Spatial ecology and habitat preference of yellow-spotted monitors (Varanus panoptes) at Lizard Island National Park, QLD, Australia

Lizard Island National Park is an area of strong habitat diversity, especially given its small size. There are several distinct habitats represented, including open sclerophyll woodlands, mangrove swamps, dune grasslands, foothills elevations, and of course anthropogenically modified human habitats. The object of this study was to observe the abundances and behaviors of the yellow-spotted monitor lizard (V. panoptes) in each of these habitat settings to answer the question of which habitat type is preferred amongst V. panoptes in the landscape context of Lizard Island National Park. Study transects were conducted over the course of one month measuring abundance of V. panoptes, size and behavioral trends of detected lizards, and risk assessment displayed by flight initiation distances. After abundance and behavioral data were collected, each habitat represented in the study was assessed using a structural vegetation proforma to see if habitat complexity influences V. panoptes spatial ecology. Results show that abundance was highest at the anthropogenically modified habitat at the Lizard Island Resort and the foothills habitats at Cooks Look Track. This supports previous findings that species of Varanids have adapted to human modified habitats but leaves room for speculation as to why the natural habitat at Cook’s Look is just as abundant despite its seemingly average level of habitat complexity. The limitations of this study restricted my ability to explore the potential explanations experimentally, but prior knowledge that prey availability influences habitat preference in predators drives the conclusion that Cook’s Look offers a habitat rich in available food sources which draws high numbers of large, fearless lizards compared to adjacent areas

Trading Nonenforcement

In recent years, federal agencies have increasingly used nonenforcement as a bargaining chip—promising not to enforce a legal requirement in exchange for a regulated party’s promise to do something else that the law doesn’t require. This Article takes an in-depth look at how these nonenforcement trades work, why agencies and regulated parties make them, and the effects they have on social policy. The Article argues that these trades pose serious risks: Agencies often use trading to evade procedural and substantive limits on their power. The trades themselves present fairness problems, both because they tend to reward large, well-connected firms and because they often coerce regulated parties that lack bargaining power. Moreover, the agency’s nonenforcement promises aren’t binding—thus, even if a regulated party upholds its end of the bargain, the agency can always renege on the deal. The Article concludes by identifying several possible solutions that might discourage agencies from trading nonenforcement

Keeping Your Options Open: An Introduction to Pricing Options

An option is a contract which gives the holder of the option the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell a given security at a given price, which is called the strike price. For example, suppose Yahoo stock is currently trading at $10 per share. A person could buy an option that gives him or her the ability to purchase shares of Yahoo stock for$12 in one year. If the price of Yahoo stock is greater than $12 in one year, the holder of the option will make money. However, he or she will not use the option if the stock price is less than 12 because it will not be profitable. This situation illustrates that there is a financial advantage to owning options. Thus, options are not handed out for free. This Independent Study introduces a model called the binomial asset pricing model that can be used to price options. Also, it explores certain mathematical properties necessary to the pricing process, such as sigma-algebras, measurability, conditional expectation, and martingales. The final chapter compares a real-world option price with the price given by the binomial model as well as applying the model in a completely different context—determining whether or not selected players from the 2003 NBA draft were worth their rookie salaries

UNITE CubeSat: From Inception to Early Orbital Operations

On January 31, 2019 the University of Southern Indiana UNITE CubeSat was deployed from the International Space Station and has transmitted data every day since. The missions of UNITE [Undergraduate Nano Ionospheric Temperature Explorer] are to measure plasma properties in the lower ionosphere using a Langmuir Plasma Probe, to measure its internal and skin temperatures to compare with a student-developed thermal model, and to track the orbital decay of the CubeSat, particularly near re-entry. The 3U UNITE CubeSat is passively magnetically and aerodynamically stabilized. This paper summarizes the design, build, integration, test and operations phases of the UNITE project since its inception in August 2016. The all-undergraduate team designed, fabricated, tested and integrated the command board, solar panels, and temperature sensor array. In addition, the team integrated a magnetometer and GPS. A commercially purchased Electric Power/Communication Subsystem provides Maximum Power Point Tracking and Simplex and Duplex communication through the Globalstar satellite network allowing nearly 24/7 contact with UNITE. The team wrote and tested the flight software which is divided into five primary modes. Some results from the first several months of flight are summarized and lessons learned are shared, with the intent of assisting future CubeSat teams

Oyster Aquaculture Site Selection Using Landsat 8-Derived Sea Surface Temperature, Turbidity, and Chlorophyll a

Remote sensing data is useful for selection of aquaculture sites because it can provide water-quality products mapped over large regions at low cost to users. However, the spatial resolution of most ocean color satellites is too coarse to provide usable data within many estuaries. The Landsat 8 satellite, launched February 11, 2013, has both the spatial resolution and the necessary signal to noise ratio to provide temperature, as well as ocean color derived products along complex coastlines. The state of Maine (USA) has an abundance of estuarine indentations (∼3,500 miles of tidal shoreline within 220 miles of coast), and an expanding aquaculture industry, which makes it a prime case- study for using Landsat 8 data to provide products suitable for aquaculture site selection. We collected the Landsat 8 scenes over coastal Maine, flagged clouds, atmospherically corrected the top-of-the-atmosphere radiances, and derived time varying fields (repeat time of Landsat 8 is 16 days) of temperature (100 m resolution), turbidity (30 m resolution), and chlorophyll a (30 m resolution). We validated the remote-sensing-based products at several in situ locations along the Maine coast where monitoring buoys and programs are in place. Initial analysis of the validated fields revealed promising new areas for oyster aquaculture. The approach used is applicable to other coastal regions and the data collected to date show potential for other applications in marine coastal environments, including water quality monitoring and ecosystem management