Restoring degraded woodlands

In many places on the Swan Coastal Plain Eucalyptus gomphocephala (tuart) woodlands are in decline or are degraded (Bulletin 1). This occurs for many reasons, including grazing by stock, weed invasion, logging and clearing. It is often a combination of these factors that gradually lead to a decline in the tuart populations

Managing contextual information in semantically-driven temporal information systems

Context-aware (CA) systems have demonstrated the provision of a robust solution for personalized information delivery in the current content-rich and dynamic information age we live in. They allow software agents to autonomously interact with users by modeling the user’s environment (e.g. profile, location, relevant public information etc.) as dynamically-evolving and interoperable contexts. There is a flurry of research activities in a wide spectrum at context-aware research areas such as managing the user’s profile, context acquisition from external environments, context storage, context representation and interpretation, context service delivery and matching of context attributes to users‘ queries etc. We propose SDCAS, a Semantic-Driven Context Aware System that facilitates public services recommendation to users at temporal location. This paper focuses on information management and service recommendation using semantic technologies, taking into account the challenges of relationship complexity in temporal and contextual information

Seed and seedling responses to inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi and root nodule bacteria: implications for restoration of degraded Mediterranean-type Tuart woodlands

Inoculation with beneficial soil microorganisms has the potential to enhance success of restoration, particularly in harsh Mediterranean-type ecosystems (MTEs). We investigated the effects of microorganisms (mycorrhizal fungi and root nodule bacteria) and planting material (seed and nursery-raised seedlings) on early establishment and growth of two key postdisturbance colonizing species with different life histories, life forms and functional types (Eucalyptus gomphocephala and Acacia saligna) under field conditions. Establishment and growth were monitored at 13months, following the first MTE drought period. For E. gomphocephala, establishment was higher for seedlings (81%) than for seeding (7.5%). Inoculation with ectomycorrhizal fungal spores was not beneficial. For A. saligna, establishment was also higher for seedlings (84%) than for seeding (42.5%). Mycorrhizal fungal inoculum had no effect on establishment or growth. This study has shown that in harsh MTE conditions, the use of seedlings is more effective than seeding in degraded woodlands even when attempting to reintroduce key colonizing species. The microorganism treatments tested did not result in significant improvement in establishment or growth

Extended Optical Model Analyses of Elastic Scattering and Fusion Cross Section Data for the 12^{12}C+208^{208}Pb System at Near-Coulomb-Barrier Energies by using a Folding Potential

Simultaneous $\chi^{2}$ analyses are performed for elastic scattering and fusion cross section data for the $^{12}$C+$^{208}$Pb system at near-Coulomb-barrier energies by using the extended optical model approach in which the polarization potential is decomposed into direct reaction (DR) and fusion parts. Use is made of the double folding potential as a bare potential. It is found that the experimental elastic scattering and fusion data are well reproduced without introducing any normalization factor for the double folding potential and also that both DR and fusion parts of the polarization potential determined from the $\chi^{2}$ analyses satisfy separately the dispersion relation. Furthermore, it is shown that the imaginary parts of both DR and fusion potentials at the strong absorption radius change very rapidly, which results in a typical threshold anomaly in the total imaginary potential as observed with tightly bound projectiles such as $\alpha$-particle and $^{16}$O.Comment: 26 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Physical Review

Evaluating the psychometric properties of the multigroup ethnic identity measure (MEIM) within the United Kingdom

In the present study, we examined the psychometric properties of the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM) (Phinney, 1992; Phinney & Alipuria, 1990) among an ethnically diverse sample within the United Kingdom. In initial analyses, we evaluated the goodness-of-fit of a one-factor model (i.e., global ethnic identity) and the goodness-of-fit of a two-factor model (i.e., correlated but distinct Exploration and Commitment components). Results of initial confirmatory factor analyses led us to reject both the one-factor and two-factor models. Results of subsequent exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed a three-factor structure (i.e., correlated but distinct Behavioral, Cognitive, and Affective components of ethnic identity) among the sample as a whole (n = 234) and among Asian Indian persons (n = 88) in particular, though resulst were mixed among White U.K./Irish persons (n = 54) in particular. Implications for the study of ethnicity-related concepts in the incerasibgly multi-cultural U.K. are discussed

Chromium silicide formation by ion mixing

The formation of CrSi_2 by ion mixing was studied as a function of temperature, silicide thickness and irradiated interface. Samples were prepared by annealing evaporated couples of Cr on Si and Si on Cr at 450°C for short times to form Si/CrSi_2/Cr sandwiches. Xenon beams with energies up to 300 keV and fluences up to 8 X 10^15 cm^(-2) were used for mixing at temperatures between 20 and 300°C. Penetrating only the Cr/CrSi_2 interface at temperatures above 150°C induces further growth of the silicide as a uniform stoichiometric layer. The growth rate does not depend on the thickness of the initially formed silicide at least up to a thickness of 150 nm. The amount of growth depends linearly on the density of energy deposited at the interface. The growth is temperature dependent with an apparent activation energy of 0.2 eV. Irradiating only through the Si/CrSi_2 interface does not induce silicide growth. We conclude that the formation of CrSi_2 by ion beam mixing is an interface-limited process and that the limiting reaction occurs at the Cr/CrSi_2 interface

Reactively sputtered RuO2 diffusion barriers

The thermal stability of reactively sputtered RuO2 films is investigated from the point of view of their application as diffusion barriers in silicon contact metallizations with an Al overlayer. Backscattering spectra of Si/RuO2/Al samples and electrical measurements on shallow junction diodes with Si/TiSi2.3/RuO2/Al contacts both show that RuO2 films are effective diffusion barriers between Al and Si for 30-min annealing at temperatures as high as 600°C

Extended Optical Model Analyses of Elastic Scattering and Fusion Cross Section Data for the 7Li+208Pb System at Near-Coulomb-Barrier Energies using the Folding Potential

Simultaneous $\chi^{2}$ analyses previously made for elastic scattering and fusion cross section data for the $^{6}$Li+$^{208}$Pb system is extended to the $^{7}$Li+$^{208}$Pb system at near-Coulomb-barrier energies based on the extended optical model approach, in which the polarization potential is decomposed into direct reaction (DR) and fusion parts. Use is made of the double folding potential as a bare potential. It is found that the experimental elastic scattering and fusion data are well reproduced without introducing any normalization factor for the double folding potential and that both the DR and fusion parts of the polarization potential determined from the $\chi^{2}$ analyses satisfy separately the dispersion relation. Further, we find that the real part of the fusion portion of the polarization potential is attractive while that of the DR part is repulsive except at energies far below the Coulomb barrier energy. A comparison is made of the present results with those obtained from the Continuum Discretized Coupled Channel (CDCC) calculations and a previous study based on the conventional optical model with a double folding potential. We also compare the present results for the $^7$Li+$^{208}$Pb system with the analysis previously made for the $^{6}$Li+$^{208}$Pb system.Comment: 7 figures, submitted to PR

Applicability valuation for evaluation of surface deflection in automotive outer panels

Upon unloading in a forming process there is elastic recovery, which is the release of the elastic strains and the redistribution of the residual stresses through the thickness direction, thus producing surface deflection. It causes changes in shape and dimensions that can create major problem in the external appearance of outer panels. Thus surface deflection prediction is an important issue in sheet metal forming industry. Many factors could affect surface deflection in the process, such as material variations in mechanical properties, sheet thickness, tool geometry, processing parameters and lubricant condition. The shape and dimension problem in press forming is defined as a trouble mainly caused by the elastic recovery of materials during the forming. The use of high strength steel sheets in the manufacturing of automobile outer panels has increased in the automotive industry over the years because of its lightweight and fuel-efficient improvement. But one of the major concerns of stamping is surface deflection in the formed outer panels. Hence, to be cost effective, accurate prediction must be made of its formability. The automotive industry places rigi