Inventory of available data elements for the San Bernardino, California region

Elements of data sets that are available to be integrated for the San Bernardino vertical data integration project are given. Each of the data sets has specified for it the ownership, validity, accuracy and technical requirements for integration

CIRSS vertical data integration, San Bernardino study

The creation and use of a vertically integrated data base, including LANDSAT data, for local planning purposes in a portion of San Bernardino County, California are described. The project illustrates that a vertically integrated approach can benefit local users, can be used to identify and rectify discrepancies in various data sources, and that the LANDSAT component can be effectively used to identify change, perform initial capability/suitability modeling, update existing data, and refine existing data in a geographic information system. Local analyses were developed which produced data of value to planners in the San Bernardino County Planning Department and the San Bernardino National Forest staff

Using Digital Methods to Reconstruct Original Topography and Landscape Wetness in the Judicial Ditch 66 Watershed, Polk County, Minnesota

The excavation of Judicial Ditch #66 has altered the topography of its hydrologic basin in Polk County, Minnesota. Records of how the pre-ditch landscape appeared do not exist. The original aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a method of manual data manipulation and combination to digitally restore the topography of a human-altered landscape. Trial and error with the combination of spatial data from separate sources provided inadequate results. The study was subsequently divided into four parts. First, drainage area and its potential wetness were estimated using the 10 meter U.S. Geological Survey Digital Elevation Model (DEM). The ln(a/tan β) potential wetness index is used, which is directly related to drainage area. Second, points representing ditches and berms were eliminated from National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) spatial survey data. Third, we compared wetness indices of the restored and original landscapes. Finally, the wetness index for the restored landscape was compared to a soil map of the study area to determine if the areas of wetness correspond with hydric soils. GIS software provides helpful tools, which can produce models that can simultaneously show multiple layers of information for an area. By estimating areas of wetness, this method allows the effects of restoration to be determined prior to any physical alteration of the landscape. The display of data and models on GIS maps will play a large part in helping to solve other restoration issues in the future

Spatial land-use inventory, modeling, and projection/Denver metropolitan area, with inputs from existing maps, airphotos, and LANDSAT imagery

A landscape model was constructed with 34 land-use, physiographic, socioeconomic, and transportation maps. A simple Markov land-use trend model was constructed from observed rates of change and nonchange from photointerpreted 1963 and 1970 airphotos. Seven multivariate land-use projection models predicting 1970 spatial land-use changes achieved accuracies from 42 to 57 percent. A final modeling strategy was designed, which combines both Markov trend and multivariate spatial projection processes. Landsat-1 image preprocessing included geometric rectification/resampling, spectral-band, and band/insolation ratioing operations. A new, systematic grid-sampled point training-set approach proved to be useful when tested on the four orginal MSS bands, ten image bands and ratios, and all 48 image and map variables (less land use). Ten variable accuracy was raised over 15 percentage points from 38.4 to 53.9 percent, with the use of the 31 ancillary variables. A land-use classification map was produced with an optimal ten-channel subset of four image bands and six ancillary map variables. Point-by-point verification of 331,776 points against a 1972/1973 U.S. Geological Survey (UGSG) land-use map prepared with airphotos and the same classification scheme showed average first-, second-, and third-order accuracies of 76.3, 58.4, and 33.0 percent, respectively

An extraction method using whole insect larvae to isolate DNA from a deceased host.

The analysis of entomological evidence continues to be a useful method for the identification of human remains from a crime scene, especially when the body is in a state of decomposition. During active decomposition the DNA within the organism may also degrade and could inhibit the ability to develop a genetic profile from traditional samples, such as blood and tissue from the body. Collection of entomological evidence such as larvae that developed on a body can provide a source of DNA to generate a genetic profile from a corpse. Typically DNA profiles obtained from larvae samples involved dissecting and removing crop contents. Dissection and removal of crop contents requires use of precise tools and entomological training, which most forensic laboratories do not have. This research assessed whole larvae DNA extraction, as a means to identify their food source. Two pigs, which were used as human analogs, were deposited in a secluded area and allowed to decompose. Pig #1 was unaltered, while pig #2 was deposited with commercially purchased human semen placed in several locations on the pig, to simulate the events of a sexual assault homicide. In total, forty-eight larvae extracts were analyzed with an Animaltype Pig PCR amplification kit. Four of these larvae extracts produced at least one callable allele at one locus with the Animaltype Pig PCR amplification kit. Fifty samples were amplified using an Applied Biosystems AmpFlSTR?« Y-Filer PCR amplification kit. Seven of these larvae samples produced at least one callable allele at one locus with the Applied Biosystems AmpFlSTR?« Y-Filer PCR amplification kit. Amplification of whole larvae extracts with the Animaltype Pig PCR amplification kit did not provide consistent results, but it did demonstrate the ability to develop a profile by extracting whole larvae. Whole larvae extracted from pig #2 indicated that a possible suspect's genetic profile could be obtained from whole larvae extraction; however, human commercial semen was consumed early in the decomposition of the pig carcass. The results from this research serve as a template for future forensic molecular biology research

Test of sodium boiling in a single tube-in- shell heat exchanger over the range 1720 deg to 1980 deg F /1211 to 1355 K/

Bimetallic heat exchanger tube performance in sodium boiling facilit

CIRSS vertical data integration, San Bernardino County study phases 1-A, 1-B

User needs, data types, data automation, and preliminary applications are described for an effort to assemble a single data base for San Bernardino County from data bases which exist at several administrative levels. Each of the data bases used was registered and converted to a grid-based data file at a resolution of 4 acres and used to create a multivariable data base for the entire study area. To this data base were added classified LANDSAT data from 1976 and 1979. The resulting data base thus integrated in a uniform format all of the separately automated data within the study area. Several possible interactions between existing geocoded data bases and LANDSAT data were tested. The use of LANDSAT to update existing data base is to be tested

Erratum: ‘‘Transition to turbulence in a crossed‐field gap’’ [Phys. Plasmas 1, 3725 (1994)]

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/70343/2/PHPAEN-3-11-4293-1.pd

"Out of My Comfort Zone": Understanding the Impact of a Service-Learning Experience in Rural El Salvador

This qualitative case study was designed to explore the impact of a two-week service-learning experience in rural El Salvador on students' perceptions of its impact on them personally, professionally and  their global awareness.  Students stayed in an economically impoverished village in rural El Salvador and worked on projects that promoted education for children in the village.  Participants included 15 graduate and undergraduate students; 13 from the College of Education of a large university in the northeastern part of the United States. Multiple data sources were used to understand these impacts including: open-ended interviews conducted two to four months after the trip; field notes from participant observations in large and small group activities, group reflections; and informal incidents and conversations; review of documents related to the class (student journals; student final papers), and daily activity and health logs.    While the initial process of adjustment was difficult for some students, all students felt that their participation in this experience had an important, positive impact on them.  Data indicated that this impact occurred in all three major areas addressed in this study, including: personal (e.g. sense of appreciation, gaining perspective, rethinking consumption, clarifying values, and learning they “could do it”/self-efficacy, professional (affirming career choices, ability to work with Latino children and families; improving professional skills) and global awareness (e.g. perspectives on poverty and social justice, views of immigration, understanding of the world).  Findings will be discussed in terms of exant literature related to the impact of short-term service experiences

Transition to turbulence in a crossed‐field gap

The transition from laminar to turbulent behavior of the electron sheath in a cross‐field gap is examined for the regime B≳BH, where B is the external magnetic field and BH is the Hull cutoff value. An analytic expression is presented for the critical emitted current beyond which laminar solutions cease to exist. A one‐dimensional particle code is used to corroborate the analytic theory. This code shows several interesting properties when the emitted current exceeds the critical value. Chief among them is the presence of a turbulent microsheath near the cathode surface. The electrostatic potential in the gap’s vacuum region is found to oscillate at a frequency that is quite insensitive to the emitted current and to the electrons’ emission velocity. © 1994 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/71334/2/PHPAEN-1-12-3725-1.pd