Mapping of potential landslide areas in terms of slope stability

CER78-79DBS-RML-TJW19.Contract no. 16-712.O1-CA.Prepared for USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station.Includes bibliographical references (pages 57-62).November 1978

Simple procedural method for estimating on-site soil erosion

CER76-77DBS-RML-TJW38.Prepared for USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station.Includes bibliographical references (pages 37-38).February 1977

Interactive Virtual Hair Salon

Abstract User interaction with animated hair is desirable for various applications but difficult because it requires real-time animation and rendering of hair. Hair modeling, in cluding styling, simulation, and rendering, is computationally challenging due to the enormous number of deformable hair strands on a human head, elevating the computational complexity of many essential steps, such as collision detection and self-shadowing for hair. Using simulation localization techniques, multi-resolution representations, and graphics hardware rendering acceleration, we have developed a physically-based virtual hair salon system that simulates and renders hair at accelerated rates, enabling users to interactively style virtual hair. With a 3D haptic interface, users can directly manipulate and position hair strands, as well as employ real-world styling applications (cutting, blow-drying, etc.) to create hairstyles more intuitively than previous techniques

Engineering the genomes of wild insect populations: Challenges, and opportunities provided by synthetic Medea selfish genetic elements

Advances in insect transgenesis and our knowledge of insect physiology and genomics are making it possible to create transgenic populations of beneficial or pest insects that express novel traits. There are contexts in which we may want the transgenes responsible for these traits to spread so that all individuals within a wild population carry them, a process known as population replacement. Transgenes of interest are unlikely to confer an overall fitness benefit on those who carry them. Therefore, an essential component of any population replacement strategy is the presence of a drive mechanism that will ensure the spread of linked transgenes. We discuss contexts in which population replacement might be desirable and the requirements a drive system must satisfy to be both effective and safe. We then describe the creation of synthetic Medea elements, the first selfish genetic elements synthesized de novo, with the capability of driving population replacement, in this case in Drosophila. The strategy used to create Drosophila Medea is applicable to a number of other insect species and the Medea system satisfies key requirements for scientific and social acceptance. Finally, we highlight several challenges to implementing population replacement in the wild

Development of an Optimized Medium, Strain and High-Throughput Culturing Methods for Methylobacterium extorquens

Methylobacterium extorquens strains are the best-studied methylotrophic model system, and their metabolism of single carbon compounds has been studied for over 50 years. Here we develop a new system for high-throughput batch culture of M. extorquens in microtiter plates by jointly optimizing the properties of the organism, the growth media and the culturing system. After removing cellulose synthase genes in M. extorquens strains AM1 and PA1 to prevent biofilm formation, we found that currently available lab automation equipment, integrated and managed by open source software, makes possible reliable estimates of the exponential growth rate. Using this system, we developed an optimized growth medium for M. extorquens using response surface methodologies. We found that media that used EDTA as a metal chelator inhibited growth and led to inconsistent culture conditions. In contrast, the new medium we developed with a PIPES buffer and metals chelated by citrate allowed for fast and more consistent growth rates. This new Methylobacterium PIPES (‘MP’) medium was also robust to large deviations in its component ingredients which avoided batch effects from experiments that used media prepared at different times. MP medium allows for faster and more consistent growth than other media used for M. extorquens.Organismic and Evolutionary Biolog

Care and Flow: Using Soft Systems Methodology to understand tensions in the patient discharge process

Many hospitals face a daily struggle to manage capacity, especially where wards contain patients with a combination of health and social care needs. In this study, Soft Systems Methodology was used to understand the process of discharging patients from an acute hospital and to answer the question ‘Why do patients with complex needs often spend longer on the wards than is necessary?’. Through a series of twenty structured interviews, several problems with the discharge planning process were identified. Problems included ineffective communication, slow processing of paperwork, limited forward planning, no clear ownership of the process and delays in finding care in the community. The persistence of these problems despite longstanding guidance on discharge planning can be understood by recognising the tension between two different philosophies in hospitals – a traditional ‘Care’ mindset focusing on the immediate needs of patients on the wards, and a planning-focused ‘Flow’ mentality, where the hospital’s responsibility to the wider community dominates. Soft Systems Methodology was found to be an effective approach for discussing discharge planning and highlighting this tension. Based on the insights gained from the interviews, three practical initiatives have now been implemented to reconcile the tension and thereby reduce delays in the hospital

An Unbiased Survey of 500 Nearby Stars for Debris Disks: A JCMT Legacy Program

We present the scientific motivation and observing plan for an upcoming detection survey for debris disks using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. The SCUBA-2 Unbiased Nearby Stars (SUNS) Survey will observe 500 nearby main sequence and sub-giant stars (100 of each of the A, F, G, K and M spectral classes) to the 850 micron extragalactic confusion limit to search for evidence of submillimeter excess, an indication of circumstellar material. The survey distance boundaries are 8.6, 16.5, 22, 25 and 45 pc for M, K, G, F and A stars, respectively, and all targets lie between the declinations of -40 deg to 80 deg. In this survey, no star will be rejected based on its inherent properties: binarity, presence of planetary companions, spectral type or age. This will be the first unbiased survey for debris disks since IRAS. We expect to detect ~125 debris disks, including ~50 cold disks not detectable in current shorter wavelength surveys. A substantial amount of complementary data will be required to constrain the temperatures and masses of discovered disks. High resolution studies will likely be required to resolve many of the disks. Therefore, these systems will be the focus of future observational studies using a variety of observatories to characterize their physical properties. For non-detected systems, this survey will set constraints (upper limits) on the amount of circumstellar dust, of typically 200 times the Kuiper Belt mass, but as low as 10 times the Kuiper Belt mass for the nearest stars in the sample (approximately 2 pc).Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures (3 color), accepted by the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacifi