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Seniors and Information Technology: Are We Shrinking The Digital Divide?
The “digital divide” has been present in the field of information technology (IT) since the inception of the digital computer. Throughout the course of history, one group (or more) has had better access to computer and information technology than another faction. For example: rich versus poor, young versus old, advanced societies versus less developed countries, etc. This disparity has existed for a variety of reasons, among them political, cultural, economic and even class or socioeconomic in nature. This paper examines one particular component of this phenomenon, the “gray divide” pertaining to the use of IT by our elderly, or senior citizens. By utilizing census data and marketing research, we paint a portrait of a vastly underrepresented target market pertaining to IT and IT-related products: our seniors. While the elderly have more assets and disposable income than their younger counterparts, by and large the IT industry is aimed squarely away from this ever-increasing group of consumers. We offer insights into this trend and offer suggestions for future research
Quantitative analysis of woodpecker habitat using high-resolution airborne LiDAR estimates of forest structure and composition
Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology has the potential to radically alter theway researchers and managers collect data onwildlife–habitat relationships. To date, the technology has fostered several novel approaches to characterizing avian habitat, but has been limited by the lack of detailed LiDAR-habitat attributes relevant to species across a continuum of spatial grain sizes and habitat requirements. We demonstrate a novel three-step approach for using LiDAR data to evaluate habitat based on multiple habitat attributes and accounting for their influence at multiple grain sizes using federally endangered red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW; Picoides borealis) foraging habitat data fromthe Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina, USA. First,we used high density LiDAR data (10 returns/m2) to predict detailed forest attributes at 20-mresolution across the entire SRS using a complementary application of nonlinear seemingly unrelated regression andmultiple linear regressionmodels. Next,we expanded on previous applications of LiDAR by constructing 95% joint prediction confidence intervals to quantify prediction error at various spatial aggregations and habitat thresholds to determine a biologically and statistically meaningful grain size. Finally,we used aggregations of 20-m cells and associated confidence interval boundaries to demonstrate a newapproach to produce maps of RCWforaging habitat conditions based on the guidelines described in the species\u27 recovery plan. Predictive power (R2) of regression models developed to populate raster layers ranged from 0.34 to 0.81, and prediction error decreased as aggregate size increased, but minimal reductions in prediction error were observed beyond 0.64-ha (4 × 4 20-m cells) aggregates. Mapping habitat quality while accounting for prediction error provided a robust method to determine the potential range of habitat conditions and specific attributes that were limiting in terms of the amount of suitable habitat. The sequential steps of our analytical approach provide a useful framework to extract detailed and reliable habitat attributes for a forest-dwelling habitat specialist, broadening the potential to apply LiDAR in conservation and management of wildlife populations.
A zipped folder of Google maps is attached below as a related file
Quantitative analysis of woodpecker habitat using high-resolution airborne LiDAR estimates of forest structure and composition
Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology has the potential to radically alter theway researchers and managers collect data onwildlife–habitat relationships. To date, the technology has fostered several novel approaches to characterizing avian habitat, but has been limited by the lack of detailed LiDAR-habitat attributes relevant to species across a continuum of spatial grain sizes and habitat requirements. We demonstrate a novel three-step approach for using LiDAR data to evaluate habitat based on multiple habitat attributes and accounting for their influence at multiple grain sizes using federally endangered red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW; Picoides borealis) foraging habitat data fromthe Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina, USA. First,we used high density LiDAR data (10 returns/m2) to predict detailed forest attributes at 20-mresolution across the entire SRS using a complementary application of nonlinear seemingly unrelated regression andmultiple linear regressionmodels. Next,we expanded on previous applications of LiDAR by constructing 95% joint prediction confidence intervals to quantify prediction error at various spatial aggregations and habitat thresholds to determine a biologically and statistically meaningful grain size. Finally,we used aggregations of 20-m cells and associated confidence interval boundaries to demonstrate a newapproach to produce maps of RCWforaging habitat conditions based on the guidelines described in the species\u27 recovery plan. Predictive power (R2) of regression models developed to populate raster layers ranged from 0.34 to 0.81, and prediction error decreased as aggregate size increased, but minimal reductions in prediction error were observed beyond 0.64-ha (4 × 4 20-m cells) aggregates. Mapping habitat quality while accounting for prediction error provided a robust method to determine the potential range of habitat conditions and specific attributes that were limiting in terms of the amount of suitable habitat. The sequential steps of our analytical approach provide a useful framework to extract detailed and reliable habitat attributes for a forest-dwelling habitat specialist, broadening the potential to apply LiDAR in conservation and management of wildlife populations.
A zipped folder of Google maps is attached below as a related file
PhD from the University of South Carolina. He has published research in the
Abstract: The worldwide elderly population continues to grow, in terms of raw numbers as well as their use of computers and the internet. These facts notwithstanding, it appears that vendors of information technology products, both hardware and software, have largely ignored seniors. Research has shown that these 'silver surfers' are one of that fastest-growing user groups online and, furthermore, have more disposable income than any other segment of modern society. This paper investigates elderly computer and internet usage by incorporating the results of three separate research streams that have reported on this topic. Implications for both practice and research are presented
Parton energy loss limits and shadowing in Drell-Yan dimuon production
A precise measurement of the ratios of the Drell-Yan cross section per
nucleon for an 800 GeV/c proton beam incident on Be, Fe and W targets is
reported. The behavior of the Drell-Yan ratios at small target parton momentum
fraction is well described by an existing fit to the shadowing observed in
deep-inelastic scattering. The cross section ratios as a function of the
incident parton momentum fraction set tight limits on the energy loss of quarks
passing through a cold nucleus
Massive Lepton Pairs as a Prompt Photon Surrogate
We discuss the transverse momentum distribution for the production of massive
lepton-pairs in hadron reactions at fixed target and collider energies within
the context of next-to-leading order perturbative quantum chromodynamics. For
values of the transverse momentum greater than the pair mass , , we show that the differential cross section is dominated by subprocesses
initiated by incident gluons. Massive lepton-pair differential cross sections
are an advantageous source of constraints on the gluon density, free from the
experimental and theoretical complications of photon isolation that beset
studies of prompt photon production. We compare calculations with data and
provide predictions for the differential cross section as a function of
in proton-antiproton reactions at center-of-mass energies of 1.8 TeV, and in
proton-nucleon reactions at fixed target and LHC energies.Comment: 36 pages, RevTeX, including 16 ps files of figures; minor changes in
wording; one reference added. Version to appear in Phys Rev
The phonon Boltzmann equation, properties and link to weakly anharmonic lattice dynamics
For low density gases the validity of the Boltzmann transport equation is
well established. The central object is the one-particle distribution function,
, which in the Boltzmann-Grad limit satisfies the Boltzmann equation. Grad
and, much refined, Cercignani argue for the existence of this limit on the
basis of the BBGKY hierarchy for hard spheres. At least for a short kinetic
time span, the argument can be made mathematically precise following the
seminal work of Lanford. In this article a corresponding programme is
undertaken for weakly nonlinear, both discrete and continuum, wave equations.
Our working example is the harmonic lattice with a weakly nonquadratic on-site
potential. We argue that the role of the Boltzmann -function is taken over
by the Wigner function, which is a very convenient device to filter the slow
degrees of freedom. The Wigner function, so to speak, labels locally the
covariances of dynamically almost stationary measures. One route to the phonon
Boltzmann equation is a Gaussian decoupling, which is based on the fact that
the purely harmonic dynamics has very good mixing properties. As a further
approach the expansion in terms of Feynman diagrams is outlined. Both methods
are extended to the quantized version of the weakly nonlinear wave equation.
The resulting phonon Boltzmann equation has been hardly studied on a rigorous
level. As one novel contribution we establish that the spatially homogeneous
stationary solutions are precisely the thermal Wigner functions. For three
phonon processes such a result requires extra conditions on the dispersion law.
We also outline the reasoning leading to Fourier's law for heat conduction.Comment: special issue on "Kinetic Theory", Journal of Statistical Physics,
improved versio
Measurement of the Light Antiquark Flavor Asymmetry in the Nucleon Sea
A precise measurement of the ratio of Drell-Yan yields from an 800 GeV/c
proton beam incident on hydrogen and deuterium targets is reported. Over
140,000 Drell-Yan muon pairs with dimuon mass M_{mu+ mu-} >= 4.5 GeV/c^2 were
recorded. From these data, the ratio of anti-down (dbar) to anti-up (ubar)
quark distributions in the proton sea is determined over a wide range in
Bjorken-x. A strong x dependence is observed in the ratio dbar/ubar, showing
substantial enhancement of dbar with respect to ubar for x<0.2. This result is
in fair agreement with recent parton distribution parameterizations of the sea.
For x>0.2, the observed dbar/ubar ratio is much nearer unity than given by the
parameterizations.Comment: REVTeX, to be published in Phys. Rev. Let
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