Comparisons among a new soil index and other two- and four-dimensional vegetation indices

The 2-D difference vegetation index (DVI) and perpendicular vegetation index (PVI), and the 4-D green vegetation index (GVI) are compared in LANDSAT MSS data from grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor, L. Moench) fields for the years 1973 to 1977. PVI and DVI were more closely related to LAI than was GVI. A new 2-D soil line index (SLI), the vector distance from the soil line origin to the point of intersection of PVI with the soil line, is defined and compared with the 4-D soil brightness index, SBI. SLI (based on MSS and MSS7) and SL16 (based on MSS 5 and MSS 6) were smaller in magnitude than SBI but contained similar information about the soil background. These findings indicate that vegetation and soil indices calculated from the single visible and reflective infrared band sensor systems, such as the AVHRR of the TIROS-N polar orbiting series of satellites, will be meaningful for synoptic monitoring of renewable vegetation

A renormalisation-group treatment of two-body scattering

Nonrelativistic two-body scattering by a short-ranged potential is studied using the renormalisation group. Two fixed points are identified: a trivial one and one describing systems with a bound state at zero energy. The eigenvalues of the linearised renormalisation group are used to assign a systematic power-counting to terms in the potential near each of these fixed points. The expansion around the nontrivial fixed point is shown to be equivalent to the effective-range expansion.Comment: 6 pages (RevTeX), 1 figure (epsf); picture of RG flow and more discussion of momentum dependence adde

The Nature of the H2-Emitting Gas in the Crab Nebula

Understanding how molecules and dust might have formed within a rapidly expanding young supernova remnant is important because of the obvious application to vigorous supernova activity at very high redshift. In previous papers, we found that the H2 emission is often quite strong, correlates with optical low-ionization emission lines, and has a surprisingly high excitation temperature. Here we study Knot 51, a representative, bright example, for which we have available long slit optical and NIR spectra covering emission lines from ionized, neutral, and molecular gas, as well as HST visible and SOAR Telescope NIR narrow-band images. We present a series of CLOUDY simulations to probe the excitation mechanisms, formation processes and dust content in environments that can produce the observed H2 emission. We do not try for an exact match between model and observations given Knot 51's ambiguous geometry. Rather, we aim to explain how the bright H2 emission lines can be formed from within the volume of Knot 51 that also produces the observed optical emission from ionized and neutral gas. Our models that are powered only by the Crab's synchrotron radiation are ruled out because they cannot reproduce the strong, thermal H2 emission. The simulations that come closest to fitting the observations have the core of Knot 51 almost entirely atomic with the H2 emission coming from just a trace molecular component, and in which there is extra heating. In this unusual environment, H2 forms primarily by associative detachment rather than grain catalysis. In this picture, the 55 H2-emitting cores that we have previously catalogued in the Crab have a total mass of about 0.1 M_sun, which is about 5% of the total mass of the system of filaments. We also explore the effect of varying the dust abundance. We discuss possible future observations that could further elucidate the nature of these H2 knots.Comment: 51 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS, revised Figure 12 results unchange

Estimating total standing herbaceous biomass production with LANDSAT MSS digital data

Rangeland biomass data were correlated with spectral vegetation indices, derived from LANDSAT MSS data. LANDSAT data from five range and three other land use sites in Willacv and Cameron Counties were collected on October 17 and December 10, 1975, and on July 31 and September 23, 1976. The overall linear correlation of total standing herbaceous biomass with the LANDSAT derived perpendicular vegetation index was highly significant (r = 0.90**) for these four dates. The standard error of estimate was 722 kg/ha. Biomass data were recorded for two of these range sites for 8 months (March through October) during the 1976 growing season. Standing green biomass accounted for most of the increase in herbage, starting in June and ending about September and October. These results indicate that satellite data may be useful for the estimation of total standing herbaceous biomass production that could aid range managers in assessing range condition and animal carrying capacities of large and inaccessible range holdings

Leech Parasitism of the Gulf Coast Box Turtle, Terrapene carolina major (Testudines:Emydidae) in Mississippi, USA

Ten leeches were collected from a Gulf Coast box turtle, Terrapene carolina major, found crossing a road in Gulfport, Harrison County, Mississippi, USA. Eight of the leeches were identified as Placobdella multilineata and 2 were identified as Helobdella europaea. This represents the second vouchered report of leeches from a box turtle. Helobdella europaea is reported for the first time associated with a turtle and for the second time from the New World

Improvement in the geopotential derived from satellite and surface data (GEM 7 and 8)

A refinement was obtained in the earth's gravitational field using satellite and surface data. In addition to a more complete treatment of data previously employed on 27 satellites, the new satellite solution (Goddard Earth Model 7) includes 64,000 laser measurements taken on 7 satellites during the international satellite geodesy experiment (ISAGEX) program. The GEM 7, containing 400 harmonic terms, is complete through degree and order 16. The companion solution GEM 8 combines the same satellite data as in GEM 7 with surface gravimetry over 39% of the earth. The GEM 8 is complete to degree and order 25. Extensive tests on data independent of the solution show that the undulation of the geoidal surface computed by GEM 7 has an accuracy of about 3m (rms). The overall accuracy of the geoid estimated by GEM 8 is estimated to be about 4-1/4m (rms), an improvement of almost 1m over previous solutions

Investigation of quantitative measures related to reading disability in a large sample of sib-pairs from the UK

We describe a family-based sample of individuals with reading disability collected as part of a quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping study. Eighty-nine nuclear families (135 independent sib-pairs) were identified through a single proband using a traditional discrepancy score of predicted/actual reading ability and a known family history. Eight correlated psychometric measures were administered to each sibling, including single word reading, spelling, similarities, matrices, spoonerisms, nonword and irregular word reading, and a pseudohomophone test. Summary statistics for each measure showed a reduced mean for the probands compared to the co-sibs, which in turn was lower than that of the population. This partial co-sib regression back to the mean indicates that the measures are influenced by familial factors and therefore, may be suitable for a mapping study. The variance of each of the measures remained largely unaffected, which is reassuring for the application of a QTL approach. Multivariate genetic analysis carried out to explore the relationship between the measures identified a common factor between the reading measures that accounted for 54% of the variance. Finally the familiality estimates (range 0.32–0.73) obtained for the reading measures including the common factor (0.68) supported their heritability. These findings demonstrate the viability of this sample for QTL mapping, and will assist in the interpretation of any subsequent linkage findings in an ongoing genome scan

Goddard earth models (5 and 6)

A comprehensive earth model has been developed that consists of two complementary gravitational fields and center-of-mass locations for 134 tracking stations on the earth's surface. One gravitational field is derived solely from satellite tracking data. This data on 27 satellite orbits is the most extensive used for such a solution. A second solution uses this data with 13,400 simultaneous events from satellite camera observations and surface gravimetric anomalies. The satellite-only solution as a whole is accurate to about 4.5 milligals as judged by the surface gravity data. The majority of the station coordinates are accurate to better than 10 meters as judged by independent results from geodetic surveys and by Doppler tracking of both distant space probes and near earth orbits