Redundancy Elimination for LF

AbstractWe present a type system extending the dependent type theory LF, whose terms are more amenable to compact representation. This is achieved by carefully omitting certain subterms which are redundant in the sense that they can be recovered from the types of other subterms. This system is capable of omitting more redundant information than previous work in the same vein, because of its uniform treatment of higher-order and first-order terms. Moreover the ‘recipe’ for reconstruction of omitted information is encoded directly into annotations on the types in a signature. This brings to light connections between bidirectional (synthesis vs. checking) typing algorithms of the object language on the one hand, and the bidirectional flow of information in the ambient encoding language. The resulting system is a compromise seeking to retain both the effectiveness of full unification-based term reconstruction such as is found in implementation practice, and the logical simplicity of pure LF

Assessing Anglers Identification of Common Fish Species of Nebraska

Creel surveys, also known as angler surveys, entail individual interviews with anglers. The interviews include a variety of questions pertaining to their fishing trip on that particular day. The interviewer asks the angler questions that include, but are not limited to what species they caught that day, the size of the fish, how many hours they spent fishing that day, what bait they were using, etc. If the angler does not know the species caught or misidentifies the species there is the potential for the recorded data to negatively impact management techniques that rely on the creel survey data. One hundred sixteen anglers from Nebraska were surveyed at Cabela’s retail store in La Vista, Nebraska and tested on their ability to identify 14 common fish species found in Nebraska. Anglers were also asked their age, years of fishing experience, and the number of fishing outings the angler goes on annually. The results show that a potential problem exists when it comes to anglers being able to correctly identify common fish species found in Nebraska. The results show that age, years of fishing experience, and the number of fishing trips in the last year have almost no effect on the number of fish they were able to correctly identify

Assessing Anglers Identification of Common Fish Species of Nebraska

Creel surveys, also known as angler surveys, entail individual interviews with anglers. The interviews include a variety of questions pertaining to their fishing trip on that particular day. The interviewer asks the angler questions that include, but are not limited to what species they caught that day, the size of the fish, how many hours they spent fishing that day, what bait they were using, etc. If the angler does not know the species caught or misidentifies the species there is the potential for the recorded data to negatively impact management techniques that rely on the creel survey data. One hundred sixteen anglers from Nebraska were surveyed at Cabela’s retail store in La Vista, Nebraska and tested on their ability to identify 14 common fish species found in Nebraska. Anglers were also asked their age, years of fishing experience, and the number of fishing outings the angler goes on annually. The results show that a potential problem exists when it comes to anglers being able to correctly identify common fish species found in Nebraska. The results show that age, years of fishing experience, and the number of fishing trips in the last year have almost no effect on the number of fish they were able to correctly identify

Polymer/riblet combination for hydrodynamic skin friction reduction

A process is disclosed for reducing skin friction and inhibiting the effects of liquid turbulence in a system involving the flow of a liquid along the surface of a body, e.g., a marine vehicle. This process includes injecting a drag reducing polymer into the valleys of adjacent, evenly spaced, longitudinal grooves extending along the length of the surface of the body, so that the rate of diffusion of the polymer from individual grooves into the liquid flow is predictably controlled by the groove dimensions. When the polymer has diffused over the tips of the grooves into the near wall region of the boundary layer, the polymer effectively reduces the turbulent skin friction. A substantial drag reducing effect is achieved with less polymer than must be used to lower skin friction when the surface of the body is smooth

The acute effects of dynamic and ballistic stretching on vertical jump height, force, and power.

The purpose of this study was to compare the differences between 2 sets of ballistic stretching and 2 sets of a dynamic stretching routine on vertical jump performance. The intraclass reliability coefficients for maximum jump height, force, and power were also assessed using the Kistler Quattro Jump® force plate. METHODS: Ten healthy male college students, ages 22 to 34 years, volunteered to participate in this study. All subjects completed three individual testing sessions on three non-consecutive days. On each day the subjects completed one of three treatments (no stretch, ballistic stretch, and dynamic stretch). A paired samples t-test was used to test the effects of ballistic and dynamic stretching, respectively, on jumping height, force, and power performance scores. Hoyt\u27s analysis of variance model, (MSs-MSi)/MSs, was used to estimate the reliability coefficients of jumping performance scores across three different trials. RESULTS: A paired samples t-test documented that there were no statistical differences in jumping height, force, or power between no stretch and ballistic stretch, and between no stretch and dynamic stretch. The intraclass reliability coefficients were \u3e.99 for jumping height, \u3e0.94 for jumping force, and \u3e.99 for jumping power. CONCLUSION: Both ballistic and dynamic stretching showed nonsignificant effects on vertical jumping performance in college male students, but the reliability coefficients were very high to measure jumping height, force, and power using the Kistler Quattro Jump® force plate

Essays In Adaptive Learning And Mean-Square Stability In Regime Switching Models

The first chapter of this dissertation analyzes the necessary and sufficient conditions for stability under recurring structural changes. Using a finite state Markov process to model stochastically evolving, state-dependent parameters I find that by employing the conditions unique to mean-square stability, the minimum state variable (MSV) solution, found in non-linear models of this reduced form, is also stable in the learning sense. However, the choice of parameter values limits the robustness of this result. Furthermore, to illustrate this outcome I develop empirical results for a model similar to Cagan’s 1956 work on hyperinflation for Germany and the United States. I find that during the time of active currency market intervention, monetary policy was not mean-square stable for both the U.S. and Germany. In the second chapter, I analyze if economic agents could have learned the policy decisions of the Plaza and Louvre accords. New techniques in Markov switching Adaptive Learning models (MSAL), shows that economic agents would not have learned the rational expectations outcomes of exchange rate interventions and therefore contributed to exchange rate overshooting and excess volatility during this time. These finding help to explain why forecasts of short-term exchange rates have historically been poor while long-run forecasts do much better at matching the data. The third chapter analyzes empirical data from the forward exchange rate premium to interpret the puzzle, made famous by Fama, using Markov Switching Adaptive Learning (MSAL) techniques. This chapter addresses the need for using Mean-Square Stability as the criterion for stability rather than traditional stability conditions. Moreover this chapter observes the possibility for a self-referential solution to occur under specific conditions similar to what is found empirically. Furthermore, this chapter is able to replicate the results typically found during the analysis using a Markov-switching constant gain model, indicating that economic agents may posses some form of bounded rationality or information asymmetry which produces the observed bias. A central tenant of this chapter is that agents facing a regime which tend to produce the forward premium bias present in most empirical applications even in the face of highly persistent fundamentals

INCREASED BMP SIGNALING DECREASES EPITHELIAL OVARIAN CANCER TUMOUR GROWTH ON THE CHICK CAM BY INHIBITING ANGIOGENESIS

Current limitations regarding the treatment of metastatic epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) are attributed to our poor overall understanding of its progression due to the limited number of appropriate model systems. To this end, I have characterized EOC tumour growth and angiogenesis using the innovative chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) model system. Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling has been implicated in multiple processes of EOC metastasis, although its role in tumour angiogenesis has never been assessed. I found an inverse correlation between the level of BMP signaling in mouse EOC cells and their abilities to induce angiogenesis both in vitro using HUVEC tube formation assays and in vivo using a chick CAM angiogenesis collagen onplant assay. These results support the further implementation of the chick CAM as an important tool to study EOC metastasis. Additionally, the putative anti-angiogenic role of BMP4 signaling from my work highlights potential future implications for this pathway in prognostics and treatment of EOC

Nanophotonics of 2-Dimensional Materials

2-Dimensional materials are of great interest because of novel and intriguing properties that emerge at the monolayer limit in comparison to bulk materials. To that end, this thesis is split into the study of two different 2-dimensional materials in the realm of nanophotonics. First, graphene is utilized for both passivating the surface of metallic nanoparticles from oxidation and as a platform for functionalization and integration into specific molecule sensing. The nanoparticles act as plasmonic nanoantennas, enhancing the electric field near the surface of the antenna. It is shown that graphene-encapsulated silver nanoantennas are oxidation resistant and optically stable over a 30 day period. The performance of the graphene-passivated silver nanoantennas outpaces that of the traditional material, gold, by ~60% in sensing bulk index changes in the range of n = 1.40 1.45. Graphene encapsulation can be extended to other plasmonic metals such as aluminum and copper, as well as fully integrate graphene-passivated Ag nanoantennas into biomolecular sensing devices. The second topic of this thesis is to study and enhance the luminescence of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), a 2-dimensional semiconductor. Atomic layer deposition of SiO2 was used to encapsulate and the effectively etch a layer of bilayer MoS2 through reactive processes, which result in a chemically-doped MoS2 monolayer with enhanced luminescence properties. This new enhanced layer is two orders of magnitude more luminescent than the original material and one order of magnitude over that of an exfoliated monolayer. By coupling the enhanced MoS2 to an optical microdisk cavity, highly narrow emission can be produced from the original, broad luminescence. These sharp peaks can be utilized in biomolecule sensing through functionalization of the MoS2 layer. The effects of high-intensity optical pumping of the MoS2 in these microdisk cavities are also studied. Heat generation from non-radiative recombination causes thermally enabled oxidation of the optical material. This effect is shown to be not limited to MoS2, but affects WSe2 as well. This effect is shown to be minimized through the use of pulsed excitation, and the luminescence from high Q-factor microdisks was investigated using high-fluence femtosecond optical pulses

Grower Attitudes Towards Water Management Strategies While Mitigating Seawater Intrusion: A Case Study Of The Castroville Seawater Intrusion Project

The Salinas River Valley Watershed has endured the effects of seawater intrusion for decades caused by overpumping groundwater from the Salinas River Groundwater Basin. The Castroville Seawater Intrusion Project began delivering recycled water in 1998 with other water sources due to wells becoming too saline. One-on-one, in-person interviews with eighteen growers, who own or lease farmland within the Project’s service area, were conducted during a severe, statewide drought. Interview questions explored grower attitudes and concerns regarding their water supply, and the impact of management strategies on the mitigation of seawater intrusion. Two research questions were posed, exploring factors that influence grower acceptance of alternative water supplies, and whether environmental impacts affect their attitudes. Four prominent factors were found that influence grower acceptance of alternative water supplies: perceived need for water supply, changes to cost and/or water quality, information/education, and level of trust. The study also revealed three motivations of growers for choosing water supplies that do not increase seawater intrusion or contribute to adverse environmental impacts: protecting harvest/land, managing associated cost of operations, and avoiding increased regulations and/or oversight. Growers with fewer numbers of farms and smaller acreage of farmland tended to have a greater perceived need to acquire sustainable water supplies, while being more reluctant to implement water sources of lesser quality

Hydrodynamic skin-friction reduction

A process for reducing skin friction, inhibiting the effects of liquid turbulence, and decreasing heat transfer in a system involving flow of a liquid along a surface of a body includes applying a substantially integral sheet of a gas, e.g., air, immediately adjacent to the surface of the body; a marine vehicle, which has a longitudinally grooved surface in proximity with the liquid and with a surface material having high contact angle between the liquid and said wall to reduce interaction of the liquid; water, with the surface of the body; and the hull of the marine vehicle