Research on the application of satellite remote sensing to local, state, regional, and national programs involved with resource management and environmental quality

Project summaries and project reports are presented in the area of satellite remote sensing as applied to local, regional, and national environmental programs. Projects reports include: (1) Douglas County applications program; (2) vegetation damage and heavy metal concentration in new lead belt; (3) evaluating reclamation of strip-mined land; (4) remote sensing applied to land use planning at Clinton Reservoir; and (5) detailed land use mapping in Kansas City, Kansas

Landlord influence on soil conservation practice adoption

The objective of this study is to identify which farm or farmer characteristics explain tenants’ perceptions of whether landlords are supportive or not of no-till farming and to describe landlords’ attitudes towards tenants switching to no-till on their land. Results indicate that size of farm, percentage of the farm in wheat, and having a cash lease were found to be the most significant variables influencing farmers’ perceptions about landlords’ disposition toward no-till or more intensive spring cropping. The first two were negatively correlated and the last was positively correlated. Overall, farmers appeared to be more pessimistic regarding landlords’ acceptance of no-till than were landlords themselves

Permeability characteristics of the human nail plate

The permeation of chemicals across the nail plate and their consequent effects are discussed in relation to cosmetic toxicity and possible clinical efficacy. The reviewed data are then assessed and placed in context with recent observations on the direct assessment of permeability of the human nail plate. Although marked differences between the diffusional barrier characteristics of nail and stratum corneum are shown, a reasonably unified picture of nail plate permeability is drawn from the collective observations. The cosmetic and clinical implications of chemical penetration of the nail plate are briefly outlined and places where knowledge needs to be strengthened are identified. La permÉabilitÉ de l'ongie humainPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72442/1/j.1467-2494.1983.tb00348.x.pd

Determination of energy barrier profiles for high-k dielectric materials utilizing bias-dependent internal photoemission

We utilize bias-dependent internal photoemission spectroscopy to determine the metal/dielectric/silicon energy barrier profiles for Au/HfO2/Si and Au/Al2O3/Si structures. The results indicate that the applied voltage plays a large role in determining the effective barrier height and we attribute much of the variation in this case to image potential barrier lowering in measurements of single layers. By measuring current at both positive and negative voltages, we are able to measure the band offsets from Si and also to determine the flatband voltage and the barrier asymmetry at 0 V. Our SiO2 calibration sample yielded a conduction band offset value of 3.03+/-0.1 eV. Measurements on HfO2 give a conduction band offset value of 2.7+/-0.2 eV (at 1.0 V) and Al2O3 gives an offset of 3.3+/-0.1 (at 1.0 V). We believe that interfacial SiO2 layers may dominate the electron transport from silicon for these films. The Au/HfO2 barrier height was found to be 3.6+/-0.1 eV while the Au/Al2O3 barrier is 3.5+/-0.1 eV

Affordable management of HIV infection in the private sector

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Testing Alternative Hypotheses for the Cause of Population Declines: The Case of the Red-Headed Woodpecker

The Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) has experienced strong population declines during the past 3 decades. Using North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) and Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC) data, we investigated 4 hypotheses that may explain this decline, including: (1) interspecific competition with native Red-bellied Woodpeckers (Melanerpes carolinus) and nonnative European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris); (2) predation by Cooper\u27s Hawks (Accipiter cooperii) and Sharp-shinned Hawks (Accipiter striatus); (3) climate change; and (4) changes in forested area within their range. In analyses of both the breeding and overwintering periods, our results indicated a role of increased accipiter populations in driving Red-headed Woodpecker declines through increased predation. We also found evidence for significant effects of warmer winter temperatures and increased forest cover, both directly and indirectly through their effects on enhancing accipiter populations. In contrast, our results failed to support the hypothesis that interspecific competition with either Red-bellied Woodpeckers or European Starlings has played a role in Red-headed Woodpecker declines. Despite considerable evidence for nest-site competition and aggression between Red-headed Woodpeckers and both Red-bellied Woodpeckers and European Starlings, these interactions do not appear to be limiting Red-headed Woodpecker populations

A Cascade Neural Network Architecture investigating Surface Plasmon Polaritons propagation for thin metals in OpenMP

Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) confined along metal-dielectric interface have attracted a relevant interest in the area of ultracompact photonic circuits, photovoltaic devices and other applications due to their strong field confinement and enhancement. This paper investigates a novel cascade neural network (NN) architecture to find the dependance of metal thickness on the SPP propagation. Additionally, a novel training procedure for the proposed cascade NN has been developed using an OpenMP-based framework, thus greatly reducing training time. The performed experiments confirm the effectiveness of the proposed NN architecture for the problem at hand

Factors associated with hospitalisation among people with Parkinson's disease – A systematic review and meta-analysis

INTRODUCTION: Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with an increased risk of admission to hospital, however data on the main reasons for admission is lacking. Our objective was to determine the pooled prevalence of the most common factors leading to admissions among people with Parkinson's disease. METHODOLOGY: MA systematic literature search was conducted in 11 electronic databases. We included all studies providing reasons for admissions among PD patients without restrictions to diagnostic criteria of PD, language or year of study. In the included studies, methodological quality, publication bias and heterogeneity were assessed. Meta-analysis was performed using random-effects models to calculate the pooled estimates of the identified top factors that lead to admission among people with PD. RESULTS: A total of 7283 studies were identified of which nine studies including 7162 people with PD were included in this review. There was a high degree of heterogeneity between studies regarding reasons for hospitalisation. The pooled prevalence of the topmost reasons for hospitalisation among people with PD was 22%(95%CI 16.0%-30.0%) for infections (mainly urinary tract infections and pneumonia); 19%(95%CI 13.0%-27.0%) for worsening motor manifestations of PD; 18%(95%CI 14.0%-21.0%) for falls/fractures; 13%(95%CI 9.0%-18%) for cardiovascular co-morbidities; 8%(95%CI 4.0%-13.0%) for neuropsychiatric and 7%(95%CI 4.0%-11.0%) gastrointestinal complications. CONCLUSION: The main reasons for hospitalisation among people with PD are infections, worsening motor features, falls/fractures, cardiovascular co-morbidities, neuropsychiatric and gastrointestinal complications. Further research is needed in targeting and implementing preventative strategies

Sea level driven marsh expansion in a coupled model of marsh erosion and migration

Coastal wetlands are among the most valuable ecosystems on Earth, where ecosystem services such as flood protection depend nonlinearly on wetland size and are threatened by sea level rise and coastal development. Here we propose a simple model of marsh migration into adjacent uplands and couple it with existing models of seaward edge erosion and vertical soil accretion to explore how ecosystem connectivity influences marsh size and response to sea level rise. We find that marsh loss is nearly inevitable where topographic and anthropogenic barriers limit migration. Where unconstrained by barriers, however, rates of marsh migration are much more sensitive to accelerated sea level rise than rates of edge erosion. This behavior suggests a counterintuitive, natural tendency for marsh expansion with sea level rise and emphasizes the disparity between coastal response to climate change with and without human intervention

On three topical aspects of the N=28 isotonic chain

The evolution of single-particle orbits along the N=28 isotonic chain is studied within the framework of a relativistic mean-field approximation. We focus on three topical aspects of the N=28 chain: (a) the emergence of a new magic number at Z=14; (b) the possible erosion of the N=28 shell; and (c) the weakening of the spin-orbit splitting among low-j neutron orbits. The present model supports the emergence of a robust Z=14 subshell gap in 48Ca, that persists as one reaches the neutron-rich isotone 42Si. Yet the proton removal from 48Ca results in a significant erosion of the N=28 shell in 42Si. Finally, the removal of s1/2 protons from 48Ca causes a ~50% reduction of the spin-orbit splitting among neutron p-orbitals in 42Si.Comment: 12 pages with 5 color figure