area and to make it available for the public to enjoy. This research aims to identify the native and pest fauna of the area. Monitoring will assist with management decisions by identifying: which native species are present, species in need of conservation, and exotic pests that need to be eradicated. Baseline surveys will allow the Trust to compare with future years and be able to gauge if their management actions are working. If the Trust is planning to trap introduced mammals at Panama Rock and/or the Stones remnant, monitoring will help to determine whether trapping is helping the native biodiversity