Drawing a Line in the Sand: Off-Road Vehicle Use on National Seashores

When we look up and down the ocean fronts of America, we find that everywhere they are passing behind the fences of private ownership. The people can no longer get to the ocean. When we have reached the point that a nation of 125 million people cannot set foot upon the thousands of miles of beaches that border the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, except by permission of those who monopolize the ocean front, then I say it is the prerogative and the duty of the Federal and State Governments to step in and acquire, not a swimming beach here and there, but solid blocks of ocean front hundred of miles in length. Call this ocean front a national park, or a national seashore, or a state park or anything you please—I say he people have a right to a fair share of it

Developing a Mathematics Capstone Experience at The U.S. Air Force Academy

There are many details to consider when designing a capstone experience. Expectations of students, faculty workload, resources, logistics, and timing all play a part in the value of this endeavor. We discuss the experience of creating a research capstone experience from scratch including the components of our current course as well as lessons learned. Supplementary materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher’s online edition of PRIMUS to view the supplemental file

Determining Solution Space Characteristics for Real-Time Strategy Games and Characterizing Winning Strategies

The underlying goal of a competing agent in a discrete real-time strategy (RTS) game is to defeat an adversary. Strategic agents or participants must define an a priori plan to maneuver their resources in order to destroy the adversary and the adversary\u27s resources as well as secure physical regions of the environment. This a priori plan can be generated by leveraging collected historical knowledge about the environment. This knowledge is then employed in the generation of a classification model for real-time decision-making in the RTS domain. The best way to generate a classification model for a complex problem domain depends on the characteristics of the solution space. An experimental method to determine solution space (search landscape) characteristics is through analysis of historical algorithm performance for solving the specific problem. We select a deterministic search technique and a stochastic search method for a priori classification model generation. These approaches are designed, implemented, and tested for a specific complex RTS game, Bos Wars. Their performance allows us to draw various conclusions about applying a competing agent in complex search landscapes associated with RTS games

Differential independent recreational experience of felons and non-felons

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which 113 specific items, designed to inventory experience in twenty general areas of independent recreational activities, would differentiate felons and non-felons possessing similar characteristics. As an adjunct to the study, an additional purpose was to determine whether the differences between felons and non-felons held true for both whites and blacks. The primary aim of the study was to achieve a clearer understanding of the significance of experience in certain independent recreational activities in relation to delinquent behavior in individuals. Methods: The taped questionnaire was presented to ninety-two youthful felons incarcerated for their first time in a penitentiary. The same questionnaire was then presented to a non-felon sample of youthful males, which was approximately matched to the felon sample in respect to age, socio-economic status, race, educational achievement, and community of origin. The data collected was dichotomized by felon and non-felons. These dichotomies were further dichotomized as black and white. The responses of the study sample was placed into frequency tables to which the chi square statistic was applied to determine the significance of the differences. Those items for which the chi square test yielded a probability factor of less than .10 were presented separately because they showed the direction of difference in the recreational experience quite powerfully. Those items which tested at a level less significant were presented showing percentages of N only, to show direction. While those which tested more significant than .10 were shown in tables which reflected percentage of N, Chi square, and probability factor. Findings: Nine of twenty general areas of independent recreational experience did not differentiate between felons and non-felons at less than the .10 level of significance. These were modeling, record or tape collecting, water skiing, boating, hiking, bicycling, and trips, and skating. 2.) Eleven of the areas did contain items, which differentiated felons and non-felons at less than the.10 level. These where photography, stamp and coin collecting, reading, musical instruments, swimming, fishing and hunting, camping, horseback riding, and use of transportation. 3.) Of the 113 specific items of experience inventoried, twenty differentiated felons and non-felons at less than the .10 level. 4.) Ten of the twenty differentiating items were significant at the .05 level. 5.) Train and motorcycle riding for both races and swimming over fifty yards for the white sample were reported more frequently by felons than non-felons. 6.) In the remainder of the twenty items significant at the less than .10 level, felons reported less experience than non-felons. 7.) In the items less significant than .10, the general tendency was for felons to report less experience than non-felons, with some racial differences. 8.) Throughout most of the items investigated, the trend was for whites to report more experience than the blacks

GOLVEN peptide signalling through RGI receptors and MPK6 restricts asymmetric cell division during lateral root initiation

During lateral root initiation, lateral root founder cells undergo asymmetric cell divisions that generate daughter cells with different sizes and fates, a prerequisite for correct primordium organogenesis. An excess of the GLV6/RGF8 peptide disrupts these initial asymmetric cell divisions, resulting in more symmetric divisions and the failure to achieve lateral root organogenesis. Here, we show that loss-of-function GLV6 and its homologue GLV10 increase asymmetric cell divisions during lateral root initiation, and we identified three members of the RGF1 INSENSITIVE/RGF1 receptor subfamily as likely GLV receptors in this process. Through a suppressor screen, we found that MITOGEN-ACTIVATED PROTEIN KINASE6 is a downstream regulator of the GLV pathway. Our data indicate that GLV6 and GLV10 act as inhibitors of asymmetric cell divisions and signal through RGF1 INSENSITIVE receptors and MITOGEN-ACTIVATED PROTEIN KINASE6 to restrict the number of initial asymmetric cell divisions that take place during lateral root initiation. The authors demonstrate the negative role of GOLVEN peptides during lateral root initiation in Arabidopsis, at the very early stage of the first asymmetric cell division of lateral root founder cells, and identify the receptors for these peptides

Discovery of Radio Outbursts in the Active Nucleus of M81

The low-luminosity active galactic nucleus of M81 has been monitored at centimeter wavelengths since early 1993 as a by-product of radio programs to study the radio emission from Supernova 1993J. The extensive data sets reveal that the nucleus experienced several radio outbursts during the monitoring period. At 2 and 3.6 cm, the main outburst occurred roughly in the beginning of 1993 September and lasted for approximately three months; at longer wavelengths, the maximum flux density decreases, and the onset of the burst is delayed. These characteristics qualitatively resemble the standard model for adiabatically expanding radio sources, although certain discrepancies between the observations and the theoretical predictions suggest that the model is too simplistic. In addition to the large-amplitude, prolonged variations, we also detected milder changes in the flux density at 3.6 cm and possibly at 6 cm on short (less than 1 day) timescales. We discuss a possible association between the radio activity and an optical flare observed during the period that the nucleus was monitored at radio wavelengths.Comment: To appear in The Astronomical Journal. Latex, 18 pages including embedded figures and table