Development and Application of Tools for Avalanche Forecasting, Avalanche Detection, and Snowpack Characterization

Avalanche formation is a complex interaction between the snowpack, weather, and terrain. However, detailed observations typically can only be made at a single point and must be extrapolated over the slope or regional scale. This study aims to provide avalanche forecasters with tools to evaluate the snowpack, avalanche hazard, and avalanche occurrence when manual observations are not feasible. Avalanches that occur within the new storm snow are a prevalent problem for the avalanche forecasters with the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) along Highway 21. We have implemented a real time SNOw Slope Stability (SNOSS) model that provides an index to the stability of that layer. SNOSS has been run real time starting during the winter of 2011/2012 with model results outputted to a webpage for easy viewing by avalanche forecasters. To further improve the accuracy of SNOSS, the model was evaluated with a large database of avalanches from the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT). Using weather data and SNOSS results, the probability of an avalanche day producing a natural direct action avalanche was calculated using a Balanced Random Forest (BRF). In the future, we hope that the BRF can provide a probability of an avalanche occurrence given the current weather and snowpack conditions that can be utilized by avalanche forecasters in their normal operations. The concern for avalanche forecasters with highway operations is the threat of an avalanche releasing and hitting a highway. Infrasound generated by an avalanche moving downhill can be detected and tracked using array processing techniques. This will allow avalanche forecasters to evaluate the avalanche hazard more effectively by determining when and where avalanches have occurred. An avalanche detection system has been developed to detect avalanches in near real time using infrasound arrays. The system processes the infrasound data on-site, automatically detects events, and classifies the events using multiple neural networks. If an avalanche has been detected, the system will transmit the necessary information over satellite to be viewed by avalanche forecasters on a webpage

Roach infestation optimization

Abstract only availableThere are many function optimization algorithms based on the collective behavior of natural systems — Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) are two of the most popular. This poster presents a new adaptation of the PSO algorithm, entitled Roach Infestation Optimization (RIO), which is inspired by recent discoveries in the social behavior of cockroaches. We present the development of the simple behaviors of the individual agents, which emulate some of the discovered cockroach social behaviors. We also describe a "hungry" version of the PSO and RIO, which we aptly call Hungry PSO and Hungry RIO. Comparisons with standard PSO show that Hungry PSO, RIO, and Hungry RIO are all more effective at finding the global optima of a suite of test functions.College of Engineering Undergraduate Research Optio

Electron Beam Cured Epoxy Resin Composites for High Temperature Applications

Electron beam curing of Polymer Matrix Composites (PMC's) is a nonthermal, nonautoclave curing process that has been demonstrated to be a cost effective and advantageous alternative to conventional thermal curing. Advantages of electron beam curing include: reduced manufacturing costs; significantly reduced curing times; improvements in part quality and performance; reduced environmental and health concerns; and improvement in material handling. In 1994 a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), sponsored by the Department of Energy Defense Programs and 10 industrial partners, was established to advance the electron beam curing of PMC technology. Over the last several years a significant amount of effort within the CRADA has been devoted to the development and optimization of resin systems and PMCs that match the performance of thermal cured composites. This highly successful materials development effort has resulted in a board family of high performance, electron beam curable cationic epoxy resin systems possessing a wide range of excellent processing and property profiles. Hundreds of resin systems, both toughened and untoughened, offering unlimited formulation and processing flexibility have been developed and evaluated in the CRADA program

Assessing Ecological and Economic Effects of Derelict Fishing Gear: a Guiding Framework

Developing standardized protocols to assess the ecological and socio-economic effects of marine debris – especially, derelict fishing gear – is critical for the protection of natural resources and for evaluating policies and programs designed to reduce and remove debris. This document outlines a Derelict Fishing Gear Assessment Framework to guide the development and implementation of derelict gear assessment, management and mitigation. The framework draws from techniques and protocols developed to assess derelict crab traps effects in the Chesapeake Bay and on past derelict gear assessments either conducted by or known to the framework authors. However, this framework is generalized and intended to be used by any stakeholder with a need to assess the status of derelict fishing gear and its economic and ecological effects on living resources, habitats, ecosystems, and local economies. It provides a generalized pathway and processes for assessing the effects of derelict fishing gear, and is flexible and scalable so that users of the framework can make informed decisions when data are limited, and can tailor it to satisfy their specific assessment goals and objectives if a full scale assessment is not required. The framework recommends best practices for each of five key elements

Ecological and Economic Effects of Derelict Fishing Gear in the Chesapeake Bay 2015/2016 Final Assessment Report

Derelict fishing gear represents a major challenge to marine resource management: whether through deliberate abandonment or through accidental loss, derelict traps in particular have significant negative effects both economic (e.g., reduced fishery harvest from ghost fishing and gear competition that leads to the reduced efficiency of active gear) and ecological (e.g., degraded habitats and marine food webs and crab and bycatch mortality). Throughout the Chesapeake Bay, commercial harvest of hard-shelled blue crabs is a major fishing activity: every year sees the deployment of several hundred thousand blue crab traps (known locally as crab “pots”) across the Bay, of which an estimated 12-20% are lost each year. This report focuses on these derelict crab pots, drawing on many direct or remote observations and other data to quantify their abundance and spatial distribution across the Chesapeake Bay, and their resulting ecological and economic effects

Clustering and Visualization of Fuzzy Communities In Social Networks

Abstract-We discuss a new formulation of a fuzzy validity index that generalizes the Newman-Girvan (NG) modularity function. The NG function serves as a cluster validity functional in community detection studies. The input data is an undirected graph G = (V, E) that represents a social network. Clusters in V correspond to socially similar substructures in the network. We compare our fuzzy modularity to an existing modularity function using the well-studied Karate Club data set