Thermophysical properties measurements performed for NASA

Thermoconductivity, specific heat, and density measurement test progra

Otters, sea stars, and glacial melt: top-down and bottom-up factors that influence kelp communities

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2017Kelp beds are important features of the Alaska coastline and provide habitat, protect coastlines, and support commercial and subsistence harvests. Kelp beds are affected by top-down and bottom-up factors, which are changing due to human and climate-related impacts. The influences of these top-down and bottom-up factors on kelp beds are investigated in three chapters. My first chapter investigated the influence of glacial discharge on recruitment and early community development in subtidal kelp communities by monitoring benthic sessile algae and invertebrates on cleared rocks across a glacial gradient along with various physical and biological parameters in the summers of 2013-2014. It has been predicted that Alaska's glaciers will lose 30-60% of their volume by 2100. The melt from glaciers increases sedimentation and lowers salinity, impacting important habitat-providing kelp. I found that sites upstream from glacial discharge had higher kelp recruitment than downstream sites, and that up to 72% of the variation in community development was related to mobile invertebrates and kelp in the surrounding community. Glacially-influenced environmental factors did not explain any variation that was not already explained by biological factors. My second chapter explored whether patterns in the recruitment of the dominant canopy kelp, Nereocystis luetkeana and the subcanopy kelp, Saccharina latissima were a result of dispersal limitation or failure to grow to macroscopic size. My goals were to determine 1) whether glacial melt conditions affect adult fecundity (spore production) of either species, 2) how sedimentation affects early gametophyte growth and survival in each species, and 3) whether competitive interaction between species at the gametophyte stage is altered by sediments. I found that glacial melt conditions did not affect the fecundity of either species, but sedimentation affected survival and competition. Saccharina latissima was the superior competitor under high sediment conditions. Because glacially-influenced coastal areas often have little exposed hard substrate and predation by sea otters and sea stars on clams can provide hard substrate for kelp colonization, my third chapter examined methods for determining predation on clams by these predators without direct observation. I found that foraging pits of sea otters and sea stars could not be distinguished using quantitative measurements. In contrast, shell litter proved useful in quantifying relative foraging rates. Clam consumption by sea otters and sea stars was equal at all but one site. Collectively, my thesis chapters provide information on the effects of glacial discharge on microscopic and early kelp life stages in Alaska which can be incorporated into management practices.General introduction -- Chapter 1: Initial recruitment and early colonization of kelp-associated benthic communities varies in relation to glacial discharge -- Chapter 2: Supply and survival: glacial melt imposes limitations at the kelp microscopic life stage -- Chapter 3: Sea otter versus sea stars as major clam predators: evidence from foraging pits and shell litter -- General conclusion -- Literature cited

On an asymptotic optimization problem in finite, directed, weighted graphs

This paper is concerned with finite, directed, branch-weighted graphs, where each weight is a real number bearing the connotation of “payoff.” The “average payoff” of a k-branch path is defined as the sum of the weights along this path divided by k. It is shown that, as k approaches infinity, the maximum average payoff obtainable with paths initiating at a particular vertex is exactly the maximum of the average payoffs of all proper cycles reachable from that vertex. This result leads to a simple algorithm for finding a path which exhibits this maximum

Passing the Turing Test Does Not Mean the End of Humanity

In this paper we look at the phenomenon that is the Turing test. We consider how Turing originally introduced his imitation game and discuss what this means in a practical scenario. Due to its popular appeal we also look into different representations of the test as indicated by numerous reviewers. The main emphasis here, however, is to consider what it actually means for a machine to pass the Turing test and what importance this has, if any. In particular does it mean that, as Turing put it, a machine can “think”. Specifically we consider claims that passing the Turing test means that machines will have achieved human-like intelligence and as a consequence the singularity will be upon us in the blink of an eye

Data consistency: toward a terminological clarification

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21413-9_15Consistency is an inconsistency are ubiquitous term in data engineering. Its relevance to quality is obvious, since consistency is a commonplace dimension of data quality. However, connotations are vague or ambiguous. In this paper, we address semantic consistency, transaction consistency, replication consistency, eventual consistency and the new notion of partial consistency in databases. We characterize their distinguishing properties, and also address their differences, interactions and interdependencies. Partial consistency is an entry door to living with inconsistency, which is an ineludible necessity in the age of big data.Decker and F.D. Muñoz—supported by the Spanish MINECO grant TIN 2012-37719-C03-01.Decker, H.; Muñoz Escoí, FD.; Misra, S. (2015). Data consistency: toward a terminological clarification. 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A formal characterization of SI-based ROWA replication protocols

Snapshot isolation (SI) is commonly used in some commercial DBMSs with a multiversion concurrency control mechanism since it never blocks read-only transactions. Recent database replication protocols have been designed using SI replicas where transactions are firstly executed in a delegate replica and their updates (if any) are propagated to the rest of the replicas at commit time; i.e. they follow the Read One Write All (ROWA) approach. This paper provides a formalization that shows the correctness of abstract protocols which cover these replication proposals. These abstract protocols differ in the properties demanded for achieving a global SI level and those needed for its generalized SI (GSI) variant ¿ allowing reads from old snapshots. Additionally, we propose two more relaxed properties that also ensure a global GSI level. Thus, some applications can further optimize their performance in a replicated system while obtaining GSI. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.The authors wish to thank the reviewers for their valuable comments that helped us to greatly improve the quality and readability of this paper. This work has been supported by the Spanish Government under research grant TIN2009-14460-C03. Besides, the authors wish to thank the reviewers for their valuable comments that helped us to greatly improve the quality and readability of this paper.Armendáriz-Iñigo, J.; Juárez-Rodríguez, J.; González De Mendívil, J.; Garitagoitia, J.; Irún Briz, L.; Muñoz Escoí, FD. (2011). A formal characterization of SI-based ROWA replication protocols. Data and Knowledge Engineering. 70(1):21-34. doi:10.1016/j.datak.2010.07.012S213470

Tourists' English Expectations: Discourse Analysis of Attitudes towards Language and Culture on Travel Websites

While the importance of English as a lingua franca (ELF) in business and the media is well-studied, little attention has been paid to ELF in tourism. This study analyzes postings on websites such as TripAdvisor (http://www.tripadvisor.com/), which feature non-professional reviews of international travel destinations and services, in order to evaluate the effects of cultural capital, stereotypes and relative power on: expectations of English availability in non-English speaking countries, evaluation of the language spoken by EFL speakers (e.g. hotel clerks, shop owners), and attitudes towards speaking the local language.This study explores the issue of speech accommodation between the tourists and the local hospitality industry workers and other residents (Giles, Taylor, and Bourhis, 1973; Giles, Coupland, and Coupland, 1991; Giles and Powesland, 1997) and the likely factors leading to convergence/divergence as indicated by attitudes towards language choices. Website excerpts will show the circumstances in which travelers expect the locals (who deal with tourists) to speak English as well as how much of the local language the travelers are willing to learn and use.Findings indicate that the tourists' willingness to take responsibility for linguistic accommodation, tolerance for restricted English proficiency levels, and attitudes towards being exposed to the local culture and language differ according to the presumed cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1986, 1991; Hanks, 2005) - often governed by stereotypes - and relative power of the interlocutors, the visited location and the local language. The role of ELF in the tourism sector and attitudes toward the local residents and language(s) are highly relativized, such that the specificity of the local context must be taken into account. Proficiency in the English language itself is, in some locations, the source of presumed higher status and symbolic of luxury. The second important dynamic demonstrated to affect the levels and type of language expectation is the degree to which the traveler desires interaction with and exposure to the local culture, or wants to stay with familiar experiences in an "environmental bubble" (Cohen and Cooper, 1986). The differences in expectation of ELF demonstrate that traveler attitudes towards specific locations are key to determining linguistic needs