873 research outputs found
Applications of wavelet-based compression to multidimensional Earth science data
A data compression algorithm involving vector quantization (VQ) and the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) is applied to two different types of multidimensional digital earth-science data. The algorithms (WVQ) is optimized for each particular application through an optimization procedure that assigns VQ parameters to the wavelet transform subbands subject to constraints on compression ratio and encoding complexity. Preliminary results of compressing global ocean model data generated on a Thinking Machines CM-200 supercomputer are presented. The WVQ scheme is used in both a predictive and nonpredictive mode. Parameters generated by the optimization algorithm are reported, as are signal-to-noise (SNR) measurements of actual quantized data. The problem of extrapolating hydrodynamic variables across the continental landmasses in order to compute the DWT on a rectangular grid is discussed. Results are also presented for compressing Landsat TM 7-band data using the WVQ scheme. The formulation of the optimization problem is presented along with SNR measurements of actual quantized data. Postprocessing applications are considered in which the seven spectral bands are clustered into 256 clusters using a k-means algorithm and analyzed using the Los Alamos multispectral data analysis program, SPECTRUM, both before and after being compressed using the WVQ program
An optimal design procedure for intraband vector quantized subband coding
Journal ArticleAbstTact- Subband coding with vector quantization is addressed in this paper. Forming the data vectors from both between and within the subbands is considered. The former of these two schemes is referred to as interband coding and the latter as intraband coding. Interband coder design is relatively straightforward since the design of the single codebook involved follows readily from a representative set of interband data vectors. Intraband coder design is more complicated since it entails the selection of a vector dimension and a bit-rate for each subband. The main contribution of this work is an optimal methodology for intraband subband vector quantizer design. The problem formulation includes constraints on the bit-rate and the encoding complexity and is solved with nonlinear programming methods. Subband vector quantization image coding in conjunction with a human visual system model is thoroughly investigated. Results of a large number of experiments indicate that the optimal intraband coder yields superior results from quantitative as well as subjective points of view than the interband coder for comparable bit-rates. This improvement becomes more pronounced as the computational complexity of the intraband encoder is allowed to increase
The Development of the WISE (Writing to Inspire Successful Education) Writing Mentoring Program: A University-School Collaboration
Abstract
This paper describes the development of a service learning writing mentoring program designed to close the achievement gap in writing proficiency for economically disadvantaged seventh grade students. Compared to writing mentoring studies found in the published literature, this program has three distinguishing components. First, it focused on economically disadvantaged middle school students. Second, it provided writing mentoring through a university-school partnership in which college students provided the intervention in collaboration with a seventh-grade teacher. Third, the program used technology to facilitate the mentoring process. Over the course of an academic year, mentors created videos with feedback on 19 writing assignments. The writing mentoring program was associated with a four-fold increase in the percentage of students who were graded as ‘proficient’ on a state standardized writing exam. These results suggest that semi-virtual, intensive writing mentoring and individualized feedback from college students can close the achievement gap and improve the quality of middle level education provided to economically disadvantaged students
High-Q-factor Al [subscript 2]O[subscript 3] micro-trench cavities integrated with silicon nitride waveguides on silicon
We report on the design and performance of high-Q integrated optical micro-trench cavities on silicon. The microcavities are co-integrated with silicon nitride bus waveguides and fabricated using wafer-scale silicon-photonics-compatible processing steps. The amorphous aluminum oxide resonator material is deposited via sputtering in a single straightforward post-processing step. We examine the theoretical and experimental optical properties of the aluminum oxide micro-trench cavities for different bend radii, film thicknesses and near-infrared wavelengths and demonstrate experimental Q factors of > 10[superscript 6]. We propose that this high-Q micro-trench cavity design can be applied to incorporate a wide variety of novel microcavity materials, including rare-earth-doped films for microlasers, into wafer-scale silicon photonics platforms
Detection of pediatric upper extremity motor activity and deficits with accelerometry
Importance: Affordable, quantitative methods to screen children for developmental delays are needed. Motor milestones can be an indicator of developmental delay and may be used to track developmental progress. Accelerometry offers a way to gather real-world information about pediatric motor behavior.
Objective: To develop a referent cohort of pediatric accelerometry from bilateral upper extremities (UEs) and determine whether movement can accurately distinguish those with and without motor deficits.
Design, Setting, and Participants: Children aged 0 to 17 years participated in a prospective cohort from December 8, 2014, to December 29, 2017. Children were recruited from Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital, Maryland Heights, Missouri, and Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, St Louis, Missouri. Typically developing children were included as a referent cohort if they had no history of motor or neurological deficit; consecutive sampling and matching ensured equal representation of sex and age. Children with diagnosed asymmetric motor deficits were included in the motor impaired cohort.
Exposures: Bilateral UE motor activity was measured using wrist-worn accelerometers for a total of 100 hours in 25-hour increments.
Main Outcomes and Measures: To characterize bilateral UE motor activity in a referent cohort for the purpose of detecting irregularities in the future, total activity and the use ratio between UEs were used to describe typically developing children. Asymmetric impairment was classified using the mono-arm use index (MAUI) and bilateral-arm use index (BAUI) to quantify the acceleration of unilateral movements.
Results: A total of 216 children enrolled, and 185 children were included in analysis. Of these, 156 were typically developing, with mean (SD) age 9.1 (5.1) years and 81 boys (52.0%). There were 29 children in the motor impaired cohort, with mean (SD) age 7.4 (4.4) years and 16 boys (55.2%). The combined MAUI and BAUI (mean [SD], 0.86 [0.005] and use ratio (mean [SD], 0.90 [0.008]) had similar F1 values. The area under the curve was also similar between the combined MAUI and BAUI (mean [SD], 0.98 [0.004]) and the use ratio (mean [SD], 0.98 [0.004]).
Conclusions and Relevance: Bilateral UE movement as measured with accelerometry may provide a meaningful metric of real-world motor behavior across childhood. Screening in early childhood remains a challenge; MAUI may provide an effective method for clinicians to measure and visualize real-world motor behavior in children at risk for asymmetrical deficits
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping Project: Velocity Shifts of Quasar Emission Lines
Quasar emission lines are often shifted from the systemic velocity due to
various dynamical and radiative processes in the line-emitting region. The
level of these velocity shifts depends both on the line species and on quasar
properties. We study velocity shifts for the line peaks of various narrow and
broad quasar emission lines relative to systemic using a sample of 849 quasars
from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping (SDSS-RM) project. The
coadded (from 32 epochs) spectra of individual quasars have sufficient
signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) to measure stellar absorption lines to provide
reliable systemic velocity estimates, as well as weak narrow emission lines.
The sample also covers a large dynamic range in quasar luminosity (~2 dex),
allowing us to explore potential luminosity dependence of the velocity shifts.
We derive average line peak velocity shifts as a function of quasar luminosity
for different lines, and quantify their intrinsic scatter. We further quantify
how well the peak velocity can be measured for various lines as a function of
continuum SNR, and demonstrate there is no systematic bias in the line peak
measurements when the spectral quality is degraded to as low as SNR~3 per SDSS
pixel. Based on the observed line shifts, we provide empirical guidelines on
redshift estimation from [OII]3728, [OIII]5008, [NeV]3426, MgII, CIII],
HeII1640, broad Hbeta, CIV, and SiIV, which are calibrated to provide unbiased
systemic redshifts in the mean, but with increasing intrinsic uncertainties of
46, 56, 119, 205, 233, 242, 400, 415, and 477 km/s, in addition to the
measurement uncertainties. These more realistic redshift uncertainties are
generally much larger than the formal uncertainties reported by the redshift
pipelines for spectroscopic quasar surveys, and demonstrate the infeasibility
of measuring quasar redshifts to better than ~200 km/s with only broad lines.Comment: matched to the published version; minor changes and conclusions
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Deglaciation of Fennoscandia
To provide a new reconstruction of the deglaciation of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet, in the form of calendar-year time-slices, which are particularly useful for ice sheet modelling, we have compiled and synthesized published geomorphological data for eskers, ice-marginal formations, lineations, marginal meltwater channels, striae, ice-dammed lakes, and geochronological data from radiocarbon, varve, optically-stimulated luminescence, and cosmogenic nuclide dating. This 25 is summarized as a deglaciation map of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet with isochrons marking every 1000 years between 22 and 13 cal kyr BP and every hundred years between 11.6 and final ice decay after 9.7 cal kyr BP. Deglaciation patterns vary across the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet domain, reflecting differences in climatic and geomorphic settings as well as ice sheet basal thermal conditions and terrestrial versus marine margins. For example, the ice sheet margin in the high-precipitation coastal setting of the western sector responded sensitively to climatic variations leaving a detailed record of prominent moraines and ice-marginal deposits in many fjords and coastal valleys. Retreat rates across the southern sector differed between slow retreat of the terrestrial margin in western and southern Sweden and rapid retreat of the calving ice margin in the Baltic Basin. Our reconstruction is consistent with much of the published research. However, the synthesis of a large amount of existing and new data support refined reconstructions in some areas. For example, we locate the LGM extent of the ice sheet in northwestern Russia further east than previously suggested and conclude that it occurred at a later time than the rest of the ice sheet, at around 17-15 cal kyr BP, and propose a slightly different chronology of moraine formation over southern Sweden based on improved correlations of moraine segments using new LiDAR data and tying the timing of moraine formation to Greenland ice core cold stages. Retreat rates vary by as much as an order of magnitude in different sectors of the ice sheet, with the lowest rates on the high-elevation and maritime Norwegian margin. Retreat rates compared to the climatic information provided by the Greenland ice core record show a general correspondence between retreat rate and climatic forcing, although a close match between retreat rate and climate is unlikely because of other controls, such as topography and marine versus terrestrial margins. Overall, the time slice
reconstructions of Fennoscandian Ice Sheet deglaciation from 22 to 9.7 cal kyr BP provide an important dataset for understanding the contexts that underpin spatial and temporal patterns in retreat of the
Fennoscandian Ice Sheet, and are an important resource for testing and refining ice sheet models
Kennesaw State University Choral Ensembles Spring Concert
Please join us for an evening of choral masterworks presented by KSU choral ensembles. The evening will feature performances by the KSU Chamber Choir, led by Interim Director of the School of Music and Director of Choral Activities Dr. Leslie J. Blackwell, as well as the University Chorale and Men\u27s Ensemble, both led by Dr. Reid Masters. The Chamber Singers will be giving a preview of their performance at the 2020 ACDA Southern Division Conference.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/2304/thumbnail.jp
What Next-Generation 21 cm Power Spectrum Measurements Can Teach Us About the Epoch of Reionization
A number of experiments are currently working towards a measurement of the 21
cm signal from the Epoch of Reionization. Whether or not these experiments
deliver a detection of cosmological emission, their limited sensitivity will
prevent them from providing detailed information about the astrophysics of
reionization. In this work, we consider what types of measurements will be
enabled by a next-generation of larger 21 cm EoR telescopes. To calculate the
type of constraints that will be possible with such arrays, we use simple
models for the instrument, foreground emission, and the reionization history.
We focus primarily on an instrument modeled after the
collecting area Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) concept design, and
parameterize the uncertainties with regard to foreground emission by
considering different limits to the recently described "wedge" footprint in
k-space. Uncertainties in the reionization history are accounted for using a
series of simulations which vary the ionizing efficiency and minimum virial
temperature of the galaxies responsible for reionization, as well as the mean
free path of ionizing photons through the IGM. Given various combinations of
models, we consider the significance of the possible power spectrum detections,
the ability to trace the power spectrum evolution versus redshift, the
detectability of salient power spectrum features, and the achievable level of
quantitative constraints on astrophysical parameters. Ultimately, we find that
of collecting area is enough to ensure a very high significance
() detection of the reionization power spectrum in even the
most pessimistic scenarios. This sensitivity should allow for meaningful
constraints on the reionization history and astrophysical parameters,
especially if foreground subtraction techniques can be improved and
successfully implemented.Comment: 27 pages, 18 figures, updated SKA numbers in appendi
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