1,690 research outputs found
Measuring new growth of kinnikinnick and brown elfin butterfly abundance at the Ma-le’l & Lanphere Dunes: implications for the management of the seaside hoary elfin butterfly
The study assessed changes in inflorescence length of kinnikinnick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) new growth and the abundance of brown elfin butterflies (Callophrys augustinas) at the Ma-le’l and Lanphere Dunes. The research took place at the Ma-le’l and Lanphere Dunes in Humboldt County where a surrogate species for the seaside hoary elfin–the brown elfin–is abundant. In the larval stage, the brown elfin feeds on the new growth of kinnikinnick. Our study set out to analyze the food resource availability for brown elfin butterfly larvae, as they are forage on the tender leaves associated with the new growth of kinnikinnick inflorescences. We found a higher abundance of brown elfins was slightly correlated with areas where the average kinnikinnick inflorescence growth rate was higher. Our analysis of several environmental factors in each plot (ant presence, canopy cover, and herbivory) concluded that the variables tested had no significant relationship with the growth of kinnikinnick inflorescences. Future studies should use a longer study interval than the two-week interval used in this study; a longer interval would make it easier to capture changes in the inflorescence length of kinnikinnick. This study has the potential to inform future management strategies that could aid in the recovery of the critically imperiled seaside hoary elfin butterfly, including populations in the Tolowa Dunes State Park in Crescent City, CA
Team-level programming of drone sensor networks
Autonomous drones are a powerful new breed of mobile sensing platform that can greatly extend the capabilities of traditional sensing systems. Unfortunately, it is still non-trivial to coordinate multiple drones to perform a task collaboratively. We present a novel programming model called team-level programming that can express collaborative sensing tasks without exposing the complexity of managing multiple drones, such as concurrent programming, parallel execution, scaling, and failure recovering. We create the Voltron programming system to explore the concept of team-level programming in active sensing applications. Voltron offers programming constructs to create the illusion of a simple sequential execution model while still maximizing opportunities to dynamically re-task the drones as needed. We implement Voltron by targeting a popular aerial drone platform, and evaluate the resulting system using a combination of real deployments, user studies, and emulation. Our results indicate that Voltron enables simpler code and produces marginal overhead in terms of CPU, memory, and network utilization. In addition, it greatly facilitates implementing correct and complete collaborative drone applications, compared to existing drone programming systems
Current Flow and Pair Creation at Low Altitude in Rotation Powered Pulsars' Force-Free Magnetospheres: Space-Charge Limited Flow
(shortened) We report the results of an investigation of particle
acceleration and electron-positron plasma generation at low altitude in the
polar magnetic flux tubes of Rotation Powered Pulsars, when the stellar surface
is free to emit whatever charges and currents are demanded by the force-free
magnetosphere. We observe novel behavior. a) When the current density is less
than the Goldreich-Julian (GJ) value (0<j/j_{GJ}<1), space charge limited
acceleration of the current carrying beam is mild, with the full GJ charge
density being comprised of the charge density of the beam, co-existing with a
cloud of electrically trapped particles with the same sign of charge as the
beam. The voltage drops are on the order of mc^2/e, and pair creation is
absent. b) When the current density exceeds the GJ value (j/j_{GJ}>1), the
system develops high voltage drops, causing emission of gamma rays and intense
bursts of pair creation. The bursts exhibit limit cycle behavior, with
characteristic time scales somewhat longer than the relativistic fly-by time
over distances comparable to the polar cap diameter (microseconds). c) In
return current regions, where j/j_{GJ}<0, the system develops similar bursts of
pair creation. In cases b) and c), the intermittently generated pairs allow the
system to simultaneously carry the magnetospherically prescribed currents and
adjust the charge density and average electric field to force-free conditions.
We also elucidate the conditions for pair creating beam flow to be steady,
finding that such steady flows can occupy only a small fraction of the current
density parameter space of the force-free magnetospheric model. The generic
polar flow dynamics and pair creation is strongly time dependent. The model has
an essential difference from almost all previous quantitative studies, in that
we sought the accelerating voltage as a function of the applied current.Comment: 35 pages, 29 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS. Added new
appendix, several minor changes in the tex
A Superspace Formulation of The BV Action for Higher Derivative Theories
We first analyze the anti-BRST and double BRST structures of a certain higher
derivative theory that has been known to possess BRST symmetry associated with
its higher derivative structure. We discuss the invariance of this theory under
shift symmetry in the Batalin Vilkovisky (BV) formalism. We show that the
action for this theory can be written in a manifestly extended BRST invariant
manner in superspace formalism using one Grassmann coordinate.
It can also be written in a manifestly extended BRST invariant manner and
on-shell manifestly extended anti-BRST invariant manner in superspace formalism
using two Grassmann coordinates.Comment: accepted for publication in EPJ
Reactive control of autonomous drones
Aerial drones, ground robots, and aquatic rovers enable mobile applications that no other technology can realize with comparable flexibility and costs. In existing platforms, the low-level control enabling a drone's autonomous movement is currently realized in a time-triggered fashion, which simplifies implementations. In contrast, we conceive a notion of reactive control that supersedes the time-triggered approach by leveraging the characteristics of existing control logic and of the hardware it runs on. Using reactive control, control decisions are taken only upon recognizing the need to, based on observed changes in the navigation sensors. As a result, the rate of execution dynamically adapts to the circumstances. Compared to time-triggered control, this allows us to: i) attain more timely control decisions, ii) improve hardware utilization, iii) lessen the need to overprovision control rates. Based on 260+ hours of real-world experiments using three aerial drones, three different control logic, and three hardware platforms, we demonstrate, for example, up to 41% improvements in control accuracy and up to 22% improvements in flight time
Cooperation between Different CRISPR-Cas Types Enables Adaptation in an RNA-Targeting System
CRISPR-Cas immune systems adapt to new threats by acquiring new spacers from invading nucleic acids such as phage genomes. However, some CRISPR-Cas loci lack genes necessary for spacer acquisition despite variation in spacer content between microbial strains. It has been suggested that such loci may use acquisition machinery from cooccurring CRISPR-Cas systems within the same strain. Here, following infection by a virulent phage with a double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) genome, we observed spacer acquisition in the native host Flavobacterium columnare that carries an acquisition-deficient CRISPR-Cas subtype VI-B system and a complete subtype II-C system. We show that the VI-B locus acquires spacers from both the bacterial and phage genomes, while the newly acquired II-C spacers mainly target the viral genome. Both loci preferably target the terminal end of the phage genome, with priming-like patterns around a preexisting II-C protospacer. Through gene deletion, we show that the RNA-cleaving VI-B system acquires spacers in trans using acquisition machinery from the DNA-cleaving II-C system. Our observations support the concept of cross talk between CRISPR-Cas systems and raise further questions regarding the plasticity of adaptation modules. IMPORTANCE CRISPR-Cas systems are immune systems that protect bacteria and archaea against their viruses, bacteriophages. Immunity is achieved through the acquisition of short DNA fragments from the viral invader's genome. These fragments, called spacers, are integrated into a memory bank on the bacterial genome called the CRISPR array. The spacers allow for the recognition of the same invader upon subsequent infection. Most CRISPR-Cas systems target DNA, but recently, systems that exclusively target RNA have been discovered. RNA-targeting CRISPR-Cas systems often lack genes necessary for spacer acquisition, and it is thus unknown how new spacers are acquired and if they can be acquired from DNA phages. Here, we show that an RNA-targeting system "borrows" acquisition machinery from another CRISPR-Cas locus in the genome. Most new spacers in this locus are unable to target phage mRNA and are therefore likely redundant. Our results reveal collaboration between distinct CRISPR-Cas types and raise further questions on how other CRISPR-Cas loci may cooperate.Peer reviewe
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