Gardiner, Montana: Resident Perceptions Before and After Development

Infrastructure development for the 2016 celebration of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service in Gardiner, Montana and the north entrance to Yellowstone, provided a unique opportunity to compare resident and visitor attitudes, image and spending before and after development. This report provides the resident study results. Significant differences in image, quality of life attributes, and tourism support were found between the two years pointing to both positive and negative outcomes

Gardiner, Montana: Visitor Perceptions, Image and Spending Before & After Development

Gardiner, Montana, the north gate to Yellowstone National Park, underwent infrastructure development before the 2016 centennial celebration of the National Park Service. This study represents a ‘before and after’ analysis of visitors’ images and spending patterns within Gardiner

Application of Sentinel-2A data for pasture biomass monitoring using a physically based radiative transfer model

A large proportion of the global land surface is covered by pasture. The advent of the Sentinel satellites program provides free datasets with good spatiotemporal resolution that can be a valuable source of information for monitoring pasture resources. We combined optical remote sensing data (proximal hyperspectral and Sentinel 2A) with a radiative transfer model (PROSAIL) to estimate leaf area index (LAI), and biomass, in a dairy farming context. Three sites in Southern England were used: two pasture farms that differed in pasture type and management, and a set of small agronomy trial plots with different mixtures of grasses, legumes and herbs, as well as pure perennial ryegrass. The proximal and satellite spectral data were used to retrieve LAI via PROSAIL model inversion, which were compared against field observations of LAI. The potential of bands of Sentinel 2A that corresponded with a 10 m resolution was studied by convolving narrow spectral bands (from a handheld hyperspectral sensor) into Sentinel 2A bands (10 m). Retrieved LAI, using these spectrally resampled S2A data, compared well with measured LAI, for all sites, even for those with mixed species cover (although retrieved LAI was somewhat overestimated for pasture mixtures with high LAI). This proved the suitability of 10 m Sentinel 2A spectral bands for capturing LAI dynamics for different types of pastures. We also found that inclusion of 20 m bands in the inversion scheme did not lead to any further improvement in retrieved LAI. Sentinel 2A image based retrieval yielded good agreement with LAI measurements obtained for a typical perennial ryegrass based pasture farm. LAI retrieved in this way was used to create biomass maps (that correspond to indirect biomass measurements by Rising Plate Meter (RPM)), for mixed-species paddocks for a farm for which limited field data were available. These maps compared moderately well with farmer-collected RPM measurements for this farm. We propose that estimates of paddock-averaged and within-paddock variability of biomass are more reliably obtained from a combined Sentinel 2A-PROSAIL approach, rather than by manual RPM measurements. The physically based radiative transfer model inversion approach outperformed the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index based retrieval method, and does not require site specific calibrations of the inversion scheme

In search of late-stage planetary building blocks

Genetic contributions to the final stages of planetary growth, including materials associated with the giant Moon forming impact, late accretion, and late heavy bombardment are examined using siderophile elements. Isotopic similarities between the Earth and Moon for both lithophile and siderophile elements collectively lead to the suggestion that the genetics of the building blocks for Earth, and the impactor involved in the Moon-forming event were broadly similar, and shared some strong genetic affinities with enstatite chondrites. The bulk genetic fingerprint of materials subsequently added to Earth by late accretion, defined as the addition of ~0.5 wt.% of Earth's mass to the mantle, following cessation of core formation, was characterized by 187Os/188Os and Pd/Ir ratios that were also similar to those in some enstatite chondrites. However, the integrated fingerprint of late accreted matter differs from enstatite chondrites in terms of the relative abundances of certain other HSE, most notably Ru/Ir. The final ≤0.05 wt.% addition of material to the Earth and Moon, believed by some to be part of a late heavy bombardment, included a component with much more fractionated relative HSE abundances than evidenced in the average late accretionary component. Heterogeneous 182W/184Wisotopic compositions of some ancient terrestrial rocks suggest that some very early formed mantle domains remained chemically distinct for long periods of time following primary planetary accretion. This evidence for sluggish mixing of the early mantle suggests that if late accretionary contributions to the mantle were genetically diverse, it may be possible to isotopically identify the disparate primordial components in the terrestrial rock record using the siderophile element tracers Ru and Mo.NASA grants NNX13AF83G and NNA14AB07A NSF-CSEDI grants EAR1160728 and EAR1265169

Grain refinement of wire arc additively manufactured titanium by the addition of silicon

This study demonstrates that silicon additions are effective in refining the microstructure of additive layer manufactured (ALM) titanium components. The addition of up to 0.75 wt% silicon to commercially pure titanium manufactured by wire arc ALM results in a significant reduction of the prior-β grain size. It is observed that silicon also reduces the width of the columnar grains and allows for the nucleation of some equiaxed grains through the development of constitutional supercooling and growth restriction. The grain size of the ALM components is compared to a casting process and it is found that the as-deposited microstructure produced during ALM exhibits larger average grain sizes. Using the Interdependence model for predicting grain size, it was determined that the population of nucleant particles that naturally occur in titanium, has comparable potency (i.e. ability to activate at a similar undercooling) regardless of the processing method, however, the ALM process contains fewer, sufficiently potent, nucleant particles than for the casting process due to the effect of subsequent cycles of remelting and heating

Tool life and wear mechanisms in laser assisted milling Ti-6Al-4V

Thermally assisted machining processes are gaining popularity among researchers and engineers as a method for improving the machinability of difficult-to-cut materials such as titanium. The process of artificially introducing heat to the cutting zone is reported to have many benefits; however, it remains unclear whether the process offers any tool life improvements during milling Ti–6Al–4V when compared to conventional milling processes. This paper compares the tool life during laser assisted milling, dry milling, milling with flood emulsion, milling with minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) and a hybrid laser+MQL process. It is found that conventional coolants offer superior tool life at the standard cutting speeds recommended by the tooling manufacturer, but at higher speeds the coolant deteriorates tool life due to thermal shock/fatigue. Despite this, laser assisted machining performed poorly and exacerbated thermally related tool wear mechanisms such as adhesion, diffusion and attrition. Hybrid laser+MQL substantially improved tool life by suppressing the thermal wear processes while also preventing thermal fatigue on the cutting tool

Randomised controlled trial and health economic evaluation of the impact of diagnostic testing for influenza, respiratory syncytial virus and Streptococcus pneumoniae infection on the management of acute admissions in the elderly and high-risk 18- to 64-year-olds

Please cite the published version which is available via the DOI link in this record.Western industrialised nations face a large increase in the number of older people. People over the age of 60 years account for almost half of the 16.8 million hospital admissions in England from 2009 to 2010. During 2009-10, respiratory infections accounted for approximately 1 in 30 hospital admissions and 1 in 20 of the 51.5 million bed-days.HTA ProgrammeNational Institute for Health Research (NIHR