Effects of Nitrogen, Lime, and Boron on Candle Rape Grown in the Trapper Creek and Pt. MacKenzie Areas of Southcentral Alaska

When growers in the Susitna Valley and later in the Pt. MacKenzie area of southcentral Alaska inquired as to the feasibility of growing rapeseed, we decided to determine the crops suitability and performance by conducting a field experiment. Bolton (1980) had attempted to predict the feasibility of producing rapeseed in Alaska's interior, but no research had been done in southcentral Alaska. We conducted one study from 1979 through 1981 on Rabideux silt loam (pH 5.1) near Trapper Creek and another from 1982 through 1984 on Kashwitna silt loam (pH 5.4) on the University of Alaska' s research tract in the Pt. MacKenzie area. The first area had been cleared prior to 197 8. This area was rototilled and roots removed in September 1978. The second area was on a tract cleared during the winter of 1981. After clearing, rotary plowing was done twice on the area. During the summer of 1981, roots were removed , and a field cultivator was used twice to loosen and bring roots to the surface

Effects of Potassium, Sulfur, Nitrogen Rate, And Nitrogen Source on Bromegrass Forage Yield and Composition

Production of adequate , high-quality forage is essential for Alaska's livestock industry. Smooth bromegrass (Bromus inermis) is the dominant and most dependable perennial forage crop in the Matanuska Valley and other areas of Alaska. Four areas of Knik silt loam on the University of Alaska's Matanuska Research Farm near Palmer were seeded to bromegrass and were used over a period of 18 years to determine the need of high-yielding bromegrass for applications of potassium (K) and sulfur (S). A bromegrass field on the Woods estate two miles south of Palmer was selected in 1976 for a study comparing three rates of two nitrogen (N) sources with and without S. The soil type was Bodenburg silt loam

The effects of on-the-job writing experiences on the audience adaptation strategies of adult learners in a community college setting

Adult learners, defined in this study as students age twenty-five and over, make up a large percentage of students who attend community colleges. In 1987, fifty-one percent of the students enrolled as full time students in a two-year college in the United States were over the age of twenty-five. For example, Des Moines Area Community College, the setting for this research, currently has a fifty-seven percent full time adult student enrollment. and this percentage is much higher when part time adult students are included in the enrollment count. These adult students enter the classroom with various degrees of writing experience. Most programs require at least one writing class to graduate, so writing instructors will encounter a large number of adult students in composition classes each semester in two-year colleges. Community college writing instructors will need to accommodate their instruction to the needs of both these students and the traditional students. Research on adult students\u27 learning and composing processes will be beneficial to community college instructors who design student-centered teaching methods for traditional and returning adult students

Widening the Feminist Lens: Gillian Flynn\u27s Exploration of Female Villainy

Gillian Flynn challenges fiction\u27s male-dominated presence by asserting female presence in number, relevance, and agency. Instead of following patriarchal expectations which maintain that female characters must be virtuous, Flynn evokes female villains whose complexities and monstrous actions extend beyond the limits of the Gothic tradition from which she draws. Although Flynn champions female agency within her fiction, her efforts meet harsh criticism from mainstream audience, specifically regarding Gone Girl. I assert the backlash stems from the audiences\u27 failure to see Amy\u27s character apart from their own expectations of what a feminist character must represent. While feminism in general means supporting efforts for women\u27s equality in all aspects of life, and rightly so, feminism must also be understood as an individualized need since women require different forms of feminist support based on their own, unique context; thus, feminism is both a universal and individual necessity. Flynn demonstrates this feminist duality through her unique explorations of female villainy which widen fiction\u27s feminist lens

The Ion Exchange and Sorption Properties of Microcrystals of Inorganic Oxides

Detailed studies have been made on the ion exchange and sorptive properties of aqueous dispersions of single crystals of beta-iron oxide hydroxide and monoclinic zirconia. These microcrystals were prepared in the laboratory and characterised by transmission electron micrographs and electron diffraction patterns. The crystals are typically 1000-2000A in size and have amphoteric ion exchange properties. In this work, a multiion selective electrode titration system working with a highly developed computational and graphic system was developed to determine the ion exchange and sorption properties of these crystals. Ion sieving characteristics of betaFeOOH have been proven and extended to include a separation of chloride from solutions containing iodide and bromide and, in alkali, exclusion of sodium ion. Fluoride uptake is determined by ion selective electrode response and alkaline earth uptake is determined by flame emission spectroscopy. Single ion exchange uptake of anions in acid and cations in base is explained by a Donnan model. This predicts anion (cation) capacity to be a single-valued function of the negative logarithm of the corresponding acid (base) activity in the equilibrium solution. Adsorptive properties of fluoride ion on monoclinic zirconia is explained by ligand exchange or incorporation of this adsorbate into the framework of the oxide. Exchange is shown to be reversible for most simple univalent ions and variations in exchange capacity controlled by solution pH and salt concentrations

Fault Diagnosis of Reciprocating Compressors Using Revelance Vector Machines with A Genetic Algorithm Based on Vibration Data

This paper focuses on the development of an advanced fault classifier for monitoring reciprocating compressors (RC) based on vibration signals. Many feature parameters can be used for fault diagnosis, here the classifier is developed based on a relevance vector machine (RVM) which is optimized with genetic algorithms (GA) so determining a more effective subset of the parameters. Both a one-against-one scheme based RVM and a multiclass multi-kernel relevance vector machine (mRVM) have been evaluated to identify a more effective method for implementing the multiclass fault classification for the compressor. The accuracy of both techniques is discussed correspondingly to determine an optimal fault classifier which can correlate with the physical mechanisms underlying the features. The results show that the models perform well, the classification accuracy rate being up to 97% for both algorithms

Simulating interventions in graphical chain models for longitudinal data

Simulating the outcome of an intervention is a central problem in many fields as this allows decision-makers to quantify the effect of any given strategy and, hence, to evaluate different schemes of actions. Simulation is particularly relevant in very large systems where the statistical model involves many variables that, possibly, interact with each other. In this case one usually has a large number of parameters whose interpretation becomes extremely difficult. Furthermore, in a real system, although one may have a unique target variable, there may be a number of variables which might, and often should, be logically considered predictors of the target outcome and, at the same time, responses of other variables of the system. An intervention taking place on a given variable, therefore, may affect the outcome either directly and indirectly though the way in which it affects other variables within the system. Graphical chain models are particularly helpful in depicting all of the paths through which an intervention may affect the final outcome. Furthermore, they identify all of the relevant conditional distributions and therefore they are particularly useful in driving the simulation process. Focussing on binary variables, we propose a method to simulate the effect of an intervention. Our approach, however, can be easily extended to continuous and mixed responses variables. We apply the proposed methodology to assess the effect that a policy intervention may have on poorer health in early adulthood using prospective data provided by the 1970 British Birth Cohort Study (BCS70).chain graph, conditional approach, Gibbs Sampling, Simulation of interventions, age at motherhood, mental health

Galaxy Luminosity Functions from Deep Spectroscopic Samples of Rich Clusters

Using a new spectroscopic sample and methods accounting for spectroscopic sampling fractions that vary in magnitude and surface brightness, we present R-band galaxy luminosity functions (GLFs) for six nearby galaxy clusters with redshifts 4000 < cz < 20000 km/s and velocity dispersions 700 < sigma < 1250 km/s. In the case of the nearest cluster, Abell 1060, our sample extends to M_R=-14 (7 magnitudes below M*), making this the deepest spectroscopic determination of the cluster GLF to date. Our methods also yield composite GLFs for cluster and field galaxies to M_R=-17 (M*+4), including the GLFs of subsamples of star forming and quiescent galaxies. The composite GLFs are consistent with Schechter functions (M*_R=-21.14^{+0.17}_{-0.17}, alpha=-1.21^{+0.08}_{-0.07} for the clusters, M*_R=-21.15^{+0.16}_{-0.16}, alpha=-1.28^{+0.12}_{-0.11} for the field). All six cluster samples are individually consistent with the composite GLF down to their respective absolute magnitude limits, but the GLF of the quiescent population in clusters is not universal. There are also significant variations in the GLF of quiescent galaxies between the field and clusters that can be described as a steepening of the faint end slope. The overall GLF in clusters is consistent with that of field galaxies, except for the most luminous tip, which is enhanced in clusters versus the field. The star formation properties of giant galaxies are more strongly correlated with the environment than those of fainter galaxies.Comment: 53 pages, 8 figures, 1 ASCII table; accepted for publication in Ap