ELK CALF SURVIVAL, MORTALITY, AND NEONATAL HABITAT USE IN EASTERN KENTUCKY

I estimated survival, cause-specific mortality, and neonatal habitat use of elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni) calves in eastern Kentucky. I also measured habitat characteristics of elk parturition sites and annual calf production . Radio-collared females were fitted with vaginal implant transmitters and monitored for parturition behavior to locate, capture, and radio-collar calves during the springs of 2001 and 2002. Thirty-seven adult females with implant transmitters were translocated from Logan, Utah, to Addington Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in eastern Kentucky. Additional females from previous releases during 1997 and 1998 were monitored for parturition behavior. Mean calf production for all females monitored (n=77) was 66.2%. Parturition sites (n=10) were typically in closed-canopy hardwood forest within 152 m of a forest/grassland interface. Female selected sites with more boulders, andlt; 20 slope, a higher percentage of woody saplings, and thicker vegetation between 1.0 2.25 m in height compared to random sites. Twenty-seven calves were radio-collared and intensively monitored by ground and aerial telemetry. Mean annual survival was 0.766 ( 0.103). Coyote (Canis latrans) predation, meningeal worm (Parelaphostongylus tenuis), and human-caused mortality may slow population growth. Retention of implant transmitters for 40 cows ranged from 1 to 276 days (61.6 3.0). Only 2 implant transmitters worked as designed and led to calf captures. I had better success (n=25) capturing calves by monitoring parturition behavior and searching areas where pregnant cows were suspected to have given birth

Proportional-Integral-Plus Control Strategy of an Intelligent Excavator

This article considers the application of Proportional-Integral-Plus (PIP) control to the Lancaster University Computerised Intelligent Excavator (LUCIE), which is being developed to dig foundation trenches on a building site. Previous work using LUCIE was based on the ubiquitous PI/PID control algorithm, tuned on-line, and implemented in a rather ad hoc manner. By contrast, the present research utilizes new hardware and advanced model-based control system design methods to improve the joint control and so provide smoother, more accurate movement of the excavator arm. In this article, a novel nonlinear simulation model of the system is developed for MATLAB/SIMULINK, allowing for straightforward refinement of the control algorithm and initial evaluation. The PIP controller is compared with a conventionally tuned PID algorithm, with the final designs implemented on-line for the control of dipper angle. The simulated responses and preliminary implementation results demonstrate the feasibility of the approach

An ASCA Study of the W51 Complex

We present the analysis of ASCA archival data from the Galactic source W51. The ASCA spectra show that the soft (kT<= 2.5 keV) X-rays are of thermal origin and are compatible with W51C being a single, isothermal (kT~0.3 keV) supernova remnant at the far-side of the Sagittarius arm. The ASCA images reveal hard (kT>=2.5 keV) X-ray sources which were not seen in previous X-ray observations. Some of these sources are coincident with massive star-forming regions and the spectra are used to derive X-ray parameters. By comparing the X-ray absorbing column density with atomic hydrogen column density, we infer the location of star-forming regions relative to molecular clouds. There are unidentified hard X-ray sources superposed on the supernova remnant and we discuss the possibility of their association.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, to be published in Astronomical Journa

Debility and/or Loss of Weight the Diagnostic Approach

These last few decades have given us greatly increased precision of diagnosis and therapeutic power, and we, no longer merit Matthew Arnold's rebuke. These revolutionary changes have been produced as a result of a great spirit of free enquiry, a search for facts and their explanation. Such a search is dependent initially on the development of a working hypothesis, and this is just what a tentative diagnosis is. From this point our search is for facts uncoloured by accepted authority, popular opinion or personal prejudice.In medicine Galen of Pergamum was the "Master" for many centuries, and from 200 A.D. the dead hand of Galen's authority lay upon medicine for over 1300 years. The mighty Leonardo da Vinci first questioned Galen's views and in England in 1620 Francis Bacon in his "Novum Organum" urged men to abandon their four idols-accepted authority, popular opinion, legal bias and personal prejudice. Yet, despite Leonardo da Vinci and Bacon and even the revolutionary work of Harvey in 1628, it was not until the time of Lister (186o) that medicine ceased to be a traditional empirical art bound to the words of the Master and accepted authority.There are for us three kinds of facts, viz. symptoms, signs and the results of investigations, and upon these we base our diagnosis. It is because of the difficulty in setting down an accurate account of the first of these that medicine will be for ever an art

X-ray Observations of the Compact Source in CTA 1

The point source RX J0007.0+7302, at the center of supernova remnant CTA 1, was studied using the X-Ray Multi-mirror Mission. The X-ray spectrum of the source is consistent with a neutron star interpretation, and is well described by a power law with the addition of a soft thermal component that may correspond to emission from hot polar cap regions or to cooling emission from a light element atmosphere over the entire star. There is evidence of extended emission on small spatial scales which may correspond to structure in the underlying synchrotron nebula. No pulsations are observed. Extrapolation of the nonthermal spectrum of RX J0007.0+7302 to gamma-ray energies yields a flux consistent with that of EGRET source 3EG J0010+7309, supporting the proposition that there is a gamma-ray emitting pulsar at the center of CTA 1. Observations of the outer regions of CTA 1 with the Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics confirm earlier detections of thermal emission from the remnant and show that the synchrotron nebula extends to the outermost reaches of the SNR.Comment: 5 pages, including 4 postscript figs.LaTex. Accepted for publication by Ap

Chandra Observations of the Crab-like Supernova Remnant G21.5-0.9

Chandra observations of the Crab-like supernova remnant G21.5-0.9 reveal a compact central core and spectral variations indicative of synchrotron burn-off of higher energy electrons in the inner nebula. The central core is slightly extended, perhaps indicating the presence of an inner wind-shock nebula surrounding the pulsar. No pulsations are observed from the central region, yielding an upper limit of ~40% for the pulsed fraction. A faint outer shell may be the first evidence of the expanding ejecta and blast wave formed in the initial explosion, indicating a composite nature for G21.5-0.9.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, formatted with emulateapj, submitted to ApJ

Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer Survey of Magellanic Cloud Supernova Remnants

We report the progress to date from an ongoing unbiased ultraviolet survey of supernova remnants in the Magellanic Clouds using the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) satellite. This survey is obtaining spectra of a random large sample of Magellanic Cloud supernova remnants with a broad range of radio, optical, and X-ray properties. To date, 39 objects have been observed in the survey (38 in the LMC and one in the SMC) and 15 have been detected, a detection rate of nearly 40%. Our survey has nearly tripled the number of UV-detected SNRs in the Magellanic Clouds (from 8 to 22). Because of the diffuse source sensitivity of FUSE, upper limits on non-detected objects are quite sensitive in many cases. Estimated total luminosities in O~VI span a broad range from considerably brighter to many times fainter than the inferred soft X-ray luminosities, indicating that O~VI can be an important and largely unrecognized coolant in certain objects. We compare the optical and X-ray properties of the detected and non-detected objects but do not find a simple indicator for ultraviolet detectability. Non-detections may be due to clumpiness of the emission, high foreground extinction, slow shocks whose emission gets attenuated by the Magellanic interstellar medium, or a combination of these effects.Comment: 34 pages, 26 figures in 8 separate JPG figure files; the characteristics of individual detected supernova remnants are summarized in an Appendi