Defining the original extent and floristic composition of the naturally-treeless grasslands of the Liverpool Plains, North Western Slopes, New South Wales

A study was conducted on the Liverpool Plains (30o 43’–31o 44’S; 149o 40’–150o 41’E), North Western Slopes of NSW, to determine the original boundaries of the naturally-treeless grasslands, to determine reasons for the lack of woody vegetation on these areas, and to assess the status of Austrostipa aristiglumis (Plains Grass), a species that is today commonly dominant on the few remaining remnant grassland areas and is commonly assumed to characterise the original grassland community. The original tree line boundaries were reconstructed using NSW Lands Department survey portion plans and other historical records. The lack of woody vegetation was attributed primarily to a combination of fine-textured soil, climate and topography restricting the availability of water below the grass root zone, with waterlogging and deep soil cracking possibly playing minor roles. Published and anecdotal evidence and landholder experience indicate that the Austrostipa aristiglumis dominated remnants are probably a relatively recent anthropogenic feature, a consequence of post-settlement management practices. The pre-settlement grasslands appear to have been composed of a wide range of grasses, possibly dominated by species such as Themeda avenacea (Native Oatgrass) and Eulalia aurea (Silky Browntop), with a range of forbs occupying the interstitial spaces. Management implications are discussed

\u3ci\u3eUrophora Affinis\u3c/i\u3e and \u3ci\u3eU. Quadrifasciata\u3c/i\u3e (Diptera: Tephritidae) Released and Monitored by USDA, APHIS, PPQ as Biological Control Agents of Spotted and Diffuse Knapweed

USDA, APHIS, PPQ has distributed the seedhead gall flies Urophora affinis and U. quadrifasciata (Diptera: Tephritidae) as classical biological agents of the introduced weeds spotted and diffuse knapweed (Centaurea maculosa and C. diffusa, respectively) (Asteraceae) in the United States. From 1987 to 1996, Urophora spp. have been released in 97 counties in 14 midwestern and western states. Established populations of U. affinis and U. quadrifasciata are confirmed in 85 and 95 counties, respectively, among all 14 states. These include the first reports of successful establishment of Urophora spp. in Arizona (two counties), Colorado (eight counties), Michigan (one county), Minnesota (six counties), Nebraska (four counties), Nevada (two counties), North Dakota (one county), South Dakota (four coun­ties), Utah (three counties), and Wisconsin (two counties). The first confirmed establishment of U. quadrifasciata in Indiana and Michigan is also reported

The NASA/industry Design Analysis Methods for Vibrations (DAMVIBS) program: Boeing Helicopters airframe finite element modeling

Mathematical models based on the finite element method of structural analysis, as embodied in the NASTRAN computer code, are routinely used by the helicopter industry to calculate airframe static internal loads used for sizing structural members. Historically, less reliance has been placed on the vibration predictions based on these models. Beginning in the early 1980's NASA's Langley Research Center initiated an industry wide program with the objective of engendering the needed trust in vibration predictions using these models and establishing a body of modeling guides which would enable confident future prediction of airframe vibration as part of the regular design process. Emphasis in this paper is placed on the successful modeling of the Army/Boeing CH-47D which showed reasonable correlation with test data. A principal finding indicates that improved dynamic analysis requires greater attention to detail and perhaps a finer mesh, especially the mass distribution, than the usual stress model. Post program modeling efforts show improved correlation placing key modal frequencies in the b/rev range with 4 percent of the test frequencies

Remote Stratigraphic Analysis: Combined TM and AIS Results in the Wind River/bighorn Basin Area, Wyoming

An in-progress study demonstrates the utility of airborne imaging spectrometer (AIS) data for unraveling the stratigraphic evolution of a North American, western interior foreland basin. AIS data are used to determine the stratigraphic distribution of mineralogical facies that are diagnostic of specific depositional environments. After wavelength and amplitude calibration using natural ground targets with known spectral characteristics, AIS data identify calcite, dolomite, gypsum and montmorillonite-bearing strata in the Permian-Cretaceous sequence. Combined AIS and TM results illustrate the feasibility of spectral stratigraphy, remote analysis of stratigraphic sequences

Inclusion of new LHC data in MMHT PDFs

I consider the effects of including a variety of new LHC data sets into the MMHT approach for PDF determination. I consider the impact of fitting new LHC and Tevatron data, which leads to clear improvements in some PDF uncertainties. There are specific issues with ATLAS 7 TeV jet data and I include a discussion of the treatment of correlated uncertainties and briefly the effects of NNLO corrections. I also present preliminary results with the inclusion of the high precison final ATLAS 7 TeV $W,Z$ rapidity-dependent data.Comment: 6 pages. To appear in proceedings of DIS2017 Worksho

High Frequency Scattering from Arbitrarily Oriented Dielectric Disks

Calculations have been made of electromagnetic wave scattering from dielectric disks of arbitrary shape and orientation in the high frequency (physical optics) regime. The solution is obtained by approximating the fields inside the disk with the fields induced inside an identically oriented slab (i.e. infinite parallel planes) with the same thickness and dielectric properties. The fields inside the disk excite conduction and polarization currents which are used to calculate the scattered fields by integrating the radiation from these sources over the volume of the disk. This computation has been executed for observers in the far field of the disk in the case of disks with arbitrary orientation and for arbitrary polarization of the incident radiation. The results have been expressed in the form of a dyadic scattering amplitude for the disk. The results apply to disks whose diameter is large compared to wavelength and whose thickness is small compared to diameter, but the thickness need not be small compared to wavelength. Examples of the dependence of the scattering amplitude on frequency, dielectric properties of the disk and disk orientation are presented for disks of circular cross section

The Chandra Detection of Galactic Center X-ray Features G359.89-0.08 and G359.54+0.18

We report on the detection of two elongated X-ray features G359.89-0.08 and G359.54+0.18 in the Galactic center (GC) region using the Chandra X-ray Observatory. G359.89-0.08 is an elongated X-ray feature located $\sim$2\arcmin in projection south of the center of the Galaxy, SgrA$^*$. This X-ray feature source is partially coincident with a slightly curved (``wisp''-like) non-thermal radio source. The X-ray spectrum of G359.89-0.08 can be best characterized as non-thermal, with a photon index of 2. The morphological and spectral characteristics of the X-ray and radio emission associated with G359.89-0.08 are best interpreted as the synchrotron emission from a ram-pressure confined pulsar wind nebula. G359.54+0.18 is one of the most prominent radio non-thermal filaments (NTFs) in the GC region, located $\sim$30\arcmin in projection from SgrA$^*$. A narrow ($\sim$10\arcsec) filament of X-ray emission appears to arise from one of the two strands that comprise the radio NTF. Although the photon statistics are poor for this source, the X-ray emission is also likely to be non-thermal in nature. Several models for the production of X-ray emission in G359.54+0.18 are discussed.Comment: 19 pages with 6 figures included, accepted by A

Nuclear Dynamics at the Balance Energy

We study the mass dependence of various quantities (like the average and maximum density, collision rate, participant-spectator matter, temperature as well as time zones for higher density) by simulating the reactions at the energy of vanishing flow. This study is carried out within the framework of Quantum Molecular Dynamics model. Our findings clearly indicate an existence of a power law in all the above quantities calculated at the balance energy. The only significant mass dependence was obtained for the temperature reached in the central sphere. All other quantities are rather either insensitive or depend weakly on the system size at balance energy. The time zone for higher density as well as the time of maximal density and collision rate follow a power law inverse to the energy of vanishing flow.Comment: 9 figures, Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Cleaning the USNO-B Catalog through automatic detection of optical artifacts

The USNO-B Catalog contains spurious entries that are caused by diffraction spikes and circular reflection halos around bright stars in the original imaging data. These spurious entries appear in the Catalog as if they were real stars; they are confusing for some scientific tasks. The spurious entries can be identified by simple computer vision techniques because they produce repeatable patterns on the sky. Some techniques employed here are variants of the Hough transform, one of which is sensitive to (two-dimensional) overdensities of faint stars in thin right-angle cross patterns centered on bright (<13 \mag) stars, and one of which is sensitive to thin annular overdensities centered on very bright (<7 \mag) stars. After enforcing conservative statistical requirements on spurious-entry identifications, we find that of the 1,042,618,261 entries in the USNO-B Catalog, 24,148,382 of them (2.3 \percent) are identified as spurious by diffraction-spike criteria and 196,133 (0.02 \percent) are identified as spurious by reflection-halo criteria. The spurious entries are often detected in more than 2 bands and are not overwhelmingly outliers in any photometric properties; they therefore cannot be rejected easily on other grounds, i.e., without the use of computer vision techniques. We demonstrate our method, and return to the community in electronic form a table of spurious entries in the Catalog.Comment: published in A