A test of differential GPS correction methods at Fort Huachuca, Arizona

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on Feb 19, 2010).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Thesis advisor: Dr. C. Mark Cowell.Includes bibliographical references.M.A. University of Missouri--Columbia 2009.Dissertations, Academic -- University of Missouri--Columbia -- Geography.High accuracy GPS using inexpensive field equipment is increasingly made possible through use of reference data provided by the (CORS) network. There are currently three CORS within 100km of Fort Huachuca, Arizona, but use of CORS data in differential correction has previously proven unreliable. The effectiveness of base data acquired through use of a second field unit as an on-site base station was compared with the use of CORS. The accuracy of data differentially corrected using base data acquired from an on-site base station showed marked improvement over the use of CORS base data. Accuracy of locally corrected points improved by 75cm and 95cm in two study areas as compared to uncorrected data, while accuracy actually degraded by 28cm and 1cm in these areas when differentially correcting using the nearest CORS. Sub-meter accuracy was attained in over 90% of local base corrected Differential GPS (DGPS) points. This project explores differences in horizons at rover and base as one possible explanation for the limited utility of CORS base data at Fort Huachuca. The "Sky Islands" of southeastern Arizona present widely varying terrain conditions over relatively short distances, and blockage of the sky due to horizon differences is one variable condition at the collection sites. Upon testing, however, variability in horizon did not prove to be the primary cause of limited utility of DGPS using CORS at Fort Huachuca. Thus, site conditions limiting the utility of CORS in the Sky Islands, and perhaps other areas, remain to be identified

Parent-Reported Homework Problems in the MTA Study: Evidence for Sustained Improvement with Behavioral Treatment

Parent-report of child homework problems was examined as a treatment outcome variable in the MTA-Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Five hundred seventy-nine children ages 7.0 to 9.9 were randomly assigned to either medication management, behavioral treatment, combination treatment, or routine community care. Results showed that only participants who received behavioral treatment (behavioral and combined treatment) demonstrated sustained improvements in homework problems in comparison to routine community care. The magnitude of the sustained effect at the 10-month follow-up assessment was small to moderate for combined and behavioral treatment over routine community care (d=.37, .40, respectively). Parent ratings of initial ADHD symptom severity was the only variable found to moderate these effects

Gender Differences in Russian Colour Naming

In the present study we explored Russian colour naming in a web-based psycholinguistic experiment (http://www.colournaming.com). Colour singletons representing the Munsell Color Solid (N=600 in total) were presented on a computer monitor and named using an unconstrained colour-naming method. Respondents were Russian speakers (N=713). For gender-split equal-size samples (NF=333, NM=333) we estimated and compared (i) location of centroids of 12 Russian basic colour terms (BCTs); (ii) the number of words in colour descriptors; (iii) occurrences of BCTs most frequent non-BCTs. We found a close correspondence between females’ and males’ BCT centroids. Among individual BCTs, the highest inter-gender agreement was for seryj ‘grey’ and goluboj ‘light blue’, while the lowest was for sinij ‘dark blue’ and krasnyj ‘red’. Females revealed a significantly richer repertory of distinct colour descriptors, with great variety of monolexemic non-BCTs and “fancy” colour names; in comparison, males offered relatively more BCTs or their compounds. Along with these measures, we gauged denotata of most frequent CTs, reflected by linguistic segmentation of colour space, by employing a synthetic observer trained by gender-specific responses. This psycholinguistic representation revealed females’ more refined linguistic segmentation, compared to males, with higher linguistic density predominantly along the redgreen axis of colour space

Baryon Acoustic Oscillations in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 Galaxy Sample

The spectroscopic Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 (DR7) galaxy sample represents the final set of galaxies observed using the original SDSS target selection criteria. We analyse the clustering of galaxies within this sample, including both the Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) and Main samples, and also include the 2-degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS) data. Baryon Acoustic Oscillations are observed in power spectra measured for different slices in redshift; this allows us to constrain the distance--redshift relation at multiple epochs. We achieve a distance measure at redshift z=0.275, of r_s(z_d)/D_V(0.275)=0.1390+/-0.0037 (2.7% accuracy), where r_s(z_d) is the comoving sound horizon at the baryon drag epoch, D_V(z)=[(1+z)^2D_A^2cz/H(z)]^(1/3), D_A(z) is the angular diameter distance and H(z) is the Hubble parameter. We find an almost independent constraint on the ratio of distances D_V(0.35)/D_V(0.2)=1.736+/-0.065, which is consistent at the 1.1sigma level with the best fit Lambda-CDM model obtained when combining our z=0.275 distance constraint with the WMAP 5-year data. The offset is similar to that found in previous analyses of the SDSS DR5 sample, but the discrepancy is now of lower significance, a change caused by a revised error analysis and a change in the methodology adopted, as well as the addition of more data. Using WMAP5 constraints on Omega_bh^2 and Omega_ch^2, and combining our BAO distance measurements with those from the Union Supernova sample, places a tight constraint on Omega_m=0.286+/-0.018 and H_0 = 68.2+/-2.2km/s/Mpc that is robust to allowing curvature and non-Lambda dark energy. This result is independent of the behaviour of dark energy at redshifts greater than those probed by the BAO and supernova measurements. (abridged)Comment: 22 pages, 16 figures, minor changes to match version published in MNRA

The Ninth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey III (SDSS-III) presents the first spectroscopic data from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). This ninth data release (DR9) of the SDSS project includes 535,995 new galaxy spectra (median z=0.52), 102,100 new quasar spectra (median z=2.32), and 90,897 new stellar spectra, along with the data presented in previous data releases. These spectra were obtained with the new BOSS spectrograph and were taken between 2009 December and 2011 July. In addition, the stellar parameters pipeline, which determines radial velocities, surface temperatures, surface gravities, and metallicities of stars, has been updated and refined with improvements in temperature estimates for stars with T_eff<5000 K and in metallicity estimates for stars with [Fe/H]>-0.5. DR9 includes new stellar parameters for all stars presented in DR8, including stars from SDSS-I and II, as well as those observed as part of the SDSS-III Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration-2 (SEGUE-2). The astrometry error introduced in the DR8 imaging catalogs has been corrected in the DR9 data products. The next data release for SDSS-III will be in Summer 2013, which will present the first data from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) along with another year of data from BOSS, followed by the final SDSS-III data release in December 2014.Comment: 9 figures; 2 tables. Submitted to ApJS. DR9 is available at http://www.sdss3.org/dr

Conjunctive Processing of Locomotor Signals by the Ventral Tegmental Area Neuronal Population

The ventral tegmental area (VTA) plays an essential role in reward and motivation. How the dopamine (DA) and non-DA neurons in the VTA engage in motivation-based locomotor behaviors is not well understood. We recorded activity of putative DA and non-DA neurons simultaneously in the VTA of awake mice engaged in motivated voluntary movements such as wheel running. Our results revealed that VTA non-DA neurons exhibited significant rhythmic activity that was correlated with the animal's running rhythms. Activity of putative DA neurons also correlated with the movement behavior, but to a lesser degree. More importantly, putative DA neurons exhibited significant burst activation at both onset and offset of voluntary movements. These findings suggest that VTA DA and non-DA neurons conjunctively process locomotor-related motivational signals that are associated with movement initiation, maintenance and termination

Genomic, Pathway Network, and Immunologic Features Distinguishing Squamous Carcinomas

This integrated, multiplatform PanCancer Atlas study co-mapped and identified distinguishing molecular features of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) from five sites associated with smokin

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts

Pan-cancer Alterations of the MYC Oncogene and Its Proximal Network across the Cancer Genome Atlas

Although theMYConcogene has been implicated incancer, a systematic assessment of alterations ofMYC, related transcription factors, and co-regulatoryproteins, forming the proximal MYC network (PMN),across human cancers is lacking. Using computa-tional approaches, we define genomic and proteo-mic features associated with MYC and the PMNacross the 33 cancers of The Cancer Genome Atlas.Pan-cancer, 28% of all samples had at least one ofthe MYC paralogs amplified. In contrast, the MYCantagonists MGA and MNT were the most frequentlymutated or deleted members, proposing a roleas tumor suppressors.MYCalterations were mutu-ally exclusive withPIK3CA,PTEN,APC,orBRAFalterations, suggesting that MYC is a distinct onco-genic driver. Expression analysis revealed MYC-associated pathways in tumor subtypes, such asimmune response and growth factor signaling; chro-matin, translation, and DNA replication/repair wereconserved pan-cancer. This analysis reveals insightsinto MYC biology and is a reference for biomarkersand therapeutics for cancers with alterations ofMYC or the PMN