The use of ERTS/LANDSAT imagery in relation to airborne remote sensing for terrain analysis in Western Queensland, Australia

The author has identified the following significant results. LANDSAT 1 and 2 imagery contrast the geology of the Cloncurry-Dobbyn and the Gregory River-Mt. Isa areas very clearly. Known major structural features and lithological units are clearly displayed while, hitherto unknown lineaments were revealed. Throughout this area, similar rock types produce similar spectral signatures, e.g. quartzites produce light signatures, iron rich rocks produce dark signatures. More geological data are discernible at the 1:50,000 scale than on the 1:250,000 scale. Ore horizons may be identified at the 1:50,000 scale, particularly where they are associated with iron rich rocks. On the level plains north of Cloncurry, distinctive spectral signatures produced by the combined reflectances of plant cover, soils, and geology, distinguish different types of superficial deposits. Existing and former channels of the Cloncurry and Williams Rivers are distinguished at the 1:50,000 scale on both the LANDSAT 1 and 2 imagery. On the Cloncurry Plains, fence lines are discernible on the 1:50,000 LANDSAT 2 imagery

Short Sale Constraints and Stock Returns

Stocks can be overpriced when short sale constraints bind. We study the costs of short selling equities, 1926-1933, using the publicly observable market for borrowing stock. Some stocks are sometimes expensive to short, and it appears that stocks enter the borrowing market when shorting demand is high. We find that stocks that are expensive to short or which enter the borrowing market have high valuations and low subsequent returns, consistent with the overpricing hypothesis. Size-adjusted returns are one to two percent lower per month for new entrants, and despite high costs it is profitable to short them.

Public Information and the Persistence of Bond Market Volatility

We examine the reaction of daily bond prices to the release of government macroeconomic news. These news releases are of interest because they are released on periodic, preannounced dates and because they cause substantial bond market volatility. The news component of volatility is not positively autocorrelated on these dates, since the news is released at a specific moment in time. We find that (1) expected returns on the short end of the bond market are significantly higher on these announcement dates, and (2) the persistence pattern of daily volatility is quite different around these days.

The use of LANDSAT imagery in relation to air survey imagery for terrain analysis in northwest Queensland, Australia, volume 3

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

Acceptability of a Plasticity Focused Serious Game Intervention for PTSD: A User Requirements Analysis

Background: Trauma-focussed CBT (TF-CBT) is a first line treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder PTSD. Despite a solid evidence base, TF-CBT response and attrition rates vary considerably. Plasticity focused interventions, including the use of serious games, have the potential to improve TF-CBT response and treatment retention. Objective: The aim of this study was assess the acceptability of a smartphone delivered plasticity focused serious game to improve response to TF-CBT for PTSD; and to carry out a user requirements analysis should development of a prototype be warranted. Methods: We conducted two one-to-one interviews (n = 2);one focus group involving service users who had received a diagnosis of PTSD (n = 3); and one focus group involving psychological trauma service clinicians (n = 4). Results: We found that the concept of a plasticity focused smartphone intervention for PTSD is acceptable to patients and clinicians. Service users and clinicians both believed that usage should be guided by a therapist, and both contributed useful input regarding the audiovisual aspects of the proposed serious game. It was accepted that the game would not be suitable for all patients, and that clinicians would need to appropriately prescribe usage of the game. Conclusions: Our findings highlight the acceptability of the proposed serious game and clarify the user requirements for such an intervention. It is the intention of the authors to carry out a user experience evaluation using a prototype serious game in a clinical population

Unbiased Comparative Evaluation of Ranking Functions

Eliciting relevance judgments for ranking evaluation is labor-intensive and costly, motivating careful selection of which documents to judge. Unlike traditional approaches that make this selection deterministically, probabilistic sampling has shown intriguing promise since it enables the design of estimators that are provably unbiased even when reusing data with missing judgments. In this paper, we first unify and extend these sampling approaches by viewing the evaluation problem as a Monte Carlo estimation task that applies to a large number of common IR metrics. Drawing on the theoretical clarity that this view offers, we tackle three practical evaluation scenarios: comparing two systems, comparing $k$ systems against a baseline, and ranking $k$ systems. For each scenario, we derive an estimator and a variance-optimizing sampling distribution while retaining the strengths of sampling-based evaluation, including unbiasedness, reusability despite missing data, and ease of use in practice. In addition to the theoretical contribution, we empirically evaluate our methods against previously used sampling heuristics and find that they generally cut the number of required relevance judgments at least in half.Comment: Under review; 10 page

Gravitational Waves from Neutron Stars with Large Toroidal B-fields

We show that NS's with large toroidal B-fields tend naturally to evolve into potent gravitational-wave (gw) emitters. The toroidal field B_t tends to distort the NS into a prolate shape, and this magnetic distortion can easily dominate over the oblateness ``frozen into'' the NS crust. An elastic NS with frozen-in B-field of this magnitude is clearly secularly unstable: the wobble angle between the NS's angular momentum J^i and the star's magnetic axis n_B^i grow on a dissipation timescale until J^i and n_B^i are orthogonal. This final orientation is clearly the optimal one for gravitational-wave (gw) emission. The basic cause of the instability is quite general, so we conjecture that the same final state is reached for a realistic NS. Assuming this, we show that for LMXB's with B_t of order 10^{13}G, the spindown from gw's is sufficient to balance the accretion torque--supporting a suggestion by Bildsten. The spindown rates of most millisecond pulsars can also be attributed to gw emission sourced by toroidal B-fields, and both these sources could be observed by LIGO II. While the first-year spindown of a newborn NS is most likely dominated by em processes, reasonable values of B_t and the (external) dipolar field B_d can lead to detectable levels of gw emission, for a newborn NS in our own galaxy.Comment: 7 pages; submitted to PRD; only minor revision

Ammonia for power

A potential enabler of a low carbon economy is the energy vector hydrogen. However, issues associated with hydrogen storage and distribution are currently a barrier for its implementation. Hence, other indirect storage media such as ammonia and methanol are currently being considered. Of these, ammonia is a carbon free carrier which offers high energy density; higher than compressed air. Hence, it is proposed that ammonia, with its established transportation network and high flexibility, could provide a practical next generation system for energy transportation, storage and use for power generation. Therefore, this review highlights previous influential studies and ongoing research to use this chemical as a viable energy vector for power applications, emphasizing the challenges that each of the reviewed technologies faces before implementation and commercial deployment is achieved at a larger scale. The review covers technologies such as ammonia in cycles either for power or CO2 removal, fuel cells, reciprocating engines, gas turbines and propulsion technologies, with emphasis on the challenges of using the molecule and current understanding of the fundamental combustion patterns of ammonia blends

Seasonal, Taxonomic, and Local Habitat Components of Bird-window Collisions on an Urban University Campus in Cleveland, OH

Author Institution: Department of Biological, Geological & Environmental Sciences, Cleveland State UniversityAuthor Institution: Department of Ornithology, Cleveland Museum of Natural HistoryMigrating birds congregate near the shores of Lake Erie during migration and may be funneled through small green spaces within the urban matrix of Great Lake coastal cities, where they are at risk of higher mortality from manmade structures. Bird deaths due to window collisions were assessed amongst a complex of low-rise buildings (<30 m) on a university campus in Cleveland, OH. A 1.8 km route was surveyed three times per week during a 12-month period. Deaths were tested against null hypotheses that season, taxonomy, and building attributes had no significant relationship with avian mortality. We recovered 271 dead birds of 50 species, all of which were consistent with regional bird lists and Neotropical-Nearctic and North American migrants through Ohio. Deaths occurred non-randomly by week, month, and migratory status with 90 percent of deaths occurring during spring and fall migrations. Consequently, migrants (warblers: 34 percent of species richness, 30 percent of deaths; sparrows: 14 percent of richness, 35 percent of deaths) were observed nine times more frequently than residents. Neotropical-Nearctic migrant species outnumbered North American migrant species. Although there was no statistical difference between the compass direction of a building facade and the number of deaths, deaths were not randomly distributed among campus buildings. Rather, significantly more deaths occurred at facades with higher percentages of glass. The presence of trees within 5 m of a window and the reflection of trees in windows were also associated with a greater risk of fatality. A better understanding of the factors associated with bird-window collisions is a pressing issue in the conservation of migratory birds

Epigenetic regulatory pathways involving microRNAs may modulate the host immune response following major trauma

BACKGROUND Posttraumatic nosocomial pneumonia is a common complication resulting in significant morbidity. Trauma-induced immunocompromise is associated with an enhanced susceptibility to pneumonia. In this study, we explore the hypothesis that posttranscriptional epigenetic regulation of gene expression may be an important factor in determining this immune phenotype. We describe the pattern of production of microRNAss (miRs) and their association with nosocomial pneumonia following severe trauma. METHODS A convenience sample of 30 ventilated polytrauma patients (UKCRN ID: 5637) and 16 healthy controls were recruited. Messenger RNA and protein levels of key cytokines were quantified within 2 hours of the injury and at 24 hours. Three miRs per cytokine were then selected based on miRBase target prediction scores and quantified using polymerase chain reaction. Nosocomial pneumonia was defined using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention definitions. RESULTS Median Injury Severity Score (ISS) was 29, and 47% of the patients developed nosocomial pneumonia. miR-125a and miR-202 decreased by 34% and 77%, respectively, immediately following injury, whereas their target, IL-10, increased messenger RNA levels 3-fold and protein levels 180 fold. Tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) and IL-12 gene expression decreased by 68% and 43%, respectively, following injury, and this was mirrored by a 10-fold increase in miR-181, an miR predicted to target TNF-α transcripts. Lower levels of miR-125a and miR-374b were associated with the later acquisition of hospital-acquired pneumonia. CONCLUSION Alteration in the expression of miRs with highly predicted complementarity to IL-10 and TNF-α may be an important mechanism regulating the posttraumatic immunosuppressive phenotype in intensive care unit patients. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Retrospective observational study, level III